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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/4851.txt b/4851.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..745b45c --- /dev/null +++ b/4851.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1925 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook History of The United Netherlands, 1587 +#51 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, 1587 + +Author: John Lothrop Motley + +Release Date: January, 2004 [EBook #4851] +[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, 1587 *** + + + +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. 51 + +History of the United Netherlands, 1587 + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + + Barneveld's Influence in the Provinces--Unpopularity of Leicester + intrigues--of his Servants--Gossip of his Secretary-- + Its mischievous Effects--The Quarrel of Norris and Hollock-- + The Earl's Participation in the Affair--His increased Animosity to + Norris--Seizure of Deventer--Stanley appointed its Governor--York + and Stanley--Leicester's secret Instructions--Wilkes remonstrates + with Stanley--Stanley's Insolence and Equivocation--Painful Rumours + as to him and York--Duplicity of York--Stanley's Banquet at + Deventer--He surrenders the City to Tassis--Terms of the Bargain-- + Feeble Defence of Stanley's Conduct--Subsequent Fate of Stanley and + York--Betrayal of Gelder to Parma--These Treasons cast Odium on the + English--Miserable Plight of the English Troops--Honesty and Energy + of Wilkes--Indignant Discussion in the Assembly. + +The government had not been laid down by Leicester on his departure. It +had been provisionally delegated, as already mentioned to the state- +council. In this body-consisting of eighteen persons--originally +appointed by the Earl, on nomination by the States, several members were +friendly to the governor, and others were violently opposed to him. The +Staten of Holland, by whom the action of the States-General was mainly +controlled, were influenced in their action by Buys and Barneveld. Young +Maurice of Nassau, nineteen years of age, was stadholder of Holland and +Zeeland. A florid complexioned, fair-haired young man, of sanguine- +bilious temperament; reserved, quiet, reflective, singularly self- +possessed; meriting at that time, more than his father had ever done, the +appellation of the taciturn; discreet, sober, studious. "Count Maurice +saith but little, but I cannot tell what he thinketh," wrote Leicester's +eaves-dropper-in-chiefs. Mathematics, fortification, the science of war +--these were his daily pursuits. "The sapling was to become the tree," +and meantime the youth was preparing for the great destiny which he felt, +lay before him. To ponder over the works and the daring conceptions of +Stevinus, to build up and to batter the wooden blocks of mimic citadels; +to arrange in countless combinations, great armies of pewter soldiers; +these were the occupations of his leisure-hours. Yet he was hardly +suspected of bearing within him the germs of the great military +commander. "Small desire hath Count Maurice to follow the wars," said +one who fancied himself an acute observer at exactly this epoch. "And +whereas it might be supposed that in respect to his birth and place, he +would affect the chief military command in these countries, it is found +by experience had of his humour, that there is no chance of his entering +into competition with the others." A modest young man, who could bide +his time--but who, meanwhile, under the guidance of his elders, was doing +his best, both in field and cabinet, to learn the great lessons of the +age--he had already enjoyed much solid practical instruction, under such +a desperate fighter as Hohenlo, and under so profound a statesman as +Barneveld. For at this epoch Olden-Barneveld was the preceptor, almost +the political patron of Maurice, and Maurice, the official head of the +Holland party, was the declared opponent of the democratic-Calvinist +organization. It is not necessary, at this early moment, to foreshadow +the changes which time was to bring. Meantime it would be seen, perhaps +ere long, whether or no, it would be his humour to follow the wars. As +to his prudent and dignified deportment there was little doubt. "Count +Maurice behaveth himself very discreetly all this while," wrote one, who +did not love him, to Leicester, who loved him less: "He cometh every day +to the council, keeping no company with Count Hollock, nor with any of +them all, and never drinks himself full with any of them, as they do +every day among themselves." + +Certainly the most profitable intercourse that Maurice could enjoy with +Hohenlo was upon the battle-field. In winter-quarters, that hard- +fighting, hard-drinking, and most turbulent chieftain, was not the best +Mentor for a youth whose destiny pointed him out as the leader of a free +commonwealth. After the campaigns were over--if they ever could be over- +-the Count and other nobles from the same country were too apt to indulge +in those mighty potations, which were rather characteristic of their +nation and the age. + +"Since your Excellency's departure," wrote Leicester's secretary, "there +hath been among the Dutch Counts nothing but dancing and drinking, to the +grief of all this people; which foresee that there can come no good of +it. Specially Count Hollock, who hath been drunk almost a fortnight +together." + +Leicester had rendered himself unpopular with the States-General, and +with all the leading politicians and generals; yet, at that moment, he +had deeply mortgaged his English estates in order to raise funds to +expend in the Netherland cause. Thirty thousand pounds sterling-- +according to his own statement--he was already out of pocket, and, unless +the Queen would advance him the means to redeem his property; his broad +lands were to be brought to the hammer. But it was the Queen, not the +States-General, who owed the money; for the Earl had advanced these sums +as a portion of the royal contingent. Five hundred and sixty thousand +pounds sterling had been the cost of one year's war during the English +governor's administration; and of this sum one hundred and forty thousand +had been paid by England. There was a portion of the sum, over and above +their monthly levies; for which the States had contracted a debt, and +they were extremely desirous to obtain, at that moment, an additional +loan of fifty thousand pounds from Elizabeth; a favour which--Elizabeth +was very firmly determined not to grant. It was this terror at the +expense into which the Netherland war was plunging her, which made the +English sovereign so desirous for peace, and filled the anxious mind of +Walsingham with the most painful forebodings. + +Leicester, in spite of his good qualities--such as they were--had not +that most necessary gift for a man in his position, the art of making +friends. No man made so many enemies. He was an excellent hater, and +few men have been more cordially hated in return. He was imperious, +insolent, hot-tempered. He could brook no equal. He had also the fatal +defect of enjoying the flattery, of his inferiors in station. Adroit +intriguers burned incense to him as a god, and employed him as their +tool. And now he had mortally offended Hohenlo, and Buys, and Barneveld, +while he hated Sir John Norris with a most passionate hatred. Wilkes, +the English representative, was already a special object of his aversion. +The unvarnished statements made by the stiff counsellor, of the expense +of the past year's administration, and the various errors committed, had +inspired Leicester with such ferocious resentment, that the friends of +Wilkes trembled for his life. + + ["It is generally bruited here," wrote Henry Smith to his brother- + in-law Wilkes, "of a most heavy displeasure conceived by my Lord of + Leicester against you, and it is said to be so great as that he hath + protested to be revenged of you; and to procure you the more + enemies, it is said he hath revealed to my Lord Treasurer, and + Secretary Davison some injurious speeches (which I cannot report) + you should have used of them to him at your last being with him. + Furthermore some of the said Lord's secretaries have reported here + that it were good for you never to return hither, or, if their Lord + be appointed to go over again, it will be too hot for you to tarry + there. These things thus coming to the ears of your friends have + stricken a great fear and grief into the minds of such as love you, + lest the wonderful force and authority of this man being bent + against you, should do you hurt, while there is none to answer for + you." Smith to Wilkes, 26 Jan. 1587. (S. P. Office MS.)] + +Cordiality between the governor-general and Count Maurice had become +impossible. As for Willoughby and Sir William Pelham, they were both +friendly to him, but Willoughby was a magnificent cavalry officer, who +detested politics, and cared little for the Netherlands, except as the +best battle-field in Europe, and the old marshal of the camp--the only +man that Leicester ever loved--was growing feeble in health, was broken +down by debt, and hardly possessed, or wished for, any general influence. + +Besides Deventer of Utrecht, then, on whom, the Earl chiefly relied +during his, absence, there were none to support him cordially, except two +or three members of the state-council. "Madame de Brederode hath sent +unto you a kind of rose," said his intelligencer, "which you have asked +for, and beseeches you to command anything she has in her garden, or +whatsoever. M. Meetkerke, M. Brederode, and Mr. Dorius, wish your return +with all, their hearts. For the rest I cannot tell, and will not swear. +But Mr. Barneveld is not your very great friend, whereof I can write no +more at this time." + +This certainly was a small proportion out of a council of eighteen, when +all the leading politicians of the country were in avowed hostility to +the governor. And thus the Earl was, at this most important crisis, to +depend upon the subtle and dangerous Deventer, and upon two inferior +personages, the "fellow Junius" and a non-descript, whom Hohenlo +characterized as a "long lean Englishman, with a little black beard." +This meagre individual however seems to have been of somewhat doubtful +nationality. He called himself Otheman, claimed to be a Frenchman, had +lived much in England, wrote with great fluency and spirit, both in +French and English, but was said, in reality, to be named Robert Dale. + +It was not the best policy for the representative of the English Queen to +trust to such counsellors at a moment when the elements of strife between +Holland and England were actively at work; and when the safety, almost +the existence, of the two commonwealths depended upon their acting +cordially in concert. "Overyssel, Utrecht, Friesland, and Gelderland, +have agreed to renew the offer of sovereignty to her Majesty," said +Leicester. "I shall be able to make a better report of their love and +good inclination than I can of Holland." It was thought very desirable +by the English government that this great demonstration should be made +once more, whatever might be the ultimate decision of her Majesty upon so +momentous a measure. It seemed proper that a solemn embassy should once +more proceed to England in order to confer with Elizabeth; but there was +much delay in regard to the step, and much indignation, in consequence, +on the part of the Earl. The opposition came, of course, from the +Barneveld party. "They are in no great haste to offer the sovereignty," +said Wilkes. "First some towns of Holland made bones thereat, and now +they say that Zeeland is not resolved." + +The nature and the causes of the opposition offered by Barneveld and the +States of Holland have been sufficiently explained. Buys, maddened by +his long and unjustifiable imprisonment, had just been released by the +express desire of Hohenlo; and that unruly chieftain, who guided the +German and Dutch magnates; such as Moeurs and Overstein, and who even +much influenced Maurice and his cousin Count Lewis William, was himself +governed by Barneveld. It would have been far from impossible for +Leicester, even then, to conciliate the whole party. It was highly +desirable that he should do so, for not one of the Provinces where he +boasted his strength was quite secure for England. Count Moeurs, a +potent and wealthy noble, was governor of Utrecht and Gelderland, and he +had already begun to favour the party in Holland which claimed for that +Province a legal jurisdiction over the whole ancient episcopate. Under +these circumstances common prudence would have suggested that as good an +understanding as possible might be kept up with the Dutch and German +counts, and that the breach might not be rendered quite irreparable. + +Yet, as if there had not been administrative blunders enough committed in +one year, the unlucky lean Englishman, with the black beard, who was the +Earl's chief representative, contrived--almost before his master's back +was turned--to draw upon himself the wrath of all the fine ladies in +Holland. That this should be the direful spring of unutterable +disasters, social and political, was easy to foretell. + +Just before the governor's departure Otheman came to pay his farewell +respects, and receive his last commands. He found Leicester seated at +chess with Sir Francis Drake. + +"I do leave you here, my poor Otheman," said the Earl, "but so soon as I +leave you I know very well that nobody will give you a good look." + +"Your Excellency was a true prophet," wrote the secretary a few weeks +later, "for, my good Lord, I have been in as great danger of my life as +ever man was. I have been hunted at Delft from house to house, and then +besieged in my lodgings four or five hours, as though I had been the +greatest thief, murderer, and traitor in the land." + +And why was the unfortunate Otheman thus hunted to his lair? Because he +had chosen to indulge in 'scandalum magnatum,' and had thereby excited +the frenzy of all the great nobles whom it was most important for the +English party to conciliate. + +There had been gossip about the Princess of Chimay and one Calvaert, who +lived in her house, much against the advice of all her best friends. One +day she complained bitterly to Master Otheman of the spiteful ways of the +world. + +"I protest," said she, "that I am the unhappiest lady upon earth to have +my name thus called in question." + +So said Otheman, in order to comfort her: "Your Highness is aware that +such things are said of all. I am sure I hear every day plenty of +speeches about lords and ladies, queens and princesses. You have little +cause to trouble yourself for such matters, being known to live honestly, +and like a good Christian lady. Your Highness is not the only lady +spoken of." + +The Princess listened with attention. + +"Think of the stories about the Queen of England and my Lord of +Leicester!" said Otheman, with infinite tact. "No person is exempted +from the tongues of evil, speakers; but virtuous and godly men do put all +such foolish matter under their feet. Then there is the Countess of +Hoeurs, how much evil talk does one hear about her!" + +The Princess seemed still more interested and even excited; and the +adroit Otheman having thus, as he imagined, very successfully smoothed +away her anger, went off to have a little more harmless gossip about the +Princess and the Countess, with Madame de Meetkerke, who had sent +Leicester the rose from her garden. + +But, no sooner, had he gone, than away went her Highness to Madame de +Moeurs, "a marvellous wise and well-spoken gentlewoman and a grave," and +informed her and the Count, with some trifling exaggeration, that the +vile Englishman, secretary to the odious Leicester, had just been there, +abusing and calumniating the Countess in most lewd and abominable +fashion. He had also, she protested, used "very evil speeches of all the +ladies in the country." For her own part the Princess avowed her +determination to have him instantly murdered. Count Moeurs was quite of +the same mind, and desired nothing better than to be one of his +executioners. Accordingly, the next Sunday, when the babbling secretary +had gone down to Delft to hear the French sermon, a select party, +consisting of Moeurs, Lewis William of Nassau, Count Overstein, and +others, set forth for that city, laid violent hands on the culprit, and +brought him bodily before Princess Chimay. There, being called upon to +explain his innuendos, he fell into much trepidation, and gave the names +of several English captains, whom he supposed to be at that time in +England. "For if I had denied the whole matter," said he, "they would +have given me the lie, and used me according to their evil mind." Upon +this they relented, and released their prisoner, but, the next day they +made another attack upon him, hunted him from house to house, through the +whole city of Delft, and at last drove him to earth in his own lodgings, +where they kept him besieged several hours. Through the intercession of +Wilkes and the authority of the council of state, to which body he +succeeded in conveying information of his dangerous predicament, he was, +in his own language, "miraculously preserved," although remaining still in +daily danger of his life. "I pray God keep me hereafter from the anger +of a woman," he exclaimed, "quia non est ira supra iram mulieris." + +He was immediately examined before the council, and succeeded in clearing +and justifying himself to the satisfaction of his friends. His part was +afterwards taken by the councillors, by all the preachers and godly men, +and by the university of Leyden. But it was well understood that the +blow and the affront had been levelled at the English governor and the +English nation. + +"All your friends do see," said Otheman, "that this disgrace is not meant +so much to me as to your Excellency; the Dutch Earls having used such +speeches unto me, and against all law, custom, and reason, used such +violence to me, that your Excellency shall wonder to hear of it." + +Now the Princess Chimay, besides being of honourable character, was a +sincere and exemplary member of the Calvinist church, and well inclined +to the Leicestrians. She was daughter of Count Meghem, one of the +earliest victims of Philip II., in the long tragedy of Netherland +independence, and widow of Lancelot Berlaymont. Count Moeurs was +governor of Utrecht, and by no means, up to that time, a thorough +supporter of the Holland party; but thenceforward he went off most +abruptly from the party of England, became hand and glove with Hohenlo, +accepted the influence of Barneveld, and did his best to wrest the city +of Utrecht from English authority. Such was the effect of the +secretary's harmless gossip. + +"I thought Count Moeurs and his wife better friends to your Excellency +than I do see them to be," said Otheman afterwards. "But he doth now +disgrace the English nation many ways in his speeches--saying that they +are no soldiers, that they do no good to this country, and that these +Englishmen that are at Arnheim have an intent to sell and betray the town +to the enemy." + +But the disgraceful squabble between Hohenlo and Edward Norris had been +more unlucky for Leicester than any other incident during the year, for +its result was to turn the hatred of both parties against himself. Yet +the Earl of all men, was originally least to blame for the transaction. +It has been seen that Sir Philip Sidney had borne Norris's cartel to +Hohenlo, very soon after the outrage had been committed. The Count had +promised satisfaction, but meantime was desperately wounded in the attack +on Fort Zutphen. Leicester afterwards did his best to keep Edward Norris +employed in distant places, for he was quite aware that Hohenlo, as +lieutenant-general and count of the empire, would consider himself +aggrieved at being called to the field by a simple English captain, +however deeply he might have injured him. The governor accordingly +induced the Queen to recall the young man to England, and invited him-- +much as he disliked his whole race--to accompany him on his departure for +that country. + +The Captain then consulted with his brother Sir John, regarding the +pending dispute with Hohenlo. His brother advised that the Count should +be summoned to keep his promise, but that Lord Leicester's permission +should previously be requested. + +A week before the governor's departure, accordingly, Edward Norris +presented himself one morning in the dining-room, and, finding the Earl +reclining on a window-seat, observed to him that "he desired his +Lordship's favour towards the discharging of his reputation." + +"The Count Hollock is now well," he proceeded, "and is fasting and +banqueting in his lodgings, although he does not come abroad." + +"And what way will you take?" inquired Leicester, "considering that he +keeps his house." + +"'Twill be best, I thought," answered Norris, "to write unto him, to +perform his promise he made me to answer me in the field." + +"To whom did he make that promise?" asked the Earl. + +"To Sir Philip Sidney," answered the Captain. + +"To my nephew Sidney," said Leicester, musingly; "very well; do as you +think best, and I will do for you what I can." + +And the governor then added many kind expressions concerning the interest +he felt in the young man's reputation. Passing to other matters, Morris +then spoke of the great charges he had recently been put to by reason of +having exchanged out of the States' service in order to accept a +commission from his Lordship to levy a company of horse. This levy had +cost him and his friends three hundred pounds, for which he had not been +able to "get one groat." + +"I beseech your Lordship to stand good for me," said he; "considering the +meanest captain in all the country hath as good entertainment as I." + +"I can do but little for you before my departure," said Leicester; "but +at my return I will advise to do more." + +After this amicable conversation Morris thanked his Lordship, took his +leave, and straightway wrote his letter to Count Hollock. + +That personage, in his answer, expressed astonishment that Norris should +summon him, in his "weakness and indisposition;" but agreed to give him +the desired meeting; with sword and dagger, so soon as he should be +sufficiently recovered. Morris, in reply, acknowledged his courteous +promise, and hoped that he might be speedily restored to health. + +The state-council, sitting at the Hague, took up the matter at once +however, and requested immediate information of the Earl. He accordingly +sent for Norris and his brother Sir John, who waited upon him in his bed- +chamber, and were requested to set down in writing the reasons which had +moved them in the matter. This statement was accordingly furnished, +together with a copy of the correspondence. The Earl took the papers, +and promised to allow most honourably of it in the Council. + +Such is the exact narrative, word for word, as given by Sir John and +Edward Norris, in a solemn memorial to the Lords of Her Majesty's privy +council, as well as to the state-council of the United Provinces. A very +few days afterwards Leicester departed for England, taking Edward Norris +with him. + +Count Hohenlo was furious at the indignity, notwithstanding the polite +language in which he had accepted the challenge. "'T was a matter +punishable with death," he said, "in all kingdoms and countries, for a +simple captain to send such a summons to a man of his station, without +consent of the supreme authority. It was plain," he added, "that the +English governor-general had connived at the affront," for Norris had been +living in his family and dining at his table. Nay, more, Lord Leicester +had made him a knight at Flushing just before their voyage to England. +There seems no good reason to doubt the general veracity of the brothers +Norris, although, for the express purpose of screening Leicester, Sir +John represented at the time to Hohenlo and others that the Earl had not +been privy to the transaction. It is very certain, however, that so soon +as the general indignation of Hohenlo and his partizans began to be +directed against Leicester, he at once denied, in passionate and abusive +language, having had any knowledge whatever of Norris's intentions. He +protested that he learned, for the first time, of the cartel from +information furnished to the council of state. + +The quarrel between Hohenlo and Norris was afterwards amicably arranged +by Lord Buckhurst, during his embassy to the States, at the express +desire of the Queen. Hohenlo and Sir John Norris became very good +friends, while the enmity between them and Leicester grew more deadly +every day. The Earl was frantic with rage whenever he spoke of the +transaction, and denounced Sir John Norris as "a fool, liar, and coward" +on all occasions, besides overwhelming his brother, Buckhurst, Wilkes, +and every other person who took their part, with a torrent of abuse; and +it is well known that the Earl was a master of Billingsgate. + +"Hollock says that I did procure Edward Norris to send him his cartel," +observed Leicester on one occasion, "wherein I protest before the Lord, +I was as ignorant as any man in England. His brother John can tell +whether I did not send for him to have committed him for it; but that, in +very truth, upon the perusing of it" (after it had been sent), "it was +very reasonably written, and I did consider also the great wrong offered +him by the Count, and so forbore it. I was so careful for the Count's +safety after the brawl between him and Norris, that I charged Sir John, +if any harm came to the Count's person by any of his or under him, that +he should answer it. Therefore, I take the story to be bred in the bosom +of some much like a thief or villain, whatsoever he were." + +And all this was doubtless true so far as regarded the Earl's original +exertions to prevent the consequences of the quarrel, but did not touch +the point of the second correspondence preceded by the conversation in +the dining-room, eight days before the voyage to England. The affair, in +itself of slight importance, would not merit so much comment at this late +day had it not been for its endless consequences. The ferocity with +which the Earl came to regard every prominent German, Hollander, and +Englishman, engaged in the service of the States, sprang very much from +the complications of this vulgar brawl. Norris, Hohenlo, Wilkes, +Buckhurst, were all denounced to the Queen as calumniators, traitors, and +villains; and it may easily be understood how grave and extensive must +have been the effects of such vituperation upon the mind of Elizabeth, +who, until the last day of his life, doubtless entertained for the Earl +the deepest affection of which her nature was susceptible. Hohenlo, with +Count Maurice, were the acknowledged chiefs of the anti-English party, +and the possibility of cordial cooperation between the countries may be +judged of by the entanglement which had thus occurred. + +Leicester had always hated Sir John Norris, but he knew that the mother +had still much favour with the Queen, and he was therefore the more +vehement in his denunciations of the son the more difficulty be found in +entirely destroying his character, and the keener jealousy he felt that +any other tongue but his should influence her Majesty. "The story of +John Norris about the cartel is, by the Lord God, most false," he +exclaimed; "I do beseech you not to see me so dealt withal, but that +especially her Majesty may understand these untruths, who perhaps, by the +mother's fair speeches and the son's smooth words, may take some other +conceit of my doings than I deserve." + +He was most resolute to stamp the character of falsehood upon both the +brothers, for he was more malignant towards Sir John than towards any man +in the world, not even excepting Wilkes. To the Queen, to the Lords of +the Privy Council, to Walsingham, to Burghley, he poured forth endless +quantities of venom, enough to destroy the characters of a hundred honest +men. + +"The declaration of the two Norrises for the cartel is most false, as I +am a Christian," he said to Walsingham. "I have a dozen witnesses, as +good and some better than they, who will testify that they were present +when I misliked the writing of the letter before ever I saw it. And by +the allegiance I owe to her Majesty, I never knew of the letter, nor gave +consent to it, nor heard of it till it was complained of from Count +Hollock. But, as they are false in this, so you will find J. N. as false +in his other answers; so that he would be ashamed, but that his old +conceit hath made him past shame, I fear. His companions in Ireland, as +in these countries, report that Sir John Norris would often say that he +was but an ass and a fool, who, if a lie would serve his turn, would +spare it. I remember I have heard that the Earl of Sussex would say so; +and indeed this gentleman doth imitate him in divers things." + +But a very grave disaster to Holland and England was soon the fruit of +the hatred borne by Leicester to Sir John Norris. Immediately after the +battle of Zutphen and the investment of that town by the English and +Netherlanders, great pains were taken to secure the city of Deventer. +This was, after Amsterdam and Antwerp, the most important mercantile +place in all the Provinces. It was a large prosperous commercial and +manufacturing capital, a member of the Hanseatic League, and the great +centre of the internal trade of the Netherlands with the Baltic nations. +There was a strong Catholic party in the town, and the magistracy were +disposed to side with Parma. It was notorious that provisions and +munitions were supplied from thence to the beleaguered Zutphen; and +Leicester despatched Sir William Pelham, accordingly, to bring the +inhabitants to reason. The stout Marshal made short work of it. Taking +Sir William Stanley and the greater part of his regiment with him, he +caused them, day by day, to steal into the town, in small parties of ten +and fifteen. No objection was made to this proceeding on the part of the +city government. Then Stanley himself arrived in the morning, and the +Marshal in the evening, of the 20th of October. Pelham ordered the +magistrates to present themselves forthwith at his lodgings, and told +them, with grim courtesy, that the Earl of Leicester excused himself from +making them a visit, not being able, for grief at the death of Sir Philip +Sidney, to come so soon near the scene of his disaster. His Excellency +had therefore sent him to require the town to receive an English +garrison. "So make up your minds, and delay not," said Pelham; "for I +have many important affairs on my hands, and must send word to his +Excellency at once. To-morrow morning, at eight o'clock, I shall expect +your answer." + +Next day, the magistrates were all assembled in the townhouse before six. +Stanley had filled the great square with his troops, but he found that +the burghers-five thousand of whom constituted the municipal militia--had +chained the streets and locked the gates. At seven o'clock Pelham +proceeded, to the town-house, and, followed by his train, made his +appearance before the magisterial board. Then there was a knocking at +the door, and Sir William Stanley entered, having left a strong guard of +soldiers at the entrance to the hall. + +"I am come for an answer," said the Lord Marshal; "tell me straight." +The magistrates hesitated, whispered, and presently one of them slipped +away. + +"There's one of you gone," cried the Marshal. "Fetch him straight back; +or, by the living God, before whom I stand, there is not one of you shall +leave this place with life." + +So the burgomasters sent for the culprit, who returned. + +"Now, tell me," said Pelham, "why you have, this night, chained your +streets and kept such strong watch while your friends and defenders were +in the town? Do you think we came over here to spend our lives and our +goods, and to leave all we have, to be thus used and thus betrayed by +you? Nay, you shall find us trusty to our friends, but as politic as +yourselves. Now, then; set your hands to this document," he proceeded, +as he gave them a new list of magistrates, all selected from stanch +Protestants. + +"Give over your government to the men here nominated, Straight; dally +not!" The burgomasters signed the paper. + +"Now," said Pelham, "let one of you go to the watch, discharge the guard, +bid them unarm, and go home to their lodgings." + +A magistrate departed on the errand. + +"Now fetch me the keys of the gate," said Pelham, "and that straightway, +or, before God, you shall die." + +The keys were brought, and handed to the peremptory old Marshal. The old +board of magistrates were then clapped into prison, the new ones +installed, and Deventer was gained for the English and Protestant party. + +There could be no doubt that a city so important and thus fortunately +secured was worthy to be well guarded. There could be no doubt either +that it would be well to conciliate the rich and influential Papists in +the place, who, although attached to the ancient religion, were not +necessarily disloyal to the republic; but there could be as little that, +under the circumstances of this sudden municipal revolution, it would be +important to place a garrison of Protestant soldiers there, under the +command of a Protestant officer of known fidelity. + +To the astonishment of the whole commonwealth, the Earl appointed Sir +William Stanley to be governor of the town, and stationed in it a +garrison of twelve hundred wild Irishmen. + +Sir William was a cadet of one of the noblest English houses. He was the +bravest of the brave. His gallantry at the famous Zutphen fight had +attracted admiration, where nearly all had performed wondrous exploits, +but he was known to be an ardent Papist and a soldier of fortune, who had +fought on various sides, and had even borne arms in the Netherlands under +the ferocious Alva. Was it strange that there should be murmurs at the +appointment of so dangerous a chief to guard a wavering city which had so +recently been secured? + +The Irish kernes--and they are described by all contemporaries, English +and Flemish, in the same language--were accounted as the wildest and +fiercest of barbarians. There was something grotesque, yet appalling, +in the pictures painted of these rude, almost naked; brigands, who ate +raw flesh, spoke no intelligible language, and ranged about the country, +burning, slaying, plundering, a terror to the peasantry and a source of +constant embarrassment to the more orderly troops in the service of the +republic. "It seemed," said one who had seen them, "that they belonged +not to Christendom, but to Brazil." Moreover, they were all Papists, +and, however much one might be disposed to censure that great curse of +the age, religious intolerance--which was almost as flagrant in the +councils of Queen Elizabeth as in those of Philip--it was certainly a +most fatal policy to place such a garrison, at that critical juncture, in +the newly-acquired city. Yet Leicester, who had banished Papists from +Utrecht without cause and without trial, now placed most notorious +Catholics in Deventer. + +Zutphen, which was still besieged by the English and the patriots, was +much crippled by the loss of the great fort, the capture of which, mainly +through the brilliant valour of Stanley's brother Edward, has already +been related. The possession of Deventer and of this fort gave the +control of the whole north-eastern territory to the patriots; but, as if +it were not enough to place Deventer in the hands of Sir William Stanley, +Leicester thought proper to confide the government of the fort to Roland +York. Not a worse choice could be made in the whole army. + +York was an adventurer of the most audacious and dissolute character. He +was a Londoner by birth, one of those "ruing blades" inveighed against by +the governor-general on his first taking command of the forces. A man of +desperate courage, a gambler, a professional duellist, a bravo, famous in +his time among the "common hacksters and swaggerers" as the first to +introduce the custom of foining, or thrusting with the rapier in single +combats--whereas before his day it had been customary among the English +to fight with sword and shield, and held unmanly to strike below the +girdle--he had perpetually changed sides, in the Netherland wars, with +the shameless disregard to principle which characterized all his actions. +He had been lieutenant to the infamous John Van Imbyze, and had been +concerned with him in the notorious attempt to surrender Dendermonde and +Ghent to the enemy, which had cost that traitor his head. York had been +thrown into prison at Brussels, but there had been some delay about his +execution, and the conquest of the city by Parma saved him from the +gibbet. He had then taken service under the Spanish commander-in-chief, +and had distinguished himself, as usual, by deeds of extraordinary +valour, having sprung on board the, burning volcano-ship at the siege of +Antwerp. Subsequently returning to England, he had, on Leicester's +appointment, obtained the command of a company in the English contingent, +and had been conspicuous on the field of Warnsveld; for the courage which +he always displayed under any standard was only equalled by the audacity +with which he was ever ready to desert from it. Did it seem credible +that the fort of Zutphen should be placed in the hands of Roland York? + +Remonstrances were made by the States-General at once. With regard to +Stanley, Leicester maintained that he was, in his opinion, the fittest +man to take charge of the whole English army, during his absence in +England. In answer to a petition made by the States against the +appointment of York, "in respect to his perfidious dealings before," the +Earl replied that he would answer for his fidelity as for his own +brother; adding peremptorily--"Do you trust me? Then trust York." + +But, besides his other qualifications for high command, Stanley possessed +an inestimable one in Leicester's eyes. He was, or at least had been, an +enemy of Sir John Norris. To be this made a Papist pardonable. It was +even better than to be a Puritan. + +But the Earl did more than to appoint the traitor York and the Papist +Stanley to these important posts. On the very day of his departure, and +immediately after his final quarrel with Sir John about the Hohenlo +cartel, which had renewed all the ancient venom, he signed a secret +paper, by which he especially forbade the council of state to interfere +with or set aside any appointments to the government of towns or forts, +or to revoke any military or naval commissions, without his consent. + +Now supreme executive authority had been delegated to the state-council +by the Governor-General during his absence. Command in chief over all +the English forces, whether in the Queen's pay or the State's pay, had +been conferred upon Norris, while command over the Dutch and German +troops belonged to Hohenlo; but, by virtue of the Earl's secret paper, +Stanley and York were now made independent of all authority. The evil +consequences natural to such a step were not slow in displaying +themselves. + +Stanley at once manifested great insolence towards Norris. That +distinguished general was placed in a most painful position. A post of +immense responsibility was confided to him. The honour of England's +Queen and of England's soldiers was entrusted to his keeping; at a moment +full of danger, and in a country where every hour might bring forth some +terrible change; yet he knew himself the mark at which the most powerful +man in England was directing all his malice, and that the Queen, who was +wax in her great favourite's hands, was even then receiving the most +fatal impressions as to his character and conduct. "Well I know," said +he to Burghley, "that the root of the former malice borne me is not +withered, but that I must look for like fruits therefrom as before;" +and he implored the Lord-Treasurer, that when his honour and reputation +should be called in question, he might be allowed to return to England +and clear himself. "For myself," said he, "I have not yet received any +commission, although I have attended his Lordship of Leicester to his +ship. It is promised to be sent me, and in the meantime I understand +that my Lord hath granted separate commissions to Sir William Stanley and +Roland York, exempting them from obeying of me. If this be true, 'tis +only done to nourish factions, and to interrupt any better course in our +doings than before hath been." He earnestly requested to be furnished +with a commission directly from her Majesty. "The enemy is reinforcing," +he added. "We are very weak, our troops are unpaid these three months, +and we are grown odious, to our friends." + +Honest Councillor Wilkes, who did his best to conciliate all parties, and +to do his duty to England and Holland, to Leicester and to Norris, had +the strongest sympathy with Sir John. "Truly, besides the value, wisdom, +and many other good parts that are in him," he said, "I have noted +wonderful patience and modesty in the man, in bearing many apparent +injuries done unto him, which I have known to be countenanced and +nourished, contrary to all reason, to disgrace him. Please therefore +continue your honourable opinion of him in his absence, whatsoever may be +maliciously reported to his disadvantage, for I dare avouch, of my own +poor skill, that her Majesty hath not a second subject of his place and +quality able to serve in those countries as he . . . . . I doubt not +God will move her Majesty, in despite of the devil, to respect him as he +deserves." + +Sir John disclaimed any personal jealousy in regard to Stanley's +appointment, but, within a week or two of the Earl's departure, he +already felt strong anxiety as to its probable results. "If it prove no +hindrance to the service," he said, "it shall nothing trouble me. I +desire that my doings may show what I am; neither will I seek, by +indirect means to calumniate him or any other, but will let them show +themselves." + +Early in December he informed the Lord-Treasurer that Stanley's own men +were boasting that their master acknowledged no superior authority to his +own, and that he had said as much himself to the magistracy of Deventer. +The burghers had already complained, through the constituted guardians of +their liberties, of his insolence and rapacity, and of the turbulence of +his troops, and had appealed to Sir John; but the colonel-general's +remonstrances had been received by Sir William with contumely and abuse, +and by daunt that he had even a greater commission than any he had yet +shown. + +"Three sheep, an ox, and a whole hog," were required weekly of the +peasants for his table, in a time of great scarcity, and it was +impossible to satisfy the rapacious appetites of the Irish kernes. The +paymaster-general of the English forces was daily appealed to by Stanley +for funds--an application which was certainly not unreasonable, as her +Majesty's troops had not received any payment for three months--but there +"was not a denier in the treasury," and he was therefore implored to +wait. At last the States-General sent him a month's pay for himself and +all his troops, although, as he was in the Queen's service, no claim +could justly be made upon them. + +Wilkes, also, as English member of the state council, faithfully conveyed +to the governor-general in England the complaints which came up to all +the authorities of the republic, against Sir William Stanley's conduct in +Deventer. He had seized the keys of the gates, he kept possession of the +towers and fortifications, he had meddled with the civil government, he +had infringed all their privileges. Yet this was the board of +magistrates, expressly set up by Leicester, with the armed hand, by the +agency of Marshal Pelham and this very Colonel Stanley--a board of +Calvinist magistrates placed but a few weeks before in power to control a +city of Catholic tendencies. And here was a papist commander displaying +Leicester's commission in their faces, and making it a warrant for +dealing with the town as if it were under martial law, and as if he were +an officer of the Duke of Parma. It might easily be judged whether such +conduct were likely to win the hearts of Netherlanders to Leicester and +to England. + +"Albeit, for my own part," said Wilkes, "I do hold Sir William Stanley to +be a wise and a discreet gent., yet when I consider that the magistracy +is such as was established by your Lordship, and of the religion, and +well affected to her Majesty, and that I see how heavily the matter is +conceived of here by the States and council, I do fear that all is not +well. The very bruit of this doth begin to draw hatred upon our nation. +Were it not that I doubt some dangerous issue of this matter, and that I +might be justly charged with negligence, if I should not advertise you +beforehand, I would, have forborne to mention this dissension, for the +States are about to write to your Lordship and to her Majesty for +reformation in this matter." He added that he had already written +earnestly to Sir William, "hoping to persuade him to carry a mild hand +over the people." + +Thus wrote Councillor Wilkes, as in duty bound, to Lord Leicester, so +early as the 9th December, and the warning voice of Norris had made +itself heard in England quite as soon. Certainly the governor-general, +having, upon his own responsibility; and prompted, it would seem, by +passion more than reason, made this dangerous appointment, was fortunate +in receiving timely and frequent notice of its probable results. + +And the conscientious Wilkes wrote most earnestly, as he said he had +done, to the turbulent Stanley. + +"Good Sir William," said he, "the magistrates and burgesses of Deventer +complain to this council, that you have by violence wrested from them the +keys of one of their gates, that you assemble your garrison in arms to +terrify them, that you have seized one of their forts, that the Irish +soldiers do commit many extortions and exactions upon the inhabitants, +that you have imprisoned their burgesses, and do many things against +their laws and privileges, so that it is feared the best affected, of the +inhabitants towards her Majesty will forsake the town. Whether any of +these things be true, yourself doth best know, but I do assure you that +the apprehension thereof here doth make us and our government hateful. +For mine own part, I have always known you for a gentleman of value, +wisdom; and judgment, and therefore should hardly believe any such thing. +. . . . I earnestly require you to take heed of consequences, and to +be careful of the honour of her Majesty and the reputation of our nation. +You will consider that the gaining possession of the town grew by them +that are now in office, who being of the religion, and well affected to +his Excellency's government, wrought his entry into the same . . . . +I know that Lord Leicester is sworn to maintain all the inhabitants of +the Provinces in their ancient privileges and customs. I know further +that your commission carreeth no authority to warrant you to intermeddle +any further than with the government of the soldiers and guard of the +town. Well, you may, in your own conceipt, confer some words to +authorize you in some larger sort, but, believe me, Sir, they will not +warrant you sufficiently to deal any further than I have said, for I have +perused a copy of your commission for that purpose. I know the name +itself of a governor of a town is odious to this people, and hath been +ever since the remembrance of the Spanish government, and if we, by any +lack of foresight, should give the like occasion, we should make +ourselves as odious as they are; which God forbid. + +"You are to consider that we are not come into these countries for their +defence only, but for the defence of her Majesty and our own native +country, knowing that the preservation of both dependeth altogether upon +the preserving of these. Wherefore I do eftsoons intreat and require you +to forbear to intermeddle any further. If there shall follow any +dangerous effect of your proceedings, after this my friendly advice, +I shall be heartily sorry for your sake, but I shall be able to testify +to her Majesty that I have done my duty in admonishing you." + +Thus spake the stiff councillor, earnestly and well, in behalf of +England's honour and the good name of England's Queen. + +But the brave soldier, whose feet were fast sliding into the paths of +destruction, replied, in a tone of indignant innocence, more likely to +aggravate than to allay suspicion. "Finding," said Stanley, "that you +already threaten, I have gone so far as to scan the terms of my +commission, which I doubt not to execute, according to his Excellency's +meaning and mine honour. First, I assure you that I have maintained +justice, and that severely; else hardly would the soldiers have been +contented with bread and bare cheese." + +He acknowledged possessing himself of the keys of the town, but defended +it on the ground of necessity; and of the character of the people, "who +thrust out the Spaniards and Almaynes, and afterwards never would obey +the Prince and States." "I would be," he said, "the sorriest man that +lives, if by my negligence the place should be lost. Therefore I thought +good to seize the great tower and ports. If I meant evil, I needed no +keys, for here is force enough." + +With much effrontery, he then affected to rely for evidence of his +courteous and equitable conduct towards the citizens, upon the very +magistrates who had been petitioning the States-General, the state- +council, and the English Queen, against his violence: + +"For my courtesy and humanity," he said, "I refer me unto the magistrates +themselves. But I think they sent rhetoricians, who could, allege of +little grief, and speak pitiful, and truly I find your ears have been as +pitiful in so timorously condemning me. I assure you that her Majesty +hath not a better servant than I nor a more faithful in these parts. +This I will prove with my flesh and blood. Although I know there be +divers flying reports spread by my enemies, which are come to my ears, I +doubt not my virtue and truth will prove them calumniators and men of +little. So, good Mr. Wilkes, I pray you, consider gravely, give ear +discreetly, and advertise into England soundly. For me, I have been and +am your friend, and glad to hear any admonition from one so wise as +yourself." + +He then alluded ironically to the "good favour and money" with which he +had been so contented of late, that if Mr. Wilkes would discharge him of +his promise to Lord Leicester, he would take his leave with all his +heart. Captain, officers, and soldiers, had been living on half a pound +of cheese a day. For himself, he had received but one hundred and twenty +pounds in five months, and was living at three pounds by the day. "This +my wealth will not long hold out," he observed, "but yet I will never +fail of my promise to his Excellency, whatsoever I endure. It is for her +Majesty's service and for the love I bear to him." + +He bitterly complained of the unwillingness of the country-people to +furnish vivers, waggons, and other necessaries, for the fort before +Zutphen. "Had it not been," he said, "for the travail extraordinary of +myself, and patience of my brother, Yorke, that fort would have been in +danger. But, according to his desire and forethought, I furnished that +place with cavalry and infantry; for I know the troops there be +marvellous weak." + +In reply, Wilkes stated that the complaints had been made "by no +rhetorician," but by letter from the magistrates themselves (on whom he +relied so confidently) to the state-council. The councillor added, +rather tartly, that since his honest words of defence and of warning, +had been "taken in so scoffing a manner," Sir William might be sure of +not being troubled with any more of his letters. + +But, a day or two before thus addressing him, he had already enclosed to +Leicester very important letters addressed by the council of Gelderland +to Count Moeurs, stadholder of the Province, and by him forwarded to the +state-council. For there were now very grave rumours concerning the +fidelity of "that patient and foreseeing brother York," whom Stanley had +been so generously strengthening in Fort Zutphen. The lieutenant of +York, a certain Mr. Zouch, had been seen within the city of Zutphen, in +close conference with Colonel Tassis, Spanish governor of the place. +Moreover there had been a very frequent exchange of courtesies--by which +the horrors of war seemed to be much mitigated--between York on the +outside and Tassis within. The English commander sent baskets of +venison, wild fowl, and other game, which were rare in the market of a +besieged town. The Spanish governor responded with baskets of excellent +wine and barrels of beer. A very pleasant state of feeling, perhaps, to +contemplate--as an advance in civilization over the not very distant days +of the Haarlem and Leyden sieges, when barrels of prisoners' heads, cut +off, a dozen or two at a time, were the social amenities usually +exchanged between Spaniards and Dutchmen--but somewhat suspicious to +those who had grown grey in this horrible warfare. + +The Irish kernes too, were allowed to come to mass within the city, and +were received there with as much fraternity by, the Catholic soldiers of +Tassis as the want of any common dialect would allow--a proceeding which +seemed better perhaps for the salvation of their souls, than--for the +advancement of the siege. + +The state-council had written concerning these rumours to Roland York, +but the patient man had replied in a manner which Wilkes characterized as +"unfit to have been given to such as were the executors of the Earl of +Leicester's authority." The councillor implored the governor-general +accordingly to send some speedy direction in this matter, as well to +Roland York as to Sir William Stanley; for he explicitly and earnestly +warned him, that those personages would pay no heed to the remonstrances +of the state-council. + +Thus again and again was Leicester--on whose head rested, by his own +deliberate act, the whole responsibility--forewarned that some great +mischief was impending. There was time enough even then--for it was but +the 16th December--to place full powers in the hands of the state- +council, of Norris, or of Hohenlo, and secretly and swiftly to secure the +suspected persons, and avert the danger. Leicester did nothing. How +could he acknowledge his error? How could he manifest confidence in the +detested Norris? How appeal to the violent and deeply incensed Hohenlo? + +Three weeks more rolled by, and the much-enduring Roland York was still +in confidential correspondence with Leicester and Walsingham, although +his social intercourse with the Spanish governor of Zutphen continued to +be upon the most liberal and agreeable footing. He was not quite +satisfied with the general, aspect of the Queen's cause in the +Netherlands, and wrote to the Secretary of State in a tone of +despondency, and mild expostulation. Walsingham would have been less +edified by these communications, had he been aware that York, upon first +entering Leicester's service, had immediately opened a correspondence +with the Duke of Parma, and had secretly given him to understand that his +object was to serve the cause of Spain. This was indeed the fact, as the +Duke informed the King, "but then he is such a scatter-brained, reckless +dare-devil," said Parma, "that I hardly expected much of him." Thus the +astute Sir Francis had been outwitted, by the adventurous Roland, who +was perhaps destined also to surpass the anticipations of the Spanish +commander-in-chief. + +Meantime York informed his English patrons, on the 7th January, that +matters were not proceeding so smoothly in the political world as he +could wish. He had found "many cross and indirect proceedings," and so, +according to Lord Leicester's desire, he sent him a "discourse" on the +subject, which he begged Sir Francis to "peruse, add to, or take away +from," and then to inclose to the Earl. He hoped he should be forgiven +if the style of the production was not quite satisfactory; for, said he, +"the place where I am doth too much torment my memory, to call every +point to my remembrance." + +It must, in truth, have been somewhat a hard task upon his memory, to +keep freshly in mind every detail of the parallel correspondence which he +was carrying on with the Spanish and with the English government. Even a +cool head like Roland's might be forgiven for being occasionally puzzled. +"So if there be anything hard to be understood," he observed to +Walsingham, "advertise me, and I will make it plainer." Nothing could be +more ingenuous. He confessed, however, to being out of pocket. "Please +your honour," said he, "I have taken great pains to make a bad place +something, and it has cost me all the money I had, and here I can receive +nothing but discontentment. I dare not write you all lest you should +think it impossible," he added--and it is quite probable that even +Walsingham would have been astonished, had Roland written all. The game +playing by York and Stanley was not one to which English gentlemen were +much addicted. + +"I trust the bearer, Edward Stanley; a discreet, brave gentleman," he +said, "with details." And the remark proves that the gallant youth who +had captured this very Fort Zutphen in, so brilliant a manner was not +privy to the designs of his brother and of York; for the object of the +"discourse" was to deceive the English government. + +"I humbly beseech that you will send for me home," concluded Roland, +"for true as I humbled my mind to please her Majesty, your honour, and +the dead, now am I content to humble myself lower to please myself, for +now, since his, Excellency's departure, there is no form of proceeding +neither honourably nor honestly." + +Three other weeks passed over, weeks of anxiety and dread throughout the +republic. Suspicion grew darker than ever, not only as to York and +Stanley, but as to all the English commanders, as to the whole English +nation. An Anjou plot, a general massacre, was expected by many, yet +there were no definite grounds for such dark anticipations. In vain had +painstaking, truth-telling Wilkes summoned Stanley to his duty, and +called on Leicester, time after time, to interfere. In vain did Sir John +Norris, Sir John Conway, the members of the state-council, and all others +who should have had authority, do their utmost to avert a catastrophe. +Their hands were all tied by the fatal letter of the 24th November. Most +anxiously did all implore the Earl of Leicester to return. Never was a +more dangerous moment than this for a country to be left to its fate. +Scarcely ever in history was there a more striking exemplification of the +need of a man--of an individual--who should embody the powers and wishes, +and concentrate in one brain and arm, the whole energy, of a +commonwealth. But there was no such man, for the republic had lost its +chief when Orange died. There was much wisdom and patriotism now. +Olden-Barneveld was competent, and so was Buys, to direct the councils of +the republic, and there were few better soldiers than Norris and Hohenlo +to lead her armies against Spain. But the supreme authority had been +confided to Leicester. He had not perhaps proved himself extraordinarily +qualified for his post, but he was the governor-in-chief, and his +departure, without resigning his powers, left the commonwealth headless, +at a moment when singleness of action was vitally important. + +At last, very late in January, one Hugh Overing, a haberdasher from +Ludgate Hill, was caught at Rotterdam, on his way to Ireland, with a +bundle of letters from Sir William Stanley, and was sent, as a suspicious +character, to the state-council at the Hague. On the same day, another +Englishman, a small youth, "well-favoured," rejoicing in a "very little +red beard, and in very ragged clothes," unknown by name; but ascertained +to be in the service of Roland York and to have been the bearer of +letters to Brussels, also passed through Rotterdam. By connivance of the +innkeeper, one Joyce, also an Englishman, he succeeded in making his +escape. The information contained in the letters thus intercepted was +important, but it came too late, even if then the state-council could +have acted without giving mortal offence to Elizabeth and to Leicester. + +On the evening of 28th January (N. S.), Sir William Stanley entertained +the magistrates of Deventer at a splendid banquet. There was free +conversation at table concerning the idle suspicions which had been rife +in the Provinces as to his good intentions and the censures which had +been cast upon him for the repressive measures which he had thought +necessary to adopt for the security of the city. He took that occasion +to assure his guests that the Queen of England had not a more loyal +subject than himself, nor the Netherlands a more devoted friend. The +company expressed themselves fully restored to confidence in his +character and purposes, and the burgomasters, having exchanged pledges of +faith and friendship with the commandant in flowing goblets, went home +comfortably to bed, highly pleased with their noble entertainer and with +themselves. + +Very late that same night, Stanley placed three hundred of his wild Irish +in the Noorenberg tower, a large white structure which commanded the +Zutphen gate, and sent bodies of chosen troops to surprise all the +burgher-guards at their respective stations. Strong pickets of cavalry +were also placed in all the principal thoroughfares of the city. At +three o'clock in the following morning he told his officers that he was +about to leave Deventer for a few hours, in order to bring in some +reinforcements for which he had sent, as he had felt much anxiety for +some time past as to the disposition of the burghers. His officers, +honest Englishmen, suspecting no evil and having confidence in their +chief, saw nothing strange in this proceeding, and Sir William rode +deliberately out of Zutphen. After he had been absent an hour or two, +the clatter of hoofs and the tramp of infantry was heard without, and +presently the commandant returned, followed by a thousand musketeers and +three or four hundred troopers. It was still pitch dark; but, dimly +lighted by torches, small detachments of the fresh troops picked their +way through the black narrow streets, while the main body poured at once +upon the Brink, or great square. Here, quietly and swiftly, they were +marshalled into order, the cavalry, pikemen, and musketeers, lining all +sides of the place, and a chosen band--among whom stood Sir William +Stanley, on foot, and an officer of high rank on horseback--occupying the +central space immediately in front of the town-house. + +The drums then beat, and proclamation went forth through the city that +all burghers, without any distinction--municipal guards and all--were to +repair forthwith to the city-hall, and deposit their arms. As the +inhabitants arose from their slumbers, and sallied forth into the streets +to inquire the cause of the disturbance, they soon discovered that they +had, in some mysterious manner, been entrapped. Wild Irishmen, with +uncouth garb, threatening gesture, and unintelligible jargon, stood +gibbering at every corner, instead of the comfortable Flemish faces of +the familiar burgher-guard. The chief burgomaster, sleeping heavily +after Sir William's hospitable banquet, aroused himself at last, and sent +a militia-captain to inquire the cause of the unseasonable drum-beat and +monstrous proclamation. Day was breaking as the trusty captain made his +way to the scene of action. The wan light of a cold, drizzly January +morning showed him the wide, stately square--with its leafless lime-trees +and its tall many storied, gable-ended houses rising dim and spectral +through the mist-filled to overflowing with troops, whose uniforms and +banners resembled nothing that he remembered in Dutch and English +regiments. Fires were lighted at various corners, kettles were boiling, +and camp-followers and sutlers were crouching over them, half perished +with cold--for it had been raining dismally all night--while burghers, +with wives and children, startled from their dreams by the sudden +reveillee, stood gaping about, with perplexed faces and despairing +gestures. As he approached the town-house--one of those magnificent, +many-towered, highly-decorated, municipal palaces of the Netherlands--he +found troops all around it; troops guarding the main entrance, troops on +the great external staircase leading to the front balcony, and officers, +in yellow jerkin and black bandoleer, grouped in the balcony itself. + +The Flemish captain stood bewildered, when suddenly the familiar form of +Stanley detached itself from the central group and advanced towards him. +Taking him by the hand with much urbanity, Sir William led the militia- +man through two or three ranks of soldiers, and presented him to the +strange officer on horseback + +"Colonel Tassis," said he, "I recommend to you a very particular friend +of mine. Let me bespeak your best offices in his behalf." + +"Ah God!" cried the honest burgher, "Tassis! Tassis! Then are we +indeed most miserably betrayed." + +Even the Spanish colonel who was of Flemish origin, was affected by the +despair of the Netherlander. + +"Let those look to the matter of treachery whom it concerns," said he; +"my business here is to serve the King, my master." + +"Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's, and unto God the +things which are God's," said Stanley, with piety. + +The burgher-captain was then assured that no harm was intended to the +city, but that it now belonged to his most Catholic Majesty of Spain-- +Colonel Stanley, to whom its custody had been entrusted, having freely +and deliberately restored it to its lawful owner. He was then bid to go +and fetch the burgomasters and magistrates. + +Presently they appeared--a dismal group, weeping and woe-begone--the same +board of strict Calvinists forcibly placed in office but three months +before by Leicester, through the agency of this very Stanley, who had so +summarily ejected their popish predecessors, and who only the night +before had so handsomely feasted themselves. They came forward, the +tears running down their cheeks, crying indeed so piteously that even +Stanley began to weep bitterly himself. "I have not done this," he +sobbed, "for power or pelf. Not the hope of reward, but the love of God +hath moved me." + +Presently some of the ex-magistrates made their appearance, and a party +of leading citizens went into a private house with Tassis and Stanley to +hear statements and explanations--as if any satisfactory ones were +possible. + +Sir William, still in a melancholy tone, began to make a speech, through +an interpreter, and again to protest that he had not been influenced by +love of lucre. But as he stammered and grew incoherent as he approached +the point, Tassis suddenly interrupted the conference. "Let us look +after our soldiers," said he, "for they have been marching in the foul +weather half the night." So the Spanish troops, who had been, standing +patiently to be rained upon after their long march, until the burghers +had all deposited their arms in the city-hall, were now billeted on the +townspeople. Tassis gave peremptory orders that no injury should be +offered to persons or property on pain of death; and, by way of wholesome +example, hung several Hibernians the same day who had been detected in +plundering the inhabitants. + +The citizens were, as usual in such cases, offered the choice between +embracing the Catholic religion or going into exile, a certain interval +being allowed them to wind up their affairs. They were also required to +furnish Stanley and his regiment full pay for the whole period of their +service since coming to the Provinces, and to Tassis three months' wages +for his Spaniards in advance. Stanley offered his troops the privilege +of remaining with him in the service of Spain, or of taking their +departure unmolested. The Irish troops were quite willing to continue +under their old chieftain, particularly as it was intimated to them that +there was an immediate prospect of a brisk campaign in their native +island against the tyrant Elizabeth, under the liberating banners of +Philip. And certainly, in an age where religion constituted country, +these fervent Catholics could scarcely be censured for taking arms +against the sovereign who persecuted their religion and themselves. +These honest barbarians had broken no oath, violated no trust, had +never pretended sympathy with freedom; or affection for their Queen. +They had fought fiercely under the chief who led them into battle--they +had robbed and plundered voraciously as opportunity served, and had been +occasionally hanged for their exploits; but Deventer and Fort Zutphen had +not been confided to their keeping; and it was a pleasant thought to +them, that approaching invasion of Ireland. "I will ruin the whole +country from Holland to Friesland," said Stanley to Captain Newton, "and +then I will play such a game in Ireland as the Queen has never seen the +like all the days of her life." + +Newton had already been solicited by Roland York to take service under +Parma, and had indignantly declined. Sir Edmund Carey and his men, four +hundred in all, refused, to a man, to take part in the monstrous treason, +and were allowed to leave the city. This was the case with all the +English officers. Stanley and York were the only gentlemen who on this +occasion sullied the honour of England. + +Captain Henchman, who had been taken prisoner in a skirmish a few days +before the surrender of Deventer, was now brought to that city, and +earnestly entreated by Tassis and by Stanley to seize this opportunity +of entering the service of Spain. + +"You shall have great advancement and preferment," said Tassis. "His +Catholic Majesty has got ready very many ships for Ireland, and Sir +William Stanley is to be general of the expedition." + +"And you shall choose your own preferment," said Stanley, "for I know you +to be a brave man." + +"I would rather," replied Henchman, "serve my prince in loyalty as a +beggar, than to be known and reported a rich traitor, with breach of +conscience." + +"Continue so," replied Stanley, unabashed; "for this is the very +principle of my own enlargement: for, before, I served the devil, +and now I am serving God." + +The offers and the arguments of the Spaniard and the renegade were +powerless with the blunt captain, and notwithstanding "divers other +traitorous alledgements by Sir William for his most vile facts," as +Henchman expressed it, that officer remained in poverty and captivity +until such time as he could be exchanged. + +Stanley subsequently attempted in various ways to defend his character. +He had a commission from Leicester, he said, to serve whom he chose--as +if the governor-general had contemplated his serving Philip II. with that +commission; he had a passport to go whither he liked--as if his passport +entitled him to take the city of Deventer along with him; he owed no +allegiance to the States; he was discharged from his promise to the Earl; +he was his own master; he wanted neither money nor preferment; he had +been compelled by his conscience and his duty to God to restore the city +to its lawful master, and so on, and so on. + +But whether he owed the States allegiance or not, it is certain that he +had accepted their money to relieve himself and his troops eight days +before his treason. That Leicester had discharged him from his promises +to such an extent as to justify his surrendering a town committed to his +honour for safe keeping, certainly deserved no answer; that his duty to +conscience required him to restore the city argued a somewhat tardy +awakening of that monitor in the breast of the man who three months +before had wrested the place with the armed hand from men suspected of +Catholic inclinations; that his first motive however was not the mere +love of money, was doubtless true. Attachment to his religion, a desire +to atone for his sins against it, the insidious temptings of his evil +spirit, York, who was the chief organizer of the conspiracy, and the +prospect of gratifying a wild and wicked ambition--these were the springs +that moved him. Sums--varying from L30,000 to a pension of 1500 +pistolets a year--were mentioned, as the stipulated price of his treason, +by Norris, Wilkes, Conway, and others; but the Duke of Parma, in +narrating the whole affair in a private letter to the King, explicitly +stated that he had found Stanley "singularly disinterested." + +"The colonel was only actuated by religious motives," he said, "asking +for no reward, except that be might serve in his Majesty's army +thenceforth--and this is worthy to be noted." + +At the same time it appears from this correspondence, that the Duke, +recommended, and that the King bestowed, a "merced," which Stanley did +not refuse; and it was very well known that to no persons in, the world +was Philip apt to be so generous as to men of high rank, Flemish, +Walloon, or English, who deserted the cause of his rebellious subjects to +serve under his own banners. Yet, strange to relate, almost at the very +moment that Stanley was communicating his fatal act of treason, in order +that he might open a high career for his ambition, a most brilliant +destiny was about to dawn upon him. The Queen had it in contemplation, +in recompense for his distinguished services, and by advice of Leicester, +to bestow great honors and titles upon him, and to appoint him Viceroy of +Ireland--of that very country which he was now proposing, as an enemy to +his sovereign and as the purchased tool of a foreign despot, to invade. + +Stanley's subsequent fate was obscure. A price of 3000 florins was put +by the States upon his head and upon that of York. He went to Spain, and +afterwards returned to the Provinces. He was even reported to have +become, through the judgment of God, a lunatic, although the tale wanted +confirmation; and it is certain that at the close of the year he had +mustered his regiment under Farnese, prepared to join the Duke in the +great invasion of England. + +Roland York, who was used to such practices, cheerfully consummated his +crime on the same day that witnessed the surrender of Deventer. He rode +up to the gates of that city on the morning of the 29th January, inquired +quietly whether Tassis was master of the place, and then galloped +furiously back the ten miles to his fort. Entering, he called his +soldiers together, bade them tear in pieces the colours of England, and +follow him into the city of Zutphen. Two companies of States' troops +offered resistance, and attempted to hold the place; but they were +overpowered by the English and Irish, assisted by a force of Spaniards, +who, by a concerted movement, made their appearance from the town. He +received a handsome reward, having far surpassed the Duke of Parma's +expectations, when he made his original offer of service. He died very +suddenly, after a great banquet at Deventer, in the course of the sane +year, not having succeeded in making his escape into Spain to live at +ease on his stipend. It was supposed that he was poisoned; but the +charge in those days was a common one, and nobody cared to investigate +the subject. His body was subsequently exhumed when Deventer came into +the hands of the patriots--and with impotent and contemptible malice +hanged upon a gibbet. This was the end of Roland York. + +Parma was highly gratified, as may be imagined, at such successful +results. "Thus Fort Zutphen," said he, "about which there have been so +many fisticuffs, and Deventer--which was the real object of the last +campaign, and which has cost the English so much blood and money, and is +the safety of Groningen and of all those Provinces--is now your +Majesty's. Moreover, the effect of this treason must be to sow great +distrust between the English and the rebels, who will henceforth never +know in whom they can confide." + +Parma was very right in this conjuncture. Moreover, there was just then +a fearful run against the States. The castle of Wauw, within a league of +Bergen-op-Zoom, which had been entrusted to one Le Marchand, a Frenchman +in the service of the republic, was delivered by him to Parma for 16,000 +florins. "'Tis a very important post," said the Duke, "and the money was +well laid out." + +The loss of the city of Gelder, capital of the Province of the same name, +took place in the summer. This town belonged to the jurisdiction of +Martin Schenk, and was, his chief place of deposit for the large and +miscellaneous property acquired by him during his desultory, but most +profitable, freebooting career. The Famous partisan was then absent, +engaged in a lucrative job in the way of his profession. He had made a +contract--in a very-business-like way--with the States, to defend the +city of Rheinberg and all the country, round against the Duke of Parma, +pledging himself to keep on foot for that purpose an army of 3300 foot +and 700 horse. For this extensive and important operation, he was to +receive 20,000 florins a month from the general exchequer; and in +addition he was to be allowed the brandschatz--the black-mail, that is +to say--of the whole country-side, and the taxation upon all vessels +going up and down the river before Rheinberg; an ad valorem duty, in +short, upon all river-merchandise, assessed and collected in summary +fashion. A tariff thus enforced was not likely to be a mild one; and +although the States considered that they had got a "good penny-worth" by +the job, it was no easy thing to get the better, in a bargain, of the +vigilant Martin, who was as thrifty a speculator as he was a desperate +fighter. A more accomplished highwayman, artistically and +enthusiastically devoted to his pursuit, never lived. Nobody did his +work more thoroughly--nobody got himself better paid for his work--and +Thomas Wilkes, that excellent man of business, thought the States not +likely to make much by their contract. Nevertheless, it was a comfort to +know that the work would not be neglected. + +Schenk was accordingly absent, jobbing the Rheinberg siege, and in his +place one Aristotle Patton, a Scotch colonel in the States' service, was +commandant of Gelders. Now the thrifty Scot had an eye to business, too, +and was no more troubled with qualms of conscience than Rowland York +himself. Moreover, he knew himself to be in great danger of losing his +place, for Leicester was no friend to him, and intended to supersede him. +Patton had also a decided grudge against Schenk, for that truculent +personage had recently administered to him a drubbing, which no doubt he +had richly deserved. Accordingly, when; the Duke of Parma made a secret +offer to him of 36,000 florins if he would quietly surrender the city +entrusted to him, the colonel jumped at so excellent an opportunity of +circumventing Leicester, feeding his grudge against Martin, and making a +handsome fortune for himself. He knew his trade too well, however, to +accept the offer too eagerly, and bargained awhile for better terms, and +to such good purpose, that it was agreed he should have not only the +36,000 florins, but all the horses, arms, plate, furniture, and other +moveables in the city belonging to Schenk, that he could lay his hands +upon. Here were revenge and solid damages for the unforgotten assault +and battery--for Schenk's property alone made no inconsiderable fortune-- +and accordingly the city, towards Midsummer, was surrendered to the +Seigneur d'Haultepenne. Moreover, the excellent Patton had another and +a loftier motive. He was in love. He had also a rival. The lady of his +thoughts was the widow of Pontus de Noyelle, Seigneur de Bours, who had +once saved the citadel of Antwerp, and afterwards sold that city and +himself. His rival was no other than the great Seigneur de Champagny, +brother of Cardinal Granvelle, eminent as soldier, diplomatist, and +financier, but now growing old, not in affluent circumstances, and much +troubled with the gout. Madame de Bours had, however, accepted his hand, +and had fixed the day for the wedding, when the Scotchman, thus suddenly +enriched, renewed a previously unsuccessful suit. The widow then, +partially keeping her promise, actually celebrated her nuptials on the +appointed evening; but, to the surprise of the Provinces, she became not +the 'haulte et puissante dame de Champagny,' but Mrs. Aristotle Patton. + +For this last treason neither Leicester nor the English were responsible. +Patton was not only a Scot, but a follower of Hohenlo, as Leicester +loudly protested. Le Merchant was a Frenchman. But Deventer and Zutphen +were places of vital importance, and Stanley an Englishman of highest +consideration, one who had been deemed worthy of the command in chief in +Leicester's absence. Moreover, a cornet in the service of the Earl's +nephew, Sir Robert Sidney, had been seen at Zutphen in conference with +Tassis; and the horrible suspicion went abroad that even the illustrious +name of Sidney was to be polluted also. This fear was fortunately false, +although the cornet was unquestionably a traitor, with whom the enemy had +been tampering; but the mere thought that Sir Robert Sidney could betray +the trust reposed in him was almost enough to make the still unburied +corpse of his brother arise from the dead. + +Parma was right when he said that all confidence of the Netherlanders in +the Englishmen would now be gone, and that the Provinces would begin to +doubt their best friends. No fresh treasons followed, but they were +expected every day. An organized plot to betray the country was believed +in, and a howl of execration swept through the land. The noble deeds of +Sidney and Willoughby, and Norris and Pelham, and Roger Williams, the +honest and valuable services of Wilkes, the generosity and courage of +Leicester, were for a season forgotten. The English were denounced in +every city and village of the Netherlands as traitors and miscreants. +Respectable English merchants went from hostelry to hostelry, and from +town to town, and were refused a lodging for love or money. The nation +was put under ban. A most melancholy change from the beginning of the +year, when the very men who were now loudest in denunciation and fiercest +in hate, had been the warmest friends of Elizabeth, of England, and of +Leicester. + +At Hohenlo's table the opinion was loudly expressed, even in the presence +of Sir Roger Williams, that it was highly improbable, if a man like +Stanley, of such high rank in the kingdom of England, of such great +connections and large means, could commit such a treason, that he could +do so without the knowledge and consent of her Majesty. + +Barneveld, in council of state, declared that Leicester, by his +restrictive letter of 24th November, had intended to carry the authority +over the republic into England, in order to dispose of everything at his +pleasure, in conjunction with the English cabinet-council, and that the +country had never been so cheated by the French as it had now been by the +English, and that their government had become insupportable. + +Councillor Carl Roorda maintained at the table of Elector Truchsess that +the country had fallen 'de tyrannide in tyrrannidem;' and--if they had +spurned the oppression of the Spaniards and the French--that it was now +time to, rebel against the English. Barneveld and Buys loudly declared +that the Provinces were able to protect themselves without foreign +assistance, and that it was very injurious to impress a contrary opinion +upon the public mind. + +The whole college of the States-General came before the state-council, +and demanded the name of the man to whom the Earl's restrictive letter +had been delivered--that document by which the governor had dared +surreptitiously to annul the authority which publicly he had delegated to +that body, and thus to deprive it of the power of preventing anticipated +crimes. After much colloquy the name of Brackel was given, and, had not +the culprit fortunately been absent, his life might have, been in danger, +for rarely had grave statesmen been so thoroughly infuriated. + +No language can exaggerate the consequences of this wretched treason. +Unfortunately, too; the abject condition to which the English troops had +been reduced by the niggardliness of their sovereign was an additional +cause of danger. Leicester was gone, and since her favourite was no +longer in the Netherlands, the Queen seemed to forget that there was a +single Englishman upon that fatal soil. In five months not one penny had +been sent to her troops. While the Earl had been there one hundred and +forty thousand pounds had been sent in seven or eight months. After his +departure not five thousand pounds were sent in one half year. + +The English soldiers, who had fought so well in every Flemish battle- +field of freedom, had become--such as were left of them--mere famishing +half naked vagabonds and marauders. Brave soldiers had been changed by +their sovereign into brigands, and now the universal odium which suddenly +attached itself to the English name converted them into outcasts. +Forlorn and crippled creatures swarmed about the Provinces, but were +forbidden to come through the towns, and so wandered about, robbing hen- +roosts and pillaging the peasantry. Many deserted to the enemy. Many +begged their way to England, and even to the very gates of the palace, +and exhibited their wounds and their misery before the eyes of that good +Queen Bess who claimed to be the mother of her subjects,--and begged for +bread in vain. + +The English cavalry, dwindled now to a body of five hundred, starving and +mutinous, made a foray into Holland, rather as highwaymen than soldiers. +Count Maurice commanded their instant departure, and Hohenlo swore that +if the order were not instantly obeyed, he would put himself at the head +of his troops and cut every man of them to pieces. A most painful and +humiliating condition for brave men who had been fighting the battles of +their Queen and of the republic, to behold themselves--through the +parsimony of the one and the infuriated sentiment of the other--compelled +to starve, to rob, or to be massacred by those whom they had left their +homes to defend. + +At last, honest Wilkes, ever watchful of his duty, succeeded in borrowing +eight hundred pounds sterling for two months, by "pawning his own +carcase" as he expressed himself. This gave the troopers about thirty +shillings a man, with which relief they became, for a time, contented and +well disposed. + +Is this picture exaggerated? Is it drawn by pencils hostile to the +English nation or the English Queen? It is her own generals and +confidential counsellors who have told a story in all its painful +details, which has hardly found a place in other chronicles. The +parsimony of the great Queen must ever remain a blemish on her character, +and it was never more painfully exhibited than towards her brave soldiers +in Flanders in the year 1587. Thomas Wilkes, a man of truth, and a man +of accounts, had informed Elizabeth that the expenses of one year's war, +since Leicester had been governor-general, had amounted to exactly five +hundred and seventy-nine thousand three hundred and sixty pounds and +nineteen shillings, of which sum one hundred and forty-six thousand three +hundred and eighty-six pounds and eleven shillings had been spent by her +Majesty, and the balance had been paid, or was partly owing by the +States. These were not agreeable figures, but the figures of honest +accountants rarely flatter, and Wilkes was not one of those financiers +who have the wish or the gift to make things pleasant. He had +transmitted the accounts just as they had been delivered, certified by +the treasurers of the States and by the English paymasters, and the Queen +was appalled at the sum-totals. She could never proceed with such a war +as that, she said, and she declined a loan of sixty thousand pounds which +the States requested, besides stoutly refusing to advance her darling +Robin a penny to pay off the mortgages upon two-thirds of his estates, +on which the equity of redemption was fast expiring, or to give him the +slightest help in furnishing him forth anew for the wars. + +Yet not one of her statesmen doubted that these Netherland battles were +English battles, almost as much as if the fighting-ground had been the +Isle of Wight or the coast of Kent, the charts of which the statesmen and +generals of Spain were daily conning. + +Wilkes, too, while defending Leicester stoutly behind his back, doing his +best, to explain his short-comings, lauding his courage and generosity, +and advocating his beloved theory of popular sovereignty with much +ingenuity and eloquence, had told him the truth to his face. Although +assuring him that if he came back soon, he might rule the States "as a +schoolmaster doth his boys," he did not fail to set before him the +disastrous effects of his sudden departure and of his protracted absence; +he had painted in darkest colours the results of the Deventer treason, +he had unveiled the cabals against his authority, he had repeatedly and +vehemently implored his return; he had, informed the Queen, that +notwithstanding some errors of, administration, he was much the fittest +man to represent her in the Netherlands, and, that he could accomplish, +by reason of his experience, more in three months than any other man +could do in a year. He bad done his best to reconcile the feuds which +existed between him and important personages in the Netherlands, he had +been the author of the complimentary letters sent to him in the name of +the States-General--to the great satisfaction of the Queen--but he had +not given up his friendship with Sir John Norris, because he said "the +virtues of the man made him as worthy of love as any one living, and +because the more he knew him, the more he had cause to affect and to +admire him." + +This was the unpardonable offence, and for this, and for having told the +truth about the accounts, Leicester denounced Wilkes to the Queen as a +traitor and a hypocrite, and threatened repeatedly to take his life. He +had even the meanness to prejudice Burghley against him--by insinuating +to the Lord-Treasurer that he too had been maligned by Wilkes--and thus +most effectually damaged the character of the plain-spoken councillor +with the Queen and many of her advisers; notwithstanding that he +plaintively besought her to "allow him to reiterate his sorry song, as +doth the cuckoo, that she would please not condemn her poor servant +unheard." + +Immediate action was taken on the Deventer treason, and on the general +relations between the States-General and the English government. +Barneveld immediately drew up a severe letter to the Earl of Leicester. +On the 2nd February Wilkes came by chance into the assembly of the +States-General, with the rest of the councillors, and found Barneveld +just demanding the public reading of that document. The letter was read. +Wilkes then rose and made a few remarks. + +"The letter seems rather sharp upon his Excellency," he observed. "There +is not a word in it," answered Barneveld curtly, "that is not perfectly +true;" and with this he cut the matter short, and made a long speech upon +other matters which were then before the assembly. + +Wilkes, very anxious as to the effect of the letter, both upon public +feeling in England and upon his own position as English councillor, +waited immediately upon Count Maurice, President van der Myle, and upon +Villiers the clergyman, and implored their interposition to prevent the +transmission of the epistle. They promised to make an effort to delay +its despatch or to mitigate its tone. A fortnight afterwards, however, +Wilkes learned with dismay, that the document (the leading passages of +which will be given hereafter) had been sent to its destination. + +Meantime, a consultation of civilians and of the family council of Count +Maurice was held, and it was determined that the Count should assume the +title of Prince more formally than he had hitherto done, in order that +the actual head of the Nassaus might be superior in rank to Leicester or +to any man who could be sent from England. Maurice was also appointed by +the States, provisionally, governor-general, with Hohenlo for his +lieutenant-general. That formidable personage, now fully restored to +health, made himself very busy in securing towns and garrisons for the +party of Holland, and in cashiering all functionaries suspected of +English tendencies. Especially he became most intimate with Count +Moeurs, stadholder of Utrecht--the hatred of which individual and his +wife towards Leicester and the English nation; springing originally from +the unfortunate babble of Otheman, had grown more intense than ever,-- +"banquetting and feasting" with him all day long, and concocting a +scheme; by which, for certain considerations, the province of Utrecht was +to be annexed to Holland under the perpetual stadholderate of Prince +Maurice. + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +Defect of enjoying the flattery, of his inferiors in station +The sapling was to become the tree + + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY UNITED NETHERLANDS, 1587 *** + +********** This file should be named 4851.txt or 4851.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. 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