diff options
| -rw-r--r-- | .gitattributes | 3 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 4854.txt | 2324 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | 4854.zip | bin | 0 -> 55273 bytes | |||
| -rw-r--r-- | LICENSE.txt | 11 | ||||
| -rw-r--r-- | README.md | 2 |
5 files changed, 2340 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/4854.txt b/4854.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..752f1d2 --- /dev/null +++ b/4854.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2324 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook History of The United Netherlands, 1587 +#54 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 #4854] +[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. 54 + +History of the United Netherlands, 1587 + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + + Secret Treaty between Queen and Parma--Excitement and Alarm in the + States--Religious Persecution in England--Queen's Sincerity toward + Spain--Language and Letters of Parma--Negotiations of De Loo-- + English Commissioners appointed--Parma's affectionate Letter to the + Queen--Philip at his Writing-Table--His Plots with Parma against + England--Parma's secret Letters to the King--Philip's Letters to + Parma Wonderful Duplicity of Philip--His sanguine Views as to + England--He is reluctant to hear of the Obstacles--and imagines + Parma in England--But Alexander's Difficulties are great--He + denounces Philip's wild Schemes--Walsingham aware of the Spanish + Plot--which the States well understand--Leicester's great + Unpopularity--The Queen warned against Treating--Leicester's Schemes + against Barneveld--Leicestrian Conspiracy at Leyden--The Plot to + seize the City discovered--Three Ringleaders sentenced to Death-- + Civil War in France--Victory gained by Navarre, and one by Guise-- + Queen recalls Leicester--Who retires on ill Terms with the States-- + Queen warned as to Spanish Designs--Result's of Leicester's + Administration. + +The course of Elizabeth towards the Provinces, in the matter of the +peace, was certainly not ingenuous, but it was not absolutely deceitful. +She concealed and denied the negotiations, when the Netherland statesmen +were perfectly aware of their existence, if not of their tenour; but she +was not prepared, as they suspected, to sacrifice their liberties and +their religion, as the price of her own reconciliation with Spain. +Her attitude towards the States was imperious, over-bearing, and abusive. +She had allowed the Earl of Leicester to return, she said, because of her +love for the poor and oppressed people, but in many of her official and +in all her private communications, she denounced the men who governed +that people as ungrateful wretches and impudent liars! + +These were the corrosives and vinegar which she thought suitable for the +case; and the Earl was never weary in depicting the same statesmen as +seditious, pestilent, self-seeking, mischief-making traitors. These +secret, informal negotiations, had been carried on during most of the +year 1587. It was the "comptroller's peace;", as Walsingham +contemptuously designated the attempted treaty; for it will be +recollected that Sir James Croft, a personage of very mediocre abilities, +had always been more busy than any other English politician in these +transactions. He acted; however, on the inspiration of Burghley, who +drew his own from the fountainhead. + +But it was in vain for the Queen to affect concealment. The States knew +everything which was passing, before Leicester knew. His own secret +instructions reached the Netherlands before he did. His secretary, +Junius, was thrown into prison, and his master's letter taken from him, +before there had been any time to act upon its treacherous suggestions. +When the Earl wrote letters with, his own hand to his sovereign, of so +secret a nature that he did not even retain a single copy for himself, +for fear of discovery, he found, to his infinite disgust, that the States +were at once provided with an authentic transcript of every line that he +had written. It was therefore useless, almost puerile, to deny facts +which were quite as much within the knowledge of the Netherlanders as of +himself. The worst consequence of the concealment was, that a deeper +treachery was thought possible than actually existed. "The fellow they +call Barneveld," as Leicester was in the habit of designating one of the +first statesmen in Europe, was perhaps justified, knowing what he did, in +suspecting more. Being furnished with a list of commissioners, already +secretly agreed upon between the English and Spanish governments, to +treat for peace, while at the same time the Earl was beating his breast, +and flatly denying that there was any intention of treating with Parma at +all, it was not unnatural that he should imagine a still wider and deeper +scheme than really existed, against the best interests of his country. +He may have expressed, in private conversation, some suspicions of this +nature, but there is direct evidence that he never stated in public +anything which was not afterwards proved to be matter of fact, or of +legitimate inference from the secret document which had come into his +hands. The Queen exhausted herself in opprobious language against those +who dared to impute to her a design to obtain possession of the cities +and strong places of the Netherlands, in order to secure a position in +which to compel the Provinces into obedience to her policy. She urged, +with much logic, that as she had refused the sovereignty of the whole +country when offered to her, she was not likely to form surreptitious +schemes to make herself mistress of a portion of it. On the other hand, +it was very obvious, that to accept the sovereignty of Philip's +rebellious Provinces, was to declare war upon Philip; whereas, had she +been pacifically inclined towards that sovereign, and treacherously +disposed towards the Netherlands, it would be a decided advantage to her +to have those strong places in her power. But the suspicions as to her +good faith were exaggerated. As to the intentions of Leicester, the +States were justified in their almost unlimited distrust. It is very +certain that both in 1586, and again, at this very moment, when Elizabeth +was most vehement in denouncing such aspersions on her government, he had +unequivocally declared to her his intention of getting possession, if +possible, of several cities, and of the whole Island of Walcheren, which, +together with the cautionary towns already in his power, would enable the +Queen to make good terms for herself with Spain, "if the worst came to +the, worst." It will also soon be shown that he did his best to carry +these schemes into execution. There is no evidence, however, and no +probability, that he had received the royal commands to perpetrate such a +crime. + +The States believed also, that in those secret negotiations with Parma +the Queen was disposed to sacrifice the religious interests of the +Netherlands. In this they were mistaken. But they had reason for their +mistake, because the negotiator De Loo, had expressly said, that, in her +overtures to Farnese, she had abandoned that point altogether. If this +had been so, it would have simply been a consent on the part of +Elizabeth, that the Catholic religion and the inquisition should be +re-established in the Provinces, to the exclusion of every other form of +worship or polity. In truth, however, the position taken by her Majesty +on the subject was as fair as could be reasonably expected. Certainly +she was no advocate for religious liberty. She chose that her own +subjects should be Protestants, because she had chosen to be a Protestant +herself, and because it was an incident of her supremacy, to dictate +uniformity of creed to all beneath her sceptre. No more than her father, +who sent to the stake or gallows heretics to transubstantiation as well +as believers in the Pope, had Elizabeth the faintest idea of religious +freedom. Heretics to the English Church were persecuted, fined, +imprisoned, mutilated, and murdered, by sword, rope, and fire. In some +respects, the practice towards those who dissented from Elizabeth was +more immoral and illogical, even if less cruel, than that to which those +were subjected who rebelled against Sixtus. The Act of Uniformity +required Papists to assist at the Protestant worship, but wealthy Papists +could obtain immunity by an enormous fine. The Roman excuse to destroy +bodies in order to save souls, could scarcely be alleged by a Church +which might be bribed into connivance at heresy, and which derived a +revenue from the very nonconformity for which humbler victims were sent +to the gallows. It would, however, be unjust in the extreme to overlook +the enormous difference in the amount of persecution, exercised +respectively by the Protestant and the Roman Church. It is probable that +not many more than two hundred Catholics were executed as such, in +Elizabeth's reign, and this was ten score too many. But what was this +against eight hundred heretics burned, hanged, and drowned, in one Easter +week by Alva, against the eighteen thousand two hundred went to stake and +scaffold, as he boasted during his administration, against the vast +numbers of Protestants, whether they be counted by tens or by hundreds of +thousands, who perished by the edicts of Charles V., in the Netherlands, +or in the single Saint Bartholomew Massacre in France? Moreover, it +should never be forgotten--from undue anxiety for impartiality--that most +of the Catholics who were executed in England, suffered as conspirators +rather than as heretics. No foreign potentate, claiming to be vicegerent +of Christ, had denounced Philip as a bastard and, usurper, or had, by +means of a blasphemous fiction, which then was a terrible reality, +severed the bonds of allegiance by which his subjects were held, cut him +off from all communion with his fellow-creatures, and promised temporal +rewards and a crown of glory in heaven to those who should succeed in +depriving him of throne and life. Yet this was the position of +Elizabeth. It was war to the knife between her and Rome, declared by +Rome itself; nor was there any doubt whatever that the Seminary Priests +--seedlings transplanted from foreign nurseries, which were as watered +gardens for the growth of treason--were a perpetually organized band of +conspirators and assassins, with whom it was hardly an act of excessive +barbarity to deal in somewhat summary fashion. Doubtless it would have +been a more lofty policy, and a far more intelligent one, to extend +towards the Catholics of England, who as a body were loyal to their +country, an ample toleration. But it could scarcely be expected that +Elizabeth Tudor, as imperious and absolute by temperament as her father +had ever been, would be capable of embodying that great principle. + +When, in the preliminaries to the negotiations of 1587, therefore, it was +urged on the part of Spain, that the Queen was demanding a concession of +religious liberty from Philip to the Netherlanders which she refused to +English heretics, and that he only claimed the same right of dictating a +creed to his subjects which she exercised in regard to her own, Lord +Burghley replied that the statement was correct. The Queen permitted-- +it was true--no man to profess any religion but the one which she +professed. At the same time it was declared to be unjust, that those +persons in the Netherlands who had been for years in the habit of +practising Protestant rites, should be suddenly compelled, without +instruction, to abandon that form of worship. It was well known that +many would rather die than submit to such oppression, and it was affirmed +that the exercise of this cruelty would be resisted by her to the +uttermost. There was no hint of the propriety--on any logical basis-- +of leaving the question of creed as a matter between man and his Maker, +with which any dictation on the part of crown or state was an act of +odious tyranny. There was not even a suggestion that the Protestant +doctrines were true, and the Catholic doctrines false. The matter was +merely taken up on the 'uti possidetis' principle, that they who had +acquired the fact of Protestant worship had a right to retain it, and +could not justly be deprived of it, except by instruction and persuasion. +It was also affirmed that it was not the English practice to inquire into +men's consciences. It would have been difficult, however, to make that +very clear to Philip's comprehension, because, if men, women, and +children, were scourged with rods, imprisoned and hanged, if they refused +to conform publicly to a ceremony at which their consciences revolted- +unless they had money enough to purchase non-conformity--it seemed to be +the practice to inquire very effectively into their consciences. + +But if there was a certain degree of disingenuousness on the part of +Elizabeth towards the States, her attitude towards Parma was one of +perfect sincerity. A perusal of the secret correspondence leaves no +doubt whatever on that point. She was seriously and fervently desirous +of peace with Spain. On the part of Farnese and his master, there was +the most unscrupulous mendacity, while the confiding simplicity and +truthfulness of the Queen in these negotiations was almost pathetic. +Especially she declared her trust in the loyal and upright character of +Parma, in which she was sure of never being disappointed. It is only +doing justice to Alexander to say that he was as much deceived by her +frankness as she by his falsehood. It never entered his head that a +royal personage and the trusted counsellors of a great kingdom could be +telling the truth in a secret international transaction, and he justified +the industry with which his master and himself piled fiction upon +fiction, by their utter disbelief in every word which came to them from +England. + +The private negotiations had been commenced, or rather had been renewed, +very early in February of this year. During the whole critical period +which preceded and followed the execution of Mary, in the course of which +the language of Elizabeth towards the States had been so shrewish, there +had been the gentlest diplomatic cooing between Farnese and herself. It +was--Dear Cousin, you know how truly I confide in your sincerity, how +anxious I am that this most desirable peace should be arranged; and it +was--Sacred Majesty, you know how much joy I feel in your desire for the +repose of the world, and for a solid peace between your Highness and the +King my master; how much I delight in concord--how incapable I am by +ambiguous words of spinning out these transactions, or of deceiving your +Majesty, and what a hatred I feel for steel, fire, and blood.' + +Four or five months rolled on, during which Leicester had been wasting +time in England, Farnese wasting none before Sluys, and the States doing +their best to counteract the schemes both of their enemy and of their +ally. De Loo made a visit, in July, to the camp of the Duke of Parma, +and received the warmest assurances of his pacific dispositions. "I am +much pained," said Alexander, "with this procrastination. I am so full +of sincerity myself, that it seems to me a very strange matter, this +hostile descent by Drake upon the coasts of Spain. The result of such +courses will be, that the King will end by being exasperated, and I shall +be touched in my honour--so great is the hopes I have held out of being +able to secure a peace. I have ever been and I still am most anxious for +concord, from the affection I bear to her sacred Majesty. I have been +obliged, much against my will, to take the field again. I could wish now +that our negotiations might terminate before the arrival of my fresh +troops, namely, 9000 Spaniards and 9000 Italians, which, with Walloons, +Germans, and Lorrainers, will give me an effective total of 30,000 +soldiers. Of this I give you my word as a gentleman. Go, then, Andrew +de Loo," continued the Duke, "write to her sacred Majesty, that I desire +to make peace; and to serve her faithfully; and that I shall not change +my mind, even in case of any great success, for I like to proceed rather +by the ways of love than of rigour and effusion of bleed." + +"I can assure you, oh, most serene Duke," replied Andrew, "that the most +serene Queen is in the very same dispositions with yourself." + +"Excellent well then," said the Duke, "we shall come to an agreement +at once, and the sooner the deputies on both sides are appointed the +better." + +A feeble proposition was then made, on the part of the peace-loving +Andrew, that the hostile operations against Sluy's should be at once +terminated. But this did not seem so clear to the most serene Duke. He +had gone to great expense in that business; and he had not built bridges, +erected forts, and dug mines, only to abandon them for a few fine words, +Fine words were plenty, but they raised no sieges. Meantime these +pacific and gentle murmurings from Farnese's camp had lulled the Queen +into forgetfulness of Roger Williams and Arnold Groenevelt and their men, +fighting day and night in trench and mine during that critical midsummer. +The wily tongue of the Duke had been more effective than his batteries in +obtaining the much-coveted city. The Queen obstinately held back her men +and money, confident of effecting a treaty, whether Sluys fell or not. +Was it strange that the States should be distrustful of her intentions, +and, in their turn, become neglectful of their duty? + +And thus summer wore into autumn, Sluys fell, the States and their +governor-general were at daggers-drawn, the Netherlanders were full of +distrust with regard to England, Alexander hinted doubts as to the +Queen's sincerity; the secret negotiations, though fertile in suspicions, +jealousies, delays, and such foul weeds, had produced no wholesome fruit, +and the excellent De Loo became very much depressed. At last a letter +from Burghley relieved his drooping spirits. From the most disturbed and +melancholy man in the world, he protested, he had now become merry and +quiet. He straightway went off to the Duke of Parma, with the letter in +his pocket, and translated it to him by candlelight, as he was careful to +state, as an important point in his narrative. And Farnese was fuller of +fine phrases than ever. + +"There is no cause whatever," said he, in a most loving manner, "to doubt +my sincerity. Yet the Lord-Treasurer intimates that the most serene +Queen is disposed so to do. But if I had not the very best intentions, +and desires for peace, I should never have made the first overtures. If +I did not wish a pacific solution, what in the world forced me to do what +I have done? On the contrary, it is I that have reason to suspect the +other parties with their long delays, by which they have made me lose the +best part of the summer." + +He then commented on the strong expressions in the English letters, as to +the continuance of her Majesty in her pious resolutions; observed that he +was thoroughly advised of the disputes between the Earl of Leicester and +the States; and added that it was very important for the time indicated +by the Queen. + +"Whatever is to be done," said he, in conclusion, "let it be done +quickly;" and with that he said he would go and eat a bit of supper. + +"And may I communicate Lord Burghley's letter to any one else?" asked De +Loo. + +"Yes, yes, to the Seigneur de Champagny, and to my secretary Cosimo," +answered his Highness. + +So the merchant negotiator proceeded at once to the mansion of Champagny, +in company with the secretary Cosimo. There was a long conference, in +which De Loo was informed of many things which he thoroughly believed, +and faithfully transmitted to the court of Elizabeth. Alexander had done +his best, they said, to delay the arrival of his fresh troops. He had +withdrawn from the field, on various pretexts, hoping, day after day, +that the English commissioners would arrive, and that a firm and +perpetual peace would succeed to the miseries of war. But as time wore +away, and there came no commissioners, the Duke had come to the painful +conclusion that he had been trifled with. His forces would now be sent +into Holland to find something to eat; and this would ensure the total +destruction of all that territory. He had also written to command all +the officers of the coming troops to hasten their march, in order that +he might avoid incurring still deeper censure. He was much ashamed, +in truth, to have been wheedled into passing the whole fine season in +idleness. He had been sacrificing himself for her sacred Majesty, and +to, serve her best interests; and now he found himself the object of her +mirth. Those who ought to be well informed had assured him that the +Queen was only waiting to see how the King of Navarre was getting on with +the auxiliary force just, going to him from Germany, that she had no +intention whatever to make peace, and that, before long, he might expect +all these German mercenaries upon his shoulders in the Netherlands. +Nevertheless he was prepared to receive them with 40,000 good infantry, +a splendid cavalry force, and plenty of money.' + +All this and more did the credulous Andrew greedily devour; and he lost +no time in communicating the important intelligence to her Majesty and +the Lord-Treasurer. He implored her, he said, upon his bare knees, +prostrate on the ground, and from the most profound and veritable centre +of his heart and with all his soul and all his strength, to believe in +the truth of the matters thus confided to him. He would pledge his +immortal soul, which was of more value to him--as he correctly observed +--than even the crown of Spain, that the King, the Duke, and his +counsellors, were most sincerely desirous of peace, and actuated by the +most loving and benevolent motives. Alexander Farnese was "the antidote +to the Duke of Alva," kindly sent by heaven, 'ut contraria contrariis +curenter,' and if the entire security of the sacred Queen were not now +obtained, together with a perfect reintegration of love between her +Majesty and the King of Spain, and with the assured tranquillity and +perpetual prosperity of the Netherlands, it would be the fault of +England; not of Spain. + +And no doubt the merchant believed all that was told him, and--what was +worse--that he fully impressed his own convictions upon her Majesty and +Lord Burghley, to say nothing of the comptroller, who, poor man, had +great facility in believing anything that came from the court of the +most Catholic King: yet it is painful to reflect, that in all these +communications of Alexander and his agents, there was not one single +word of truth.--It was all false from beginning to end, as to the +countermanding of the troops,--as to the pacific intentions of the King +and Duke, and as to the proposed campaign in Friesland, in case of +rupture; and all the rest. But this will be conclusively proved a little +later. + +Meantime the conference had been most amicable and satisfactory. And +when business was over, Champagny--not a whit the worse for the severe +jilting which he had so recently sustained from the widow De Bours, now +Mrs. Aristotle Patton--invited De Loo and Secretary Cosimo to supper. +And the three made a night of it, sitting up late, and draining such huge +bumpers to the health of the Queen of England, that--as the excellent +Andrew subsequently informed Lord Burghley--his head ached most bravely +next morning. + +And so, amid the din of hostile preparation not only in Cadiz and Lisbon, +but in Ghent and Sluys and Antwerp, the import of which it seemed +difficult to mistake, the comedy of, negotiation was still rehearsing, +and the principal actors were already familiar with their respective +parts. There were the Earl of Derby, knight of the garter, and my Lord +Cobham; and puzzling James Croft, and other Englishmen, actually +believing that the farce was a solemn reality. There was Alexander of +Parma thoroughly aware of the contrary. There was Andrew de Loo, more +talkative, more credulous, more busy than ever, and more fully impressed +with the importance of his mission, and there was the white-bearded +Lord-Treasurer turning complicated paragraphs; shaking his head and +waving his wand across the water, as if, by such expedients, the storm +about to burst over England could, be dispersed. + +The commissioners should come, if only the Duke of Parma would declare +on his word of honour, that these hostile preparations with which all +Christendom was ringing; were not intended against England; or if that +really were the case--if he would request his master to abandon all such +schemes, and if Philip in consequence would promise on the honour of a +prince, to make no hostile attempts against that country. + +There would really seem an almost Arcadian simplicity in such demands, +coming from so practised a statesman as the Lord-Treasurer, and from a +woman of such brilliant intellect as Elizabeth unquestionably possessed. +But we read the history of 1587, not only by the light of subsequent +events, but by the almost microscopic revelations of sentiments and +motives, which a full perusal of the secret documents in those ancient +cabinets afford. At that moment it was not ignorance nor dulness which +was leading England towards the pitfall so artfully dug by Spain. There +was trust in the plighted word of a chivalrous soldier like Alexander +Farnese, of a most religious and anointed monarch like Philip II. +English frankness, playing cards upon the table, was no match for Italian +and Spanish legerdemain, a system according to which, to defraud the +antagonist by every kind of falsehood and trickery was the legitimate end +of diplomacy and statesmanship. It was well known that there were great +preparations in Spain, Portugal, and the obedient Netherlands, by land +and sea. But Sir Robert Sidney was persuaded that the expedition was +intended for Africa; even the Pope was completely mystified--to the +intense delight of Philip--and Burghley, enlightened by the sagacious +De Loo, was convinced, that even in case of a rupture, the whole strength +of the Spanish arms was to be exerted in reducing Friesland and +Overyssel. But Walsingham was never deceived; for he had learned from +Demosthenes a lesson with which William the Silent, in his famous +Apology, had made the world familiar, that the only citadel against a +tyrant and a conqueror was distrust. + +Alexander, much grieved that doubts should still be felt as to his +sincerity, renewed the most exuberant expressions of that sentiment, +together with gentle complaints against the dilatoriness which had +proceeded from the doubt. Her Majesty had long been aware, he said, +of his anxiety to bring about a perfect reconciliation; but he had +waited, month after month, for her commissioners, and had waited in vain. +His hopes had been dashed to the ground. The affair had been +indefinitely spun out, and he could not resist the conviction that her +Majesty had changed her mind. Nevertheless, as Andrew de Loo was again +proceeding to England, the Duke seized the opportunity once more to kiss +her hand, and--although he had well nigh resolved to think no more on the +subject--to renew his declarations, that, if the much-coveted peace were +not concluded, the blame could not be imputed to him, and that he should +stand guiltless before God and the world. He had done, and was still +ready to do, all which became a Christian and a man desirous of the +public welfare and tranquillity. + +When Burghley read these fine phrases, he was much impressed; +and they were pronounced at the English court to be "very princely and +Christianly." An elaborate comment too was drawn up by the comptroller +on every line of the letter. "These be very good words," said the +comptroller. + +But the Queen was even more pleased with the last proof of the Duke's +sincerity, than even Burghley and Croft had been. Disregarding all the +warnings of Walsingham, she renewed her expressions of boundless +confidence in the wily Italian. "We do assure you," wrote the Lords, +"and so you shall do well to avow it to the Duke upon our honours, +that her Majesty saith she thinketh both their minds to accord upon one +good and Christian meaning, though their ministers may perchance sound +upon a discord." And she repeated her resolution to send over her +commissioners, so soon as the Duke had satisfied her as to the hostile +preparations. + +We have now seen the good faith of the English Queen towards the Spanish +government. We have seen her boundless trust in the sincerity of Farnese +and his master. We have heard the exuberant professions of an honest +intention to bring about a firm and lasting peace, which fell from the +lips of Farnese and of his confidential agents. It is now necessary to +glide for a moment into the secret cabinet of Philip, in order to satisfy +ourselves as to the value of all those professions. The attention of the +reader is solicited to these investigations, because the year 1587 was a +most critical period in the history of English, Dutch, and European +liberty. The coming year 1588 had been long spoken of in prophecy, as +the year of doom, perhaps of the destruction of the world, but it was in +1587, the year of expectation and preparation, that the materials were +slowly combining out of which that year's history was to be formed. + +And there sat the patient letter-writer in his cabinet, busy with his +schemes. His grey head was whitening fast. He was sixty years of age. +His frame was slight, his figure stooping, his digestion very weak, his +manner more glacial and sepulchral than ever; but if there were a hard- +working man in Europe, that man was Philip II. And there he sat at his +table, scrawling his apostilles. The fine innumerable threads which +stretched across the surface of Christendom, and covered it as with a +net, all converged in that silent cheerless cell. France was kept in a +state of perpetual civil war; the Netherlands had been converted into a +shambles; Ireland was maintained in a state of chronic rebellion; +Scotland was torn with internal feuds, regularly organized and paid for +by Philip; and its young monarch--"that lying King of Scots," as +Leicester called him--was kept in a leash ready to be slipped upon +England, when his master should give the word; and England herself was +palpitating with the daily expectation of seeing a disciplined horde of +brigands let loose upon her shores; and all this misery, past, present, +and future, was almost wholly due to the exertions of that grey-haired +letter-writer at his peaceful library-table. + +At the very beginning of the year the King of Denmark had made an offer +to Philip of mediation. The letter, entrusted to a young Count de +Rantzan, had been intercepted by the States--the envoy not having availed +himself, in time, of his diplomatic capacity, and having in consequence +been treated, for a moment, like a prisoner of war. The States had +immediately addressed earnest letters of protest to Queen Elizabeth, +declaring that nothing which the enemy could do in war was half so +horrible to them as the mere mention of peace. Life, honour, religion, +liberty, their all, were at stake, they said, and would go down in one +universal shipwreck, if peace should be concluded; and they implored her +Majesty to avert the proposed intercession of the Danish King. Wilkes +wrote to Walsingham denouncing that monarch and his ministers as +stipendiaries of Spain, while, on the other hand, the Duke of Parma, +after courteously thanking the King for his offer of mediation, described +him to Philip as such a dogged heretic, that no good was to be derived +from him, except by meeting his fraudulent offers with an equally +fraudulent response. There will be nothing lost, said Alexander, by +affecting to listen to his proposals, and meantime your Majesty must +proceed with the preparations against England. This was in the first +week of the year 1587. + +In February, and almost on the very day when Parma was writing those +affectionate letters to Elizabeth, breathing nothing but peace, he was +carefully conning Philip's directions in regard to the all-important +business of the invasion. He was informed by his master, that one +hundred vessels, forty of them of largest size, were quite ready, +together with 12,000 Spanish infantry, including 3000 of the old legion, +and that there were volunteers more than enough. Philip had also taken +note, he said, of Alexander's advice as to choosing the season when the +crops in England had just been got in, as the harvest of so fertile a +country would easily support an invading force; but he advised +nevertheless that the army should be thoroughly victualled at starting. +Finding that Alexander did not quite approve of the Irish part of the +plan, he would reconsider the point, and think more of the Isle of Wight; +but perhaps still some other place might be discovered, a descent upon +which might inspire that enemy with still greater terror and confusion. +It would be difficult for him, he said, to grant the 6000 men asked for +by the Scotch malcontents, without seriously weakening his armada; but +there must be no positive refusal, for a concerted action with the Scotch +lords and their adherents was indispensable. The secret, said the King, +had been profoundly kept, and neither in Spain nor in Rome had anything +been allowed to transpire. Alexander was warned therefore to do his best +to maintain the mystery, for the enemy was trying very hard to penetrate +their actions and their thoughts. + +And certainly Alexander did his best. He replied to his master, by +transmitting copies of the letters he had been writing with his own hand +to the Queen, and of the, pacific messages he had sent her through +Champagny. and De Loo. She is just now somewhat confused, said he, and +those of her counsellors who desire peace, are more eager, than ever for +negotiation. She is very much afflicted with the loss of Deventer, and +is quarrelling with the French ambassador about the new conspiracy for +her assassination. The opportunity is a good one, and if she writes an +answer to my letter, said Alexander, we can keep the negotiation, alive, +while, if she does not, 'twill be a proof that she has contracted leagues +with other parties. But, in any event, the Duke fervently implored +Philip not to pause in his preparations for the great enterprise which he +had conceived in his royal breast. So urgent for the invasion was the +peace-loving general. + +He alluded also to the supposition that the quarrel between her Majesty +and the French envoy was a mere fetch, and only one of the results of +Bellievre's mission. Whether that diplomatist had been sent to censure, +or in reality to approve, in the name of his master, of the Scottish +Queen's execution, Alexander would leave to be discussed by Don +Bernardino de Mendoza, the Spanish ambassador in Paris; but he was of +opinion that the anger of the Queen with France was a fiction, and her +supposed league with France and Germany against Spain a fact. Upon this +point, as it appears from Secretary Walsingham's lamentations, the astute +Farnese was mistaken. + +In truth he was frequently, led into error to the English policy the same +serpentine movement and venomous purpose which characterized his own; and +we have already seen; that Elizabeth was ready, on the contrary, to +quarrel with the States, with France, with all the world, if she could +only secure the good-will of Philip. + +The French-matter, indissolubly connected in that monarch's schemes, with +his designs upon England and Holland, was causing Alexander much anxiety. +He foresaw great difficulty in maintaining that, indispensable civil war +in France, and thought that a peace might, some fine day, be declared +between Henry III. and the Huguenots, when least expected. In +consequence, the Duke of Guise was becoming very importunate for Philip's +subsidies. "Mucio comes begging to me," said Parma, "with the very +greatest earnestness, and utters nothing but lamentations and cries of +misery. He asked for 25,000 of the 150,000 ducats promised him. I gave +them. Soon afterwards he writes, with just as much anxiety, for 25,000 +more. These I did not give; firstly, because I had them not," (which +would seem a sufficient reason) "and secondly, because I wished to +protract matters as much as possible. He is constantly reminding me of +your Majesty's promise of 300,000 ducats, in case he comes to a rupture +with the King of France, and I always assure him that your Majesty will +keep all promises." + +Philip, on his part, through the months of spring, continued to assure +his generalissimo of his steady preparations--by sea and land. He had +ordered Mendoza to pay the Scotch lords the sum demanded by them, but not +till after they had done the deed as agreed upon; and as to the 6000 men, +he felt obliged, he said, to defer that matter for the moment; and to +leave the decision upon it to the Duke. Farnese kept his sovereign +minutely informed of the negociations carried on through Champagny and De +Loo, and expressed his constant opinion that the Queen was influenced by +motives as hypocritical as his own. She was only seeking, he said, to +deceive, to defraud, to put him to sleep, by those feigned negotiations, +while, she was making her combinations with France and Germany, for the +ruin of Spain. There was no virtue to be expected from her, except she +was compelled thereto by pure necessity. The English, he said, were +hated and abhorred by the natives of Holland and Zeeland, and it behoved +Philip to seize so favourable an opportunity for urging on his great plan +with all the speed in the world. It might be that the Queen, seeing +these mighty preparations, even although not suspecting that she herself +was to be invaded, would tremble for her safety, if the Netherlands +should be crushed. But if she succeeded in deceiving Spain, and putting +Philip and Parma to sleep, she might well boast of having made fools of +them all. The negotiations for peace and the preparations for the +invasion should go simultaneously forward therefore, and the money would, +in consequence, come more sparingly to the Provinces from the English +coffers, and the disputes between England and the States would be +multiplied. The Duke also begged to be informed whether any terms could +be laid down, upon which the King really would conclude peace; in order +that he might make no mistake for want of instructions or requisite +powers. The condition of France was becoming more alarming every day, he +said. In other words, there was an ever-growing chance of peace for that +distracted country. The Queen of England was cementing a strong league +between herself, the French King, and the Huguenots; and matters were +looking very serious. The impending peace in France would never do, and +Philip should prevent it in time, by giving Mucio his money. Unless the +French are entangled and at war among themselves, it is quite clear, said +Alexander, that we can never think of carrying out our great scheme of +invading England. + +The King thoroughly concurred in all that was said and done by his +faithful governor and general. He had no intention of concluding a peace +on any terms whatever, and therefore could name no conditions; but he +quite approved of a continuance of the negotiations. The English, +he was convinced, were utterly false on their part, and the King of +Denmark's proposition to-mediate was part and parcel of the same general +fiction. He was quite sensible of the necessity of giving Mucio the +money to prevent a pacification in France, and would send letters of +exchange on Agostino Spinola for the 300,000 ducats. Meantime Farnese +was to go on steadily with his preparations for the invasion. + +The secretary-of-state, Don Juan de Idiaquez, also wrote most earnestly +on the great subject to the Duke. "It is not to be exaggerated", he +said, "how set his Majesty is in the all-important business. If you wish +to manifest towards him the most flattering obedience on earth, and to +oblige him as much as you could wish, give him this great satisfaction +this year. Since you have money, prepare everything out there, conquer +all difficulties, and do the deed so soon as the forces of Spain and +Italy arrive, according to the plan laid down by your Excellency last +year. Make use of the negotiations for peace for this one purpose, and +no more, and do the business like the man you are. Attribute the liberty +of this advice to my desire to serve you more than any other, to my +knowledge of how much you will thereby gratify his Majesty, and to my +fear of his resentment towards you, in the contrary case." + +And, on the same day, in order that there might be no doubt of the royal +sentiments, Philip expressed himself at length on the whole subject. The +dealings of Farnese with the English, and his feeding them with hopes of +peace, would have given him more satisfaction, he observed, if it had +caused their preparations to slacken; but, on the contrary, their +boldness had increased. They had perpetrated the inhuman murder of the +Queen of Scots, and moreover, not content with their piracies at sea and +in the Indies, they had dared to invade the ports of Spain, as would +appear in the narrative transmitted to Farnese of the late events at +Cadiz. And although that damage was small, said Philip; there resulted a +very great obligation to take them 'seriously in hand.' He declined +sending fill powers for treating; but in order to make use of the same +arts employed by the English, he preferred that Alexander should not +undeceive them, but desired him to express, as out of his own head; to +the negotiators, his astonishment that while they were holding such +language they should commit such actions. Even their want of prudence in +thus provoking the King; when their strength was compared to his, should +be spoken of by Farnese as--wonderful, and he was to express the opinion +that his Majesty would think him much wanting in circumspection, should +he go on negotiating while they were playing such tricks. "You must show +yourself very sensitive, about this event," continued Philip, "and you +must give them to understand that I am quite as angry as you. You must +try to draw from them some offer of satisfaction--however false it will +be in reality--such as a proposal to recall the fleet, or an, assertion +that the deeds of Drake in Cadiz were without the knowledge and contrary +to the will of the Queen, and that she very much regrets them, or +something of that sort." + +It has already been shown that Farnese was very successful in eliciting +from the Queen, through the mouth of Lord' Burghley, as ample a disavowal +and repudiation of Sir Francis Drake as the King could possibly desire. +Whether it would have the desired effect--of allaying the wrath of +Philip; might have been better foretold, could the letter, with which we +are now occupied, have been laid upon the Greenwich council-board. + +"When you have got, such a disavowal," continued his Majesty, "you are to +act as if entirely taken in and imposed upon by them, and, pretending to +believe everything they tell you, you must renew the negotiations, +proceed to name commissioners, and propose a meeting upon neutral +territory. As for powers; say that you, as my governor-general, will +entrust them to your deputies, in regard to the Netherlands. For all +other matters, say that you have had full powers for many months, but +that you cannot exhibit them until conditions worthy of my acceptance +have been offered.--Say this only for the sake of appearance. This is +the true way to take them in, and so the peace-commissioners may meet. +But to you only do I declare that my intention is that this shall never +lead to any result, whatever conditions maybe offered by them. On the +contrary, all this is done--just as they do--to deceive them, and to cool +them in their preparations for defence, by inducing them to believe that +such preparations will be unnecessary. You are well aware that the +reverse of all this is the truth, and that on our part there is to be no +slackness, but the greatest diligence in our efforts for the invasion of +England, for which we have already made the most abundant provision in +men, ships, and money, of which you are well aware." + +Is it strange that the Queen of England was deceived? Is it matter of +surprise, censure, or shame, that no English statesman was astute enough +or base enough to contend with such diplomacy, which seemed inspired only +by the very father of lies? + +"Although we thus enter into negotiations," continued the King--unveiling +himself, with a solemn indecency, not agreeable to contemplate--"without +any intention of concluding them, you can always get out of them with +great honour, by taking umbrage about the point of religion and about +some other of the outrageous propositions which they are like to propose, +and of which there are plenty, in the letters of Andrew de Loo. Your +commissioners must be instructed; to refer all important matters to your +personal decision. The English will be asking for damages for money, +spent in assisting my rebels; your commissioners will contend that +damages are rather due to me. Thus, and in other ways, time will be +agent. Your own envoys are not to know the secret any more than the +English themselves. I tell it to you only. Thus you will proceed with +the negotiations, now, yielding on one point, and now insisting on +another, but directing all to the same object--to gain time while +proceeding with the preparation for the invasion, according to the plan +already agreed upon." + +Certainly the most Catholic King seemed, in this remarkable letter to +have outdone himself; and Farnese--that sincere Farnese, in whose loyal, +truth-telling, chivalrous character, the Queen and her counsellors placed +such implicit reliance--could thenceforward no longer be embarrassed as +to the course he was to adopt. To lie daily, through, thick, and thin, +and with every variety of circumstance and detail which; a genius fertile +in fiction could suggest, such was the simple rule prescribed by his +sovereign. And the rule was implicitly obeyed, and the English sovereign +thoroughly deceived. The secret confided only, to the faithful breast of +Alexander was religiously kept. Even the Pope was outwitted. His +Holiness proposed to, Philip the invasion of England, and offered a +million to further the plan. He was most desirous to be informed if the +project was, resolved upon, and, if so, when it was to be accomplished. +The King took the Pope's million, but refused the desired information. +He answered evasively. He had a very good will to invade the country, he +said, but there were great difficulties in the way. After a time, the +Pope again tried to pry into the matter, and again offered the million +which Philip had only accepted for the time when it might be wanted; +giving him at the same time, to understand that it was not necessary at +that time, because there were then great impediments. "Thus he is +pledged to give me the subsidy, and I am not pledged for the time," said +Philip, "and I keep my secret, which is the most important of all." + +Yet after all, Farnese did not see his way clear towards the consummation +of the plan. His army had wofully dwindled, and before he could +seriously set about ulterior matters, it would be necessary to take +the city of Sluys. This was to prove--as already seen--a most arduous +enterprise. He complained to Philip' of his inadequate supplies both in +men and money. The project conceived in the royal breast was worth +spending millions for, he said, and although by zeal and devotion he +could accomplish something, yet after all he was no more than a man, +and without the necessary means the scheme could not succeed. But +Philip, on the contrary, was in the highest possible spirits. He had +collected more money, he declared than had ever been seen before in the +world. He had two million ducats in reserve, besides the Pope's million; +the French were in a most excellent state of division, and the invasion +should be made this year without fail. The fleet would arrive in the +English channel by the end of the summer; which would be exactly in +conformity with Alexander's ideas. The invasion was to be threefold: +from Scotland, under the Scotch earls and their followers, with the money +and troops furnished by Philip; from the Netherlands, under Parma; and by +the great Spanish armada itself, upon the Isle of Wight. Alexander must +recommend himself to God, in whose cause he was acting, and then do his +duty; which lay very plain before him. If he ever wished to give his +sovereign satisfaction in his life; he was to do the deed that year, +whatever might betide. Never could there be so fortunate a conjunction +of circumstances again. France was in a state of revolution, the German +levies were weak, the Turk was fully occupied in Persia, an enormous mass +of money, over and above the Pope's million, had been got together, and +although the season was somewhat advanced, it was certain that the Duke +would conquer all impediments, and be the instrument by which his royal +master might render to God that service which he was so anxious to +perform. Enthusiastic, though gouty, Philip grasped the pen in order to +scrawl a few words with his own royal hand. "This business is of such +importance," he said, "and it is so necessary that it should not be +delayed, that I cannot refrain from urging it upon you as much as I can. +I should do it even more amply; if this hand would allow me, which has +been crippled with gout these several days, and my feet as well, and +although it is unattended with pain, yet it is an impediment to writing." + +Struggling thus against his own difficulties, and triumphantly, +accomplishing a whole paragraph with disabled hand, it was natural that +the King should expect Alexander, then deep in the siege of Sluy's, to +vanquish all his obstacles as successfully; and to effect the conquest of +England so soon as the harvests of that kingdom should be garnered. + +Sluy's was surrendered at last, and the great enterprise seemed opening +from hour to hour. During the months of autumn; upon the very days when +those loving messages, mixed with gentle reproaches, were sent by +Alexander to Elizabeth, and almost at the self-same hours in which honest +Andrew de Loo was getting such head-aches by drinking the Queen's health +with Cosimo, and Champagny, the Duke and Philip were interchanging +detailed information as to the progress of the invasion. The King +calculated that by the middle of September Alexander would have 30,000 +men in the Netherlands ready for embarcation.--Marquis Santa Cruz was +announced as nearly ready to, sail for the English channel with 22,000 +more, among whom were to be 16,000 seasoned Spanish infantry. The +Marquis was then to extend the hand to Parma, and protect that passage to +England which the Duke was at once to effect. The danger might be great +for so large a fleet to navigate the seas at so late a season of the +year; but Philip was sure that God, whose cause it was, would be pleased +to give good weather. The Duke was to send, with infinite precautions of +secrecy, information which the Marquis would expect off Ushant, and be +quite ready to act so soon as Santa Cruz should arrive. Most earnestly +and anxiously did the King deprecate any, thought of deferring the +expedition to another year. If delayed, the obstacles of the following +summer--a peace in France, a peace between the Turk and Persia, and other +contingencies--would cause the whole project to fail, and Philip +declared, with much iteration, that money; reputation, honour, his +own character and that of Farnese, and God's service, were all at stake. +He was impatient at suggestions of difficulties occasionally, ventured by +the Duke, who was reminded that he had been appointed chief of the great +enterprise by the spontaneous choice of his master, and that all his +plans had been minutely followed. "You are the author of the whole +scheme," said Philip, "and if it, is all to vanish into space, what kind +of a figure shall we cut the coming year?" Again and again he referred +to the immense sum collected--such as never before had been seen since +the world was made--4,800,000 ducats with 2,000,000 in reserve, of which +he was authorized to draw for 500,000 in advance, to say nothing of the +Pope's million. + +But Alexander, while straining every nerve to obey his master's +wishes about the invasion, and to blind the English by the fictitious +negotiations, was not so sanguine as his sovereign. In truth, there was +something puerile in the eagerness which Philip manifested. He had made +up his mind that England was to be conquered that autumn, and had +endeavoured--as well as he could--to comprehend, the plans which his +illustrious general had laid down for accomplishing that purpose. Of, +course; to any man of average intellect, or, in truth, to any man outside +a madhouse; it would seem an essential part of the conquest that the +Armada should arrive. Yet--wonderful to relate-Philip, in his +impatience, absolutely suggested that the Duke might take possession of +England without waiting for Santa Cruz and his Armada. As the autumn had +been wearing away, and there had been unavoidable delays about the +shipping in Spanish ports, the King thought it best not to defer matters +till, the winter. "You are, doubtless, ready," he said to Farnese. +"If you think you can make the passage to England before the fleet from +Spain arrives, go at once. You maybe sure that it will come ere long to +support, you. But if, you prefer, to wait, wait. The dangers of winter, +to the fleet and to your own person are to be regretted; but God, whose +cause it is; will protect you." + +It was, easy to sit quite out of harm's way, and to make such excellent, +arrangements for smooth weather in the wintry channel, and for the. +conquest of a maritime and martial kingdom by a few flat bottoms. Philip +had little difficulty on that score, but the affairs of France were not +quite to his mind. The battle of Coutras, and the entrance of the German +and Swiss mercenaries into that country, were somewhat perplexing. +Either those auxiliaries of the Huguenots would be defeated, or they +would be victorious, or both parties would come to an agreement. In the +first event, the Duke, after sending a little assistance to Mucio, was to +effect his passage to England at once. In the second case, those troops, +even though successful, would doubtless be so much disorganized that it +might be still safe for Farnese to go on. In the third contingency--that +of an accord--it would be necessary for him to wait till the foreign +troops had disbanded and left France. He was to maintain all his forces +in perfect readiness, on pretext of the threatening aspect of French +matters and, so soon as the Swiss and Germane were dispersed, he was to +proceed to business without delay. The fleet would be ready in Spain in +all November, but as sea-affairs were so doubtful, particularly in +winter, and as the Armada could not reach the channel till mid-winter; +the Duke was not to wait for its arrival. "Whenever you see a favourable +opportunity," said Philip, "you must take care not to lose it, even if +the fleet has not made its appearance. For you may be sure that it will +soon come to give you assistance, in one way or another." + +Farnese had also been strictly enjoined to deal gently with the English, +after the conquest, so that they would have cause to love their new +master. His troops were not to forget discipline after victory. There +was to be no pillage or rapine. The Catholics were to be handsomely +rewarded and all the inhabitants were to be treated with so much +indulgence that, instead of abhorring Parma and his soldiers, they would +conceive a strong affection for them all, as the source of so many +benefits. Again the Duke was warmly commended for the skill with which +he had handled the peace negotiation. It was quite right to appoint +commissioners, but it was never for an instant to be forgotten that the +sole object of treating was to take the English unawares. "And therefore +do you guide them to this end," said the King with pious unction, "which +is what you owe to God, in whose service I have engaged in this +enterprise, and to whom I have dedicated the whole." The King of France, +too--that unfortunate Henry III., against whose throne and life Philip +maintained in constant pay an organized band of conspirators--was +affectionately adjured, through the Spanish envoy in Paris, Mendoza,--to +reflect upon the advantages to France of a Catholic king and kingdom of +England, in place of the heretics now in power. + +But Philip, growing more and more sanguine, as those visions of fresh +crowns and conquered kingdoms rose before him in his solitary cell, had +even persuaded himself that the deed was already done. In the early days +of December, he expressed a doubt whether his 14th November letter had +reached the Duke, who by that time was probably in England. One would +have thought the King addressing a tourist just starting on a little +pleasure-excursion. And this was precisely the moment when Alexander had +been writing those affectionate phrases to the Queen which had been +considered by the counsellors at Greenwich so "princely and Christianly," +and which Croft had pronounced such "very good words." + +If there had been no hostile, fleet to prevent, it was to be hoped, said +Philip, that, in the name of God, the passage had been made. "Once +landed there," continued the King, "I am persuaded that you will give me +a good account of yourself, and, with the help of our Lord, that you will +do that service which I desire to render to Him, and that He will guide +our cause, which is His own, and of such great importance to His Church." +A part of the fleet would soon after arrive and bring six thousand +Spaniards, the Pope's million, and other good things, which might prove +useful to Parma, presupposing that they would find him established on the +enemy's territory. + +This conviction that the enterprise had been already accomplished grew +stronger in the King's breast every day. He was only a little disturbed +lest Farnese should have misunderstood that 14th November letter. +Philip--as his wont was--had gone into so many petty and puzzling +details, and had laid down rules of action suitable for various +contingencies, so easy to put comfortably upon paper, but which might +become perplexing in action, that it was no wonder he should be a little +anxious. The third contingency suggested by him had really occurred. +There had been a composition between the foreign mercenaries and the +French King. Nevertheless they had also been once or twice defeated, and +this was contingency number two. Now which of the events would the Duke +consider as having really occurred. It was to be hoped that he would +have not seen cause for delay, for in truth number three was not exactly +the contingency which existed. France was still in a very satisfactory +state of discord and rebellion. The civil war was by no means over. +There was small fear of peace that winter. Give Mucio his pittance with +frugal hand, and that dangerous personage would ensure tranquillity for +Philip's project, and misery for Henry III. and his subjects for an +indefinite period longer. The King thought it improbable that Farnese +could have made any mistake. He expressed therefore a little anxiety at +having received no intelligence from him, but had great confidence that, +with the aid of the Lord and of with his own courage he had accomplished +the great exploit. Philip had only, recommended delay in event of a +general peace in France--Huguenots, Royalists, Leaguers, and all. +This had not happened. "Therefore, I trust," said the King; "that you-- +perceiving that this is not contingency number three which was to justify +a pause--will have already executed the enterprise, and fulfilled my +desire. I am confident that the deed is done, and that God has blessed +it, and I am now expecting the news from hour to hour." + +But Alexander had not yet arrived in England. The preliminaries for the +conquest caused him more perplexity than the whole enterprise occasioned +to Philip. He was very short of funds. The five millions were not to be +touched, except for the expenses of the invasion. But as England was to +be subjugated, in order that rebellious Holland might be recovered, it +was hardly reasonable to go away leaving such inadequate forces in the +Netherlands as to ensure not only independence to the new republic, but +to hold out temptation for revolt to the obedient Provinces. Yet this +was the dilemma in which the Duke was placed. So much money had been set +aside for the grand project that there was scarcely anything for the +regular military business. The customary supplies had not been sent. +Parma had leave to draw for six hundred thousand ducats, and he was able +to get that draft discounted on the Antwerp Exchange by consenting to +receive five hundred thousand, or sacrificing sixteen per cent. of the +sum. A good number of transports, and scows had been collected, but +there had been a deficiency of money for their proper equipment, as the +five millions had been very slow in coming, and were still upon the road. +The whole enterprise was on the point of being sacrificed, according to +Farnese, for want of funds. The time for doing the deed had arrived, and +he declared himself incapacitated by poverty. He expressed his disgust +and resentment in language more energetic than courtly; and protested +that he was not to blame. "I always thought," said he bitterly, "that +your Majesty would provide all that was necessary even in superfluity, +and not limit me beneath the ordinary. I did not suppose, when it was +most important to have ready money, that I should be kept short, and not +allowed to draw certain sums by anticipation, which I should have done +had you not forbidden." + +This was, through life, a striking characteristic of Philip. Enormous +schemes were laid out with utterly inadequate provision for their +accomplishment, and a confident expectation entertained that wild, +visions were; in some indefinite way, to be converted into substantial +realities, without fatigue or personal exertion on his part, and with a +very trifling outlay of ready money. + +Meantime the faithful Farnese did his best. He was indefatigable night +and day in getting his boats together and providing his munitions of war. +He dug a canal from Sas de Gand--which was one of his principal depots-- +all the way to Sluys, because the water-communication between those two +points was entirely in the hands of the Hollanders and Zeelanders. The +rebel cruisers swarmed in the Scheldt, from, Flushing almost to Antwerp, +so that it was quite impossible for Parma's forces to venture forth at +all; and it also seemed hopeless to hazard putting to sea from Sluys. +At the same, time he had appointed his, commissioners to treat with the +English envoys already named by the Queen. There had been much delay in +the arrival of those deputies, on account of the noise raised by +Barneveld and his followers; but Burghley was now sanguine that the +exposure of what he called the Advocate's seditious, false, and perverse +proceedings, would enable Leicester to procure the consent of the States +to a universal peace. + +And thus, with these parallel schemes of invasion and negotiation, +spring; summer, and autumn, had worn away. Santa Cruz was still with his +fleet in Lisbon, Cadiz, and the Azores; and Parma was in Brussels, when +Philip fondly imagined him established in Greenwich Palace. When made +aware of his master's preposterous expectations, Alexander would have +been perhaps amused, had he not been half beside himself with +indignation. Such folly seemed incredible. There was not the slightest +appearance of a possibility of making a passage without the protection of +the Spanish fleet, he observed. His vessels were mere transport-boats, +without the least power of resisting an enemy. The Hollanders and +Zeelanders, with one hundred and forty cruisers, had shut him up in all +directions. He could neither get out from Antwerp nor from Sluys. There +were large English ships, too, cruising in the channel, and they were +getting ready in the Netherlands and in England "most furiously." The +delays had been so great, that their secret had been poorly kept, and the +enemy was on his guard. If Santa Cruz had come, Alexander declared that +he should have already been in England. When he did come he should still +be prepared to make the passage; but to talk of such an attempt without +the Armada was senseless, and he denounced the madness of that +proposition to his Majesty in vehement and unmeasured terms. His army, +by sickness and other causes, had been reduced to one-half the number +considered necessary for the invasion, and the rebels had established +regular squadrons in the Scheldt, in the very teeth of the forts, at +Lillo, Liefkenshoek, Saftingen, and other points close to Antwerp. There +were so many of these war-vessels, and all in such excellent order, that +they were a most notable embarrassment to him, he observed, and his own +flotilla would run great risk of being utterly destroyed. Alexander had +been personally superintending matters at Sluys, Ghent, and Antwerp, and +had strengthened with artillery the canal which he had constructed +between Sas and Sluys. Meantime his fresh troops had been slowly +arriving, but much sickness prevailed among them. The Italians were +dying fast, almost all the Spaniards were in hospital, and the others +were so crippled and worn out that it was most pitiable to behold them; +yet it was absolutely necessary that those who were in health should +accompany him to England, since otherwise his Spanish force would be +altogether too weak to do the service expected. He had got together a +good number of transports. Not counting his Antwerp fleet--which could +not stir from port, as he bitterly complained, nor be of any use, on +account of the rebel blockade--he had between Dunkerk and Newport +seventy-four vessels of various kinds fit for sea-service, one hundred +and fifty flat-bottoms (pleytas), and seventy riverhoys, all which were +to be assembled at Sluys, whence they would--so soon as Santa Cruz should +make his appearance--set forth for England. This force of transports he +pronounced sufficient, when properly protected by the Spanish Armada, to +carry himself and his troops across the channel. If, therefore, the +matter did not become publicly known, and if the weather proved +favourable, it was probable that his Majesty's desire would soon be +fulfilled according to the plan proposed. The companies of light horse +and of arquebusmen, with which he meant to make his entrance into London, +had been clothed, armed, and mounted, he said, in a manner delightful to +contemplate, and those soldiers at least might be trusted--if they could +only effect their passage--to do good service, and make matters quite +secure. + +But craftily as the King and Duke had been dealing, it had been found +impossible to keep such vast preparations entirely secret. Walsingham +was in full possession of their plans down to the most minute details. +The misfortune was that he was unable to persuade his sovereign, Lord +Burghley, and others of the peace-party, as to the accuracy of his +information. Not only was he thoroughly instructed in regard to the +number of men, vessels, horses, mules, saddles, spurs, lances, barrels of +beer and tons of biscuit, and other particulars of the contemplated +invasion, but he had even received curious intelligence as to the +gorgeous equipment of those very troops, with which the Duke was just +secretly announcing to the King his intention of making his triumphal +entrance into the English capital. Sir Francis knew how many thousand +yards of cramoisy velvet, how many hundredweight of gold and silver +embroidery, how much satin and feathers, and what quantity of pearls and +diamonds; Farnese had been providing himself withal. He knew the +tailors, jewellers, silversmiths, and haberdashers, with whom the great +Alexander--as he now began to be called--had been dealing; + + ["There is provided for lights a great number of torches, and so + tempered that no water can put them out. A great number of little + mills for grinding corn, great store of biscuit baked and oxen + salted, great number of saddles and boots also there is made 500 + pair of velvet shoes-red, crimson velvet, and in every cloister + throughout the country great quantity of roses made of silk, white + and red, which are to be badges for divers of his gentlemen. By + reason of these roses it is expected he is going for England. There + is sold to the Prince by John Angel, pergaman, ten hundred-weight of + velvet, gold and silver to embroider his apparel withal. The + covering to his mules is most gorgeously embroidered with gold and + silver, which carry his baggage. There is also sold to him by the + Italian merchants at least 670 pieces of velvet to apparel him and + his train. Every captain has received a gift from the Prince to + make himself brave, and for Captain Corralini, an Italian, who hath + one cornet of horse, I have seen with my eyes a saddle with the + trappings of his horse, his coat and rapier and dagger, which cost + 3,500 French crowns. (!!) All their lances are painted of divers + colours, blue and white, green and White, and most part blood-red-- + so there is as great preparation for a triumph as for war. A great + number of English priests come to Antwerp from all places. The + commandment is given to all the churches to read the Litany daily + for the prosperity of the Prince in his enterprise." John Giles to + Walsingham, 4 Dec. 1587.(S. P. Office MS.) + + The same letter conveyed also very detailed information concerning + the naval preparations by the Duke, besides accurate intelligence in + regard to the progress of the armada in Cadiz and Lisbon. + + Sir William Russet wrote also from Flushing concerning these + preparations in much the same strain; but it is worthy of note that + he considered Farnese to be rather intending a movement against + France. + + "The Prince of Parma," he said, "is making great preparations for + war, and with all expedition means to march a great army, and for a + triumph, the coats and costly, apparel for his own body doth exceed + for embroidery, and beset with jewels; for all the embroiderers and + diamond-cutters work both night and day, such haste is made. Five + hundred velvet coats of one sort for lances, and a great number of + brave new coats made for horsemen; 30,000 men are ready, and gather + in Brabant and Flanders. It is said that there shall be in two days + 10,000 to do some great exploit in these parts, and 20,000 to march + with the Prince into France, and for certain it is not known what + way or how they shall march, but all are ready at an hour's warning + --4,000 saddles, 4000 lances. 6,000 pairs of boots, 2,000 barrels of + beer, biscuit sufficient for a camp of 20,000 men, &c. The Prince + hath received a marvellous costly garland or crown from the Pope, + and is chosen chief of the holy league..."] + +but when he spoke at the council-board, it was to ears wilfully deaf. +Nor was much concealed from the Argus-eyed politicians in the republic. +The States were more and more intractable. They knew nearly all the +truth with regard to the intercourse between the Queen's government and +Farnese, and they suspected more than the truth. The list of English +commissioners privately agreed upon between Burghley and De Loo was known +to Barneveld, Maurice, and Hohenlo, before it came to the ears of +Leicester. In June, Buckhurst had been censured by Elizabeth for opening +the peace matter to members of the States, according to her bidding, and +in July Leicester was rebuked for exactly the opposite delinquency. She +was very angry that he had delayed the communication of her policy so +long, but she expressed her anger only when that policy had proved so +transparent as to make concealment hopeless. Leicester, as well as +Buckhurst, knew that it was idle to talk to the Netherlanders of peace, +because of their profound distrust in every word that came from Spanish +or Italian lips; but Leicester, less frank than Buckhurst, preferred to +flatter his sovereign, rather than to tell her unwelcome truths. More +fortunate than Buckhurst, he was rewarded for his flattery by boundless +affection, and promotion to the very highest post in England when the +hour of England's greatest peril had arrived, while the truth-telling +counsellor was consigned to imprisonment and disgrace. When the Queen +complained sharply that the States were mocking her, and that she was +touched in honour at the prospect of not keeping her plighted word to +Farnese, the Earl assured her that the Netherlanders were fast changing +their views; that although the very name of peace had till then been +odious and loathsome, yet now, as coming from her Majesty, they would +accept it with thankful hearts. + +The States, or the leading members of that assembly, factious fellows, +pestilent and seditious knaves, were doing their utmost, and were singing +sirens' songs' to enchant and delude the people, but they were fast +losing their influence--so warmly did the country desire to conform to +her Majesty's pleasure. He expatiated, however, upon the difficulties in +his path. The knowledge possessed by the pestilent fellows as to the +actual position of affairs, was very mischievous. It was honey to +Maurice and Hohenlo, he said, that the Queen's secret practices with +Farnese had thus been discovered. Nothing could be more marked than the +jollity with which the ringleaders hailed these preparations for peace- +making, for they now felt certain that the government of their country +had been fixed securely in their own hands. They were canonized, said +the Earl, for their hostility to peace. + +Should not this conviction, on the part of men who had so many means of +feeling the popular pulse, have given the Queen's government pause? To +serve his sovereign in truth, Leicester might have admitted a possibility +at least of honesty on the part of men who were so ready to offer up +their lives for their country. For in a very few weeks ho was obliged to +confess that the people were no longer so well disposed to acquiesce in +her Majesty's policy. The great majority, both of the States and the +people, were in favour, he agreed, of continuing the war. The +inhabitants of the little Province of Holland alone, he said, had avowed +their determination to maintain their rights--even if obliged to fight +single-handed--and to shed the last drop in their veins, rather than to +submit again to Spanish tyranny. This seemed a heroic resolution, worthy +the sympathy of a brave Englishman, but the Earl's only comment upon it +was, that it proved the ringleaders "either to be traitors or else the +most blindest asses in the world." He never scrupled, on repeated +occasions, to insinuate that Barneveld, Hohenlo, Buys, Roorda, Sainte +Aldegonde, and the Nassaus, had organized a plot to sell their country to +Spain. Of this there was not the faintest evidence, but it was the only +way in which he chose to account for their persistent opposition to the +peace-negotiations, and to their reluctance to confer absolute power on +himself. "'Tis a crabbed, sullen, proud kind of people," said he, "and +bent on establishing a popular government,"--a purpose which seemed +somewhat inconsistent with the plot for selling their country to Spain, +which he charged in the same breath on the same persons. + +Early in August, by the Queen's command, he had sent a formal +communication respecting the private negotiations to the States, but he +could tell them no secret. The names of the commissioners, and even the +supposed articles of a treaty already concluded, were flying from town to +town, from mouth to mouth, so that the Earl pronounced it impossible for +one, not on the spot, to imagine the excitement which existed. + +He had sent a state-counsellor, one Bardesius, to the Hague, to open the +matter; but that personage had only ventured to whisper a word to one or +two members of the States, and was assured that the proposition, if made, +would raise such a tumult of fury, that he might fear for his life. So +poor Bardesius came back to Leicester, fell on his knees, and implored +him; at least to pause in these fatal proceedings. After an interval, he +sent two eminent statesmen, Valk and Menin, to lay the subject before the +assembly. They did so, and it was met by fierce denunciation. On their +return, the Earl, finding that so much violence had been excited, +pretended that they had misunderstood his meaning, and that he had never +meant to propose peace-negotiations. But Valk and Menin were too old +politicians to be caught in such a trap, and they produced a brief, drawn +up in Italian--the foreign language best understood by the Earl--with his +own corrections and interlineations, so that he was forced to admit that +there had been no misconception. + +Leicester at last could no longer doubt that he was universally odious in +the Provinces. Hohenlo, Barneveld, and the rest, who had "championed the +country against the peace," were carrying all before them. They had +persuaded the people, that the "Queen was but a tickle stay for them," +and had inflated young Maurice with vast ideas of his importance, telling +him that he was "a natural patriot, the image of his noble father, whose +memory was yet great among them, as good reason, dying in their cause, as +be had done." The country was bent on a popular government, and on +maintaining the war. There was no possibility, he confessed, that they +would ever confer the authority on him which they had formerly bestowed. +The Queen had promised, when he left England the second time, that his +absence should be for but three months, and he now most anxiously claimed +permission to depart. Above all things, he deprecated being employed as +a peace-commissioner. He was, of all men, the most unfit for such a +post. At the same time he implored the statesmen at home to be wary in +selecting the wisest persons for that arduous duty, in order that the +peace might be made for Queen Elizabeth, as well as for King Philip. +He strongly recommended, for that duty, Beale, the councillor, who with +Killigrew had replaced the hated Wilkes and the pacific Bartholomew +Clerk. "Mr. Beale, brother-in-law to Walsingham, is in my books a +prince," said the Earl. "He was drowned in England, but most useful in +the Netherlands. Without him I am naked." + +And at last the governor told the Queen what Buckhurst and Walsingham had +been perpetually telling her, that the Duke of Parma meant mischief; and +he sent the same information as to hundreds of boats preparing, with six +thousand shirts for camisados, 7000 pairs of wading boots, and saddles, +stirrups, and spurs, enough for a choice band of 3000 men. A shrewd +troop, said the Earl, of the first soldiers in Christendom, to be landed +some fine morning in England. And he too had heard of the jewelled suits +of cramoisy velvet, and all the rest of the finery with which the +triumphant Alexander was intending to astonish London. "Get horses +enough, and muskets enough in England," exclaimed Leicester, "and then +our people will not be beaten, I warrant you, if well led." + +And now, the governor--who, in order to soothe his sovereign and comply +with her vehement wishes, had so long misrepresented the state of public +feeling--not only confessed that Papists and Protestants, gentle and +simple, the States and the people, throughout the republic, were all +opposed to any negotiation with the enemy, but lifted up his own voice, +and in earnest language expressed his opinion of the Queen's infatuation. + +"Oh, my Lord, what a treaty is this for peace," said he to Burghley, +"that we must treat, altogether disarmed and weakened, and the King +having made his forces stronger than ever he had known in these parts, +besides what is coming out, of Spain, and yet we will presume of good +conditions. It grieveth me to the heart. But I fear you will all smart +for it, and I pray God her Majesty feel it not, if it be His blessed +will. She meaneth well and sincerely to have peace, but God knows that +this is not the way. Well, God Almighty defend us and the realm, and +especially her Majesty. But look for a sharp war, or a miserable peace, +to undo others and ourselves after." + +Walsingham, too, was determined not to act as a commissioner. If his +failing health did not serve as an excuse, he should be obliged to +refuse, he said, and so forfeit her Majesty's favour, rather than be +instrumental in bringing about her ruin, and that of his country. Never +for an instant had the Secretary of State faltered in his opposition to +the timid policy of Burghley. Again and again he had detected the +intrigues of the Lord-Treasurer and Sir James Croft, and ridiculed the +"comptroller's peace." + +And especially did Walsingham bewail the implicit confidence which the +Queen placed in the sugary words of Alexander, and the fatal parsimony +which caused her to neglect defending herself against Scotland; for he +was as well informed as was Farnese himself of Philip's arrangements with +the Scotch lords, and of the subsidies in men and money by which their +invasion of England was to be made part of the great scheme. "No one +thing," sighed Walsingham, "doth more prognosticate an alteration of this +estate, than that a prince of her Majesty's judgment should neglect, in +respect of a little charges, the stopping of so dangerous a gap . . . +. . The manner of our cold and careless proceeding here, in this time +of peril, maketh me to take no comfort of my recovery of health, for that +I see, unless it shall please God in mercy and miraculously to preserve +us, we cannot long stand." + +Leicester, finding himself unable to counteract the policy of Barneveld +and his party, by expostulation or argument, conceived a very dangerous +and criminal project before he left the country. The facts are somewhat +veiled in mystery; but he was suspected, on weighty evidence, of a design +to kidnap both Maurice and Barneveld, and carry them off to England. Of +this intention, which was foiled at any rate, before it could be carried +into execution, there is perhaps not conclusive proof, but it has already +been shown, from a deciphered letter, that the Queen had once given +Buckhurst and Wilkes peremptory orders to seize the person of Hohenlo, +and it is quite possible that similar orders may have been received at a +later moment with regard to the young Count and the Advocate. At any +rate, it is certain that late in the autumn, some friends of Barneveld +entered his bedroom, at the Hague, in the dead of night, and informed him +that a plot was on foot to lay violent hands upon him, and that an armed +force was already on its way to execute this purpose of Leicester, before +the dawn of day. The Advocate, without loss of time, took his departure +for Delft, a step which was followed, shortly afterwards, by Maurice. + +Nor was this the only daring--stroke which the Earl had meditated. +During the progress of the secret negotiations with Parma, he had not +neglected those still more secret schemes to which he had occasionally +made allusion. He had determined, if possible, to obtain possession of +the most important cities in Holland and Zeeland. It was very plain to +him, that he could no longer hope, by fair means, for the great authority +once conferred upon him by the free will of the States. It was his +purpose, therefore, by force and stratagem to recover his lost power. +We have heard the violent terms in which both the Queen and the Earl +denounced the men who accused the English government of any such +intention. It had been formally denied by the States-General that +Barneveld had ever used the language in that assembly with which he had +been charged. He had only revealed to them the exact purport of the +letter to Junius, and of the Queen's secret instructions to Leicester. +Whatever he may have said in private conversation, and whatever +deductions he may have made among his intimate friends, from the admitted +facts in the case, could hardly be made matters of record. It does not +appear that he, or the statesmen who acted with him, considered the Earl +capable of a deliberate design to sell the cities, thus to be acquired, +to Spain, as the price of peace for England. Certainly Elizabeth would +have scorned such a crime, and was justly indignant at rumours prevalent +to that effect; but the wrath of the Queen and of her favourite were, +perhaps, somewhat simulated, in order to cover their real mortification +at the discovery of designs on the part of the Earl which could not be +denied. Not only had they been at last compelled to confess these +negotiations, which for several months had been concealed and stubbornly +denied, but the still graver plots of the Earl to regain his much-coveted +authority had been, in a startling manner, revealed. The leaders of the +States-General had a right to suspect the English Earl of a design to +reenact the part of the Duke of Anjou, and were justified in taking +stringent measures to prevent a calamity, which, as they believed, was +impending over their little commonwealth. The high-handed dealings of +Leicester in the city of Utrecht have been already described. The most +respectable and influential burghers of the place had been imprisoned and +banished, the municipal government wrested from the hands to which it +legitimately belonged, and confided to adventurers, who wore the cloak of +Calvinism to conceal their designs, and a successful effort had been +made, in the name of democracy, to eradicate from one ancient province +the liberty on which it prided itself. + +In the course of the autumn, an attempt was made to play the same game at +Amsterdam. A plot was discovered, before it was fairly matured, to seize +the magistrates of that important city, to gain possession of the +arsenals, and to place the government in the hands of well-known +Leicestrians. A list of fourteen influential citizens, drawn up in the +writing of Burgrave, the Earl's confidential secretary, was found, all of +whom, it was asserted, had been doomed to the scaffold. + +The plot to secure Amsterdam had failed, but, in North Holland, Medenblik +was held firmly for Leicester, by Diedrich Sonoy, in the very teeth of +the States. The important city of Enkhuyzen, too, was very near being +secured for the Earl, but a still more significant movement was made at +Leyden. That heroic city, ever since the famous siege of 1574, in which +the Spaniard had been so signally foiled, had distinguished itself by +great liberality of sentiment in religious matters. The burghers were +inspired by a love of country, and a hatred of oppression, both civil +and, ecclesiastical; and Papists and Protestants, who had fought side by +side against the common foe, were not disposed to tear each other to +pieces, now that he had been excluded from their gates. Meanwhile, +however, refugee Flemings and Brabantines had sought an asylum in the +city, and being, as usual, of the strictest sect of the Calvinists were +shocked at the latitudinarianism which prevailed. To the honour of the +city--as it seems to us now--but, to their horror, it was even found that +one or two Papists had seats in the magistracy. More than all this, +there was a school in the town kept by a Catholic, and Adrian van der +Werff himself--the renowned burgomaster, who had sustained the city +during the dreadful leaguer of 1574, and who had told the famishing +burghers that they might eat him if they liked, but that they should +never surrender to the Spaniards while he remained alive--even Adrian van +der Werff had sent his son to this very school? To the clamour made by +the refugees against this spirit of toleration, one of the favourite +preachers in the town, of Arminian tendencies, had declared in the +pulpit, that he would as lieve see the Spanish as the Calvinistic +inquisition established over his country; using an expression, in regard +to the church of Geneva, more energetic than decorous. + +It was from Leyden that the chief opposition came to a synod, by which a +great attempt was to be made towards subjecting the new commonwealth to a +masked theocracy; a scheme which the States of Holland had resisted with +might and main. The Calvinistic party, waxing stronger in Leyden, +although still in a minority, at last resolved upon a strong effort to +place the city in the hands of that great representative of Calvinism, +the Earl of Leicester. Jacques Volmar, a deacon of the church, Cosmo de +Pescarengis, a Genoese captain of much experience in the service of the +republic, Adolphus de Meetkerke, former president of Flanders, who had +been, by the States, deprived of the seat in the great council to which +the Earl had appointed him; Doctor Saravia, professor of theology in the +university, with other deacons, preachers, and captains, went at +different times from Leyden to Utrecht, and had secret interviews with +Leicester. + +A plan was at last agreed upon, according to which, about the middle of +October, a revolution should be effected in Leyden. Captain Nicholas de +Maulde, who had recently so much distinguished himself in the defence of +Sluys, was stationed with two companies of States' troops in the city. +He had been much disgusted--not without reason--at the culpable +negligence through which the courageous efforts of the Sluys garrison +had been set at nought, and the place sacrificed, when it might so easily +have been relieved; and he ascribed the whole of the guilt to Maurice, +Hohenlo, and the States, although it could hardly be denied that at least +an equal portion belonged to Leicester and his party. The young captain +listened, therefore, to a scheme propounded to him by Colonel Cosine, and +Deacon Volmar, in the name of Leicester. He agreed, on a certain day, to +muster his company, to leave the city by the Delft gate--as if by command +of superior authority--to effect a junction with Captain Heraugiere, +another of the distinguished malcontent defenders of Sluys, who was +stationed, with his command, at Delft, and then to re-enter Leyden, take +possession of the town-hall, arrest all the magistrates, together with +Adrian van der Werff, ex-burgomaster, and proclaim Lord Leicester, in the +name of Queen Elizabeth, legitimate master of the city. A list of +burghers, who were to be executed, was likewise agreed upon, at a final +meeting of the conspirators in a hostelry, which bore the ominous name of +'The Thunderbolt.' A desire had been signified by Leicester, in the +preliminary interviews at Utrecht, that all bloodshed, if possible, +should be spared, but it was certainly an extravagant expectation, +considering the, temper, the political convictions, and the known courage +of the Leyden burghers, that the city would submit, without a struggle, +to this invasion of all their rights. It could hardly be doubted that +the streets would run red with blood, as those of Antwerp had done, when +a similar attempt, on the part of Anjou, had been foiled. + +Unfortunately for the scheme, a day or two before the great stroke was to +be hazarded, Cosmo de Pescarengis had been accidentally arrested for +debt. A subordinate accomplice, taking alarm, had then gone before the +magistrate and revealed the plot. Volmar and de Maulde fled at once, but +were soon arrested in the neighbourhood. President de Meetkerke, +Professor Saravia, the preacher Van der Wauw, and others most +compromised, effected their escape. The matter was instantly laid before +the States of Holland by the magistracy of Leyden, and seemed of the +gravest moment. In the beginning of the year, the fatal treason of York +and Stanley had implanted a deep suspicion of Leicester in the hearts of +almost all the Netherlanders, which could not be eradicated. The painful +rumours concerning the secret negotiations with Spain, and the design +falsely attributed to the English Queen, of selling the chief cities of +the republic to Philip as the price of peace, and of reimbursement for +expenses incurred by her, increased the general excitement to fever. It +was felt by the leaders of the States that as mortal a combat lay before +them with the Earl of Leicester, as with the King of Spain, and that it +was necessary to strike a severe blow, in order to vindicate their +imperilled authority. + +A commission was appointed by the high court of Holland, acting in +conjunction with the States of the Provinces, to try the offenders. +Among the commissioners were Adrian van der Werff, John van der Does, who +had been military commandant of Leyden during the siege, Barneveld, and +other distinguished personages, over whom Count Maurice presided. The +accused were subjected to an impartial trial. Without torture, they +confessed their guilt. It is true, however, that Cosmo was placed within +sight of the rack. He avowed that his object had been to place the city +under the authority of Leicester, and to effect this purpose, if +possible, without bloodshed. He declared that the attempt was to be made +with the full knowledge and approbation of the Earl, who had promised him +the command of a regiment of twelve companies, as a recompense for his +services, if they proved successful. Leicester, said Cosmo, had also +pledged himself, in case the men, thus executing his plans, should be +discovered and endangered, to protect and rescue them, even at the +sacrifice of all his fortune, and of the office he held. When asked if +he had any written statement from his Excellency to that effect, Cosmo +replied, no, nothing but his princely word which he had voluntarily +given. + +Volmar made a similar confession. He, too, declared that he had acted +throughout the affair by express command of the Earl of Leicester. Being +asked if he had any written evidence of the fact, he, likewise, replied +in the negative. "Then his Excellency will unquestionably deny your +assertion," said the judges. "Alas, then am I a dead man," replied +Volmar, and the unfortunate deacon never spoke truer words. Captain de +Maulde also confessed his crime. He did not pretend, however, to have +had any personal communication with Leicester, but said that the affair +had been confided to him by Colonel Cosmo, on the express authority of +the Earl, and that he had believed himself to be acting in obedience to +his Excellency's commands. + +On the 26th October, after a thorough investigation, followed by a full +confession on the part of the culprits, the three were sentenced to +death. The decree was surely a most severe one. They had been guilty of +no actual crime, and only in case of high treason could an intention to +commit a crime be considered, by the laws of the state, an offence +punishable with death. But it was exactly because it was important to +make the crime high treason that the prisoners were condemned. The +offence was considered as a crime not against Leyden, but as an attempt +to levy war upon a city which was a member of the States of Holland and +of the United States. If the States were sovereign, then this was a +lesion of their sovereignty. Moreover, the offence had been aggravated +by the employment of United States' troops against the commonwealth of +the United States itself. To cut off the heads of these prisoners was a +sharp practical answer to the claims of sovereignty by Leicester, as +representing the people, and a terrible warning to all who might, in +future; be disposed to revive the theories of Deventer and Burgrave. + +In the case of De Maulde the punishment seemed especially severe. His +fate excited universal sympathy, and great efforts were made to obtain +his pardon. He was a universal favourite; he was young; he was very +handsome; his manners were attractive; he belonged to an ancient and +honourable race. His father, the Seigneur de Mansart, had done great +services in the war of independence, had been an intimate friend of the +great Prince of Orange, and had even advanced large sums of money to +assist his noble efforts to liberate the country. Two brothers of the +young captain had fallen in the service of the republic. He, too, had +distinguished himself at Ostend, and his gallantry during the recent +siege of Sluys had been in every mouth, and had excited the warm applause +of so good a judge of soldiership as the veteran Roger Williams. The +scars of the wounds received in the desperate conflicts of that siege +were fresh upon his breast. He had not intended to commit treason, but, +convinced by the sophistry of older soldiers than himself, as well as by +learned deacons and theologians, he had imagined himself doing his duty, +while obeying the Earl of Leicester. If there were ever a time for +mercy, this seemed one, and young Maurice of Nassau might have +remembered, that even in the case of the assassins who had attempted the +life of his father, that great-hearted man had lifted up his voice--which +seemed his dying one--in favour of those who had sought his life. + +But they authorities were inexorable. There was no hope of a mitigation +of punishment, but a last effort was made, under favour of a singular +ancient custom, to save the life of De Maulde. A young lady of noble +family in Leyden--Uytenbroek by name--claimed the right of rescuing the +condemned malefactor, from the axe, by appearing upon the scaffold, and +offering to take him for her husband. + +Intelligence was brought to the prisoner in his dungeon, that the young, +lady had made the proposition, and he was told to be of good cheer: But +he refused to be comforted. He was slightly acquainted with the gentle- +woman, he observed; and doubted much whether her request would be +granted. Moreover if contemporary chronicle can be trusted he even +expressed a preference for the scaffold, as the milder fate of the two. +The lady, however, not being aware of those uncomplimentary sentiments, +made her proposal to the magistrates, but was dismissed with harsh +rebukes. She had need be ashamed, they said; of her willingness to take +a condemned traitor for her husband. It was urged, in her behalf, that +even in the cruel Alva's time, the ancient custom had been respected, +and that victims had been saved from the executioners, on a demand in +marriage made even by women of abandoned character. But all was of no +avail. The prisoners were executed on the 26th October, the same day +on which the sentence had been pronounced. The heads of Volmar and Cosmo +were exposed on one of the turrets of the city. That of Maulde was +interred with his body. + +The Earl was indignant when he heard of the event. As there had been no +written proof of his complicity in the conspiracy, the judges had thought +it improper to mention his name in the sentences. He, of course, denied +any knowledge of the plot, and its proof rested therefore only on the +assertion of the prisoners themselves, which, however, was +circumstantial, voluntary, and generally believed! + +France, during the whole of this year of expectation, was ploughed +throughout its whole surface by perpetual civil war. The fatal edict of +June, 1585, had drowned the unhappy land in blood. Foreign armies, +called in by the various contending factions, ravaged its-fair territory, +butchered its peasantry, and changed its fertile plains to a wilderness. +The unhappy creature who wore the crown of Charlemagne and of Hugh Capet, +was but the tool in the hands of the most profligate and designing of his +own subjects, and of foreigners. Slowly and surely the net, spread by +the hands of his own mother, of his own prime minister, of the Duke of +Guise, all obeying the command and receiving the stipend of Philip, +seemed closing over him. He was without friends, without power to know +his friends, if he had them. In his hatred to the Reformation, he had +allowed himself to be made the enemy of the only man who could be his +friend, or the friend of France. Allied with his mortal foe, whose +armies were strengthened by contingents from Parma's forces, and paid for +by Spanish gold, he was forced to a mock triumph over the foreign +mercenaries who came to save his crown, and to submit to the defeat of +the flower of his chivalry, by the only man who could rescue France from +ruin, and whom France could look up to with respect. + +For, on the 20th October, Henry of Navarre had at last gained a victory. +After twenty-seven years of perpetual defeat, during which they had been +growing stronger and stronger, the Protestants had met the picked troops +of Henry III., under the Due de Joyeuse, near the burgh of Contras. His +cousins Conde and Soissons each commanded a wing in the army of the +Warnese. "You are both of my family," said Henry, before the engagement, +"and the Lord so help me, but I will show you that I am the eldest born." +And during that bloody day the white plume was ever tossing where the +battle, was fiercest. "I choose to show myself. They shall see the +Bearnese," was his reply to those who implored him to have a care for his +personal safety. And at last, when the day was done, the victory gained, +and more French nobles lay dead on the field, as Catharine de' Medici +bitterly declared, than had fallen in a battle for twenty years; when two +thousand of the King's best troops had been slain, and when the bodies of +Joyeuse and his brother had been laid out in the very room where the +conqueror's supper, after the battle, was served, but where he refused, +with a shudder, to eat, he was still as eager as before--had the wretched +Valois been possessed of a spark of manhood, or of intelligence--to +shield him and his kingdom from the common enemy.' + +For it could hardly be doubtful, even to Henry III., at that moment, that +Philip II. and his jackal, the Duke of Guise, were pursuing him to the +death, and that, in his breathless doublings to escape, he had been +forced to turn upon his natural protector. And now Joyeuse was defeated +and slain. Had it been my brother's son," exclaimed Cardinal de Bourbon, +weeping and wailing, "how much better it would have been." It was not +easy to slay the champion of French Protestantism; yet, to one less +buoyant, the game, even after the brilliant but fruitless victory of +Contras, might have seemed desperate. Beggared and outcast, with +literally scarce a shirt to his back, without money to pay a corporal's +guard, how was he to maintain an army? + +But 'Mucio' was more successful than Joyeuse had been, and the German and +Swiss mercenaries who had come across the border to assist the Bearnese, +were adroitly handled by Philip's great stipendiary. Henry of Valois, +whose troops had just been defeated at Contras, was now compelled to +participate in a more fatal series of triumphs. For alas, the victim had +tied himself to the apron-string of "Madam League," and was paraded by +her, in triumph, before the eyes of his own subjects and of the world. +The passage of the Loire by the auxiliaries was resisted; a series of +petty victories was gained by Guise, and, at last, after it was obvious +that the leaders of the legions had been corrupted with Spanish ducats, +Henry allowed them to depart, rather than give the Balafre opportunity +for still farther successes. + +Then came the triumph in Paris--hosannahs in the churches, huzzas in the +public places--not for the King, but for Guise. Paris, more madly in +love with her champion than ever, prostrated herself at his feet. For +him paeans as to a deliverer. Without him the ark would have fallen into +the hands of the Philistines. For the Valois, shouts of scorn from the +populace, thunders from the pulpit, anathemas from monk and priest, +elaborate invectives from all the pedants of the Sorbonne, distant +mutterings of excommunication from Rome--not the toothless beldame of +modern days, but the avenging divinity of priest-rid monarchs. Such were +the results of the edicts of June. Spain and the Pope had trampled upon +France, and the populace in her capital clapped their hands and jumped +for joy. "Miserable country miserable King," sighed an illustrious +patriot, "whom his own countrymen wish rather to survive, than to die to +defend him! Let the name of Huguenot and of Papist be never heard of +more. Let us think only of the counter-league. Is France to be saved by +opening all its gates to Spain? Is France to be turned out of France, to +make a lodging for the Lorrainer and the Spaniard?" Pregnant questions, +which could not yet be answered, for the end was not yet. France was to +become still more and more a wilderness. And well did that same brave +and thoughtful lover, of his: country declare, that he who should +suddenly awake from a sleep of twenty-five years, and revisit that once +beautiful land, would deem himself transplanted to a barbarous island of +cannibals.--[Duplessis Mornay, 'Mem.' iv. 1-34.] + +It had now become quite obvious that the game of Leicester was played +out. His career--as it has now been fully exhibited--could have but one +termination. He had made himself thoroughly odious to the nation whom he +came to govern. He had lost for ever the authority once spontaneously +bestowed; and he had attempted in vain, both by fair means and foul, to +recover that power. There was nothing left him but retreat. Of this he +was thoroughly convinced. He was anxious to be gone, the republic most +desirous to be rid of him, her Majesty impatient to have her favourite +back again. The indulgent Queen, seeing nothing to blame in his conduct, +while her indignation, at the attitude maintained by the Provinces was +boundless, permitted him, accordingly, to return; and in her letter to +the States, announcing this decision, she took a fresh opportunity of +emptying her wrath upon their heads. + +She told them, that, notwithstanding her frequent messages to them, +signifying her evil contentment with their unthankfulness for her +exceeding great benefits, and with their gross violations of their +contract with herself and with Leicester, whom they had, of their own +accord, made absolute governor without her instigation; she had never +received any good answer to move, her to commit their sins to oblivion, +nor had she remarked, any amendment in their conduct. On the contrary, +she complained: that they daily increased their offences, most +notoriously in the sight of--the world and in so many points that she +lacked words to express them in one letter. She however thought it worth +while to allude to some of their transgressions. She, declared that +their sinister, or rather barbarous interpretation of her conduct had +been notorious in perverting and falsifying her princely and Christian +intentions; when she imparted to them the overtures that had been made to +her for a treaty of peace for herself and for them with the King of +Spain. Yet although she had required their allowance, before she would +give her assent, she had been grieved that the world should see what +impudent untruths had been forged upon her, not only by their. +sufferance; but by their special permission for her Christian good +meaning towards them. She denounced the statements as to her having +concluded a treaty, not only without their knowledge; but with the +sacrifice of their liberty and religion, as utterly false, either for +anything done in act, or intended in thought, by her. She complained +that upon this most false ground had been heaped a number of like +untruths and malicious slanders against her cousin Leicester, who had +hazarded his life, spend his substance, left his native country, absented +himself from her, and lost his time, only for their service. It had been +falsely stated among them, she said, that the Earl had come over the last +time, knowing that peace had been secretly concluded. It was false that +he had intended to surprise divers of their towns, and deliver them to +the King of Spain. All such untruths contained matter so improbable, +that it was most, strange that any person; having any sense, could +imagine them correct. Having thus slightly animadverted upon their +wilfulness, unthankfulness, and bad government, and having, in very +plain English, given them the lie, eight distinct and separate times +upon a single page, she proceeded to inform them that she had recalled +her cousin Leicester, having great cause to use his services in England, +and not seeing how, by his tarrying there, he could either profit them or +herself. Nevertheless she protested herself not void of compassion for +their estate, and for the pitiful condition of the great multitude of +kind and godly people, subject to the miseries which, by the States +government, were like to fall upon them, unless God should specially +interpose; and she had therefore determined, for the time, to continue +her subsidies, according to the covenant between them. If, meantime, she +should conclude a peace with Spain, she promised to them the same care +for their country as for her own. + +Accordingly the Earl, after despatching an equally ill-tempered letter to +the States, in which he alluded, at unmerciful length, to all the old +grievances, blamed them for the loss of Sluys, for which place he +protested that they had manifested no more interest than if it had been +San Domingo in Hispaniola, took his departure for Flushing. After +remaining there, in a very moody frame of mind, for several days, +expecting that the States would, at least, send a committee to wait upon +him and receive his farewells, he took leave of them by letter. "God +send me shortly a wind to blow me from them all," he exclaimed--a prayer +which was soon granted--and before the end of the year he was safely +landed in England. "These legs of mine," said he, clapping his hands +upon them as he sat in his chamber at Margate, "shall never go again into +Holland. Let the States get others to serve their mercenary turn, for me +they shall not have." Upon giving up the government, he caused a medal +to be struck in his own honour. The device was a flock of sheep watched +by an English mastiff. Two mottoes--"non gregem aed ingratos," and +"invitus desero"--expressed his opinion of Dutch ingratitude and his own +fidelity. The Hollanders, on their part, struck several medals to +commemorate the same event, some of which were not destitute of +invention. Upon one of them, for instance, was represented an ape +smothering her young ones to death in her embrace, with the device, +"Libertas ne its chara ut simiae catuli;" while upon the reverse was a +man avoiding smoke and falling into the fire, with the inscription, +"Fugiens fumum, incidit in ignem." + +Leicester found the usual sunshine at Greenwich. All the efforts of +Norris, Wilkes, and Buckhurst, had been insufficient to raise even a +doubt in Elizabeth's mind as to the wisdom and integrity by which his +administration of the Provinces had been characterised from beginning to +end. Those who had appealed from his hatred to the justice of their +sovereign, had met with disgrace and chastisement. But for the great +Earl; the Queen's favour was a rock of adamant. At a private interview +he threw himself at her feet, and with tears and sobs implored her not to +receive him in disgrace whom she had sent forth in honour. His +blandishments prevailed, as they had always done. Instead, therefore, +of appearing before the council, kneeling, to answer such inquiries as +ought surely to have been instituted, he took his seat boldly among his +colleagues, replying haughtily to all murmurs by a reference to her +Majesty's secret instructions. + +The unhappy English soldiers, who had gone forth under his banner in +midsummer, had been returning, as they best might, in winter, starving, +half-naked wretches, to beg a morsel of bread at the gates of Greenwich +palace, and to be driven away as vagabonds, with threats of the stock. +This was not the fault of the Earl, for he had fed them with his own +generous hand in the Netherlands, week after week, when no money for +their necessities could be obtained from the paymasters. Two thousand +pounds had been sent by Elizabeth to her soldiers when sixty-four +thousand pounds arrearage were due, and no language could exaggerate the +misery to which these outcasts, according to eye-witnesses of their own +nation, were reduced. + +Lord Willoughby was appointed to the command, of what remained of these +unfortunate troops, upon--the Earl's departure. The sovereignty of the +Netherlands remained undisputed with the States. Leicester resigned his, +commission by an instrument dated 17/27 December, which, however, never +reached the Netherlands till April of the following year. From that time +forth the government of the republic maintained the same forms which the +assembly had claimed for it in the long controversy with the governor- +general, and which have been sufficiently described. + +Meantime the negotiations for a treaty, no longer secret, continued. +The Queen; infatuated as ever, still believed in the sincerity of +Farnese, while that astute personage and his master were steadily +maturing their schemes. A matrimonial alliance was secretly projected +between the King of Scots and Philip's daughter, the Infants Isabella, +with the consent of the Pope and the whole college of cardinals; and +James, by the whole force of the Holy League, was to be placed upon the +throne of Elizabeth. In the case of his death, without issue, Philip +was to succeed quietly to the crowns of England, Scotland, and Ireland. +Nothing could be simpler or more rational, and accordingly these +arrangements were the table-talk at Rome, and met with general +approbation. + +Communications to this effect; coming straight from the Colonna palace, +were thought sufficiently circumstantial to be transmitted to the English +government. Maurice of Nassau wrote with his own hand to Walsingham, +professing a warm attachment to the cause in which Holland and England +were united, and perfect personal devotion to the English Queen. + +His language, was not that of a youth, who, according to Leicester's +repeated insinuations, was leagued with the most distinguished soldiers +and statesmen of the Netherlands to sell their country to Spain. + +But Elizabeth was not to be convinced. She thought it extremely probable +that the Provinces would be invaded, and doubtless felt some anxiety for +England. It was unfortunate that the possession of Sluys had given +Alexander such a point of vantage; and there was moreover, a fear that he +might take possession of Ostend. She had, therefore, already recommended +that her own troops should be removed from that city, that its walls +should be razed; its marine bulwarks destroyed, and that the ocean. +should be let in to swallow the devoted city forever--the inhabitants +having been previously allowed to take their departure. For it was +assumed by her Majesty that to attempt resistance would be idle, and that +Ostend could never stand a siege. + +The advice was not taken; and before the end of her reign Elizabeth was +destined to see this indefensible city--only fit, in her judgment, to be +abandoned to the waves--become memorable; throughout all time, for the +longest; and, in many respects, the most remarkable siege which modern +history has recorded, the famous leaguer, in which the first European +captains of the coming age were to take their lessons, year after year, +in the school of the great Dutch soldier, who was now but a "solemn, sly +youth," just turned of twenty. + +The only military achievement which characterized the close of the year, +to the great satisfaction of the Provinces and the annoyance of Parma, +was the surprise of the city of Bonn. The indefatigable Martin Schenk-- +in fulfilment of his great contract with the States-General, by which the +war on the Rhine had been farmed out to him on such profitable terms:-- +had led his mercenaries against this important town. He had found one of +its gates somewhat insecurely guarded, placed a mortar under it at night, +and occupied a neighbouring pig-stye with a number of his men, who by +chasing, maltreating, and slaughtering the swine, had raised an unearthly +din, sufficient to drown the martial operations at the gate. In brief, +the place was easily mastered, and taken possession of by Martin, in the +name of the deposed elector, Gebhard Truchsess--the first stroke of good +fortune which had for a long time befallen that melancholy prelate. + +The administration of Leicester has been so minutely pictured, that it +would be superfluous to indulge in many concluding reflections. His acts +and words have been made to speak for themselves. His career in the +country has been described with much detail, because the period was a +great epoch of transition. The republic of the Netherlands, during those +years, acquired consistency and permanent form. It seemed possible, on +the Earl's first advent, that the Provinces might become part and parcel +of the English realm. Whether such a consummation would have been +desirable or not, is a fruitless enquiry. But it is certain that the +selection of such a man as Leicester made that result impossible. +Doubtless there were many errors committed by all parties. The Queen +was supposed by the Netherlands to be secretly desirous of accepting the +sovereignty of the Provinces, provided she were made sure, by the Earl's +experience, that they were competent to protect themselves. But this +suspicion was unfounded. The result of every investigation showed the +country so full of resources, of wealth, and of military and naval +capabilities, that, united with England, it would have been a source of +great revenue and power, not a burthen and an expense. Yet, when +convinced of such facts, by the statistics which were liberally laid +before her by her confidential agents, she never manifested, either in +public or private, any intention of accepting the sovereignty. This +being her avowed determination, it was an error on the part of the +States, before becoming thoroughly acquainted with the man's character, +to confer upon Leicester the almost boundless authority which they +granted on, his first arrival. It was a still graver mistake, on the +part of Elizabeth, to give way to such explosions of fury, both against +the governor and the States, when informed of the offer and acceptance of +that authority. The Earl, elevated by the adulation of others, and by +his own vanity, into an almost sovereign attitude, saw himself chastised +before the world, like an aspiring lackey, by her in whose favour he +had felt most secure. He found, himself, in an instant, humbled and +ridiculous. Between himself and the Queen it was, something of a lovers' +quarrel, and he soon found balsam in the hand that smote him. But though +reinstated in authority, he was never again the object of reverence in +the land he was attempting to rule. As he came to know the Netherlanders +better, he recognized the great capacity which their statesmen concealed +under a plain and sometimes a plebeian exterior, and the splendid grandee +hated, where at first he had only despised. The Netherlanders, too, who +had been used to look up almost with worship to a plain man of kindly +manners, in felt hat and bargeman's woollen jacket, whom they called +"Father William," did not appreciate, as they ought, the magnificence of +the stranger who had been sent to govern them. The Earl was handsome, +quick-witted, brave; but he was, neither wise in council nor capable in +the field. He was intolerably arrogant, passionate, and revengeful. +He hated easily, and he hated for life. It was soon obvious that no +cordiality of feeling or of action could exist between him and the plain, +stubborn Hollanders. He had the fatal characteristic of loving only the +persons who flattered him. With much perception of character, sense of +humour, and appreciation of intellect, he recognized the power of the +leading men in the nation, and sought to gain them. So long as he hoped +success, he was loud in their praises. They were all wise, substantial, +well-languaged, big fellows, such as were not to be found in England or +anywhere else. When they refused to be made his tools, they became +tinkers, boors, devils, and atheists. He covered them with curses and +devoted them to the gibbet. He began by warmly commending Buys and +Barneveld, Hohenlo and Maurice, and endowing them with every virtue. +Before he left the country he had accused them of every crime, and would +cheerfully, if he could, have taken the life of every one of them. And +it was quite the same with nearly every Englishman who served with or +under him. Wilkes and Buckhurst, however much the objects of his +previous esteem; so soon as they ventured to censure or even to criticise +his proceedings, were at once devoted to perdition. Yet, after minute +examination of the record, public and private, neither Wilkes nor +Buckhurst can be found guilty of treachery or animosity towards him, but +are proved to have been governed, in all their conduct, by a strong sense +of duty to their sovereign, the Netherlands, and Leicester himself. + +To Sir John Norris, it must be allowed, that he was never fickle, +for he had always entertained for that distinguished general an honest, +unswerving, and infinite hatred, which was not susceptible of increase +or diminution by any act or word. Pelham, too, whose days were numbered, +and who was dying bankrupt and broken-hearted, at the close of the, +Earl's administration, had always been regarded by him with tenderness +and affection. But Pelham had never thwarted him, had exposed his life +for him, and was always proud of being his faithful, unquestioning, +humble adherent. With perhaps this single exception, Leicester found +himself at the end of his second term in the Provinces, without a single +friend and with few respectable partisans. Subordinate mischievous +intriguers like Deventer, Junius, and Otheman, were his chief advisers +and the instruments of his schemes. + +With such qualifications it was hardly possible--even if the current of +affairs had been flowing smoothly--that he should prove a successful +governor of the new republic. But when the numerous errors and +adventitious circumstances are considered--for some of which he was +responsible, while of others he was the victim--it must be esteemed +fortunate that no great catastrophe occurred. His immoderate elevation; +his sudden degradation, his controversy in regard to the sovereignty, his +abrupt departure for England, his protracted absence, his mistimed +return, the secret instructions for his second administration, the +obstinate parsimony and persistent ill-temper of the Queen--who, from the +beginning to the end of the Earl's government, never addressed a kindly +word to the Netherlanders, but was ever censuring and brow beating them +in public state-papers and private epistles--the treason of York and +Stanley, above all, the disastrous and concealed negotiations with Parma, +and the desperate attempts upon Amsterdam and Leyden--all placed him in a +most unfortunate position from first to last. But he was not competent +for his post under any circumstances. He was not the statesman to deal +in policy with Buys, Barneveld, Ortel, Sainte Aldegonde; nor the soldier +to measure himself against Alexander Farnese. His administration was a +failure; and although he repeatedly hazarded his life, and poured out his +wealth in their behalf with an almost unequalled liberality, he could +never gain the hearts of the Netherlanders. English valour, English +intelligence, English truthfulness, English generosity, were endearing +England more and more to Holland. The statesmen of both countries were +brought into closest union, and learned to appreciate and to respect +each other, while they recognized that the fate of their respective +commonwealths was indissolubly united. But it was to the efforts of +Walsingham, Drake, Raleigh, Wilkes, Buckburst, Norris, Willoughby, +Williams, Vere, Russell, and the brave men who fought under their banners +or their counsels, on every battle-field, and in every beleaguered town +in the Netherlands, and to the universal spirit and sagacity of the +English nation, in this grand crisis of its fate, that these fortunate +results were owing; not to the Earl of Leicester, nor--during the term of +his administration--to Queen Elizabeth herself. + +In brief, the proper sphere of this remarkable personage, and the one +in which he passed the greater portion of his existence, was that of a +magnificent court favourite, the spoiled darling, from youth to his +death-bed, of the great English Queen; whether to the advantage or not of +his country and the true interests of his sovereign, there can hardly be +at this day any difference of opinion. + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +Act of Uniformity required Papists to assist +As lieve see the Spanish as the Calvinistic inquisition +Elizabeth (had not) the faintest idea of religious freedom +God, whose cause it was, would be pleased to give good weather +Heretics to the English Church were persecuted +Look for a sharp war, or a miserable peace +Loving only the persons who flattered him +Not many more than two hundred Catholics were executed +Only citadel against a tyrant and a conqueror was distrust +Stake or gallows (for) heretics to transubstantiation +States were justified in their almost unlimited distrust +Undue anxiety for impartiality +Wealthy Papists could obtain immunity by an enormous fine + + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY UNITED NETHERLANDS, 1587 *** + +********** This file should be named 4854.txt or 4854.zip *********** + +This eBook was produced by David Widger + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we usually do not +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + +We are now trying to release all our eBooks one year in advance +of the official release dates, leaving time for better editing. +Please be encouraged to tell us about any error or corrections, +even years after the official publication date. + +Please note neither this listing nor its contents are final til +midnight of the last day of the month of any such announcement. +The official release date of all Project Gutenberg eBooks is at +Midnight, Central Time, of the last day of the stated month. A +preliminary version may often be posted for suggestion, comment +and editing by those who wish to do so. + +Most people start at our Web sites at: +https://gutenberg.org or +http://promo.net/pg + +These Web sites include award-winning information about Project +Gutenberg, including how to donate, how to help produce our new +eBooks, and how to subscribe to our email newsletter (free!). + + +Those of you who want to download any eBook before announcement +can get to them as follows, and just download by date. This is +also a good way to get them instantly upon announcement, as the +indexes our cataloguers produce obviously take a while after an +announcement goes out in the Project Gutenberg Newsletter. + +http://www.ibiblio.org/gutenberg/etext03 or +ftp://ftp.ibiblio.org/pub/docs/books/gutenberg/etext03 + +Or /etext02, 01, 00, 99, 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 92, 91 or 90 + +Just search by the first five letters of the filename you want, +as it appears in our Newsletters. + + +Information about Project Gutenberg (one page) + +We produce about two million dollars for each hour we work. The +time it takes us, a rather conservative estimate, is fifty hours +to get any eBook selected, entered, proofread, edited, copyright +searched and analyzed, the copyright letters written, etc. Our +projected audience is one hundred million readers. If the value +per text is nominally estimated at one dollar then we produce $2 +million dollars per hour in 2002 as we release over 100 new text +files per month: 1240 more eBooks in 2001 for a total of 4000+ +We are already on our way to trying for 2000 more eBooks in 2002 +If they reach just 1-2% of the world's population then the total +will reach over half a trillion eBooks given away by year's end. + +The Goal of Project Gutenberg is to Give Away 1 Trillion eBooks! +This is ten thousand titles each to one hundred million readers, +which is only about 4% of the present number of computer users. + +Here is the briefest record of our progress (* means estimated): + +eBooks Year Month + + 1 1971 July + 10 1991 January + 100 1994 January + 1000 1997 August + 1500 1998 October + 2000 1999 December + 2500 2000 December + 3000 2001 November + 4000 2001 October/November + 6000 2002 December* + 9000 2003 November* +10000 2004 January* + + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been created +to secure a future for Project Gutenberg into the next millennium. + +We need your donations more than ever! + +As of February, 2002, contributions are being solicited from people +and organizations in: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut, +Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, +Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, +Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New +Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, +Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South +Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West +Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. + +We have filed in all 50 states now, but these are the only ones +that have responded. + +As the requirements for other states are met, additions to this list +will be made and fund raising will begin in the additional states. +Please feel free to ask to check the status of your state. + +In answer to various questions we have received on this: + +We are constantly working on finishing the paperwork to legally +request donations in all 50 states. If your state is not listed and +you would like to know if we have added it since the list you have, +just ask. + +While we cannot solicit donations from people in states where we are +not yet registered, we know of no prohibition against accepting +donations from donors in these states who approach us with an offer to +donate. + +International donations are accepted, but we don't know ANYTHING about +how to make them tax-deductible, or even if they CAN be made +deductible, and don't have the staff to handle it even if there are +ways. + +Donations by check or money order may be sent to: + +Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +PMB 113 +1739 University Ave. +Oxford, MS 38655-4109 + +Contact us if you want to arrange for a wire transfer or payment +method other than by check or money order. + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation has been approved by +the US Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(3) organization with EIN +[Employee Identification Number] 64-622154. Donations are +tax-deductible to the maximum extent permitted by law. As fund-raising +requirements for other states are met, additions to this list will be +made and fund-raising will begin in the additional states. + +We need your donations more than ever! + +You can get up to date donation information online at: + +https://www.gutenberg.org/donation.html + + +*** + +If you can't reach Project Gutenberg, +you can always email directly to: + +Michael S. Hart <hart@pobox.com> + +Prof. Hart will answer or forward your message. + +We would prefer to send you information by email. + + +**The Legal Small Print** + + +(Three Pages) + +***START**THE SMALL PRINT!**FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN EBOOKS**START*** +Why is this "Small Print!" statement here? You know: lawyers. +They tell us you might sue us if there is something wrong with +your copy of this eBook, even if you got it for free from +someone other than us, and even if what's wrong is not our +fault. So, among other things, this "Small Print!" statement +disclaims most of our liability to you. It also tells you how +you may distribute copies of this eBook if you want to. + +*BEFORE!* YOU USE OR READ THIS EBOOK +By using or reading any part of this PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm +eBook, you indicate that you understand, agree to and accept +this "Small Print!" statement. If you do not, you can receive +a refund of the money (if any) you paid for this eBook by +sending a request within 30 days of receiving it to the person +you got it from. If you received this eBook on a physical +medium (such as a disk), you must return it with your request. + +ABOUT PROJECT GUTENBERG-TM EBOOKS +This PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBook, like most PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBooks, +is a "public domain" work distributed by Professor Michael S. Hart +through the Project Gutenberg Association (the "Project"). +Among other things, this means that no one owns a United States copyright +on or for this work, so the Project (and you!) can copy and +distribute it in the United States without permission and +without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth +below, apply if you wish to copy and distribute this eBook +under the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark. + +Please do not use the "PROJECT GUTENBERG" trademark to market +any commercial products without permission. + +To create these eBooks, the Project expends considerable +efforts to identify, transcribe and proofread public domain +works. Despite these efforts, the Project's eBooks and any +medium they may be on may contain "Defects". Among other +things, Defects may take the form of incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other +intellectual property infringement, a defective or damaged +disk or other eBook medium, a computer virus, or computer +codes that damage or cannot be read by your equipment. + +LIMITED WARRANTY; DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES +But for the "Right of Replacement or Refund" described below, +[1] Michael Hart and the Foundation (and any other party you may +receive this eBook from as a PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm eBook) disclaims +all liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including +legal fees, and [2] YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE OR +UNDER STRICT LIABILITY, OR FOR BREACH OF WARRANTY OR CONTRACT, +INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE +OR INCIDENTAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE +POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. + +If you discover a Defect in this eBook within 90 days of +receiving it, you can receive a refund of the money (if any) +you paid for it by sending an explanatory note within that +time to the person you received it from. If you received it +on a physical medium, you must return it with your note, and +such person may choose to alternatively give you a replacement +copy. If you received it electronically, such person may +choose to alternatively give you a second opportunity to +receive it electronically. + +THIS EBOOK IS OTHERWISE PROVIDED TO YOU "AS-IS". NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, ARE MADE TO YOU AS +TO THE EBOOK OR ANY MEDIUM IT MAY BE ON, INCLUDING BUT NOT +LIMITED TO WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A +PARTICULAR PURPOSE. + +Some states do not allow disclaimers of implied warranties or +the exclusion or limitation of consequential damages, so the +above disclaimers and exclusions may not apply to you, and you +may have other legal rights. + +INDEMNITY +You will indemnify and hold Michael Hart, the Foundation, +and its trustees and agents, and any volunteers associated +with the production and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm +texts harmless, from all liability, cost and expense, including +legal fees, that arise directly or indirectly from any of the +following that you do or cause: [1] distribution of this eBook, +[2] alteration, modification, or addition to the eBook, +or [3] any Defect. + +DISTRIBUTION UNDER "PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm" +You may distribute copies of this eBook electronically, or by +disk, book or any other medium if you either delete this +"Small Print!" and all other references to Project Gutenberg, +or: + +[1] Only give exact copies of it. Among other things, this + requires that you do not remove, alter or modify the + eBook or this "small print!" statement. You may however, + if you wish, distribute this eBook in machine readable + binary, compressed, mark-up, or proprietary form, + including any form resulting from conversion by word + processing or hypertext software, but only so long as + *EITHER*: + + [*] The eBook, when displayed, is clearly readable, and + does *not* contain characters other than those + intended by the author of the work, although tilde + (~), asterisk (*) and underline (_) characters may + be used to convey punctuation intended by the + author, and additional characters may be used to + indicate hypertext links; OR + + [*] The eBook may be readily converted by the reader at + no expense into plain ASCII, EBCDIC or equivalent + form by the program that displays the eBook (as is + the case, for instance, with most word processors); + OR + + [*] You provide, or agree to also provide on request at + no additional cost, fee or expense, a copy of the + eBook in its original plain ASCII form (or in EBCDIC + or other equivalent proprietary form). + +[2] Honor the eBook refund and replacement provisions of this + "Small Print!" statement. + +[3] Pay a trademark license fee to the Foundation of 20% of the + gross profits you derive calculated using the method you + already use to calculate your applicable taxes. If you + don't derive profits, no royalty is due. Royalties are + payable to "Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation" + the 60 days following each date you prepare (or were + legally required to prepare) your annual (or equivalent + periodic) tax return. Please contact us beforehand to + let us know your plans and to work out the details. + +WHAT IF YOU *WANT* TO SEND MONEY EVEN IF YOU DON'T HAVE TO? +Project Gutenberg is dedicated to increasing the number of +public domain and licensed works that can be freely distributed +in machine readable form. + +The Project gratefully accepts contributions of money, time, +public domain materials, or royalty free copyright licenses. +Money should be paid to the: +"Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +If you are interested in contributing scanning equipment or +software or other items, please contact Michael Hart at: +hart@pobox.com + +[Portions of this eBook's header and trailer may be reprinted only +when distributed free of all fees. Copyright (C) 2001, 2002 by +Michael S. Hart. Project Gutenberg is a TradeMark and may not be +used in any sales of Project Gutenberg eBooks or other materials be +they hardware or software or any other related product without +express permission.] + +*END THE SMALL PRINT! FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN EBOOKS*Ver.02/11/02*END* + diff --git a/4854.zip b/4854.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..8116be7 --- /dev/null +++ b/4854.zip diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7af46ab --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #4854 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/4854) |