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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/4869.txt b/4869.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c2edd88 --- /dev/null +++ b/4869.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2039 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook History of United Netherlands, 1597-98 +#69 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, 1597-98 + +Author: John Lothrop Motley + +Release Date: January, 2004 [EBook #4869] +[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, 1597-98 *** + + + +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. 69 + +History of the United Netherlands, 1597-1598 + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII. + + Straggle of the Netherlands against Spain--March to Turnhout-- + Retreat of the Spanish commander--Pursuit and attack--Demolition of + the Spanish army--Surrender of the garrison of Turnhout--Improved + military science--Moral effect of the battle--The campaign in + France--Attack on Amiens by the Spaniards--Sack and burning of the + city--De Rosny's plan for reorganization of the finances--Jobbery + and speculation--Philip's repudiation of his debts--Effects of the + measure--Renewal of persecution by the Jesuits--Contention between + Turk and Christian--Envoy from the King of Poland to the Hague to + plead for reconciliation with Philip--His subsequent presentation to + Queen Elizabeth--Military events Recovery of Amiens--Feeble + operations of the confederate powers against Spain--Marriage of the + Princess Emilia, sister of Maurice--Reduction of the castle and town + of Alphen--Surrender of Rheinberg--Capitulation of Meurs--Surrender + of Grol--Storming and taking of Brevoort Capitulation of Enschede, + Ootmaxsum, Oldenzaal, and Lingen--Rebellion of the Spanish garrisons + in Antwerp and Ghent--Progress of the peace movement between Henry + and Philip--Relations of the three confederate powers--Henry's + scheme for reconciliation with Spain--His acceptance of Philip's + offer of peace announced to Elizabeth--Endeavours for a general + peace. + +The old year had closed with an abortive attempt of Philip to fulfil his +favourite dream--the conquest of England. The new year opened with a +spirited effort of Prince Maurice to measure himself in the open field +with the veteran legions of Spain. + +Turnhout, in Brabant, was an open village--the largest in all the +Netherlands lying about twenty-five English miles in almost a direct line +south from Gertruydenburg. It was nearly as far distant in an easterly +direction from Antwerp, and was about five miles nearer Breda than it was +to Gertruydenberg. + +At this place the cardinal-archduke had gathered a considerable force, +numbering at least four thousand of his best infantry, with several +squadrons of cavalry, the whole under-command of the general-in-chief of +artillery, Count Varax. People in the neighbourhood were growing uneasy, +for it was uncertain in what direction it might be intended to use this +formidable force. It was perhaps the cardinal's intention to make a +sudden assault upon Breda, the governor of which seemed not inclined to +carry out his proposition to transfer that important city to the king, +or it was thought that he might take advantage of a hard frost and cross +the frozen morasses and estuaries into the land of Ter Tholen, where he +might overmaster some of the important strongholds of Zeeland. + +Marcellus Bax, that boldest and most brilliant of Holland's cavalry +officers, had come to Maurice early in January with an urgent suggestion +that no time might be lost in making an attack upon the force of +Turnhout, before they should succeed in doing any mischief. The prince +pondered the proposition, for a little time, by himself, and then +conferred very privately upon the subject with the state-council. On the +14th January it was agreed with that body that the enterprise should be +attempted, but with the utmost secrecy. A week later the council sent +an express messenger to Maurice urging him not to expose his own life to +peril, but to apprise them as soon as possible as to the results of the +adventure. + +Meantime, patents had been sent to the various garrisons for fifty +companies of foot and sixteen squadrons of horse. On the 22nd January +Maurice came to Gertruydenberg, the place of rendezvous, attended by Sir +Francis Vere and Count Solms. Colonel Kloetingen was already there with +the transports of ammunition and a few pieces of artillery from Zeeland, +and in the course of the day the whole infantry force had assembled. +Nothing could have been managed with greater promptness or secrecy. + +Next day, before dawn, the march began. The battalia was led by Van der +Noot, with six companies of Hollanders. Then came Vere, with eight +companies of the reserve, Dockray with eight companies of Englishmen, +Murray with eight companies of Scotch, and Kloetingen and +La Corde with twelve companies of Dutch and Zeelanders. In front of the +last troop under La Corde marched the commander of the artillery, with +two demi-cannon and two field-pieces, followed by the ammunition and, +baggage trains. Hohenlo arrived just as the march was beginning, to whom +the stadholder, notwithstanding their frequent differences, communicated +his plans, and entrusted the general command of the cavalry. That force +met the expedition at Osterhout, a league's distance from Gertruydenberg, +and consisted of the best mounted companies, English and Dutch, from the +garrisons of Breda, Bergen, Nymegen, and the Zutphen districts. + +It was a dismal, drizzly, foggy morning; the weather changing to steady +rain as the expedition advanced. There had been alternate frost and thaw +for the few previous weeks, and had that condition of the atmosphere +continued the adventure could not have been attempted. It had now turned +completely to thaw. The roads were all under water, and the march was +sufficiently difficult. Nevertheless, it was possible; so the stout +Hollanders, Zeelanders, and Englishmen struggled on manfully, shoulder to +shoulder, through the mist and the mire. By nightfall the expedition had +reached Ravels, at less than a league's distance from Turnhout, having +accomplished, under the circumstances, a very remarkable march of over +twenty miles. A stream of water, the Neethe, one of the tributaries of +the Scheld, separated Ravels from Turnhout, and was crossed by a stone +bridge. It was an anxious moment. Maurice discovered by his scouts that +he was almost within cannon-shot of several of the most famous regiments +in the Spanish army lying fresh, securely posted, and capable of making +an attack at any moment. He instantly threw forward Marcellus Bax with +four squadrons of Bergen cavalry, who, jaded as they were by their day's +work, were to watch the bridge that night, and to hold it against all +comers and at every hazard. + +The Spanish commander, on his part, had reconnoitred the advancing, foe, +for it was impossible for the movement to have been so secret or so swift +over those inundated roads as to be shrouded to the last moment in +complete mystery. It was naturally to be expected therefore that those +splendid legions--the famous Neapolitan tercio of Trevico, the veteran +troops of Sultz and Hachicourt, the picked Epirote and Spanish cavalry of +Nicolas Basta and Guzman--would be hurled upon the wearied, benumbed, +bemired soldiers of the republic, as they came slowly along after their +long march through the cold winter's rain. + +Varax took no such heroic resolution. Had he done so that January +afternoon, the career of Maurice of Nassau might have been brought to a +sudden close, despite the affectionate warning of the state-council. +Certainly it was difficult for any commander to be placed in a more +perilous position than that in which the stadholder found himself. He +remained awake and afoot the whole night, perfecting his arrangements for +the morning, and watching every indication of a possible advance on the +part of the enemy. Marcellus Bax and his troopers remained at the bridge +till morning, and were so near the Spaniards that they heard the voices +of their pickets, and could even distinguish in the distance the various +movements in their camp. + +But no attack was made, and the little army of Maurice was allowed +to sleep off its fatigue. With the dawn of the 24th January, +a reconnoitring party, sent out from the republican camp, discovered that +Varax, having no stomach for an encounter, had given his enemies the +slip. Long before daylight his baggage and ammunition trains had been +sent off in a southerly direction, and his whole force had already left +the village of Turnhout. It was the intention of the commander to take +refuge in the fortified city of Herenthals, and there await the attack of +Maurice. Accordingly, when the stadholder arrived on the fields beyond +the immediate precincts of the village, he saw the last of the enemy's +rearguard just disappearing from view. The situation was a very peculiar +one. + +The rain and thaw, following upon frosty weather, had converted the fenny +country in many directions into a shallow lake. The little river which +flowed by the village had risen above its almost level banks, and could +with difficulty be traversed at any point, while there was no permanent +bridge, such as there was at Ravels. The retreating Spaniards had made +their way through a narrow passage, where a roughly-constructed causeway +of planks had enabled the infantry to cross the waters almost in single +file, while the cavalry had floundered through as best they might. Those +who were acquainted with the country reported that beyond this defile +there was an upland heath, a league in extent, full of furze and +thickets, where it would be easy enough for Varax to draw up his army in +battle array, and conceal it from view. Maurice's scouts, too, brought +information that the Spanish commander had left a force of musketeers to +guard the passage at the farther end. + +This looked very like an ambush. In the opinion of Hohenlo, of Solms, +and of Sidney, an advance was not to be thought of; and if the adventure +seemed perilous to such hardy and experienced campaigners as these three, +the stadholder might well hesitate. Nevertheless, Maurice had made up +his mind. Sir Francis Vere and Marcellus Bax confirmed him in his +determination, and spoke fiercely of the disgrace which would come upon +the arms of the republic if now, after having made a day's march to meet +the enemy, they should turn their backs upon him just as he was doing his +best to escape. + +On leave obtained from the prince, these two champions, the Englishman +and the Hollander, spurred their horses through the narrow pass, with the +waters up to the saddle-bow, at the head of a mere handful of troopers, +not more than a dozen men in all. Two hundred musketeers followed, +picking their way across the planks. As they emerged into the open +country beyond, the Spanish soldiers guarding the passage fled without +firing a shot. Such was already the discouraging effect produced upon +veterans by the unexpected order given that morning to retreat. Vere and +Bax sent word for all the cavalry to advance at once, and meantime +hovered about the rearguard of the retreating enemy, ready to charge +upon him so soon as they should be strong enough. + +Maurice lost no time in plunging with his whole mounted force through the +watery defile; directing the infantry to follow as fast as practicable. +When the commander-in-chief with his eight hundred horsemen, Englishmen, +Zeelanders, Hollanders, and Germans, came upon the heath, the position +and purpose of the enemy were plainly visible. He was not drawn up in +battle order, waiting to sweep down upon his rash assailants so soon as, +after struggling through the difficult pass, they should be delivered +into his hands. On the contrary, it was obvious at a glance that his +object was still to escape. The heath of Tiel, on which Spaniards, +Italians, Walloons, Germans, Dutchmen, English; Scotch, and Irishmen now +all found themselves together, was a ridgy, spongy expanse of country, +bordered on one side by the swollen river, here flowing again through +steeper banks which were overgrown with alders and pollard willows. +Along the left of the Spanish army, as they moved in the direction of +Herenthals, was a continuous fringe of scrub-oaks, intermixed with tall +beeches, skirting the heath, and forming a leafless but almost impervious +screen for the movements of small detachments of troops. Quite at the +termination of the open apace, these thickets becoming closely crowded, +overhung another extremely narrow passage, which formed the only outlet +from the plain. Thus the heath of Tiel, upon that winter's morning, had +but a single entrance and a single exit, each very dangerous or very +fortunate for those capable of taking or neglecting the advantages +offered by the position. + +The whole force of Varax, at least five thousand strong, was advancing in +close marching order towards the narrow passage by which only they could +emerge from the heath. Should they reach this point in time, and thus +effect their escape, it would be useless to attempt to follow them, for, +as was the case with the first defile, it was not possible for two +abreast to go through, while beyond was a swampy-country in which +military operations were impossible. Yet there remained less than half +a league's space for the retreating soldiers to traverse, while not a +single foot-soldier Of Maurice's army had thus far made his appearance on +the heath. All were still wallowing and struggling, single file, in the +marshy entrance, through which only the cavalry had forced their way. +Here was a dilemma. Should Maurice look calmly on while the enemy, whom +he had made so painful a forced march to meet, moved off out of reach +before his eyes? Yet certainly this was no slight triumph in itself. +There sat the stadholder on his horse at the head of eight hundred +carabineers, and there marched four of Philip's best infantry regiments, +garnished with some of his most renowned cavalry squadrons, anxious not +to seek but to avoid a combat. First came the Germans of Count Sultz, +the musketeers in front, and the spearsmen, of which the bulk of this and +of all the regiments was composed, marching in closely serried squares, +with the company standards waving over each. Next, arranged in the same +manner, came the Walloon regiments of Hachicourt and of La Barlotte. +Fourth and last came the famous Neapolitans of Marquis Trevico. The +cavalry squadrons rode on the left of the infantry, and were commanded by +Nicolas Basta, a man who had been trampling upon the Netherlanders ever +since the days of Alva, with whom he had first come to the country. + +And these were the legions--these very men or their immediate +predecessors--these Italians, Spaniards, Germans, and Walloons, who +during so many terrible years had stormed and sacked almost every city +of the Netherlands, and swept over the whole breadth of those little +provinces as with the besom of destruction. + +Both infantry and cavalry, that picked little army of Varax was of the +very best that had shared in the devil's work which had been the chief +industry practised for so long in the obedient Netherlands. Was it not +madness for the stadholder, at the head of eight hundred horsemen, to +assail such an army as this? Was it not to invoke upon his head the +swift vengeance of Heaven? Nevertheless, the painstaking, cautious +Maurice did not hesitate. He ordered Hohenlo, with all the Brabantine +cavalry, to ride as rapidly as their horses could carry them along the +edge of the plain, and behind the tangled woodland, by which the movement +would be concealed. He was at all hazards to intercept the enemy's +vanguard before it should reach the fatal pass. Vere and Marcellus Bax +meanwhile, supported now by Edmont with the Nymegen squadrons, were to +threaten the Spanish rear. A company of two under Laurentz was kept by +Maurice near his person in reserve. + +The Spaniards steadily continued their march, but as they became aware of +certain slight and indefinite movements on their left, their cavalry, +changing their position, were transferred from the right to the left of +the line of march, and now rode between the infantry and the belt of +woods. + +In a few minutes after the orders given to Hohenlo, that dashing soldier +had circumvented the Spaniards, and emerged upon the plain between them +and the entrance to the defile, The next instant the trumpets sounded a +charge, and Hohenlo fell upon the foremost regiment, that of Sultz, while +the rearguard, consisting of Trevico's Neapolitan regiment, was assailed +by Du Bois, Donck, Rysoir, Marcellus Bax, and Sir Francis Vere. The +effect seemed almost supernatural. The Spanish cavalry--those far-famed +squadrons of Guzman and Basta--broke at the first onset and galloped off +for the pass as if they had been riding a race. Most of them escaped +through the hollow into the morass beyond. The musketeers of Sultz's +regiment hardly fired a shot, and fell back in confusion upon the thickly +clustered pikemen. The assailants, every one of them in complete armour, +on powerful horses, and armed not with lances but with carbines, trampled +over the panic-struck and struggling masses of leather jerkined pikemen +and shot them at arm's length. The charge upon Trevico's men at the same +moment was just as decisive. In less time than it took afterwards to +describe the scene, those renowned veterans were broken into a helpless +mass of dying, wounded, or fugitive creatures, incapable of striking a +blow. + +Thus the Germans in the front and the Neapolitans in the rear had been +simultaneously shattered, and rolled together upon the two other +regiments, those of Hachicourt and La Barlotte, which were placed between +them. Nor did these troops offer any better resistance, but were +paralysed and hurled out of existence like the rest. In less than an +hour the Spanish army was demolished. Varax himself lay dead upon the +field, too fortunate not to survive his disgrace. It was hardly more +than daylight on that dull January morning; nine o'clock had scarce +chimed from the old brick steeples of Turnhout, yet two thousand +Spaniards had fallen before the blows of eight hundred Netherlanders, and +there were five hundred prisoners beside. Of Maurice's army not more +than nine or ten were slain. The story sounds like a wild legend. It +was as if the arm of each Netherlander had been nerved by the memory of +fifty years of outrage, as if the spectre of their half-century of crime +had appalled the soul of every Spaniard. Like a thunderbolt the son of +William the Silent smote that army of Philip, and in an instant it lay +blasted on the heath of Tiel. At least it could hardly be called +sagacious generalship on the part of the stadholder. The chances were +all against him, and if instead of Varax those legions had been commanded +that morning by old Christopher Mondragon, there might perhaps have been +another tale to tell. Even as it was, there had been a supreme moment +when the Spanish disaster had nearly been changed to victory. The fight +was almost done, when a small party of Staten' cavalry, who at the +beginning of the action had followed the enemy's horse in its sudden +retreat through the gap, came whirling back over the plain in wild +confusion, pursued by about forty of the enemy's lancers. They swept by +the spot where Maurice, with not more than ten horsemen around him, was +directing and watching the battle, and in vain the prince threw himself +in front of them and strove to check their flight. They were panic- +struck, and Maurice would himself have been swept off the field, had not +Marcellus Bax and Edmont, with half a dozen heavy troopers, come to +the rescue. A grave error had been committed by Parker, who, upon being +ordered by Maurice to cause Louis Laurentz to charge, had himself charged +with the whole reserve and left the stadholder almost alone upon the +field. Thus the culprits--who after pursuing the Spanish cavalry through +the pass had been plundering the enemy's baggage until they were set upon +by the handful left to guard it, and had become fugitives in their turn-- +might possibly have caused the lose of the day after the victory had been +won, had there been a man on the Spanish side to take in the situation at +a glance. But it is probable that the rout had been too absolute to +allow of any such sudden turning to account of the serious errors of the +victors. The cavalry, except this handful, had long disappeared, at +least half the infantry lay dead or wounded in the field, while the +remainder, throwing away pipe and matchlock, were running helter-skelter +for their lives. + +Besides Prince Maurice himself, to whom the chief credit of the whole +expedition justly belonged, nearly all the commanders engaged obtained +great distinction by their skill and valour. Sir Francis Vere, as usual, +was ever foremost in the thickest of the fray, and had a horse killed +under him. Parker erred by too much readiness to engage, but bore +himself manfully throughout the battle. Hohenlo, Solma, Sidney, Louis +Laurentz, Du Bois, all displayed their usual prowess; but the real hero +of the hour, the personal embodiment of the fortunate madness which +prompted and won the battle, was undoubtedly Marcellus Bax. + +Maurice remained an hour or two on the field of battle, and then, +returning towards the village of Turnhout, summoned its stronghold. The +garrison of sixty, under Captain Van der Delf, instantly surrendered. +The victor allowed these troops to go off scot free, saying that there +had been blood enough shed that day. Every standard borne by the +Spaniards in the battle-thirty-eight in number--was taken, besides nearly +all their arms. The banners were sent to the Hague to be hung up in the +great hall of the castle. The dead body of Varax was sent to the +archduke with a courteous letter, in which, however, a categorical +explanation was demanded as to a statement in circulation that Albert +had decided to give the soldiers of the republic no quarter. + +No answer being immediately returned, Maurice ordered the five hundred +prisoners to be hanged or drowned unless ransomed within twenty days, and +this horrible decree appears from official documents to be consistent +with the military usages of the period. The arrival of the letter from +the cardinal-archduke, who levied the money for the ransom on the +villagers of Brabant, prevented, however, the execution of the menace, +which could hardly have been seriously intended. + +Within a week from the time of his departure from the Hague to engage +in this daring adventure, the stadholder had returned to that little +capital, having achieved a complete success. The enthusiastic +demonstrations throughout the land on account of so signal a victory +can easily be imagined. Nothing like this had ever before been recorded +in the archives of the young commonwealth. There had been glorious +defences of beleaguered cities, where scenes of heroic endurance and +self-sacrifice had been enacted, such as never can be forgotten so long +as the history of human liberty shall endure, but a victory won in the +open field over the most famous legions of Spain and against overwhelming +numbers, was an achievement entirely without example. It is beyond all +doubt that the force under Varax was at least four times as large as that +portion of the States' army which alone was engaged; for Maurice had not +a foot-soldier on the field until the battle was over, save the handful +of musketeers who had followed Vere and Bax at the beginning of the +action. + +Therefore it is that this remarkable action merits a much more attentive +consideration than it might deserve, regarded purely as a military +exploit. To the military student a mere cavalry affair, fought out upon +an obscure Brabantine heath between a party of Dutch carabineers and +Spanish pikemen, may seem of little account--a subject fitted by +picturesque costume and animated action for the pencil of a Wouvermanns +or a Terburg, but conveying little instruction. As illustrating a period +of transition in which heavy armoured troopers--each one a human iron- +clad fortress moving at speed and furnished with the most formidable +portable artillery then known--could overcome the resistance of almost +any number of foot-soldiers in light marching gear and armed with the +antiquated pike, the affair may be worthy of a moment's attention; and +for this improvement--itself now as obsolete as the slings and +cataphracts of Roman legions--the world was indebted to Maurice. But the +shock of mighty armies, the manoeuvring of vast masses in one magnificent +combination, by which the fate of empires, the happiness or the misery of +the peoples for generations, may perhaps be decided in a few hours, +undoubtedly require a higher constructive genius than could be displayed +in any such hand-to-hand encounter as that of Turnhout, scientifically +managed as it unquestionably was. The true and abiding interest of the +battle is derived from is moral effect, from its influence on the people +of the Netherlands. And this could scarcely be exaggerated. The nation +was electrified, transformed in an instant. Who now should henceforth +dare to say that one Spanish fighting-man was equal to five or ten +Hollanders? At last the days of Jemmingen and Mooker-heath needed no +longer to be remembered by every patriot with a shudder of shame. Here +at least in the open field a Spanish army, after in vain refusing a +combat and endeavouring to escape, had literally bitten the dust before +one fourth of its own number. And this effect was a permanent one. +Thenceforth for foreign powers to talk of mediation between the republic +and the ancient master, to suggest schemes of reconciliation and of a +return to obedience, was to offer gratuitous and trivial insult, and we +shall very soon have occasion to mark the simple eloquence with which the +thirty-eight Spanish standards of Turnhout, hung up in the old hall of +the Hague, were made to reply to the pompous rhetoric of an interfering +ambassador. + +This brief episode was not immediately followed by other military events +of importance in the provinces during what remained of the winter. Very +early in the spring, however, it was probable that the campaign might +open simultaneously in France and on the frontiers of Flanders. Of all +the cities in the north of France there was none, after Rouen, so +important, so populous, so wealthy as Amiens. Situate in fertile fields, +within three days march of Paris, with no intervening forests or other +impediments of a physical nature to free communication, it was the key to +the gates of the capital. It had no garrison, for the population +numbered fifteen thousand men able to bear arms, and the inhabitants +valued themselves on the prowess of their trained militiamen, five +thousand of whom they boasted to be able to bring into the field at an +hour's notice--and they were perfectly loyal to Henry. + +One morning in March there came a party of peasants, fifteen or twenty in +number, laden with sacks of chestnuts and walnuts, to the northernmost +gate of the town. They offered them for sale, as usual, to the soldiers +at the guard-house, and chaffered and jested--as boors and soldiers are +wont to do--over their wares. It so happened that in the course of the +bargaining one of the bags became untied, and its contents, much to the +dissatisfaction of the proprietor, were emptied on the ground. There was +a scramble for the walnuts, and much shouting, kicking, and squabbling +ensued, growing almost into a quarrel between the burgher-soldiers and +the peasants. As the altercation was at its height a heavy wagon, laden +with long planks, came towards the gate for the use of carpenters and +architects within the town. The portcullis was drawn up to admit this +lumbering vehicle, but in the confusion caused by the chance medley going +on at the guard-house, the gate dropped again before the wagon had fairly +got through the passage, and remained resting upon the timber with which +it was piled. + +At that instant a shrill whistle was heard; and as if by magic the twenty +chestnut-selling peasants were suddenly transformed to Spanish and +Walloon soldiers. armed to the teeth, who were presently reinforced by +as many more of their comrades, who sprang from beneath the plank-work by +which the real contents of the wagon had thus been screened. Captain +Dognano, his brother the sergeant-major, Captain d'Arco, and other +officers of a Walloon regiment stationed in Dourlans, were the leaders of +the little party, and while they were busily occupied in putting the +soldiers of the watch, thus taken unawares, to death, the master-spirit +of the whole adventure suddenly made his appearance and entered the city +at the head of fifteen hundred men. This was an extremely small, yellow, +dried up, energetic Spanish captain, with a long red beard, Hernan Tello +de Porto Carrero by came, governor of the neighbouring city of Dourlens, +who had conceived this plan for obtaining possession of Amiens. Having +sent these disguised soldiers on before him, he had passed the night with +his men in ambush until the signal should sound. The burghers of the +town were mostly in church; none were dreaming of an attack, as men +rarely do--for otherwise how should they ever be surprised--and in half +an hour Amiens was the property of Philip of Spain. There were not very +many lives lost, for the resistance was small, but great numbers were +tortured for ransom and few women escaped outrage. The sack was famous, +for the city was rich and the captors were few in number, so that each +soldier had two or three houses to plunder for his own profit. + +When the work was done, the faubourgs were all destroyed, for it was the +intention of the conquerors to occupy the place, which would be a most +convenient basis of operations for any attack upon Paris, and it was +desirable to contract the limits to be defended. Fifteen hundred houses, +many of them beautiful villas surrounded with orchards and pleasure +gardens,--were soon in flames, and afterwards razed to the ground. The +governor of the place, Count St. Pol, managed to effect his escape. His +place was now supplied by the Marquis of Montenegro, an Italian in the +service of the Spanish king. Such was the fate of Amiens in the month of +March, 1597; such the result of the refusal by the citizens to accept the +garrison urged upon them by Henry. + +It would be impossible to exaggerate the consternation produced. +throughout France by this astounding and altogether unlooked for event. +"It seemed," said President De Thou, "as if it had extinguished in a +moment the royal majesty and the French name." A few nights later than +the date of this occurrence, Maximilian de Bethune (afterwards Duke of +Sully, but then called Marquis de Rosny) was asleep in his bed in Paris. +He had returned, at past two o'clock in the morning, from a magnificent +ball given by the Constable of France. The capital had been uncommonly +brilliant during the winter with banquets and dances, tourneys and +masquerades, as if to cast a lurid glare over the unutterable misery of +the people and the complete desolation of the country; but this +entertainment--given by Montmorency in honour of a fair dame with whom he +supposed himself desperately in love, the young bride of a very ancient +courtier--surpassed in splendour every festival that had been heard of +for years. De Bethune had hardly lost himself in slumber when he was +startled by Beringen, who, on drawing his curtains in this dead hour of +the night, presented such a ghastly visage that the faithful friend of +Henry instantly imagined some personal disaster to his well-beloved +sovereign. "Is the King dead?" he cried. + +Being re-assured as to, this point and told to hasten to the Louvre, +Rosny instantly complied with the command. When he reached the palace he +was admitted at once to the royal bed-chamber, where he found the king in +the most unsophisticated of costumes, striding up and down the room, with +his hands clasped together behind his head, and with an expression of +agony upon his face: Many courtiers were assembled there, stuck all of +them like images against the wall, staring before them in helpless +perplexity. + +Henry rushed forward as Rosny entered, and wringing him by the hand, +exclaimed, "Ah, my friend, what a misfortune, Amiens is taken!" + +"Very well," replied the financier, with unperturbed visage; "I have just +completed a plan which will restore to your Majesty not only Amiens but +many other places." + +The king drew a great sigh of relief and asked for his project. +Rosny, saying that he would instantly go and fetch his papers, left +the apartment for an interval, in order to give vent to the horrible +agitation which he had been enduring and so bravely concealing ever since +the fatal words had been spoken. That a city so important, the key to +Paris, without a moment's warning, without the semblance of a siege, +should thus fall into the hands of the enemy, was a blow as directly to +the heart of De Bethune as it could have been to any other of Henry's +adherents. But while they had been distracting the king by unavailing +curses or wailings, Henry, who had received the intelligence just as he +was getting into bed, had sent for support and consolation to the tried +friend of years, and he now reproachfully contrasted their pusillanimity +with De Rosny's fortitude. + +A great plan for reorganising the finances of the kingdom was that very +night submitted by Rosny to the king, and it was wrought upon day by day +thereafter until it was carried into effect. + +It must be confessed that the crudities and immoralities which the +project revealed do not inspire the political student of modern days with +so high a conception of the financial genius of the great minister as his +calm and heroic deportment on trying occasions, whether on the battle- +field or in the council-chamber, does of his natural authority over his +fellow-men. The scheme was devised to put money in the king's coffers, +which at that moment were completely empty. Its chief features were to +create a great many new offices in the various courts of justice and +tribunals of administration, all to be disposed of by sale to the highest +bidder; to extort a considerable loan from the chief courtiers and from +the richest burghers in the principal towns; to compel all the leading +peculators--whose name in the public service was legion--to disgorge a +portion of their ill-gotten gains, on being released from prosecution; +and to increase the tax upon salt. + +Such a project hardly seems a masterpiece of ethics or political economy, +but it was hailed with rapture by the needy monarch. At once there was +a wild excitement amongst the jobbers and speculators in places. The +creation of an indefinite number of new judgeships and magistracies, to +be disposed of at auction, was a tempting opportunity even in that age of +corruption. One of the most notorious traders in the judicial ermine, +limping Robin de Tours by name, at once made a private visit to Madame de +Rosny and offered seventy-two thousand crowns for the exclusive right to +distribute these new offices. If this could be managed to his +satisfaction, he promised to give her a diamond worth two thousand +crowns, and another, worth six thousand, to her husband. The wife of the +great minister, who did not comprehend the whole amount of the insult, +presented Robin to her husband. She was enlightened, however, as to the +barefaced iniquity of the offer, when she heard De Bethune's indignant. +reply, and saw the jobber limp away, crest-fallen and amazed. That a +financier or a magistrate should decline a bribe or interfere with the +private sale of places, which were after all objects of merchandise, was +to him incomprehensible. The industrious Robin, accordingly, recovering +from his discomfiture, went straightway to the chancellor, and concluded +the same bargain in the council chamber which had been rejected by De +Bethune, with the slight difference that the distribution of the places. +was assigned to the speculator for seventy-five thousand instead of +seventy-two thousand crowns. It was with great difficulty +that De Bethune, who went at once to the king with complaints and +insinuations as to the cleanness of the chancellor's hands, was able to +cancel the operation. The day was fast approaching when the universal +impoverishment of the great nobles and landholders--the result of the +long, hideous, senseless massacres called the wars of religion--was to +open the way for the labouring classes to acquire a property in the soil. +Thus that famous fowl in every pot was to make its appearance, which +vulgar tradition ascribes to the bounty of a king who hated everything +like popular rights, and loved nothing but his own glory and his own +amusement. It was not until the days of his grandchildren and great- +grandchildren that Privilege could renew those horrible outrages on the +People, which were to be avenged by a dread series of wars, massacres, +and crimes, compared to which even the religious conflicts of the +sixteenth century grow pale. + +Meantime De Bethune comforted his master with these financial plans, +and assured him in the spirit of prophecy that the King of Spain, now +tottering as it was thought to his grave, would soon be glad to make a +favourable peace with France even if he felt obliged to restore not only +Amiens but every other city or stronghold that he had ever conquered in +that kingdom. Time would soon show whether this prediction were correct +or delusive; but while the secret negotiations between Henry and the Pope +were vigorously proceeding for that peace with Spain which the world in +general and the commonwealth of the Netherlands in particular thought to +be farthest from the warlike king's wishes, it was necessary to set about +the siege of Amiens. + +Henry assembled a force of some twelve or fifteen thousand men for that +purpose, while the cardinal-archduke, upon his part, did his best to put +an army in the field in order to relieve the threatened city so recently +acquired by a coarse but successful artifice. + +But Albert was in even a worse plight than that in which his great +antagonist found himself. When he had first arrived in the provinces, +his exchequer was overflowing, and he was even supposed to devote a +considerable portion of the military funds to defray the expenses of his +magnificent housekeeping at Brussels. But those halcyon days were over. +A gigantic fraud, just perpetrated by Philip; had descended like a +thunderbolt upon the provinces and upon all commercial Europe, and had +utterly blasted the unfortunate viceroy. In the latter days of the +preceding year the king had issued a general repudiation of his debts. + +He did it solemnly, too, and with great religious unction, for it was a +peculiarity of this remarkable sovereign that he was ever wont to +accomplish his darkest crimes, whether murders or stratagems, as if they +were acts of virtue. Perhaps he really believed them to be such, for a +man, before whom so many millions of his fellow worms had been writhing +for half a century in the dust, might well imagine himself a deity. + +So the king, on the 20th November, 1596, had publicly revoked all the +assignments, mortgages, and other deeds by which the royal domains; +revenues, taxes, and other public property had been transferred or +pledged for moneys already advanced to merchants, banker, and other +companies or individuals, and formally took them again into his own +possession, on the ground that his exertions in carrying on this long +war to save Christianity from destruction had reduced him to beggary, +while the money-lenders, by charging him exorbitant interest, had all +grown rich at his expense. + +This was perfectly simple. There was no attempt to disguise the villany +of the transaction. The massacre of so many millions of Protestants, +the gigantic but puerile attempts to subjugate the Dutch republic, and to +annex France, England, and the German empire to his hereditary dominions, +had been attended with more expense than Philip had calculated upon. +The enormous wealth which a long series of marriages, inheritances, +conquests, and maritime discoveries had heaped upon Spain had been +exhausted by the insane ambition of the king to exterminate heresy +throughout the world, and to make himself the sovereign of one undivided, +universal, catholic monarchy. All the gold and silver of America had not +sufficed for this purpose, and he had seen, with an ever rising +indignation, those very precious metals which, in his ignorance of the +laws of trade, he considered his exclusive property flowing speedily into +the coffers of the merchants of Europe, especially those of the hated +commonwealth of the rebellious Netherlands. + +Therefore he solemnly renounced all his contracts, and took God to +witness that it was to serve His Divine will. How else could he hope to +continue his massacre of the Protestants? + +The effect of the promulgation of this measure was instantaneous. Two +millions and a half of bills of exchange sold by the Cardinal Albert came +back in one day protested. The chief merchants and bankers of Europe +suspended payment. Their creditors became bankrupt. At the Frankfort +fair there were more failures in one day than there had ever been in all +the years since Frankfort existed. In Genoa alone a million dollars of +interest were confiscated. It was no better in Antwerp; but Antwerp was +already ruined. There was a general howl of indignation and despair upon +every exchange, in every counting-room, in every palace, in every cottage +of Christendom. Such a tremendous repudiation of national debts was +never heard of before. There had been debasements of the currency, petty +frauds by kings upon their unfortunate peoples, but such a crime as this +had never been conceived by human heart before. + +The archduke was fain to pawn his jewelry, his plate, his furniture, to +support the daily expenses of his household. Meantime he was to set an +army in the field to relieve a city, beleaguered by the most warlike +monarch in Christendom. Fortunately for him, that prince was in very +similar straits, for the pressure upon the public swindlers and the +auction sales of judicial ermine throughout his kingdom were not as +rapidly productive as had been hoped. + +It was precisely at this moment, too, that an incident of another nature +occurred in Antwerp, which did not tend to make the believers in the +possibility of religious or political freedom more in love with the +system of Spain and Rome. Those blood-dripping edicts against heresy +in the Netherlands, of which enough has been said in previous volumes +of this history, and which had caused the deaths, by axe, faggot, halter, +or burial alive, of at least fifty thousand human creatures--however +historical scepticism may shut its eyes to evidence--had now been, +dormant for twenty years. Their activity had ceased with the +pacification of Ghent; but the devilish spirit which had inspired them +still lived in the persons of the Jesuits, and there were now more +Jesuits in the obedient provinces than there had been for years. +We have seen that Champagny's remedy for the ills the country was +enduring was "more Jesuits." And this, too, was Albert's recipe. Always +"more Jesuits." And now the time had come when the Jesuits thought that +they might step openly with their works into the daylight again. Of late +years they had shrouded themselves in comparative mystery, but from their +seminaries and colleges had gone forth a plentiful company of assassins +against Elizabeth and Henry, Nassau, Barneveld, and others who, whether +avowedly or involuntarily, were prominent in the party of human progress. +Some important murders had already been accomplished, and the prospect +was fair that still others might follow, if the Jesuits persevered. +Meantime those ecclesiastics thought that a wholesome example might +be by the spectacle of a public execution. + +Two maiden ladies lived on the north rampart of Antwerp. They had +formerly professed the Protestant religion, and had been thrown into +prison for that crime; but the fear of further persecution, human +weakness, or perhaps sincere conviction, had caused them to renounce +the error of their ways, and they now went to mass. But they had a +maidservant, forty years of age, Anna van den Hove by name, who was +staunch in that reformed faith in which she had been born and bred. +The Jesuits denounced this maid-servant to the civil authority, and +claimed her condemnation and execution under the edicts of 1540, decrees +which every one had supposed as obsolete as the statutes of Draco, which +they had so entirely put to shame. + +The sentence having been obtained from the docile and priest-ridden +magistrates, Anna van den Hove was brought to Brussels and informed that +she was at once to be buried alive. At the same time, the Jesuits told +her that by converting herself to the Church she might escape punishment. + +When King Henry IV. was summoned to renounce that same Huguenot faith, +of which he was the political embodiment and the military champion, the +candid man answered by the simple demand to be instructed. When the +proper moment came, the instruction was accomplished by an archbishop +with the rapidity of magic. Half an hour undid the work of half a life- +time. Thus expeditiously could religious conversion be effected when an +earthly crown was its guerdon. The poor serving-maid was less open to +conviction. In her simple fanaticism she too talked of a crown, and saw +it descending from Heaven on her poor forlorn head as the reward, not of +apostasy, but of steadfastness. She asked her tormentors how they could +expect her to abandon her religion for fear of death. She had read her +Bible every day, she said, and had found nothing there of the pope or +purgatory, masses, invocation of saints, or the absolution of sins except +through the blood of the blessed Redeemer. She interfered with no one +who thought differently; she quarrelled with no one's religious belief. +She had prayed for enlightenment from Him, if she were in error, and the +result was that she felt strengthened in her simplicty, and resolved to +do nothing against her conscience. Rather than add this sin to the +manifold ones committed by her, she preferred, she said, to die the +death. So Anna van den Hove was led, one fine midsummer morning, to the +hayfield outside of Brussels, between two Jesuits, followed by a number +of a peculiar kind of monks called love-brothers. Those holy men goaded +her as she went, telling her that she was the devil's carrion, and +calling on her to repent at the last moment, and thus save her life and +escape eternal damnation beside. But the poor soul had no ear for them, +and cried out that, like Stephen, she saw the heavens opening, and the +angels stooping down to conduct her far away from the power of the evil +one. When they came to the hay-field they found the pit already dug, and +the maid-servant was ordered to descend into it. The executioner then +covered her with earth up to the waist, and a last summons was made to +her to renounce her errors. She refused, and then the earth was piled +upon her, and the hangman jumped upon the grave till it was flattened and +firm. + +Of all the religious murders done in that hideous sixteenth century in +the Netherlands; the burial of the Antwerp servantmaid was the last and +the worst. The worst, because it was a cynical and deliberate attempt to +revive the demon whose thirst for blood had been at last allayed, and who +had sunk into repose. And it was a spasmodic revival only, for, in the +provinces at least, that demon had finished his work. + +Still, on the eastern borders of what was called civilization, Turk and +Christian were contending for the mastery. The great battle of Kovesd +had decided nothing, and the crescent still shone over the fortified and +most important Hungarian stronghold of Raab, within arm's length of +Vienna. How rapidly might that fatal and menacing emblem fill its horns, +should it once be planted on the walls of the Imperial capital! It was +not wonderful that a sincere impatience should be felt by all the +frontier States for the termination of the insurrection of the +Netherlands. Would that rebellious and heretical republic only consent +to go out of existence, again bow its stubborn knee to Philip and the +Pope, what a magnificent campaign might be made against Mahomet! The +King of Spain was the only potentate at all comparable in power to the +grand Turk. The King of France, most warlike of men, desired nothing +better, as he avowed, than to lead his brave nobles into Hungary to smite +the unbelievers. Even Prince Maurice, it was fondly hoped, might be +induced to accept a high command in the united armies of Christendom, +and seek for glory by campaigning, in alliance with Philip; Rudolph, and +Henry, against the Ottoman, rather than against his natural sovereign. +Such were the sagacity, the insight, the power of forecasting the future +possessed in those days by monarchs, statesmen, and diplomatists who were +imagining that they held the world's destiny in their hands. + +There was this summer a solemn embassy from the emperor to the States- +General proposing mediation referring in the usual conventional +phraseology to the right of kings to command, and to the duty of the +people to submit, and urging the gentle-mindedness and readiness to +forgive which characterised the sovereign of the Netherlands and of +Spain. + +And the statesmen of the republic had answered as they always did, +showing with courteous language, irresistible logic, and at, unmerciful +length, that there never had been kings in the Netherlands at all, and +that the gentle-mindedness of Philip had been exhibited in the massacre +of a hundred thousand Netherlanders in various sieges and battles, and in +the murder, under the Duke of Alva alone, of twenty thousand human beings +by the hangman. + +They liked not such divine right nor such gentle-mindedness. They +recognised no duty on their part to consent to such a system. Even the +friendly King of Denmark sent a legation for a similar purpose, which was +respectfully but very decidedly allowed to return as it came; but the +most persistent in schemes of interference for the purpose of putting an +end to the effusion of blood in the Netherlands was Sigismund of Poland. +This monarch, who occupied two very incompatible positions, being +sovereign at once of fanatically Protestant Sweden and of orthodox +Poland, and who was, moreover, son-in-law of Archduke Charles of Styria +whose other daughter was soon to be espoused by the Prince of Spain--was +personally and geographically interested in liberating Philip from the +inconvenience of his Netherland war. Only thus could he hope to bring +the Spanish power to the rescue of Christendom against the Turk. +Troubles enough were in store for Sigismund in his hereditary northern +realms, and he was to learn that his intermarriage with the great +Catholic and Imperial house did not enable him to trample out +Protestantism in those hardy Scandinavian and Flemish regions where it +had taken secure root. Meantime he despatched, in solemn mission to the +republic and to the heretic queen, a diplomatist whose name and whose +oratorical efforts have by a caprice of history been allowed to endure to +our times. + +Paul Dialyn was solemnly received at the Hague on the 21st July. +A pragmatical fop, attired in a long, magnificent Polish robe, covered +with diamonds and other jewels, he was yet recognised by some of those +present as having been several years before a student at Leyden under a +different name, and with far less gorgeous surroundings. He took up his +position in the council-chamber, in the presence of the stadholder and +the leading members of the States-General, and pronounced a long Latin +oration, in the manner, as it was said, of a monk delivering a sermon +from the pulpit. He kept his eyes steadily fixed on the ceiling, never +once looking at the men whom he was addressing, and speaking in a loud, +nasal, dictatorial tone, not at all agreeable to the audience. He dwelt +in terms of extravagant eulogy on the benignity and gentleness of the +King of Spain--qualities in which he asserted that no prince on earth +could be compared to him--and he said this to the very face of Maurice of +Nassau. That the benignant and gentle king had caused the stadholder's +father to be assassinated, and that he had rewarded the murderer's family +with a patent of nobility, and with an ample revenue taken from the +murdered man's property, appeared of no account to the envoy in the full +sweep of his rhetoric. Yet the reminiscence caused a shudder of disgust +in all who heard him. + +He then stated the wish of his master the Polish king to be that, in +regard to the Turk, the provinces might reconcile themselves to their +natural master, who was the most powerful monarch in Christendom, and the +only one able to make head against the common foe. They were solemnly +warned of the enormous power and resources of the great king, with whom +it was hopeless for them to protract a struggle sure to end at last in +their uttermost destruction. It was for kings to issue commands; he +said, and for the people to obey; but Philip was full of sweetness, and +would accord them full forgiveness for their manifold sins against him. +The wish to come to the rescue of Christendom, in this extreme peril from +the Turk, was with him paramount to all other considerations. + +Such; in brief, was the substance of the long Latin harangue by which it +was thought possible to induce those sturdy republicans and Calvinists to +renounce their vigorous national existence and to fal on their knees +before the most Catholic king. This was understood to be mediation, +statesmanship, diplomacy, in deference to which the world was to pause +and the course of events to flow backwards. Truly, despots and their +lackeys were destined to learn some rude lessons from that vigorous +little commonwealth in the North Sea, before it should have accomplished +its mission on earth. + +The States-General dissembled their disgust, however, for it was not +desirable to make open enemies of Sigismund or Rudolph. They refused to +accept a copy of the oration, but they promised to send him a categorical +answer to it in writing. Meantime the envoy had the honour of walking +about the castle with the stadholder, and, in the course of their +promenade, Maurice pointed to the thirty-eight standards taken at the +battle of Turnhout, which hung from the cedarn rafters of the ancient +banquetting hall. The mute eloquence of those tattered banners seemed a +not illogical reply to the diplomatic Paul's rhetoric in regard to the +hopelessness of a contest with Spanish armies. + +Next, Van der Werken--pensionary of Leyden, and a classical scholar-- +waited upon the envoy with a Latin reply to his harangue, together +with a courteous letter for Sigismund. Both documents were scathing +denunciations of the policy pursued by the King of Spain and by all his +aiders and abettors, and a distinct but polished refusal to listen to a +single word in favour of mediation or of peace. + +Paul Dialyn then received a courteous permission to leave the territory +of the republic, and was subsequently forwarded in a States' vessel of +war to England. + +His reception, about a month later, by Queen Elizabeth is an event on +which all English historians are fond of dwelling. The pedant, on being +presented to that imperious and accomplished sovereign, deported himself +with the same ludicrous arrogance which had characterised him at the +Hague. His Latin oration, which had been duly drawn up for him by the +Chancellor of Sweden, was quite as impertinent as his harangue to the +States-General had been, and was delivered with the same conceited air. +The queen replied on the instant in the same tongue. She was somewhat in +a passion, but spoke with majestic moderation? + +"Oh, how I have been deceived!" she exclaimed. "I expected an +ambassador, and behold a herald! In all my life I never heard of such +an oration. Your boldness and unadvised temerity I cannot sufficiently +admire. But if the king your master has given you any such thing in +charge--which I much doubt--I believe it is because, being but a young +man, and lately advanced to the crown, not by ordinary succession of +blood, but by election, he understandeth not yet the way of such +affairs." And so on--for several minutes longer. + +Never did envoy receive such a setting down from sovereign. + +"God's death, my lords!" said the queen to her ministers; as she +concluded, "I have been enforced this day to scour up my old Latin that +hath lain long in rusting." + +This combination of ready wit, high spirit, and good Latin, justly +excited the enthusiasm of the queen's subjects, and endeared her still +more to every English heart. It may, however, be doubted whether the +famous reply was in reality so entirely extemporaneous as it has usually +been considered. The States-General had lost no time in forwarding to +England a minute account of the proceedings of Paul Dialyn at the Hague, +together with a sketch of his harangue and of the reply on behalf of the +States. Her Majesty and her counsellors therefore, knowing that the same +envoy was on his way to England with a similar errand, may be supposed to +have had leisure to prepare the famous impromptu. Moreover, it is +difficult to understand, on the presumption that these classic utterances +were purely extemporaneous, how they have kept their place in all +chronicles and histories from that day to the present, without change of +a word in the text. Surely there was no stenographer present to take +down the queen's words as they fell from her lips. + +The military events of the year did not testify to a much more successful +activity on the part of the new league in the field than it had displayed +in the sphere of diplomacy. In vain did the envoy of the republic urge +Henry and his counsellors to follow up the crushing blow dealt to the +cardinal at Turnhout by vigorous operations in conjunction with the +States' forces in Artois and Hainault. For Amiens had meantime been +taken, and it was now necessary for the king to employ all his energy and +all his resources to recover that important city. So much damage to the +cause of the republic and of the new league had the little yellow Spanish +captain inflicted in an hour, with his bags of chestnuts and walnuts. +The siege of Amiens lasted nearly six months, and was the main event of +the campaign, so far as Henry was concerned. It is true--as the reader +has already seen, and as will soon be more clearly developed--that +Henry's heart had been fixed on peace from the moment that he consented +in conjunction with the republic to declare war, and that he had entered +into secret and separate negotiations for that purpose with the agents of +Philip so soon as he had bound himself by solemn covenant with Elizabeth +to have no negotiations whatever with him except with her full knowledge +and consent. + +The siege of Amiens, however, was considered a military masterpiece, and +its whole progress showed the revolution which the stadholder of Holland +had already effected in European warfare. Henry IV. beleaguered Amiens +as if he were a pupil of Maurice, and contemporaries were enthusiastic +over the science, the patience, the inventive ingenuity which were at +last crowned with success. The heroic Hernan Tello de Porto Carrero was +killed in a sortie during the defence of the place which he had so +gallantly won, and when the city was surrendered to the king on the 19th +of September it was stipulated in the first article of the capitulation +that the tomb, epitaph, and trophies, by which his memory was honoured in +the principal church, should not be disturbed, and that his body might be +removed whenever and whither it seemed good to his sovereign. In vain +the cardinal had taken the field with an army of eighteen thousand foot +and fifteen hundred light cavalry. The king had learned so well to +entrench himself and to moderate his ardour for inopportune pitched +battles, that the relieving force could find, no occasion to effect its +purpose. The archduke retired. He came to Amiens like a soldier, said +Henry, but he went back like a priest. Moreover, he was obliged to +renounce, besides the city, a most tempting prize which he thought that +he had secured within the city. Alexander Farnese, in his last French +campaign, had procured and sent to his uncle the foot of St. Philip and +the head of St. Lawrence; but what was Albert's delight when he learned +that in Amiens cathedral there was a large piece of the head of John the +Baptist! "There will be a great scandal about it in this kingdom," he +wrote to Philip, "if I undertake to transport it out of the country, but +I will try to contrive it as your Majesty desires." + +But the military events of the year prevented the cardinal from +gratifying the king in regard to these choice curiosities. + +After the reduction of the city Henry went a considerable distance with +his army towards the frontier of Flanders, in order to return, as he +said, "his cousin's visit." But the recovery of Amiens had placed too +winning a card in the secret game which he was then playing to allow him +to push his nominal adversary to extremities. + +The result, suspected very early in the year by the statesmen of the +republic, was already very plainly foreshadowing itself as the winter +advanced. + +Nor had the other two members of the league affected much in the field. +Again an expedition had been fitted forth under Essex against the Spanish +coast to return the compliment which Philip had intended with the unlucky +armada under Santa Gadea; and again Sir Francis Vere, with two thousand +veterans from the Netherlands, and the Dutch admirals, with ten ships of +war and a large number of tenders and transports, had faithfully taken +part in the adventure. + +The fleet was tempest-tossed for ten days, during which it reached the +threatened coast and was blown off again. It returned at last into the +English ports, having accomplished nothing, and having expended +superfluously a considerable amount of money and trouble. Essex, with a +few of the vessels, subsequently made a cruise towards the Azores, but, +beyond the capture of a Spanish merchantman or two, gained no glory and +inflicted no damage. + +Nothing could be feebler than the military operations of the three +confederated powers ever since they had so solemnly confederated +themselves. + +Sick at heart with the political intrigues of his allies which had-- +brought a paralysis upon his arms which the blows of the enemy could +hardly have effected, Maurice took the field in August: for an autumnal +campaign on the eastern frontier of the republic. Foiled in his efforts +for a combined attack by the whole force of the league upon Philip's +power in the west, he thought it at least expedient to liberate the +Rhine, to secure the important provinces of Zutphen, Gelderland, and +Overyssel from attack, and to provide against the dangerous intrigues and +concealed warfare carried on by Spain in the territories of the mad Duke +of Juliers, Clever and Berg. For the seeds of the Thirty Years' War of +Germany were already sown broadcast in those fatal duchies, and it was +the determination of the agents of Spain to acquire the mastery of that +most eligible military position, that excellent 'sedes belli,' whenever +Protestantism was to be assailed in England, the Netherlands, or Germany. + +Meantime the Hispaniolated counsellors of Duke John had strangled--as it +was strongly suspected--his duchess, who having gone to bed in perfect +health one evening was found dead in her bed next morning, with an ugly +mark on her throat; and it was now the purpose of these statesmen to +find a new bride for their insane sovereign in the ever ready and ever +orthodox house of Lorrain. And the Protestant brothers-in-law and +nephews and nieces were making every possible combination in order to +check such dark designs, and to save these important territories from +the ubiquitous power of Spain. + +The stadholder had also family troubles at this period. His sister +Emilia had conceived a desperate passion for Don Emmanuel, the pauper +son of the forlorn pretender to Portugal, Don Antonio, who had at last +departed this life. Maurice was indignant that a Catholic, an outcast, +and, as it was supposed, a bastard, should dare to mate with the daughter +of William of Orange-Nassau; and there were many scenes of tenderness, +reproaches, recriminations, and 'hysterica passio,' in which not only the +lovers, the stadholder and his family, but also the high and mighty +States-General, were obliged to enact their parts. The chronicles are +filled with the incidents, which, however, never turned to tragedy, nor +even to romance, but ended, without a catastrophe, in a rather insipid +marriage. The Princess Emilia remained true both to her religion and her +husband during a somewhat obscure wedded life, and after her death Don +Emmanuel found means to reconcile himself with the King of Spain and to +espouse, in second nuptials, a Spanish lady. On the 4th of August, +Maurice arrived at Arnhem with a force of seven thousand foot and twelve +hundred horse. Hohenlo was with him, and William Lewis, and there was +yet another of the illustrious house of Nassau in the camp, Frederick +Henry, a boy in his thirteenth year, the youngest born of William the +Silent, the grandson of Admiral de Coligny, now about; in this his first +campaign, to take the first step in a long and noble career. + +Having reduced the town and castle of Alphen, the stadholder came before +Rheinberg, which he very expeditiously invested. During a preliminary +skirmish William Lewis received a wound in the leg, while during the +brief siege Maurice had a narrow escape from death, a cannon-ball passing +through his tent and over his head as he lay taking a brief repose upon +his couch. + +On the 19th, Rheinberg, the key to that portion of the river, +surrendered. On the 31st the stadholder opened his batteries upon the +city of Meurs, which capitulated on the 2nd of September; the commandant, +Andrew Miranda, stipulating that he should carry off an old fifty- +pounder, the only piece of cannon in the place. Maurice gave his +permission with a laugh, begging Miranda not to batter down any cities +with his big gun. + +On the 8th September the stadholdet threw a bridge over the Rhine, and +crossing that river and the Lippe, came on the 11th before Grol. There +was no Christopher Mondragon now in his path to check his progress and +spoil his campaign, so that in seventeen days the city, being completely +surrounded with galleries and covered ways up to its walls, surrendered. +Count van Stirum, royal governor of the place, dined with the stadholder +on that day, and the garrison, from twelve hundred to fifteen hundred +strong; together with such of the townsfolk as chose to be subjects of +Philip rather than citizens of the republic, were permitted to depart in +peace. + +On the 9th October the town and castle of Brevoort were taken by storm +and the town was burned. + +On the 18th October, Maurice having summoned Enschede, the commandant +requested permission to examine the artillery by which it was proposed to +reduce the city. Leave being granted, two captains were deputed +accordingly as inspectors, who reported that resistance was useless. +The place accordingly capitulated at once. + +Here, again, was an improvement on the heroic practice of Alva and +Romero. + +On the 21st and 22nd October, Ootmarsum and Oldenzaal were taken, and on +the 28th the little army came before Lingen. This important city +surrendered after a fortnight's siege. + +Thus closed a sagacious, business-like, three-months' campaign, in the +course of which the stadholder, although with a slender force, had by +means of his excellent organization and his profound practical science, +achieved very considerable results. He had taken nine strongly-fortified +cities and five castles, opened the navigation of the Rhine, and +strengthened the whole eastern bulwarks of the republic. He was censured +by the superficial critics of the old school for his humanity towards the +conquered garrisons. At least it was thought quite superfluous to let +these Spanish soldiers go scot free. Five thousand veterans had thus +been liberated to swell the ranks of the cardinal's army, but the result +soon proved the policy of Maurice to be, in many ways, wholesome. The +great repudiation by Philip, and the consequent bankruptcy of Alberta +converted large numbers of the royal troops into mutineers, and these +garrisons from the eastern frontier were glad to join in the game. + +After the successful siege of Hulst in the previous year the cardinal had +reduced the formidable mutiny which had organized itself at Tirlemont and +Chapelle in the days of his luckless predecessor. Those rebels had been +paid off and had mainly returned to Italy and other lands to spend their +money. But soon a new rebellion in all the customary form's established +itself in Antwerp citadel during the temporary absence of Mexia, the +governor, and great was the misery of the unhappy burghers thus placed at +the mercy of the guns of that famous pentagon. They were obliged to +furnish large sums to the whole garrison, paying every common foot- +soldier twelve stivers a day and the officers in proportion, while the +great Eletto demanded, beside his salary, a coach and six, a state bed +with satin curtains and fine linen, and the materials for banquetting +sumptuously every day. At the slightest demur to these demands the +bombardment from the citadel would begin, and the accurate artillery +practice of those experienced cannoneers soon convinced the loyal +citizens of the propriety of the arrangement. The example spread. The +garrison of Ghent broke into open revolt, and a general military +rebellion lasted for more than a year. + +While the loyal cities of the obedient provinces were thus enjoying the +fruits of their loyalty and obedience, the rebellious capital of the +republic was receiving its stadholder with exuberant demonstrations of +gratitude. The year, begun with the signal victory of Turnhout, had +worthily terminated, so far as military events were concerned, with the +autumnal campaign on the Rhine, and great were the rejoicings throughout +the little commonwealth. + +Thus, with diminished resources, had the republic been doing its share of +the work which the anti-Spanish league had been called into existence to +accomplish. But, as already intimated, this league was a mere fraud upon +the Netherlands, which their statesmen were not slow in discovering. Of +course it was the object of Philip and of the pope to destroy this +formidable triple alliance as soon as formed, and they found potent +assistance, not only in Henry's counsellors, but in the bosom of that +crafty monarch himself. Clement hated Philip as much as he feared him, +so that the prospect both of obtaining Henry as a counterpoise to his own +most oppressive and most Catholic protector, and of breaking up the great +convert's alliance with the heretic queen and the rebellious republic, +was a most tempting one to his Holiness. Therefore he employed, +indefatigably, the matchless powers of intrigue possessed by Rome to +effect this great purpose. As for Elizabeth, she was weary of the war, +most anxious to be reimbursed her advances to the States, and profoundly +jealous of the rising commercial and naval greatness of the new +commonwealth. If the league therefore proved impotent from the +beginning, certainly it was not the fault of the United Netherlands. +We have seen how much the king deplored, in intimate conversation with +De Bethune, his formal declaration of war against Spain which the Dutch +diplomatists had induced him to make; and indeed nothing can be more +certain than that this public declaration of war, and this solemn +formation of the triple alliance against Philip, were instantly +accompanied on Henry's part by secret peace negotiations with Philip's +agents. Villeroy, told Envoy Calvaert that as for himself he always +trembled when he thought on what he had done, in seconding the will of +his Majesty in that declaration at the instance of the States-General, of +which measure so many losses and such bitter fruits had been the result. +He complained, too, of the little assistance or co-operation yielded by +England. Calvaert replied that he had nothing to say in defence of +England, but that certainly the king could have no cause to censure the +States. The republic, however, had good ground, he said, to complain +that nothing had been done by France, that all favourable occasions had +been neglected, and that there was a perpetual change of counsels. The +envoy, especially, and justly, reproached the royal government for having +taken no advantage of the opportunity offered by the victory of Turnhout, +in which the republic had utterly defeated the principal forces of the +common enemy. He bluntly remarked, too, that the mysterious comings and +goings of Balvena had naturally excited suspicions in the Netherlands, +and that it would be better that all such practices should be at once +abandoned. They did his Majesty no service, and it was no wonder that +they caused uneasiness to his allies. Villeroy replied that the king had +good reasons to give satisfaction to those who were yearning for peace. + +As Henry himself was yearning in this regard as much as any of his +subjects, it was natural enough that he should listen to Balvena and all +other informal negotiators whom Cardinal Ilbert might send from Brussels +or Clement from Rome. It will be recollected that Henry's parting words +to Balvena at Rouen had been: "Tell the archduke that I am very much his +friend. Let him arrange a peace. Begone. Be diligent." + +But the king's reply to Calvaert, when, after the interview with +Villeroy, that envoy was admitted to the royal dressing room for private +conversation and took the occasion to remonstrate with his Majesty on +these intrigues with the Spanish agent, was that he should send off +Balvena in such fashion that it would take from the cardinal-archduke all +hope of troubling him with any further propositions. + +It has been seen, too, with what an outbreak of wrath the proposition, +made by Elizabeth through Robert Sydney, that she should succour Calais +on condition of keeping it for herself, had been received by Henry. +At a somewhat later moment, when Calais had passed entirely into the +possession of Spain, the queen offered to lay siege to that city with +twelve thousand men, but with the understanding that the success was to +be entirely for her own profit. Again the king bad expressed great +astonishment and indignation at the proposition. + +Nevertheless, after Amiens had been lost, Henry had sent Fonquerolles on +a special mission to England, asking Elizabeth's assistance in the siege +for its recovery, and offering that she should keep Calais as a pledge +for expenses thus incurred, on the same terms as those on which she held +the Brill and Flushing in the Netherlands. This proposal, however, to +make a considerable campaign in Picardy, and to be indemnified by Henry +for her trouble with the pledge of a city which was not his property, did +not seem tempting to Elizabeth: The mission of Fonquerolles was +fruitless, as might have been supposed. Nothing certainly in the queen's +attitude, up to that moment, could induce the supposition that she would +help to reduce Amiens for the sake of the privilege of conquering Calais +if she could. + +So soon as her refusal was made certain, Henry dropped the mask. +Buzanval, the regular French envoy at the Hague--even while amazing the +States by rebukes for their short-comings in the field and by demands for +immediate co-operation in the king's campaign, when the king was doing +nothing but besiege Amiens--astonished the republican statesmen still +further by telling them--that his master was listening seriously to the +pope's secret offers. + +His Holiness had assured the king, through the legate at Paris, that he +could easily bring about a peace between him and Philip, if Henry would +agree to make it alone, and he would so manage it that the king's name +should not be mixed up with the negotiations, and that he should not +appear as seeking for peace. It was to be considered however--so Henry's +envoy intimated both at Greenwich and the Hague--that if the king should +accept the pope's intervention he would be obliged to exclude from a +share in it the queen and all others not of the Catholic religion, and it +was feared that the same necessity which had compelled him to listen to +these overtures would force him still further in the same path. He +dreaded lest, between peace and war, he might fall into a position in +which the law would be dictated to him either by the enemy or by those +who had undertaken to help him out of danger. + +Much more information to this effect did Buzanval communicate to the +States on the authority of a private letter from the king, telling him of +the ill-success of the mission of Fonquerolles. That diplomatist had +brought back nothing from England, it appeared, save excuses, general +phrases, and many references to the troubles in Ireland and to the danger +of a new Spanish Armada. + +It was now for the first time, moreover, that the States learned how they +had been duped both by England and France in the matter of the League. +To their surprise they were informed that while they were themselves +furnishing four thousand men, according to the contract signed by the +three powers, the queen had in reality only agreed to contribute two +thousand soldiers, and these only for four months' service, within a very +strict territorial limit, and under promise of immediate reimbursement of +the expenses thus incurred. + +These facts, together with the avowal that their magnanimous ally had +all along been secretly treating for peace with the common enemy, did not +make a cheerful impression upon those plain-spoken republicans, nor was +it much consolation to them to receive the assurance that "after the +king's death his affection and gratitude towards the States would be +found deeply engraved upon his heart." + +The result of such a future autopsy might seem a matter of comparative +indifference, since meantime the present effect to the republic of those +deep emotions was a treacherous desertion. Calvaert, too, who had so +long haunted the king like his perpetual shadow, and who had believed +him--at least so far as the Netherlands were concerned--to be almost +without guile, had been destined after all to a rude awakening. Sick and +suffering, he did not cease, so long as life was in him, to warn the +States-General of the dangers impending over them from the secret +negotiations which their royal ally was doing his best to conceal from +them, and as to which he had for a time succeeded so dexterously in +hoodwinking their envoy himself. But the honest and energetic agent of +the republic did not live to see the consummation of these manceuvres of +Henry and the pope. He died in Paris during the month of June of this +year. + +Certainly the efforts of Spanish and Papal diplomacy had not been +unsuccessful in bringing about a dissolution of the bonds of amity by +which the three powers seemed so lately to be drawing themselves very +closely together. The republic and Henry IV. were now on a most +uncomfortable footing towards each other. On the other hand, the queen +was in a very ill humour with the States and very angry with Henry. +Especially the persistent manner in which the Hollanders carried on trade +with Spain and were at the same time making fortunes for themselves and +feeding the enemy, while Englishmen, on pain of death, were debarred from +participation in such traffic, excited great and general indignation in +England. In vain was it represented that this trade, if prohibited to +the commonwealth would fall into the hands of neutral powers, and that +Spain would derive her supplies from the Baltic and other regions as +regularly as ever, while the republic, whose whole life was in her +foreign commerce, would not only become incapable of carrying on the war +but would perish of inanition. The English statesmen threatened to +declare all such trade contraband, and vessels engaging in it lawful +prize to English cruisers. + +Burghley declared, with much excitement, to Canon, that he, as well +as all the council, considered the conduct of the Hollanders so +unjustifiable as to make them regret that their princess had ever +embarked with a State which chose to aid its own enemies in the +destruction of itself and its allies. Such conduct was so monstrous that +those who were told of it would hardly believe it. + +The Dutch envoy observed that there were thirty thousand sailors engaged +in this trade, and he asked the Lord Treasurer whether he proposed that +these people should all starve or be driven into the service of the +enemy. Burghley rejoined that the Hollanders had the whole world beside +to pursue their traffic in, that they did indeed trade over the whole +world, and had thereby become so extraordinarily, monstrously rich that +there was no believing it. + +Caron declared his sincere wish that this was true, but said, on the +contrary, that he knew too well what extreme trouble and labour the +States-General had in providing for the expenses of the war and in +extracting the necessary funds from the various communities. This would +hardly be the case were such great wealth in the land as was imagined. +But still the English counsellors protested that they would stop this +trading with the enemy at every hazard. + +On the question of peace or war itself the republican diplomatists were +often baffled as to the true intentions of the English Government. "As +the queen is fine and false," said Marquis Havre, observing and aiding in +the various intrigues which were weaving at Brussels, "and her council +much the same, she is practising towards the Hollanders a double +stratagem. On the one hand she induces them to incline to a general +peace. On the other, her adherents, ten or twelve in number of those who +govern Holland and have credit with the people, insist that the true. +interest of the State is in a continuation of the war." + +But Havre, adept in diplomatic chicane as he undoubtedly was, would have +found it difficult to find any man of intelligence or influence in that +rebellious commonwealth, of which he was once a servant, who had any +doubt on that subject. It needed no English argument to persuade Olden- +Barneveld, and the other statesmen who guided the destiny of the +republic, that peace would be destruction. Moreover, there is no +question that both the queen and Burghley would have been truly grateful +had the States-General been willing to make peace and return to the +allegiance which they had long since spurned. + +Nevertheless it is difficult to say whether there were at this moment +more of animosity in Elizabeth's mind towards her backsliding ally, with +whom she had so recently and so pompously sworn an eternal friendship, +or towards her ancient enemy. Although she longed for peace, she hardly +saw her way to it, for she felt that the secret movements of Henry had in +a manner barred the path. She confessed to the States' envoy that it was +as easy for her to make black white as to make peace with Spain. To this +Caron cordially assented, saying with much energy, "There is as much +chance for your Majesty and for us to make peace, during the life of the +present King of Spain, as to find redemption in hell." + +To the Danish ambassadors, who had come to England with proposals of +mediation, the queen had replied that the King of Spain had attacked her +dominions many times, and had very often attempted her assassination, +that after long patience she had begun to defend herself, and had been +willing to show him that she had the courage and the means, not only to +maintain herself against his assaults, but also to invade his realms; +that, therefore, she was not disposed to speak first; nor to lay down any +conditions. Yet, if she saw that the King of Spain had any remorse for +his former offences against her, and wished to make atonement for them, +she was willing to declare that her heart was not so alienated from +peace; but that she could listen to propositions on the subject. + +She said, too, that such a peace must be a general one, including both +the King of France and the States of the Netherlands, for with these +powers she had but lately made an offensive and defensive league against +the King of Spain, from which she protested that for no consideration in +the world would she ever swerve one jot. + +Certainly these were words of Christian charity and good faith, but such +professions are the common staple of orations and documents for public +consumption. As the accounts became more and more minute, however, of +Henry's intrigues with Albert, Philip, and Clement, the queen grew more +angry. + +She told Caron that she was quite aware that the king had long been in +communication with the cardinal's emissaries, and that he had even sent +some of his principal counsellors to confer with the cardinal himself at +Arras, in direct violation of the stipulations of the league. She +expressed her amazement at the king's conduct; for she knew very well, +she said, that the league had hardly been confirmed and sworn to, before +he was treating with secret agents sent to him by the cardinal. "And +now," she continued, "they propose to send an ambassador to inform me of +the whole proceeding, and to ask my advice and consent in regard to +negotiations which they have, perchance, entirely concluded." + +She further informed the republican envoy that the king had recently been +taking the ground in these dealings with the common enemy; that the two +kingdoms of France and England must first be provided for; that when the +basis between these powers and Spain had been arranged, it would be time +to make arrangements for the States, and that it would probably be found +advisable to obtain a truce of three or four years between them and +Spain, in which interval the government of the provinces might remain on +its actual footing. During this armistice the King of Spain was to +withdraw all Spanish troops from the Netherlands, in consequence of which +measure all distrust would by degrees vanish, and the community, becoming +more and more encouraged, would in time recognise the king for their +sovereign once more. + +This, according to the information received by Elizabeth from her +resident minister in France, was Henry's scheme for carrying out the +principles of the offensive and defensive league, which only the year +before he had so solemnly concluded with the Dutch republic. Instead of +assisting that commonwealth in waging her war of independence against +Spain, he would endeavour to make it easy for her to return peacefully to +her ancient thraldom. + +The queen asked Caron what he thought of the project. How could that +diplomatist reply but with polite scorn? Not a year of such an armistice +would elapse, he said, before the Spanish partisans would have it all +their own way in the Netherlands, and the King of Spain would be master +of the whole country. Again and again he repeated that peace, so long as +Philip lived, was an impossibility for the States. No doubt that monarch +would gladly consent to the proposed truce, for it, would be indeed +strange if by means of it he could not so establish himself in the +provinces as to easily overthrow the sovereigns who were thus helping him +to so advantageous a position. + +The queen listened patiently to a long and earnest remonstrance in this +vein made by the envoy, and assured him that not even to gain another +kingdom would she be the cause of a return of the provinces to the +dominion of Spain. She would do her best to dissuade the king from his +peace negotiations; but she would listen to De Maisae, the new special +envoy from Henry, and would then faithfully report to Caron, by word of +mouth, the substance of the conversation. The States-General did not +deserve to be deceived, nor would she be a party to any deception, unless +she were first cheated herself. "I feel indeed," she added, "that +matters are not always managed as they should be by your Government, and +that you have not always treated princes, especially myself, as we +deserve to be treated. Nevertheless, your State is not a monarchy, and +so we must take all things into consideration, and weigh its faults +against its many perfections." + +With this philosophical--and in the mouth of Elizabeth Tudor, surely very +liberal--reflection, the queen terminated the interview with the +republican envoy. + +Meantime the conferences with the special ambassador of France proceeded. +For, so soon as Henry had completed all his arrangements, and taken his +decision to accept the very profitable peace offered to him by Spain, he +assumed that air of frankness which so well became him, and candidly +avowed his intention of doing what he had already done. Hurault de +Maisse arrived in England not long before the time when the peace- +commissioners were about assembling at Vervins. He was instructed to +inform her Majesty that he had done his best to bring about a general +alliance of the European powers from which alone the league concluded +between England, France, and the Netherlands would have derived +substantial strength. + +But as nothing was to be hoped for from Germany, as England offered but +little assistance, and as France was exhausted by her perpetual +conflicts, it had become necessary for the king to negotiate for a peace. +He now wished to prove, therefore, to the queen, as to a sister to whom +he was under such obligations, that the interests of England were as dear +to him as those of France. + +The proof of these generous sentiments did not, however, seem so clear as +could be wished, and there were very stormy debates, so soon as the +ambassador found himself in conference with her Majesty's counsellors. +The English statesmen bitterly reproached the French for having thus +lightly thrown away the alliance between the two countries, and they +insisted upon the duty of the king to fulfil his solemn engagements. + +The reply was very frank and very decided. Kings, said De Maisse, never +make treaties except with the tacit condition to embrace every thing that +may be useful to them, and carefully to avoid every thing prejudicial to +their interests. + +The corollary from this convenient and sweeping maxim was simple enough. +The king could not be expected, by his allies to reject an offered peace +which was very profitable, nor to continue a war which, was very +detrimental. All that they could expect was that he should communicate +his intentions to them, and this he was now very cheerfully doing. Such +in brief were the statements of De Maisse. + +The English were indignant. They also said a stout word for the +provinces, although it has been made sufficiently clear that they did not +love that upstart republic. But the French ambassador replied that his, +master really meant secretly to assist the States in carrying on the war +until they should make an arrangement. He should send them very powerful +succours for this purpose, and he expected confidently that England would +assist him in this line of conduct. Thus Henry was secretly pledging +himself, to make underhand but substantial war against Spain, with which +power he was at that instant concluding peace, while at the same time he +was abandoning his warlike league with the queen and the republic, in +order to affect that very pacification. Truly the morality of the +governing powers of the earth was not entirely according to the apostolic +standard. + +The interviews between the queen and the new ambassador were, of course, +on his part, more courteous in tone than those with the counsellors, but +mainly to the same effect. De Maisse stated that the Spanish king had +offered to restore every place that he held in France, including Calais, +Brittany, and the Marquisate of Saluces, and as he likewise manifested a +willingness to come to favourable terms with her Majesty and with the +States, it was obviously the duty of Henry to make these matters known to +her Majesty, in whose hands was thus placed the decision between peace or +continuation of the war. The queen asked what was the authority for the +supposition that England was to be included by Spain in the pacification. +De Maisse quoted President Richardot. In that case, the queen remarked, +it was time for her to prepare for a third Spanish armada. When a former +envoy from France had alluded to Richardot as expressing the same +friendly sentiments on the part of his sovereign and himself, she had +replied by referring to the sham negotiations of Bourbourg, by which +the famous invasion of 1588 had been veiled, and she had intimated her +expectation that another Spanish fleet would soon be at her throat. And +within three weeks of the utterance of her prophecy the second armada, +under Santa Gadea, had issued from Spain to assail her realms. Now then, +as Richardot was again cited as a peace negotiator, it was time to look +for a third invasion. It was an impertinence for Secretary of State +Villeroy to send her word about Richardot. It was not an impertinence in +King Henry, who understood war-matters better than he did affairs of +state, in which kings were generally governed by their counsellors and +secretaries, but it was very strange that Villeroy should be made quiet +with a simple declaration of Richardot. + +The queen protested that she would never consent to a peace with Spain, +except with the knowledge and consent of the States. De Maisse replied +that the king was of the same mind, upon which her Majesty remarked that +in that case he had better have apprised her and the States of his +intentions before treating alone and secretly with the enemy. The envoy +denied that the king had been treating. He had only been listening to +what the King of Spain had to propose, and suggesting his own wishes and +intentions. The queen rejoined that this was treating if anything was, +and certainly her Majesty was in the right if the term has any meaning at +all. + +Elizabeth further reproachfully observed, that although the king talked +about continuing the war, he seemed really tired of that dangerous +pursuit, in which he had exercised himself so many long years, and that +he was probably beginning to find a quiet and agreeable life more to his +taste. She expressed the hope, however, that he would acquit himself +honourably towards herself and her allies, and keep the oaths which he +had so solemnly sworn before God. + +Such was the substance of the queen's conversations with De Maisse, as +she herself subsequently reported them to the States' envoy. + +The republican statesmen had certainly cause enough to suspect Henry's +intentions, but they did not implicitly trust Elizabeth. They feared +that both king and queen were heartily sick of the war, and disposed to +abandon the league, while each was bent on securing better terms than the +other in any negotiations for peace. Barneveld--on the whole the most +sagacious of the men then guiding the affairs of Europe, although he +could dispose of but comparatively slender resources, and was merely the +chief minister of a scarcely-born little commonwealth of some three +million souls--was doing his best to save the league and to divert Henry +from thoughts of peace. Feeling that the queen, notwithstanding her +professions to Caron and others, would have gladly entered into +negotiations with Philip, had she found the door as wide open as Henry +had found it, he did his best to prevent both his allies from proceeding +farther in that direction. He promised the French envoy at the Hague +that not only would the republic continue to furnish the four thousand +soldiers as stipulated in the league, but that if Henry would recommence +active operations, a States' army of nine thousand foot and two thousand +horse should at once take the field on the Flemish frontier of France, +and aid in the campaign to the full extent of their resources. If the +king were disposed to undertake the siege of Calais, the Advocate engaged +that he should be likewise energetically assisted in that enterprise. + +Nor was it suggested in case the important maritime stronghold were +recovered that it should be transferred, not to the sovereign of France, +but to the dominions of the republic. That was the queen's method of +assisting an ally, but it was not the practice of the States. Buzanval, +who was quite aware of his master's decision to conclude peace, suggested +Henry's notion of a preliminary and general truce for six months. But of +course Barneveld rejected the idea with horror. He felt, as every +intelligent statesman of the commonwealth could not but feel, that an +armistice would be a death-blow. It would be better, he said, for the +States to lose one or two towns than to make a truce, for there were so +many people in the commonwealth sure to be dazzled by the false show of a +pacification, that they would be likely, after getting into the suburbs, +to wish to enter the heart of the city. "If," said the Advocate, "the +French and the English know what they are doing when they are, +facilitating the Spanish dominion in the provinces, they would prefer to +lose a third of their own kingdoms to seeing the Spaniard absolute master +here." + +It was determined, in this grave position of affairs, to send a special +mission both to France and to England with the Advocate as its chief. +Henry made no objections to this step, but, on the contrary, affected +much impatience for the arrival of the envoys, and ascribed the delay to +the intrigues of Elizabeth. He sent word to Prince Maurice and to +Barneveld that he suspected the queen of endeavouring to get before him +in negotiating with Spain in order to obtain Calais for herself. And, +in truth, Elizabeth very soon afterwards informed Barneveld that she +might really have had Calais, and have got the better of the king in +these secret transactions. + +Meantime, while the special mission to France and England was getting +ready to depart, an amateur diplomatist appeared in Brussels, and made a +feeble effort to effect a reconciliation between the republic and the +cardinal. + +This was a certain Van der Meulen, an Antwerp merchant who, for religious +reasons, had emigrated to Leyden, and who was now invited by the cardinal +archduke to Brussels to confer with his counsellors as to the possibility +of the rebellious States accepting his authority. For, as will soon be +indicated, Philip had recently resolved on a most important step. He was +about to transfer the sovereignty of all the Netherlands to his daughter +Isabella and her destined husband, Cardinal Albert. It would, obviously, +therefore, be an excessively advantageous arrangement for those new +sovereigns if the rebellious States would join hands with the obedient +provinces, accept the dominion of Albert and Isabella and give up their +attempt to establish a republican government. Accordingly the cardinal +had intimated that the States would be allowed the practice of their +religion, while the military and civil functionaries might retain office. +He even suggested that he would appoint Maurice of Nassau his stadholder +for the northern provinces, unless he should prefer a high position in +the Imperial armies. Such was the general admiration felt in Spain and +elsewhere for the military talents of the prince, that he would probably +be appointed commander-in-chief of the forces against Mahomet. Van der +Meulen duly reported all these ingenious schemes to the States, but the +sturdy republicans only laughed at them. They saw clearly enough through +such slight attempts to sow discord in their commonwealth, and to send +their great chieftain to Turkey. + +A most affectionate letter, written by the cardinal-archduke to the +States-General, inviting them to accept his sovereignty, and another from +the obedient provinces to the united States of the same purport, remained +unanswered. + +But the Antwerp merchant, in his interviews with the crafty politicians +who surrounded the cardinal, was able at least to obtain some insight +into the opinions prevalent at Brussels; and these were undoubtedly to +the effect that both England and France were willing enough to abandon +the cause of the Netherlands, provided only that they could obtain +satisfactory arrangements for themselves. + +Van der Meulen remarked to Richardot that in all their talk about a +general peace nothing had been said of the Queen of England, to whom the +States were under so great obligations, and without whom they would never +enter into any negotiations. + +Richardot replied that the queen had very sagaciously provided for the +safety of her own kingdom, and had kept up the fire everywhere else in +order to shelter herself. There was more difficulty for this lady, he +said, than for any of the rest. She had shown herself very obstinate, +and had done them a great deal of mischief. They knew very well that the +King of France did not love her. Nevertheless, as they had resolved upon +a general peace, they were willing to treat with her as well as with the +others. + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +Auction sales of judicial ermine +Decline a bribe or interfere with the private sale of places +Famous fowl in every pot +Fellow worms had been writhing for half a century in the dust +For his humanity towards the conquered garrisons (censured) +Historical scepticism may shut its eyes to evidence +Imagining that they held the world's destiny in their hands +King had issued a general repudiation of his debts +Loud, nasal, dictatorial tone, not at all agreeable +Peace would be destruction +Repudiation of national debts was never heard of before +Some rude lessons from that vigorous little commonwealth +Such a crime as this had never been conceived (bankruptcy) +They liked not such divine right nor such gentle-mindedness +Whether murders or stratagems, as if they were acts of virtue + + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY UNITED NETHERLANDS, 1597-98 *** + +************ This file should be named 4869.txt or 4869.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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