diff options
| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 05:24:15 -0700 |
|---|---|---|
| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 05:24:15 -0700 |
| commit | 8efc334355fe58623636b2f408c9d32c53a8ed76 (patch) | |
| tree | d325dad4705b0ab9e91b785bfcccb17a08d15b39 | |
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 4850.txt | 1405 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 4850.zip | bin | 0 -> 31800 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 |
5 files changed, 1421 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/4850.txt b/4850.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1a3d537 --- /dev/null +++ b/4850.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1405 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook History of The United Netherlands, 1586 +#50 in our series by John Lothrop Motley + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**EBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These EBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers***** + + +Title: History of the United Netherlands, 1586 + +Author: John Lothrop Motley + +Release Date: January, 2004 [EBook #4850] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on April 5, 2002] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + + + + + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY UNITED NETHERLANDS, 1586 *** + + + +This eBook was produced by David Widger + + + +[NOTE: There is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the +file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an +entire meal of them. D.W.] + + + + + +HISTORY OF THE UNITED NETHERLANDS +From the Death of William the Silent to the Twelve Year's Truce--1609 + +By John Lothrop Motley + + + +MOTLEY'S HISTORY OF THE NETHERLANDS, Project Gutenberg Edition, Vol. 50 + +History of the United Netherlands, 1586 + + + +CHAPTER XI + + Drake in the Netherlands--Good Results of his Visit--The Babington + Conspiracy--Leicester decides to visit England--Exchange of parting + Compliments. + +Late in the autumn of the same year an Englishman arrived in the +Netherlands, bearer of despatches from the Queen. He had been entrusted +by her Majesty with a special mission to the States-General, and he had +soon an interview with that assembly at the Hague. + +He was a small man, apparently forty-five years of age, of a fair but +somewhat weather-stained complexion, with light-brown, closely-curling +hair, an expansive forehead, a clear blue eye, rather commonplace +features, a thin, brown, pointed beard, and a slight moustache. Though +low of stature, he was broad-chested, with well-knit limbs. His hands, +which were small and nervous, were brown and callous with the marks of +toil. There was something in his brow and glance not to be mistaken, +and which men willingly call master; yet he did not seem, to have sprung +of the born magnates of the earth. He wore a heavy gold chain about his +neck, and it might be observed that upon the light full sleeves of his +slashed doublet the image of a small ship on a terrestrial globe was +curiously and many times embroidered. + +It was not the first time that he had visited the Netherlands. Thirty +years before the man had been apprentice on board a small lugger, which +traded between the English coast and the ports of Zeeland. Emerging in +early boyhood from his parental mansion--an old boat, turned bottom +upwards on a sandy down he had naturally taken to the sea, and his +master, dying childless not long afterwards, bequeathed to him the +lugger. But in time his spirit, too much confined by coasting in the +narrow seas, had taken a bolder flight. He had risked his hard-earned +savings in a voyage with the old slave-trader, John Hawkins--whose +exertions, in what was then considered an honourable and useful vocation, +had been rewarded by Queen Elizabeth with her special favour, and with a +coat of arms, the crest whereof was a negro's head, proper, chained--but +the lad's first and last enterprise in this field was unfortunate. +Captured by Spaniards, and only escaping with life, he determined to +revenge himself on the whole Spanish nation; and this was considered a +most legitimate proceeding according to the "sea divinity" in which he, +had been schooled. His subsequent expeditions against the Spanish +possessions in the West Indies were eminently successful, and soon the +name of Francis Drake rang through the world, and startled Philip in the +depths of his Escorial. The first Englishman, and the second of any +nation, he then ploughed his memorable "furrow round the earth," carrying +amazement and, destruction to the Spaniards as he sailed, and after three +years brought to the Queen treasure enough, as it was asserted, to +maintain a war with the Spanish King for seven years, and to pay himself +and companions, and the merchant-adventurers who had participated in his +enterprise, forty-seven pounds sterling for every pound invested in the +voyage. The speculation had been a fortunate one both, for himself and +for the kingdom. + +The terrible Sea-King was one of the great types of the sixteenth +century. The self-helping private adventurer, in his little vessel the +'Golden Hind,' one hundred tons burthen, had waged successful war against +a mighty empire, and had shown England how to humble Philip. When he +again set foot on his native soil he was followed by admiring crowds, +and became the favourite hero of romance and ballad; for it was not the +ignoble pursuit of gold alone, through toil and peril, which had endeared +his name to the nation. The popular instinct recognized that the true +means had been found at last for rescuing England and Protestantism from +the overshadowing empire of Spain. The Queen visited him in his 'Golden +Hind,' and gave him the honour of knighthood. + +The treaty between the United Netherlands and England had been followed +by an embargo upon English vessels, persons, and property, in the ports +of Spain; and after five years of unwonted repose, the privateersman +again set forth with twenty-five small vessels--of which five or six only +were armed--under his command, conjoined with that of General Carlisle. +This time the voyage was undertaken with full permission and assistance +of the Queen who, however, intended to disavow him, if she should find +such a step convenient. This was the expedition in which Philip Sidney +had desired to take part. The Queen watched its result with intense +anxiety, for the fate of her Netherland adventure was thought to be +hanging on the issue. "Upon Drake's voyage, in very truth, dependeth the +life and death of the cause, according to man's judgment," said +Walsingham. + +The issue was encouraging, even, if the voyage--as a mercantile +speculation--proved not so brilliant as the previous enterprises of Sir +Francis had been. He returned in the midsummer of 1586, having captured +and brandschatzed St. Domingo and Carthagena; and burned St. Augustine. +"A fearful man to the King of Spain is Sir Francis Drake," said Lord +Burghley. Nevertheless, the Queen and the Lord-Treasurer--as we have +shown by the secret conferences at Greenwich--had, notwithstanding these +successes, expressed a more earnest desire for peace than ever. + +A simple, sea-faring Englishman, with half-a-dozen miserable little +vessels, had carried terror, into the Spanish possessions all over the +earth: but even then the great Queen had not learned to rely on the +valour of her volunteers against her most formidable enemy. + +Drake was, however, bent on another enterprise. The preparations for +Philip's great fleet had been going steadily forward in Lisbon, Cadiz, +and other ports of Spain and Portugal, and, despite assurances to the +contrary, there was a growing belief that England was to be invaded. +To destroy those ships before the monarch's face, would be, indeed, to +"singe his beard." But whose arm was daring enough for such a stroke? +Whose but that of the Devonshire skipper who had already accomplished so +much? + +And so Sir Francis, "a man true to his word, merciful to those under him, +and hating nothing so much as idleness," had come to the Netherlands to +talk over his project with the States-General, and with the Dutch +merchants and sea-captains. His visit was not unfruitful. As a body the +assembly did nothing; but they recommended that in every maritime city of +Holland and Zeeland one or two ships should be got ready, to participate +in all the future enterprises of Sir Francis and his comrades. + +The martial spirit of volunteer sailors, and the keen instinct of +mercantile speculation, were relied upon--exactly as in England-- +to furnish men, ships, and money, for these daring and profitable +adventures. The foundation of a still more intimate connection between +England and Holland was laid, and thenceforth Dutchmen and Englishmen +fought side by side, on land and sea, wherever a blow was to be struck in +the cause of human freedom against despotic Spain. + +The famous Babington conspiracy, discovered by Walsingham's "travail and +cost," had come to convince the Queen and her counsellors--if further +proof were not superfluous--that her throne and life were both +incompatible with Philip's deep designs, and that to keep that monarch +out of the Netherlands, was as vital to her as to keep him out of +England. "She is forced by this discovery to countenance the cause by +all outward means she may," said Walsingham, "for it appeareth unto her +most plain, that unless she had entered into the action, she had been +utterly undone, and that if she do not prosecute the same she cannot +continue." The Secretary had sent Leicester information at an early day +of the great secret, begging his friend to "make the letter a heretic +after be had read the same," and expressing the opinion that "the matter, +if well handled, would break the neck of all dangerous practices during +her Majesty's reign." + +The tragedy of Mary Stuart--a sad but inevitable portion of the vast +drama in which the emancipation of England and Holland, and, through +them, of half Christendom, was accomplished--approached its catastrophe; +and Leicester could not restrain his anxiety for her immediate execution. +He reminded Walsingham that the great seal had been put upon a warrant +for her execution for a less crime seventeen years before, on the +occasion of the Northumberland and Westmorland rebellion. "For who can +warrant these villains from her," he said, "if that person live, or shall +live any time? God forbid! And be you all stout and resolute in this +speedy execution, or be condemned of all the world for ever. It is most. +certain, if you will have your Majesty safe, it must be done, for justice +doth crave it beside policy." His own personal safety was deeply +compromised. "Your Lordship and I," wrote Burghley, "were very great +motes in the traitors' eyes; for your Lordship there and I here should +first, about one time, have been killed. Of your Lordship they thought +rather of poisoning than slaying. After us two gone, they purposed her +Majesty's death." + +But on this great affair of state the Earl was not swayed by such +personal considerations. He honestly thought--as did all the statesmen +who governed England--that English liberty, the very existence of the +English commonwealth, was impossible so long as Mary Stuart lived. Under +these circumstances he was not impatient, for a time at least, to leave +the Netherlands. His administration had not been very successful. +He had been led away by his own vanity, and by the flattery of artful +demagogues, but the immense obstacles with which he had to contend in the +Queen's wavering policy, and in the rivalry of both English and Dutch +politicians have been amply exhibited. That he had been generous, +courageous, and zealous, could not be denied; and, on the whole, he had +accomplished as much in the field as could have been expected of him with +such meagre forces, and so barren an exchequer. + +It must be confessed, however, that his leaving the Netherlands at that +moment was a most unfortunate step, both for his own reputation and for +the security of the Provinces. Party-spirit was running high, and a +political revolution was much to be dreaded in so grave a position of +affairs, both in England and Holland. The arrangements--and particularly +the secret arrangements which he made at his departure--were the most +fatal measures of all; but these will be described in the following +chapter. + +On the 31st October; the Earl announced to the state-council his +intention of returning to England, stating, as the cause of this sudden +determination, that he had been summoned to attend the parliament then +sitting in Westminster. Wilkes, who was of course present, having now +succeeded Killigrew as one of the two English members, observed that "the +States and council used but slender entreaty to his Excellency for his +stay and countenance there among them, whereat his Excellency and we that +were of the council for her Majesty did not a little marvel." + +Some weeks later, however, upon the 21st November, Leicester summoned +Barneveld, and five other of the States General, to discuss the necessary +measures for his departure, when those gentlemen remonstrated very +earnestly upon the step, pleading the danger and confusion of affairs +which must necessarily ensue. The Earl declared that he was not retiring +from the country because he was offended, although he had many causes for +offence: and he then alluded to the, Navigation Act, to the establishment +council, and spoke of the finance of Burgrave and Reingault, for his +employment of which individuals so much obloquy had been heaped upon his, +head. Burgrave he pronounced, as usual, a substantial, wise, faithful, +religious personage, entitled to fullest confidence; while Reingault-- +who had been thrown into prison by the States on charges of fraud, +peculation, and sedition--he declared to be a great financier, who had +promised, on penalty of his head, to bring "great sums into the treasury +for carrying on the war, without any burthen to the community." Had he +been able to do this, he had certainly claim to be considered the +greatest of financiers; but the promised "mountains of gold" were never +discovered, and Reingault was now awaiting his trial. + +The deputies replied that the concessions upon the Navigation Act had +satisfied the country, but that Reingault was a known instrument of the +Spaniards, and Burgrave a mischief-making demagogue, who consorted with +malignants, and sent slanderous reports concerning the States and the +country to her Majesty. They had in consequence felt obliged to write +private despatches to envoy Ortel in England, not because they suspected +the Earl, but in order to counteract the calumnies of his chief advisers. +They had urged the agent to bring the imprisonment of Paul Buys before +her Majesty, but for that transaction Leicester boldly disclaimed all +responsibility. + +It was agreed between the Earl and the deputies that, during his absence, +the whole government, civil and military, should devolve upon the state- +council, and that Sir John Norris should remain in command of the English +forces. + +Two days afterwards Leicester, who knew very well that a legation was +about to proceed to England, without any previous concurrence on his +part, summoned a committee of the States-General, together with +Barneveld, into the state-council. Counsellor Wilkes on his behalf then +made a speech, in which he observed that more ample communications on the +part of the States were to be expected. They had in previous colloquies +touched upon comparatively unimportant matters, but he now begged to be +informed why these commissioners were proceeding to England, and what was +the nature of their instructions. Why did not they formally offer the +sovereignty of the Provinces to the Queen without conditions? That step +had already been taken by Utrecht. + +The deputies conferred apart for a little while, and then replied that +the proposition made by Utrecht was notoriously factious, illegal, and +altogether futile. Without the sanction of all the United States, of +what value was the declaration of Utrecht? Moreover the charter of that +province had been recklessly violated, its government overthrown, and its +leading citizens banished. The action of the Province under such +circumstances was not deserving of comment; but should it appear that her +Majesty was desirous of assuming the sovereignty of the Provinces upon +reasonable conditions, the States of Holland and of Zeeland would not be +found backward in the business. + +Leicester proposed that Prince Maurice of Nassau should go with him to +England, as nominal chief of the embassy, and some of the deputies +favoured the suggestion. It was however, vigorously and successfully +opposed by Barneveld, who urged that to leave the country without a head +in such a dangerous position of affairs, would be an act of madness. +Leicester was much annoyed when informed of this decision. He was +suspected of a design, during his absence, of converting Maurice entirely +to his own way of thinking. If unsuccessful, it was believed by the +Advocate and by many others that the Earl would cause the young Prince to +be detained in England as long as Philip William, his brother, had been +kept in Spain. He observed peevishly that he knew how it had all been +brought about. + +Words, of course, and handsome compliments were exchanged between the +Governor and the States-General on his departure. He protested that he +had never pursued any private ends during his administration, but had +ever sought to promote the good of the country and the glory of the +Queen, and that he had spent three hundred thousand florins of his own +money in the brief period of his residence there. + +The Advocate, on part of the States, assured him that they were all aware +that in the friendship of England lay their only chance of salvation, but +that united action was the sole means by which that salvation could be +effected, and the one which had enabled the late Prince of Orange to +maintain a contest unequalled by anything recorded in history. There was +also much disquisition on the subject of finance--the Advocate observing +that the States now raised as much in a month as the Provinces in the +time of the Emperor used to levy in a year--and expressed the hope that +the Queen would increase her contingent to ten thousand foot, and two +thousand horse. He repudiated, in the name of the States-General and his +own, the possibility of peace-negotiations; deprecated any allusion to +the subject as fatal to their religion, their liberty, their very +existence, and equally disastrous to England and to Protestantism, and +implored the Earl, therefore, to use all his influence in opposition to +any pacific overtures to or from Spain. + +On the 24th November, acts were drawn up and signed by the Earl, +according to which the supreme government of the United Netherlands was +formally committed to the state-council during his absence. Decrees were +to be pronounced in the name of his Excellency, and countersigned by +Maurice of Nassau. + +On the following day, Leicester, being somewhat indisposed, requested a +deputation of the States-General to wait upon him in his own house. This +was done, and a formal and affectionate farewell was then read to him by +his secretary, Mr. Atye. It was responded to in complimentary fashion by +Advocate Barneveld, who again took occasion at this parting interview to +impress upon the governor the utter impossibility, in his own opinion and +that of the other deputies, of reconciling the Provinces with Spain. + +Leicester received from the States--as a magnificent parting present-- +a silver gilt vase "as tall as a man," and then departed for Flushing to +take shipping for England. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + + Ill-timed Interregnum in the Provinces--Firmness of the English and + Dutch People--Factions during Leicester's Government--Democratic + Theories of the Leicestriana--Suspicions as to the Earl's Designs-- + Extreme Views of the Calvinists--Political Ambition of the Church-- + Antagonism of the Church and States--The States inclined to + Tolerance--Desolation of the Obedient Provinces--Pauperism and + Famine--Prosperity of the Republic--The Year of Expectation. + +It was not unnatural that the Queen should desire the presence of her +favourite at that momentous epoch, when the dread question, "aut fer aut +feri," had at last demanded its definite solution. It was inevitable, +too, that Leicester should feel great anxiety to be upon the spot where +the great tragedy, so full of fate to all Christendom, and in which his +own fortunes were so closely involved, was to be enacted. But it was +most cruel to the Netherlands--whose well-being was nearly as important +to Elizabeth as that of her own realm--to plunge them into anarchy at +such a moment. Yet this was the necessary result of the sudden +retirement of Leicester. + +He did not resign his government. He did not bind himself to return. +The question of sovereignty was still unsettled, for it was still hoped +by a large and influential party, that the English Queen would accept the +proposed annexation. It was yet doubtful, whether, during the period of +abeyance, the States-General or the States-Provincial, each within their +separate sphere, were entitled to supreme authority. Meantime, as if +here were not already sufficient elements of dissension and doubt, came a +sudden and indefinite interregnum, a provisional, an abnormal, and an +impotent government. To the state-council was deputed the executive +authority. But the state-council was a creature of the States-General, +acting in concert with the governor-general, and having no actual life of +its own. It was a board of consultation, not of decision, for it could +neither enact its own decrees nor interpose a veto upon the decrees of +the governor. + +Certainly the selection of Leicester to fill so important a post had not +been a very fortunate one; and the enthusiasm which had greeted him, "as +if he had been a Messiah," on his arrival, had very rapidly dwindled +away, as his personal character became known. The leading politicians of +the country had already been aware of the error which they had committed +in clothing with almost sovereign powers the delegate of one who had +refused the sovereignty. They, were too adroit to neglect the +opportunity, which her Majesty's anger offered them, of repairing what +they considered their blunder. When at last the quarrel, which looked so +much like a lovers' quarrel, between Elizabeth and 'Sweet Robin,' had +been appeased to the satisfaction of Robin, his royal mistress became +more angry with the States for circumscribing than she had before been +for their exaggeration of his authority. Hence the implacable hatred of +Leicester to Paul Buys and Barneveld. + +Those two statesmen, for eloquence, learning, readiness, administrative +faculty, surpassed by few who have ever wielded the destinies of free +commonwealths, were fully equal to the task thrown upon their hands by +the progress of events. That task was no slight one, for it was to the +leading statesmen of Holland and England, sustained by the indomitable +resistance to despotism almost universal in the English and Dutch +nations, that the liberty of Europe was entrusted at that, momentous +epoch. Whether united under one crown, as the Netherlands ardently +desired, or closely allied for aggression and defence, the two peoples +were bound indissolubly together. The clouds were rolling up from the +fatal south, blacker and more portentous than ever; the artificial +equilibrium of forces, by which the fate of France was kept in suspense, +was obviously growing every day more uncertain; but the prolonged and +awful interval before the tempest should burst over the lands of freedom +and Protestantism, gave at least time for the prudent to prepare. The +Armada was growing every day in the ports of Spain and Portugal, and +Walsingham doubted, as little as did Buys or Barneveld, toward what +shores that invasion was to be directed. England was to be conquered in +order that the rebellious Netherlands might be reduced; and 'Mucio' was +to be let slip upon the unhappy Henry III. so soon as it was thought +probable that the Bearnese and the Valois had sufficiently exhausted each +other. Philip was to reign in Paris, Amsterdam, London, and Edinburgh, +without stirring from the Escorial. An excellent programme, had there +not been some English gentlemen, some subtle secretaries of state, some +Devonshire skippers, some Dutch advocates and merchants, some Zeeland +fly-boatsmen, and six million men, women, and children, on the two sides +of the North Sea, who had the power of expressing their thoughts rather +bluntly than otherwise, in different dialects of old Anglo-Saxon speech. + +Certainly it would be unjust and ungracious to disparage the heroism of +the great Queen when the hour of danger really came, nor would it be +legitimate for us, who can scan that momentous year of expectation, 1587, +by the light of subsequent events and of secret contemporaneous record, +to censure or even sharply to criticise the royal hankering for peace, +when peace had really become impossible. But as we shall have occasion +to examine rather closely the secrets of the Spanish, French, English, +and Dutch councils, during this epoch, we are likely to find, perhaps, +that at least as great a debt is due to the English and Dutch people, in +mass, for the preservation of European liberty at that disastrous epoch +as to any sovereign, general, or statesman. + +For it was in the great waters of the sixteenth century that the nations +whose eyes were open, discovered the fountain of perpetual youth, while +others, who were blind, passed rapidly onward to decrepitude. England +was, in many respects, a despotism so far as regarded governmental forms; +and no doubt the Catholics were treated with greater rigour than could be +justified even by the perpetual and most dangerous machinations of the +seminary priests and their instigators against the throne and life of +Elizabeth. The word liberty was never musical in Tudor ears, yet +Englishmen had blunt tongues and sharp weapons which rarely rusted for +want of use. In the presence of a parliament, and the absence of a +standing army, a people accustomed to read the Bible in the vernacular, +to handle great questions of religion and government freely, and to bear +arms at will, was most formidable to despotism. There was an advance on +the olden time. A Francis Drake, a John Hawkins, a Roger Williams, might +have been sold, under the Plantagenets, like an ox or an ass. A 'female +villain' in the reign of Henry III. could have been purchased for +eighteen shillings--hardly the price of a fatted pig, and not one-third +the value of an ambling palfrey--and a male villain, such an one as could +in Elizabeth's reign circumnavigate the globe in his own ship, or take +imperial field-marshals by the beard, was worth but two or three pounds +sterling in the market. Here was progress in three centuries, for the +villains were now become admirals and generals in England and Holland, +and constituted the main stay of these two little commonwealths, while +the commanders who governed the 'invincible' fleets and armies of +omnipotent Spain, were all cousins of emperors, or grandees of bluest +blood. Perhaps the system of the reformation would not prove the least +effective in the impending crisis. + +It was most important, then, that these two nations should be united in +council, and should stand shoulder to shoulder as their great enemy +advanced. But this was precisely what had been rendered almost +impossible by the course of events during Leicester's year of +administration, and by his sudden but not final retirement at its close. +The two great national parties which had gradually been forming, had +remained in a fluid state during the presence of the governor-general. +During his absence they gradually hardened into the forms which they were +destined to retain for centuries. In the history of civil liberty, these +incessant contests, these oral and written disquisitions, these sharp +concussions of opinion, and the still harder blows, which, unfortunately, +were dealt on a few occasions by the combatants upon each other, make the +year 1587 a memorable one. The great questions of the origin of +government, the balance of dynastic forces, the distribution of powers, +were dealt with by the ablest heads, both Dutch and English, that could +be employed in the service of the kingdom and republic. It was a war of +protocols, arguments, orations, rejoinders, apostilles, and pamphlets; +very wholesome for the cause of free institutions and the intellectual +progress of mankind. The reader may perhaps be surprised to see with how +much vigour and boldness the grave questions which underlie all polity, +were handled so many years before the days of Russell and Sidney, of +Montesquieu and Locke, Franklin, Jefferson, Rousseau, and Voltaire; and +he may be even more astonished to find exceedingly democratic doctrines +propounded, if not believed in, by trained statesmen of the Elizabethan +school. He will be also apt to wonder that a more fitting time could not +be found for such philosophical debate than the epoch at which both the +kingdom and the republic were called upon to strain every sinew against +the most formidable and aggressive despotism that the world had known +since the fall of the Roman Empire. + +The great dividing-line between the two parties, that of Leicester and +that of Holland, which controlled the action of the States-General, was +the question of sovereignty. After the declaration of independence and +the repudiation of Philip, to whom did the sovereignty belong? To the +people, said the Leicestrians. To the States-General and the States- +Provincial, as legitimate representatives of the people, said the Holland +party. Without looking for the moment more closely into this question, +which we shall soon find ably discussed by the most acute reasoners of +the time, it is only important at present to make a preliminary +reflection. The Earl of Leicester, of all men is the world, would seem +to have been precluded by his own action, and by the action of his Queen, +from taking ground against the States. It was the States who, by solemn +embassy, had offered the sovereignty to Elizabeth. She had not accepted +the offer, but she had deliberated on the subject, and certainly she had +never expressed a doubt whether or not the offer had been legally made. +By the States, too, that governor-generalship had been conferred upon the +Earl, which had been so thankfully and eagerly accepted. It was strange, +then, that he should deny the existence of the power whence his own +authority was derived. If the States were not sovereigns of the +Netherlands, he certainly was nothing. He was but general of a few +thousand English troops. + +The Leicester party, then, proclaimed extreme democratic principles as to +the origin of government and the sovereignty of the people. They sought +to strengthen and to make almost absolute the executive authority of +their chief, on the ground that such was the popular will; and they +denounced with great acrimony the insolence of the upstart members of the +States, half a dozen traders, hired advocates, churls, tinkers, and the +like--as Leicester was fond of designating the men who opposed him--in +assuming these airs of sovereignty. + +This might, perhaps, be philosophical doctrine, had its supporters not +forgotten that there had never been any pretence at an expression of the +national will, except through the mouths of the States. The States- +General and the States-Provincial, without any usurpation, but as a +matter of fact and of great political convenience, had, during fifteen +years, exercised the authority which had fallen from Philip's hands. +The people hitherto had acquiesced in their action, and certainly there +had not yet been any call for a popular convention, or any other device +to ascertain the popular will. It was also difficult to imagine what was +the exact entity of this abstraction called the "people" by men who +expressed such extreme contempt for "merchants, advocates, town-orators, +churls, tinkers, and base mechanic men, born not to command but to obey." +Who were the people when the educated classes and the working classes +were thus carefully eliminated? Hardly the simple peasantry--the boors-- +who tilled the soil. At that day the agricultural labourers less than +all others dreamed of popular sovereignty, and more than all others +submitted to the mild authority of the States. According to the theory +of the Netherland constitutions, they were supposed--and they had +themselves not yet discovered the fallacies to which such doctrines could +lead--to be represented by the nobles and country-squires who maintained +in the States of each Province the general farming interests of the +republic. Moreover, the number of agricultural peasants was +comparatively small. The lower classes were rather accustomed to plough +the sea than the land, and their harvests were reaped from that element, +which to Hollanders and Zeelanders was less capricious than the solid +earth. Almost every inhabitant of those sea-born territories was, in one +sense or another, a mariner; for every highway was a canal; the soil was +percolated by rivers and estuaries, pools and meres; the fisheries were +the nurseries in which still more daring navigators rapidly learned their +trade, and every child took naturally to the ocean as to its legitimate +home. + +The "people," therefore, thus enthroned by the Leicestrians over all +the inhabitants of the country, appeared to many eyes rather a misty +abstraction, and its claim of absolute sovereignty a doctrine almost as +fantastic as that of the divine right of kings. The Netherlanders were, +on the whole, a law-abiding people, preferring to conduct even a +revolution according to precedent, very much attached to ancient usages +and traditions, valuing the liberties, as they called them, which they +had wrested from what had been superior force, with their own right +hands, preferring facts to theories, and feeling competent to deal with +tyrants in the concrete rather than to annihilate tyranny in the abstract +by a bold and generalizing phraseology. Moreover the opponents of the +Leicester party complained that the principal use to which this newly +discovered "people" had been applied, was to confer its absolute +sovereignty unconditionally upon one man. The people was to be sovereign +in order that it might immediately abdicate in favour of the Earl. + +Utrecht, the capital of the Leicestrians, had already been deprived of +its constitution. The magistracy was, according to law, changed every +year. A list of candidates was furnished by the retiring board, an equal +number of names was added by the governor of the Province, and from the +catalogue thus composed the governor with his council selected the new +magistrates for the year. But De Villiers, the governor of the Province, +had been made a prisoner by the enemy in the last campaign; Count Moeurs +had been appointed provisional stadholder by the States; and, during his +temporary absence on public affairs, the Leicestrians had seized upon the +government, excluded all the ancient magistrates, banished many leading +citizens from the town, and installed an entirely new board, with Gerard +Proninck, called Deventer, for chief burgomaster, who was a Brabantine +refugee just arrived in the Province, and not eligible to office until +after ten years' residence. + +It was not unnatural that the Netherlanders, who remembered the scenes +of bloodshed and disorder produced by the memorable attempt of the Duke +of Anjou to obtain possession of Antwerp and other cities, should be +suspicious of Leicester. Anjou, too, had been called to the Provinces by +the voluntary action of the States. He too had been hailed as a Messiah +and a deliverer. In him too had unlimited confidence been reposed, and +he had repaid their affection and their gratitude by a desperate attempt +to obtain the control of their chief cities by the armed hand, and thus +to constitute himself absolute sovereign of the Netherlands. The +inhabitants had, after a bloody contest, averted the intended massacre +and the impending tyranny; but it was not astonishing that--so very, few +years having elapsed since those tragical events--they should be inclined +to scan severely the actions of the man who had already obtained by +unconstitutional means the mastery of a most important city, and was +supposed to harbour designs upon all the cities. + +No, doubt it was a most illiberal and unwise policy for the inhabitants +of the independent States to exclude from office the wanderers, for +conscience' sake, from the obedient Provinces. They should have been +welcomed heart and hand by those who were their brethren in religion and +in the love of freedom. Moreover, it was notorious that Hohenlo, +lieutenant-general under Maurice of Nassau, was a German, and that by the +treaty with England, two foreigners sat in the state council, while the +army swarmed with English, Irish, end German officers in high command. +Nevertheless, violently to subvert the constitution of a Province, and to +place in posts of high responsibility men who were ineligible--some whose +characters were suspicious, and some who were known to be dangerous, and +to banish large numbers of respectable burghers--was the act of a despot. + +Besides their democratic doctrines, the Leicestrians proclaimed and +encouraged an exclusive and rigid Calvinism. + +It would certainly be unjust and futile to detract from the vast debt +which the republic owed to the Geneva Church. The reformation had +entered the Netherlands by the Walloon gate. The earliest and most +eloquent preachers, the most impassioned converts, the sublimest martyrs, +had lived, preached, fought, suffered, and died with the precepts of +Calvin in their hearts. The fire which had consumed the last vestige of +royal and sacerdotal despotism throughout the independent republic, had +been lighted by the hands of Calvinists. + +Throughout the blood-stained soil of France, too, the men who were +fighting the same great battle as were the Netherlanders against Philip +II. and the Inquisition, the valiant cavaliers of Dauphiny and Provence, +knelt on the ground, before the battle, smote their iron breasts with +their mailed hands, uttered a Calvinistic prayer, sang a psalm of Marot, +and then charged upon Guise, or upon Joyeuse, under the white plume of +the Bearnese. And it was on the Calvinist weavers and clothiers of +Rochelle that the great Prince relied in the hour of danger as much as on +his mountain chivalry. In England too, the seeds of liberty, wrapped up +in Calvinism and hoarded through many trying years, were at last destined +to float over land and sea, and to bear large harvests of temperate +freedom for great commonwealths, which were still unborn. Nevertheless +there was a growing aversion in many parts of the States for the rigid +and intolerant spirit of the reformed religion. There were many men in +Holland who had already imbibed the true lesson--the only, one worth +learning of the reformation--liberty of thought; but toleration in the +eyes of the extreme Calvinistic party was as great a vice as it could be +in the estimation of Papists. To a favoured few of other habits of +thought, it had come to be regarded as a virtue; but the day was still +far distant when men were to scorn the very word toleration as an insult +to the dignity of man; as if for any human being or set of human beings, +in caste, class, synod, or church, the right could even in imagination be +conceded of controlling the consciences of their fellow-creatures. + +But it was progress for the sixteenth century that there were +individuals, and prominent individuals, who dared to proclaim liberty +of conscience for all. William of Orange was a Calvinist, sincere and +rigid, but he denounced all oppression of religion, and opened wide the +doors of the Commonwealth to Papists, Lutherans, and Anabaptists alike. +The Earl of Leicester was a Calvinist, most rigid in tenet, most edifying +of conversation, the acknowledged head of the Puritan party of England, +but he was intolerant and was influenced only by the most intolerant of +his sect. Certainly it would have required great magnanimity upon his +part to assume a friendly demeanour towards the Papists. It is easier +for us, in more favoured ages, to rise to the heights of philosophical +abstraction, than for a man, placed as was Leicester, in the front rank +of a mighty battle, in which the triumph of either religion seemed to +require the bodily annihilation of all its adversaries. He believed that +the success of a Catholic conspiracy against the life of Elizabeth or of +a Spanish invasion of England, would raise Mary to the throne and consign +himself to the scaffold. He believed that the subjugation of the +independent Netherlands would place the Spaniards instantly in England, +and he frequently received information, true or false, of Popish plots +that were ever hatching in various parts of the Provinces against the +English Queen. It was not surprising, therefore, although it was unwise, +that he should incline his ear most seriously to those who counselled +severe measures not only against Papists, but against those who were not +persecutors of Papists, and that he should allow himself to be guided by +adventurers, who wore the mask of religion only that they might plunder +the exchequer and rob upon the highway. + +Under the administration of this extreme party, therefore, the Papists +were maltreated, disfranchised, banished, and plundered. The +distribution of the heavy war-taxes, more than two-thirds of which were +raised in Holland only, was confided to foreigners, and regulated mainly +at Utrecht, where not one-tenth part of the same revenue was collected. +This naturally excited the wrath of the merchants and manufacturers of +Holland and the other Provinces, who liked not that these hard-earned and +lavishly-paid subsidies should be meddled with by any but the cleanest +hands. + +The clergy, too, arrogated a direct influence in political affairs. +Their demonstrations were opposed by the anti-Leicestrians, who cared not +to see a Geneva theocracy in the place of the vanished Papacy. They had +as little reverence in secular affairs for Calvinistic deacons as for the +college of cardinals, and would as soon accept the infallibility of +Sixtus V. as that of Herman Modet. The reformed clergy who had +dispossessed and confiscated the property of the ancient ecclesiastics +who once held a constitutional place in the Estates of Utrecht--although +many of those individuals were now married and had embraced the reformed +religion who had demolished, and sold at public auction, for 12,300 +florins, the time-honoured cathedral where the earliest Christians of the +Netherlands had worshipped, and St. Willibrod had ministered, were +roundly rebuked, on more than one occasion, by the blunt matters beyond +their sphere. + +The party of the States-General, as opposed to the Leicester party, +was guided by the statesmen of Holland. At a somewhat later period was +formed the States-right party, which claimed sovereignty for each +Province, and by necessary consequence the hegemony throughout the +confederacy, for Holland. At present the doctrine maintained was that +the sovereignty forfeited by Philip had naturally devolved upon the +States-General. The statesmen of this party repudiated the calumny that +it had therefore lapsed into the hands of half a dozen mechanics and men +of low degree. The States of each Province were, they maintained, +composed of nobles and country-gentlemen, as representing the +agricultural interest, and of deputies from the 'vroedschappen,' +or municipal governments, of every city and smallest town. + +Such men as Adrian Van der Werff, the heroic burgomaster of Leyden during +its famous siege, John Van der Does, statesman, orator, soldier, poet, +Adolphus Meetkerke, judge, financier, politician, Carl Roorda, Noel de +Carom diplomatist of most signal ability, Floris Thin, Paul Buys, and +Olden-Barneveld, with many others, who would have done honour to the +legislative assemblies and national councils in any country or any age, +were constantly returned as members of the different vroedschaps in the +commonwealth. + +So far from its being true then that half a dozen ignorant mechanics had +usurped the sovereignty of the Provinces, after the abjuration of the +Spanish King, it may be asserted in general terms, that of the eight +hundred thousand inhabitants of Holland at least eight hundred persons +were always engaged in the administration of public affairs, that these +individuals were perpetually exchanged for others, and that those whose +names became most prominent in the politics of the day were remarkable +for thorough education, high talents, and eloquence with tongue and pen. +It was acknowledged by the leading statesmen of England and France, on +repeated occasions throughout the sixteenth century, that the +diplomatists and statesmen of the Netherlands were even more than a match +for any politicians who were destined to encounter them, and the profound +respect which Leicester expressed for these solid statesmen, these +"substantial, wise, well-languaged" men, these "big fellows," so soon as +he came in contact with them, and before he began to hate them for +outwitting him, has already appeared. They were generally men of the +people, born without any of the accidents of fortune; but, the leaders +had studied in the common schools, and later in the noble universities of +a land where to be learned and eloquent was fast becoming almost as great +an honour as to be wealthy or high born. + +The executive, the legislative, and the judiciary departments were more +carefully and scientifically separated than could perhaps have been +expected in that age. The lesser municipal courts, in which city- +senators presided, were subordinate to the supreme court of Holland, +whose officers were appointed by the stadholders and council; the +supplies were in the hands of the States-Provincial, and the supreme +administrative authority was confided to a stadholder appointed by the +states. + +The States-General were constituted of similar materials to those of +which the States-Provincial were constructed, and the same individuals +were generally prominent in both. They were deputies appointed by the +Provincial Estates, were in truth rather more like diplomatic envoys than +senators, were generally bound very strictly by instructions, and were +often obliged, by the jealousy springing from the States-right principle, +to refer to their constituents, on questions when the times demanded a +sudden decision, and when the necessary delay was inconvenient and +dangerous. + +In religious matters, the States-party, to their honour, already leaned +to a wide toleration. Not only Catholics were not burned, but they were +not banished, and very large numbers remained in the territory, and were +quite undisturbed in religious matters, within their own doors. There +were even men employed in public affairs who were suspected of papistical +tendencies, although their hostility, to Spain and their attachment to +their native land could not fairly be disputed. The leaders of the +States-party had a rooted aversion to any political influence on the part +of the clergy of any denomination whatever. Disposed to be lenient to +all forms of worship, they were disinclined to an established church, but +still more opposed to allowing church-influence in secular affairs. As a +matter of course, political men with such bold views in religious matters +were bitterly assailed by their rigid opponents. Barneveld, with his +"nil scire tutissima fides," was denounced as a disguised Catholic or an +infidel, and as for Paul Buys, he was a "bolsterer of Papists, an +atheist, a devil," as it has long since been made manifest. + +Nevertheless these men believed that they understood the spirit of their +country and of the age. In encouragement to an expanding commerce, the +elevation and education of the masses, the toleration of all creeds, and +a wide distribution of political functions and rights, they looked for +the salvation of their nascent republic from destruction, and the +maintenance of the true interests of the people. They were still loyal +to Queen Elizabeth, and desirous that she should accept the sovereignty +of the Provinces. But they were determined that the sovereignty should +be a constitutional one, founded upon and limited by the time-honoured +laws and traditions of their commonwealth; for they recognised the value +of a free republic with an hereditary chief, however anomalous it might +in theory appear. They knew that in Utrecht the Leicestrian party were +about to offer the Queen the sovereignty of their Province, without +conditions, but they were determined that neither Queen Elizabeth nor +any other monarch should ever reign in the Netherlands, except under +conditions to be very accurately defined and well secured. + +Thus, contrasted, then, were the two great parties in the Netherlands, at +the conclusion of Leicester's first year of administration. It may +easily be understood that it was not an auspicious moment to leave the +country without a chief. + +The strength of the States-party lay in Holland, Zeeland, Friesland. +The main stay of the democratic or Leicester faction was in the city of +Utrecht, but the Earl had many partizans in Gelderland, Friesland, and in +Overyssel, the capital of which Province, the wealthy and thriving +Deventer, second only in the republic to Amsterdam for commercial and +political importance, had been but recently secured for the Provinces by +the vigorous measures of Sir William Pelham. + +The condition of the republic and of the Spanish Provinces was, at that +moment, most signally contrasted. If the effects of despotism and of +liberty could ever be exhibited at a single glance, it was certainly only +necessary to look for a moment at the picture of the obedient and of the +rebel Netherlands. + +Since the fall of Antwerp, the desolation of Brabant, Flanders, and of +the Walloon territories had become complete. The King had recovered the +great commercial capital, but its commerce was gone. The Scheldt, which, +till recently, had been the chief mercantile river in the world, had +become as barren as if its fountains had suddenly dried up. It was as if +it no longer flowed to the ocean, for its mouth was controlled by +Flushing. Thus Antwerp was imprisoned and paralyzed. Its docks and +basins, where 2500 ships had once been counted, were empty, grass was +growing in its streets, its industrious population had vanished, and the +Jesuits had returned in swarms. And the same spectacle was presented by +Ghent, Bruges, Valenciennes, Tournay, and those other fair cities, which +had once been types of vigorous industry and tumultuous life. The sea- +coast was in the hands of two rising commercial powers, the great and +free commonwealths of the future. Those powers were acting in concert, +and commanding the traffic of the world, while the obedient Provinces +were excluded from all foreign intercourse and all markets, as the result +of their obedience. Commerce, manufactures, agriculture; were dying +lingering deaths. The thrifty farms, orchards, and gardens, which had +been a proverb and wonder of industry were becoming wildernesses. The +demand for their produce by the opulent and thriving cities, which had +been the workshops of the world, was gone. Foraging bands of Spanish and +Italian mercenaries had succeeded to the famous tramp of the artizans and +mechanics, which had often been likened to an army, but these new +customers were less profitable to the gardeners and farmers. The +clothiers, the fullers, the tapestry-workers, the weavers, the cutlers, +had all wandered away, and the cities of Holland, Friesland, and of +England, were growing skilful and rich by the lessons and the industry of +the exiles to whom they afforded a home. There were villages and small +towns in the Spanish Netherlands that had been literally depopulated. +Large districts of country had gone to waste, and cane-brakes and squalid +morasses usurped the place of yellow harvest-fields. The fog, the wild +boar, and the wolf, infested the abandoned homes of the peasantry; +children could not walk in safety in the neighbourhood even of the larger +cities; wolves littered their young in the deserted farm-houses; two +hundred persons, in the winter of 1586-7, were devoured by wild beasts in +the outskirts of Ghent. Such of the remaining labourers and artizans as +had not been converted into soldiers, found their most profitable +employment as brigands, so that the portion of the population spared by +war and emigration was assisting the enemy in preying upon their native +country. Brandschatzung, burglary, highway-robbery, and murder, had +become the chief branches of industry among the working classes. Nobles +and wealthy burghers had been changed to paupers and mendicants. Many a +family of ancient lineage, and once of large possessions, could be seen +begging their bread, at the dusk of evening, in the streets of great +cities, where they had once exercised luxurious hospitality; and they +often begged in vain. + +For while such was the forlorn aspect of the country--and the portrait, +faithfully sketched from many contemporary pictures, has not been +exaggerated in any of its dark details--a great famine smote the land +with its additional scourge. The whole population, soldiers and +brigands, Spaniards and Flemings, beggars and workmen, were in danger +of perishing together. Where the want of employment had been so great +as to cause a rapid depopulation, where the demand for labour had almost +entirely ceased, it was a necessary result, that during the process, +prices should be low, even in the presence of foreign soldiery, and +despite the inflamed' profits, which such capitalists as remained +required, by way not only of profit but insurance, in such troublous +times. Accordingly, for the last year or two, the price of rye at +Antwerp and Brussels had been one florin for the veertel (three bushels) +of one hundred and twenty pounds; that of wheat, about one-third of a +florin more. Five pounds of rye, therefore, were worth, one penny +sterling, reckoning, as was then usual, two shillings to the florin. A +pound weight of wheat was worth about one farthing. Yet this was forty- +one years after the discovery of the mines of Potosi (A.D. 1545), and +full sixteen years after the epoch; from which is dated that rapid fall +in the value of silver, which in the course of seventy years, caused the +average price of corn and of all other commodities, to be tripled or even +quadrupled. At that very moment the average cost of wheat in England was +sixty-four shillings the quarter, or about seven and sixpence sterling +the bushel, and in the markets of Holland, which in truth regulated all +others, the same prices prevailed. A bushel of wheat in England was +equal therefore to eight bushels in Brussels. + +Thus the silver mines, which were the Spanish King's property, had +produced their effect everywhere more signally than within the obedient +Provinces. The South American specie found its way to Philip's coffers, +thence to the paymasters of his troops in Flanders, and thence to the +commercial centres of Holland and England. Those countries, first to +feel and obey the favourable expanding impulse of the age, were moving +surely and steadily on before it to greatness. Prices were rising with +unexampled rapidity, the precious metals were comparatively a drug, a +world-wide commerce, such as had never been dreamed of, had become an +every-day concern, the arts and sciences and a most generous culture in +famous schools and universities, which had been founded in the midst of +tumult and bloodshed, characterized the republic, and the golden age of +English poetry, which was to make the Elizabethan era famous through all +time, had already begun. + +In the Spanish Netherlands the newly-found treasure served to pay the +only labourers required in a subjugated and almost deserted country, the +pikemen of Spain and Italy, and the reiters of Germany. Prices could not +sustain themselves in the face of depopulation. Where there was no +security for property, no home-market, no foreign intercourse, industrial +pursuits had become almost impossible. The small demand for labour had +caused it, as it were, to disappear, altogether. All men had become +beggars, brigands, or soldiers. A temporary reaction followed. There +were no producers. Suddenly it was discovered that no corn had been +planted, and that there was no harvest. A famine was the inevitable +result. Prices then rose with most frightful rapidity. The veertel of +rye, which in the previous year had been worth one florin at Brussels and +Antwerp, rose in the winter of 1586-7 to twenty, twenty-two, and even +twenty-four florins; and wheat advanced from one and one-third florin to +thirty-two florins the veertel. Other articles were proportionally +increased in market-value; but it is worthy of remark that mutton was +quoted in the midst of the famine at nine stuyvers (a little more than +ninepence sterling) the pound, and beef at fivepence, while a single cod- +fish sold for twenty-two florins. Thus wheat was worth sixpence sterling +the pound weight (reckoning the veertel of one hundred and twenty pounds +at thirty florins), which was a penny more than the price of a pound of +beef; while an ordinary fish was equal in value to one hundred and six +pounds of beef. No better evidence could be given that the obedient +Provinces were relapsing into barbarism, than that the only agricultural +industry then practised was to allow what flocks and herds were remaining +to graze at will over the ruined farms and gardens, and that their +fishermen were excluded from the sea. + +The evil cured itself, however, and, before the expiration of another +year, prices were again at their previous level. The land was +sufficiently cultivated to furnish the necessaries of life for a +diminishing population, and the supply of labour was more than enough, +for the languishing demand. Wheat was again at tenpence the bushel, and +other commodities valued in like proportion, and far below the market- +prices in Holland and England. + +On the other, hand, the prosperity of the republic was rapidly +increasing. Notwithstanding the war, which had beer raging for a +terrible quarter. of a century without any interruption, population was +increasing, property rapidly advancing in value, labour in active demand. +Famine was impossible to a state which commanded the ocean. No corn grew +in Holland and Zeeland, but their ports were the granary of the world. +The fisheries were a mine of wealth almost equal to the famous Potosi, +with which the commercial world was then ringing. Their commerce with +the Baltic nations was enormous. In one month eight hundred vessels left +their havens for the eastern ports alone. There was also no doubt +whatever--and the circumstance was a source of constant complaint and of +frequent ineffective legislation--that the rebellious Provinces were +driving a most profitable trade with Spain and the Spanish possessions, +in spite of their revolutionary war. The mines of Peru and Mexico were +as fertile for the Hollanders and Zeelanders as for the Spaniards +themselves. The war paid for the war, one hundred large frigates were +constantly cruising along the coasts to protect the fast-growing traffic, +and an army of twenty thousand foot soldiers and two thousand cavalry +were maintained on land. There were more ships and sailors at that +moment in Holland and Zeeland than in the whole kingdom of England. + +While the sea-ports were thus rapidly increasing in importance, the towns +in the interior were advancing as steadily. The woollen manufacture, the +tapestry, the embroideries of Gelderland, and Friesland, and Overyssel, +were becoming as famous as had been those of Tournay, Ypres, Brussels, +and Valenciennes. The emigration from the obedient Provinces and from +other countries was very great. It was difficult to obtain lodgings in +the principal cities; new houses, new streets, new towns, were rising +every day. The single Province of Holland furnished regularly, for war- +expenses alone, two millions of florins (two hundred thousand pounds) a +year, besides frequent extraordinary grants for the same purpose, yet the +burthen imposed upon the vigorous young commonwealth seemed only to make +it the more elastic. "The coming generations may see," says a +contemporary historian, "the fortifications erected at that epoch in the +cities, the costly and magnificent havens, the docks, the great extension +of the cities; for truly the war had become a great benediction to the +inhabitants." Such a prosperous commonwealth as this was not a prize to +be lightly thrown away. There is no doubt whatever that a large majority +of the inhabitants, and of the States by whom the people were +represented, ardently and affectionately desired to be annexed to the +English crown. Leicester had become unpopular, but Elizabeth was adored, +and there was nothing unreasonable in the desire entertained by the +Provinces of retaining their ancient constitutions, and of transferring +their allegiance to the English Queen. + +But the English Queen could not resolve to take the step. Although the +great tragedy which was swiftly approaching its inevitable catastrophe, +the execution of the Scottish Queen, was to make peace with Philip +impossible--even if it were imaginable before--Elizabeth, during the year +1587, was earnestly bent on peace. This will be made manifest in +subsequent pages, by an examination of the secret correspondence of the +court. Her most sagacious statesmen disapproved her course, opposed it, +and were often overruled, although never convinced; for her imperious +will would have its way. + +The States-General loathed the very name of peace with Spain. The people +loathed it. All knew that peace with Spain meant the exchange of a +thriving prosperous commonwealth, with freedom of religion, +constitutional liberty, and self-government, for provincial subjection to +the inquisition and to despotism: To dream of any concession from Philip +on the religious point was ridiculous. There was a mirror ever held up +before their eyes by the obedient Provinces, in which they might see +their own image, should, they too return to obedience. And there was +never a pretence, on the part of any honest adviser of Queen Elizabeth in +the Netherlands, whether Englishman or Hollander, that the idea of peace- +negotiation could be tolerated for a moment by States or people. Yet the +sum of the Queen's policy, for the year 1587, may be summed up in one +word--peace; peace for the Provinces, peace for herself, with their +implacable enemy. + +In France, during the same year of expectation, we shall see the long +prologue to the tragic and memorable 1588 slowly enacting; the same +triangular contest between the three Henrys and their partizans still +proceeding. We shall see the misguided and wretched Valois lamenting +over his victories, and rejoicing over his defeats; forced into hollow +alliance with his deadly enemy; arrayed in arms against his only +protector and the true champion of the realm; and struggling vainly in +the toils of his own mother and his own secretary of state, leagued with +his most powerful foes. We shall see 'Mucio,' with one 'hand extended in +mock friendship toward the King, and with the other thrust backward to +grasp the purse of 300,000 crowns held forth to aid his fellow- +conspirator's dark designs against their common victim; and the Bearnese, +ever with lance in rest, victorious over the wrong antagonist, foiled of +the fruits of victory, proclaiming himself the English Queen's devoted +knight, but railing at her parsimony; always in the saddle, always +triumphant, always a beggar, always in love, always cheerful, and always +confident to outwit the Guises and Philip, Parma and the Pope. + +And in Spain we shall have occasion to look over the King's shoulder, as +he sits at his study-table, in his most sacred retirement; and we shall +find his policy for the year 1587 summed up in two words--invasion of +England. Sincerely and ardently as Elizabeth meant peace with Philip, +just so sincerely did Philip intend war with England, and the +dethronement and destruction of the Queen. To this great design all +others were now subservient, and it was mainly on account of this +determination that there was sufficient leisure in the republic for the +Leicestrians and the States-General to fight out so thoroughly their +party-contests. + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +Acknowledged head of the Puritan party of England (Leicester) +Geneva theocracy in the place of the vanished Papacy +Hankering for peace, when peace had really become impossible +Hating nothing so much as idleness +Mirror ever held up before their eyes by the obedient Provinces +Rigid and intolerant spirit of the reformed religion +Scorn the very word toleration as an insult +The word liberty was never musical in Tudor ears + + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY UNITED NETHERLANDS, 1586 *** + +********** This file should be named 4850.txt or 4850.zip *********** + +This eBook was produced by David Widger + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we usually do not +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +We are now trying to release all our eBooks one year in advance +of the official release dates, leaving time for better editing. +Please be encouraged to tell us about any error or corrections, +even years after the official publication date. + +Please note neither this listing nor its contents are final til +midnight of the last day of the month of any such announcement. +The official release date of all Project Gutenberg eBooks is at +Midnight, Central Time, of the last day of the stated month. A +preliminary version may often be posted for suggestion, comment +and editing by those who wish to do so. + +Most people start at our Web sites at: +https://gutenberg.org or +http://promo.net/pg + +These Web sites include award-winning information about Project +Gutenberg, including how to donate, how to help produce our new +eBooks, and how to subscribe to our email newsletter (free!). + + +Those of you who want to download any eBook before announcement +can get to them as follows, and just download by date. This is +also a good way to get them instantly upon announcement, as the +indexes our cataloguers produce obviously take a while after an +announcement goes out in the Project Gutenberg Newsletter. + +http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext03 or +ftp://ftp.ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/etext03 + +Or /etext02, 01, 00, 99, 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90 + +Just search by the first five letters of the filename you want, +as it appears in our Newsletters. + + +Information about Project Gutenberg (one page) + +We produce about two million dollars for each hour we work. The +time it takes us, a rather conservative estimate, is fifty hours +to get any eBook selected, entered, proofread, edited, copyright +searched and analyzed, the copyright letters written, etc. Our +projected audience is one hundred million readers. If the value +per text is nominally estimated at one dollar then we produce $2 +million dollars per hour in 2002 as we release over 100 new text +files per month: 1240 more eBooks in 2001 for a total of 4000+ +We are already on our way to trying for 2000 more eBooks in 2002 +If they reach just 1-2% of the world's population then the total +will reach over half a trillion eBooks given away by year's end. + +The Goal of Project Gutenberg is to Give Away 1 Trillion eBooks! +This is ten thousand titles each to one hundred million readers, +which is only about 4% of the present number of computer users. + +Here is the briefest record of our progress (* means estimated): + +eBooks Year Month + + 1 1971 July + 10 1991 January + 100 1994 January + 1000 1997 August + 1500 1998 October + 2000 1999 December + 2500 2000 December + 3000 2001 November + 4000 2001 October/November + 6000 2002 December* + 9000 2003 November* +10000 2004 January* + + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been created +to secure a future for Project Gutenberg into the next millennium. + +We need your donations more than ever! + +As of February, 2002, contributions are being solicited from people +and organizations in: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut, +Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, +Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, +Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New +Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, +Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South +Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West +Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. + +We have filed in all 50 states now, but these are the only ones +that have responded. + +As the requirements for other states are met, additions to this list +will be made and fund raising will begin in the additional states. +Please feel free to ask to check the status of your state. + +In answer to various questions we have received on this: + +We are constantly working on finishing the paperwork to legally +request donations in all 50 states. If your state is not listed and +you would like to know if we have added it since the list you have, +just ask. + +While we cannot solicit donations from people in states where we are +not yet registered, we know of no prohibition against accepting +donations from donors in these states who approach us with an offer to +donate. + +International donations are accepted, but we don't know ANYTHING about +how to make them tax-deductible, or even if they CAN be made +deductible, and don't have the staff to handle it even if there are +ways. + +Donations by check or money order may be sent to: + +Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +PMB 113 +1739 University Ave. +Oxford, MS 38655-4109 + +Contact us if you want to arrange for a wire transfer or payment +method other than by check or money order. + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been approved by +the US Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(3) organization with EIN +[Employee Identification Number] 64-622154. Donations are +tax-deductible to the maximum extent permitted by law. As fund-raising +requirements for other states are met, additions to this list will be +made and fund-raising will begin in the additional states. + +We need your donations more than ever! + +You can get up to date donation information online at: + +https://www.gutenberg.org/donation.html + + +*** + +If you can't reach Project Gutenberg, +you can always email directly to: + +Michael S. Hart <hart@pobox.com> + +Prof. Hart will answer or forward your message. + +We would prefer to send you information by email. + + +**The Legal Small Print** + + +(Three Pages) + +***START**THE SMALL PRINT!**FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN EBOOKS**START*** +Why is this "Small Print!" statement here? You know: lawyers. +They tell us you might sue us if there is something wrong with +your copy of this eBook, even if you got it for free from +someone other than us, and even if what's wrong is not our +fault. So, among other things, this "Small Print!" statement +disclaims most of our liability to you. It also tells you how +you may distribute copies of this eBook if you want to. + +*BEFORE!* YOU USE OR READ THIS EBOOK +By using or reading any part of this PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm +eBook, you indicate that you understand, agree to and accept +this "Small Print!" statement. If you do not, you can receive +a refund of the money (if any) you paid for this eBook by +sending a request within 30 days of receiving it to the person +you got it from. If you received this eBook on a physical +medium (such as a disk), you must return it with your request. + +ABOUT PROJECT GUTENBERG-TM EBOOKS +This PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBook, like most PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBooks, +is a "public domain" work distributed by Professor Michael S. Hart +through the Project Gutenberg Association (the "Project"). +Among other things, this means that no one owns a United States copyright +on or for this work, so the Project (and you!) can copy and +distribute it in the United States without permission and +without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth +below, apply if you wish to copy and distribute this eBook +under the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark. + +Please do not use the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark to market +any commercial products without permission. + +To create these eBooks, the Project expends considerable +efforts to identify, transcribe and proofread public domain +works. Despite these efforts, the Project's eBooks and any +medium they may be on may contain "Defects". Among other +things, Defects may take the form of incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other +intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged +disk or other eBook medium, a computer virus, or computer +codes that damage or cannot be read by your equipment. + +LIMITED WARRANTY; DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES +But for the "Right of Replacement or Refund" described below, +[1] Michael Hart and the Foundation (and any other party you may +receive this eBook from as a PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBook) disclaims +all liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including +legal fees, and [2] YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE OR +UNDER STRICT LIABILITY, OR FOR BREACH OF WARRANTY OR CONTRACT, +INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE +OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE +POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. + +If you discover a Defect in this eBook within 90 days of +receiving it, you can receive a refund of the money (if any) +you paid for it by sending an explanatory note within that +time to the person you received it from. If you received it +on a physical medium, you must return it with your note, and +such person may choose to alternatively give you a replacement +copy. If you received it electronically, such person may +choose to alternatively give you a second opportunity to +receive it electronically. + +THIS EBOOK IS OTHERWISE PROVIDED TO YOU "AS-IS". NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ARE MADE TO YOU AS +TO THE EBOOK OR ANY MEDIUM IT MAY BE ON, INCLUDING BUT NOT +LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A +PARTICULAR PURPOSE. + +Some states do not allow disclaimers of implied warranties or +the exclusion or limitation of consequential damages, so the +above disclaimers and exclusions may not apply to you, and you +may have other legal rights. + +INDEMNITY +You will indemnify and hold Michael Hart, the Foundation, +and its trustees and agents, and any volunteers associated +with the production and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm +texts harmless, from all liability, cost and expense, including +legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of the +following that you do or cause: [1] distribution of this eBook, +[2] alteration, modification, or addition to the eBook, +or [3] any Defect. + +DISTRIBUTION UNDER "PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm" +You may distribute copies of this eBook electronically, or by +disk, book or any other medium if you either delete this +"Small Print!" and all other references to Project Gutenberg, +or: + +[1] Only give exact copies of it. Among other things, this + requires that you do not remove, alter or modify the + eBook or this "small print!" statement. You may however, + if you wish, distribute this eBook in machine readable + binary, compressed, mark-up, or proprietary form, + including any form resulting from conversion by word + processing or hypertext software, but only so long as + *EITHER*: + + [*] The eBook, when displayed, is clearly readable, and + does *not* contain characters other than those + intended by the author of the work, although tilde + (~), asterisk (*) and underline (_) characters may + be used to convey punctuation intended by the + author, and additional characters may be used to + indicate hypertext links; OR + + [*] The eBook may be readily converted by the reader at + no expense into plain ASCII, EBCDIC or equivalent + form by the program that displays the eBook (as is + the case, for instance, with most word processors); + OR + + [*] You provide, or agree to also provide on request at + no additional cost, fee or expense, a copy of the + eBook in its original plain ASCII form (or in EBCDIC + or other equivalent proprietary form). + +[2] Honor the eBook refund and replacement provisions of this + "Small Print!" statement. + +[3] Pay a trademark license fee to the Foundation of 20% of the + gross profits you derive calculated using the method you + already use to calculate your applicable taxes. If you + don't derive profits, no royalty is due. Royalties are + payable to "Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation" + the 60 days following each date you prepare (or were + legally required to prepare) your annual (or equivalent + periodic) tax return. Please contact us beforehand to + let us know your plans and to work out the details. + +WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO? +Project Gutenberg is dedicated to increasing the number of +public domain and licensed works that can be freely distributed +in machine readable form. + +The Project gratefully accepts contributions of money, time, +public domain materials, or royalty free copyright licenses. +Money should be paid to the: +"Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +If you are interested in contributing scanning equipment or +software or other items, please contact Michael Hart at: +hart@pobox.com + +[Portions of this eBook's header and trailer may be reprinted only +when distributed free of all fees. Copyright (C) 2001, 2002 by +Michael S. Hart. Project Gutenberg is a TradeMark and may not be +used in any sales of Project Gutenberg eBooks or other materials be +they hardware or software or any other related product without +express permission.] + +*END THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN EBOOKS*Ver.02/11/02*END* + diff --git a/4850.zip b/4850.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..0cab255 --- /dev/null +++ b/4850.zip diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..687d803 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #4850 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/4850) |