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diff --git a/4865.txt b/4865.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..a79c95e --- /dev/null +++ b/4865.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2631 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook History of United Netherlands, 1592-94 +#65 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, 1592-94 + +Author: John Lothrop Motley + +Release Date: January, 2004 [EBook #4865] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on April 9, 2002] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + + + + + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY UNITED NETHERLANDS, 1592-94 *** + + + +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. 65 + +History of the United Netherlands, 1592-1594 + + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + + Influence of the rule and character of Philip II.--Heroism of the + sixteenth century--Contest for the French throne--Character and + policy of the Duke of Mayenne--Escape of the Duke of Guise from + Castle Tours--Propositions for the marriage of the Infanta--Plotting + of the Catholic party--Grounds of Philip's pretensions to the crown + of France--Motives of the Duke of Parma maligned by Commander Moreo + --He justifies himself to the king--View of the private relations + between Philip and the Duke of Mayenne and their sentiments towards + each other--Disposition of the French politicians and soldiers + towards Philip--Peculiar commercial pursuits of Philip--Confused + state of affairs in France--Treachery of Philip towards the Duke of + Parma--Recall of the duke to Spain--His sufferings and death. + +The People--which has been generally regarded as something naturally +below its rulers, and as born to be protected and governed, paternally or +otherwise, by an accidental selection from its own species, which by some +mysterious process has shot up much nearer to heaven than itself--is +often described as brutal, depraved, self-seeking, ignorant, passionate, +licentious, and greedy. + +It is fitting, therefore, that its protectors should be distinguished, at +great epochs of the world's history, by an absence of such objectionable +qualities. + +It must be confessed, however, that if the world had waited for heroes-- +during the dreary period which followed the expulsion of something that +was called Henry III. of France from the gates of his capital, and +especially during the time that followed hard upon the decease of that +embodiment of royalty--its axis must have ceased to turn for a long +succession of years. The Bearnese was at least alive, and a man. He +played his part with consummate audacity and skill; but alas for an epoch +or a country in which such a shape--notwithstanding all its engaging and +even commanding qualities--looked upon as an incarnation of human +greatness! + +But the chief mover of all things--so far as one man can be prime mover-- +was still the diligent scribe who lived in the Escorial. It was he whose +high mission it was to blow the bellows of civil war, and to scatter +curses over what had once been the smiling abodes of human creatures, +throughout the leading countries of Christendom. The throne of France +was vacant, nominally as well as actually, since--the year 1589. During +two-and-twenty years preceding that epoch he had scourged the provinces, +once constituting the richest and most enlightened portions of his +hereditary domains, upon the theory that without the Spanish Inquisition +no material prosperity was possible on earth, nor any entrance permitted +to the realms of bliss beyond the grave. Had every Netherlander +consented to burn his Bible, and to be burned himself should he be found +listening to its holy precepts if read to him in shop, cottage, farm- +house, or castle; and had he furthermore consented to renounce all the +liberal institutions which his ancestors had earned, in the struggle of +centuries, by the sweat of their brows and the blood of, their hearts; +his benignant proprietor and master, who lived at the ends of the earth, +would have consented at almost any moment to peace. His arms were ever +open. Let it not be supposed that this is the language of sarcasm or +epigram. Stripped of the decorous sophistication by which human beings +are so fond of concealing their naked thoughts from each other, this was +the one simple dogma always propounded by Philip. Grimace had done its +worst, however, and it was long since it had exercised any power in the +Netherlands. The king and the Dutchmen understood each other; and the +plain truths with which those republicans answered the imperial proffers +of mediation, so frequently renewed, were something new, and perhaps not +entirely unwholesome in diplomacy. + +It is not an inviting task to abandon the comparatively healthy +atmosphere of the battle-field, the blood-stained swamp, the murderous +trench--where human beings, even if communing only by bullets and push of +pike, were at least dealing truthfully with each other--and to descend +into those subterranean regions where the effluvia of falsehood becomes +almost too foul for ordinary human organisation. + +Heroes in those days, in any country, there were few. William the Silent +was dead. De la Noue was dead. Duplessis-Mornay was living, but his +influence over his royal master was rapidly diminishing. Cecil, Hatton, +Essex, Howard, Raleigh, James Croft, Valentine Dale, John Norris, Roger +Williams, the "Virgin Queen" herself--does one of these chief agents in +public affairs, or do all of them together, furnish a thousandth part of +that heroic whole which the England of the sixteenth century presents to +every imagination? Maurice of Nassau-excellent soldier and engineer as +he had already proved himself--had certainly not developed much of the +heroic element, although thus far he was walking straightforward like a +man, in the path of duty, with the pithy and substantial Lewis William +ever at his side. Olden-Barneveld--tough burgher-statesman, hard-headed, +indomitable man of granite--was doing more work, and doing it more +thoroughly, than any living politician, but he was certainly not of the +mythological brotherhood who inhabit the serene regions of space beyond +the moon. He was not the son of god or goddess, destined, after removal +from this sphere, to shine with planetary lustre, among other +constellations, upon the scenes of mortal action. Those of us who are +willing to rise-or to descend if the phrase seems wiser--to the idea of +a self-governing people must content ourselves, for this epoch, with the +fancy of a hero-people and a people-king. + +A plain little republic, thrusting itself uninvited into the great +political family-party of heaven-anointed sovereigns and long-descended +nobles, seemed a somewhat repulsive phenomenon. It became odious and +dangerous when by the blows it could deal in battle, the logic it could +chop in council, it indicated a remote future for the world, in which +right divine and regal paraphernalia might cease to be as effective +stage-properties as they had always been considered. + +Yet it will be difficult for us to find the heroic individualised very +perceptibly at this period, look where we may. Already there seemed +ground for questioning the comfortable fiction that the accidentally +dominant families and castes were by nature wiser, better, braver than +that much-contemned entity, the People. What if the fearful heresy +should gain ground that the People was at least as wise, honest, and +brave as its masters? What if it should become a recognised fact that +the great individuals and castes, whose wealth and station furnished them +with ample time and means for perfecting themselves in the science of +government, were rather devoting their leisure to the systematic filling +of their own pockets than to the hiving up of knowledge for the good of +their fellow creatures? What if the whole theory of hereditary +superiority should suddenly exhale? What if it were found out that we +were all fellow-worms together, and that those which had crawled highest +were not necessarily the least slimy? + +Meantime it will be well for us, in order to understand what is called +the Past, to scrutinise somewhat closely that which was never meant to be +revealed. To know the springs which once controlled the world's +movements, one must ponder the secret thoughts, purposes, aspirations, +and baffled attempts of the few dozen individuals who once claimed that +world in fee-simple. Such researches are not in a cheerful field; for +the sources of history are rarely fountains of crystal, bubbling through +meadows of asphodel. Vast and noisome are the many sewers which have +ever run beneath decorous Christendom. + +Some of the leading military events in France and Flanders, patent to all +the world, which grouped themselves about the contest for the French +throne, as the central point in the history of Philip's proposed world- +empire, have already been indicated. + +It was a species of triangular contest--so far as the chief actors were +concerned--for that vacant throne. Philip, Mayenne, Henry of Navarre, +with all the adroitness which each possessed, were playing for the +splendid prize. + +Of Philip it is not necessary to speak. The preceding volumes of this +work have been written in vain, if the reader has not obtained from +irrefragable testimony--the monarch's own especially--a sufficient +knowledge of that human fetish before which so much of contemporary +humanity grovelled. + +The figure of Navarre is also one of the most familiar shapes in history. + +As for the Duke of Mayenne, he had been, since the death of his brother +the Balafre, ostensible leader of the League, and was playing, not +without skill, a triple game. + +Firstly, he hoped for the throne for himself. + +Secondly, he was assisting the King of Spain to obtain that dignity. + +Thirdly, he was manoeuvring in dull, dumb, but not ineffective manner, in +favour of Navarre. + +So comprehensive and self-contradictory a scheme would seem to indicate +an elasticity of principle and a fertility of resource not often +vouchsafed to man. + +Certainly one of the most pregnant lessons of history is furnished in +the development of these cabals, nor is it, in this regard, of great +importance whether the issue was to prove them futile or judicious. It +is sufficient for us now, that when those vanished days constituted the +Present--the vital atmosphere of Christendom--the world's affairs were +controlled by those plotters and their subordinates, and it is therefore +desirable for us to know what manner of men they were, and how they +played their parts. + +Nor should it ever be forgotten that the leading motive with all was +supposed to be religion. It was to maintain the supremacy of the Roman +Church, or to vindicate, to a certain extent, liberty of conscience, +through the establishment of a heterodox organisation, that all these +human beings of various lineage and language throughout Christendom had +been cutting each other's throats for a quarter of a century. + +Mayenne was not without courage in the field when he found himself there, +but it was observed of him that he spent more time at table than the +Bearnese in sleep, and that he was so fat as to require the assistance of +twelve men to put him in the saddle again whenever he fell from his +horse. Yet slow fighter as he was, he was a most nimble intriguer. As +for his private character, it was notoriously stained with every vice, +nor was there enough of natural intelligence or superior acquirement to +atone for his, crapulous; licentious, shameless life. His military +efficiency at important emergencies was impaired and his life endangered +by vile diseases. He was covetous and greedy beyond what was considered +decent even in that cynical age. He received subsidies and alms with +both hands from those who distrusted and despised him, but who could not +eject him from his advantageous position. + +He wished to arrive at the throne of France. As son of Francis of Guise, +as brother of the great Balafre, he considered himself entitled to the +homage of the fishwomen and the butchers' halls. The constitution of the +country in that age making a People impossible, the subtle connection +between a high-born intriguer and the dregs of a populace, which can only +exist in societies of deep chasms and precipitous contrasts, was easily +established. + +The duke's summary dealing with the sixteen tyrants of Paris in the +matter of the president's murder had, however, loosened his hold on what +was considered the democracy; but this was at the time when his schemes +were silently swinging towards the Protestant aristocracy; at the moment +when Politica was taking the place of Madam League in his secret +affections. Nevertheless, so long as there seemed a chance, he was +disposed to work the mines for his own benefit. His position as +lieutenant-general gave him an immense advantage for intriguing with both +sides, and--in case his aspirations for royalty were baffled--for +obtaining the highest possible price for himself in that auction in which +Philip and the Bearnese were likely to strain all their resources in +outbidding each other. + +On one thing his heart was fixed. His brother's son should at least not +secure the golden prize if he could prevent it. The young Duke of Guise, +who had been immured in Castle Tours since the famous murder of his +father and uncle, had made his escape by a rather neat stratagem. Having +been allowed some liberty for amusing himself in the corridors in the +neighbourhood of his apartment, he had invented a game of hop, skip, and +jump up stairs and down, which he was wont to play with the soldiers of +the guard, as a solace to the tediousness of confinement. One day he +hopped and skipped up the staircase with a rapidity which excited the +admiration of the companions of his sport, slipped into his room, slammed +and bolted the doors, and when the guard, after in vain waiting a +considerable tine for him to return and resume the game, at last forced +an entrance, they found the bird flown out of window. Rope-ladders, +confederates, fast-galloping post-horses did the rest, and at last the +young duke joined his affectionate uncle in camp, much to that eminent +relative's discomfiture. Philip gave alternately conflicting +instructions to Farnese--sometimes that he should encourage the natural +jealousy between the pair; sometimes that he should cause them to work +harmoniously together for the common good--that common good being the +attainment by the King of Spain of the sovereignty of France. + +But it was impossible, as already intimated, for Mayenne to work +harmoniously with his nephew. The Duke of Guise might marry with the +infanta and thus become King of France by the grace of God and Philip. +To such a consummation in the case of his uncle there stood, as we know, +an insuperable obstacle in the shape of the Duchess of Mayenne. Should +it come to this at last, it was certain that the Duke would make any and +every combination to frustrate such a scheme. Meantime he kept his own +counsel, worked amiably with Philip, Parma, and the young duke, and +received money in overflowing measure, and poured into his bosom from +that Spanish monarch whose veterans in the Netherlands were maddened by +starvation into mutiny. + +Philip's plans were a series of alternatives. France he regarded as the +property of his family. Of that there could be no doubt at all. He +meant to put the crown upon his own head, unless the difficulties in the +way should prove absolutely insuperable. In that case he claimed France +and all its inhabitants as the property of his daughter. The Salic law +was simply a pleasantry, a bit of foolish pedantry, an absurdity. If +Clara Isabella, as daughter of Isabella of France, as grandchild of Henry +II., were not manifestly the owner of France--queen-proprietary, as the +Spanish doctors called it--then there was no such thing, so he thought, +as inheritance of castle, farm-house, or hovel--no such thing as property +anywhere in the world. If the heiress of the Valois could not take that +kingdom as her private estate, what security could there ever be for any +possessions public or private? + +This was logical reasoning enough for kings and their counsellors. There +was much that might be said, however, in regard to special laws. There +was no doubt that great countries, with all their livestock--human or +otherwise--belonged to an individual, but it was not always so clear who +that individual was. This doubt gave much work and comfortable fees to +the lawyers. There was much learned lore concerning statutes of descent, +cutting off of entails, actions for ejectment, difficulties of enforcing +processes, and the like, to occupy the attention of diplomatists, +politicians and other sages. It would have caused general hilarity, +however, could it have been suggested that the live-stock had art or part +in the matter; that sheep, swine, or men could claim a choice of their +shepherds and butchers. + +Philip--humbly satisfied, as he always expressed himself, so long as the +purity of the Roman dogmas and the supremacy of the Romish Church over +the whole earth were maintained--affected a comparative indifference as +to whether he should put the crown of St. Louis and of Hugh Capet upon +his own grey head or whether he should govern France through his daughter +and her husband. Happy the man who might exchange the symbols of mutual +affection with Philip's daughter. + +The king had various plans in regard to the bestowal of the hand thus +richly endowed. First and foremost it was suggested--and the idea was +not held too monstrous to be even believed in by some conspicuous +individuals--that he proposed espousing his daughter himself. The pope +was to be relied on, in this case, to give a special dispensation. Such +a marriage, between parties too closely related to be usually united in +wedlock, might otherwise shock the prejudices of the orthodox. His late +niece and wife was dead, so that there was no inconvenience on that +score, should the interests of his dynasty, his family, and, above all, +of the Church, impel him, on mature reflection, to take for his fourth +marriage one step farther within the forbidden degrees than he had done +in his third. Here is the statement, which, if it have no other value, +serves to show the hideous designs of which the enemies of Philip +sincerely believed that monarch capable. + +"But God is a just God," wrote Sir Edward Stafford, "and if with all +things past, that be true that the king ('videlicet' Henry IV.) yesterday +assured me to be true, and that both his ambassador from Venice writ to +him and Monsieur de Luxembourg from Rome, that the Count Olivarez had +made a great instance to the pope (Sixtus V.) a little afore his death, +to permit his master to marry his daughter, no doubt God will not leave +it long unpunished." + +Such was the horrible tale which was circulated and believed in by Henry +the Great of France and by eminent nobles and ambassadors, and at least +thought possible by the English envoy. By such a family arrangement it +was obvious that the conflicting claims of father and daughter to the +proprietorship of France would be ingeniously adjusted, and the children +of so well assorted a marriage might reign in undisputed legitimacy over +France and Spain, and the rest of the world-monarchy. Should the king +decide on the whole against this matrimonial project, should Innocent or +Clement prove as intractable as Sixtus, then it would be necessary to +decide among various candidates for the Infanta's hand. + +In Mayenne's Opinion the Duke of Guise was likely to be the man; but +there is little doubt that Philip, in case these more cherished schemes +should fail, had made up his mind--so far as he ever did make up his mind +upon anything--to select his nephew the Archduke Ernest, brother of the +Emperor Rudolph, for his son-in-law. But it was not necessary to make an +immediate choice. His quiver was full of archdukes, any one of whom +would be an eligible candidate, while not one of them would be likely to +reject the Infanta with France on her wedding-finger. Meantime there was +a lion in the path in the shape of Henry of Navarre. + +Those who disbelieve in the influence of the individual on the fate of +mankind may ponder the possible results to history and humanity, had the +dagger of Jacques Clement entered the stomach of Henry IV. rather than of +Henry III. in the summer of 1589, or the perturbations in the world's +movements that might have puzzled philosophers had there been an +unsuspected mass of religious conviction revolving unseen in the mental +depths of the Bearnese. Conscience, as it has from time to time +exhibited itself on this planet of ours, is a powerful agent in +controlling political combinations; but the instances are unfortunately +not rare, so far as sublunary progress is concerned, in which the absence +of this dominant influence permits a prosperous rapidity to individual +careers. Eternal honour to the noble beings, true chieftains among men, +who have forfeited worldly power or sacrificed life itself at the dictate +of religious or moral conviction--even should the basis of such +conviction appear to some of us unsafe or unreal. Shame on the tongue +which would malign or ridicule the martyr or the honest convert to any +form of Christian faith! But who can discover aught that is inspiring to +the sons of men in conversions--whether of princes or of peasants-- +wrought, not at risk of life and pelf, but for the sake of securing and +increasing the one and the other? + +Certainly the Bearnese was the most candid of men. It was this very +candour, this freedom from bigotry, this want of conviction, and this +openness to conviction, that made him so dangerous and caused so much +anxiety to Philip. The Roman Church might or might not be strengthened +by the re-conversion of the legitimate heir of France, but it was certain +that the claims of Philip and the Infanta to the proprietorship of that +kingdom would be weakened by the process. While the Spanish king knew +himself to be inspired in all his actions by a single motive, the +maintenance of the supremacy of the Roman Church, he was perfectly aware +that the Prince of Bearne was not so single-hearted nor so conscientious +as himself. + +The Prince of Bearne--heretic, son of heretics, great chieftain of +heretics--was supposed capable of becoming orthodox whenever the Pope +would accept his conversion. Against this possibility Philip struggled +with all his strength. + +Since Pope Sixtus V., who had a weakness for Henry, there had been +several popes. Urban VII., his immediate successor, had reigned but +thirteen days. Gregory XIV. (Sfondrato) had died 15th October, 1591, +ten months after his election. Fachinetti, with the title of Innocent +IX., had reigned two months, from 29th October to 29th December, 1591. +He died of "Spanish poison," said Envoy Umton, as coolly as if speaking +of gout, or typhus, or any other recognised disorder. Clement VIII. +(Aldobrandini) was elected 30th January, 1592. He was no lover of Henry, +and lived in mortal fear of Philip, while it must be conceded that the +Spanish ambassador at Rome was much given to brow-beating his Holiness. +Should he dare to grant that absolution which was the secret object of +the Bearnese, there was no vengeance, hinted the envoy, that Philip would +not wreak on the holy father. He would cut off his supplies from Naples +and Sicily, and starve him and all-his subjects; he would frustrate all +his family schemes, he would renounce him, he would unpope him, he would +do anything that man and despot could do, should the great shepherd dare +to re-admit this lost sheep, and this very black sheep, into the fold of +the faithful. + +As for Henry himself, his game--for in his eyes it was nothing but a +game--lay every day plainer and plainer before him. He was indispensable +to the heretics. Neither England, nor Holland, nor Protestant Germany, +could renounce him, even should he renounce "the religion." Nor could +the French Huguenots exist without that protection which, even although +Catholic, he could still extend to them when he should be accepted as +king by the Catholics. + +Hereditary monarch by French law and history, released from his heresy by +the authority that could bind and loose, purged as with hyssop and washed +whiter than snow, it should go hard with him if Philip, and Farnese, and +Mayenne, and all the pikemen and reiters they might muster, could keep +him very long from the throne of his ancestors. + +Nothing could match the ingenuousness with which he demanded the +instruction whenever the fitting time for it should arrive; as if, +instead of having been a professor both of the Calvinist and Catholic +persuasion, and having relapsed from both, he had been some innocent +Peruvian or Hindoo, who was invited to listen to preachings and to +examine dogmas for the very first time in his life. + +Yet Philip had good grounds for hoping a favourable result from his +political and military manoeuvre. He entertained little doubt that +France belonged to him or to his daughter; that the most powerful party +in the country was in favour of his claims, provided he would pay the +voters liberally enough for their support, and that if the worst came to +the worst it would always be in his power to dismember the kingdom, and +to reserve the lion's share for himself, while distributing some of the +provinces to the most prominent of his confederates. + +The sixteen tyrants of Paris had already, as we have seen, urged the +crown upon him, provided he would establish in France the Inquisition, +the council of Trent, and other acceptable institutions, besides +distributing judiciously a good many lucrative offices among various +classes of his adherents. + +The Duke of Mayenne, in his own name and that of all the Catholics of +France, formally demanded of him to maintain two armies, forty thousand +men in all, to be respectively under command of the duke himself and of +Alexander Farnese, and regularly to pay for them. These propositions, +as has been seen, were carried into effect as nearly as possible, at +enormous expense to Philip's exchequer, and he naturally expected as good +faith on the part of Mayenne. + +In the same paper in which the demand was made Philip was urged to +declare himself king of France. He was assured that the measure could +be accomplished "by freely bestowing marquisates, baronies, and peerages, +in order to content the avarice and ambition of many persons, without at +the same time dissipating the greatness from which all these members +depended. Pepin and Charlemagne," said the memorialists, "who were +foreigners and Saxons by nation, did as much in order to get possession +of a kingdom to which they had no other right except that which they +acquired there by their prudence and force, and after them Hugh Capet, +much inferior to them in force and authority, following their example, +had the same good fortune for himself and his posterity, and one which +still endures. + +"If the authority of the holy see could support the scheme at the same +time," continued Mayenne and friends, "it would be a great help. But it +being perilous to ask for that assistance before striking the blow, it +would be better to obtain it after the execution." + +That these wholesome opinions were not entirely original on the +part of Mayenne, nor produced spontaneously, was plain from the secret +instructions given by Philip to his envoys, Don Bernardino de Mendoza, +John Baptist de Tassis, and the commander Moreo, whom he had sent soon +after the death of Henry III. to confer with Cardinal Gaetano in Paris. + +They were told, of course, to do everything in their power to prevent the +election of the Prince of Bearne, "being as he was a heretic, obstinate +and confirmed, who had sucked heresy with his mother's milk." The legate +was warned that "if the Bearnese should make a show of converting +himself, it would be frigid and fabricated." + +If they were asked whom Philip desired for king--a question which +certainly seemed probable under the circumstances--they were to reply +that his foremost wish was to establish the Catholic religion in the +kingdom, and that whatever was most conducive to that end would be most +agreeable to him. "As it is however desirable, in order to arrange +matters, that you should be informed of everything," said his Majesty, +"it is proper that you should know that I have two kinds of right to all +that there is over there. Firstly, because the crown of France has been +usurped from me, my ancestors having been unjustly excluded by foreign +occupation of it; and secondly, because I claim the same crown as first +male of the house of Valois." + +Here certainly were comprehensive pretensions, and it was obvious that +the king's desire for the establishment of the Catholic religion must +have been very lively to enable him to invent or accept such astonishing +fictions. + +But his own claims were but a portion of the case. His daughter and +possible spouse had rights of her own, hard, in his opinion, to be +gainsaid. "Over and above all this," said Philip, "my eldest daughter, +the Infanta, has two other rights; one to all the states which as dower- +property are joined by matrimony and through females to this crown, which +now come to her in direct line, and the other to the crown itself, which +belongs directly to the said Infanta, the matter of the Salic law being a +mere invention." + +Thus it would appear that Philip was the legitimate representative, not +only of the ancient races of French monarchs--whether Merovingians, +Carlovingians, or otherwise was not stated but also of the usurping +houses themselves, by whose intrusion those earlier dynasties had been +ejected, being the eldest male heir of the extinct line of Valois, while +his daughter was, if possible, even more legitimately the sovereign and +proprietor of France than he was himself. + +Nevertheless in his magnanimous desire for the peace of the world and +the advancement of the interests of the Church, he was, if reduced to +extremities, willing to forego his own individual rights--when it should +appear that they could by no possibility be enforced--in favour of his +daughter and of the husband whom he should select for her. + +"Thus it may be seen," said the self-denying man, "that I know how, for +the sake of the public repose, to strip myself of my private property." + +Afterwards, when secretly instructing the Duke of Feria, about to proceed +to Paris for the sake of settling the sovereignty of the kingdom, he +reviewed the whole subject, setting forth substantially the same +intentions. That the Prince of Bearne could ever possibly succeed to the +throne of his ancestors was an idea to be treated only with sublime scorn +by all right-minded and sensible men. "The members of the House of +Bourbon," said he, "pretend that by right of blood the crown belongs to +them, and hence is derived the pretension made by the Prince of Bearne; +but if there were wanting other very sufficient causes to prevent this +claim--which however are not wanting--it is quite enough that he is +a relapsed heretic, declared to be such by the Apostolic See, and +pronounced incompetent, as well as the other members of his house, all +of them, to say the least, encouragers of heresy; so that not one of them +can ever be king of France, where there have been such religious princes +in time past, who have justly merited the name of Most Christian; and so +there is no possibility of permitting him or any of his house to aspire +to the throne, or to have the subject even treated of in the estates. +It should on the contrary be entirely excluded as prejudicial to the +realm and unworthy to be even mentioned among persons so Catholic as +those about to meet in that assembly." + +The claims of the man whom his supporters already called Henry the +Fourth of France being thus disposed of, Philip then again alluded with +his usual minuteness to the various combinations which he had formed for +the tranquillity and good government of that kingdom and of the other +provinces of his world-empire. + +It must moreover be never forgotten that what he said passed with his +contemporaries almost for oracular dispensations. What he did or ordered +to be done was like the achievements or behests of a superhuman being. +Time, as it rolls by, leaves the wrecks of many a stranded reputation to +bleach in the sunshine of after-ages. It is sometimes as profitable to +learn what was not done by the great ones of the earth, in spite of all +their efforts, as to ponder those actual deeds which are patent to +mankind. The Past was once the Present, and once the Future, bright with +rainbows or black with impending storm; for history is a continuous whole +of which we see only fragments. + +He who at the epoch with which we are now occupied was deemed greatest +and wisest among the sons of earth, at whose threats men quailed, at +whose vast and intricate schemes men gasped in palefaced awe, has left +behind him the record of his interior being. Let us consider whether he +was so potent as his fellow mortals believed, or whether his greatness +was merely their littleness; whether it was carved out, of the +inexhaustible but artificial quarry of human degradation. Let us see +whether the execution was consonant with the inordinate plotting; whether +the price in money and blood--and certainly few human beings have +squandered so much of either as did Philip the Prudent in his long +career--was high or low for the work achieved. + +Were after generations to learn, only after curious research, +of a pretender who once called himself, to the amusement of his +contemporaries, Henry the Fourth of France; or was the world-empire for +which so many armies were marshalled, so many ducats expended, so many +falsehoods told, to prove a bubble after all? Time was to show. +Meantime wise men of the day who, like the sages of every generation, +read the future like a printed scroll, were pitying the delusion and +rebuking the wickedness of Henry the Bearnese; persisting as he did in +his cruel, sanguinary, hopeless attempt to establish a vanished and +impossible authority over a land distracted by civil war. + +Nothing could be calmer or more reasonable than the language of the great +champion of the Inquisition. + +"And as President Jeannin informs me," he said, "that the Catholics have +the intention of electing me king, that appearing to them the gentlest +and safest method to smooth all rivalries likely to arise among the +princes aspiring to the crown, I reply, as you will see by the copy +herewith sent. You will observe that after not refusing myself to that +which may be the will of our Lord, should there be no other mode of +serving Him, above all I desire that which concerns my daughter, since to +her belongs the kingdom. I desire nothing else nor anything for myself, +nor for anybody else, except as a means for her to arrive at her right." + +He had taken particular pains to secure his daughter's right in Brittany, +while the Duchess of Mercoeur, by the secret orders of her husband, had +sent a certain ecclesiastic to Spain to make over the sovereignty of this +province to the Infanta. Philip directed that the utmost secrecy should +be observed in regard to this transaction with the duke and duchess, +and promised the duke, as his reward for these proposed services in +dismembering his country, the government of the province for himself and +his heirs. + +For the king was quite determined--in case his efforts to obtain the +crown for himself or for his daughter were unsuccessful--to dismember +France, with the assistance of those eminent Frenchmen who were now so +industriously aiding him in his projects. + +"And in the third place," said he, in his secret instructions to Feria, +"if for the sins of all, we don't manage to make any election, and if +therefore the kingdom (of France) has to come to separation and to be +divided into many hands; in this case we must propose to the Duke of +Mayenne to assist him in getting possession of Normandy for himself, and +as to the rest of the kingdom, I shall take for myself that which seems +good to me--all of us assisting each other." + +But unfortunately it was difficult for any of these fellow-labourers to +assist each other very thoroughly, while they detested each other so +cordially and suspected each other with such good reason. + +Moreo, Ybarra, Feria, Parma, all assured their master that Mayenne was +taking Spanish money as fast as he could get it, but with the sole +purpose of making himself king. As to any of the House of Lorraine +obtaining the hand of the Infanta and the throne with it, Feria assured +Philip that Mayenne "would sooner give the crown to the Grand Turk." + +Nevertheless Philip thought it necessary to continue making use of the +duke. Both were indefatigable therefore in expressing feelings of +boundless confidence each in the other. + +It has been seen too how entirely the king relied on the genius and +devotion of Alexander Farnese to carry out his great schemes; and +certainly never had monarch a more faithful, unscrupulous, and dexterous +servant. Remonstrating, advising, but still obeying--entirely without +conscience, unless it were conscience to carry out his master's commands, +even when most puerile or most diabolical--he was nevertheless the object +of Philip's constant suspicion, and felt himself placed under perpetual +though secret supervision. + +Commander Moreo was unwearied in blackening the duke's character, and in +maligning his every motive and action, and greedily did the king incline +his ear to the calumnies steadily instilled by the chivalrous spy. + +"He has caused all the evil we are suffering," said Moreo. "When he sent +Egmont to France 'twas without infantry, although Egmont begged hard for +it, as did likewise the Legate, Don Bernardino, and Tassis. Had he done +this there is no doubt at all that the Catholic cause in France would +have been safe, and your Majesty would now have the control over that +kingdom which you desire. This is the opinion of friends and foes. I +went to the Duke of Parma and made free to tell him that the whole world +would blame him for the damage done to Christianity, since your Majesty +had exonerated yourself by ordering him to go to the assistance of the +French Catholics with all the zeal possible. Upon this he was so +disgusted that he has never shown me a civil face since. I doubt whether +he will send or go to France at all, and although the Duke of Mayenne +despatches couriers every day with protestations and words that would +soften rocks, I see no indications of a movement." + +Thus, while the duke was making great military preparations far invading +France without means; pawning his own property to get bread for his +starving veterans, and hanging those veterans whom starving had made. +mutinous, he was depicted, to the most suspicious and unforgiving mortal +that ever wore a crown, as a traitor and a rebel, and this while he was +renouncing his own judicious and well-considered policy in obedience to +the wild schemes of his master. + +"I must make bold to remind your Majesty," again whispered the spy, "that +there never was an Italian prince who failed to pursue his own ends, and +that there are few in the world that are not wishing to become greater +than they are. This man here could strike a greater blow than all the +rest of them put together. Remember that there is not a villain anywhere +that does not desire the death of your Majesty. Believe me, and send to +cut off my head if it shall be found that I am speaking from passion, or +from other motive than pure zeal for your royal service." + +The reader will remember into what a paroxysm of rage Alexander was +thrown on, a former occasion, when secretly invited to listen to +propositions by which the sovereignty over the Netherlands was to be +secured to himself, and how near he was to inflicting mortal punishment +with his own hand on the man who had ventured to broach that treasonable +matter. + +Such projects and propositions were ever floating, as it were, in the +atmosphere, and it was impossible for the most just men to escape +suspicion in the mind of a king who fed upon suspicion as his daily +bread. Yet nothing could be fouler or falser than the calumny which +described Alexander as unfaithful to Philip. Had he served his God as he +served his master perhaps his record before the highest tribunal would +have been a clearer one. + +And in the same vein in which he wrote to the monarch in person did the +crafty Moreo write to the principal secretary of state, Idiaquez, whose +mind, as well as his master's, it was useful to poison, and who was in +daily communication with Philip. + +"Let us make sure of Flanders," said he, "otherwise we shall all of us be +well cheated. I will tell you something of that which I have already +told his Majesty, only not all, referring you to Tassis, who, as a +personal witness to many things, will have it in his power to undeceive +his Majesty, I have seen very clearly that the duke is disgusted with his +Majesty, and one day he told me that he cared not if the whole world went +to destruction, only not Flanders." + +"Another day he told me that there was a report abroad that his Majesty +was sending to arrest him, by means of the Duke of Pastrana, and looking +at me he said: 'See here, seignior commander, no threats, as if it were +in the power of mortal man to arrest me, much less of such fellows as +these.'" + +"But this is but a small part of what I could say," continued the +detective knight-commander, "for I don't like to trust these ciphers. +But be certain that nobody in Flanders wishes well to these estates or to +the Catholic cause, and the associates of the Duke of Parma go about +saying that it does not suit the Italian potentates to have his Majesty +as great a monarch as he is trying to be." + +This is but a sample of the dangerous stuff with which the royal mind was +steadily drugged, day after day, by those to whom Farnese was especially +enjoined to give his confidence. + +Later on it will be seen how-much effect was thus produced both upon the +king and upon the duke. Moreo, Mendoza, and Tasais were placed about the +governor-general, nominally as his counsellors, in reality as police- +officers. + +"You are to confer regularly with Mendoza, Tassis, and Moreo," said +Philip to Farnese. + +"You are to assist, correspond, and harmonize in every way with the Duke +of Parma," wrote Philip to Mendoza, Tassis, and Moreo. And thus cordially +and harmoniously were the trio assisting and corresponding with the duke. + +But Moreo was right in not wishing to trust the ciphers, and indeed he +had trusted them too much, for Farnese was very well aware of his +intrigues, and complained bitterly of them to the king and to Idiaquez. + +Most eloquently and indignantly did he complain of the calumnies, ever +renewing themselves, of which he was the subject. "'Tis this good Moreo +who is the author of the last falsehoods," said he to the secretary; "and +this is but poor payment for my having neglected my family, my parents +and children for so many years in the king's service, and put my life +ever on the hazard, that these fellows should be allowed to revile me +and make game of me now, instead of assisting me." + +He was at that time, after almost superhuman exertions, engaged in the +famous relief of Paris. He had gone there, he said, against his judgment +and remonstrating with his Majesty on the insufficiency of men and money +for such an enterprise. His army was half-mutinous and unprovided with +food, artillery, or munitions; and then he found himself slandered, +ridiculed, his life's life lied away. 'Twas poor payment for his +services, he exclaimed, if his Majesty should give ear to these +calumniators, and should give him no chance of confronting his accusers +and clearing his reputation. Moreo detested him, as he knew, and Prince +Doria said that the commander once spoke so ill of Farnese in Genoa that +he was on the point of beating him; while Moreo afterwards told the story +as if he had been maltreated because of defending Farnese against Doria's +slanders. + +And still more vehemently did he inveigh against Moreo in his direct +appeals to Philip. He had intended to pass over his calumnies, of which +he was well aware, because he did not care to trouble the dead--for Moreo +meantime had suddenly died, and the gossips, of course, said it was of +Farnese poison--but he had just discovered by documents that the +commander had been steadily and constantly pouring these his calumnies +into the monarch's ears. He denounced every charge as lies, and demanded +proof. Moreo had further been endeavouring to prejudice the Duke of +Mayenne against the King of Spain and himself, saying that he, Farnese, +had been commissioned to take Mayenne into custody, with plenty of +similar lies. + +"But what I most feel," said Alexander, with honest wrath, "is to see +that your Majesty gives ear to them without making the demonstration +which my services merit, and has not sent to inform me of them, seeing +that they may involve my reputation and honour. People have made more +account of these calumnies than of my actions performed upon the theatre +of the world. I complain, after all my toils and dangers in your +Majesty's service, just when I stood with my soul in my mouth and death +in my teeth, forgetting children, house, and friends, to be treated thus, +instead of receiving rewards and honour, and being enabled to leave to my +children, what was better than all the riches the royal hand could +bestow, an unsullied and honourable name." + +He protested that his reputation had so much suffered that he would +prefer to retire to some remote corner as a humble servant of the king, +and leave a post which had made him so odious to all. Above all, he +entreated his Majesty to look upon this whole affair "not only like a +king but like a gentleman." + +Philip answered these complaints and reproaches benignantly, expressed +unbounded confidence in the duke, assured him that the calumnies of his +supposed enemies could produce no effect upon the royal mind, and coolly +professed to have entirely forgotten having received any such letter as +that of which his nephew complained. "At any rate I have mislaid it," he +said, "so that you see how much account it was with me." + +As the king was in the habit of receiving such letters every week, not +only from the commander, since deceased, but from Ybarra and others, his +memory, to say the least, seemed to have grown remarkably feeble. But +the sequel will very soon show that he had kept the letters by him and +pondered them to much purpose. To expect frankness and sincerity from +him, however, even in his most intimate communications to his most +trusted servants, would have been to "swim with fins of lead." + +Such being the private relations between the conspirators, it is +instructive to observe how they dealt with each other in the great game +they were playing for the first throne in Christendom. The military +events have been sufficiently sketched in the preceding pages, but the +meaning and motives of public affairs can be best understood by +occasional glances behind the scenes. It is well for those who would +maintain their faith in popular Governments to study the workings of the +secret, irresponsible, arbitrary system; for every Government, as every +individual, must be judged at last by those moral laws which no man born +of woman can evade. + +During the first French expedition-in the course of which Farnese had +saved Paris from falling into, the hands of Henry, and had been doing his +best to convert it prospectively into the capital of his master's empire- +-it was his duty, of course, to represent as accurately as possible the +true state of France. He submitted his actions to his master's will, but +he never withheld from him the advantage that he might have derived, had +he so chosen, from his nephew's luminous intelligence and patient +observation. + +With the chief personage he had to deal with he professed himself, at +first, well satisfied. "The Duke of Mayenne," said he to Philip, +"persists in desiring your Majesty only as King of France, and will hear +of no other candidate, which gives me satisfaction such as can't be +exaggerated." Although there were difficulties in the way, Farnese +thought that the two together with God's help might conquer them. +"Certainly it is not impossible that your Majesty may succeed," he said, +"although very problematical; and in case your Majesty does succeed in +that which we all desire and are struggling for, Mayenne not only demands +the second place in the kingdom for himself, but the fief of some great +province for his family." + +Should it not be possible for Philip to obtain the crown, Farnese was, +on the whole, of opinion that Mayenne had better be elected. In that +event he would make over Brittany and Burgundy to Philip, together with +the cities opposite the English coast. If they were obliged to make the +duke king, as was to be feared, they should at any rate exclude the +Prince of Bearne, and secure, what was the chief point, the Catholic +religion. "This," said Alexander, "is about what I can gather of +Mayenne's views, and perhaps he will put them down in a despatch to your +Majesty." + +After all, the duke was explicit enough. He was for taking all he could +get--the whole kingdom if possible--but if foiled, then as large a slice +of it as Philip would give him as the price of his services. And +Philip's ideas were not materially different from those of the other +conspirator. + +Both were agreed on one thing. The true heir must be kept out of his +rights, and the Catholic religion be maintained in its purity. As to the +inclination of the majority of the inhabitants, they could hardly be in +the dark. They knew that the Bearnese was instinctively demanded by the +nation; for his accession to the throne would furnish the only possible +solution to the entanglements which had so long existed. + +As to the true sentiments of the other politicians and soldiers of the +League with whom Bearnese came in contact in France, he did not disguise +from his master that they were anything but favourable. + +"That you may know, the, humour of this kingdom," said he, "and the +difficulties in which I am placed, I must tell you that I am by large +experience much confirmed in that which I have always suspected. Men +don't love nor esteem the royal name of your Majesty, and whatever the +benefits and assistance they get from you they have no idea of anything +redounding to your benefit and royal service, except so far as implied in +maintaining the Catholic religion and keeping out the Bearne. These two +things, however, they hold to be so entirely to your Majesty's profit, +that all you are doing appears the fulfilment of a simple obligation. +They are filled with fear, jealousy, and suspicion of your Majesty. They +dread your acquiring power here. Whatever negotiations they pretend +in regard to putting the kingdom or any of their cities under your +protection, they have never had any real intention of doing it, but their +only object is to keep up our vain hopes while they are carrying out +their own ends. If to-day they seem to have agreed upon any measure, +tomorrow they are sure to get out of it again. This has always been the +case, and all your Majesty's ministers that have had dealings here would +say so, if they chose to tell the truth. Men are disgusted with the +entrance of the army, and if they were not expecting a more advantageous +peace in the kingdom with my assistance than without it, I don't know +what they would do; for I have heard what I have heard and seen what I +have seen. They are afraid of our army, but they want its assistance and +our money." + +Certainly if Philip desired enlightenment as to the real condition of the +country he had determined to, appropriate; and the true sentiments of its +most influential inhabitants, here, was the man most competent of all the +world to advise him; describing the situation for him, day by day, in the +most faithful manner. And at every, step the absolutely puerile +inadequacy of the means, employed by the king to accomplish his gigantic +purposes became apparent. If the crime of subjugating or at least +dismembering the great kingdom of France were to, be attempted with any +hope of success, at least it might have been expected that the man +employed to consummate the deed would be furnished with more troops and +money than would be required to appropriate a savage island off the +Caribbean, or a German. principality. But Philip expected miracles to +be accomplished by the mere private assertion of his will. It was so +easy to conquer realms the writing table. + +"I don't say," continued Farnese, "if I could have entered France with a +competent army, well paid and disciplined, with plenty of artillery, and +munitions, and with funds enough to enable Mayenne to buy up the nobles +of his party, and to conciliate the leaders generally with presents and +promises, that perhaps they might not have softened. Perhaps interest +and fear would have made that name agreeable which pleases them so +little, now that the very reverse of all this has occurred. My want of +means is causing a thousand disgusts among the natives of the country, +and it is this penury that will be the chief cause of the disasters which +may occur." + +Here was sufficiently plain speaking. To conquer a war-like nation +without an army; to purchase a rapacious nobility with an empty purse, +were tasks which might break the stoutest heart. They were breaking +Alexander's. + +Yet Philip had funds enough, if he had possessed financial ability +himself, or any talent for selecting good financiers. The richest +countries of the old world and the new were under his sceptre; the mines +of Peru and Mexico; the wealth of farthest Ind, were at his disposition; +and moreover he drove a lucrative traffic in the sale of papal bulls and +massbooks, which were furnished to him at a very low figure, and which he +compelled the wild Indians of America and the savages of the Pacific to +purchase of him at an enormous advance. That very year, a Spanish +carrack had been captured by the English off the Barbary coast, with an +assorted cargo, the miscellaneous nature of which gives an idea of royal +commercial pursuits at that period. Besides wine in large quantities +there were fourteen hundred chests of quicksilver, an article +indispensable to the working of the silver mines, and which no one but +the king could, upon pain of death, send to America. He received, +according to contract; for every pound of quicksilver thus delivered a +pound of pure silver, weight for weight. The ship likewise contained ten +cases of gilded mass-books and papal bulls. The bulls, two million and +seventy thousand in number, for the dead and the living, were intended +for the provinces of New Spain, Yucatan, Guatemala, Honduras, and the +Philippines. The quicksilver and the bulls cost the king three hundred +thousand florins, but he sold them for five million. The .price at, +which the bulls were to be sold varied-according to the letters of advice +found in the ships--from two to four reals a piece, and the inhabitants +of those conquered regions were obliged to buy them. "From all this," +says a contemporary chronicler; "is to be seen what a thrifty trader was +the king." + +The affairs of France were in such confusion that it was impossible for +them, according to Farnese, to remain in such condition much longer +without bringing about entire decomposition. Every man was doing as he +chose--whether governor of a city, commander of a district, or gentleman +in his castle. Many important nobles and prelates followed the Bearnese +party, and Mayenne was entitled to credit for doing as well as he did. +There was no pretence, however, that his creditable conduct was due to +anything but the hope of being well paid. "If your Majesty should decide +to keep Mayenne," said Alexander, "you can only do it with large: sums of +money. He is a good Catholic and very firm in his purpose, but is so +much opposed by his own party, that if I had not so stimulated him by +hopes of his own grandeur, he would have grown desperate--such small +means has he of maintaining his party--and, it is to be feared, he would +have made arrangements with Bearne, who offers him carte-blanche." + +The disinterested man had expressed his assent to the views of Philip in +regard to the assembly of the estates and the election of king, but had +claimed the sum of six hundred thousand dollars as absolutely necessary +to the support of himself and followers until those events should occur. +Alexander not having that sum at his disposal was inclined to defer +matters, but was more and more confirmed in his opinion that the Duke was +a "man of truth, faith, and his word." He had distinctly agreed that no +king should be elected, not satisfactory to Philip, and had "stipulated +in return that he should have in this case, not only the second place in +the kingdom, but some very great and special reward in full property." + +Thus the man of truth, faith, and his word had no idea of selling himself +cheap, but manifested as much commercial genius as the Fuggers themselves +could have displayed, had they been employed as brokers in these +mercantile transactions. + +Above all things, Alexander implored the king to be expeditious, +resolute, and liberal; for, after all, the Bearnese might prove a more +formidable competitor than he was deemed. "These matters must be +arranged while the iron is hot," he said, "in order that the name and +memory of the Bearne and of all his family may be excluded at once and +forever; for your Majesty must not doubt that the whole kingdom inclines +to him, both because he is natural successor, to the crowns and because +in this way the civil war would cease. The only thing that gives trouble +is the religions defect, so that if this should be remedied in +appearance, even if falsely, men would spare no pains nor expense in his +cause." + +No human being at that moment, assuredly, could look into the immediate +future accurately enough to see whether the name and memory of the man, +whom his adherents called Henry the Fourth of France, and whom Spaniards, +legitimists and enthusiastic papists, called the Prince of Bearne, were +to be for ever excluded from the archives of France; whether Henry, after +spending the whole of his life as a pretender, was destined to bequeath +the same empty part to his descendants, should they think it worth their +while to play it. Meantime the sages smiled superior at his delusion; +while Alexander Farnese, on the contrary, better understanding the +chances of the great game which they were all playing, made bold to tell +his master that all hearts in France were inclining to their natural +lord. "Differing from your Majesty," said he, "I am of opinion that +there is no better means of excluding him than to make choice of the Duke +of Mayenne, as a person agreeable to the people, and who could only reign +by your permission and support." + +Thus, after much hesitation and circumlocution, the nephew made up his +mind to chill his uncle's hopes of the crown, and to speak a decided +opinion in behalf of the man of his word, faith and truth. + +And thus through the whole of the two memorable campaigns made by +Alexander in France, he never failed to give his master the most accurate +pictures of the country, and an interior view of its politics; urging +above all the absolute necessity of providing much more liberal supplies +for the colossal adventure in which he was engaged. "Money and again +money is what is required," he said. "The principal matter is to be +accomplished with money, and the particular individuals must be bought +with money. The good will of every French city must be bought with +money. Mayenne must be humoured. He is getting dissatisfied. Very +probably he is intriguing with Bearne. Everybody is pursuing his private +ends. Mayenne has never abandoned his own wish to be king, although he +sees the difficulties in the way; and while he has not the power to do us +as much good as is thought, it is certainly in his hands to do us a great +deal of injury." + +When his army was rapidly diminishing by disease, desertion, mutiny, and +death, he vehemently and perpetually denounced the utter inadequacy of +the king's means to his vast projects. He protested that he was not to +blame for the ruin likely to come upon the whole enterprise. He had +besought, remonstrated, reasoned with Philip--in vain. He assured his +master that in the condition of weakness in which they found themselves, +not very triumphant negotiations could be expected, but that he would do +his best. "The Frenchmen," he said, "are getting tired of our disorders, +and scandalized by our weakness, misery, and poverty. They disbelieve +the possibility of being liberated through us." + +He was also most diligent in setting before the king's eyes the dangerous +condition of the obedient Netherlands, the poverty of the finances, the +mutinous degeneration of the once magnificent Spanish army, the misery of +the country, the ruin of the people, the discontent of the nobles, the +rapid strides made by the republic, the vast improvement in its military +organization, the rising fame of its young stadholder, the thrift of its +exchequer, the rapid development of its commerce, the menacing aspect +which it assumed towards all that was left of Spanish power in those +regions. + +Moreover, in the midst of the toils and anxieties of war-making and +negotiation, he had found time to discover and to send to his master +the left leg of the glorious apostle St. Philip, and the head of the +glorious martyr St. Lawrence, to enrich his collection of relics; and it +may be doubted whether these treasures were not as welcome to the king as +would have been the news of a decisive victory. + +During the absence of Farnese in his expeditions against the Bearnese, +the government of his provinces was temporarily in the hands of Peter +Ernest Mansfeld. + +This grizzled old fighter--testy, choleric, superannuated--was utterly +incompetent for his post. He was a mere tool in the hands of his son. +Count Charles hated Parma very cordially, and old Count Peter was made +to believe himself in danger of being poisoned or poniarded by the duke. +He was perpetually wrangling with, importuning and insulting him in +consequence, and writing malicious letters to the king in regard to him. +The great nobles, Arschot, Chimay, Berlaymont, Champagny, Arenberg, and +the rest, were all bickering among themselves, and agreeing in nothing +save in hatred to Farnese. + +A tight rein, a full exchequer, a well-ordered and well-paid army, and +his own constant patience, were necessary, as Alexander too well knew, +to make head against the republic, and to hold what was left of the +Netherlands. But with a monthly allowance, and a military force not +equal to his own estimates for the Netherland work, he was ordered to go +forth from the Netherlands to conquer France--and with it the dominion of +the world--for the recluse of the Escorial. + +Very soon it was his duty to lay bare to his master, still more +unequivocally than ever, the real heart of Mayenne. No one could surpass +Alexander in this skilful vivisection of political characters; and he +soon sent the information that the Duke was in reality very near closing +his bargain with the Bearnese, while amusing Philip and drawing largely +from his funds. + +Thus, while faithfully doing his master's work with sword and pen, with +an adroitness such as no other man could have matched, it was a necessary +consequence that Philip should suspect, should detest, should resolve to +sacrifice him. While assuring his nephew, as we have seen, that +elaborate, slanderous reports and protocols concerning him, sent with +such regularity by the chivalrous Moreo and the other spies, had been +totally disregarded, even if they had ever met his eye, he was quietly +preparing--in the midst of all these most strenuous efforts of Alexander, +in the field at peril of his life, in the cabinet at the risk of his +soul--to deprive him of his office, and to bring him, by stratagem if +possible, but otherwise by main force, from the Netherlands to Spain. + +This project, once-resolved upon, the king proceeded to execute with +that elaborate attention to detail, with that feline stealth which +distinguished him above all kings or chiefs of police that have ever +existed. Had there been a murder at the end of the plot, as perhaps +there was to be--Philip could not have enjoyed himself more. Nothing +surpassed the industry for mischief of this royal invalid. + +The first thing to be done was of course the inditing of a most +affectionate epistle to his nephew. + +"Nephew," said he, "you know the confidence which I have always placed in +you and all that I have put in your hands, and I know how much you are to +me, and how earnestly you work in my service, and so, if I could have you +at the same time in several places, it would be a great relief to me. +Since this cannot be however, I wish to make use of your assistance, +according to the times and occasions, in order that I may have some +certainty as to the manner in which all this business is to be managed, +may see why the settlement of affairs in France is thus delayed, and what +the state of things in Christendom generally is, and may consult with, +you about an army which I am getting levied here, and about certain +schemes now on foot in regard to the remedy for all this; all which makes +me desire your presence here for some time, even if a short time, in +order to resolve upon and arrange with the aid of your advice and +opinion, many affairs concerning the public good and facilitate their +execution by means of your encouragement and presence, and to obtain the +repose which I hope for in putting them into your hands. And so I charge +and command you that, if you desire to content me, you use all possible +diligence to let me see you here as soon as possible, and that you start +at once for Genoa." + +He was further directed to leave Count Mansfeld at the head of affairs +during this temporary absence, as had been the case so often before, +instructing him to make use of the Marquis of Cerralbo, who was already +there, to lighten labours that might prove too much for a man of +Mansfeld's advanced age. + +"I am writing to the marquis," continued the king, "telling him that he +is to obey all your orders. As to the reasons of your going away, you +will give out that it is a decision of your own, founded on good cause, +or that it is a summons of mine, but full of confidence and good will +towards you, as you see that it is." + +The date of this letter was 20th February, 1592. + +The secret instructions to the man who was thus to obey all the duke's +orders were explicit enough upon that point, although they were wrapped +in the usual closely-twisted phraseology which distinguished Philip's +style when his purpose was most direct. + +Cerralbo was entrusted with general directions as to the French matter, +and as to peace negotiations with "the Islands;" but the main purport of +his mission was to remove Alexander Farnese. This was to be done by fair +means, if possible; if not, he was to be deposed and sent home by force. + +This was to be the reward of all the toil and danger through which he had +grown grey and broken in the king's service. + +"When you get to the Netherlands" (for the instructions were older than +the letter to Alexander just cited), "you are," said the king, "to treat +of the other two matters until the exact time arrives for the third, +taking good care not to, cut the thread of good progress in the affairs +of France if by chance they are going on well there. + +"When the time arrives to treat of commission number three," continued +his Majesty, "you will take occasion of the arrival of the courier of +20th February, and will give with much secrecy the letter of that date to +the duke; showing him at the same time the first of the two which you +will have received." + +If the duke showed the letter addressed to him by his uncle--which the +reader has already seen--then the marquis was to discuss with him the +details of the journey, and comment upon the benefits and increased +reputation which would be the result of his return to Spain. + +"But if the duke should not show you the letter," proceeded Philip, "and +you suspect that he means to conceal and equivocate about the particulars +of it, you can show him your letter number two, in which it is stated +that you have received a copy of the letter to the duke. This will make +the step easier." + +Should the duke declare himself ready to proceed to Spain on the ground +indicated--that the king had need of his services--the marquis was then +to hasten his departure as earnestly as possible. Every pains were to be +taken to overcome any objections that might be made by the duke on the +score of ill health, while the great credit which attached to this +summons to consult with the king in such arduous affairs was to be duly +enlarged upon. Should Count Mansfeld meantime die of old age, and should +Farnese insist the more vehemently, on that account, upon leaving his son +the Prince Ranuccio in his post as governor, the marquis was authorised +to accept the proposition for the moment--although secretly instructed +that such an appointment was really quite out of the question--if by so +doing the father could be torn from the place immediately. + +But if all would not do, and if it should become certain that the duke +would definitively refuse to take his departure, it would then become +necessary to tell him clearly, but secretly, that no excuse would be +accepted, but that go he must; and that if he did not depart voluntarily +within a fixed time, he would be publicly deprived of office and +conducted to Spain by force. + +But all these things were to be managed with the secrecy and mystery so +dear to the heart of Philip. The marquis was instructed to go first to +the castle of Antwerp, as if upon financial business, and there begin his +operations. Should he find at last all his private negotiations and +coaxings of no avail, he was then to make use of his secret letters from +the king to the army commanders, the leading nobles of the country, and +of the neighbouring princes, all of whom were to be undeceived in regard +to the duke, and to be informed of the will of his majesty. + +The real successor of Farnese was to be the Archduke Albert, Cardinal of +Austria, son of Archduke Ferdinand, and the letters on this subject were +to be sent by a "decent and confidential person" so soon as it should +become obvious that force would be necessary in order to compel the +departure of Alexander. For if it came to open rupture, it would be +necessary to have the cardinal ready to take the place. If the affair +were arranged amicably, then the new governor might proceed more at +leisure. The marquis was especially enjoined, in case the duke should be +in France, and even if it should be necessary for him to follow him there +on account of commissions number one and two, not to say a word to him +then of his recall, for fear of damaging matters in that kingdom. He was +to do his best to induce him to return to Flanders, and when they were +both there, he was to begin his operations. + +Thus, with minute and artistic treachery, did Philip provide for the +disgrace and ruin of the man who was his near blood relation, and who had +served him most faithfully from earliest youth. It was not possible to +carry out the project immediately, for, as it has already been narrated, +Farnese, after achieving, in spite of great obstacles due to the dulness +of the king alone, an extraordinary triumph, had been dangerously +wounded, and was unable for a brief interval to attend to public affairs. + +On the conclusion of his Rouen campaign he had returned to the +Netherlands, almost immediately betaking himself to the waters of Spa. +The Marquis de Cerralbo meanwhile had been superseded in his important +secret mission by the Count of Fuentes, who received the same +instructions as had been provided for the marquis. + +But ere long it seemed to become unnecessary to push matters to +extremities. Farnese, although nominally the governor, felt himself +unequal to take the field against the vigorous young commander who was +carrying everything before him in the north and east. Upon the Mansfelds +was the responsibility for saving Steenwyk and Coeworden, and to the +Mansfelds did Verdugo send piteously, but in vain, for efficient help. +For the Mansfelds and other leading personages in the obedient +Netherlands were mainly occupied at that time in annoying Farnese, +calumniating his actions, laying obstacles in the way of his +administration, military and civil, and bringing him into contempt with +the populace. When the weary soldier--broken in health, wounded and +harassed with obtaining triumphs for his master such as no other living +man could have gained with the means placed at his disposal--returned +to drink the waters, previously to setting forth anew upon the task of +achieving the impossible, he was made the mark of petty insults on the +part of both the Mansfelds. Neither of them paid their respects to him; +ill as he was, until four days after his arrival. When the duke +subsequently called a council; Count Peter refused to attend it on +account of having slept ill the night before. Champagny; who was one of, +the chief mischief-makers, had been banished by Parma to his house in +Burgundy. He became very much alarmed, and was afraid of losing his +head. He tried to conciliate the duke, but finding it difficult he +resolved to turn monk, and so went to the convent of Capuchins, and +begged hard to be admitted a member. They refused him on account of his +age and infirmities. He tried a Franciscan monastery with not much +better success, and then obeyed orders and went to his Burgundy mansion; +having been assured by Farnese that he was not to lose his head. +Alexander was satisfied with that arrangement, feeling sure, he said, +that so soon as his back was turned Champagny would come out of his +convent before the term of probation had expired, and begin to make +mischief again. A once valiant soldier, like Champagny, whose conduct in +the famous "fury of Antwerp" was so memorable; and whose services both in +field and-cabinet had, been so distinguished, fallen so low as to, be +used as a tool by the Mansfelds against a man like Farnese; and to be +rejected as unfit company by Flemish friars, is not a cheerful spectacle +to contemplate. + +The walls of the Mansfeld house and gardens, too, were decorated by Count +Charles with caricatures, intending to illustrate the indignities put +upon his father: and himself. + +Among others, one picture represented Count Peter lying tied hand and +foot, while people were throwing filth upon him; Count Charles being +pourtrayed as meantime being kicked away from the command of a battery +of cannon by, De la Motte. It seemed strange that the Mansfelds should, +make themselves thus elaborately ridiculous, in order to irritate +Farnese; but thus it was. There was so much stir, about these works of +art that Alexander transmitted copies of them to the king, whereupon +Charles Mansfeld, being somewhat alarmed, endeavoured to prove that they +had been entirely misunderstood. The venerable personage lying on the +ground, he explained, was not his father, but Socrates. He found it +difficult however to account for the appearance of La Motte, with his one +arm wanting and with artillery by his side, because, as Farnese justly +remarked, artillery had not been invented in the time of Socrates, nor +was it recorded that the sage had lost an arm. + +Thus passed the autumn of 1592, and Alexander, having as he supposed +somewhat recruited his failing strength, prepared, according to his +master's orders for a new campaign in France. For with almost +preterhuman malice Philip was employing the man whom he had doomed to +disgrace, perhaps to death, and whom he kept under constant secret +supervision, in those laborious efforts to conquer without an army and +to purchase a kingdom with an empty purse, in which, as it was destined, +the very last sands of Parma's life were to run away. + +Suffering from a badly healed wound, from water on the chest, +degeneration of the heart, and gout in the limbs, dropsical, enfeebled, +broken down into an old man before his time, Alexander still confronted +disease and death with as heroic a front as he had ever manifested in the +field to embattled Hollanders and Englishmen, or to the still more +formidable array of learned pedants and diplomatists in the hall of +negotiation. This wreck of a man was still fitter to lead armies and +guide councils than any soldier or statesman that Philip could call into +his service, yet the king's cruel hand was ready to stab the dying man in +the dark. + +Nothing could surpass the spirit with which the soldier was ready to do +battle with his best friend, coming in the guise of an enemy. To the +last moment, lifted into the saddle, he attended personally as usual to +the details of his new campaign, and was dead before he would confess +himself mortal. On the 3rd of December, 1592, in the city of Arran, he +fainted after retiring at his usual hour to bed, and thus breathed his +last. + +According to the instructions in his last will, he was laid out barefoot +in the robe and cowl of a Capuchin monk. Subsequently his remains were +taken to Parma, and buried under the pavement of the little Franciscan +church. A pompous funeral, in which the Italians and Spaniards +quarrelled and came to blows for precedence, was celebrated in Brussels, +and a statue of the hero was erected in the capitol at Rome. + +The first soldier and most unscrupulous diplomatist of his age, he died +when scarcely past his prime, a wearied; broken-hearted old man. His +triumphs, military and civil, have been recorded in these pages, and his +character has been elaborately pourtrayed. Were it possible to conceive +of an Italian or Spaniard of illustrious birth in the sixteenth century, +educated in the school of Machiavelli, at the feet of Philip, as anything +but the supple slave of a master and the blind instrument of a Church, +one might for a moment regret that so many gifts of genius and valour had +been thrown away or at least lost to mankind. Could the light of truth +ever pierce the atmosphere in which such men have their being; could the +sad music of humanity ever penetrate to their ears; could visions of a +world--on this earth or beyond it--not exclusively the property of kings +and high-priests be revealed to them, one might lament that one so +eminent among the sons of women had not been a great man. But it is a +weakness to hanker for any possible connection between truth and Italian +or Spanish statecraft of that day. The truth was not in it nor in him, +and high above his heroic achievements, his fortitude, his sagacity, his +chivalrous self-sacrifice, shines forth the baleful light of his +perpetual falsehood. + + [I pass over, as beneath the level of history, a great variety of + censorious and probably calumnious reports as to the private + character of Farnese, with which the secret archives of the times + are filled. Especially Champagny, the man by whom the duke was most + hated and feared, made himself busy in compiling the slanderous + chronicle in which the enemies of Farnese, both in Spain and the + Netherlands, took so much delight. According to the secret history + thus prepared for the enlightenment of the king and his ministers, + the whole administration of the Netherlands--especially the + financial department, with the distribution of offices--was in the + hands of two favourites, a beardless secretary named Cosmo e Massi, + and a lady of easy virtue called Franceline, who seems to have had a + numerous host of relatives and friends to provide for at the public + expense. Towards the latter end of the duke's life, it was even + said that the seal of the finance department was in the hands of his + valet-de-chambre, who, in his master's frequent absences, was in the + habit of issuing drafts upon the receiver-general. As the valet- + dechambre was described as an idiot who did not know how to read, it + may be believed that the finances fell into confusion. Certainly, + if such statements were to be accepted, it would be natural enough + that for every million dollars expended by the king in the + provinces, not more than one hundred thousand were laid out for the + public service; and this is the estimate made by Champagny, who, as + a distinguished financier and once chief of the treasury in the + provinces, might certainly be thought to know something of the + subject. But Champagny was beside himself with rage, hatred.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + + Effect of the death of Farnese upon Philip's schemes--Priestly + flattery and counsel--Assembly of the States-General of France-- + Meeting of the Leaguers at the Louvre--Conference at Surene between + the chiefs of the League and the "political" leaders--Henry convokes + an assembly of bishops, theologians, and others--Strong feeling on + all sides on the subject of the succession--Philip commands that the + Infanta and the Duke of Guise be elected King and Queen of France-- + Manifesto of the Duke of Mayenne--Formal re-admission of Henry to + the Roman faith--The pope refuses to consent to his reconciliation + with the Church--His consecration with the sacred oil--Entry of the + king into Paris--Departure of the Spanish garrison from the capital + --Dissimulation of the Duke of Mayenne--He makes terms with Henry-- + Grief of Queen Elizabeth on receipt of the communications from + France. + +During the past quarter of a century there had been tragic scenes enough +in France, but now the only man who could have conducted Philip's schemes +to a tragic if not a successful issue was gone. Friendly death had been +swifter than Philip, and had removed Alexander from the scene before his +master had found fitting opportunity to inflict the disgrace on which he +was resolved. Meantime, Charles Mansfeld made a feeble attempt to lead +an army from the Netherlands into France, to support the sinking fortunes +of the League; but it was not for that general-of-artillery to attempt +the well-graced part of the all-accomplished Farnese with much hope of +success. A considerable force of Spanish infantry, too, had been sent to +Paris, where they had been received with much enthusiasm; a very violent +and determined churchman, Sega, archbishop of Piacenza, and cardinal- +legate, having arrived to check on the part of the holy father any +attempt by the great wavering heretic to get himself readmitted into the +fold of the faithful. + +The King of Spain considered it his duty, as well as his unquestionable +right, to interfere in the affairs of France, and to save the cause of +religion, civilization and humanity, in the manner so dear to the +civilization-savers, by reducing that distracted country--utterly unable +to govern itself--under his sceptre. To achieve this noble end no +bribery was too wholesale, no violence too brutal, no intrigue too +paltry. It was his sacred and special mission to save France from +herself. If he should fail, he could at least carve her in pieces, and +distribute her among himself and friends. Frenchmen might assist him in +either of these arrangements, but it was absurd to doubt that on him +devolved the work and the responsibility. Yet among his advisers were +some who doubted whether the purchase of the grandees of France was +really the most judicious course to pursue. There was a general and +uneasy feeling that the grandees were making sport of the Spanish +monarch, and that they would be inclined to remain his stipendiaries for +an indefinite period, without doing their share of the work. A keen +Jesuit, who had been much in France, often whispered to Philip that he +was going astray. "Those who best understand the fit remedy for this +unfortunate kingdom, and know the tastes and temper of the nation," said +he, "doubt giving these vast presents and rewards in order that the +nobles of France may affect your cause and further your schemes. It is +the greatest delusion, because they love nothing but their own interest, +and for this reason wish for no king at all, but prefer that the kingdom +should remain topsy-turvy in order that they may enjoy the Spanish +doubloons, as they say themselves almost publicly, dancing and feasting; +that they may take a castle to-day, and to-morrow a city, and the day, +after a province, and so on indefinitely. What matters it to them that +blood flows, and that the miserable people are destroyed, who alone are +good for anything?" + +"The immediate cause of the ruin of France," continued the Jesuit, "comes +from two roots which must be torn up; the one is the extreme ignorance +and scandalous life of the ecclesiastics, the other is the tyranny and +the abominable life of the nobility, who with sacrilege and insatiable +avarice have entered upon the property of the Church. This nobility is +divided into three factions. The first, and not the least, is heretic; +the second and the most pernicious is politic or atheist; the third and +last is catholic. All these, although they differ in opinion, are the +same thing in corruption of life and manners, so that there is no choice +among them." He then proceeded to set forth how entirely, the salvation +of France depended on the King of Spain. "Morally speaking," he said, +"it is impossible for any Frenchman to apply the remedy. For this two +things are wanting; intense zeal for the honour of God, and power. I ask +now what Frenchman: has both these, or either of them. No one certainly +that we know. It is the King of Spain who alone in the world has the +zeal and the power. No man who knows the insolence and arrogance of the +French nature will believe that even if a king should be elected out of +France he would be obeyed by the others. The first to oppose him would +be Mayenne; even if a king were chosen from his family, unless everything +should be given him that he asked; which would be impossible." + +Thus did the wily Priest instil into the ready ears of Philip additional +reasons for believing himself the incarnate providence of God. When were +priestly flatterers ever wanting to pour this poison into the souls of +tyrants? It is in vain for us to ask why it is permitted that so much +power for evil should be within the grasp of one wretched human creature, +but it is at least always instructive to ponder the career of these +crowned conspirators, and sometimes consoling to find its conclusion +different from the goal intended. So the Jesuit advised the king not to +be throwing away his money upon particular individuals, but with the +funds which they were so unprofitably consuming to form a jolly army +('gallardo egercito') of fifteen thousand foot, and five thousand-horse, +all Spaniards, under a Spanish general--not a Frenchman being admitted +into it--and then to march forward, occupy all the chief towns, putting +Spanish garrisons into them, but sparing the people, who now considered +the war eternal, and who were eaten up by both armies. In a short time +the king might accomplish all he wished, for it was not in the power of +the Bearnese to make considerable resistance for any length of time. + +This was the plan of Father Odo for putting Philip on the throne of +France, and at the same time lifting up the downtrodden Church, whose +priests, according to his statement, were so profligate, and whose tenets +were rejected by all but a small minority of the governing classes of the +country. Certainly it did not lack precision, but it remained to be seen +whether the Bearnese was to prove so very insignificant an antagonist as +the sanguine priest supposed. + +For the third party--the moderate Catholics--had been making immense +progress in France, while the diplomacy of Philip had thus far steadily +counteracted their efforts at Rome. In vain had the Marquis Pisani, +envoy of the politicians' party, endeavoured to soften the heart of +Clement towards Henry. The pope lived in mortal fear of Spain, and the +Duke of Sessa, Philip's ambassador to the holy see, denouncing all these +attempts on the part of the heretic, and his friends, and urging that it +was much better for Rome that the pernicious kingdom of France should be +dismembered and subdivided, assured his holiness that Rome should be +starved, occupied, annihilated, if such abominable schemes should be for +an instant favoured. + +Clement took to his bed with sickness brought on by all this violence, +but had nothing for it but to meet Pisani and other agents of the same +cause with a peremptory denial, and send most, stringent messages to his +legate in Paris, who needed no prompting. + +There had already been much issuing of bulls by the pope, and much +burning of bulls by the hangman, according to decrees of the parliament +of Chalons and other friendly tribunals, and burning of Chalons decrees +by Paris hangmen, and edicts in favour of Protestants at Nantz and other +places--measures the enactment, repeal, and reenactment of which were to +mark the ebb and flow of the great tide of human opinion on the most +important of subjects, and the traces of which were to be for a long time +visible on the shores of time. + +Early in 1593 Mayenne, yielding to the pressure of the Spanish party, +reluctantly consented to assemble the States-General of France, in order +that a king might be chosen. The duke, who came to be thoroughly known +to Alexander Farnese before the death of that subtle Italian, relied on +his capacity to outwit all the other champions of the League and agents +of Philip now that the master-spirit had been removed. As firmly opposed +as ever to the election of any other candidate but himself, or possibly +his son, according to a secret proposition which he had lately made to +the pope, he felt himself obliged to confront the army of Spanish +diplomatists, Roman prelates, and learned doctors, by whom it was +proposed to exclude the Prince of Bearne from his pretended rights. But +he did not, after all, deceive them as thoroughly as he imagined. The +Spaniards shrewdly suspected the French tactics, and the whole business +was but a round game of deception, in which no one was much deceived, who +ever might be destined ultimately, to pocket the stakes: "I know from a +very good source," said Fuentes, "that Mayenne, Guise, and the rest of +them are struggling hard in order not to submit to Bearne, and will +suffer everything your Majesty may do to them, even if you kick them in +the mouth, but still there is no conclusion on the road we are +travelling, at least not the one which your Majesty desires. They will go +on procrastinating and gaining time, making authority for themselves out +of your Majesty's grandeur, until the condition of things comes which +they are desiring. Feria tells me that they are still taking your +Majesty's money, but I warn your Majesty that it is only to fight off +Bearne, and that they are only pursuing their own ends at your Majesty's +expense." + +Perhaps Mayenne had already a sufficiently clear insight into the not +far-distant future, but he still presented himself in Spanish cloak and +most ultramontane physiognomy. His pockets were indeed full of Spanish +coin at that moment, for he had just claimed and received eighty-eight +thousand-nine hundred dollars for back debts, together with one hundred +and eighty, thousand dollars more to distribute among the deputies of the +estates. "All I can say about France," said Fuentes, "is that it is one +great thirst for money. The Duke of Feria believes in a good result, but +I think that Mayenne is only trying to pocket as much money as he can." + +Thus fortified, the Duke of Mayenne issued the address to the States- +General of the kingdom, to meet at an early day in order to make +arrangements to secure religion and peace, and to throw off the possible +yoke of the heretic pretender. The great seal affixed to the document +represented an empty throne, instead of the usual effigy of a king. + +The cardinal-legate issued a thundering manifesto at the same time +sustaining Mayenne and virulently denouncing the Bearnese. + +The politicians' party now seized the opportunity to impress upon Henry +that the decisive moment was come. + +The Spaniard, the priest; and the League, had heated the furnace. +The iron was at a white heat. Now was the time to strike. Secretary +of State Revol Gaspar de Schomberg, Jacques Auguste de Thou, the eminent +historian, and other influential personages urged the king to give to +the great question the only possible solution. + +Said the king with much meekness, "If I am in error, let those who attack +me with so much fury instruct me, and show me the way of salvation. I +hate those who act against their conscience. I pardon all those who are +inspired by truly religious motives, and I am ready to receive all into +favour whom the love of peace, not the chagrin of ill-will, has disgusted +with the war." + +There was a great meeting of Leaguers at the Louvre, to listen to +Mayenne, the cardinal-legate, Cardinal Pelleve, the Duke of Guise, and +other chieftains. The Duke of Feria made a long speech in Latin, setting +forth the Spanish policy, veiled as usual, but already sufficiently well +known, and assuring the assembly that the King of Spain desired nothing +so much as the peace of France and of all the world, together with the +supremacy of the Roman Church. Whether these objects could best be +attained by the election of Philip or of his daughter, as sovereign, with +the Archduke Ernest as king-consort, or with perhaps the Duke of Guise +or some other eligible husband, were fair subjects for discussion. +No selfish motive influenced the king, and he placed all his wealth and +all his armies at the disposal of the League to carry out these great +projects. + +Then there was a conference at Surene between the chiefs the League and +the "political" leaders; the Archbishop of Lyons, the cardinal-legate, +Villars, Admiral of France and defender of Rouen, Belin, Governor of +Paris, President Jeannin, and others upon one side; upon the other, the +Archbishop of Bourges, Bellievre, Schomberg, Revol, and De Thou. + +The Archbishop of Lyons said that their party would do nothing either to +frustrate or to support the mission of Pisani, and that the pope would, +as ever, do all that could be done to maintain the interests of the true +religion. + +The Archbishop of Bourges, knowing well the meaning of such fine phrases, +replied that he had much respect for the holy father, but that popes had +now, become the slaves and tools of the King of Spain, who, because he +was powerful, held them subject to his caprice. + +At an adjourned meeting at the same place, the Archbishop of Lyons said +that all questions had been asked and answered. All now depended on the +pope, whom the League would always obey. If the pope would accept the +reconciliation of the Prince of Bearne it was well. He, hoped that his +conversion would be sincere. + +The political archbishop (of Bourges) replied to the League's archbishop, +that there was no time for delays, and for journeys by land and sea to +Rome. The least obstruction might prove fatal to both parties. Let the +Leaguers now show that the serenity of their faces was but the mirror of +their minds. + +But the Leaguers' archbishop said that he could make no further advances. +So ended the conference.' + +The chiefs of the politicians now went to the king and informed him that +the decisive moment had arrived. + +Henry had preserved: his coolness throughout. Amid all the hubbub of +learned doctors of law, archbishops-Leaguer and political-Sorbonne +pedants, solemn grandees from Spain with Latin orations in their pockets, +intriguing Guises, huckstering Mayennes, wrathful Huguenots, sanguinary +cardinal-legates, threatening world-monarchs--heralded by Spanish +musketeers, Italian lancers, and German reiters--shrill screams of +warning from the English queen, grim denunciations from Dutch Calvinists, +scornful repulses from the holy father; he kept his temper and his eye- +sight, as perfectly as he had ever done through the smoke and din of +the wildest battle-field. None knew better than he how to detect the +weakness of the adversary, and to sound the charge upon his wavering +line. + +He blew the blast--sure that loyal Catholics and Protestants alike would +now follow him pell-mell. + +On the 16th, May, 1593, he gave notice that he consented to get himself +instructed, and that he summoned an assembly at Mantes on the 15th July, +of bishops, theologians, princes, lords, and courts of parliament to hold +council, and to advise him what was best to do for religion and the +State. + +Meantime he returned to the siege of Dreux, made an assault on the place, +was repulsed, and then hung nine prisoners of war in full sight of the +garrison as a punishment for their temerity in resisting him. The place +soon after capitulated (8th July, 1593). + +The interval between the summons and the assembling of the clerical and +lay notables at Mantes was employed by the Leaguers in frantic and +contradictory efforts to retrieve a game which the most sagacious knew to +be lost. But the politicians were equal to the occasion, and baffled +them at every point. + +The Leaguers' archbishop inveighed bitterly against the abominable edicts +recently issued in favour of the Protestants. + +The political archbishop (of Bourges) replied not by defending; but by +warmly disapproving, those decrees of toleration, by excusing the king +for having granted them for a temporary purpose, and by asserting +positively that, so soon as the king should be converted, he would no +longer countenance such measures. + +It is superfluous to observe that very different language was held on the +part of Henry to the English and Dutch Protestants, and to the Huguenots +of his own kingdom. + +And there were many meetings of the Leaguers in Paris, many belligerent +speeches by the cardinal legate, proclaiming war to the knife rather +than that the name of Henry the heretic should ever be heard of again as +candidate for the throne, various propositions spasmodically made in full +assembly by Feria, Ybarra, Tassis, the jurisconsult Mendoza, and other +Spanish agents in favour of the Infanta as queen of France, with Archduke +Ernest or the Duke of Guise, or any other eligible prince, for her +husband. + +The League issued a formal and furious invective in answer to Henry's +announcement; proving by copious citations from Jeremiah, St. Epiphany; +St. Jerome, St. Cyprian, and St. Bernard, that it was easier for a +leopard to change his spots or for a blackamoor to be washed white; than +for a heretic to be converted, and that the king was thinking rather of +the crown of France than of a heavenly crown, in his approaching +conversion--an opinion which there were few to gainsay. + +And the Duke of Nemours wrote to his half-brother, the Duke of Mayenne; +offering to use all his influence to bring about Mayenne's election as +king on condition that if these efforts failed, Mayenne should do his +best to procure the election of Nemours. + +And the Parliament of Paris formally and prospectively proclaimed any +election of a foreigner null and void, and sent deputies to Mayenne +urging him never to consent to the election of the Infanta. + +What help, said they, can the League expect from the old and broken +Philip; from a king who in thirty years has not been able, with all the +resources of his kingdoms, to subdue the revolted provinces of the +Netherlands? How can he hope to conquer France? Pay no further heed +to the legate, they said, who is laughing in his sleeve at the miseries +and distractions of our country. So spake the deputies of the League- +Parliament to the great captain of the League, the Duke of Mayenne. +It was obvious that the "great and holy confederacy" was becoming less +confident of its invincibility. Madame League was suddenly grown +decrepit in the eyes of her adorers. + +Mayenne was angry at the action of the Parliament, and vehemently swore +that he would annul their decree. Parliament met his threats with +dignity, and resolved to stand by the decree, even if they all died in +their places. + +At the same time the Duke of Feria suddenly produced in full assembly +of Leaguers a written order from Philip that the Duke of Guise and the +Infanta should at once be elected king and queen. Taken by surprise, +Mayenne dissembled his rage in masterly-fashion, promised Feria to +support the election, and at once began to higgle for conditions. He +stipulated that he should have for himself the governments of Champagne, +Burgundy, and La Brie, and that they should be hereditary in his family: +He furthermore demanded that Guise should cede to him the principality +of Joinville, and that they should pay him on the spot in hard money two +hundred thousand crowns in gold, six hundred thousand more in different +payments, together with an annual payment of fifty thousand crowns. + +It was obvious that the duke did not undervalue himself; but he had after +all no intention of falling into the trap set for him. "He has made +these promises (as above given) in writing," said the Duke of Savoy's +envoy to his master, but he will never keep them. The Duchess of Mayenne +could not help telling me that her husband will never consent that the +Duke of Guise should have the throne." From this resolve he had never +wavered, and was not likely to do so now. Accordingly the man "of his +word, of faith, and truth," whom even the astute Farnese had at times +half believed in, and who had received millions of Philip's money, now +thought it time to break with Philip. He issued a manifesto, in which he +observed that the States-General of France had desired that Philip should +be elected King of France, and carry out his design of a universal +monarchy, as the only-means of ensuring the safety of the Catholic +religion and the pacification of the world. It was feared, however, said +Mayenne; that the king might come to the same misfortunes which befell +his father, who, when it was supposed that he was inspired only by +private ambition; and by the hope of placing a hereditary universal crown +in his family, had excited the animosity of the princes of the empire. +"If a mere suspicion had caused so great a misfortune in the empire," +continued the man of his word, "what will the princes of all Europe do +when they find his Majesty elected king of France, and grown by increase +of power so formidable to the world? Can it be doubted that they will +fly to arms at once, and give all their support to the King of Navarre, +heretic though he be? What motive had so many princes to traverse +Philip's designs in the Netherlands, but desire to destroy the enormous +power which they feared? Therefore had the Queen, of England, although +refusing the sovereignty, defended the independence of the Netherlands +these fifteen years. + +"However desirable," continued Mayenne, "that this universal monarchy, +for which the house of Austria has so long been working, should be +established, yet the king is too prudent not to see the difficulties +in his way. Although he has conquered Portugal, he is prevented by the +fleets of Holland and England from taking possession of the richest of +the Portuguese possessions, the islands and the Indies. He will find in +France insuperable objections to his election as king, for he could in +this case well reproach the Leaguers with having been changed from +Frenchmen into Spaniards. He must see that his case is hopeless in +France, he who for thirty years has been in vain endeavouring to re- +establish his authority in the Netherlands. It would be impossible in +the present position of affairs to become either the king or the +protector of France. The dignity of France allows it not." + +Mayenne then insisted on the necessity of a truce with the royalists or +politicians, and, assembling the estates at the Louvre on the 4th July, +he read a written paper declining for the moment to hold an election for +king. + +John Baptist Tassis, next day, replied by declaring that in this case +Philip would send no more succours of men or money; for that the only +effectual counter-poison to the pretended conversion of the Prince of +Bearne was the immediate election of a king. + +Thus did Mayenne escape from the snare in which the Spaniards thought to +catch the man who, as they now knew, was changing every day, and was true +to nothing save his own interests. + +And now the great day had come. The conversion of Henry to the Roman +faith, fixed long before for--the 23rd July,--1593, formally took place +at the time appointed. + +From six in the morning till the stroke of noon did Henry listen to the +exhortations and expoundings of the learned prelates and doctors whom he +had convoked, the politic Archbishop of Bourges taking the lead in this +long-expected instruction. After six mortal hours had come to an end, +the king rose from his knees, somewhat wearied, but entirely instructed +and convinced. He thanked the bishops for having taught him that of +which he was before quite ignorant, and assured them that; after having +invoked the light, of the Holy Ghost upon his musings, he should think +seriously over what they had just taught him, in order to come to a +resolution salutary to himself and to the State. + +Nothing could be more candid. Next day, at eight in the morning, there +was a great show in the cathedral of Saint Denis, and the population of +Paris, notwithstanding the prohibition of the League authorities, rushed +thither in immense crowds to witness the ceremony of the reconciliation +of the king. Henry went to the church, clothed as became a freshly +purified heretic, in white satin doublet and hose, white silk stockings, +and white silk shoes with white roses in them; but with a black hat and +a black mantle. There was a great procession with blare of trumpet and +beat of drum. The streets were strewn with flowers. + +As Henry entered the great portal of the church, he found the Archbishop +of Bourges, seated in state, effulgent in mitre and chasuble, and +surrounded by other magnificent prelates in gorgeous attire. + +"Who are you, and what do you want?" said the arch-bishop. + +"I am the king," meekly replied Henry, "and I demand to be received into +the bosom of the Roman Catholic Church." + +"Do you wish it sincerely?" asked the prelate. + +"I wish it with all my heart," said the king. + +Then throwing himself on his knees, the Bearne--great champion of the +Huguenots--protested before God that he would live and die in the +Catholic faith, and that he renounced all heresy. A passage was with +difficulty opened through the crowd, and he was then led to the high +altar, amid the acclamations of the people. Here he knelt devoutly and +repeated his protestations. His unction and contrition were most +impressive, and the people, of course, wept piteously. The king, during +the progress of the ceremony, with hands clasped together and adoring the +Eucharist with his eyes, or, as the Host was elevated, smiting himself +thrice upon the breast, was a model of passionate devotion. + +Afterwards he retired to a pavilion behind the altar, where the +archbishop confessed and absolved him. Then the Te Deum sounded, +and high mass was celebrated by the Bishop of Nantes. Then, amid +acclamations and blessings, and with largess to the crowd, the king +returned to the monastery of Saint Denis, where he dined amid a multitude +of spectators, who thronged so thickly around him that his dinner-table +was nearly overset. These were the very Parisians, who, but three years +before, had been feeding on rats and dogs and dead men's bones, and the +bodies of their own children, rather than open their gates to this same +Prince of Bearne. + +Now, although Mayenne had set strong guards at those gates, and had most +strictly prohibited all egress, the city was emptied of its populace, +which pressed in transports of adoration around the man so lately the +object of their hate. Yet few could seriously believe that much change +had been effected in the inner soul of him, whom the legate, and the +Spaniard, and the holy father at Rome still continued to denounce as the +vilest of heretics and the most infamous of impostors. + +The comedy was admirably played out and was entirely successful. It may +be supposed that the chief actor was, however, somewhat wearied. In +private, he mocked at all this ecclesiastical mummery, and described +himself as heartily sick of the business. "I arrived here last evening," +he wrote to the beautiful Gabrielle, "and was importuned with 'God save +you' till bed-time. In regard to the Leaguers I am of the order of St. +Thomas. I am beginning to-morrow morning to talk to the bishops, besides +those I told you about yesterday. At this moment of writing I have a +hundred of these importunates on my shoulders, who will make me hate +Saint Denis as much as you hate Mantes. 'Tis to-morrow that I take the +perilous leap. I kiss a million times the beautiful hands of my angel +and the mouth of my dear mistress." + +A truce--renewed at intervals--with the Leaguers lasted till the end of +the year. The Duke of Nevers was sent on special mission to Rome to +procure the holy father's consent to the great heretic's reconciliation +to the Church, and he was instructed to make the king's submission in +terms so wholesale and so abject that even some of the life-long papists +of France were disgusted, while every honest Protestant in Europe shrank +into himself for shame. But Clement, overawed by Philip and his +ambassador, was deaf to all the representations of the French envoy. +He protested that he would not believe in the sincerity of the Bearne's +conversion unless an angel from Heaven should reveal it to him. So +Nevers left Rome, highly exasperated, and professing that he would rather +have lost a leg, that he would rather have been sewn in a sack and tossed +into the Tiber, than bear back such a message. The pope ordered the +prelates who had accompanied Nevers to remain in Rome and be tried by +the Inquisition for misprision of heresy, but the duke placed them by +his side and marched out of the Porta del Popolo with them, threatening +to kill any man who should attempt to enforce the command. + +Meantime it became necessary to follow up the St. Denis comedy with a +still more exhilarating popular spectacle. The heretic had been +purified, confessed, absolved. It was time for a consecration. But +there was a difficulty. Although the fever of loyalty to the ancient +house of Bourbon, now redeemed from its worship of the false gods, was +spreading contagiously through the provinces; although all the white silk +in Lyons had been cut into scarves and banners to celebrate the +reconciliation of the candid king with mother Church; although that +ancient city was ablaze with bonfires and illuminations, while its +streets ran red, with blood no longer, but with wine; and although Madam +League, so lately the object of fondest adoration, was now publicly +burned in the effigy of a grizzly hag; yet Paris still held for that +decrepit beldame, and closed its gates to the Bearnese. + +The city of Rheims, too, had not acknowledged the former Huguenot, +and it was at Rheims, in the church of St. Remy, that the Holy Bottle was +preserved. With what chrism, by what prelate, should the consecration of +Henry be performed? Five years before, the League had proposed in the +estates of Blois to place among the fundamental laws of the kingdom that +no king should be considered a legitimate sovereign whose head had not +been anointed by the bishop at Rheims with oil from that holy bottle. +But it was now decided that to ascribe a monopoly of sanctity to that +prelate and to that bottle would be to make a schism in the Church. + +Moreover it was discovered that there was a chrism in existence still +more efficacious than the famous oil of St. Remy. One hundred and twelve +years before the baptism of Clovis, St. Martin had accidentally tumbled +down stairs, and lay desperately bruised and at the point of death. But, +according to Sulpicius Severus, an angel had straightway descended from +heaven, and with a miraculous balsam had anointed the contusions of the +saint, who next day felt no farther inconveniences from his fall. The +balsam had ever since been preserved in the church of Marmoutier near +Tours. Here, then, was the most potent of unguents brought directly from +heaven. To mix a portion thereof with the chrism of consecration was +clearly more judicious than to make use of the holy bottle, especially as +the holy bottle was not within reach. The monks of Marmoutier consented +to lend the sacred phial containing the famous oil of St. Martin for the +grand occasion of the royal consecration. + +Accompanied by a strong military escort provided by Giles de Souvri, +governor of Touraine, a deputation of friars brought the phial to +Chartres, where the consecration was to take place. Prayers were offered +up, without ceasing, in the monastery during their absence that no mishap +should befal the sacred treasure. When the monks arrived at Chartres, +four young barons of the first nobility were assigned to them as hostages +for the safe restoration of the phial, which was then borne in triumph to +the cathedral, the streets through which it was carried being covered +with tapestry. There was a great ceremony, a splendid consecration; six +bishops, with mitres on their heads and in gala robes, officiating; after +which the king knelt before the altar and took the customary oath. + +Thus the champion of the fierce Huguenots, the well-beloved of the dead +La Noue and the living Duplessis Mornay, the devoted knight of the +heretic Queen Elizabeth, the sworn ally of the stout Dutch Calvinists, +was pompously reconciled to that Rome which was the object of their +hatred and their fear. + +The admirably arranged spectacles of the instruction at St. Denis and the +consecration at Chartres were followed on the day of the vernal equinox +by a third and most conclusive ceremony: + +A secret arrangement had been made with De Cosse-Brissac, governor of +Paris, by the king, according to which the gates of Paris were at last to +be opened to him. The governor obtained a high price for his services-- +three hundred thousand livres in hard cash, thirty thousand a year for +his life, and the truncheon of marshal of France. Thus purchased, +Brissac made his preparations with remarkable secrecy and skill. Envoy +Ybarra, who had scented something suspicious in the air, had gone +straight to the governor for information, but the keen Spaniard was +thrown out by the governor's ingenuous protestations of ignorance. The +next morning, March 22nd, was stormy and rainy, and long before daylight +Ybarra, still uneasy despite the statements of Brissac, was wandering +about the streets of Paris when he became the involuntary witness of an +extraordinary spectacle. + +Through the wind and the rain came trampling along the dark streets of +the capital a body of four thousand troopers and lansquenettes. Many +torch-bearers attended on the procession, whose flambeaux threw a lurid +light upon the scene. + +There, surrounded by the swart and grizzly bearded visages of these +strange men-at-arms, who were discharging their arquebuses, as they +advanced upon any bystanders likely to oppose their progress; in the very +midst of this sea of helmed heads, the envoy was enabled to recognise the +martial figure of the Prince of Bearne. Armed to the teeth, with sword +in hand and dagger at side, the hero of Ivry rode at last through the +barriers which had so long kept him from his capital. "'Twas like +enchantment," said Ybarra. The first Bourbon entered the city through +the same gate out of which the last Valois had, five years before, so +ignominiously fled. It was a midnight surprise, although not fully +accomplished until near the dawn of day. It was not a triumphal +entrance; nor did Henry come as the victorious standard-bearer of a great +principle. He had defeated the League in many battle-fields, but the +League still hissed defiance at him from the very hearthstone of his +ancestral palace. He had now crept, in order to conquer, even lower +than the League itself; and casting off his Huguenot skin at last, +he had soared over the heads of all men, the presiding genius of the +holy Catholic Church. + +Twenty-one years before, he had entered the same city on the conclusion +of one of the truces which had varied the long monotony of the religious +wars of France. The youthful son of Antony Bourbon and Joan of Albret +had then appeared as the champion and the idol of the Huguenots. In the +same year had come the fatal nuptials with the bride of St. Bartholomew, +the first Catholic conversion of Henry and the massacre at which the +world still shudders. + +Now he was chief of the "Politicians," and sworn supporter of the Council +of Trent. Earnest Huguenots were hanging their heads in despair. + +He represented the principle of national unity against national +dismemberment by domestiv, treason and foreign violence. Had that +principle been his real inspiration, as it was in truth his sole support, +history might judge him more leniently. Had he relied upon it entirely +it might have been strong enough to restore him to the throne of his +ancestors, without the famous religious apostacy with which his name is +for ever associated. It is by no means certain that permanent religious +toleration might not have been the result of his mounting the throne, +only when he could do so without renouncing the faith of his fathers. +A day of civilization may come perhaps, sooner or later, when it will be +of no earthly cousequence to their fellow creatures to what creed, what +Christian church, what religious dogma kings or humbler individuals may +be partial; when the relations between man and his Maker shall be +undefiled by political or social intrusion. But the day will never +come when it will be otherwise than damaging to public morality and +humiliating to human dignity to forswear principle for a price, and to +make the most awful of mysteries the subject of political legerdemain and +theatrical buffoonery. + +The so-called conversion of the king marks an epoch in human history. +It strengthened the Roman Church and gave it an indefinite renewal of +life; but it sapped the foundations of religious faith. The appearance +of Henry the Huguenot as the champion of the Council of Trent was of +itself too biting an epigram not to be extensively destructive. Whether +for good or ill, religion was fast ceasing to be the mainspring of +political combinations, the motive of great wars and national +convulsions. The age of religion was to be succeeded by the +age of commerce. + +But the king was now on his throne. All Paris was in rapture. There was +Te Deum with high mass in Notre Dame, and the populace was howling itself +hoarse with rapture in honour of him so lately the object of the general +curse. Even the Sorbonne declared in favour of the reclaimed heretic, +and the decision of those sages had vast influence with less enlightened +mortals. There was nothing left for the Duke of Feria but to take +himself off and make Latin orations in favour of the Infanta elsewhere, +if fit audience elsewhere could be found. A week after the entrance of +Henry, the Spanish garrison accordingly was allowed to leave Paris with +the honours of war. + +"We marched out at 2 P.M.," wrote the duke to his master, "with closed +ranks, colours displayed, and drums beating. First came the Italians and +then the Spaniards, in the midst of whom was myself on horseback, with +the Walloons marching near me. The Prince of Bearne"--it was a solace to +the duke's heart, of which he never could be deprived, to call the king +by that title--"was at a window over the gate of St. Denis through which +we took our departure. He was dressed in light grey, with a black hat +surmounted by a great white feather. Our displayed standards rendered +him no courteous salute as we passed." + +Here was another solace! + +Thus had the game been lost and won, but Philip as usual did not +acknowledge himself beaten. Mayenne, too, continued to make the most +fervent promises to all that was left of the confederates. He betook +himself to Brussels, and by the king's orders was courteously received by +the Spanish authorities in the Netherlands. In the midst of the tempest +now rapidly destroying all rational hopes, Philip still clung to Mayenne +as to a spar in the shipwreck. For the king ever possessed the virtue, +if it be one, of continuing to believe himself invincible and infallible, +when he had been defeated in every quarter, and when his calculations had +all proved ridiculous mistakes. + +When his famous Armada had been shattered and sunk, have we not seen him +peevishly requiring Alexander Farnese to construct a new one immediately +and to proceed therewith to conquer England out of hand? Was it to be +expected that he would renounce his conquest of France, although the +legitimate king had entered his capital, had reconciled himself to the +Church, and was on the point of obtaining forgiveness of the pope? If +the Prince of Bearne had already destroyed the Holy League, why should +not the Duke of Mayenne and Archduke Ernest make another for him, +and so conquer France without further delay? + +But although it was still possible to deceive the king, who in the +universality of his deceptive powers was so prone to delude himself, +it was difficult even for so accomplished an intriguer as Mayenne to +hoodwink much longer the shrewd Spaniards who were playing so losing a +game against him. + +"Our affairs in France," said Ybarra, "are in such condition that +we are losing money and character there, and are likely to lose all the +provinces here, if things are not soon taken up in a large and energetic +manner. Money and troops are what is wanted on a great scale for France. +The king's agents are mightily discontented with Mayenne, and with +reason; but they are obliged to dissimulate and to hold their tongues. +We can send them no assistance from these regions, unless from down +yonder you send us the cloth and the scissors to cut it with." + +And the Archduke Ernest, although he invited Mayenne to confer with him +at Brussels, under the impression that he could still keep him and the +Duke of Guise from coming to an arrangement with Bearne, hardly felt more +confidence in the man than did Feria or Ybarra. "Since the loss of +Paris," said Ernest, "I have had a letter from Mayenne, in which, deeply +affected by that event, he makes me great offers, even to the last drop +of his blood, vowing never to abandon the cause of the League. But of +the intentions and inner mind of this man I find such vague information, +that I don't dare to expect more stability from him than may be founded +upon his own interest." + +And so Mayenne came to Brussels and passed three days with the archduke. +"He avows himself ready to die in our cause," said Ernest. "If your +Majesty will give men and money enough, he will undertake so to deal +with Bearne that he shall not think himself safe in his own house." +The archduke expressed his dissatisfaction to Mayenne that with the money +he had already received, so little had been accomplished, but he still +affected a confidence which he was far from feeling, "because," said he, +"it is known that Mayenne is already treating with Bearne. If he has not +concluded those arrangements, it is because Bearne now offers him less +money than before." The amount of dissimulation, politely so-called, +practised by the grandees of that age, to say nothing of their infinite +capacity for pecuniary absorption, makes the brain reel and enlarges +one's ideas of the human faculties as exerted in certain directions. It +is doubtful whether plain Hans Miller or Hans Baker could have risen to +such level. + +Feria wrote a despatch to the king, denouncing Mayenne as false, +pernicious to the cause of Spain and of catholicism, thoroughly self- +seeking and vile, and as now most traitorous to the cause of the +confederacy, engaged in surrendering its strong places to the enemy, +and preparing to go over to the Prince of Bearne. + +"If," said he, "I were to recount all his base tricks, I should go on +till midnight, and perhaps till to-morrow morning." + +This letter, being intercepted, was sent with great glee by Henry IV., +not to the royal hands for which it was destined, but to the Duke of +Mayenne. Great was the wrath of that injured personage as he read such +libellous truths. He forthwith fulminated a scathing reply, addressed +to Philip II., in which he denounced the Duke of Feria as "a dirty +ignoramus, an impudent coward, an impostor, and a blind thief;" adding, +after many other unsavoury epithets, "but I will do him an honour which +he has not merited, proving him a liar with my sword; and I humbly pray +your Majesty to grant me this favour and to pardon my just grief, which +causes me to depart from the respect due to your Majesty, when I speak of +this impostor who has thus wickedly torn my reputation." + +His invectives were, however, much stronger than his arguments in defence +of that tattered reputation. The defiance to mortal combat went for +nothing; and, in the course of the next year, the injured Mayenne turned +his back on Philip and his Spaniards, and concluded his bargain with the +Prince of Bearne. He obtained good terms: the government of Burgundy, +payment of his debts, and a hundred and twenty thousand crowns in hard +cash. It is not on record that the man of his word, of credit, and of +truth, ever restored a penny of the vast sums which he had received from +Philip to carry on the business of the League. + +Subsequently the duke came one very hot summer's-day to Monceaux to thank +the king, as he expressed it, for "delivering him from Spanish arrogance +and Italian wiles;" and having got with much difficulty upon his knees, +was allowed to kiss the royal hand. Henry then insisted upon walking +about with him through the park at a prodigious rate, to show him all the +improvements, while the duke panted, groaned, and perspired in his vain +efforts to keep pace with his new sovereign. + +"If I keep this fat fellow walking about in the sun much longer," +whispered the king to De Bethune, who was third in the party, "I shall be +sufficiently avenged for all the mischief he has done us." + +At last, when the duke was forced to admit himself to be on the point of +expiring with fatigue, he was dismissed to the palace with orders to +solace himself with a couple of bottles of excellent wine of Arbois, +expressly provided for him by the king's direction. And this was all the +punishment ever inflicted by the good-humoured monarch on the corpulent +conspirator. + +The Duke of Guise made his arrangements with the ex-Huguenot on even +better terms and at a still earlier day; while Joyeuse and Mercoeur stood +out a good while and higgled hard for conditions. "These people put such +a high price on themselves," said one of Henry's diplomatists, "that one +loses almost more than one gains in buying them. They strip and plunder +us even in our nakedness, and we are obliged, in order to conciliate such +harpies, to employ all that we can scrape out of our substance and our +blood. I think, however, that we ought to gain them by whatever means +and at whatever price." + +Thus Henry IV., the man whom so many contemporary sages had for years +been rebuking or ridiculing for his persistency in a hopeless attempt to +save his country from dismemberment, to restore legitimate authority, and +to resist the "holy confederacy" of domestic traitors, aided by foreign +despots and sympathizers, was at last successful, and the fratricidal war +in France was approaching its only possible conclusion. + +But, alas! the hopes of those who loved the reformed Church as well as +they loved their country were sadly blasted by the apostasy of their +leader. From the most eminent leaders of the Huguenots there came a +wail, which must have penetrated even to the well-steeled heart of the +cheerful Gascon. "It will be difficult," they said, "to efface very soon +from your memory the names of the men whom the sentiment of a common +religion, association in the same perils and persecutions, a common joy +in the same deliverance, and the long experience of so many faithful +services, have engraved there with a pencil of diamond. The remembrance +of these things pursues you and accompanies you everywhere; it interrupts +your most important affairs, your most ardent pleasures, your most +profound slumber, to represent to you, as in a picture, yourself to +yourself: yourself not as you are to-day, but such as you were when, +pursued to the death by the greatest princes of Europe, you went on +conducting to the harbour of safety the little vessel against which so +many tempests were beating." + +The States of the Dutch republic, where the affair of Henry's conversion +was as much a matter of domestic personal interest as it could be in +France--for religion up to that epoch was the true frontier between +nation and nation--debated the question most earnestly while it was yet +doubtful. It was proposed to send a formal deputation to the king, in +order to divert him, if possible, from the fatal step which he was about +to take. After ripe deliberation however, it was decided to leave the +matter "in the hands of God Almighty, and to pray Him earnestly to guide +the issue to His glory and the welfare of the Churches." + +The Queen of England was, as might be supposed, beside herself with +indignation, and, in consequence of the great apostasy, and of her +chronic dissatisfaction with the manner in which her contingent of +troops had been handled in France, she determined to withdraw every +English soldier from the support of Henry's cause. The unfortunate +French ambassador in London was at his wits' ends. He vowed that he +could not sleep of nights, and that the gout and the cholic, to which +he was always a martyr, were nothing to the anguish which had now come +upon his soul and brain, such as he had never suffered since the bloody +day of St. Bartholomew. + +"Ah, my God!" said he to Burghley, "is it possible that her just choler +has so suddenly passed over the great glory which she has acquired by so +many benefits and liberalities?" But he persuaded himself that her +majesty would after all not persist in her fell resolution. To do so, +he vowed, would only be boiling milk for the French papists, who would be +sure to make the most of the occasion in order to precipitate the king +into the, abyss, to the border of which they had already brought him. +He so dreaded the ire of the queen that he protested he was trembling +all over merely to see the pen of his secretary wagging as he dictated +his despatches. Nevertheless it was his terrible duty to face her in her +wrath, and he implored the lord treasurer to accompany him and to shield +him at the approaching interview. "Protect me," he cried, "by your +wisdom from the ire of this great princess; for by the living God, +when I see her enraged against any person whatever I wish myself +in Calcutta, fearing her anger like death itself." + +When all was over, Henry sent De Morlans as special envoy to communicate +the issue to the Governments of England and of Holland. But the queen, +although no longer so violent, was less phlegmatic than the States- +General, and refused to be comforted. She subsequently receded, +however, from her determination to withdraw her troops from France. + +"Ah! what grief; ah! what regrets; ah! what groans, have I felt in my +soul," she wrote, "at the sound of the news brought to me by Morlans! +My God! Is it possible that any wordly respect can efface the terror +of Divine wrath? Can we by reason even expect a good sequel to such +iniquitous acts? He who has maintained and preserved you by His mercy, +can you imagine that he permits you to walk alone in your utmost need? +'Tis bad to do evil that good may come of it. Meantime I shall not cease +to put you in the first rank of my devotions, in order that the hands of +Esau may not spoil the blessings of Jacob. As to your promises to me of +friendship and fidelity, I confess to have dearly deserved them, nor do I +repent, provided you do not change your Father--otherwise I shall be your +bastard sister by the father's side--for I shall ever love a natural +better than an adopted one. I desire that God may guide you in a +straight road and a better path. Your most sincere sister in the old +fashion. As to the new, I have nothing to do with it. ELIZABETH R." + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +All fellow-worms together +Continuing to believe himself invincible and infallible +He spent more time at table than the Bearnese in sleep +Henry the Huguenot as the champion of the Council of Trent +Highest were not necessarily the least slimy +His invectives were, however, much stronger than his arguments +History is a continuous whole of which we see only fragments +Infinite capacity for pecuniary absorption +Leading motive with all was supposed to be religion +Past was once the Present, and once the Future +Sages of every generation, read the future like a printed scroll +Sewers which have ever run beneath decorous Christendom +Wrath of that injured personage as he read such libellous truths + + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY UNITED NETHERLANDS, 1592-94 *** + +************ This file should be named 4865.txt or 4865.zip ************ + +This eBook was produced by David Widger + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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