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diff --git a/old/jm72v10.txt b/old/jm72v10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..51bc3da --- /dev/null +++ b/old/jm72v10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,19420 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook History of United Netherlands, 1590-99, Entire +#72 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, 1590-99, Entire + +Author: John Lothrop Motley + +Release Date: January, 2004 [EBook #4872] +[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, 1590-99 *** + + + +This eBook was produced by David Widger <widger@cecomet.net> + + + +[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. 72 + +History of the United Netherlands, 1590-1599, Complete + + +CHAPTER XXI. + + Effect of the Assassination of Henry III.--Concentration of forces + for the invasion of France--The Netherlands determine on striking a + blow for freedom--Organization of a Dutch army--Stratagem to + surprise the castle of Breda--Intrepidity and success of the + enterprise. + +The dagger of Jacques Clement had done much, and was likely to do +more, to change the face of Europe. Another proof was afforded that +assassination had become a regular and recognised factor in the political +problems of the sixteenth century. Another illustration was exhibited of +the importance of the individual--even although that individual was in +himself utterly despicable--to the working out of great historical +results. It seemed that the murder of Henry III.--that forlorn +caricature of kingship and of manhood--was likely to prove eminently +beneficial to the cause of the Netherland commonwealth. Five years +earlier, the murder of William the Silent had seemed to threaten its +very existence. + +For Philip the Prudent, now that France was deprived of a head, conceived +that the time had arrived when he might himself assume the sovereignty of +that kingdom. While a thing of straw, under the name of Charles X. and +shape of a Cardinal Bourbon, was set up to do battle with that living +sovereign and soldier, the heretic Bearnese, the Duke of Parma was +privately ordered to bend all his energies towards the conquest of the +realm in dispute, under pretence of assisting the Holy League. + +Accordingly, early in the year 1590, Alexander concentrated a +considerable force on the French frontier in Artois and Hainault, +apparently threatening Bergen-op-Zoom and other cities in South Holland, +but in reality preparing to invade France. The Duke of Mayenne, who had +assumed the title of lieutenant-general of that kingdom, had already +visited him at Brussels in order to arrange the plan of the campaign. + +While these measures were in preparation, an opportunity was likely to be +afforded to the Netherlanders of striking a blow or two for liberty and +independence; now that all the force that possibly could be spared was to +be withdrawn by their oppressors and to be used for the subjugation of +their neighbours. The question was whether there would be a statesman +and a soldier ready to make use of this golden opportunity. + +There was a statesman ripe and able who, since the death of the Taciturn, +had been growing steadily in the estimation of his countrymen and who +already was paramount in the councils of the States-General. There was a +soldier, still very young, who was possessed of the strongest hereditary +claims to the confidence and affection of the United Provinces and who +had been passing a studious youth in making himself worthy of his father +and his country. Fortunately, too, the statesman and the soldier were +working most harmoniously together. John of Olden-Barneveld, with his +great experience and vast and steady intellect, stood side by side with +young Maurice of Nassau at this important crisis in the history of the +new commonwealth. + +At length the twig was becoming the tree--'tandem fit surculus arbor'-- +according to the device assumed by the son of William the Silent after +his father's death. + +The Netherlands had sore need of a practical soldier to contend with the +scientific and professional tyrants against whom they had so long been +struggling, and Maurice, although so young, was pre-eminently a practical +man. He was no enthusiast; he was no poet. He was at that period +certainly no politician. Not often at the age of twenty has a man +devoted himself for years to pure mathematics for the purpose of saving +his country. Yet this was Maurice's scheme. Four years long and more, +when most other youths in his position and at that epoch would have been +alternating between frivolous pleasures and brilliant exploits in the +field, the young prince had spent laborious days and nights with the +learned Simon Stevinus of Bruges. The scientific work which they +composed in common, the credit of which the master assigned to the pupil, +might have been more justly attributed perhaps to the professor than to +the prince, but it is certain that Maurice was an apt scholar. + +In that country, ever held in existence by main human force against the +elements, the arts of engineering, hydrostatics and kindred branches were +of necessity much cultivated. It was reserved for the young +mathematician to make them as potent against a human foe. + +Moreover, there were symptoms that the military discipline, learning and +practical skill, which had almost made Spain the mistress of the world, +were sinking into decay. Farnese, although still in the prime of life, +was broken in health, and there seemed no one fit to take the place of +himself and his lieutenants when they should be removed from the scene +where they had played. their parts so consummately. The army of the +Netherlands was still to be created. Thus far the contest had been +mainly carried on by domestic militia and foreign volunteers or +hirelings. The train-bands of the cities were aided in their struggles +against Spanish pikemen and artillerists, Italian and Albanian cavalry by +the German riders, whom every little potentate was anxious to sell to +either combatant according to the highest bid, and by English +mercenaries, whom the love of adventure or the hope of plunder sent forth +under such well-seasoned captains as Williams and Morgan, Vere and the +Norrises, Baskerville and Willoughby. + +But a Dutch army there was none and Maurice had determined that at last +a national force should be created. In this enterprise he was aided and +guided by his cousin Lewis William, Stadtholder of Friesland--the quaint, +rugged little hero, young in years but almost a veteran in the wars of +freedom, who was as genial and intellectual in council as he was reckless +and impulsive in the field. + +Lewis William had felt that the old military art was dying out and that-- +there was nothing to take its place. He was a diligent student of +antiquity. He had revived in the swamps of Friesland the old manoeuvres, +the quickness of wheeling, the strengthening, without breaking ranks or +columns, by which the ancient Romans had performed so much excellent work +in their day, and which seemed to have passed entirely into oblivion. +Old colonels and rittmasters, who had never heard of Leo the Thracian nor +the Macedonian phalanx, smiled and shrugged their shoulders, as they +listened to the questions of the young count, or gazed with profound +astonishment at the eccentric evolutions to which he was accustoming his +troops. From the heights of superior wisdom they looked down with pity +upon these innovations on the good old battle order. They were +accustomed to great solid squares of troops wheeling in one way, +steadily, deliberately, all together, by one impulse and as one man. +It was true that in narrow fields, and when the enemy was pressing, such +stately evolutions often became impossible or ensured defeat; but when +the little Stadtholder drilled his soldiers in small bodies of various +shapes, teaching them to turn, advance; retreat; wheel in a variety of +ways, sometimes in considerable masses, sometimes man by man, sending the +foremost suddenly to the rear, or bringing the hindmost ranks to the +front, and began to attempt all this in narrow fields as well as in wide +ones, and when the enemy was in sight, men stood aghast at his want of +reverence, or laughed at him as a pedant. But there came a day when they +did not laugh, neither friends nor enemies. Meantime the two cousins, +who directed all the military operations in the provinces, understood +each other thoroughly and proceeded to perfect their new system, to be +adopted at a later period by all civilized nations. + +The regular army of the Netherlands was small in number at that moment-- +not more than twenty thousand foot with two thousand horse--but it was +well disciplined, well equipped, and, what was of great importance, +regularly paid. Old campaigners complained that in the halcyon days of +paper enrolments, a captain could earn more out of his company than a +colonel now received for his whole regiment. The days when a thousand +men were paid for, with a couple of hundred in the field, were passing +away for the United Provinces and existed only for Italians and +Spaniards. While, therefore, mutiny on an organised and extensive scale +seemed almost the normal condition of the unpaid legions of Philip, the +little army of Maurice was becoming the model for Europe to imitate. + +The United Provinces were as yet very far from being masters of their own +territory. Many of their most important cities still held for the king. +In Brabant, such towns as Breda with its many dependencies and +Gertruydenberg; on the Waal, the strong and wealthy Nymegen which Martin +Schenk had perished in attempting to surprise; on the Yssel, the thriving +city of Zutphen, whose fort had been surrendered by the traitor York, and +the stately Deventer, which had been placed in Philip's possession by the +treachery of Sir William Stanley; on the borders of Drenthe, the almost +impregnable Koevorden, key to the whole Zwollian country; and in the very +heart of ancient Netherland, Groningen, capital of the province of the +same name, which the treason of Renneberg had sold to the Spanish tyrant; +all these flourishing cities and indispensable strongholds were +garrisoned by foreign troops, making the idea of Dutch independence +a delusion. + +While Alexander of Parma, sorely against his will and in obedience to +what, he deemed the insane suggestions of his master, was turning his +back on the Netherlands in order to relieve Paris, now hard pressed +by the Bearnese, an opportunity offered itself of making at least a +beginning in the great enterprise of recovering these most valuable +possessions. + +The fair and pleasant city of Breda lies on the Merk, a slender stream, +navigable for small vessels, which finds its way to the sea through the +great canal of the Dintel. It had been the property of the Princes of +Orange, Barons of Breda, and had passed with the other possessions of +the family to the house of Chalons-Nassau. Henry of Nassau had, half a +century before, adorned and strengthened it by a splendid palace-fortress +which, surrounded by a deep and double moat, thoroughly commanded the +town. A garrison of five companies of Italian infantry and one of +cavalry lay in this castle, which was under the command of Edward +Lanzavecchia, governor both of Breda and of the neighbouring +Gertruydenberg. + +Breda was an important strategical position. It was moreover the feudal +superior of a large number of adjacent villages as well as of the cities +Osterhout, Steenberg and Rosendaal. It was obviously not more desirable +for Maurice of Nassau to recover his patrimonial city than it was for the +States-General to drive the Spaniards from so important a position! + +In the month of February, 1590, Maurice, being then at the castle of +Voorn in Zeeland, received a secret visit from a boatman, Adrian van der +Berg by name, who lived at the village of Leur, eight or ten miles from +Breda, and who had long been in the habit of supplying the castle with +turf. In the absence of woods and coal mines, the habitual fuel of the +country was furnished by those vast relics of the antediluvian forests +which abounded in the still partially submerged soil. The skipper +represented that his vessel had passed so often into and out of the +castle as to be hardly liable to search by the guard on its entrance. +He suggested a stratagem by which it might be possible to surprise the +stronghold. + +The prince approved of the scheme and immediately consulted with +Barneveld. That statesman at once proposed, as a suitable man to +carry out the daring venture, Captain Charles de Heraugiere, a nobleman +of Cambray, who had been long in the service of the States, had +distinguished himself at Sluys and on other occasions, but who had been +implicated in Leicester's nefarious plot to gain possession of the city +of Leyden a few years before. The Advocate expressed confidence that he +would be grateful for so signal an opportunity of retrieving a somewhat +damaged reputation. Heraugiere, who was with his company in Voorn at the +moment, eagerly signified his desire to attempt the enterprise as soon as +the matter was communicated to him; avowing the deepest devotion to the +house of William the Silent and perfect willingness to sacrifice his +life, if necessary, in its cause and that of the country. Philip Nassau, +cousin of Prince Maurice and brother of Lewis William, governor of +Gorcum, Dorcum, and Lowenstein Castle and colonel of a regiment of +cavalry, was also taken into the secret, as well as Count Hohenlo, +President Van der Myle and a few others; but a mystery was carefully +spread and maintained over the undertaking. + +Heraugiere selected sixty-eight men, on whose personal daring and +patience he knew that he could rely, from the regiments of Philip Nassau +and of Famars, governor of the neighbouring city of Heusden, and from his +own company. Besides himself, the officers to command the party were +captains Logier and Fervet, and lieutenant Matthew Held. The names of +such devoted soldiers deserve to be commemorated and are still freshly +remembered by their countrymen. + +On the 25th of February, Maurice and his staff went to Willemstad on the +Isle of Klundert, it having been given out on his departure from the +Hague that his destination was Dort. On the same night at about eleven +o'clock, by the feeble light of a waning moon, Heraugiere and his band +came to the Swertsenburg ferry, as agreed upon, to meet the boatman. +They found neither him nor his vessel, and they wandered about half the +night, very cold, very indignant, much perplexed. At last, on their way +back, they came upon the skipper at the village of Terheyde, who made the +extraordinary excuse that he had overslept himself and that he feared the +plot had been discovered. It being too late to make any attempt that +night, a meeting was arranged for the following evening. No suspicion of +treachery occurred to any of the party, although it became obvious that +the skipper had grown faint-hearted. He did not come on the next night +to the appointed place but he sent two nephews, boatmen like himself, +whom he described as dare-devils. + +On Monday night, the 26th of February, the seventy went on board the +vessel, which was apparently filled with blocks of turf, and packed +themselves closely in the hold. They moved slowly during a little time +on their perilous voyage; for the winter wind, thick with fog and sleet, +blew directly down the river, bringing along with it huge blocks of ice +and scooping the water out of the dangerous shallows, so as to render the +vessel at any moment liable to be stranded. At last the navigation +became impossible and they came to a standstill. From Monday night till +Thursday morning those seventy Hollanders lay packed like herrings in the +hold of their little vessel, suffering from hunger, thirst, and deadly +cold; yet not one of them attempted to escape or murmured a wish to +abandon the enterprise. Even when the third morning dawned there was no +better prospect of proceeding; for the remorseless east wind still blew a +gale against them, and the shoals which beset their path had become more +dangerous than ever. It was, however, absolutely necessary to recruit +exhausted nature, unless the adventurers were to drop powerless on the +threshold when they should at last arrive at their destination. In all +secrecy they went ashore at a lonely castle called Nordam, where they +remained to refresh themselves until about eleven at night, when one of +the boatmen came to them with the intelligence that the wind had changed +and was now blowing freshly in from the sea. Yet the voyage of a few +leagues, on which they were embarked, lasted nearly two whole days +longer. On Saturday afternoon they passed through the last sluice, and +at about three o'clock the last boom was shut behind them. There was no +retreat possible for them now. The seventy were to take the strong +castle and city of Breda or to lay down their lives, every man of them. +No quarter and short shrift--such was their certain destiny, should that +half-crippled, half-frozen little band not succeed in their task before +another sunrise. + +They were now in the outer harbour and not far from the Watergate which +led into the inner castle-haven. Presently an officer of the guard put +off in a skiff and came on board the vessel. He held a little +conversation with the two boatmen, observed that the castle was--much +in want of full, took a survey of the turf with which the ship was +apparently laden, and then lounged into the little cabin. Here he was +only separated by a sliding trap-door from the interior of the vessel. +Those inside could hear and see his every movement. Had there been a +single cough or sneeze from within, the true character of the cargo, +then making its way into the castle, would have been discovered and +every man would within ten minutes have been butchered. But the officer, +unsuspecting, soon took his departure, saying that he would send some men +to warp the vessel into the castle dock. + +Meantime, as the adventurers were making their way slowly towards the +Watergate, they struck upon a hidden obstruction in the river and the +deeply laden vessel sprang a leak. In a few minutes those inside were +sitting up to their knees in water--a circumstance which scarcely +improved their already sufficiently dismal condition. The boatmen +vigorously plied the pumps to save the vessel from sinking outright; +a party of Italian soldiers soon arrived on the shore, and in the course +of a couple of hours they had laboriously dragged the concealed +Hollanders into the inner harbour and made their vessel fast, close to +the guard-house of the castle. + +And now a crowd of all sorts came on board. The winter nights had been +long and fearfully cold, and there was almost a dearth of fuel both in +town and fortress. A gang of labourers set to work discharging the turf +from the vessel with such rapidity that the departing daylight began to +shine in upon the prisoners much sooner than they wished. Moreover, the +thorough wetting, to which after all their other inconveniences they had +just been exposed in their narrow escape from foundering, had set the +whole party sneezing and coughing. Never was a catarrh so sudden, so +universal, or so ill-timed. Lieutenant Held, unable to control the +violence of his cough, drew his dagger and eagerly implored his next +neighbour to stab him to the heart, lest his infirmity should lead to the +discovery of the whole party. But the calm and wary skipper who stood on +the deck instantly commanded his companion to work at the pump with as +much clatter as possible, assuring the persons present that the hold was +nearly full of water. By this means the noise of the coughing was +effectually drowned. Most thoroughly did the bold boatman deserve the +title of dare-devil, bestowed by his more fainthearted uncle. Calmly +looking death in the face, he stood there quite at his ease, exchanging +jokes with his old acquaintances, chaffering with the eager purchasers of +peat shouting most noisy and superfluous orders to the one man who +composed his crew, doing his utmost, in short, to get rid of his +customers and to keep enough of the turf on board to conceal the +conspirators. + +At last, when the case seemed almost desperate, he loudly declared that +sufficient had been unladen for that evening and that it was too dark +and he too tired for further work. So, giving a handful of stivers among +the workmen, he bade them go ashore at once and have some beer and come +next morning for the rest of the cargo. Fortunately, they accepted his +hospitable proposition and took their departure. Only the servant of the +captain of the guard lingered behind, complaining that the turf was not +as good as usual and that his master would never be satisfied with it. + +"Ah!" returned the cool skipper, "the best part of the cargo is +underneath. This is expressly reserved for the captain. He +is sure to get enough of it to-morrow." + +Thus admonished, the servant departed and the boatman was left to +himself. His companion had gone on shore with secret orders to make the +best of his way to Prince Maurice, to inform him of the arrival of the +ship within the fortress, and of the important fact which they had just +learned, that Governor Lanzavecchia, who had heard rumours of some +projected enterprise and who suspected that the object aimed at was +Gertruydenberg, had suddenly taken his departure for that city, leaving +as his lieutenant his nephew Paolo, a raw lad quite incompetent to +provide for the safety of Breda. + +A little before midnight, Captain Heraugiere made a brief address to his +comrades in the vessel, telling them that the hour for carrying out their +undertaking had at length arrived. Retreat was impossible, defeat was +certain death, only in complete victory lay their own safety and a great +advantage for the commonwealth. It was an honor to them to be selected +for such an enterprise. To show cowardice now would be an eternal shame +for them, and he would be the man to strike dead with his own hand any +traitor or poltroon. But if, as he doubted not, every one was prepared +to do his duty, their success was assured, and he was himself ready to +take the lead in confronting every danger. + +He then divided the little band into two companies, one under himself to +attack the main guard-house, the other under Fervet to seize the arsenal +of the fortress. + +Noiselessly they stole out of the ship where they had so long been +confined, and stood at last on the ground within the precincts of the +castle. Heraugiere marched straight to the guard-house. + +"Who goes there?" cried a sentinel, hearing some movement in the +darkness. + +"A friend," replied the captain, seizing him, by the throat, and +commanding him, if he valued his life, to keep silence except when +addressed and then to speak in a whisper. + +"How many are there in the garrison?" muttered Heraugiere. + +"Three hundred and fifty," whispered the sentinel. + +"How many?" eagerly demanded the nearest followers, not hearing the +reply. + +"He says there are but fifty of them," said Heraugiere, prudently +suppressing the three hundred, in order to encourage his comrades. + +Quietly as they had made their approach, there was nevertheless a stir +in the guard-house. The captain of the watch sprang into the courtyard. + +"Who goes there?" he demanded in his turn. + +"A friend," again replied Heraugiere, striking him dead with a single +blow as he spoke. + +Others emerged with torches. Heraugiere was slightly wounded, but +succeeded, after a brief struggle, in killing a second assailant. His +followers set upon the watch who retreated into the guard-house. +Heraugiere commanded his men to fire through the doors and windows, and +in a few minutes every one of the enemy lay dead. + +It was not a moment for making prisoners or speaking of quarter. +Meantime Fervet and his band had not been idle. The magazine-house of +the castle was seized, its defenders slain. Young Lanzavecchia made a +sally from the palace, was wounded and driven back together with a few of +his adherents. + +The rest of the garrison fled helter-skelter into the town. Never had +the musketeers of Italy--for they all belonged to Spinola's famous +Sicilian Legion--behaved so badly. They did not even take the precaution +to destroy the bridge between the castle and the town as they fled panic- +stricken before seventy Hollanders. Instead of encouraging the burghers +to their support they spread dismay, as they ran, through every street. + +Young Lanzavecchia, penned into a corner of the castle; began to parley; +hoping for a rally before a surrender should be necessary. In the midst +of the negotiation and a couple of hours before dawn, Hohenlo; duly +apprised by the boatman, arrived with the vanguard of Maurice's troops +before the field-gate of the fort. A vain attempt was made to force this +portal open, but the winter's ice had fixed it fast. Hohenlo was obliged +to batter down the palisade near the water-gate and enter by the same +road through which the fatal turf-boat had passed. + +Soon after he had marched into the town at the head of a strong +detachment, Prince Maurice himself arrived in great haste, attended by +Philip Nassau, the Admiral Justinus Nassau, Count Solms, Peter van der +Does, and Sir Francis Vere, and followed by another body of picked +troops; the musicians playing merrily that national air, then as now so +dear to Netherlanders-- + + "Wilhelmus van Nassouwen + Ben ick van Duytaem bloed." + +The fight was over. Some forty of the garrison had been killed, but not +a man of the attacking party. The burgomaster sent a trumpet to the +prince asking permission to come to the castle to arrange a capitulation; +and before sunrise, the city and fortress of Breda had surrendered to the +authority of the States-General and of his Excellency. + +The terms were moderate. The plundering was commuted for the payment of +two months' wages to every soldier engaged in the affair. Burghers who +might prefer to leave the city were allowed to do so with protection to +life, and property. Those who were willing to remain loyal citizens were +not to be molested, in their consciences or their households, in regard +to religion. The public exercise of Catholic rites was however suspended +until the States-General should make some universal provision on this +subject. + +Subsequently, it must be allowed, the bargain of commutation proved a bad +one for the burghers. Seventy men had in reality done the whole work, +but so many soldiers, belonging to the detachments who marched in after +the fortress had been taken, came forward to claim their months' wages +as to bring the whole amount required above one hundred thousand florins. +The Spaniards accordingly reproached Prince Maurice with having fined his +own patrimonial city more heavily than Alexander Farnese had mulcted +Antwerp, which had been made to pay but four hundred thousand florins, +a far less sum in proportion to the wealth and importance of the place. + +Already the Prince of Parma, in the taking of Breda, saw verified his +predictions of the disasters about to fall on the Spanish interests in +the Netherlands, by reason of Philip's obstinate determination to +concentrate all his energies on the invasion of France. Alexander had +been unable, in the midst of preparations for his French campaign, to +arrest this sudden capture, but his Italian blood was on fire at the +ignominy which had come upon the soldiership of his countrymen. Five +companies of foot and one of horse-picked troops of Spain and Italy--had +surrendered a wealthy, populous town and a well-fortified castle to a +mud-scow, and had fled shrieking in dismay from the onset of seventy +frost-bitten Hollanders. + +It was too late to save the town, but he could punish, as it deserved, +the pusillanimity of the garrison. + +Three captains--one of them rejoicing in the martial name of Cesar +Guerra--were publicly beheaded in Brussels. A fourth, Ventimiglia, +was degraded but allowed to escape with life, on account of his near +relationship to the Duke of Terranova, while Governor Lanzavecchia was +obliged to resign the command of Gertruydenberg. The great commander +knew better than to encourage the yielding up of cities and fortresses +by a mistaken lenity to their unlucky defenders. + +Prince Maurice sent off letters the same night announcing his success to +the States-General. Hohenlo wrote pithily to Olden-Barneveld--"The +castle and town of Breda are ours, without a single man dead on our side. +The garrison made no resistance but ran distracted out of the town." + +The church bells rang and bonfires blazed and cannon thundered in every +city in the United Provinces to commemorate this auspicious event. +Olden-Barneveld, too, whose part in arranging the scheme was known to +have been so valuable, received from the States-General a magnificent +gilded vase with sculptured representations of the various scenes in the +drama, and it is probable that not more unmingled satisfaction had been +caused by any one event of the war than by this surprise of Breda. + +The capture of a single town, not of first-rate importance either, would +hardly seem too merit so minute a description as has been given in the +preceding pages. But the event, with all its details, has been preserved +with singular vividness in Netherland story. As an example of daring, +patience, and complete success, it has served to encourage the bold +spirits of every generation and will always inspire emulation in +patriotic hearts of every age and clime, while, as the first of a series +of audacious enterprises by which Dutch victories were to take the place +of a long procession of Spanish triumphs on the blood-stained soil of the +provinces, it merits, from its chronological position, a more than +ordinary attention. + +In the course of the summer Prince Maurice, carrying out into practice +the lessons which he had so steadily been pondering, reduced the towns +and strong places of Heyl, Flemert, Elshout, Crevecoeur, Hayden, +Steenberg, Rosendaal, and Osterhout. But his time, during the remainder +of the year 1590, was occupied with preparations for a campaign on an +extended scale and with certain foreign negotiations to which it will +soon be necessary to direct the reader's attention. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + + Struggle of the United Provinces against Philip of Spain--Progress + of the Republic--Influence of Geographical position on the fate of + the Netherlands--Contrast offered by America--Miserable state of the + so--called "obedient" provinces--Prosperity of the Commonwealth--Its + internal government--Tendency to provincialism--Quibbles of the + English Members of the Council, Wilkes and Bodley--Exclusion of + Olden-Barneveld from the State Council--Proposals of Philip for + mediation with the United Provinces--The Provinces resolutely + decline all proffers of intervention. + +The United Provinces had now been engaged in unbroken civil war for a +quarter of a century. It is, however, inaccurate to designate this great +struggle with tyranny as a civil war. It was a war for independence, +maintained by almost the whole population of the United Provinces against +a foreigner, a despot, alien to their blood, ignorant of their language, +a hater of their race, a scorner of their religion, a trampler upon their +liberties, their laws, and institutions--a man who had publicly declared +that he would rather the whole nation were exterminated than permitted to +escape from subjection to the Church of Rome. Liberty of speech, liberty +of the press, liberty of thought on political, religious, and social +questions existed within those Dutch pastures and Frisian swamps to a far +greater degree than in any other part of the world at that day; than in +very many regions of Christendom in our own time. Personal slavery was +unknown. In a large portion of their territory it had never existed. +The free Frisians, nearest blood-relations of, in this respect, the less +favoured Anglo-Saxons, had never bowed the knee to the feudal system, nor +worn nor caused to be worn the collar of the serf. In the battles for +human liberty no nation has stood with cleaner hands before the great +tribunal, nor offered more spotless examples of patriotism to be emulated +in all succeeding ages, than the Netherlanders in their gigantic struggle +with Philip of Spain. It was not a class struggling for their own +privileges, but trampling on their fellow-men in a lower scale of +humanity. Kings and aristocrats sneered at the vulgar republic where +Hans Miller, Hans Baker, and Hans Brewer enjoyed political rights end +prated of a sovereignty other than that of long-descended races and of +anointed heads. Yet the pikemen of Spain and the splendid cavalry and +musketeers of Italy and Burgundy, who were now beginning to show their +backs both behind entrenchments and in the open field to their republican +foes, could not deny the valour with which the battles of liberty were +fought; while Elizabeth of England, maintainer, if such ever were, of +hereditary sovereignty and hater of popular freedom, acknowledged that +for wisdom in council, dignity and adroitness in diplomatic debate, there +were none to surpass the plain burgher statesmen of the new republic. + +And at least these Netherlanders were consistent with themselves. They +had come to disbelieve in the mystery of kingcraft, in the divine +speciality of a few transitory mortals to direct the world's events and +to dictate laws to their fellow-creatures. What they achieved was for +the common good of all. They chose to live in an atmosphere of blood and +fire for generation after generation rather than flinch from their +struggle with despotism, for they knew that, cruel as the sea, it would +swallow them all at last in one common destruction if they faltered or +paused. They fought for the liberty of all. And it is for this reason +that the history of this great conflict deserved to be deeply pondered by +those who have the instinct of human freedom. Had the Hollanders basely +sunk before the power of Spain, the proud history of England, France, and +Germany would have been written in far different terms. The blood and +tears which the Netherlanders caused to flow in their own stormy days +have turned to blessings for remotest climes and ages. A pusillanimous +peace, always possible at any period of their war, would have been hailed +with rapture by contemporary statesmen, whose names have vanished from +the world's memory; but would have sown with curses and misery the soil +of Europe for succeeding ages. The territory of the Netherlands is +narrow and meagre. It is but a slender kingdom now among the powers of +the earth. The political grandeur of nations is determined by physical +causes almost as much as by moral ones. Had the cataclysm which +separated the fortunate British islands from the mainland happened to +occur, instead, at a neighbouring point of the earth's crust; had the +Belgian, Dutch, German and Danish Netherland floated off as one island +into the sea, while that famous channel between two great rival nations +remained dry land, there would have been a different history of the +world. + +But in the 16th century the history of one country was not an isolated +chapter of personages and events. The history of the Netherlands is +history of liberty. It was now combined with the English, now with +French, with German struggles for political and religious freedom, but it +is impossible to separate it from the one great complex which makes up +the last half of the sixteenth and the first half of the seventeenth +centuries. + +At that day the Netherland republic was already becoming a power of +importance in the political family of Christendom. If, in spite of her +geographical disadvantages, she achieved so much, how much vaster might +her power have grown, how much stronger through her example might popular +institutions throughout the world have become, and how much more pacific +the relations of European tribes, had nature been less niggard in her +gifts to the young commonwealth. On the sea she was strong, for the +ocean is the best of frontiers; but on land her natural boundaries faded +vaguely away, without strong physical demarcations and with no sharply +defined limits of tongue, history or race. Accident or human caprice +seemed to have divided German Highland from German Netherland; Belgic +Gaul from the rest of the Gallic realm. And even from the slender body, +which an arbitrary destiny had set off for centuries into a separate +organism, tyranny and religious bigotry had just hewn another portion +away. But the commonwealth was already too highly vitalized to permit +peaceful dismemberment. Only the low organisms can live in all their +parts after violent separations. The trunk remained, bleeding but alive +and vigorous, while the amputated portion lay for centuries in fossilized +impotence. + +Never more plainly than in the history of this commonwealth was the +geographical law manifested by which the fate of nations is so deeply +influenced. Courage, enterprise amounting almost to audacity, and a +determined will confronted for a long lapse of time the inexorable, and +permitted a great empire to germinate out of a few sand-banks held in +defiance of the ocean, and protected from human encroachments on the +interior only by the artificial barrier of custom-house and fort. + +Thus foredoomed at birth, it must increase our admiration of human energy +and of the sustaining influence of municipal liberty that the republic, +even if transitory, should yet have girdled the earth with its +possessions and held for a considerable period so vast a portion +of the world in fee. + +What a lesson to our transatlantic commonwealth, whom bountiful nature +had blessed at her birth beyond all the nations of history and seemed to +speed upon an unlimited career of freedom and peaceful prosperity, should +she be capable at the first alarm on her track to throw away her +inestimable advantages! If all history is not a mockery and a fable, +she may be sure that the nation which deliberately carves itself in +pieces and, substitutes artificial boundaries for the natural and +historic ones, condemns itself either to extinction or to the lower life +of political insignificance and petty warfare, with the certain loss of +liberty and national independence at last. Better a terrible struggle, +better the sacrifice of prosperity and happiness for years, than the +eternal setting of that great popular hope, the United American Republic. + +I speak in this digression only of the relations of physical nature to +liberty and nationality, making no allusion to the equally stringent +moral laws which no people can violate and yet remain in health and +vigour. + +Despite a quarter of a century of what is commonly termed civil war, +the United Netherlands were prosperous and full of life. It was in the +provinces which had seceded from the union of Utrecht that there was +silence as of the grave, destitution, slavery, abject submission to a +foreign foe. The leaders in the movement which had brought about the +scission of 1579--commonly called the 'Reconciliation'--enjoyed military +and civil posts under a foreign tyrant, but were poorly rewarded for +subserviency in fighting against their own brethren by contumely on the +part of their masters. As for the mass of the people it would be +difficult to find a desolation more complete than that recorded of the +"obedient" provinces. Even as six years before, wolves littered their +whelps in deserted farmhouses, cane-brake and thicket usurped the place +of cornfield and, orchard, robbers swarmed on the highways once thronged +by a most thriving population, nobles begged their bread in the streets +of cities whose merchants once entertained emperors and whose wealth and +traffic were the wonder of the world, while the Spanish viceroy formally +permitted the land in the agricultural districts to be occupied and +farmed by the first comer for his own benefit, until the vanished +proprietors of the soil should make their re-appearance. + +"Administered without justice or policy," said a Netherlander who was +intensely loyal to the king and a most uncompromising Catholic, "eaten up +and abandoned for that purpose to the arbitrary will of foreigners who +suck the substance and marrow of the land without benefit to the king, +gnaw the obedient cities to the bones, and plunder the open defenceless +country at their pleasure, it may be imagined how much satisfaction these +provinces take in their condition. Commerce and trade have ceased in a +country which traffic alone has peopled, for without it no human +habitation could be more miserable and poor than our land."--[Discours +du Seigneur de Champagny sur les affaires des Pays Bas, 21 Dec. 1589. +Bibl. de Bourgogne, MS. No. 12,962.] + +Nothing could be more gloomy than the evils thus described by the +Netherland statesman and soldier, except the remedy which he suggested. +The obedient provinces, thus scourged and blasted for their obedience, +were not advised to improve their condition by joining hands with their +sister States, who had just constituted themselves by their noble +resistance to royal and ecclesiastical tyranny into a free and powerful +commonwealth. On the contrary, two great sources of regeneration and +prosperity were indicated, but very different ones from those in which +the republic had sought and found her strength. In the first place, it +was suggested as indispensable that the obedient provinces should have +more Jesuits and more Friars. The mendicant orders should be summoned to +renewed exertions, and the king should be requested to send seminary +priests to every village in numbers proportionate to the population, who +should go about from house to house, counting the children, and seeing +that they learned their catechism if their parents did not teach them, +and, even in case they did, examining whether it was done thoroughly and +without deception. + +In the second place it was laid down as important that the bishops should +confirm no one who had not been sufficiently catechized. "And if the +mendicant orders," said Champagny, "are not numerous enough for these +catechizations, the Jesuits might charge themselves therewith, not more +and not less than the said mendicants, some of each being deputed to each +parish. To this end it would be well if his Majesty should obtain from +the Pope a command to the Jesuits to this effect, since otherwise they +might not be willing to comply. It should also be ordered that all +Jesuits, natives of these provinces, should return hither, instead of +wandering about in other regions as if their help were not so necessary +here."--[Ibid.] + +It was also recommended that the mendicant friars should turn their +particular attention to Antwerp, and that one of them should preach in +French, another in German, another in English, every day at the opening +of the Exchange. + +With these appliances it was thought that Antwerp would revive out of +its ruins and, despite the blockade of its river, renew its ancient +commercial glories. Founded on the substantial rocks of mendicancy and +jesuitism, it might again triumph over its rapidly rising rival, the +heretic Amsterdam, which had no better basis for its grandeur than +religious and political liberty, and uncontrolled access to the ocean. + +Such were the aspirations of a distinguished and loyal Netherlander for +the regeneration of his country. Such were his opinions as to the true +sources of the wealth and greatness of nations. Can we wonder that the +country fell to decay, or that this experienced, statesman and brave +soldier should himself, after not many years, seek to hide his +dishonoured head under the cowl of a monk? + +The coast of the obedient provinces was thoroughly blockaded. The United +Provinces commanded the sea, their cruisers, large and small, keeping +diligent watch off every port and estuary of the Flemish coast, so that +not a herringboat could enter without their permission. Antwerp, when it +fell into the hands of the Spaniard, sank for ever from its proud +position. The city which Venetians but lately had confessed with a sigh +to be superior in commercial grandeur to their own magnificent capital, +had ceased to be a seaport. Shut in from the ocean by Flushing--firmly +held by an English garrison as one of the cautionary towns for the +Queen's loan--her world-wide commerce withered before men's eyes. Her +population was dwindling to not much more than half its former numbers, +while Ghent, Bruges, and other cities were diminished by two-thirds. + +On the other hand, the commerce and manufactures of the United Republic +had enormously augmented. Its bitterest enemies bore witness to the +sagacity and success by which its political affairs were administered, +and to its vast superiority in this respect over the obedient provinces. +"The rebels are not ignorant of our condition," said Champagny, "they are +themselves governed with consummate wisdom, and they mock at those who +submit themselves to the Duke of Parma. They are the more confirmed in +their rebellion, when they see how many are thronging from us to them, +complaining of such bad government, and that all take refuge in flight +who can from the misery and famine which it has caused throughout these +provinces!" The industrial population had flowed from the southern +provinces into the north, in obedience to an irresistible law. The +workers in iron, paper, silk, linen, lace, the makers of brocade, +tapestry, and satin, as well as of all the coarser fabrics, had fled from +the land of oppression to the land of liberty. Never in the history of +civilisation had there been a more rapid development of human industry +than in Holland during these years of bloodiest warfare. The towns were +filled to overflowing. Amsterdam multiplied in wealth and population as +fast as Antwerp shrank. Almost as much might be said of Middelburg, +Enkhuyzen, Horn, and many other cities. It is the epoch to which the +greatest expansion of municipal architecture is traced. Warehouses, +palaces, docks, arsenals, fortifications, dykes, splendid streets and +suburbs, were constructed on every side, and still there was not room for +the constantly increasing population, large numbers of which habitually +dwelt in the shipping. For even of that narrow span of earth called the +province of Holland, one-third was then interior water, divided into five +considerable lakes, those of Harlem, Schermer, Beemster, Waert, and +Purmer. The sea was kept out by a magnificent system of dykes under +the daily superintendence of a board of officers, called dyke-graves, +while the rain-water, which might otherwise have drowned the soil thus +painfully reclaimed, was pumped up by windmills and drained off through +sluices opening and closing with the movement of the tides. + +The province of Zeeland was one vast "polder." It was encircled by an +outer dyke of forty Dutch equal to one hundred and fifty English, miles +in extent, and traversed by many interior barriers. The average cost of +dyke-building was sixty florins the rod of twelve feet, or 84,000 florins +the Dutch mile. The total cost of the Zeeland dykes was estimated at +3,360,000 florins, besides the annual repairs. + +But it was on the sea that the Netherlanders were really at home, and +they always felt it in their power--as their last resource against +foreign tyranny--to bury their land for ever in the ocean, and to seek a +new country at the ends of the earth. It has always been difficult to +doom to political or personal slavery a nation accustomed to maritime +pursuits. Familiarity with the boundless expanse of ocean, and the habit +of victoriously contending with the elements in their stormy strength, +would seem to inspire a consciousness in mankind of human dignity and +worth. With the exception of Spain, the chief seafaring nations of the +world were already protestant. The counter-league, which was to do +battle so strenuously with the Holy Confederacy, was essentially a +maritime league. "All the maritime heretics of the world, since heresy +is best suited to navigators, will be banded together," said Champagny, +"and then woe to the Spanish Indies, which England and Holland are +already threatening." + +The Netherlanders had been noted from earliest times for a free-spoken +and independent personal demeanour. At this epoch they were taking the +lead of the whole world in marine adventure. At least three thousand +vessels of between one hundred and four hundred tons, besides innumerable +doggers, busses, cromstevens, and similar craft used on the rivers and in +fisheries, were to be found in the United Provinces, and one thousand, +it was estimated, were annually built. + +They traded to the Baltic regions for honey, wax, tallow, lumber, iron, +turpentine, hemp. They brought from farthest Indies and from America all +the fabrics of ancient civilisation, all the newly discovered products of +a virgin soil, and dispensed them among the less industrious nations of +the earth. Enterprise, led on and accompanied by science, was already +planning the boldest flights into the unknown yet made by mankind, and +it will soon be necessary to direct attention to those famous arctic +voyages, made by Hollanders in pursuit of the north-west passage to +Cathay, in which as much heroism, audacity, and scientific intelligence +were displayed as in later times have made so many men belonging to both +branches of the Anglo-Saxon race illustrious. A people, engaged in +perennial conflict with a martial and sacerdotal despotism the most +powerful in the world, could yet spare enough from its superfluous +energies to confront the dangers of the polar oceans, and to bring back +treasures of science to enrich the world. + +Such was the spirit of freedom. Inspired by its blessed influence this +vigorous and inventive little commonwealth triumphed over all human, all +physical obstacles in its path. It organised armies on new principles +to drive the most famous legions of history from its soil. It built +navies to help rescue, at critical moments, the cause of England, of +Protestantism, of civil liberty, and even of French nationality. More +than all, by its trade with its arch-enemy, the republic constantly +multiplied its resources for destroying his power and aggrandizing its +own. + +The war navy of the United Provinces was a regular force of one hundred +ships--large at a period when a vessel of thirteen hundred tons was a +monster--together with an indefinite number of smaller craft, which could +be put into the public service on short notice? In those days of close +quarters and light artillery a merchant ship was converted into a cruiser +by a very simple, process. The navy was a self-supporting one, for it +was paid by the produce of convoy fees and licenses to trade. It must be +confessed that a portion of these revenues savoured much of black-mail to +be levied on friend and foe; for the distinctions between, freebooter, +privateer, pirate, and legitimate sea-robber were not very closely drawn +in those early days of seafaring. + +Prince Maurice of Nassau was lord high admiral, but he was obliged to +listen to the counsels of various provincial boards of admiralty, which +often impeded his action and interfered with his schemes. + +It cannot be denied that the inherent vice of the Netherland polity was +already a tendency to decentralisation and provincialism. The civil +institutions of the country, in their main characteristics, have been +frequently sketched in these pages. At this period they had entered +almost completely into the forms which were destined to endure until the +commonwealth fell in the great crash of the French Revolution. Their +beneficial effects were more visible now--sustained and bound together as +the nation was by the sense of a common danger, and by the consciousness +of its daily developing strength--than at a later day when prosperity and +luxury had blunted the fine instincts of patriotism. + +The supreme power, after the deposition of Philip, and the refusal by +France and by England to accept the sovereignty of the provinces, was +definitely lodged in the States-General. But the States-General did not +technically represent the, people. Its members were not elected by the +people. It was a body composed of, delegates from each provincial +assembly, of which there were now five: Holland, Zeeland, Friesland, +Utrecht, and Gelderland. Each provincial assembly consisted again of +delegates, not from the inhabitants of the provinces, but from the +magistracies of the cities. Those, magistracies, again, were not elected +by the citizens. They elected themselves by renewing their own +vacancies, and were, in short, immortal corporations. Thus, in final +analysis, the supreme power was distributed and localised among the +mayors and aldermen of a large number of cities, all independent alike +of the people below and of any central power above. + +It is true that the nobles, as, a class, had a voice in the provincial +and, in the general assembly, both for themselves and as technical +representatives of the smaller towns and of the rural population. But, +as a matter of fact, the influence of this caste had of late years very +rapidly diminished, through its decrease in numbers, and the far more +rapid increase in wealth and power of the commercial and manufacturing +classes. Individual nobles were constantly employed in the military, +civil, and diplomatic service of the republic, but their body had ceased +to be a power. It had been. the policy of William the Silent to +increase the number of cities entitled to send deputies to the States; +for it was among the cities that his resistance to the tyranny of Spain, +and his efforts to obtain complete independence for his country, had been +mainly supported. Many of the great nobles, as has been seen in these +pages, denounced the liberator and took sides with the tyrant. Lamoral +Egmont had walked to the scaffold to which Philip had condemned him, +chanting a prayer for Philip's welfare. Egmont's eldest son was now +foremost in the Spanish army, doing battle against his own country in +behalf of the tyrant who had taken his father's life. Aremberg and +Ligny, Arachot, Chimay, Croy, Caprea, Montigny, and most of the great +patrician families of the Netherlands fought on the royal side. + +The revolution which had saved the country from perdition and created the +great Netherland republic was a burgher revolution, and burgher statesmen +now controlled the State. The burgher class of Europe is not the one +that has been foremost in the revolutionary movements of history, +or that has distinguished itself--especially in more modern times-- +by a passionate love of liberty. It is always easy to sneer at Hans +Miller and Hans Baker, and at the country where such plebeians are +powerful. Yet the burghers played a prominent part in the great drama +which forms my theme, and there has rarely been seen a more solid or +powerful type of their class than the burgher statesman, John of Olden- +Barneveld, who, since the death of William the Silent and the departure +of Lord Leicester, had mainly guided the destinies of Holland. Certainly +no soldier nor statesman who ever measured intellects with that potent +personage was apt to treat his genius otherwise than with profound +respect. + +But it is difficult to form a logical theory of government except on the +fiction of divine right as a basis, unless the fact of popular +sovereignty, as expressed by a majority, be frankly accepted in spite of +philosophical objections. + +In the Netherlands there was no king, and strictly speaking no people. +But this latter and fatal defect was not visible in the period of danger +and of contest. The native magistrates of that age were singularly pure, +upright, and patriotic. Of this there is no question whatever. And the +people acquiesced cheerfully in their authority, not claiming a larger +representation than such as they virtually possessed in the multiple +power exercised over them, by men moving daily among them, often of +modest fortunes and of simple lives. Two generations later, and in the +wilderness of Massachusetts, the early American colonists voluntarily +placed in the hands of their magistrates, few in number, unlimited +control of all the functions of government, and there was hardly an +instance known of an impure exercise of authority. Yet out of that +simple kernel grew the least limited and most powerful democracy ever +known. + +In the later days of Netherland history a different result became +visible, and with it came the ruin of the State. The governing class, of +burgher origin, gradually separated itself from the rest of the citizens, +withdrew from commercial pursuits, lived on hereditary fortunes in the +exercise of functions which were likewise virtually hereditary, and so +became an oligarchy. This result, together with the physical causes +already indicated, made the downfall of the commonwealth probable +whenever it should be attacked by an overwhelming force from without. + +The States-General, however, at this epoch--although they had in a manner +usurped the sovereignty, which in the absence of a feudal lord really +belonged to the whole people, and had silently repossessed themselves of +those executive functions which they had themselves conferred upon the +state council--were at any rate without self-seeking ambition. The +Hollanders, as a race, were not office seekers, but were singularly +docile to constituted authority, while their regents--as the municipal +magistrates were commonly called--were not very far removed above the +mass by birth or habitual occupation. The republic was a social and +political fact, against which there was no violent antagonism either of +laws or manners, and the people, although not technically existing, in +reality was all in all. In Netherland story the People is ever the true +hero. It was an almost unnoticed but significant revolution--that by +which the state council was now virtually deprived of its authority. +During Leicester's rule it had been a most important college of +administration. Since his resignation it had been entrusted by the +States-General with high executive functions, especially in war matters. +It was an assembly of learned counsellors appointed from the various +provinces for wisdom and experience, usually about eighteen in number, +and sworn in all things to be faithful to the whole republic. The +allegiance of all was rendered to the nation. Each individual member was +required to "forswear his native province in order to be true to the +generality." They deliberated in common for the general good, and were +not hampered by instructions from the provincial diets, nor compelled to +refer to those diets for decision when important questions were at issue. +It was an independent executive committee for the whole republic. + +But Leicester had made it unpopular. His intrigues, in the name of +democracy, to obtain possession of sovereign power, to inflame the lower +classes against the municipal magistracies, and to excite the clergy to +claim a political influence to which they were not entitled and which was +most mischievous in its effects, had exposed the state council, with +which he had been in the habit of consulting, to suspicion. + +The Queen of England, by virtue of her treaty had the right to appoint +two of her subjects to be members of the council. The governor of her +auxiliary forces was also entitled to a seat there. Since the +malpractices of Leicester and the danger to which the country had been, +subjected in consequence had been discovered, it was impossible that +there should be very kindly feeling toward England in the public mind, +however necessary a sincere alliance between the two countries was known +to be for the welfare of both. + +The bickering of the two English councillors, Wilkes and Bodley, +and of the governor of the English contingent with the Hollanders, +was incessant. The Englishmen went so far as to claim the right of +veto upon all measures passed by the council, but the States-General +indignantly replied that the matters deliberated and decided upon by that +board were their own affairs, not the state affairs of England. The two +members and the military officer who together represented her Majesty +were entitled to participate in the deliberations and to vote with their +brother members. For them to claim the right, however, at will to annul +the proceedings was an intolerable assumption, and could not be listened +to for a moment. Certainly it would have been strange had two Dutchmen +undertaken to veto every measure passed by the Queen's council at +Richmond or Windsor, and it was difficult to say on what article of the +contract this extraordinary privilege was claimed by Englishmen at the +Hague. + +Another cause of quarrel was the inability of the Englishmen to +understand the language in which the debates of the state council were +held. + +According to a custom not entirely unexampled in parliamentary history +the members of assembly and council made use of their native tongue in +discussing the state affairs of their native land. It was however +considered a grievance by the two English members that the Dutchmen +should speak Dutch, and it was demanded in the Queen's name that they +should employ some other language which a foreigner could more easily +understand. + +The Hollanders however refused this request, not believing that in a +reversed case her Majesty's Council or Houses of Parliament would be +likely or competent to carry on their discussions habitually in Italian +or Latin for the benefit of a couple of strangers who might not be +familiar with English. The more natural remedy would have been for the +foreigners to take lessons in the tongue of the country, or to seek for +an interpreter among their colleagues; especially as the States, when all +the Netherlands were but provinces, had steadily refused to adopt any +language but their mother tongue, even at the demand of their sovereign +prince. + +At this moment, Sir Thomas Bodley was mainly entrusted with her Majesty's +affairs at the Hague, but his overbearing demeanour, intemperate +language, and passionate style of correspondence with the States and with +the royal government, did much injury to both countries. The illustrious +Walsingham--whose death in the spring of this year England had so much +reason to deplore--had bitterly lamented, just before his death, having +recommended so unquiet a spirit for so important a place. Ortel, envoy +of the States to London, expressed his hopes that affairs would now be +handled more to the satisfaction of the States; as Bodley would be +obliged, since the death of Sir Francis, to address his letters to the +Lord High Treasurer, with whom it would be impossible for him to obtain +so much influence as he had enjoyed with the late Secretary of State. + +Moreover it was exactly at this season that the Advocate of Holland, +Olden-Barneveld, was excluded from the state council. Already the +important province of Holland was dissatisfied with its influence in that +body. Bearing one-half of the whole burthen of the war it was not +content with one-quarter of the council vote, and very soon it became the +custom for the States-General to conduct all the most important affairs +of the republic. The state council complained that even in war matters +it was not consulted, and that most important enterprises were undertaken +by Prince Maurice without its knowledge, and on advice of the Advocate +alone. Doubtless this was true, and thus, most unfortunately, the +commonwealth was degraded to a confederacy instead of becoming an +incorporate federal State. The members of the States-General--as it +has been seen were responsible only to their constituents, the separate +provinces. They avowed allegiance, each to his own province, none to the +central government. Moreover they were not representatives, but envoys, +appointed by petty provinces, bound by written orders, and obliged to +consult at every step with their sovereigns at home. The Netherland +polity was thus stamped almost at its birth with a narrow provincialism: +Delay and hesitation thus necessarily engendered were overcome in the +days of danger by patriotic fervour. The instinct of union for the +sake of the national existence was sufficiently strong, and the robust, +practical common sense of the people sufficiently enlightened to prevent +this weakness from degenerating into impotence so long as the war +pressure remained to mould them into a whole. But a day was to come for +bitterly rueing this paralysis of the imperial instincts of the people, +this indefinite decentralisation of the national strength. + +For the present, the legislative and executive body was the States- +General. But the States-General were in reality the States provincial, +and the States provincial were the city municipalities, among which the +magistracies of Holland were preponderant. + +Ere long it became impossible for an individual to resist the decrees of +the civic authorities. In 1591, the States-General passed a resolution +by which these arrogant corporations virtually procured their exemption +from any process at the suit of a private person to be placed on record. +So far could the principle of sovereignty be pulverized. City council +boards had become supreme. + +It was naturally impossible during the long continuance of this great +struggle, that neutral nations should not be injuriously affected by it +in a variety of ways. And as a matter of course neutral nations were +disposed to counsel peace. Peace, peace; peace was the sigh of the +bystanders whose commerce was impeded, whose international relations. +were complicated, and whose own security was endangered in the course of +the bloody conflict. It was however not very much the fashion of that +day for governments to obtrude advice upon each other; or to read to each +other moral lectures. It was assumed that when the expense and sacrifice +of war had been incurred, it was for cause, and the discovery had not yet +been made that those not immediately interested in the fray were better +acquainted with its merits than, the combatants themselves, and were +moreover endued with, superhuman wisdom to see with perfect clearness +that future issue which to the parties themselves was concealed. + +Cheap apothegms upon the blessings of peace and upon the expediency of +curbing the angry passions, uttered by the belligerents of yesterday to +the belligerents of to-day, did not then pass current for profound +wisdom. + +Still the emperor Rudolph, abstaining for a time from his star-gazing, +had again thought proper to make a feeble attempt at intervention in +those sublunary matters which were supposed to be within his sphere. + +It was perfectly well known that Philip was incapable of abating one jot +of his pretensions, and that to propose mediation to the United Provinces +was simply to request them, for the convenience of other powers, to +return to the slavery out of which, by the persistent efforts of a +quarter of a century, they had struggled. Nevertheless it was formally +proposed to re-open those lukewarm fountains of diplomatic commonplace in +which healing had been sought during the peace negotiations of Cologne in +the year 1579. But the States-General resolutely kept them sealed. They +simply answered his imperial Majesty by a communication of certain +intercepted correspondence between--the King of Spain and his ambassador +at Vienna, San Clemente, through which it was satisfactorily established +that any negotiation would prove as gigantic a comedy on the part of +Spain as had been the memorable conferences at Ostend, by which the +invasion of England had been masked. + +There never was a possibility of mediation or of compromise except by +complete submission on the part of the Netherlanders to Crown and Church. +Both in this, as well as in previous and subsequent attempts at +negotiations, the secret instructions of Philip forbade any real +concessions on his side. He was always ready to negotiate, he was +especially anxious to obtain a suspension of arms from the rebels during +negotiation; but his agents were instructed to use great dexterity and +dissimulation in order that the proposal for such armistice, as well as +for negotiation at all, should appear to proceed, not from himself as was +the fact, but from the emperor as a neutral potentate. The king +uniformly proposed three points; firstly, that the rebels should +reconvert themselves to the Catholic religion; secondly, that they should +return to their obedience to himself; thirdly, that they should pay the +expenses of the war. Number three was, however, usually inserted in +order that, by conceding it subsequently, after much contestation, he +might appear conciliatory. It was a vehicle of magnanimity towards men +grown insolent with temporary success. Numbers one and two were +immutable. + +Especially upon number one was concession impossible. "The Catholic +religion is the first thing," said Philip, "and although the rebels do +not cease to insist that liberty of conscience should be granted them, +in order that they may preserve that which they have had during these +past years, this is never to be thought of in any event." The king +always made free use of the terrible weapon which the Protestant princes +of Germany had placed in his hands. For indeed if it were right that one +man, because possessed of hereditary power over millions of his fellow +creatures, should compel them all to accept the dogmas of Luther or of +Calvin because agreeable to himself, it was difficult to say why another +man, in a similarly elevated position, might not compel his subjects to +accept the creed of Trent, or the doctrines of Mahomet or Confucius. +The Netherlanders were fighting--even more than they knew-for liberty +of conscience, for equality of all religions; not for Moses, nor for +Melancthon; for Henry, Philip, or Pius; while Philip justly urged that no +prince in Christendom permitted license. "Let them well understand," +said his Majesty, "that since others who live in error, hold the opinion +that vassals are to conform to the religion of their master, it is +insufferable that it should be proposed to me that my vassals should have +a different religion from mine--and that too being the true religion, +proved by so many testimonies and miracles, while all others are +deception. This must be arranged with the authority of the commissioners +of the emperor, since it is well understood by them that the vassal is +never to differ from the opinion of his master." Certainly it was worth +an eighty years' war to drive such blasphemous madness as this out of +human heads, whether crowned or shaven. + +There was likewise a diet held during the summer of this year, of the +circles of the empire nearest to the Netherlands--Westphalia, Cleves, +Juliers, and Saxony--from which commissioners were deputed both to +Brussels and to the Hague, to complain of the misfortunes suffered by +neutral and neighbouring nations in consequence of the civil war. + +They took nothing by their mission to the Duke of Parma. At the Hague +the deputies were heard on the 22nd August, 1590. They complained to the +States-General of "brandschatting" on the border, of the holding of forts +beyond the lines, and of other invasions of neutral territory, of the +cruising of the war-vessels of the States off the shores and on the +rivers, and of their interference with lawful traders. Threats were made +of forcible intervention and reprisals. + +The united States replied on the 13th September. Expressing deep regret +that neutral nations should suffer, they pronounced it to be impossible +but that some sparks from the great fire, now desolating their land, +should fly over into their neighbours' ground. The States were fighting +the battle of liberty against slavery, in which the future generations of +Germany, as well as of the Netherlands were interested. They were +combating that horrible institution, the Holy Inquisition. They were +doing their best to strike down the universal monarchy of Spain, which +they described as a bloodthirsty, insatiable, insolent, absolute dominion +of Saracenic, Moorish Christians. They warred with a system which placed +inquisitors on the seats of judges, which made it unlawful to read the +Scriptures, which violated all oaths, suppressed all civic freedom, +trampled, on all laws and customs, raised inordinate taxes by arbitrary +decree, and subjected high and low to indiscriminate murder. Spain had +sworn the destruction of the provinces and their subjugation to her +absolute dominion, in order to carry out her scheme of universal empire. + +These were the deeds and designs against which the States were waging +that war, concerning some inconvenient results of which their neighbours, +now happily neutral, were complaining. But the cause of the States was +the cause of humanity itself. This Saracenic, Moorish, universal +monarchy had been seen by Germany to murder, despoil, and trample upon +the Netherlands. It had murdered millions of innocent Indians and +Granadians. It had kept Naples and Milan in abject slavery. It had +seized Portugal. It had deliberately planned and attempted an accursed +invasion of England and Ireland. It had overrun and plundered many +cities of the empire. It had spread a web of secret intrigue about +Scotland. At last it was sending great armies to conquer France and +snatch its crown. Poor France now saw the plans of this Spanish tyranny +and bewailed her misery. The subjects of her lawful king were ordered to +rise against him, on account of religion and conscience. Such holy +pretexts were used by these Saracenic Christians in order to gain +possession of that kingdom. + +For all these reasons, men should not reproach the inhabitants of the +Netherlands, because seeing the aims of this accursed tyranny, they had +set themselves to resist it. It was contrary to reason to consider them +as disturbers of the general peace, or to hold them guilty of violating +their oaths or their duty to the laws of the holy empire. The States- +General were sure that they had been hitherto faithful and loyal, and +they were resolved to continue in that path. + +As members of the holy empire, in part--as of old they were considered to +be--they had rather the right to expect, instead of reproaches, +assistance against the enormous power and inhuman oppression of their +enemies. They had demanded it heretofore by their ambassadors, and they +still continued to claim it. They urged that, according to the laws of +the empire, all foreign soldiers, Spaniards, Saracens, and the like +should be driven out of the limits of the empire. Through these means +the German Highland and the German Netherland might be restored once more +to their old friendship and unity, and might deal with each other again +in amity and commerce. + +If, however, such requests could not be granted they at least begged his +electoral highness and the other dukes, lords, and states to put on the +deeds of Netherlanders in this laborious and heavy war the best +interpretation, in order that they might, with the better courage and +resolution, bear those inevitable burthens which were becoming daily +heavier in this task of resistance and self-protection; in order that the +provinces might not be utterly conquered, and serve, with their natural +resources and advantageous situation, as 'sedes et media belli' for the +destruction of neighbouring States and the building up of the +contemplated universal, absolute monarchy. + +The United Provinces had been compelled by overpowering necessity to +take up arms. That which had resulted was and remained in 'terminis +defensionis.' Their object was to protect what belonged to them, to +recover that which by force or fraud had been taken from them. + +In regard to excesses committed by their troops against neutral +inhabitants on the border, they expressed a strong regret, together with +a disposition to make all proper retribution and to cause all crimes to +be punished. + +They alluded to the enormous sins of this nature practised by the enemy +against neutral soil. They recalled to mind that the Spaniards paid +their troops ill or not at all, and that they allowed them to plunder the +innocent and the neutral, while the United States had paid their troops +better wages, and more punctually, than had ever been done by the +greatest potentates of Europe. It was true that the States kept many +cruisers off the coasts and upon the rivers, but these were to protect +their own citizens and friendly traders against pirates and against the +common foe. Germany derived as much benefit from this system as did the +Provinces themselves. + +Thus did the States-General, respectfully but resolutely, decline all +proffers of intervention, which, as they were well aware, could only +enure to the benefit of the enemy. Thus did they avoid being entrapped +into negotiations which could only prove the most lamentable of comedies. + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +A pusillanimous peace, always possible at any period +At length the twig was becoming the tree +Being the true religion, proved by so many testimonies +Certainly it was worth an eighty years' war +Chief seafaring nations of the world were already protestant +Conceding it subsequently, after much contestation +Fled from the land of oppression to the land of liberty +German Highland and the German Netherland +Little army of Maurice was becoming the model for Europe +Luxury had blunted the fine instincts of patriotism +Maritime heretics +Portion of these revenues savoured much of black-mail +The divine speciality of a few transitory mortals +The history of the Netherlands is history of liberty +The nation which deliberately carves itself in pieces +They had come to disbelieve in the mystery of kingcraft +Worn nor caused to be worn the collar of the serf + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext History of United Netherlands, v61 +by John Lothrop Motley + + + + + + +HISTORY OF THE UNITED NETHERLANDS +From the Death of William the Silent to the Twelve Year's Truce--1609 + +By John Lothrop Motley + + + +History United Netherlands, Volume 62, 1590 + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + + Philip's scheme of aggrandizement--Projected invasion of France-- + Internal condition of France--Character of Henry of Navarre-- + Preparation for action--Battle of Ivry--Victory of the French king + over the League--Reluctance of the King to attack the French + capital--Siege of Paris--The pope indisposed towards the League-- + Extraordinary demonstration of ecclesiastics--Influence of the + priests--Extremities of the siege--Attempted negotiation--State of + Philip's army--Difficult position of Farnese--March of the allies to + the relief of Paris--Lagny taken and the city relieved--Desertion of + the king's army--Siege of Corbeil--Death of Pope Sixtus V.-- + Re-capture of Lagny and Corbeil--Return of Parma to the Netherlands + --Result of the expedition. + +The scene of the narrative shifts to France. The history of the United +Netherlands at this epoch is a world-history. Were it not so, it would +have far less of moral and instruction for all time than it is really +capable of affording. The battle of liberty against despotism was now +fought in the hop-fields of Brabant or the polders of Friesland, now in +the: narrow seas which encircle England, and now on the sunny plains of +Dauphiny, among the craggy inlets of Brittany, or along the high roads +and rivers which lead to the gates of Paris. But everywhere a noiseless, +secret, but ubiquitous negotiation was speeding with never an instant's +pause to accomplish the work which lansquenettes and riders, pikemen and +carabineers were contending for on a hundred battle-fields and amid a din +of arms which for a quarter of a century had been the regular hum of +human industry. For nearly a generation of mankind, Germans and +Hollanders, Englishmen, Frenchmen, Scotchmen, Irishmen, Spaniards and +Italians seemed to be born into the world mainly to fight for or against +a system of universal monarchy, conceived for his own benefit by a quiet +old man who passed his days at a writing desk in a remote corner of +Europe. It must be confessed that Philip II. gave the world work enough. +Whether--had the peoples governed themselves--their energies might not +have been exerted in a different direction, and on the whole have +produced more of good to the human race than came of all this blood and +awoke, may be questioned. + +But the divine right of kings, associating itself with the power supreme +of the Church, was struggling to maintain that old mastery of mankind +which awakening reason was inclined to dispute. Countries and nations +being regarded as private property to be inherited or bequeathed by a few +favoured individuals--provided always that those individuals were +obedient to the chief-priest--it had now become right and proper for the +Spanish monarch to annex Scotland, England, and France to the very +considerable possessions which were already his own. Scotland he claimed +by virtue of the expressed wish of Mary to the exclusion of her heretic +son. + +France, which had been unjustly usurped by another family in times past +to his detriment, and which only a mere human invention--a "pleasantry" +as Alva had happily termed it, called the "Salic law"--prevented from +passing quietly to his daughter, as heiress to her mother, daughter of +Henry II., he was now fully bent upon making his own without further loss +of time. England, in consequence of the mishap of the year eighty-eight, +he was inclined to defer appropriating until the possession of the French +coasts, together with those of the Netherlands, should enable him to risk +the adventure with assured chances of success. + +The Netherlands were fast slipping beyond his control, to be sure, as he +engaged in these endless schemes; and ill-disposed people of the day said +that the king was like Aesop's dog, lapping the river dry in order to get +at the skins floating on the surface. The Duke of Parma was driven to +his wits' ends for expedients, and beside himself with vexation, when +commanded to withdraw his ill-paid and mutinous army from the Provinces +for the purpose of invading France. Most importunate were the appeals +and potent the arguments by which he attempted to turn Philip from his +purpose. It was in vain. Spain was the great, aggressive, overshadowing +power at that day, before whose plots and whose violence the nations +alternately trembled, and it was France that now stood in danger of being +conquered or dismembered by the common enemy of all. That unhappy +kingdom, torn by intestine conflict, naturally invited the ambition and +the greediness of foreign powers. Civil war had been its condition, with +brief intervals, for a whole generation of mankind. During the last few +years, the sword had been never sheathed, while "the holy Confederacy" +and the Bearnese struggled together for the mastery. Religion was the +mantle under which the chiefs on both sides concealed their real designs +as they led on their followers year after year to the desperate conflict. +And their followers, the masses, were doubtless in earnest. A great +principle--the relation of man to his Maker and his condition in a future +world as laid down by rival priesthoods--has in almost every stage of +history had power to influence the multitude to fury and to deluge the +world in blood. And so long as the superstitious element of human nature +enables individuals or combinations of them to dictate to their fellow- +creatures those relations, or to dogmatize concerning those conditions-- +to take possession of their consciences in short, and to interpose their +mummeries between man and his Creator--it is, probable that such scenes +as caused the nations to shudder, throughout so large a portion of the +sixteenth and seventeenth centuries will continue to repeat themselves at +intervals in various parts of the earth. Nothing can be more sublime +than the self-sacrifice, nothing more demoniac than the crimes, which +human creatures have seemed always ready to exhibit under the name of +religion. + +It was and had been really civil war in France. In the Netherlands it +had become essentially a struggle for independence against a foreign +monarch; although the germ out of which both conflicts had grown to their +enormous proportions was an effort of the multitude to check the growth +of papacy. In France, accordingly, civil war, attended by that gaunt +sisterhood, murder, pestilence, and famine, had swept from the soil +almost everything that makes life valuable. It had not brought in its +train that extraordinary material prosperity and intellectual development +at which men wondered in the Netherlands, and to which allusion has just +been made. But a fortunate conjunction of circumstances had now placed +Henry of Navarre in a position of vantage. He represented the principle +of nationality, of French unity. It was impossible to deny that he was +in the regular line of succession, now that luckless Henry of Valois +slept with his fathers, and the principle of nationality might perhaps +prove as vital a force as attachment to the Roman Church. Moreover, the +adroit and unscrupulous Bearnese knew well how to shift the mantle of +religion from one shoulder to the other, to serve his purposes or the +humours of those whom he addressed. + +"The King of Spain would exclude me from the kingdom and heritage of my +father because of my religion," he said to the Duke of Saxony; "but in +that religion I am determined to persist so long as I shall live." The +hand was the hand of Henry, but it was the voice of Duplessis Mornay. + +"Were there thirty crowns to win," said he, at about the same time to the +States of France, "I would not change my religion on compulsion, the +dagger at my throat. Instruct me, instruct me, I am not obstinate." +There spoke the wily freethinker, determined not to be juggled out of +what he considered his property by fanatics or priests of either church. +Had Henry been a real devotee, the fate of Christendom might have been +different. The world has long known how much misery it is in the power +of crowned bigots to inflict. + +On the other hand, the Holy League, the sacred Confederacy, was catholic +or nothing. Already it was more papist than the pope, and loudly +denounced Sixtus V. as a Huguenot because he was thought to entertain a +weak admiration both for Henry the heretic and for the Jezebel of +England. + +But the holy confederacy was bent on destroying the national government +of France, and dismembering the national domain. To do this the pretext +of trampling out heresy and indefinitely extending the power of Rome, was +most influential with the multitude, and entitled the leaders to enjoy +immense power for the time being, while maturing their schemes for +acquiring permanent possession of large fragments of the national +territory. Mayenne, Nemours, Aumale, Mercoeur longed to convert +temporary governments into independent principalities. The Duke of +Lorraine looked with longing eyes on Verdun, Sedan, and, the other fair +cities within the territories contiguous--to his own domains. The +reckless house of Savoy; with whom freebooting and landrobbery seemed +geographical, and hereditary necessities, was busy on the southern +borders, while it seemed easy enough for Philip, II., in right of his +daughter, to secure at least the duchy of Brittany before entering on +the sovereignty of the whole kingdom. + +To the eyes of the world at large: France might well seem in a condition +of hopeless disintegration; the restoration of its unity and former +position among the nations, under the government of a single chief, a +weak and wicked dream. Furious and incessant were the anathemas hurled +on the head of the Bearnese for his persistence in drowning the land in +blood in the hope of recovering a national capital which never could be +his, and of wresting from the control of the confederacy that power. +which, whether usurped or rightful, was considered, at least by the +peaceably inclined, to have become a solid fact. + +The poor puppet locked in the tower of Fontenay, and entitled Charles X.; +deceived and scared no one. Such money as there was might be coined, in +its name, but Madam League reigned supreme in Paris. The confederates, +inspired by the eloquence of a cardinal legate, and supplied with funds +by the faithful, were ready to dare a thousand deaths rather than submit +to the rule of a tyrant and heretic. + +What was an authority derived from the laws of the land and the history +of the race compared with the dogmas of Rome and the trained veterans of +Spain? It remained to be seen whether nationality or bigotry would +triumph. But in the early days of 1590 the prospects of nationality were +not encouraging. + +Francois de Luxembourg, due de Pincey, was in Rome at that moment, +deputed by such catholic nobles of France as were friendly to Henry of +Navarre. Sixtus might perhaps be influenced as to the degree of respect +to be accorded to the envoy's representations by the events of the +campaign about to open. Meantime the legate Gaetano, young, rich, +eloquent, unscrupulous, distinguished alike for the splendour of his +house and the brilliancy of his intellect, had arrived in Paris. + +Followed by a great train of adherents he had gone down to the House of +Parliament, and was about to seat himself under the dais reserved for the +king, when Brisson, first President of Parliament, plucked him back by +the arm, and caused him to take a seat immediately below his own. + +Deeply was the bold president to expiate this defence of king and law +against the Holy League. For the moment however the legate contented +himself with a long harangue, setting forth the power of Rome, while +Brisson replied by an oration magnifying the grandeur of France. + +Soon afterwards the cardinal addressed himself to the counteraction +of Henry's projects of conversion. For, well did the subtle priest +understand that in purging himself of heresy, the Bearnese was about to +cut the ground from beneath his enemies' feet. In a letter to the +archbishops and bishops of France, he argued the matter at length. +Especially he denied the necessity or the legality of an assembly of all +the prelates of France, such as Henry desired to afford him the requisite +"instruction" as to the respective merits of the Roman and the reformed +Church. Certainly, he urged, the Prince of Bearne could hardly require +instruction as to the tenets of either, seeing that at different times he +had faithfully professed both. + +But while benches of bishops and doctors of the Sorbonne were burnishing +all the arms in ecclesiastical and legal arsenals for the approaching +fray, the sound of louder if not more potent artillery began to be heard +in the vicinity of Paris. The candid Henry, while seeking ghostly +instruction with eagerness from his papistical patrons, was equally +persevering in applying for the assistance of heretic musketeers and +riders from his protestant friends in England, Holland, Germany, and +Switzerland. + +Queen Elizabeth and the States-General vied with each other in generosity +to the great champion of protestantism, who was combating the holy league +so valiantly, and rarely has a great historical figure presented itself +to the world so bizarre of aspect, and under such shifting perplexity of +light and shade, as did the Bearnese in the early spring of 1590. + +The hope of a considerable portion of the catholic nobility of his realm, +although himself an excommunicated heretic; the mainstay of Calvinism +while secretly bending all his energies to effect his reconciliation with +the pope; the idol of the austere and grimly puritanical, while himself a +model of profligacy; the leader of the earnest and the true, although +false as water himself in every relation in which human beings can stand +to each other; a standardbearer of both great branches of the Christian +Church in an age when religion was the atmosphere of men's daily lives, +yet finding his sincerest admirer, and one of his most faithful allies, +in the Grand Turk, + + [A portion of the magnificently protective letter of Sultan Amurath, + in which he complimented Henry on his religious stedfastness, might + almost have made the king's cheek tingle.] + +the representative of national liberty and human rights against regal and +sacerdotal absolutism, while himself a remorseless despot by nature and +education, and a believer in no rights of the people save in their +privilege to be ruled by himself; it seems strange at first view that +Henry of Navarre should have been for centuries so heroic and popular an +image. But he was a soldier, a wit, a consummate politician; above all, +he was a man, at a period when to be a king was often to be something +much less or much worse. + +To those accustomed to weigh and analyse popular forces it might well +seem that he was now playing an utterly hopeless game. His capital +garrisoned by the Pope and the King of Spain, with its grandees and its +populace scoffing at his pretence of authority and loathing his name; +with an exchequer consisting of what he could beg or borrow from Queen +Elizabeth--most parsimonious of sovereigns reigning over the half of a +small island--and from the States-General governing a half-born, half- +drowned little republic, engaged in a quarter of a century's warfare with +the greatest monarch in the world; with a wardrobe consisting of a dozen +shirts and five pocket-handkerchiefs, most of them ragged, and with a +commissariat made up of what could be brought in the saddle-bags of his +Huguenot cavaliers who came to the charge with him to-day, and to-morrow +were dispersed again to their mountain fastnesses; it did not seem likely +on any reasonable theory of dynamics that the power of the Bearnese was +capable of outweighing Pope and Spain, and the meaner but massive +populace of France, and the Sorbonne, and the great chiefs of the +confederacy, wealthy, long descended, allied to all the sovereigns of +Christendom, potent in territorial possessions and skilful in wielding +political influences. + +"The Bearnese is poor but a gentleman of good family," said the cheerful +Henry, and it remained to-be seen whether nationality, unity, legitimate +authority, history, and law would be able to neutralise the powerful +combination of opposing elements. + +The king had been besieging Dreux and had made good progress in reducing +the outposts of the city. As it was known that he was expecting +considerable reinforcements of English ships, Netherlanders, and Germans, +the chiefs of the league issued orders from Paris for an attack before he +should thus be strengthened. + +For Parma, unwillingly obeying the stringent commands of his master, had +sent from Flanders eighteen hundred picked cavalry under Count Philip +Egmont to join the army of Mayenne. This force comprised five hundred +Belgian heavy dragoons under the chief nobles of the land, together with +a selection, in even proportions, of Walloon, German, Spanish, and +Italian troopers. + +Mayenne accordingly crossed the Seine at Mantes with an army of ten +thousand foot, and, including Egmont's contingent, about four thousand +horse. A force under Marshal d'Aumont, which lay in Ivry at the passage +of the Eure, fell back on his approach and joined the remainder of the +king's army. The siege of Dreux was abandoned; and Henry withdrew to the +neighbourhood of Nonancourt. It was obvious that the duke meant to offer +battle, and it was rare that the king under any circumstances could be +induced to decline a combat. + +On the night of the 12th-13th March, Henry occupied Saint Andre, a +village situated on an elevated and extensive plain four leagues from +Nonancourt, in the direction of Ivry, fringed on three sides by villages +and by a wood, and commanding a view of all the approaches from the +country between the Seine and Eure. It would have been better had +Mayenne been beforehand with him, as the sequel proved; but the duke was +not famed for the rapidity of his movements. During the greater part of +the night, Henry was employed in distributing his orders for that +conflict which was inevitable on the following day. His army was drawn +up according to a plan prepared by himself, and submitted to the most +experienced of his generals for their approval. He then personally +visited every portion of the encampment, speaking words of encouragement +to his soldiers, and perfecting his arrangements for the coming conflict. +Attended by Marshals d'Aumont and Biron he remained on horseback during a +portion of the night, having ordered his officers to their tents and +reconnoitred as well as he could the position of the enemy. Towards +morning he retired to his headquarters at Fourainville, where he threw +himself half-dressed on his truckle bed, and although the night was +bitterly cold, with no covering but his cloak. He was startled from his +slumber before the dawn by a movement of lights in the enemy's camp, and +he sprang to his feet supposing that the duke was stealing a march upon +him despite all his precautions. The alarm proved to be a false one, but +Henry lost no time in ordering his battle. His cavalry he divided in +seven troops or squadrons. The first, forming the left wing, was a body +of three hundred under Marshal d'Aumont, supported by two regiments of +French infantry. Next, separated by a short interval, was another troop +of three hundred under the Duke of Montpensier, supported by two other +regiments of foot, one Swiss and one German. In front of Montpensier was +Baron Biron the younger, at the head of still another body of three +hundred. Two troops of cuirassiers, each four hundred strong, were on +Biron's left, the one commanded by the Grand Prior of France, Charles +d'Angouleme, the other by Monsieur de Givry. Between the Prior and Givry +were six pieces of heavy artillery, while the battalia, formed of eight +hundred horse in six squadrons, was commanded by the king in person, and +covered on both sides by English and Swiss infantry, amounting to some +four thousand in all. The right wing was under the charge of old Marshal +Biron, and comprised three troops of horse, numbering one hundred and +fifty each, two companies of German riders, and four regiments of French +infantry. These numbers, which are probably given with as much accuracy +as can be obtained, show a force of about three thousand horse and twelve +thousand foot. + +The Duke of Mayenne, seeing too late the advantage of position which he +might have easily secured the day before, led his army forth with the +early light, and arranged it in an order not very different from that +adopted by the king, and within cannon-shot of his lines. The right wing +under Marshal de la Chatre consisted of three regiments of French and one +of Germans, supporting three regiments of Spanish lancers, two cornets of +German riders under the Bastard of Brunswick, and four hundred +cuirassiers. The battalia, which was composed of six hundred splendid +cavalry, all noblemen of France, guarding the white banner of the Holy +League, and supported by a column of three thousand Swiss and two +thousand French infantry, was commanded by Mayenne in person, assisted by +his half-brother, the Duke of Nemours. In front of the infantry was a +battery of six cannon and three culverines. The left wing was commanded +by Marshal de Rene, with six regiments of French and Lorrainers, two +thousand Germans, six hundred French cuirassiers, and the mounted +troopers of Count Egmont. It is probable that Mayenne's whole force, +therefore, amounted to nearly four thousand cavalry and at least thirteen +thousand foot. + +Very different was the respective appearance of the two armies, so far, +especially, as regarded the horsemen on both sides. Gay in their gilded +armour and waving plumes, with silken scarves across their shoulders, and +the fluttering favours of fair ladies on their arms or in their helmets, +the brilliant champions of the Holy Catholic Confederacy clustered around +the chieftains of the great house of Guise, impatient for the conflict. +It was like a muster for a brilliant and chivalrous tournament. The +Walloon and Flemish nobles, outrivalling even the self-confidence of +their companions in arms, taunted them with their slowness. The, +impetuous Egmont, burning to eclipse the fame of his ill-fated father at +Gravelines and St. Quintin in the same holy cause, urged on the battle +with unseemly haste, loudly proclaiming that if the French were faint- +hearted he would himself give a good account of the Navarrese prince +without any assistance from them. + +A cannon-shot away, the grim puritan nobles who had come forth from their +mountain fastnesses to do battle for king and law and for the rights of +conscience against the Holy League--men seasoned in a hundred battle- +fields, clad all in iron, with no dainty ornaments nor holiday luxury of +warfare--knelt on the ground, smiting their mailed breasts with iron +hands, invoking blessings on themselves and curses and confusion on their +enemies in the coming conflict, and chanting a stern psalm of homage to +the God of battles and of wrath. And Henry of France and Navarre, +descendant of Lewis the Holy and of Hugh the Great, beloved chief of the +Calvinist cavaliers, knelt among his heretic brethren, and prayed and +chanted with them. But not the staunchest Huguenot of them all, not +Duplessis, nor D'Aubigne, nor De la Noue with the iron arm, was more +devoted on that day to crown and country than were such papist supporters +of the rightful heir as had sworn to conquer the insolent foreigner on +the soil of France or die. + +When this brief prelude was over, Henry made an address to his soldiers, +but its language has not been preserved. It is known, however, that he +wore that day his famous snow-white plume, and that he ordered his +soldiers, should his banner go down in the conflict, to follow wherever +and as long as that plume should be seen waving on any part of the field. +He had taken a position by which his troops had the sun and wind in their +backs, so that the smoke rolled toward the enemy and the light shone in +their eyes. The combat began with the play of artillery, which soon +became so warm that Egmont, whose cavalry--suffering and galled--soon +became impatient, ordered a charge. It was a most brilliant one. The +heavy troopers of Flanders and Hainault, following their spirited +chieftain, dashed upon old Marshal Biron, routing his cavalry, charging +clean up to the Huguenot guns and sabring the cannoneers. The shock was +square, solid, irresistible, and was followed up by the German riders +under Eric of Brunswick, who charged upon the battalia of the royal army, +where the king commanded in person. + +There was a panic. The whole royal cavalry wavered, the supporting +infantry recoiled, the day seemed lost before the battle was well begun. +Yells of "Victory! Victory! up with the Holy League, down with the +heretic Bearnese," resounded through the Catholic squadrons. The king +and Marshal Biron, who were near each other, were furious with rage, but +already doubtful of the result. They exerted themselves to rally the +troops under their immediate command, and to reform the shattered ranks. + +The German riders and French lancers under Brunswick and Bassompierre +had, however, not done their work as thoroughly as Egmont had done. The +ground was so miry and soft that in the brief space which separated the +hostile lines they had not power to urge their horses to full speed. +Throwing away their useless lances, they came on at a feeble canter, +sword in hand, and were unable to make a very vigorous impression on the +more heavily armed troopers opposed to them. Meeting with a firm +resistance to their career, they wheeled, faltered a little and fell a +short distance back. Many of the riders being of the reformed religion, +refused moreover to fire upon the Huguenots, and discharged their +carbines in the air. + +The king, whose glance on the battle-field was like inspiration, saw the +blot and charged upon them in person with his whole battalia of cavalry. +The veteran Biron followed hard upon the snow-white plume. The scene was +changed, victory succeeded to impending defeat, and the enemy was routed. +The riders and cuirassiers, broken into a struggling heap of confusion, +strewed the ground with their dead bodies, or carried dismay into the +ranks of the infantry as they strove to escape. Brunswick went down in +the melee, mortally wounded as it was believed. Egmont renewing the +charge at the head of his victorious Belgian troopers, fell dead with a +musket-ball through his heart. The shattered German and Walloon cavalry, +now pricked forward by the lances of their companions, under the +passionate commands of Mayenne and Aumale, now fading back before the +furious charges of the Huguenots, were completely overthrown and cut to +pieces. + +Seven times did Henry of Navarre in person lead his troopers to the +charge; but suddenly, in the midst of the din of battle and the cheers of +victory, a message of despair went from lip to lip throughout the royal +lines. The king had disappeared. He was killed, and the hopes of +Protestantism and of France were fallen for ever with him. The white +standard of his battalia had been seen floating wildly and purposelessly +over the field; for his bannerman, Pot de Rhodes, a young noble of +Dauphiny, wounded mortally in the head, with blood streaming over his +face and blinding his sight, was utterly unable to control his horse, who +gallopped hither and thither at his own caprice, misleading many troopers +who followed in his erratic career. A cavalier, armed in proof, and +wearing the famous snow-white plume, after a hand-to-hand struggle with +a veteran of Count Bossu's regiment, was seen to fall dead by the side of +the bannerman: The Fleming, not used to boast, loudly asserted that he +had slain the Bearnese, and the news spread rapidly over the battle- +field. The defeated Confederates gained new courage, the victorious +Royalists were beginning to waver, when suddenly, between the hostile +lines, in the very midst of the battle, the king gallopped forward, +bareheaded, covered with blood and dust, but entirely unhurt. A wild +shout of "Vive le Roi!" rang through the air. Cheerful as ever, he +addressed a few encouraging words to his soldiers, with a smiling face, +and again led a charge. It was all that was necessary to complete the +victory. The enemy broke and ran away on every side in wildest +confusion, followed by the royalist cavalry, who sabred them as they +fled. The panic gained the foot-soldiers, who should have supported the +cavalry, but had not been at all engaged in the action. The French +infantry threw away their arms as they rushed from the field and sought +refuge in the woods. The Walloons were so expeditious in the race, that +they never stopped till they gained their own frontier. The day was +hopelessly lost, and although Mayenne had conducted himself well in the +early part of the day, it was certain that he was excelled by none in the +celerity of his flight when the rout had fairly begun. Pausing to draw +breath as he gained the wood, he was seen to deal blows with his own +sword among the mob of fugitives, not that he might rally them to their +flag and drive them back to another encounter, but because they +encumbered his own retreat. + +The Walloon carbineers, the German riders, and the French lancers, +disputing as to the relative blame to be attached to each corps, began +shooting and sabring each other, almost before they were out of the +enemy's sight. Many were thus killed. The lansquenets were all put to +the sword. The Swiss infantry were allowed to depart for their own +country on pledging themselves not again to bear arms against Henry IV. + +It is probable that eight hundred of the leaguers were either killed on +the battle-field or drowned in the swollen river in their retreat. About +one-fourth of that number fell in the army of the king. It is certain +that of the contingent from the obedient Netherlands, two hundred and +seventy, including their distinguished general, lost their lives. The +Bastard of Brunswick, crawling from beneath a heap of slain, escaped with +life. Mayenne lost all his standards and all the baggage of his army, +while the army itself was for a time hopelessly dissolved. + +Few cavalry actions have attained a wider celebrity in history than the +fight of Ivry. Yet there have been many hard-fought battles, where the +struggle was fiercer and closer, where the issue was for a longer time +doubtful, where far more lives on either side were lost, where the final +victory was immediately productive of very much greater results, and +which, nevertheless, have sunk into hopeless oblivion. The, personal +details which remain concerning the part enacted by the adventurous king +at this most critical period of his career, the romantic interest which +must always gather about that ready-witted, ready-sworded Gascon, at the +moment when, to contemporaries, the result of all his struggles seemed so +hopeless or at best so doubtful; above all, the numerous royal and +princely names which embellished the roll-call of that famous passage of +arms, and which were supposed, in those days at least, to add such lustre +to a battle-field, as humbler names, however illustrious by valour or +virtue, could never bestow, have made this combat for ever famous. + +Yet it is certain that the most healthy moral, in military affairs, to be +derived from the event, is that the importance of a victory depends less +upon itself than on the use to be made of it. Mayenne fled to Mantes, +the Duke of Nemours to Chartres, other leaders of the League in various +directions, Mayenne told every body he met that the Bearnese was killed, +and that although his own army was defeated, he should soon have another +one on foot. The same intelligence was communicated to the Duke of +Parma, and by him to Philip. Mendoza and the other Spanish agents went +about Paris spreading the news of Henry's death, but the fact seemed +woefully to lack confirmation, while the proofs of the utter overthrow +and shameful defeat of the Leaguers were visible on every, side. The +Parisians--many of whom the year before had in vain hired windows in the +principal streets, in order to witness the promised entrance of the +Bearnese, bound hand and foot, and with a gag in his mouth, to swell the +triumph of Madam League--were incredulous as to the death now reported to +them of this very lively heretic, by those who had fled so ignominiously +from his troopers. + +De la None and the other Huguenot chieftains, earnestly urged upon Henry +the importance of advancing upon Paris without an instant's delay, and it +seems at least extremely probable that, had he done so, the capital would +have fallen at once into his hands. It is the concurrent testimony of +contemporaries that the panic, the destitution, the confusion would have +made resistance impossible had a determined onslaught been made. And +Henry had a couple of thousand horsemen flushed with victory, and a dozen +thousand foot who had been compelled to look upon a triumph in which they +had no opportunity of sharing: Success and emulation would have easily +triumphed over dissension and despair. + +But the king, yielding to the councils of Biron and other Catholics, +declined attacking the capital, and preferred waiting the slow, and in +his circumstances eminently hazardous, operations of a regular siege. +Was it the fear of giving a signal triumph to the cause of Protestantism +that caused the Huguenot leader--so soon to become a renegade--to pause +in his career? Was it anxiety lest his victorious entrance into Paris +might undo the diplomacy of his catholic envoys at Rome? or was it simply +the mutinous condition of his army, especially of the Swiss mercenaries, +who refused to advance a step unless their arrears of pay were at once +furnished them out of the utterly empty exchequer of the king? Whatever +may have been the cause of the delay, it is certain that the golden fruit +of victory was not plucked, and that although the confederate army had +rapidly dissolved, in consequence of their defeat, the king's own forces +manifested as little cohesion. + +And now began that slow and painful siege, the details of which are as +terrible, but as universally known, as those of any chapters in the +blood-stained history of the century. Henry seized upon the towns +guarding the rivers Seine and Marne, twin nurses of Paris. By +controlling the course of those streams as well as that of the Yonne and +Oise--especially by taking firm possession of Lagny on the Marne, whence +a bridge led from the Isle of France to the Brie country--great +thoroughfare of wine and corn--and of Corbeil at the junction of the +little river Essonne with the Seine-it was easy in that age to stop the +vital circulation of the imperial city. + +By midsummer, Paris, unquestionably the first city of Europe at that day, +was in extremities, and there are few events in history in which our +admiration is more excited by the power of mankind to endure almost +preternatural misery, or our indignation more deeply aroused by the +cruelty with which the sublimest principles of human nature may be made +to serve the purposes of selfish ambition and grovelling superstition, +than this famous leaguer. + +Rarely have men at any epoch defended their fatherland against foreign +oppression with more heroism than that which was manifested by the +Parisians of 1590 in resisting religious toleration, and in obeying a +foreign and priestly despotism. Men, women, and children cheerfully laid +down their lives by thousands in order that the papal legate and the king +of Spain might trample upon that legitimate sovereign of France who was +one day to become the idol of Paris and of the whole kingdom. + +A census taken at the beginning of the siege had showed a populace of two +hundred thousand souls, with a sufficiency of provisions, it was thought, +to last one month. But before the terrible summer was over--so +completely had the city been invested--the bushel of wheat was worth +three hundred and sixty crowns, rye and oats being but little cheaper. +Indeed, grain might as well have cost three thousand crowns the bushel, +for the prices recorded placed it beyond the reach of all but the +extremely wealthy. The flesh of horses, asses, dogs, cats, rats had +become rare luxuries. There was nothing cheap, said a citizen bitterly, +but sermons. And the priests and monks of every order went daily about +the streets, preaching fortitude in that great resistance to heresy, by +which Paris was earning for itself a crown of glory, and promising the +most direct passage to paradise for the souls of the wretched victims +who fell daily, starved to death, upon the pavements. And the monks and +priests did their work nobly, aiding the general resolution by the +example of their own courage. Better fed than their fellow citizens, +they did military work in trench, guard-house and rampart, as the +population became rapidly unfit, from physical exhaustion, for the +defence of the city. + +The young Duke of Nemours, governor of the place, manifested as much +resolution and conduct in bringing his countrymen to perdition as if the +work in which he was engaged had been the highest and holiest that ever +tasked human energies. He was sustained in his task by that proud +princess, his own and Mayenne's mother, by Madame Montpensier, by the +resident triumvirate of Spain, Mendoza, Commander Moreo, and John Baptist +Tasais, by the cardinal legate Gaetano, and, more than all, by the +sixteen chiefs of the wards, those municipal tyrants of the unhappy +populace. + +Pope Sixtus himself was by no means eager for the success of the League. +After the battle of Ivry, he had most seriously inclined his ear to the +representations of Henry's envoy, and showed much willingness to admit +the victorious heretic once more into the bosom of the Church. Sixtus +was not desirous of contributing to the advancement of Philip's power. +He feared his designs on Italy, being himself most anxious at that time +to annex Naples to the holy see. He had amassed a large treasure, but he +liked best to spend it in splendid architecture, in noble fountains, in +magnificent collections of art, science, and literature, and, above all, +in building up fortunes for the children of his sister the washerwoman, +and in allying them all to the most princely houses of Italy, while never +allowing them even to mention the name of their father, so base was his +degree; but he cared not to disburse from his hoarded dollars to supply +the necessities of the League. + +But Gaetano, although he could wring but fifty thousand crowns from his +Holiness after the fatal fight of Ivry, to further the good cause, was +lavish in expenditures from his own purse and from other sources, and +this too at a time when thirty-three per cent. interest was paid to the +usurers of Antwerp for one month's loan of ready money. He was +indefatigable, too, and most successful in his exhortations and ghostly +consolations to the people. Those proud priests and great nobles were +playing a reckless game, and the hopes of mankind beyond the grave were +the counters on their table. For themselves there were rich prizes for +the winning. Should they succeed in dismembering the fair land where +they were enacting their fantastic parts, there were temporal +principalities, great provinces, petty sovereignties, to be carved out +of the heritage which the Bearnese claimed for his own. Obviously then, +their consciences could never permit this shameless heretic, by a +simulated conversion at the critical moment, to block their game and +restore the national unity and laws. And even should it be necessary to +give the whole kingdom, instead of the mere duchy of Brittany, to Philip +of Spain, still there were mighty guerdons to be bestowed on his +supporters before the foreign monarch could seat himself on the throne of +Henry's ancestors. + +As to the people who were fighting, starving, dying by thousands in +this great cause, there were eternal rewards in another world profusely +promised for their heroism instead of the more substantial bread and +beef, for lack of which they were laying down their lives. + +It was estimated that before July twelve thousand human beings in Paris +had died, for want of food, within three months. But as there were no +signs of the promised relief by the army of Parma and Mayenne, and as the +starving people at times appeared faint-hearted, their courage was +strengthened one day by a stirring exhibition. + +An astonishing procession marched through the streets of the city, led by +the Bishop of Senlis and the Prior of Chartreux, each holding a halberd +in one hand and a crucifix in the other, and graced by the presence of +the cardinal-legate, and of many prelates from Italy. A lame monk, +adroitly manipulating the staff of a drum major, went hopping and limping +before them, much to the amazement of the crowd. Then came a long file +of monks-Capuchins, Bernardists, Minimes, Franciscans, Jacobins, +Carmelites, and other orders--each with his cowl thrown back, his long +robes trussed up, a helmet on his head, a cuirass on his breast, and a +halberd in his hand. The elder ones marched first, grinding their teeth, +rolling their eyes, and making other ferocious demonstrations. Then came +the younger friars, similarly attired, all armed with arquebusses, which +they occasionally and accidentally discharged to the disadvantage of the +spectators, several of whom were killed or wounded on the spot. Among +others a servant of Cardinal Gaetano was thus slain, and the even caused +much commotion, until the cardinal proclaimed that a man thus killed in +so holy a cause had gone straight to heaven and had taken his place among +the just. It was impossible, thus argued the people in their simplicity, +that so wise and virtuous a man as the cardinal should not know what was +best. + +The procession marched to the church of our Lady of Loretto, where they +solemnly promised to the blessed Virgin a lamp and ship of gold--should +she be willing to use her influence in behalf of the suffering city--to +be placed on her shrine as soon as the siege should be raised. + +But these demonstrations, however cheering to the souls, had +comparatively little effect upon the bodies of the sufferers. It was +impossible to walk through the streets of Paris without stumbling over +the dead bodies of the citizens. Trustworthy eye-witnesses of those +dreadful days have placed the number of the dead during the summer at +thirty thousand. A tumultuous assemblage of the starving and the forlorn +rushed at last to the municipal palace, demanding peace or bread. The +rebels were soon dispersed however by a charge, headed by the Chevalier +d'Aumale, and assisted by the chiefs of the wards, and so soon as the +riot was quelled, its ringleader, a leading advocate, Renaud by name, was +hanged. + +Still, but for the energy of the priests, it is doubtful whether the city +could have been held by the Confederacy. The Duke of Nemours confessed +that there were occasions when they never would have been able to sustain +a determined onslaught, and they were daily expecting to see the Prince +of Bearne battering triumphantly at their gates. + +But the eloquence of the preachers, especially of the one-eyed father +Boucher, sustained the fainting spirits of the people, and consoled the +sufferers in their dying agonies by glimpses of paradise. Sublime was +that devotion, superhuman that craft; but it is only by weapons from the +armoury of the Unseen that human creatures can long confront such horrors +in a wicked cause. Superstition, in those days at least, was a political +force absolutely without limitation, and most adroitly did the agents of +Spain and Rome handle its tremendous enginery against unhappy France. +For the hideous details of the most dreadful sieges recorded in ancient +or modern times were now reproduced in Paris. Not a revolutionary +circumstance, at which the world had shuddered in the accounts of the +siege of Jerusalem, was spared. Men devoured such dead vermin as could +be found lying in the streets. They crowded greedily around stalls in +the public squares where the skin, bones, and offal of such dogs, cats +and unclean beasts as still remained for the consumption of the wealthier +classes were sold to the populace. Over the doorways of these flesh +markets might be read "Haec runt munera pro iis qui vitam pro Philippo +profuderunt." Men stood in archways and narrow passages lying in wait +for whatever stray dogs still remained at large, noosed them, strangled +them, and like savage beasts of prey tore them to pieces and devoured +them alive. And it sometimes happened, too, that the equally hungry dog +proved the more successful in the foul encounter, and fed upon the man. +A lady visiting the Duchess of Nemours--called for the high pretensions +of her sons by her two marriages the queen-mother--complained bitterly +that mothers in Paris had been compelled to kill their own children +outright to save them from starving to death in lingering agony. "And if +you are brought to that extremity," replied the duchess, "as for the sake +of our holy religion to be forced to kill your own children, do you think +that so great a matter after all? What are your children made of more +than other people's children? What are we all but dirt and dust?" Such +was the consolation administered by the mother of the man who governed +Paris, and defended its gates against its lawful sovereign at the command +of a foreigner; while the priests in their turn persuaded the populace +that it was far more righteous to kill their own children, if they had no +food to give them, than to obtain food by recognising a heretic king. + +It was related too, and believed, that in some instances mothers had +salted the bodies of their dead children and fed upon them, day by day, +until the hideous repast would no longer support their own life. They +died, and the secret was revealed by servants who had partaken of the +food. The Spanish ambassador, Mendoza, advised recourse to an article of +diet which had been used in some of the oriental sieges. The counsel at +first was rejected as coming from the agent of Spain, who wished at all +hazards to save the capital of France from falling out of the hands of +his master into those of the heretic. But dire necessity prevailed, and +the bones of the dead were taken in considerable quantities from the +cemeteries, ground into flour, baked into bread, and consumed. It was +called Madame Montpensier's cake, because the duchess earnestly +proclaimed its merits to the poor Parisians. "She was never known to +taste it herself, however," bitterly observed one who lived in Paris +through that horrible summer. She was right to abstain, for all who ate +of it died, and the Montpensier flour fell into disuse. + +Lansquenets and other soldiers, mad with hunger and rage, when they could +no longer find dogs to feed on, chased children through the streets, and +were known in several instances to kill and devour them on the spot. To +those expressing horror at the perpetration of such a crime, a leading +personage, member of the Council of Nine, maintained that there was less +danger to one's soul in satisfying one's hunger with a dead child, in +case of necessity, than in recognizing the heretic Bearnese, and he added +that all the best theologians and doctors of Paris were of his opinion. + +As the summer wore on to its close, through all these horrors, and as +there were still no signs of Mayenne and Parma leading their armies to +the relief of the city, it became necessary to deceive the people by a +show of negotiation with the beleaguering army. Accordingly, the Spanish +ambassador, the legate, and the other chiefs of the Holy League appointed +a deputation, consisting of the Cardinal Gondy, the Archbishop of Lyons, +and the Abbe d'Elbene, to Henry. It soon became evident to the king, +however, that these commissioners were but trifling with him in order to +amuse the populace. His attitude was dignified and determined throughout +the interview. The place appointed was St. Anthony's Abbey, before the +gates of Paris. Henry wore a cloak and the order of the Holy Ghost, and +was surrounded by his council, the princes of the blood, and by more than +four hundred of the chief gentlemen of his army. After passing the +barricade, the deputies were received by old Marshal Biron, and conducted +by him to the king's chamber of state. When they had made their +salutations, the king led the way to an inner cabinet, but his progress +was much impeded by the crowding of the nobles about him. Wishing to +excuse this apparent rudeness, he said to the envoys: "Gentlemen, these +men thrust me on as fast to the battle against the foreigner as they now +do to my cabinet. Therefore bear with them." Then turning to the crowd, +he said: "Room, gentlemen, for the love of me," upon which they all +retired. + +The deputies then stated that they had been sent by the authorities of +Paris to consult as to the means of obtaining a general peace in France. +They expressed the hope that the king's disposition was favourable to +this end, and that he would likewise permit them to confer with the Duke +of Mayenne. This manner of addressing him excited his choler. He told +Cardinal Gondy, who was spokesman of the deputation, that he had long +since answered such propositions. He alone could deal with his subjects. +He was like the woman before Solomon; he would have all the child or none +of it. Rather than dismember his kingdom he would lose the whole. He +asked them what they considered him to be. They answered that they knew +his rights, but that the Parisians had different opinions. If Paris +would only acknowledge him to be king there could be no more question of +war. He asked them if they desired the King of Spain or the Duke of +Mayenne for their king, and bade them look well to themselves. The King +of Spain could not help them, for he had too much business on hand; while +Mayenne had neither means nor courage, having been within three leagues +of them for three weeks doing nothing. Neither king nor duke should have +that which belonged to him, of that they might be assured. He told them +he loved Paris as his capital, as his eldest daughter. If the Parisians +wished to see the end of their miseries it was to him they should appeal, +not to the Spaniard nor to the Duke of Mayenne. By the grace of God and +the swords of his brave gentlemen he would prevent the King of Spain from +making a colony of France as he had done of Brazil. He told the +commissioners that they ought to die of shame that they, born Frenchmen, +should have so forgotten their love of country and of liberty as thus to +bow the head to the Spaniard, and--while famine was carrying off +thousands of their countrymen before their eyes--to be so cowardly as not +to utter one word for the public welfare from fear of offending Cardinal. +Gaetano, Mendoza, and Moreo. He said that he longed for a combat to +decide the issue, and that he had charged Count de Brissac to tell +Mayenne that he would give a finger of his right hand for a battle, and +two for a general peace. He knew and pitied the sufferings of Paris, but +the horrors now raging there were to please the King of Spain. That +monarch had told the Duke of Parma to trouble himself but little about +the Netherlands so long as he could preserve for him his city of Paris. +But it was to lean on a broken reed to expect support from this old, +decrepit king, whose object was to dismember the flourishing kingdom of +France, and to divide it among as many tyrants as he had sent viceroys to +the Indies. The crown was his own birthright. Were it elective he +should receive the suffrages of the great mass of the electors. He hoped +soon to drive those red-crossed foreigners out of his kingdom. Should he +fail, they would end by expelling the Duke of Mayenne and all the rest +who had called them in, and Paris would become the theatre of the +bloodiest tragedy ever yet enacted. The king then ordered Sir Roger +Williams to see that a collation was prepared for the deputies, and the +veteran Welshman took occasion to indulge in much blunt conversation with +the guests. He informed them that he, Mr. Sackville, and many other +strangers were serving the king from the hatred they bore the Spaniards +and Mother League, and that his royal mistress had always 8000 Englishmen +ready to maintain the cause. + +While the conferences were going on, the officers and soldiers of the +besieging army thronged to the gate, and had much talk with the townsmen. +Among others, time-honoured La None with the iron arm stood near the gate +and harangued the Parisians. "We are here," said he, "five thousand +gentlemen; we desire your good, not your ruin. We will make you rich: +let us participate in your labour and industry. Undo not yourselves to +serve the ambition of a few men." The townspeople hearing the old +warrior discoursing thus earnestly, asked who he was. When informed that +it was La Noue they cheered him vociferously, and applauded his speech +with the greatest vehemence. Yet La Noue was the foremost Huguenot that +the sun shone upon, and the Parisians were starving themselves to death +out of hatred to heresy. After the collation the commissioners were +permitted to go from the camp in order to consult Mayenne. + +Such then was the condition of Paris during that memorable summer of +tortures. What now were its hopes of deliverance out of this Gehenna? +The trust of Frenchmen was in Philip of Spain, whose legions, under +command of the great Italian chieftain, were daily longed for to save +them from rendering obedience to their lawful prince. + +For even the king of straw--the imprisoned cardinal--was now dead, and +there was not even the effigy of any other sovereign than Henry of +Bourbon to claim authority in France. Mayenne, in the course of long +interviews with the Duke of Parma at Conde and Brussels, had expressed +his desire to see Philip king of France, and had promised his best +efforts to bring about such a result. In that case he stipulated for +the second place in the kingdom for himself, together with a good rich +province in perpetual sovereignty, and a large sum of money in hand. +Should this course not run smoothly, he would be willing to take the +crown himself, in which event he would cheerfully cede to Philip the +sovereignty of Brittany and Burgundy, besides a selection of cities to be +arranged for at a later day. Although he spoke of himself with modesty, +said Alexander, it was very plain that he meant to arrive at the crown +himself: Well had the Bearnese alluded to the judgment of Solomon. Were +not children, thus ready to dismember their mother, as foul and unnatural +as the mother who would divide her child? + +And what was this dependence on a foreign tyrant really worth? As we +look back upon those dark days with the light of what was then the almost +immediate future turned full and glaring upon them, we find it difficult +to exaggerate the folly of the chief actors in those scenes of crime. +Did not the penniless adventurer, whose keen eyesight and wise +recklessness were passing for hallucination and foolhardiness in the eyes +of his contemporaries, understand the game he was playing better than did +that profound thinker, that mysterious but infallible politician, who sat +in the Escorial and made the world tremble at every hint of his lips, +every stroke of his pen? + +The Netherlands--that most advanced portion of Philip's domain, without +the possession of which his conquest of England and his incorporation of +France were but childish visions, even if they were not monstrous +chimeras at best--were to be in a manner left to themselves, while their +consummate governor and general was to go forth and conquer France at the +head of a force with which he had been in vain attempting to hold those +provinces to their obedience. At that very moment the rising young +chieftain of the Netherlands was most successfully inaugurating his +career of military success. His armies well drilled, well disciplined, +well paid, full of heart and of hope, were threatening their ancient +enemy in every quarter, while the veteran legions of Spain and Italy, +heroes of a hundred Flemish and Frisian battle-fields, were disorganised, +starving, and mutinous. The famous ancient legion, the terzo viejo, had +been disbanded for its obstinate and confirmed unruliness. The legion of +Manrique, sixteen hundred strong, was in open mutiny at Courtray. +Farnese had sent the Prince of Ascoli to negotiate with them, but his +attempts were all in vain. Two years' arrearages--to be paid, not in +cloth at four times what the contractors had paid for it, but in solid +gold--were their not unreasonable demands after years of as hard fighting +and severe suffering as the world has often seen. But Philip, instead of +ducats or cloth, had only sent orders to go forth and conquer a new +kingdom for him. Verdugo, too, from Friesland was howling for money, +garrotting and hanging his mutinous veterans every day, and sending +complaints and most dismal forebodings as often as a courier could make +his way through the enemy's lines to Farnese's headquarters. And +Farnese, on his part, was garrotting and hanging the veterans. + +Alexander did not of course inform his master that he was a mischievous +lunatic, who upon any healthy principle of human government ought long +ago to have been shut up from all communion with his species. It was +very plain, however, from his letters, that such was his innermost, +thought, had it been safe, loyal, or courteous to express it in plain +language. + +He was himself stung almost to madness moreover by the presence of +Commander Moreo, who hated him, who was perpetually coming over from +France to visit him, who was a spy upon all his actions, and who was +regularly distilling his calumnies into the ears of Secretary Idiaquez +and of Philip himself. The king was informed that Farnese was working +for his own ends, and was disgusted with his sovereign; that there never +had been a petty prince of Italy that did not wish to become a greater +one, or that was not jealous of Philip's power, and that there was not a +villain in all Christendom but wished for Philip's death. Moreo followed +the prince about to Antwerp, to Brussels, to Spa, whither he had gone to +drink the waters for his failing health, pestered him, lectured him, +pried upon him, counselled him, enraged him. Alexander told him at last +that he cared not if the whole world came to an end so long as Flanders +remained, which alone had been entrusted to him, and that if he was +expected to conquer France it would be as well to give him the means of +performing that exploit. So Moreo told the king that Alexander was +wasting time and wasting money, that he was the cause of Egmont's +overthrow, and that he would be the cause of the loss of Paris and of +the downfall of the whole French scheme; for that he was determined to +do nothing to assist Mayenne, or that did not conduce to his private +advantage. + +Yet Farnese had been not long before informed in sufficiently plain +language, and by personages of great influence, that in case he wished to +convert his vice-royalty of the Netherlands into a permanent sovereignty, +he might rely on the assistance of Henry of Navarre, and perhaps of Queen +Elizabeth. The scheme would not have been impracticable, but the duke +never listened to it for a moment. + +If he were slow in advancing to the relief of starving, agonising +Paris, there were sufficient reasons for his delay. Most decidedly and +bitterly, but loyally, did he denounce the madness of his master's course +in all his communications to that master's private ear. + +He told him that the situation in which he found himself was horrible. +He had no money for his troops, he had not even garrison bread to put in +their mouths. He had not a single stiver to advance them on account. +From Friesland, from the Rhine country, from every quarter, cries of +distress were rising to heaven, and the lamentations were just. He was +in absolute penury. He could not negotiate a bill on the royal account, +but had borrowed on his own private security a few thousand crowns which +he had given to his soldiers. He was pledging his jewels and furniture +like a bankrupt, but all was now in vain to stop the mutiny at Courtray. +If that went on it would be of most pernicious example, for the whole +army was disorganised, malcontent, and of portentous aspect. "These +things," said he, "ought not to surprise people of common understanding, +for without money, without credit, without provisions, and in an +exhausted country, it is impossible to satisfy the claims, or even to +support the life of the army." When he sent the Flemish cavalry to +Mayenne in March, it was under the impression that with it that prince +would have maintained his reputation and checked the progress of the +Bearnese until greater reinforcements could be forwarded. He was now +glad that no larger number had been sent, for all would have been +sacrificed on the fatal field of Ivry. + +The country around him was desperate, believed itself abandoned, and was +expecting fresh horrors everyday. He had been obliged to remove portions +of the garrisons at Deventer and Zutphen purely to save them from +starving and desperation. Every day he was informed by his garrisons +that they could feed no longer on fine words or hopes, for in them they +found no sustenance. + +But Philip told him that he must proceed forthwith to France, where he +was to raise the siege of Paris, and occupy Calais and Boulogne in order +to prevent the English from sending succour to the Bearnese, and in order +to facilitate his own designs on England. Every effort was to be made +before the Bearnese climbed into the seat. The Duke of Parma was to talk +no more of difficulties, but to conquer them; a noble phrase on the +battle field, but comparatively easy of utterance at the writing-desk! + +At last, Philip having made some remittances, miserably inadequate for +the necessities of the case, but sufficient to repress in part the +mutinous demonstrations throughout the army, Farnese addressed himself +with a heavy heart to the work required of him. He confessed the deepest +apprehensions of the result both in the Netherlands and in France. He +intimated a profound distrust of the French, who had, ever been Philip's +enemies, and dwelt on the danger of leaving the provinces, unable to +protect themselves, badly garrisoned, and starving. "It grieves me to +the soul, it cuts me to the heart," he said, "to see that your Majesty +commands things which are impossible, for it is our Lord alone that can +work miracles. Your Majesty supposes that with the little money you have +sent me, I can satisfy all the soldiers serving in these provinces, +settle with the Spanish and the German mutineers--because, if they are +to be used in the expedition, they must at least be quieted--give money +to Mayenne and the Parisians, pay retaining wages (wartgeld) to the +German Riders for the protection of these provinces, and make sure of the +maritime places where the same mutinous language is held as at Courtray. +The poverty, the discontent, and the desperation of this unhappy +country," he added, "have, been so often described to your Majesty that I +have nothing to add. I am hanging and garrotting my veterans everywhere, +only because they have rebelled for want of pay without committing any +excess. Yet under these circumstances I am to march into France with +twenty thousand troops--the least number to effect anything withal. I am +confused and perplexed because the whole world is exclaiming against me, +and protesting that through my desertion the country entrusted to my care +will come to utter perdition. On the other hand, the French cry out upon +me that I am the cause that Paris is going to destruction, and with it +the Catholic cause in France. Every one is pursuing his private ends. +It is impossible to collect a force strong enough for the necessary work. +Paris has reached its extreme unction, and neither Mayenne nor any one of +the confederates has given this invalid the slightest morsel to support +her till your Majesty's forces should arrive." + +He reminded his sovereign that the country around Paris was eaten bare of +food and forage, and yet that it was quite out of the question for him to +undertake the transportation of supplies for his army all the way-- +supplies from the starving Netherlands to starving France. Since the +king was so peremptory, he had nothing for it but to obey, but he +vehemently disclaimed all responsibility for the expedition, and, in case +of his death, he called on his Majesty to vindicate his honour, which his +enemies were sure to assail. + +The messages from Mayenne becoming daily more pressing, Farnese hastened +as much as possible those preparations which at best were so woefully +inadequate, and avowed his determination not to fight the Bearnese if it +were possible to avoid an action. He feared, however, that with totally +insufficient forces he should be obliged to accept the chances of an +engagement. + +With twelve thousand foot and three thousand horse Farnese left the +Netherlands in the beginning of August, and arrived on the 3rd of that +month at Valenciennes. His little army, notwithstanding his bitter +complaints, was of imposing appearance. The archers and halberdiers of +his bodyguard were magnificent in taffety and feathers and surcoats of +cramoisy velvet. Four hundred nobles served in the cavalry. Arenberg +and Barlaymont and Chimay, and other grandees of the Netherlands, in +company with Ascoli and the sons of Terranova and Pastrana, and many more +great lords of Italy and Spain were in immediate attendance on the +illustrious captain. The son of Philip's Secretary of State, Idiaquez, +and the nephew of the cardinal-legate, Gaetano, were among the marshals +of the camp. + +Alexander's own natural authority and consummate powers of organisation +had for the time triumphed over the disintegrating tendencies which, it +had been seen, were everywhere so rapidly destroying the foremost +military establishment of the world. Nearly half his forces, both +cavalry and infantry, were Netherlanders; for--as if there were not +graves enough in their own little territory--those Flemings, Walloons, +and Hollanders were destined to leave their bones on both sides of every +well-stricken field of that age between liberty and despotism. And thus +thousands of them had now gone forth under the banner of Spain to assist +their own tyrant in carrying out his designs upon the capital of France, +and to struggle to the death with thousands of their own countrymen who +were following the fortunes of the Bearnese. Truly in that age it was +religion that drew the boundary line between nations. + +The army was divided into three portions. The vanguard was under the +charge of the Netherland General, Marquis of Renty. The battalia was +commanded by Farnese in person, and the rearguard was entrusted to that +veteran Netherlander, La Motte, now called the Count of Everbeck. Twenty +pieces of artillery followed the last division. At Valenciennes +Farnese remained eight days, and from this place Count Charles Mansfeld +took his departure in a great rage--resigning his post as chief of +artillery because La Motte had received the appointment of general- +marshal of the camp--and returned to his father, old Peter Ernest +Mansfeld, who was lieutenant-governor of the Netherlands in Parma's +absence. + +Leaving Valenciennes on the 11th, the army proceeded by way of Quesney, +Guise, Soissons, Fritemilon to Meaux. At this place, which is ten +leagues from Paris, Farnese made his junction, on the 22nd of August, +with Mayenne, who was at the head of six thousand infantry--one half of +them Germans under Cobalto, and the other half French--and of two +thousand horse. + +On arriving at Meaux, Alexander proceeded straightway to the cathedral, +and there, in presence of all, he solemnly swore that he had not come +to France in order to conquer that kingdom or any portion of it, in the +interests of his master, but only to render succour to the Catholic cause +and to free the friends and confederates of his Majesty from violence and +heretic oppression. Time was to show the value of that oath. + +Here the deputation from Paris--the Archbishop of Lyons and his +colleagues, whose interview with Henry has just been narrated--were +received by the two dukes. They departed, taking with them promises of +immediate relief for the starving city. The allies remained five days at +Meaux, and leaving that place on the 27th, arrived in the neighbourhood +of Chelles, on the last day but one of the summer. They had a united +force of five thousand cavalry and eighteen thousand foot. + +The summer of horrors was over, and thus with the first days of autumn +there had come a ray of hope for the proud city which was lying at its +last gasp. When the allies, came in sight of the monastery of Chellea +they found themselves in the immediate neighbourhood of the Bearnese. + +The two great captains of the age had at last met face to face. They +were not only the two first commanders of their time, but there was not a +man in Europe at that day to be at all compared with either of them. The +youth, concerning whose earliest campaign an account will be given in the +following chapter, had hardly yet struck his first blow. Whether that +blow was to reveal the novice or the master was soon to be seen. +Meantime in 1590 it would have been considered a foolish adulation to +mention the name of Maurice of Nassau in the same breath with that of +Navarre or of Farnese. + +The scientific duel which was now to take place was likely to task the +genius and to bring into full display the peculiar powers and defects of +the two chieftains of Europe. Each might be considered to be still in +the prime of life, but Alexander, who was turned of forty-five, was +already broken in health, while the vigorous Henry was eight years +younger, and of an iron constitution. Both had passed then lives in the +field, but the king, from nature, education, and the force of +circumstances, preferred pitched battles to scientific combinations, +while the duke, having studied and practised his art in the great Spanish +and Italian schools of warfare, was rather a profound strategist than a +professional fighter, although capable of great promptness and intense +personal energy when his judgment dictated a battle. Both were born with +that invaluable gift which no human being can acquire, authority, and +both were adored and willingly obeyed by their soldiers, so long as +those soldiers were paid and fed. + +The prize now to be contended for was a high one. Alexander's complete +success would tear from Henry's grasp the first city of Christendom, now +sinking exhausted into his hands, and would place France in the power of +the Holy League and at the feet of Philip. Another Ivry would shatter +the confederacy, and carry the king in triumph to his capital and his +ancestral throne. On the approach of the combined armies under Parma and +Mayenne, the king had found himself most reluctantly compelled to suspend +the siege of Paris. His army, which consisted of sixteen thousand foot +and five thousand horse, was not sufficiently numerous to confront at the +same time the relieving force and to continue the operations before the +city. So long, however, as he held the towns and bridges on the great +rivers, and especially those keys to the Seine and Marne, Corbeil and +Lagny, he still controlled the life-blood of the capital, which indeed +had almost ceased to flow. + +On the 31st August he advanced towards the enemy. Sir Edward Stafford, +Queen Elizabeth's ambassador, arrived at St. Denis in the night of the +30th August. At a very early hour next morning he heard a shout under +his window, and looking down beheld King Henry at the head of his troops, +cheerfully calling out to his English friend as he passed his door. +"Welcoming us after his familiar manner," said Stafford, "he desired us, +in respect of the battle every hour expected, to come as his friends to +see and help him, and not to treat of anything which afore, we meant, +seeing the present state to require it, and the enemy so near that we +might well have been interrupted in half-an-hour's talk, and necessity +constrained the king to be in every corner, where for the most part we +follow him." + +That day Henry took up his headquarters at the monastery of Chelles, a +fortified place within six leagues of Paris, on the right bank of the +Marne. His army was drawn up in a wide valley somewhat encumbered with +wood and water, extending through a series of beautiful pastures towards +two hills of moderate elevation. Lagny, on the left bank of the river, +was within less than a league of him on his right hand. On the other +side of the hills, hardly out of cannon-shot, was the camp of the allies. +Henry, whose natural disposition in this respect needed no prompting, was +most eager for a decisive engagement. The circumstances imperatively +required it of him. His infantry consisted of Frenchmen, Netherlanders, +English, Germans, Scotch; but of his cavalry four thousand were French +nobles, serving at their own expense, who came to a battle as to a +banquet, but who were capable of riding off almost as rapidly, should the +feast be denied them. They were volunteers, bringing with them rations +for but a few days, and it could hardly be expected that they would +remain as patiently as did Parma's veterans, who, now that their mutiny +had been appeased by payment of a portion of their arrearages, had become +docile again. All the great chieftains who surrounded Henry, whether +Catholic or Protestant--Montpensier, Nevers, Soissons, Conti, the Birons, +Lavradin, d'Aumont, Tremouille, Turenne, Chatillon, La Noue--were urgent +for the conflict, concerning the expediency of which there could indeed +be no doubt, while the king was in raptures at the opportunity of dealing +a decisive blow at the confederacy of foreigners and rebels who had so +long defied his authority and deprived him of his rights. + +Stafford came up with the king, according to his cordial invitation, on +the same day, and saw the army all drawn up in battle array. While Henry +was "eating a morsel in an old house," Turenne joined him with six or +seven hundred horsemen and between four and five thousand infantry. +"They were the likeliest footmen," said Stafford, "the best +countenanced, the best furnished that ever I saw in my life; the best +part of them old soldiers that had served under the king for the Religion +all this while." + +The envoy was especially enthusiastic, however, in regard to the French +cavalry. "There are near six thousand horse," said he, "whereof +gentlemen above four thousand, about twelve hundred other French, and +eight hundred reiters. I never saw, nor I think never any man saw, in +prance such a company of gentlemen together so well horsed and so well +armed." + +Henry sent a herald to the camp of the allies, formally challenging them +to a general engagement, and expressing a hope that all differences might +now be settled by the ordeal of battle, rather than that the sufferings +of the innocent people should be longer protracted. + +Farnese, on arriving at Meaux, had resolved to seek the enemy and take +the hazards of a stricken field. He had misgivings as to the possible +result, but he expressly announced this intention in his letters to +Philip, and Mayenne confirmed him in his determination. Nevertheless, +finding the enemy so eager and having reflected more maturely, he saw no +reason for accepting the chivalrous cartel. As commanderin-chief--for +Mayenne willingly conceded the supremacy which it would have been absurd +in him to dispute--he accordingly replied that it was his custom to +refuse a combat when a refusal seemed advantageous to himself, and to +offer battle whenever it suited his purposes to fight. When that moment +should arrive the king would find him in the field. And, having sent +this courteous, but unsatisfactory answer to the impatient Bearnese, he +gave orders to fortify his camp, which was already sufficiently strong. +Seven days long the two armies lay face to face--Henry and his chivalry +chafing in vain for the longed-for engagement--and nothing occurred +between those forty or fifty thousand mortal enemies, encamped within a +mile or two of each other, save trifling skirmishes leading to no result. + +At last Farnese gave orders for an advance. Renty, commander of the +vanguard, consisting of nearly all the cavalry, was instructed to move +slowly forward over the two hills, and descending on the opposite side, +to deploy his forces in two great wings to the right and left. He was +secretly directed in this movement to magnify as much as possible the +apparent dimensions of his force. Slowly the columns moved over the +hills. Squadron after squadron, nearly all of them lancers, with their +pennons flaunting gaily in the summer wind, displayed themselves +deliberately and ostentatiously in the face of the Royalists. The +splendid light-horse of Basti, the ponderous troopers of the Flemish +bands of ordnance under Chimay and Berlaymont, and the famous Albanian +and Italian cavalry, were mingled with the veteran Leaguers of France who +had fought under the Balafre, and who now followed the fortunes of his +brother Mayenne. It was an imposing demonstration. + +Henry could hardly believe his eyes as the much-coveted opportunity, +of which he had been so many days disappointed, at last presented itself, +and he waited with more than his usual caution until the plan of attack +should be developed by his great antagonist. Parma, on his side, pressed +the hand of Mayenne as he watched the movement, saying quietly, "We have +already fought our battle and gained the victory." He then issued orders +for the whole battalia--which, since the junction, had been under command +of Mayenne, Farnese reserving for himself the superintendence of the +entire army--to countermarch rapidly towards the Marne and take up a +position opposite Lagny. La Motte, with the rearguard, was directed +immediately to follow. The battalia had thus become the van, the +rearguard the battalia, while the whole cavalry corps by this movement +had been transformed from the vanguard into the rear. Renty was +instructed to protect his manoeuvres, to restrain the skirmishing as much +as possible, and to keep the commander-in-chief constantly informed of +every occurrence. In the night he was to entrench and fortify himself +rapidly and thoroughly, without changing his position. + +Under cover of this feigned attack, Farnese arrived at the river side on +the 15th September, seized an open village directly opposite Lagny, which +was connected with it by a stone bridge, and planted a battery of nine +pieces of heavy artillery directly opposite the town. Lagny was +fortified in the old-fashioned manner, with not very thick walls, and +without a terreplain. Its position, however, and its command of the +bridge, seemed to render an assault impossible, and De la Fin, who lay +there with a garrison of twelve hundred French, had no fear for the +security of the place. But Farnese, with the precision and celerity +which characterized his movements on special occasions, had thrown +pontoon bridges across the river three miles above, and sent a +considerable force of Spanish and Walloon infantry to the other side. +These troops were ordered to hold themselves ready for an assault, so +soon as the batteries opposite should effect a practicable breach. The +next day Henry, reconnoitering the scene, saw, with intense indignation, +that he had been completely out-generalled. Lagny, the key to the Marne, +by holding which he had closed the door on nearly all the food supplies +for Paris, was about to be wrested from him. What should he do? Should +he throw himself across the river and rescue the place before it fell? +This was not to be thought of even by the audacious Bearnese. In the +attempt to cross the river, under the enemy's fire, he was likely to lose +a large portion of his army. Should he fling himself upon Renty's +division which had so ostentatiously offered battle the day before? This +at least might be attempted, although not so advantageously as would have +been the case on the previous afternoon. To undertake this was the +result of a rapid council of generals. It was too late. Renty held the +hills so firmly entrenched and fortified that it was an idle hope to +carry them by assault. He might hurl column after column against those +heights, and pass the day in seeing his men mowed to the earth without +result. + +His soldiers, magnificent in the open field, could not be relied upon to +carry so strong a position by sudden storm; and there was no time to be +lost. He felt the enemy a little. There was some small skirmishing, and +while it was going on, Farnese opened a tremendous fire across the river +upon Lagny. The weak walls soon crumbled; a breach was effected, the +signal for assault was given, and the troops posted on the other side, +after a brief but sanguinary straggle, overcame all, resistance, and were +masters of the town. The whole garrison, twelve hundred strong, was +butchered, and the city thoroughly sacked; for Farnese had been brought +up in the old-fashioned school of Alva; and Julian Romero and Com-. +wander Requesens. + +Thus Lagny was seized before the eyes of Henry, who was forced to look +helplessly on his great antagonist's triumph. He had come forth in full +panoply and abounding confidence to offer battle. He was foiled of his +combat; and he had lost the prize. Never was blow more successfully +parried, a counter-stroke more ingeniously planted. The bridges of +Charenton and St. Maur now fell into Farnese's hands without a contest. +In an incredibly short space of time provisions and munitions were poured +into the starving city; two thousand boat-loads arriving in a single day. +Paris was relieved. Alexander had made his demonstration, and solved the +problem. He had left the Netherlands against his judgment, but he had at +least accomplished his French work as none but he could have done it. +The king was now in worse plight than ever. His army fell to pieces. +His cavaliers, cheated of their battle; and having neither food nor +forage, rode off by hundreds every day. "Our state is such," said +Stafford; on the 16th September, "and so far unexpected and wonderful, +that I am almost ashamed to write, because methinks everybody should +think I dream. Myself seeing of it methinketh that I dream. For, my +lord, to see an army such a one I think as I shall never see again-- +especially for horsemen and gentlemen to take a mind to disband upon the +taking of such a paltry thing as Lagny, a town no better indeed than +Rochester, it is a thing so strange to me that seeing of it I can scarce +believe it. They make their excuses of their want, which I know indeed +is great--for there were few left with one penny in their purses--but yet +that extremity could not be such but that they might have tarried ten +days or fifteen at the most that the king desired of them . . . . . From +six thousand horse that we were and above, we are come to two thousand +and I do not see an end of our leave-takers, for those be hourly. + +"The most I can see we can make account of to tarry are the Viscount +Turenne's troops, and Monsieur de Chatillon's, and our Switzers, and +Lanaquenettes, which make very near five thousand. The first that went +away, though he sent word to the king an hour before he would tarry, was +the Count Soissons, by whose parting on a sudden and without leave-taking +we judge a discontentment." + +The king's army seemed fading into air. Making virtue of necessity he +withdrew to St. Denis, and decided to disband his forces, reserving to +himself only a flying camp with which to harass the enemy as often as +opportunity should offer. + +It must be confessed that the Bearnese had been thoroughly out- +generalled. "It was not God's will," said Stafford, who had been in +constant attendance upon Henry through the whole business; "we deserved +it not; for the king might as easily have had Paris as drunk, four or +five times. And at the last, if he had not committed those faults that +children would not have done, only with the desire to fight and give the +battle (which the other never meant), he had had it in the Duke of +Parma's eight as he took Lagny in ours." He had been foiled of the +battle on which he had set his heart, and, in which he felt confident of +overthrowing the great captain of the age, and trampling the League under +his feet. His capital just ready to sink exhausted into his hands had +been wrested from his grasp, and was alive with new hope and new +defiance. The League was triumphant, his own army scattering to the four +winds. Even a man of high courage and sagacity might have been in +despair. Yet never were the magnificent hopefulness, the wise audacity +of Henry more signally manifested than now when he seemed most blundering +and most forlorn. His hardy nature ever met disaster with so cheerful a +smile as almost to perplex disaster herself. + +Unwilling to relinquish his grip without a last effort, he resolved on a +midnight assault upon Paris. Hoping that the joy at being relieved, the +unwonted feasting which had succeeded the long fasting, and the +conciousness of security from the presence of the combined armies of the +victorious League, would throw garrison and citizens off their guard, he +came into the neighbourhood of the Faubourgs St. Jacques, St. Germain, +St. Marcel, and St. Michel on the night of 9th September. A desperate +effort was made to escalade the walls between St. Jacques and St. +Germain. It was foiled, not by the soldiers nor the citizens, but by the +sleepless Jesuits, who, as often before during this memorable siege, had +kept guard on the ramparts, and who now gave the alarm. The first +assailants were hurled from their ladders, the city was roused, and the +Duke of Nemours was soon on the spot, ordering burning pitch hoops, +atones, and other missiles to be thrown down upon the invaders. The +escalade was baffled; yet once more that night, just before dawn, the +king in person renewed the attack on the Faubourg St. Germain. The +faithful Stafford stood by his side in the trenches, and was witness to +his cool determination, his indomitable hope. La None too was there, +and was wounded in the leg--an accident the results of which were soon +to cause much weeping through Christendom. Had one of those garlands of +blazing tar which all night had been fluttering from the walls of Paris +alighted by chance on the king's head there might have been another +history of France. The ladders, too, proved several feet too short, +and there were too few, of them. Had they been more numerous and longer, +the tale might have been a different one. As it was, the king was forced +to retire with the approaching daylight. + +The characteristics of the great commander of the Huguenots and of the +Leaguers' chieftain respectively were well illustrated in several +incidents of this memorable campaign. Farnese had been informed by +scouts and spies of this intended assault by Henry on the walls of Paris. +With his habitual caution he discredited the story. Had he believed it, +he might have followed the king in overwhelming force and taken him +captive. The penalty of Henry's unparalleled boldness was thus remitted +by Alexander's exuberant discretion. + +Soon afterwards Farnese laid siege to Corbeil. This little place--owing +to the extraordinary skill and determination of its commandant, Rigaut, +an old Huguenot officer, who had fought with La Noue in Flanders-- +resisted for nearly four weeks. It was assaulted at last, Rigaut killed, +the garrison of one thousand French soldiers put to the sword, and the +town sacked. With the fall of Corbeil both the Seine and Marne were re- +opened. + +Alexander then made a visit to Paris, where he was received with great +enthusiasm. The legate, whose efforts and whose money had so much +contributed to the successful defence of the capital had returned to +Italy to participate in the election of a new pope. For the "Huguenot +pope," Sixtus V., had died at the end of August, having never bestowed +on the League any of his vast accumulated treasures to help it in its +utmost need. It was not surprising that Philip was indignant, and had +resorted to menace of various kinds against the holy father, when he +found him swaying so perceptibly in the direction of the hated Bearnese. +Of course when he died his complaint was believed to be Spanish poison. +In those days, none but the very obscure were thought capable of dying +natural deaths, and Philip was esteemed too consummate an artist to allow +so formidable an adversary as Sixtus to pass away in God's time only. +Certainly his death was hailed as matter of great rejoicing by the +Spanish party in Rome, and as much ignominy bestowed upon his memory as +if he had been a heretic; while in Paris his decease was celebrated with +bonfires and other marks of popular hilarity. + +To circumvent the great Huguenot's reconciliation with the Roman Church +was of course an indispensable portion of Philip's plan; for none could +be so dull as not to perceive that the resistance of Paris to its heretic +sovereign would cease to be very effective, so soon as the sovereign had +ceased to be heretic. It was most important therefore that the successor +of Sixtus should be the tool of Spain. The leading confederates were +well aware of Henry's intentions to renounce the reformed faith, and to +return to the communion of Rome whenever he could formally accomplish +that measure. The crafty Bearnese knew full well that the road to Paris +lay through the gates of Rome. Yet it is proof either of the privacy +with which great public matters were then transacted, or of the +extraordinary powers of deceit with which Henry was gifted, that the +leaders of protestantism were still hoodwinked in regard to his attitude. +Notwithstanding the embassy of Luxembourg, and the many other indications +of the king's intentions, Queen Elizabeth continued to regard him as the +great champion of the reformed faith. She had just sent him an emerald, +which she had herself worn, accompanied by the expression of her wish +that the king in wearing it might never strike a blow without demolishing +an enemy, and that in his farther progress he might put all his enemies +to rout and confusion. "You will remind the king, too," she added, "that +the emerald has this virtue, never to break so long as faith remains +entire and firm." + +And the shrewd Stafford, who was in daily attendance upon him, informed +his sovereign that there were no symptoms of wavering on Henry's part. +"The Catholics here," said he, "cry hard upon the king to be a Catholic +or else that he is lost, and they would persuade him that for all their +calling in the Spaniards, both Paris and all other towns will yield to +him, if he will but assure them that he will become a Catholic. For my +part, I think they would laugh at him when he had done so, and so I find +he believeth the same, if he had mind to it, which I find no disposition +in him unto it." The not very distant future was to show what the +disposition of the bold Gascon really was in this great matter, and +whether he was likely to reap nothing but ridicule from his apostasy, +should it indeed become a fact. Meantime it was the opinion of the +wisest sovereign in Europe, and of one of the most adroit among her +diplomatists, that there was really nothing in the rumours as to the +king's contemplated conversion. + +It was, of course, unfortunate for Henry that his staunch friend and +admirer Sixtus was no more. But English diplomacy could do but little in +Rome, and men were trembling with apprehension lest that arch-enemy of +Elizabeth, that devoted friend of Philip, the English Cardinal Allen, +should be elected to the papal throne. "Great ado is made in Rome," said +Stafford, "by the Spanish ambassador, by all corruptions and ways that +may be, to make a pope that must needs depend and be altogether at the +King of Spain's devotion. If the princes of Italy put not their hands +unto it, no doubt they will have their wills, and I fear greatly our +villainous Allen, for, in my judgment, I can comprehend no man more with +reason to be tied altogether to the King of Spain's will than he. +I pray God send him either to God or the Devil first. An evil-minded +Englishman, tied to the King of Spain by necessity, finding almost four +millions of money, is a dangerous beast for a pope in this time." + +Cardinal Allen was doomed to disappointment. His candidacy was not +successful, and, after the brief reign--thirteen days long--of Urban VII, +Sfondrato wore the triple tiara with the title of Gregory XIV. Before +the year closed, that pontiff had issued a brief urging the necessity of +extirpating heresy in France, and of electing a Catholic king, and +asserting his determination to send to Paris--that bulwark of the +Catholic faith--not empty words alone but troops, to be paid fifteen +thousand crowns of gold each month, so long as the city should need +assistance. It was therefore probable that the great leader of the +Huguenots, now that he had been defeated by Farnese, and that his +capital was still loyal to the League, would obtain less favour--however +conscientiously he might instruct himself--from Gregory XIV. than he had +begun to find in the eyes of Sixtus after the triumph of Ivry. + +Parma refreshed his army by a fortnight's repose, and early in November +determined on his return to the Netherlands. The Leaguers were aghast at +his decision, and earnestly besought him to remain. But the duke had +given them back their capital, and although this had been accomplished +without much bloodshed in their army or his own, sickness was now making +sad ravages among his troops, and there was small supply of food or +forage for such large forces as had now been accumulated, in the +neighbourhood of Paris. Moreover, dissensions were breaking out. +between the Spaniards, Italians, and Netherlanders of the relieving army +with their French allies. The soldiers and peasants hated the foreigners +who came there as victors, even although to assist the Leaguers in +overthrowing the laws, government, and nationality of France. The +stragglers and wounded on Farnese's march were killed by the country +people in considerable numbers, and it was a pure impossibility for him +longer to delay his return to the provinces which so much against his +will he had deserted. + +He marched back by way of Champagne rather than by that of Picardy, in +order to deceive the king. Scarcely had he arrived in Champagne when he +heard of the retaking of Lagny and Corbeil. So soon as his back was +turned, the League thus showed its impotence to retain the advantage +which his genius had won. Corbeil, which had cost him a month of hard +work, was recaptured in two days. Lagny fell almost as quickly. +Earnestly did the confederates implore him to return to their rescue, +but he declined almost contemptuously to retrace his steps. His march +was conducted in the same order and with the same precision which--had +marked his advance. Henry, with his flying camp, hung upon his track, +harassing him now in front, now in rear, now in flank. None of the +skirmishes were of much military importance. A single cavalry combat, +however, in which old Marshal Biron was nearly surrounded and was in +imminent danger of death or capture, until chivalrously rescued by the +king in person at the head of a squadron of lancers, will always possess +romantic interest. In a subsequent encounter, near Baroges on the Yesle, +Henry had sent Biron forward with a few companies of horse to engage some +five hundred carabineers of Farnese on their march towards the frontier, +and had himself followed close upon the track with his usual eagerness to +witness or participate in every battle. Suddenly Alphonse Corse, who +rode at Henry's aide, pointed out to him, not more than a hundred paces +off, an officer wearing a felt hat, a great ruff, and a little furred +cassock, mounted on a horse without armour or caparisons, galloping up +and down and brandishing his sword at the carabineers to compel them to +fall back. + +This was the Duke of Parma, and thus the two great champions of the +Huguenots and of the Leaguers--the two foremost captains of the age--had +met face to face. At that moment La Noue, riding up, informed the king +that he had seen the whole of the enemy's horse and foot in battle array, +and Henry, suspecting the retreat of Farnese to be a feint for the +purpose of luring him on with his small force to an attack, gave orders +to retire as soon as possible. + +At Guise, on the frontier, the duke parted with Mayenne, leaving with him +an auxiliary force of four thousand foot and five hundred horse, which he +could ill spare. He then returned to Brussels, which city he reached on +the 4th December, filling every hotel and hospital with his sick +soldiers, and having left one-third of his numbers behind him. He had +manifested his own military skill in the adroit and successful manner in +which he had accomplished the relief of Paris, while the barrenness of +the result from the whole expedition vindicated the political sagacity +with which he had remonstrated against his sovereign's infatuation. + +Paris, with the renewed pressure on its two great arteries at Lagny and +Corbeil, soon fell into as great danger as before; the obedient +Netherlands during the absence of Farnese had been sinking rapidly to +ruin, while; on the other hand, great progress and still greater +preparations in aggressive warfare had been made by the youthful general +and stadtholder of the Republic. + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +Alexander's exuberant discretion +Divine right of kings +Ever met disaster with so cheerful a smile +Future world as laid down by rival priesthoods +Invaluable gift which no human being can acquire, authority +King was often to be something much less or much worse +Magnificent hopefulness +Myself seeing of it methinketh that I dream +Nothing cheap, said a citizen bitterly, but sermons +Obscure were thought capable of dying natural deaths +Philip II. gave the world work enough +Righteous to kill their own children +Road to Paris lay through the gates of Rome +Shift the mantle of religion from one shoulder to the other +Thirty-three per cent. interest was paid (per month) +Under the name of religion (so many crimes) + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext History of United Netherlands, v62 +by John Lothrop Motley + + + + + + +HISTORY OF THE UNITED NETHERLANDS +From the Death of William the Silent to the Twelve Year's Truce--1609 + +By John Lothrop Motley + + + +History United Netherlands, Volume 63, 1590-1592 + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + + Prince Maurice--State of the Republican army--Martial science of the + period--Reformation of the military system by Prince Maurice--His + military genius--Campaign in the Netherlands--The fort and town of + Zutphen taken by the States' forces--Attack upon Deventer--Its + capitulation--Advance on Groningen, Delfzyl, Opslag, Yementil, + Steenwyk, and other places--Farnese besieges Fort Knodsenburg-- + Prince Maurice hastens to its relief--A skirmish ensues resulting in + the discomfiture of the Spanish and Italian troops--Surrender of + Hulat and Nymegen--Close of military, operations of the year. + +While the events revealed in the last chapter had been occupying the +energies of Farnese and the resources of his sovereign, there had been +ample room for Prince Maurice to mature his projects, and to make a +satisfactory beginning in the field. Although Alexander had returned to +the Netherlands before the end of the year 1590, and did not set forth on +his second French campaign until late in the following year, yet the +condition of his health, the exhaustion of his funds, and the dwindling +of his army, made it impossible for him to render any effectual +opposition to the projects of the youthful general. + +For the first time Maurice was ready to put his theories and studies into +practice on an extensive scale. Compared with modern armaments, the +warlike machinery to be used for liberating the republic from its foreign +oppressors would seem almost diminutive. But the science and skill of a +commander are to be judged by the results he can work out with the +materials within reach. His progress is to be measured by a comparison +with the progress of his contemporaries--coheirs with him of what Time +had thus far bequeathed. + +The regular army of the republic, as reconstructed, was but ten thousand +foot and two thousand horse, but it was capable of being largely expanded +by the trainbands of the cities, well disciplined and enured to hardship, +and by the levies of German reiters and other, foreign auxiliaries in +such numbers as could be paid for by the hard-pressed exchequer of the +provinces. + +To the state-council, according to its original constitution, belonged +the levying and disbanding of troops, the conferring of military offices, +and the supervision of military operations by sea and land. It was its +duty to see that all officers made oath of allegiance to the United +Provinces. + +The course of Leicester's administration, and especially the fatal +treason of Stanley and of York, made it seem important for the true +lovers of their country to wrest from the state-council, where the +English had two seats, all political and military power. And this, as +has been seen, was practically but illegally accomplished. The silent +revolution by which at this epoch all the main attributes of government +passed into the hands of the States-General-acting as a league of +sovereignties--has already been indicated. The period during which the +council exercised functions conferred on it by the States-General +themselves was brief and evanescent. The jealousy of the separate +provinces soon prevented the state-council--a supreme executive body +entrusted with the general defence of the commonwealth--from causing +troops to pass into or out of one province or another without a patent +from his Excellency the Prince, not as chief of the whole army, but as +governor and captain-general of Holland, or Gelderland, or Utrecht, as +the case might be. + +The highest military office in the Netherlands was that of captain- +general or supreme commander. This quality was from earliest times +united to that of stadholder, who stood, as his title implied, in the +place of the reigning sovereign, whether count, duke, king, or emperor. +After the foundation of the Republic this dynastic form, like many +others, remained, and thus Prince Maurice was at first only captain- +general of Holland and Zeeland, and subsequently of Gelderland, Utrecht, +and Overyssel, after he had been appointed stadholder of those three +provinces in 1590 on the death of Count Nieuwenaar. However much in +reality he was general-in-chief of the army, he never in all his life +held the appointment of captain-general of the Union. + +To obtain a captain's commission in the army, it was necessary to have +served four years, while three years' service was the necessary +preliminary to the post of lieutenant or ensign. Three candidates were +presented by the province for each office, from whom the stadholder +appointed one.--The commissions, except those of the highest commanders, +were made out in the name of the States-General, by advice and consent of +the council of state. The oath of allegiance, exacted from soldiers as +well as officers; mentioned the name of the particular province to which +they belonged, as well as that of the States-Generals. It thus appears +that, especially after Maurice's first and successful campaigns; the +supreme authority over the army really belonged to the States-General, +and that the powers of the state-council in this regard fell, in the +course of four years, more and more into the back-ground, and at last +disappeared almost entirely. During the active period of the war, +however; the effect of this revolution was in fact rather a greater +concentration of military power than its dispersion, for the States- +General meant simply the province of Holland. Holland was the republic. + +The organisation of the infantry was very simple. The tactical unit +was the company. A temporary combination of several companies--made a +regiment, commanded by a colonel or lieutenant-colonel, but for such +regiments there was no regular organisation. Sometimes six or seven +companies were thus combined, sometimes three times that number, but the +strength of a force, however large, was always estimated by the number of +companies, not of regiments. + +The normal strength of an infantry company, at the beginning of Maurice's +career, may be stated at one hundred and thirteen, commanded by one +captain, one lieutenant, one ensign, and by the usual non-commissioned +officers. Each company was composed of musketeers, harquebusseers, +pikemen, halberdeers, and buckler-men. Long after, portable firearms had +come into use, the greater portion of foot soldiers continued to be armed +with pikes, until the introduction of the fixed bayonet enabled the +musketeer to do likewise the duty of pikeman. Maurice was among the +first to appreciate the advantage of portable firearms, and he +accordingly increased the proportion of soldiers armed with the musket +in his companies. In a company of a hundred and thirteen, including +officers, he had sixty-four armed with firelocks to thirty carrying pikes +and halberds. As before his time the proportion between the arms had +been nearly even; he thus more than doubled the number of firearms. + +Of these weapons there were two sorts, the musket and the harquebus. The +musket was a long, heavy, unmanageable instrument. When fired it was- +placed upon an iron gaffle or fork, which: the soldier carried with him, +and stuck before him into the ground. The bullets of the musket were +twelve to the pound. + +The harquebus--or hak-bus, hook-gun, so called because of the hook in the +front part of the barrel to give steadiness in firing--was much lighter, +was discharged from the hand; and carried bullets of twenty-four to the +pound. Both weapons had matchlocks. + +The pike was eighteen feet long at least, and pikemen as well as +halberdsmen carried rapiers. + +There were three buckler-men to each company, introduced by Maurice for +the personal protection of the leader of the company. The prince was +often attended by one himself, and, on at least one memorable occasion, +was indebted to this shield for the preservation of his life. + +The cavalry was divided into lancers and carabineers. The unit was the +squadron, varying in number from sixty to one hundred and fifty, until +the year 1591, when the regular complement of the squadron was fixed at +one hundred and twenty. + +As the use of cavalry on the battle-field at that day, or at least in the +Netherlands, was not in rapidity of motion, nor in severity of shock--the +attack usually taking place on a trot--Maurice gradually displaced the +lance in favour of the carbine. His troopers thus became rather mounted +infantry than regular cavalry. + +The carbine was at least three feet long, with wheel-locks, and carried +bullets of thirty to the pound. + +The artillery was a peculiar Organisation. It was a guild of citizens, +rather than a strictly military force like the cavalry and infantry. The +arm had but just begun to develop itself, and it was cultivated as a +special trade by the guild of the holy Barbara existing in all the +principal cities. Thus a municipal artillery gradually organised itself, +under the direction of the gun-masters (bus-meesters), who in secret +laboured at the perfection of their art, and who taught it to their +apprentices and journeymen; as the principles of other crafts were +conveyed by master to pupil. This system furnished a powerful element of +defence at a period when every city had in great measure to provide for +its own safety. + +In the earlier campaigns of Maurice three kinds of artillery were used; +the whole cannon (kartow) of forty-eight pounds; the half-cannon, or +twenty-four pounder, and the field-piece carrying a ball of twelve +pounds. The two first were called battering pieces or siege-guns. All +the guns were of bronze. + +The length of the whole cannon was about twelve feet; its weight one +hundred and fifty times that of the ball, or about seven thousand pounds. +It was reckoned that the whole kartow could fire from eighty to one +hundred shots in an hour. Wet hair cloths were used to cool the piece +after every, ten or twelve discharges. The usual charge was twenty +pounds of powder. + +The whole gun was drawn by thirty-one horses, the half-cannon by twenty- +three. + +The field-piece required eleven horses, but a regular field-artillery, as +an integral part of the army, did not exist, and was introduced in much +later times. In the greatest pitched battle ever fought by Maurice, that +of Nieuport, he had but six field-pieces. + +The prince also employed mortars in his sieges, from which were thrown +grenades, hot shot, and stones; but no greater distance was reached than +six hundred yards. Bomb-shells were not often used although they had +been known for a century. + +Before the days of Maurice a special education for engineers had never +been contemplated. Persons who had privately acquired a knowledge of +fortification and similar branches of the science were employed, upon +occasion, but regular corps of engineers there were none. The prince +established a course of instruction in this profession at the University +of Leyden, according to a system drawn up by the celebrated Stevinus. + +Doubtless the most important innovation of the prince, and the one which +required the most energy to enforce, was the use of the spade. His +soldiers were jeered at by the enemy as mere boors and day labourers who +were dishonouring themselves and their profession by the use of that +implement instead of the sword. Such a novelty was a shock to all the +military ideas of the age, and it was only the determination and vigour +of the prince and of his cousin Lewis William that ultimately triumphed +over the universal prejudice. + +The pay of the common soldier varied from ten to twenty florins the +month, but every miner had eighteen florins, and, when actually working +in the mines, thirty florins monthly. Soldiers used in digging trenches +received, over and above their regular pay, a daily wage of from ten to +fifteen styvers, or nearly a shilling sterling. + +Another most wholesome improvement made by the prince was in the payment +of his troops. The system prevailing in every European country at that +day, by which Governments were defrauded and soldiers starved, was most +infamous. The soldiers were paid through the captain, who received the +wages of a full company, when perhaps not one-third of the names on the +master-roll were living human beings. Accordingly two-thirds of all the +money stuck to the officer's fingers, and it was not thought a disgrace +to cheat the Government by dressing and equipping for the day a set of +ragamuffins, caught up in the streets for the purpose, and made to pass +muster as regular soldiers. + +These parse-volants, or scarecrows, were passed freely about from one +company to another, and the indecency of the fraud was never thought a +disgrace to the colours of the company. + +Thus, in the Armada year, the queen had demanded that a portion of her +auxiliary force in the Netherlands should be sent to England. The States +agreed that three thousand of these English troops, together with a few +cavalry companies, should go, but stipulated that two thousand should +remain in the provinces. The queen accepted the proposal, but when the +two thousand had been counted out, it appeared that there was scarcely a +man left for the voyage to England. Yet every one of the English +captains had claimed full pay for his company from her Majesty's +exchequer. + +Against this tide of peculation and corruption the strenuous Maurice set +himself with heart and soul, and there is no doubt that to his +reformation in this vital matter much of his military success was owing. +It was impossible that roguery and venality should ever furnish a solid +foundation for the martial science. + +To the student of military history the campaigns and sieges of Maurice, +and especially the earlier: ones, are of great importance. There is no +doubt whatever, that the youth who now, after deep study and careful +preparation, was measuring himself against the first captains of the age, +was founding the great modern school of military science. It was in this +Netherland academy, and under the tuition of its consummate professor, +that the commanders of the seventeenth century not only acquired the +rudiments, but perfected themselves in the higher walks of their art. +Therefore the siege operations, in which all that had been invented by +modern genius, or rescued from the oblivion which had gathered over +ancient lore during the more vulgar and commonplace practice of the +mercenary commanders of the day was brought into successful application, +must always engage the special attention of the military student. + +To the general reader, more interested in marking the progress of +civilisation and the advance of the people in the path of development +and true liberty, the spectacle of tho young stadholder's triumphs has +an interest of another kind. At the moment when a thorough practical +soldier was most needed by the struggling little commonwealth, to enable +it to preserve liberties partially secured by its unparalleled sacrifices +of blood and treasure during a quarter of a century, and to expel the +foreign invader from the soil which he had so long profaned, it was +destined that a soldier should appear. + +Spade in hand, with his head full of Roman castrametation and geometrical +problems, a prince, scarce emerged from boyhood, presents himself on that +stage where grizzled Mansfelds, drunken Hohenlos, and truculent Verdugos +have been so long enacting, that artless military drama which consists +of hard knocks and wholesale massacres. The novice is received with +universal hilarity. But although the machinery of war varies so steadily +from age to age that a commonplace commander of to-day, rich in the +spoils of preceding time, might vanquish the Alexanders, and Caesars, +and Frederics, with their antiquated enginery, yet the moral stuff out of +which great captains, great armies, great victories are created, is the +simple material it was in the days of Sesostris or Cyrus. The moral and +physiological elements remain essentially the same as when man first +began to walk up and down the earth and destroy his fellow-creatures. + +To make an army a thorough mowing-machine, it then seemed necessary that +it should be disciplined into complete mechanical obedience. To secure +this, prompt payment of wages and inexorable punishment of delinquencies +were indispensable. Long arrearages were now converting Farnese's +veterans into systematic marauders; for unpaid soldiers in every age +and country have usually degenerated into highwaymen, and it is an +impossibility for a sovereign, with the strictest intentions, to persist +in starving his soldiers and in killing them for feeding themselves. In +Maurice's little army, on the contrary, there were no back-wages and no +thieving. At the siege of Delfzyl Maurice hung two of his soldiers for +stealing, the one a hat and the other a poniard, from the townsfolk, +after the place had capitulated. At the siege of Hulst he ordered +another to be shot, before the whole camp, for robbing a woman. + +This seems sufficiently harsh, but war is not a pastime nor a very humane +occupation. The result was, that robbery disappeared, and it is better +for all that enlisted men should be soldiers rather than thieves. To +secure the ends which alone can justify war--and if the Netherlanders +engaged in defending national existence and human freedom against foreign +tyranny were not justifiable then a just war has never been waged-- +a disciplined army is vastly more humane in its operations than a band +of brigands. Swift and condign punishments by the law-martial, for even +trifling offences, is the best means of discipline yet devised. + +To bring to utmost perfection the machinery already in existence, +to encourage invention, to ponder the past with a practical application +to the present, to court fatigue, to scorn pleasure, to concentrate the +energies on the work in hand, to cultivate quickness of eye and calmness +of nerve in the midst of danger, to accelerate movements, to economise +blood even at the expense of time, to strive after ubiquity and +omniscience in the details of person and place, these were the +characteristics of Maurice, and they have been the prominent traits of +all commanders who have stamped themselves upon their age. Although his +method of war-making differed as far as possible from that quality in +common, of the Bearnese, yet the two had one personal insensibility to +fear. But in the case of Henry, to confront danger for its own sake +was in itself a pleasure, while the calmer spirit of Maurice did not +so much seek the joys of the combat as refuse to desist from scientific +combinations in the interests of his personal safety. Very frequently, +in the course of his early campaigns, the prince was formally and +urgently requested by the States-General not to expose his life so +recklessly, and before he had passed his twenty-fifth year he had +received wounds which, but for fortunate circumstances, would have proved +mortal, because he was unwilling to leave special operations on which +much was depending to other eyes than his own. The details of his +campaigns are, of necessity, the less interesting to a general reader +from their very completeness. Desultory or semi-civilised warfare, where +the play of the human passions is distinctly visible, where individual +man, whether in buff jerkin or Milan coat of proof, meets his fellow man +in close mortal combat, where men starve by thousands or are massacred by +town-fulls, where hamlets or villages blaze throughout whole districts or +are sunk beneath the ocean--scenes of rage, hatred, vengeance, self- +sacrifice, patriotism, where all the virtues and vices of which humanity +is capable stride to and fro in their most violent colours and most +colossal shape where man in a moment rises almost to divinity, or sinks +beneath the beasts of the field--such tragical records of which the +sanguinary story of mankind is full--and no portion of them more so than +the Netherland chronicles appeal more vividly to the imagination than the +neatest solution of mathematical problems. Yet, if it be the legitimate +end of military science to accomplish its largest purposes at the least +expense of human suffering; if it be progress in civilisation to acquire +by scientific combination what might be otherwise attempted, and perhaps +vainly attempted, by infinite carnage, then is the professor with his +diagrams, standing unmoved amid danger, a more truly heroic image than +Coeur-de-Lion with his battle-axe or Alva with his truncheon. + +The system--then a new one--which Maurice introduced to sustain that +little commonwealth from sinking of which he had become at the age of +seventeen the predestined chief, was the best under the circumstances +that could have been devised. Patriotism the most passionate, the most +sublime, had created the republic. To maintain its existence against +perpetual menace required the exertion of perpetual skill. + +Passionless as algebra, the genius of Maurice was ready for the task. +Strategic points of immense value, important cities and fortresses, vital +river-courses and communications--which foreign tyranny had acquired +during the tragic past with a patient iniquity almost without a parallel, +and which patriotism had for years vainly struggled to recover--were the +earliest trophies and prizes of his art. But the details of his +victories may be briefly indicated, for they have none of the +picturesqueness of crime. The sieges of Naarden, Harlem, Leyden, were +tragedies of maddening interest, but the recovery of Zutphen, Deventer, +Nymegen, Groningen, and many other places--all important though they +were--was accomplished with the calmness of a consummate player, who +throws down on the table the best half dozen invincible cards which it +thus becomes superfluous to play. + +There were several courses open to the prince before taking the field. +It was desirable to obtain control of the line of the Waal, by which that +heart of the republic--Holland--would be made entirely secure. To this +end, Gertruydenberg--lately surrendered to the enemy by the perfidy of +the Englishman Wingfield, to whom it had been entrusted--Bois le Duc, and +Nymegen were to be wrested from Spain. + +It was also important to hold the Yssel, the course of which river led +directly through the United Netherlands, quite to the Zuyder Zee, cutting +off Friesland, Groningen, and Gelderland from their sister provinces of +Holland and Zeeland. And here again the keys to this river had been lost +by English treason. The fort of Zutphen and the city of Deventer had +been transferred to the Spaniard by Roland York and Sir William Stanley, +in whose honour the republic had so blindly confided, and those cities it +was now necessary to reduce by regular siege before the communications +between the eastern and western portions of the little commonwealth could +ever be established. + +Still farther in the ancient Frisian depths, the memorable treason of +that native Netherlander, the high-born Renneberg, had opened the way +for the Spaniard's foot into the city of Groningen. Thus this whole +important province--with its capital--long subject to the foreign +oppressor, was garrisoned with his troops. + +Verdugo, a veteran officer of Portuguese birth, who had risen from the +position of hostler to that of colonel and royal stadholder, commanded in +Friesland. He had in vain demanded reinforcements and supplies from +Farnese, who most reluctantly was obliged to refuse them in order that he +might obey his master's commands to neglect everything for the sake of +the campaign in France. + +And Verdugo, stripped of all adequate forces to protect his important +province, was equally destitute of means for feeding the troops that were +left to him. "I hope to God that I may do my duty to the king and your +Highness," he cried, "but I find myself sold up and pledged to such an +extent that I am poorer than when I was a soldier at four crowns a month. +And everybody in the town is as desperate as myself." + +Maurice, after making a feint of attacking Gertruydenberg and Bois le +Duc, so that Farnese felt compelled, with considerable difficulty, to +strengthen the garrison of those places, came unexpectedly to Arnhem +with a force of nine thousand foot and sixteen hundred horse. He had +previously and with great secrecy sent some companies of infantry under +Sir Francis Vere to Doesburg. + +On the 23rd May (1591) five peasants and six peasant women made their +appearance at dawn of day before the chief guard-house of the great fort +in the Badmeadow (Vel-uwe), opposite Zutphen, on the west side of the +Yssel. It was not an unusual occurrence. These boors and their wives +had brought baskets of eggs, butter, and cheese, for the garrison, and +they now set themselves quietly down on the ground before the gate, +waiting for the soldiers of the garrison to come out and traffic with +them for their supplies. Very soon several of the guard made their +appearance, and began to chaffer with the peasants, when suddenly one of +the women plucked a pistol from under her petticoats and shot dead the +soldier who was cheapening her eggs. The rest of the party, transformed +in an instant from boors to soldiers, then sprang upon the rest of the +guard, overpowered and bound them, and took possession of the gate. A +considerable force, which had been placed in ambush by Prince Maurice +near the spot, now rushed forward, and in a few minutes the great fort of +Zutphen was mastered by the States' forces without loss of a man. It was +a neat and perfectly successful stratagem. + +Next day Maurice began the regular investment of the city. On the 26th, +Count Lewis William arrived with some Frisian companies. On the 27th, +Maurice threw a bridge of boats from the Badmeadow side, across the river +to the Weert before the city. On the 28th he had got batteries, mounting +thirty-two guns, into position, commanding the place at three points. On +the 30th the town capitulated. Thus within exactly one week from the +firing of the pistol shot by the supposed butterwoman, this fort and +town, which had so long resisted the efforts of the States, and were such +important possessions of the Spaniards, fell into the hands of Maurice. +The terms of surrender were easy. The city being more important than +its garrison, the soldiers were permitted to depart with bag and baggage. +The citizens were allowed three days to decide whether to stay under +loyal obedience to the States-General, or to take their departure. +Those who chose to remain were to enjoy all the privileges of citizens +of the United Provinces. + +But very few substantial citizens were left, for such had been the +tyranny, the misery, and the misrule during the long occupation by a +foreign soldiery of what was once a thriving Dutch town, that scarcely +anybody but paupers and vagabonds were left. One thousand houses were +ruined and desolate. It is superfluous to add that the day of its +restoration to the authority of the Union was the beginning of its +renewed prosperity. + +Maurice, having placed a national garrison in the place, marched the same +evening straight upon Deventer, seven miles farther down the river, +without pausing to sleep upon his victory. His artillery and munitions +were sent rapidly down the Yssel. + +Within five days he had thoroughly invested the city, and brought twenty- +eight guns to bear upon the weakest part of its defences. + +It was a large, populous, well-built town, once a wealthy member of the +Hanseatic League, full of fine buildings, both public and private, the +capital of the rich and fertile province of Overyssel, and protected by a +strong wall and moat--as well-fortified a place as could be found in the +Netherlands. The garrison consisted of fourteen hundred Spaniards and +Walloons, under the command of Count Herman van den Berg, first cousin of +Prince Maurice. + +No sooner had the States army come before the city than a Spanish captain +observed--"We shall now have a droll siege--cousins on the outside, +cousins on the inside. There will be a sham fight or two, and then the +cousins will make it up, and arrange matters to suit themselves." + +Such hints had deeply wounded Van den Berg, who was a fervent Catholic, +and as loyal a servant to Philip II. as he could have been, had that +monarch deserved, by the laws of nature and by his personal services and +virtues, to govern all the swamps of Friesland. He slept on the gibe, +having ordered all the colonels and captains of the garrison to attend at +solemn mass in the great church the next morning. He there declared to +them all publicly that he felt outraged at the suspicions concerning his +fidelity, and after mass he took the sacrament, solemnly swearing never +to give up the city or even to speak of it until he had made such +resistance that he must be carried from the breach. So long as he could +stand or sit he would defend the city entrusted to his care. + +The whole council who had come from Zutphen to Maurice's camp were +allowed to deliberate concerning the siege. The, enemy had been seen +hovering about the neighbourhood in considerable numbers, but had not +ventured an attempt to throw reinforcements into the place. Many of the +counsellors argued against the siege. It was urged that the resistance +would be determined and protracted, and that the Duke of Parma was sure +to take the field in person to relieve so important a city, before its +reduction could be effected. + +But Maurice had thrown a bridge across the Yssel above, and another below +the town, had carefully and rapidly taken measures in the success of +which he felt confident, and now declared that it would be cowardly and +shameful to abandon an enterprise so well begun. + +The city had been formally summoned to surrender, and a calm but most +decided refusal had been returned. + +On the 9th June the batteries began playing, and after four thousand six +hundred shots a good breach had been effected in the defences along the +Kaye--an earthen work lying between two strong walls of masonry. + +The breach being deemed practicable, a storm was ordered. To reach the +Kaye it was necessary to cross a piece of water called the Haven, over +which a pontoon bridge was hastily thrown. There was now a dispute among +the English, Scotch, and Netherlanders for precedence in the assault. +It was ultimately given to the English, in order that the bravery of that +nation might now on the same spot wipe out the disgrace inflicted upon +its name by the treason of Sir William Stanley. The English did their +duty well and rushed forward merrily, but the bridge proved too short. +Some sprang over and pushed boldly for the breach. Some fell into the +moat and were drowned. Others, sustained by the Netherlanders under +Solms, Meetkerke, and Brederode, effected their passage by swimming, +leaping, or wading, so that a resolute attack was made. Herman van den +Berg met them in the breach at the head of seven companies. The +defenders were most ferocious in their resistance. They were also very +drunk. The count had placed many casks of Rhenish and of strong beer +within reach, and ordered his soldiers to drink their fill as they +fought. He was himself as vigorous in his potations as he was chivalrous +with sword and buckler. Two pages and two lieutenants fell at his side, +but still he fought at the head of his men with a desperation worthy of +his vow, until he fell wounded in the eye and was carried from the place. +Notwithstanding this disaster to the commander of the town, the +assailants were repulsed, losing two hundred-and twenty-five in killed +and wounded--Colonel Meetkerke and his brother, two most valuable Dutch +officers, among them. + +During the whole of the assault, a vigorous cannonade had been kept up +upon other parts of the town, and houses and church-towers were toppling +down in all directions. Meanwhile the inhabitants--for it was Sunday-- +instead of going to service were driven towards the breach by the +serjeant-major, a truculent Spaniard, next in command to Van den Berg, +who ran about the place with a great stick, summoning the Dutch burghers +to assist the Spanish garrison on the wall. It was thought afterwards +that this warrior would have been better occupied among the soldiers, at +the side of his commander. + +A chivalrous incident in the open field occurred during the assault. +A gigantic Albanian cavalry officer came prancing out of Deventer into +the spaces between the trenches, defying any officer in the States' army +to break a lance with him. Prince Maurice forbade any acceptance of the +challenge, but Lewis van der Cathulle, son of the famous Ryhove of Ghent, +unable to endure the taunts and bravado of this champion, at last +obtained permission to encounter him in single combat. They met +accordingly with much ceremony, tilted against each other, and shivered +their lances in good style, but without much effect. The Albanian then +drew a pistol. Cathulle had no weapon save a cutlass, but with this +weapon he succeeded in nearly cutting off the hand which held the pistol. +He then took his enemy prisoner, the vain-glorious challenger throwing +his gold chain around his conqueror's neck in token of his victory. +Prince Maurice caused his wound to be bound up and then liberated him, +sending him into the city with a message to the governor. + +During the following night the bridge, over which the assailants had +nearly forced their way into the town, was vigorously attacked by the +garrison, but Count Lewis William, in person, with a chosen band defended +it stoutly till morning, beating back the Spaniards with heavy loss in a +sanguinary midnight contest. + +Next morning there was a unanimous outcry on the part of the besieged for +a capitulation. It was obvious that, with the walls shot to ruins as +they had been, the place was no longer tenable against Maurice's superior +forces. A trumpet was sent to the prince before the dawn of day, and on +the 10th of June, accordingly, the place capitulated. + +It was arranged that the garrison should retire with arms and baggage +whithersoever they chose. Van den Berg stipulated nothing in favour of +the citizens, whether through forgetfulness or spite does not distinctly +appear. But the burghers were received like brothers. No plunder was +permitted, no ransom demanded, and the city took its place among its +sisterhood of the United Provinces. + +Van den Berg himself was received at the prince's head, quarters with +much cordiality. He was quite blind; but his wound seemed to be the +effect of exterior contusions, and he ultimately recovered the sight of +one eye. There was mach free conversation between himself and his +cousins during the brief interval in which he was their guest. + +"I've often told Verdugo," said he, "that the States had no power to make +a regular siege, nor to come with proper artillery into the field, and he +agreed with me. But we were both wrong, for I now see the contrary." + +To which Count Lewis William replied with a laugh: "My dear cousin, I've +observed that in all your actions you were in the habit of despising us +Beggars, and I have said that you would one day draw the shortest straw +in consequence. I'm glad to hear this avowal from your own lips." +Herman attempted no reply but let the subject drop, seeming to regret +having said so much. + +Soon afterwards he was forwarded by Maurice in his own coach to Ulff, +where he was attended by the prince's body physician till he was re- +established in health. + +Thus within ten days of his first appearance before its walls, the city +of Deventer, and with it a whole province, had fallen into the hands of +Maurice. It began to be understood that the young pedant knew something +about his profession, and that he had not been fagging so hard at the +science of war for nothing. + +The city was in a sorry plight when the States took possession of it. +As at Zutphen, the substantial burghers had wandered away, and the +foreign soldiers bivouacking there so long had turned the stately old +Hanseatic city into a brick and mortar wilderness. Hundreds of houses +had been demolished by the garrison, that the iron might be sold and the +woodwork burned for fuel; for the enemy had conducted himself as if +feeling in his heart that the occupation could not be a permanent one, +and as if desirous to make the place as desolate as possible for the +Beggars when they should return. + +The dead body of the traitor York, who had died and been buried in +Deventer, was taken from the tomb, after the capture of the city, and +with the vulgar ferocity so characteristic of the times, was hung, coffin +and all, on the gibbet for the delectation of the States' soldiery. + +Maurice, having thus in less than three weeks recovered two most +important cities, paused not an instant in his career but moved at once +on Groningen. There was a strong pressure put upon him to attempt the +capture of Nymegen, but the understanding with the Frisian stadholders +and his troops had been that the enterprise upon Groningen should follow +the reduction of Deventer. + +On the 26th June Maurice appeared before Groningen. Next day, as a +precautionary step, he moved to the right and attacked the strong city of +Delfzyl. This place capitulated to him on the 2nd July. The fort of +Opslag surrendered on the 7th July. He then moved to the west of +Groningen, and attacked the forts of Yementil and Lettebaest, which fell +into his hands on the 11th July. He then moved along the Nyenoort +through the Seven Wolds and Drenthe to Steenwyk, before which strongly +fortified city he arrived on the 15th July. + +Meantime, he received intercepted letters from Verdugo to the Duke of +Parma, dated 19th June from Groningen. In these, the Spanish stadholder +informed Farnese that the enemy was hovering about his neighbourhood, and +that it would be necessary for the duke to take the field in person in +considerable force, or that Groningen would be lost, and with it the +Spanish forces in the province. He enclosed a memorial of the course +proper to be adopted by the duke for his relief. + +Notwithstanding the strictness by which Philip had tied his great +general's hands, Farnese felt the urgency of the situation. By the end +of June, accordingly, although full of his measures for marching to the +relief of the Leaguers in Normandy, he moved into Gelderland, coming by +way of Xanten, Rees, and neighbouring places. Here he paused for a +moment perplexed, doubting whether to take the aggressive in Gelderland +or to march straight to the relief of Groningen. He decided that it was +better for the moment to protect the line of the Waal. Shipping his army +accordingly into the Batavian Island or Good-meadow (Bet-uwe), which lies +between the two great horns of the Rhine, he laid siege to Fort +Knodsenburg, which Maurice had built the year before, on the right bank +of the Waal for the purpose of attacking Nymegen. Farnese, knowing that +the general of the States was occupied with his whole army far away to +the north, and separated from him by two great rivers, wide and deep, and +by the whole breadth of that dangerous district called the Foul-meadow +(Vel-uwe), and by the vast quagmire known as the Rouvenian morass, which +no artillery nor even any organised forces had ever traversed since the +beginning of the world, had felt no hesitation in throwing his army in +boats across the Waal. He had no doubt of reducing a not very powerful +fortress long before relief could be brought to it, and at the same time +of disturbing by his presence in Batavia the combinations of his young +antagonist in Friesland and Groningen. + +So with six thousand foot and one thousand horse, Alexander came before +Knodsenburg. The news reached Maurice at Steenwyk on the 15th July. +Instantly changing his plans, the prince decided that Farnese must be +faced at once, and, if possible, driven from the ground, thinking it more +important to maintain, by concentration, that which had already been +gained, than to weaken and diffuse his forces in insufficient attempts to +acquire more. Before two days had passed, he was on the march southward, +having left Lewis William with a sufficient force to threaten Groningen. +Coming by way of Hasselt Zwol to Deventer, he crossed the Yssel on a +bridge of boats on the 18th of July, 1591 and proceeded to Arnhem. +His army, although excessively fatigued by forced marches in very hot +weather, over nearly impassable roads, was full of courage and +cheerfulness, having learned implicit confidence in their commander. +On the 20th he was at Arnhem. On the 22nd his bridge of boats was made, +and he had thrown his little army across the Rhine into Batavia, and +entrenched himself with his six thousand foot and fourteen hundred horse +in the immediate neighbourhood of Farnese--Foul-meadow and Good-meadow, +dyke, bog, wold, and quagmire, had been successfully traversed, and +within one week of his learning that the great viceroy of Philip had +reached the Batavian island, Maurice stood confronting that famous +chieftain in battle-array. + +On the 22nd July, Farnese, after firing two hundred and eighty-five shots +at Fort Knodsenburg, ordered an assault, expecting that so trifling a +work could hardly withstand a determined onslaught by his veterans. +To his surprise they were so warmly received that two hundred of the +assailants fell at the first onset, and the attack was most conclusively +repulsed. + +And now Maurice had appeared upon the scene, determined to relieve a +place so important for his ulterior designs. On the 24th July he sent +out a small but picked force of cavalry to reconnoitre the enemy. They +were attacked by a considerable body of Italian and Spanish horse from +the camp before Knodsenburg, including Alexander's own company of lancers +under Nicelli. The States troops fled before them in apparent dismay for +a little distance, hotly pursued by the royalists, until, making a sudden +halt, they turned to the attack, accompanied by five fresh companies of +cavalry and a thousand musketeers, who fell upon the foe from all +directions. It was an ambush, which had been neatly prepared by Maurice +in person, assisted by Sir Francis Vere. Sixty of the Spaniards and +Italians were killed and one hundred and fifty prisoners, including +Captain Nicelli, taken, while the rest of the party sought safety in +ignominious flight. This little skirmish, in which ten companies of the +picked veterans of Alexander Farnese had thus been utterly routed before +his eyes, did much to inspire the States troops with confidence in +themselves and their leader. + +Parma was too experienced a campaigner, and had too quick an eye, not to +recognise the error which he had committed in placing the dangerous river +Waal, without a bridge; between himself and his supplies. He had not +dreamed that his antagonist would be capable of such celerity of movement +as he had thus displayed, and his first business now was to extricate +himself from a position which might soon become fatal. Without +hesitation, he did his best to amuse the enemy in front of the fort, and +then passed the night in planting batteries upon the banks of the river, +under cover of which he succeeded next day in transporting in ferry-boats +his whole force, artillery and: baggage, to the opposite shore, without +loss, and with his usual skill. + +He remained but a short time in Nymegen, but he was hampered by the +express commands of the king. Moreover, his broken health imperatively +required that he should once more seek the healing influence of the +waters of Spa, before setting forth on his new French expedition. +Meanwhile, although he had for a time protected the Spanish possessions +in the north by his demonstration in Gelderland, it must be confessed +that the diversion thus given to the plans of Maurice was but a feeble +one. + +Having assured the inhabitants of Nymegen that he would watch over the +city like the apple of, his eye, he took his departure on the 4th of +August for Spa. He was accompanied on his journey by his son, Prince +Ranuccio, just arrived from Italy. + +After the retreat of Farnese, Maurice mustered his forces at Arnhem, and +found himself at the head of seven thousand foot and fifteen hundred +horse. It was expected by all the world that, being thus on the very +spot, he would forthwith proceed to reduce the ancient, wealthy, imperial +city of Nynegen. The garrison and burghers accordingly made every +preparation to resist the attack, disconcerted as they were, however, +by the departure of Parma, and by the apparent incapacity of Verdugo to +bring them effectual relief. + +But to the surprise of all men, the States forces suddenly disappeared +from the scene, having been, as it were, spirited away by night-time, +along those silent watery highways and crossways of canal, river, and +estuary--the military advantages of which to the Netherlands, Maurice was +the first thoroughly to demonstrate. Having previously made great +preparations of munitions and provisions in Zeeland, the young general, +who was thought hard at work in Gelderland, suddenly presented himself +on the 19th September, before the gates of Hulst, on the border of +Zeeland and Brabant. + +It was a place of importance from its situation, its possession by the +enemy being a perpetual thorn in the side of the States, and a constant +obstacle to the plans of Maurice. His arrangements having been made with +the customary, neatness, celerity, and completeness, he received the +surrender of the city on the fifth day after his arrival. + +Its commander, Castillo, could offer no resistance; and was subsequently, +it is said, beheaded by order of the Duke of Parma for his negligence. +The place is but a dozen miles from Antwerp, which city was at the very, +moment keeping great holiday and outdoing itself in magnificent festivals +in honour of young Ranuccio. The capture of Hulst before his eyes was a +demonstration quite unexpected by the prince, and great was the wrath of +old Mondragon, governor of Antwerp, thus bearded in his den. The veteran +made immediate preparations for chastising the audacious Beggars of +Zeeland and their, pedantic young commander, but no sooner had the +Spaniards taken the field than the wily foe had disappeared as magically +as he had come. + +The Flemish earth seemed to have bubbles as the water hath, and while +Mondragon was beating the air in vain on the margin of the Scheld, +Maurice was back again upon the Waal, horse, foot, and artillery, bag, +baggage, and munition, and had fairly set himself down in earnest to +besiege Nymegen, before the honest burghers and the garrison had finished +drawing long breaths at their recent escape. Between the 14th and 16th +October he had bridged the deep, wide, and rapid river, had transported +eight thousand five hundred infantry and, sixteen companies of cavalry to +the southern side, had entrenched his camp and made his approaches, and +had got sixty-eight pieces of artillery into three positions commanding +the weakest part of the defences of the city between the Falcon Tower and +the Hoender gate. The fort of Knodsenburg was also ready to throw hot +shot across the river into the town. Not a detail in all these +preparations escaped the vigilant eye of the Commander-in-Chief, and +again and again was he implored not so recklessly to expose a life +already become precious to his country. On the 20th October, Maurice +sent to demand the surrender of the city. The reply was facetious but +decisive. + +The prince was but a young suitor, it was said, and the city a spinster +not so lightly to be won. A longer courtship and more trouble would be +necessary. + +Whereupon the suitor opened all his batteries without further delay, and +the spinster gave a fresh example of the inevitable fate of talking +castles and listening ladies. + +Nymegen, despite her saucy answer on the 20th, surrendered on the 21st. +Relief was impossible. Neither Parma, now on his way to France, nor +Verdugo, shut up in Friesland, could come to the rescue of the place, +and the combinations of Maurice were an inexorable demonstration. + +The terms of the surrender were similar to those accorded to Zutphen and +Deventer. In regard to the religious point it was expressly laid down by +Maurice that the demand for permission to exercise publicly the Roman +Catholic religion should be left to the decision of the States-General. + +And thus another most important city had been added to the domains of the +republic. Another triumph was inscribed on the record of the young +commander. The exultation was very great throughout the United +Netherlands, and heartfelt was the homage rendered by all classes of his +countrymen to the son of William the Silent. + +Queen Elizabeth wrote to congratulate him in warmest terms on his great +successes, and even the Spaniards began to recognise the merits of the +new chieftain. An intercepted letter from Verdugo, who had been foiled +in his efforts to arrest the career of Maurice, indicated great respect +for his prowess. "I have been informed," said the veteran, "that Count +Maurice of Nassau wishes to fight me. Had I the opportunity I assure you +that I should not fail him, for even if ill luck were my portion, I +should at least not escape the honour of being beaten by such a +personage. I beg you to tell him so with my affectionate compliments. +Yours, FRANCIS VERDUGO." + +These chivalrous sentiments towards Prince Maurice had not however +prevented Verdugo from doing his best to assassinate Count Lewis William. +Two Spaniards had been arrested in the States camp this summer, who came +in as deserters, but who confessed "with little, or mostly without +torture," that they had been sent by their governor and colonel with +instructions to seize a favourable opportunity to shoot Lewis William and +set fire to his camp. But such practices were so common on the part of +the Spanish commanders as to occasion no surprise whatever. + +It will be remembered that two years before, the famous Martin Schenk had +come to a tragic end at Nymegen. He had been drowned, fished up, hanged, +drawn, and quartered; after which his scattered fragments, having been +exposed on all the principal towers of the city, had been put in +pickle and deposited in a chest. They were now collected and buried +triumphantly in the tomb of the Dukes of Gelderland. Thus the shade +of the grim freebooter was at last appeased. + +The government of the city was conferred upon Count Lewis William, with +Gerard de Jonge as his lieutenant. A substantial garrison was placed in +the city, and, the season now far advanced Maurice brought the military +operations of the year, saving a slight preliminary demonstration against +Gertruydenberg, to a close. He had deserved and attained--considerable +renown. He had astonished the leisurely war-makers and phlegmatic +veterans of the time, both among friends and foes, by the unexampled +rapidity of his movements and the concentration of his attacks. He had +carried great waggon trains and whole parks of siege artillery--the +heaviest then known--over roads and swamps which had been deemed +impassable even for infantry. He had traversed the length and breadth of +the republic in a single campaign, taken two great cities in Overyssel, +picked up cities and fortresses in the province of Groningen, and +threatened its capital, menaced Steenwyk, relieved Knodsenburg though +besieged in person by the greatest commander of the age, beaten the most +famous cavalry of Spain and Italy under the eyes of their chieftain, +swooped as it were through the air upon Brabant, and carried off an +important city almost in the sight of Antwerp, and sped back again in the +freezing weather of early autumn, with his splendidly served and +invincible artillery, to the imperial city of Nymegen, which Farnese had +sworn to guard like the apple of his eye, and which, with consummate +skill, was forced out of his grasp in five days. + +"Some might attribute these things to blind fortune," says an honest +chronicler who had occupied important posts in the service of the prince +and of his cousin Lewis William, "but they who knew the prince's constant +study and laborious attention to detail, who were aware that he never +committed to another what he could do himself, who saw his sobriety, +vigilance, his perpetual study and holding of council with Count Lewis +William (himself possessed of all these good gifts, perhaps even in +greater degree), and who never found him seeking, like so many other +commanders, his own ease and comfort, would think differently." + + + + +CHAPTER XXV + + War in Brittany and Normandy--Death of La Noue--Religious and + political persecution in Paris--Murder of President Brisson, + Larcher, and Tardif--The sceptre of France offered to Philip--The + Duke of Mayenne punishes the murderers of the magistrates--Speech of + Henry's envoy to the States-General--Letter of Queen Elizabeth to + Henry--Siege of Rouen--Farnese leads an army to its relief--The king + is wounded in a skirmish--Siege of Rue by Farnese--Henry raises the + siege of Rouen--Siege of Caudebec--Critical position of Farnese and + his army--Victory of the Duke of Mercoeur in Brittany. + +Again the central point towards which the complicated events to be +described in this history gravitate is found on the soil of France. +Movements apparently desultory and disconnected--as they may have seemed +to the contemporaneous observer, necessarily occupied with the local and +daily details which make up individual human life--are found to be +necessary parts of a whole, when regarded with that breadth and clearness +of vision which is permitted to human beings only when they can look +backward upon that long sequence of events which make up the life of +nations and which we call the Past. It is only by the anatomical study +of what has ceased to exist that we can come thoroughly to comprehend the +framework and the vital conditions of that which lives. It is only by +patiently lifting the shroud from the Past that we can enable ourselves +to make even wide guesses at the meaning of the dim Present and the +veiled Future. It is only thus that the continuity of human history +reveals itself to us as the most important of scientific facts. + +If ever commonwealth was apparently doomed to lose that national +existence which it had maintained for a brief period at the expense of +infinite sacrifice of blood and treasure, it was the republic of the +United Netherlands in the period immediately succeeding the death of +William the Silent. Domestic treason, secession of important provinces, +religious-hatred, foreign intrigue, and foreign invasion--in such a sea +of troubles was the republic destined generations long to struggle. Who +but the fanatical, the shallow-minded, or the corrupt could doubt the +inevitable issue of the conflict? Did not great sages and statesmen +whose teachings seemed so much wiser in their generation than the +untaught impulses of the great popular heart, condemn over and over again +the hopeless struggles and the atrocious bloodshed which were thought to +disgrace the age, and by which it was held impossible that the cause of +human liberty should ever be advanced? + +To us who look back from the vantage summit which humanity has reached-- +thanks to the toil and sacrifices of those who have preceded us--it may +seem doubtful whether premature peace in the Netherlands, France, and +England would have been an unmitigated blessing, however easily it might +have been purchased by the establishment all over Europe of that holy +institution called the Inquisition, and by the tranquil acceptance of the +foreign domination of Spain. + +If, too; ever country seemed destined to the painful process of national +vivisection and final dismemberment, it was France: Its natural guardians +and masters, save one, were in secret negotiation with foreign powers to +obtain with their assistance a portion of the national territory under +acknowledgment of foreign supremacy. There was hardly an inch of French +soil that had not two possessors. In Burgundy Baron Biron was battling +against the Viscount Tavannes; in the Lyonese and Dauphiny Marshal des +Digiueres was fighting with the Dukes of Savoy and Nemours; in Provence, +Epernon was resisting Savoy; in Languedoc, Constable Montmorency +contended with the Duke of Joyeuse; in Brittany, the Prince of Dombes was +struggling with the Duke of Mercoeur. + +But there was one adventurer who thought he could show a better legal +title to the throne of France than all the doctors of the Sorbonne could +furnish to Philip II. and his daughter, and who still trusted, through +all the disasters which pursued him, and despite the machinations of +venal warriors and mendicant princes, to his good right and his good +sword, and to something more potent than both, the cause of national +unity. His rebuke to the intriguing priests at the interview of St. +Denis, and his reference to the judgment of Solomon, formed the text to +his whole career. + +The brunt of the war now fell upon Brittany and Normandy. Three thousand +Spaniards under Don John de Aquila had landed in the port of Blavet which +they had fortified, as a stronghold on the coast. And thither, to defend +the integrity of that portion of France, which, in Spanish hands, was a +perpetual menace to her realm, her crown, even to her life, Queen +Elizabeth had sent some three thousand Englishmen, under commanders well +known to France and the Netherlands. There was black Norris again +dealing death among the Spaniards and renewing his perpetual squabbles +with Sir Roger Williams. There was that doughty Welshman himself, +truculent and caustic as ever--and as ready with sword or pen, foremost +in every mad adventure or every forlorn hope, criticising with sharpest +tongue the blunders and shortcomings of friend and foe, and devoting the +last drop in his veins with chivalrous devotion to his Queen. "The world +cannot deny," said he, "that any carcase living ventured himself freer +and oftener for his prince, state, and friends than I did mine. There is +no more to be had of a poor beast than his skin, and for want of other +means I never respected mine in the least respect towards my sovereign's +service, or country." And so passing his life in the saddle and under +fire, yet finding leisure to collect the materials for, and to complete +the execution of, one of the most valuable and attractive histories of +the age, the bold Welshman again and again appears, wearing the same +humorous but truculent aspect that belonged to him when he was wont to +run up and down in a great morion and feathers on Flemish battlefields, +a mark for the Spanish sharpshooters. + +There, too, under the banner of the Bearnese, that other historian of +those sanguinary times, who had fought on almost every battle-field where +tyranny and liberty had sought to smite each other dead, on French or +Flemish soil, and who had prepared his famous political and military +discourses in a foul dungeon swarming with toads and rats and other +villainous reptiles to which the worse than infernal tyranny of Philip +II. had consigned him for seven years long as a prisoner of war--the +brave and good La Noue, with the iron arm, hero of a hundred combats, +was fighting his last fight. At the siege of Lamballe in Brittany, he +had taken off his calque and climbed a ladder to examine the breach +effected by the batteries. An arquebus shot from the town grazed his +forehead, and, without inflicting a severe wound, stunned him so much +that he lost his balance and fell head foremost towards the ground; his +leg, which had been wounded at the midnight assault upon Paris, where he +stood at the side of King Henry, caught in the ladder and held him +suspended. His head was severely bruised, and the contusions and shock +to his war-worn frame were so great that he died after lingering eighteen +days. + +His son de Teligny; who in his turn had just been exchanged and released +from the prison where he had lain since his capture before Antwerp, had +hastened with joy to join his father in the camp, but came to close his +eyes. The veteran caused the chapter in Job on the resurrection of the +body to be read to him on his death-bed, and died expressing his firm +faith in a hereafter. Thus passed away, at the age of sixty, on the 4th +August, 1591, one of the most heroic spirits of France. Prudence, +courage, experience, military knowledge both theoretic and practical, +made him one of the first captains of the age, and he was not more +distinguished for his valour than for the purity of his life, and the +moderation, temperance, and justice of his character. The Prince of +Dombes, in despair at his death, raised the siege of Lamballe. + +There was yet another chronicler, fighting among the Spaniards, now in +Brittany, now in Normandy, and now in Flanders, and doing his work as +thoroughly with his sword as afterwards with his pen, Don Carlos Coloma, +captain of cavalry, afterwards financier, envoy, and historian. For it +was thus that those writers prepared themselves for their work. They +were all actors in the great epic, the episodes of which they have +preserved. They lived and fought, and wrought and suffered and wrote. +Rude in tongue; aflame with passion, twisted all awry by prejudice, +violent in love and hate, they have left us narratives which are at +least full of colour and thrilling with life. + +Thus Netherlanders, Englishmen, and Frenchmen were again mingling their +blood and exhausting their energies on a hundred petty battle-fields of +Brittany and Normandy; but perhaps to few of those hard fighters was it +given to discern the great work which they were slowly and painfully +achieving. + +In Paris the League still maintained its ascendancy. Henry, having again +withdrawn from his attempts to reduce the capital, had left the sixteen +tyrants who governed it more leisure to occupy themselves with internal +politics. A network of intrigue was spread through the whole atmosphere +of the place. The Sixteen, sustained by the power of Spain and Rome, and +fearing nothing so much as the return of peace, by which their system of +plunder would come to an end, proceeded with their persecution of all +heretics, real or supposed, who were rich enough to offer a reasonable +chance of spoil. The soul of all these intrigues was the new legate, +Sego, bishop of Piacenza. Letters from him to Alexander Farnese, +intercepted by Henry, showed a determination to ruin the Duke of Mayenne +and Count Belin governor of Paris, whom he designated as Colossus and +Renard, to extirpate the magistrates, and to put Spanish partizans in +their places, and in general to perfect the machinery by which the +authority of Philip was to be established in France. He was perpetually +urging upon that monarch the necessity of spending more money among his +creatures in order to carry out these projects. + +Accordingly the attention of the Sixteen had been directed to President +Brisson, who had already made himself so dangerously conspicuous by his +resistance to the insolent assumption of the cardinal-legate. This +eminent juris-consult had succeeded Pomponne de Bellievre as first +president of the Parliament of Paris. He had been distinguished for +talent, learning, and eloquence as an advocate; and was the author of +several important legal works. His ambition to fill the place of first +president had caused him to remain in Paris after its revolt against +Henry III. He was no Leaguer; and, since his open defiance of the ultra- +Catholic party, he had been a marked man--doomed secretly by the +confederates who ruled the capital. He had fondly imagined that he could +govern the Parisian populace as easily as he had been in the habit of +influencing the Parliament or directing his clients. He expected to +restore the city to its obedience to the constituted authorities. He +hoped to be himself the means of bringing Henry IV. in triumph to the +throne of his ancestors. He found, however, that a revolution was more +difficult to manage than a law case; and that the confederates of the +Holy League were less tractable than his clients had usually been found. + +On the night of the 14th November; 1591; he was seized on the bridge St. +Michel, while on his way to parliament, and was told that he was expected +at the Hotel de Ville. He was then brought to the prison of the little +Chatelet. + +Hardly had he been made secure in the dimly-lighted dungeon, when Crome, +a leader among the Parisian populacey made his appearance, accompanied by +some of his confederates, and dressed in a complete suit of mail. He +ordered the magistrate to take off his hat and to kneel. He then read a +sentence condemning him to death. Profoundly astonished, Brisson +demanded to know of what crime he was accused; and under what authority. +The answer was a laugh; and an assurance that he had no time to lose. +He then begged that at least he might be imprisoned long enough to enable +him to complete a legal work on which he was engaged, and which, by his +premature death, would be lost to the commonwealth. This request +produced no doubt more merriment than his previous demands. His judges +were inflexible; and allowed him hardly time to confess himself. He was +then hanged in his dungeon. + +Two other magistrates, Larcher and Tardif, were executed in the same +way, in the same place, and on the same night. The crime charged against +them was having spoken in a public assembly somewhat freely against the +Sixteen, and having aided in the circulation in Paris of a paper drawn +up by the Duke of Nevers, filled with bitterness against the Lorraine +princes and the League, and addressed to the late Pope Sixtus. + +The three bodies were afterwards gibbeted on the Greve in front of the +Hotel de Ville, and exposed for two days to the insults and fury of the +populace. + +This was the culminating point of the reign of terror in Paris. Never +had the sixteen tyrants; lords of the market halls, who governed the +capital by favour of and in the name of the populace, seemed more +omnipotent. As representatives or plenipotentiaries of Madam League they +had laid the crown. at the feet of the King of Spain, hoping by still +further drafts on his exchequer and his credulity to prolong indefinitely +their own ignoble reign. The extreme democratic party, which had +hitherto supported the House of Lorraine and had seemed to idolize that +family in the person of the great Balafre, now believed themselves +possessed of sufficient power to control the Duke of Mayenne and all his +adherents. They sent the Jesuit Claude Mathieu with a special memorial +to Philip II. That monarch was implored to take, the sceptre of France, +and to reign over them, inasmuch as they most willingly threw themselves +into his arms? They assured him that all reasonable people, and +especially the Holy League, wished him to take the reins of Government, +on condition of exterminating heresy throughout the kingdom by force of +arms, of publishing the Council of Trent, and of establishing everywhere +the Holy inquisition--an institution formidable only to the wicked and +desirable for the good. It was suggested that Philip should not call +himself any longer King of Spain nor adopt the title of King of France, +but that he should proclaim himself the Great King, or make use of some +similar designation, not indicating any specialty but importing universal +dominion. + +Should Philip, however, be disinclined himself to accept the monarchy, +it was suggested that the young Duke of Guise, son of the first martyr +of France, would be the most appropriate personage to be honoured with +the hand of the legitimate Queen of France, the Infanta Clara Isabella. + +But the Sixteen were reckoning without the Duke of Mayenne. That great +personage, although an indifferent warrior and an utterly unprincipled +and venal statesman, was by no means despicable as a fisherman in the +troubled waters of revolution. He knew how to manage intrigues with both +sides for his own benefit. Had he been a bachelor he might have obtained +the Infanta and shared her prospective throne. Being encumbered with a +wife he had no hope of becoming the son-in-law of Philip, and was +determined that his nephew Guise should not enjoy a piece of good fortune +denied to himself. The escape of the young duke from prison had been the +signal for the outbreak of jealousies between uncle and nephew, which +Parma and other agents had been instructed by their master to foster to +the utmost. "They must be maintained in such disposition in regard to +me," he said, "that the one being ignorant of my relations to the other, +both may without knowing it do my will." + +But Mayenne, in this grovelling career of self-seeking, in this perpetual +loading of dice and marking of cards, which formed the main occupation of +so many kings and princes of the period, and which passed for +Machiavellian politics, was a fair match for the Spanish king and his +Italian viceroy. He sent President Jeannin on special mission to Philip, +asking for two armies, one to be under his command, the other under that +of Farnese, and assured him that he should be king himself, or appoint +any man he liked to the vacant throne. Thus he had secured one hundred +thousand crowns a month to carry on his own game withal. "The +maintenance of these two armies costs me 261,000 crowns a month," said +Philip to his envoy Ybarra. + +And what was the result of all this expenditure of money, of all this +lying and counter-lying, of all this frantic effort on the part of the +most powerful monarch of the age to obtain property which did not belong +to him--the sovereignty of a great kingdom, stocked with a dozen millions +of human beings--of all this endless bloodshed of the people in the +interests of a high-born family or two, of all this infamous brokerage +charged by great nobles for their attempts to transfer kingdoms like +private farms from one owner to another? Time was to show. Meanwhile +men trembled at the name of Philip II., and grovelled before him as the +incarnation of sagacity, high policy, and king-craft. + +But Mayenne, while taking the brokerage, was less anxious about the +transfer. He had fine instinct enough to suspect that the Bearnese, +outcast though he seemed, might after all not be playing so desperate a +game against the League as it was the fashion to suppose. He knew +whether or not Henry was likely to prove a more fanatical Huguenot in +1592 than he bad shown himself twenty years before at the Bartholomew +festival. And he had wit enough to foresee that the "instruction" which +the gay free-thinker held so cautiously in his fingers might perhaps turn +out the trump card. A bold, valorous Frenchman with a flawless title, +and washed whiter than snow by the freshet of holy water, might prove a +more formidable claimant to the allegiance of Frenchmen than a foreign +potentate, even though backed by all the doctors of the Sorbonne. + +The murder of President Brisson and his colleagues by the confederates of +the sixteen quarters, was in truth the beginning of the end. What seemed +a proof of supreme power was the precursor of a counter-revolution, +destined ere long to lead farther than men dreamed. The Sixteen believed +themselves omnipotent. Mayenne being in their power, it was for them to +bestow the crown at their will, or to hold it suspended in air as long as +seemed best to them. They felt no doubt that all the other great cities +in the kingdom would follow the example of Paris. + +But the lieutenant-general of the realm felt it time for him to show that +his authority was not a shadow--that he was not a pasteboard functionary +like the deceased cardinal-king, Charles X. The letters entrusted by the +Sixteen to Claude Mathieu were intercepted by Henry, and, very probably, +an intimation of their contents was furnished to Mayenne. At any rate, +the duke, who lacked not courage nor promptness when his own interests +were concerned, who felt his authority slipping away from him, now that +it seemed the object of the Spaniards to bind the democratic party to +themselves by a complicity in crime, hastened at once to Paris, +determined to crush these intrigues and to punish the murderers of the +judges. The Spanish envoy Ybarra, proud, excitable, violent, who had +been privy to the assassinations, and was astonished that the deeds had +excited indignation and fury instead of the terror counted upon, +remonstrated with Mayenne, intimating that in times of civil commotion it +was often necessary to be blind and deaf. + +In vain. The duke carried it with a high and firm hand. He arrested the +ringleaders, and hanged four of them in the basement of the Louvre within +twenty days after the commission of their crime. The energy was well- +timed and perfectly successful. The power of the Sixteen was struck to +the earth at a blow. The ignoble tyrants became in a moment as +despicable as they had been formidable and insolent. Crome, more +fortunate than many of his fellows, contrived to make his escape +out of the kingdom. + +Thus Mayenne had formally broken with the democratic party, so called- +with the market-halls oligarchy. In thus doing, his ultimate rupture +with the Spaniards was foreshadowed. The next combination for him to +strive for would be one to unite the moderate Catholics and the Bearnese. +Ah! if Henry would but "instruct" himself out of hand, what a game the +duke might play! + +The burgess-party, the mild royalists, the disgusted portion of the +Leaguers, coalescing with those of the Huguenots whose fidelity might +prove stanch even against the religious apostasy contemplated by their +chief--this combination might prove an over-match for the ultra-leaguers, +the democrats, and the Spaniards. The king's name would be a tower of +strength for that "third party," which began to rear its head very boldly +and to call itself "Politica." Madam League might succumb to this new +rival in the fickle hearts of the French. + +At the beginning of the year 1591; Buzanval had presented his credentials +to the States-General at the Hague as envoy of Henry IV. In the speech +which he made on this occasion he expressed the hope that the mission of +the Viscount Turenne, his Majesty's envoy to England and to the +Netherlands, had made known the royal sentiments towards the States and +the great satisfaction of the king with their energetic sympathy and +assistance. It was notorious, said Buzanval, that the King of Spain for +many years had been governed by no other motive than to bring all the +rest of Christendom under his dominion, while at the same time he forced +upon those already placed under his sceptre a violent tyranny, passing +beyond all the bounds that God, nature, and reason had set to lawful +forms of government. In regard to nations born under other laws than +his, he had used the pretext of religion for reducing them to servitude. +The wars stirred up by his family in Germany, and his recent invasion of +England, were proofs of this intention, still fresh in the memory of all +men. Still more flagrant were his machinations in the present troubles +of France. Of his dealings with his hereditary realms, the condition of +the noble provinces of the Netherlands, once so blooming under reasonable +laws, furnished, a sufficient illustration. You see, my masters, +continued the envoy, the subtle plans of the Spanish king and his +counsellors to reach with certainty the object of their ambition. +They have reflected that Spain, which is the outermost corner of Europe, +cannot conveniently make war upon other Christian realms. They have seen +that a central position is necessary to enable them to stretch their arms +to every side. They have remembered that princes who in earlier days +were able to spread their wings over all Christendom had their throne in +France, like Charles the Great and his descendants. Therefore the king +is now earnestly bent on seizing this occasion to make himself master of +France. The death of the late king (Henry III.) had no sooner occurred, +than--as the blood through great terror rushes from the extremities and +overflows the heart--they here also, fearing to lose their opportunity +and astonished at the valour of our present king, abandoned all their +other enterprises in order to pour themselves upon France. + +Buzanval further reminded the States that Henry had received the most +encouraging promises from the protestant princes of Germany, and that so +great a personage as the Viscount Turenne, who had now gone thither to +reap the fruit of those promises, would not have been sent on such a +mission except that its result was certain. The Queen of England, too, +had promised his Majesty most liberal assistance. + +It was not necessary to argue as to the close connection between the +cause of the Netherlands and that of France. The king had beaten down +the mutiny of his own subjects, and repulsed the invasion of the Dukes of +Savoy and of Lorraine. In consideration of the assistance promised by +Germany and England--for a powerful army would be at the command of Henry +in the spring--it might be said that the Netherlands might repose for a +time and recruit their exhausted energies, under the shadow of these +mighty preparations. + +"I do not believe, however," said the minister, "that you will all answer +me thus. The faint-hearted and the inexperienced might flatter +themselves with such thoughts, and seek thus to cover their cowardice, +but the zealous and the courageous will see that it is time to set sail +on the ship, now that the wind is rising so freshly and favourably. + +"For there are many occasions when an army might be ruined for want of +twenty thousand crowns. What a pity if a noble edifice, furnished to the +roof-tree, should fall to decay for want of a few tiles. No doubt your +own interests are deeply connected with our own. Men may say that our +proposals should be rejected on the principle that the shirt is nearer +to the skin than the coat, but it can be easily proved that our cause +is one. The mere rumour of this army will prevent the Duke of Parma from +attacking you. His forces will be drawn to France. He will be obliged +to intercept the crash of this thunderbolt. The assistance of this army +is worth millions to you, and has cost you nothing. To bring France into +hostility with Spain is the very policy that you have always pursued and +always should pursue in order to protect your freedom. You have always +desired a war between France and Spain, and here is a fierce and cruel +one in which you have hazarded nothing. It cannot come to an end without +bringing signal advantages to yourselves. + +"You have always desired an alliance with a French sovereign, and here is +a firm friendship offered you by our king, a natural alliance. + +"You know how unstable are most treaties that are founded on shifting +interests, and do not concern the freedom of bodies and souls. The first +are written with pen upon paper, and are generally as light as paper. +They have no roots in the heart. Those founded on mutual assistance on +trying occasions have the perpetual strength of nature. They bring +always good and enduring fruit in a rich soil like the heart of our king; +that heart which is as beautiful and as pure from all untruth as the lily +upon his shield. + +"You will derive the first profits from the army thus raised. From the +moment of its mustering under a chief of such experience as Turenne, it +will absorb the whole attention of Spain, and will draw her thoughts from +the Netherlands to France." + +All this and more in the same earnest manner did the envoy urge upon the +consideration of the States-General, concluding with a demand of 100,000 +florins as their contribution towards the French campaign. + +His eloquence did not fall upon unwilling ears; for the States-General, +after taking time to deliberate, replied to the propositions by an +expression of the strongest sympathy with, and admiration for, the heroic +efforts of the King of France. Accordingly, notwithstanding their own +enormous expenses, past and present, and their strenuous exertions at +that very moment to form an army of foot and horse for the campaign, the +brilliant results of which have already been narrated, they agreed to +furnish the required loan of 100,000 florins to be repaid in a year, +besides six or seven good ships of war to co-operate with the fleets of +England and France upon the coasts of Normandy. And the States were +even better than their word. + +Before the end of autumn of the year 1591, Henry had laid siege to Rouen, +then the second city of the kingdom. To leave much longer so important a +place--dominating, as it did, not only Normandy but a principal portion +of the maritime borders of France--under the control of the League and of +Spain was likely to be fatal to Henry's success. It was perfectly sound +in Queen Elizabeth to insist as she did, with more than her usual +imperiousness towards her excellent brother, that he should lose no more +time before reducing that city. It was obvious that Rouen in the hands +of her arch-enemy was a perpetual menace to the safety of her own +kingdom. It was therefore with correct judgment, as well as with that +high-flown gallantry so dear to the heart of Elizabeth, that her royal +champion and devoted slave assured her of his determination no longer to +defer obeying her commands in this respect. + +The queen had repeatedly warned him of the necessity of defending the +maritime frontier of his kingdom, and she was not sparing of her +reproaches that the large sums which she expended in his cause had been +often ill bestowed. Her criticisms on what she considered his military +mistakes were not few, her threats to withdraw her subsidies frequent. +"Owning neither the East nor the West Indies," she said, "we are unable +to supply the constant demands upon us; and although we have the +reputation of being a good housewife, it does not follow that we can be a +housewife for all the world." She was persistently warning the king of +an attack upon Dieppe, and rebuking him for occupying himself with petty +enterprises to the neglect of vital points. She expressed her surprise +that after the departure of Parma, he had not driven the Spaniards out of +Brittany, without allowing them to fortify themselves in that country. +"I am astonished," she said to him, "that your eyes are so blinded as not +to see this danger. Remember, my dear brother," she frankly added, "that +it is not only France that I am aiding, nor are my own natural realms of +little consequence to me. Believe me, if I see that you have no more +regard to the ports and maritime places nearest to us, it will be +necessary that my prayers should serve you in place of any other +assistance, because it does not please me to send my people to the +shambles where they may perish before having rendered you any assistance. +I am sure the Spaniards will soon besiege Dieppe. Beware of it, and +excuse my bluntness, for if in the beginning you had taken the maritime +forts, which are the very gates of your kingdom, Paris would not have +been so well furnished, and other places nearer the heart of the kingdom +would not have received so much foreign assistance, without which the +others would have soon been vanquished. Pardon my simplicity as +belonging to my own sex wishing to give a lesson to one who knows better, +but my experience in government makes me a little obstinate in believing +that I am not ignorant of that which belongs to a king, and I persuade +myself that in following my advice you will not fail to conquer your +assailants." + +Before the end of the year Henry had obtained control of the, Seine, both +above and below the city, holding Pont de l'Arche on the north--where was +the last bridge across the river; that of Rouen, built by the English +when they governed Normandy, being now in ruins--and Caudebec on the +south in an iron grasp. Several war-vessels sent by the Hollanders, +according to the agreement with Buzanval, cruised in the north of the +river below Caudebec, and rendered much service to the king in cutting +off supplies from the beleaguered place, while the investing army of +Henry, numbering twenty-five thousand foot--inclusive of the English +contingent, and three thousand Netherlanders--and ten thousand cavalry, +nearly all French, was fast reducing the place to extremities. + +Parma, as usual, in obedience to his master's orders, but entirely +against his own judgment, had again left the rising young general of the +Netherlands to proceed from one triumph to another, while he transferred +beyond the borders of that land which it was his first business to +protect, the whole weight of his military genius and the better portion +of his well disciplined forces. + +Most bitterly and indignantly did he express himself, both at the outset +and during the whole progress of the expedition, concerning the utter +disproportions between the king's means and aims. The want of money was +the cause of wholesale disease, desertion, mutiny, and death in his +slender army. + +Such great schemes as his master's required, as he perpetually urged, +liberality of expenditure and measures of breadth. He protested that he +was not to blame for the ruin likely to come upon the whole enterprise. +He had besought, remonstrated, reasoned with the king in vain. He had +seen his beard first grow, he said, in the king's service, and he had +grown gray in that service, but rather than be kept longer in such a +position, without money, men, or means to accomplish the great purposes +on which he was sent, he protested that he would "abandon his office and +retire into the woods to feed on roots." Repeatedly did he implore his +master for a large and powerful army; for money and again money. The +royal plans should be enforced adequately or abandoned entirely. To +spend money in small sums, as heretofore, was only throwing it into the +sea. + +It was deep in the winter however before he could fairly come to the +rescue of the besieged city. Towards the end of January, 1592, he moved +out of Hainault, and once more made his junction at Guise with the Duke +of Mayenne. At a review of his forces on 16th January, 1592, Alexander +found himself at the head of thirteen thousand five hundred and sixteen +infantry and four thousand and sixty-one cavalry. The Duke of Mayenne's +army, for payment of which that personage received from Philip 100,000 +dollars a month, besides 10,000 dollars a month for his own pocket, ought +to have numbered ten thousand foot and three thousand horse, according to +contract, but was in reality much less. + +The Duke of Montemarciano, nephew of Gregory XIV., had brought two +thousand Swiss, furnished by the pontiff to the cause of the League, +and the Duke of Lorraine had sent his kinsmen, the Counts Chaligny and +Vaudemont, with a force of seven hundred lancers and cuirassiers. + +The town of Fere was assigned in pledge to Farnese to hold as a +convenient: mustering-place and station in proximity to his own borders, +and, as usual, the chief command over the united armies was placed in his +hands. These arrangements concluded, the allies moved slowly forward +much in the same order as in the previous year. The young Duke of Guise, +who had just made his escape from the prison of Tours, where he had been +held in durance since the famous assassination of his father and uncle, +and had now come to join his uncle Mayenne, led the vanguard. Ranuccio, +son of the duke, rode also in the advance, while two experienced +commanders, Vitry and De la Chatre, as well as the famous Marquis del +Vasto, formerly general of cavalry in the Netherlands, who had been +transferred to Italy but was now serving in the League's army as a +volunteer, were associated with the young princes. Parma, Mayenne, and +Montemarciano rode in the battalia, the rear being under command of the +Duke of Aumale and the Count Chaligny. Wings of cavalry protected the +long trains of wagons which were arranged on each flank of the invading +army. The march was very slow, a Farnese's uniform practice to guard +himself scrupulously against any possibility of surprise and to entrench +himself thoroughly at nightfall. + +By the middle of February they reached the vicinity of Aumale in Picardy. +Meantime Henry, on the news of the advance of the relieving army, had +again the same problem to solve that had been presented to him before +Paris in the summer of 1590. Should he continue in the trenches, +pressing more and more closely the city already reduced to great straits? +Should he take the open field against the invaders and once more attempt +to crush the League and its most redoubtable commander in a general +engagement? Biron strenuously advised the continuance of the siege. +Turenne, now, through his recent marriage with the heiress, called Duc +de Bouillon, great head of the Huguenot party in France, counselled as +warmly the open attack. Henry, hesitating more than was customary with +him, at last decided on a middle course. The resolution did not seem a +very wise one, but the king, who had been so signally out-generalled in +the preceding campaign by the great Italian, was anxious to avoid his +former errors, and might perhaps fall into as great ones by attempting +two inconsistent lines of action. Leaving Biron in command of the +infantry and a portion of the horse to continue the siege, he took the +field himself with the greater part of the cavalry, intending to +intercept and harass the enemy and to prevent his manifest purpose of +throwing reinforcements and supplies into the invested city. + +Proceeding to Neufchatel and Aumale, he soon found himself in the +neighbourhood of the Leaguers, and it was not long before skirmishing +began. At this time, on a memorable occasion, Henry, forgetting as +usual, in his eagerness for the joys of the combat that he was not a +young captain of cavalry with his spurs to win by dashing into every mad +adventure that might present itself, but a king fighting for his crown, +with the welfare of a whole people depending on his fortunes, thought +proper to place himself at the head of a handful of troopers to +reconnoitre in person the camp of the Leaguers. Starting with five +hundred horse, and ordering Lavardin and Givry to follow with a larger +body, while the Dukes of Nevers and Longueville were to move out, should +it prove necessary, in force, the king rode forth as merrily as to a +hunting party, drove in the scouts and pickets of the confederated +armies, and, advancing still farther in his investigations, soon found +himself attacked by a cavalry force of the enemy much superior to his +own. A skirmish began, and it was necessary for the little troop to beat +a hasty retreat, fighting as it ran. It was not long before Henry was +recognised by the enemy, and the chase became all the more lively; George +Basti, the famous Albanian trooper, commanding the force which pressed +most closely upon the king. The news spread to the camp of the League +that the Bearnese was the leader of the skirmishers. Mayenne believed +it, and urged the instant advance of the flying squadron and of the whole +vanguard. Farnese refused. It was impossible that the king should be +there, he said, doing picket duty at the head of a company. It was a +clumsy ambush to bring on a general engagement in the open field, and he +was not to be drawn out of his trenches into a trap by such a shallow +device. A French captain, who by command of Henry had purposely allowed +himself to be taken, informed his captors that the skirmishers were in +reality supported by a heavy force of infantry. This suggestion of the +ready Bearnese confirmed the doubts of Alexander. Meantime the +skirmishing steeplechase went on before his eyes. The king dashing down +a hill received an arquebus shot in his side, but still rode for his +life. Lavardin and Givry came to the rescue, but a panic seized their +followers as the rumour flew that the king was mortally wounded--was +already dead--so that they hardly brought a sufficient force to beat back +the Leaguers. Givry's horse was soon killed under him, and his own thigh +crushed; Lavardin was himself dangerously wounded. The king was more +hard pressed than ever, men were falling on every side of him, when four +hundred French dragoons--as a kind of musketeers who rode on hacks to the +scene of action but did their work on foot, were called at that day--now +dismounted and threw themselves between Henry and his pursuers. Nearly +every man of them laid down his life, but they saved the king's. Their +vigorous hand to hand fighting kept off the assailants until Nevers and +Longueville received the king at the gates of Aumale with a force before +which the Leaguers were fain to retreat as rapidly as they had come. + +In this remarkable skirmish of Aumale the opposite qualities of Alexander +and of Henry were signally illustrated. The king, by his constitutional +temerity, by his almost puerile love of confronting danger for the +danger's sake, was on the verge of sacrificing himself with all the hopes +of his house and of the nobler portion of his people for an absolute +nothing; while the duke, out of his superabundant caution, peremptorily +refused to stretch out his hand and seize the person of his great enemy +when directly within his, grasp. Dead or alive, the Bearnese was +unquestionably on that day in the power of Farnese, and with him the +whole issue of the campaign and of the war. Never were the narrow limits +that separate valour on the one side and discretion on the other from +unpardonable lunacy more nearly effaced than on that occasion.' + +When would such an opportunity occur again? + +The king's wound proved not very dangerous, although for many days +troublesome, and it required, on account of his general state of health, +a thorough cure. Meantime the royalists fell back from Aumale and +Neufchatel, both of which places were at once occupied by the Leaguers: +In pursuance of his original plan, the Duke of Parma advanced with his +customary steadiness and deliberation towards Rouen. It was his +intention to assault the king's army in its entrenchments in combination +with a determined sortie to be made by the besieged garrison. His +preparations for the attack were ready on the 26th February, when he +suddenly received a communication from De Villars, who had thus far most +ably and gallantly conducted the defence of the place, informing him that +it was no longer necessary to make a general attack. On the day before +he had made a sally from the four gates of the city, had fallen upon the +besiegers in great force, had wounded Biron and killed six hundred of his +soldiers, had spiked several pieces of artillery and captured others +which he had successfully brought into the town, and had in short so +damaged the enemy's works and disconcerted him in all his plans, that he +was confident of holding the place longer than the king could afford to +stay in front of him. All he wished was a moderate reinforcement of men +and munitions. Farnese by no means sympathized with the confident tone +of Villars nor approved of his proposition. He had come to relieve Rouen +and to raise the siege, and he preferred to do his work thoroughly. +Mayenne was however most heartily in favour of taking the advice of +Villars. He urged that it was difficult for the Bearnese to keep an army +long in the field, still more so in the trenches. Let them provide for +the immediate wants of the city; then the usual process of decomposition +would soon be witnessed in the ill-paid, ill-fed, desultory forces of the +heretic pretender. + +Alexander deferred to the wishes of Mayenne, although against his better +judgment. Eight hundred infantry, were successfully sent into Rouen. +The army of the League then countermarched into Picardy near the confines +of Artois. + +They were closely followed by Henry at the head of his cavalry, and +lively skirmishes were of frequent occurrence. In a military point of +view none of these affairs were of consequence, but there was one which +partook at once of the comic and the pathetic. For it chanced that in a +cavalry action of more than common vivacity the Count Chaligny found +himself engaged in a hand to hand conflict with a very dashing swordsman, +who, after dealing and receiving many severe blows, at last succeeded in +disarming the count and taking him prisoner. It was the fortune of war, +and, but a few days before, might have been the fate of the great Henry +himself. But Chaligny's mortification at his captivity became intense +when he discovered that the knight to whom he had surrendered was no +other than the king's jester. That he, a chieftain of the Holy League, +the long-descended scion of the illustrious house of Lorraine, brother of +the great Duke of Mercoeur, should become the captive of a Huguenot +buffoon seemed the most stinging jest yet perpetrated since fools had +come in fashion. The famous Chicot--who was as fond of a battle as of a +gibe, and who was almost as reckless a rider as his master--proved on +this occasion that the cap and bells could cover as much magnanimity as +did the most chivalrous crest. Although desperately wounded in the +struggle which had resulted in his triumph, he generously granted to the +Count his freedom without ransom. The proud Lorrainer returned to his +Leaguers and the poor fool died afterwards of his wounds. + +The army of the allies moved through Picardy towards the confines of +Artois, and sat down leisurely to beleaguer Rue, a low-lying place on the +banks and near the mouth of the Somme, the only town in the province +which still held for the king. It was sufficiently fortified to +withstand a good deal of battering, and it certainly seemed mere trifling +for the great Duke of Parma to leave the Netherlands in such confusion, +with young Maurice of Nassau carrying everything before him, and to come +all the way into Normandy in order, with the united armies of Spain and +the League, to besiege the insignificant town of Rue. + +And this was the opinion of Farnese, but he had chosen throughout the +campaign to show great deference to the judgment of Mayenne. Meantime +the month of March wore away, and what had been predicted came to pass. +Henry's forces dwindled away as usual. His cavaliers rode off to forage +for themselves, when their battles were denied them, and the king was now +at the head of not more than sixteen thousand foot and five thousand +horse. On the other hand the Leaguers' army had been melting quite as +rapidly. With the death of Pope Sfondrato, his nephew Montemarciano had +disappeared with his two thousand Swiss; while the French cavalry and +infantry, ill-fed and uncomfortable, were diminishing daily. Especially +the Walloons, Flemings, and other Netherlanders of Parma's army, took +advantage of their proximity to the borders and escaped in large numbers +to their own homes. It was but meagre and profitless campaigning on both +sides during those wretched months of winter and early spring, although +there was again an opportunity for Sir Roger Williams, at the head of two +hundred musketeers and one hundred and fifty pikemen, to make one of his +brilliant skirmishes under the eye of the Bearnese. Surprised and +without armour, he jumped, in doublet and hose, on horseback, and led his +men merrily against five squadrons of Spanish and Italian horse, and six +companies of Spanish infantry; singled out and unhorsed the leader of the +Spanish troopers, and nearly cut off the head, of the famous Albanian +chief George Basti with one swinging blow of his sword. Then, being +reinforced by some other English companies, he succeeded in driving the +whole body of Italians and Spaniards, with great loss, quite into their +entrenchments. "The king doth commend him very highly," said Umton, +"and doth more than wonder at the valour of our nation. I never heard +him give more honour to any service nor to any man than he doth to Sir +Roger Williams and the rest, whom he held as lost men, and for which he +has caused public thanks to be given to God." + +At last Villars, who had so peremptorily rejected assistance at the end +of February, sent to say that if he were not relieved by the middle of +April he should be obliged to surrender the city. If the siege were not +raised by the twentieth of the month he informed Parma, to his profound +astonishment, that Rouen would be in Henry's hands. + +In effecting this result the strict blockade maintained by the Dutch +squadron at the mouth of the river, and the resolute manner in which +those cruisers dashed at every vessel attempting to bring relief to +Rouen, were mainly instrumental. As usual with the stern Hollanders and +Zeelanders when engaged at sea with the Spaniards, it was war to the +knife. Early in April twelve large vessels, well armed and manned, +attempted to break the blockade. A combat ensued, at the end of which +eight of the Spanish ships were captured, two were sunk, and two were set +on fire in token of victory, every man on board of all being killed and +thrown into the sea. Queen Elizabeth herself gave the first news of this +achievement to the Dutch envoy in London. "And in truth," said he, "her +Majesty expressed herself, in communicating these tidings, with such +affection and extravagant joy to the glory and honour of our nation and +men-of-war's-men, that it wonderfully delighted me, and did me good into +my very heart to hear it from her." + +Instantly Farnese set himself to the work which, had he followed his own +judgment, would already have been accomplished. Henry with his cavalry +had established himself at Dieppe and Arques, within a distance of five +or six leagues from the infantry engaged in the siege of Rouen. +Alexander saw the profit to be derived from the separation between the +different portions of the enemy's forces, and marched straight upon the +enemy's entrenchments. He knew the disadvantage of assailing a strongly +fortified camp, but believed that by a well-concerted, simultaneous +assault by Villars from within and the Leaguers from without, the king's +forces would be compelled to raise the siege or be cut up in their +trenches. + +But Henry did not wait for the attack. He had changed his plan, and, +for once in his life, substituted extreme caution for his constitutional +temerity. Neither awaiting the assault upon his entrenchments nor +seeking his enemy in the open field, he ordered the whole camp to be +broken up, and on the 20th of April raised the siege. + +Farnese marched into Rouen, where the Leaguers were received with +tumultuous joy, and this city, most important for the purposes of the +League and for Philip's ulterior designs, was thus wrested from the grasp +just closing upon it. Henry's main army now concentrated itself in the +neighbourhood of Dieppe, but the cavalry under his immediate +superintendence continued to harass the Leaguers. It was now determined +to lay siege to Caudebec, on the right bank of the Seine, three leagues +below Rouen; the possession of this place by the enemy being a constant. +danger and difficulty to Rouen, whose supplies by the Seine were thus cut +off. + +Alexander, as usual, superintended the planting of the batteries against +the place. He had been suffering during the whole campaign with those +dropsical ailments which were making life a torture to him; yet his +indomitable spirit rose superior to his physical disorders, and he +wrought all day long on foot or on horseback, when he seemed only fit to +be placed on his bed as a rapid passage to his grave. On this occasion, +in company with the Italian engineer Properzio, he had been for some time +examining with critical nicety the preliminaries, for the siege, when it +was suddenly observed by those around him that he was growing pale. It +then appeared that he had received a musket-ball between the wrist and +the elbow, and had been bleeding profusely; but had not indicated by a +word or the movement of a muscle that he had been wounded, so intent was +he upon carrying out the immediate task to which he had set himself. It +was indispensable, however, that he should now take to his couch. The +wound was not trifling, and to one in his damaged and dropsical condition +it was dangerous. Fever set in, with symptoms of gangrene, and it became +necessary to entrust the command of the League to Mayenne. But it was +hardly concealed from Parma that the duke was playing a double game. +Prince Ranuccio, according to his father's express wish, was placed +provisionally at the head of the Flemish forces. This was conceded; +however, with much heart-burning, and with consequences easily to be +imagined. + +Meantime Caudebec fell at once. Henry did nothing to relieve it, and the +place could offer but slight resistance to the force arrayed against it. +The bulk of the king's army was in the neighbourhood of Dieppe, where +they had been recently strengthened by twenty companies of Netherlanders +and Scotchmen brought by Count Philip Nassau. The League's headquarters +were in the village of Yvetot, capital of the realm of the whimsical +little potentate so long renowned under that name. + +The king, in pursuance of the plan he had marked out for himself, +restrained his skirmishing more than was his wont. Nevertheless he lay +close to Yvetot. His cavalry, swelling and falling as usual like an +Alpine torrent, had now filled up its old channels again, for once more +the mountain chivalry had poured themselves around their king. With ten +thousand horsemen he was now pressing the Leaguers, from time to time, +very hard, and on one occasion the skirmishing became so close and so +lively that a general engagement seemed imminent. Young Ranuccio had a +horse shot under him, and his father--suffering as he was--had himself +dragged out of bed and brought on a litter into the field, where he was +set on horseback, trampling on wounds and disease, and, as it were, on +death itself, that he might by his own unsurpassed keenness of eye and +quickness of resource protect the army which had been entrusted to his +care. The action continued all day; young Bentivoglio, nephew of the +famous cardinal, historian and diplomatist, receiving a bad wound in the +leg, as he fought gallantly at the side of Ranuccio. Carlo Coloma also +distinguished himself in the engagement. Night separated the combatants +before either side had gained a manifest advantage, and on the morrow it +seemed for the interest of neither to resume the struggle. + +The field where this campaign was to be fought was a narrow peninsula +enclosed between the sea and the rivers Seine and Dieppe. In this +peninsula, called the Land of Caux, it was Henry's intention to shut up +his enemy. Farnese had finished the work that he had been sent to do, +and was anxious, as Henry was aware, to return to the Netherlands. Rouen +was relieved, Caudebec had fallen. There was not food or forage enough +in the little peninsula to feed both the city and the whole army of the +League. Shut up in this narrow area, Alexander must starve or surrender. +His only egress was into Picardy and so home to Artois, through the base +of the isosceles triangle between the two rivers and on the borders of +Picardy. On this base Henry had posted his whole army. Should Farnese +assail him, thus provided with a strong position and superiority of +force, defeat was certain. Should he remain where he was, he must +inevitably starve. He had no communications with the outside. The +Hollanders lay with their ships below Caudebec, blockading the river's +mouth and the coast. His only chance of extrication lay across the +Seine. But Alexander was neither a bird nor a fish, and it was +necessary, so Henry thought, to be either the one or the other to cross +that broad, deep, and rapid river, where there were no bridges, and where +the constant ebb and flow of the tide made transportation almost +impossible in face of a powerful army in rear and flank. Farnese's +situation seemed, desperate; while the shrewd Bearnese sat smiling +serenely, carefully watching at the mouth of the trap into which he had +at last inveigled his mighty adversary. Secure of his triumph, he seemed +to have changed his nature, and to have become as sedate and wary as, by +habit, he was impetuous and hot. + +And in truth Farnese found himself in very narrow quarters. There was no +hay for his horses, no bread for his men. A penny loaf was sold for two +shillings. A jug of water was worth a crown. As for meat or wine, they +were hardly to be dreamed of. His men were becoming furious at their +position. They had enlisted to fight, not to starve, and they murmured +that it was better for an army to fall with weapons in its hands than to +drop to pieces hourly with the enemy looking on and enjoying their agony. + +It was obvious to Farnese that there were but two ways out of his +dilemma. He might throw himself upon Henry--strongly entrenched as he +was, and with much superior forces to his own, upon ground deliberately +chosen for himself--defeat him utterly, and march over him back to the +Netherlands. This would be an agreeable result; but the undertaking +seemed difficult, to say the least. Or he might throw his army across +the Seine and make his escape through the isle of France and Southern +Picardy back to the so-called obedient provinces. But it seemed, +hopeless without bridges or pontoons to attempt the passage of the Seine. + +There was; however, no time left, for hesitation. Secretly he took his +resolution and communicated it in strict confidence to Mayenne, to +Ranuccio, and to one or two other chiefs. He came to Caudebec, and +there, close to the margin of the river, he threw up a redoubt. On the +opposite bank, he constructed another. On both he planted artillery, +placing a force of eight hundred Netherlanders under Count Bossu in the +one, and an equal number of the same nation, Walloons chiefly, under +Barlotte in the other. He collected all the vessels, flatboats,-- +wherries,--and rafts that could be found or put together at Rouen, and +then under cover of his forts he transported all the Flemish infantry, +and the Spanish, French, and Italian cavalry, during the night of 22nd +May to the 22 May, opposite bank of the Seine. Next morning he sent up +all the artillery together with the Flemish cavalry to Rouen, where, +making what use he could by temporary contrivances of the broken arches +of the broken bridge, in order to shorten the distance from shore to +shore, he managed to convey his whole army with all its trains across the +river. + +A force was left behind, up to the last moment, to engage in the +customary skirmishes, and to display themselves as largely as possible +for the purpose of imposing upon the enemy. The young Prince of Parma +had command of this rearguard. The device was perfectly successful. The +news of the movement was not brought to the ears of Henry until after it +had been accomplished. When the king reached the shore of the Seine, he +saw to his infinite chagrin and indignation that the last stragglers of +the army, including the garrison of the fort on the right bank, were just +ferrying themselves across under command of Ranuccio. + +Furious with disappointment, he brought some pieces of artillery to bear +upon the triumphant fugitives. Not a shot told, and the Leaguers had the +satisfaction of making a bonfire in the king's face of the boats which +had brought them over. Then, taking up their line of march rapidly +inland, they placed themselves completely out of the reach of the +Huguenot guns. + +Henry had a bridge at Pont de l'Arche, and his first impulse was to +pursue with his cavalry, but it was obvious that his infantry could never +march by so circuitous a route fast enough to come up with the enemy, who +had already so prodigious a stride in advance. + +There was no need to disguise it to himself. Henry saw himself for the +second time out-generalled by the consummate Farnese. The trap was +broken, the game had given him the slip. The manner in which the duke +had thus extricated himself from a profound dilemma; in which his +fortunes seemed hopelessly sunk, has usually been considered one of the +most extraordinary exploits of his life. + +Precisely at this time, too, ill news reached Henry from Brittany and the +neighbouring country. The Princes Conti and Dombes had been obliged, on +the 13th May, 1592, to raise the siege of Craon, in consequence of the +advance of the Duke of Mercoeur, with a force of seven thousand men. + +They numbered, including lanzknechts and the English contingent, about +half as many, and before they could effect their retreat, were attacked +by Mercoeur, and utterly routed. The English, who alone stood to their +colours, were nearly all cut to pieces. The rest made a disorderly +retreat, but were ultimately, with few exceptions, captured or slain. +The duke, following up his victory, seized Chateau Gontier and La Val, +important crossing places on the river Mayenne, and laid siege to +Mayenne, capital city of that region. The panic, spreading through +Brittany and Maine, threatened the king's cause there with complete +overthrow, hampered his operations in Normandy, and vastly encouraged the +Leaguers. It became necessary for Henry to renounce his designs upon +Rouen, and the pursuit of Parma, and to retire to Vernon, there to occupy +himself with plans for the relief of Brittany. In vain had the Earl of +Essex, whose brother had already been killed in the campaign, manifested +such headlong gallantry in that country as to call forth the sharpest +rebukes from the admiring but anxious Elizabeth. The handful of brave +Englishmen who had been withdrawn from the Netherlands, much to the +dissatisfaction of the States-General, in order to defend the coasts of +Brittany, would have been better employed under Maurice of Nassau. So +soon as the heavy news reached the king, the faithful Umton was sent for. +"He imparted the same unto me," said the envoy, "with extraordinary +passion and discontent. He discoursed at large of his miserable estate, +of the factions of his servants, and of their ill-dispositions, and then +required my opinion touching his course for Brittan, as also what further +aid he might expect from her Majesty; alleging that unless he were +presently strengthened by England it was impossible for him, longer to +resist the greatness of the King of Spain, who assailed his country by +Brittany, Languedoc, the Low Countries by the Duke of Saxony and the Duke +of Lorraine, and so ended his speech passionately." Thus adjured, Sir +Henry spoke to the king firmly but courteously, reminding him how, +contrary to English advice, he had followed other counsellors to the +neglect of Brittany, and had broken his promises to the queen. He +concluded by urging him to advance into that country in person, but did +not pledge himself on behalf of her Majesty to any further assistance. +"To this," said Umton, "the king gave a willing ear, and replied, with +many thanks, and without disallowing of anything that I alleged, yielding +many excuses of his want of means, not of disposition, to provide a +remedy, not forgetting to acknowledge her Majesty's care of him and his +country, and especially of Brittany, excusing much the bad disposition of +his counsellors, and inclining much to my motion to go in person thither, +especially because he might thereby give her Majesty better satisfaction; +. . . . and protesting that he would either immediately himself make +war there in those parts or send an army thither. I do not doubt," added +the ambassador, "but with good handling her Majesty may now obtain any +reasonable matter for the conservation of Brittany, as also for a place +of retreat for the English, and I urge continually the yielding of Brest +into her Majesty's hands, whereunto I find the king well inclined, if he +might bring it to pass." + +Alexander passed a few days in Paris, where he was welcomed with much +cordiality, recruiting his army for a brief period in the land of Brie, +and then--broken in health but entirely successful--he dragged himself +once more to Spa to drink the waters. He left an auxiliary force with +Mayenne, and promised--infinitely against his own wishes--to obey his +master's commands and return again before the winter to do the League's +work. + +And thus Alexander had again solved a difficult problem. He had saved +for his master and for the League the second city of France and the whole +coast of Normandy. Rouen had been relieved in masterly manner even as +Paris had been succoured the year before. He had done this, although +opposed by the sleepless energy and the exuberant valour of the quick- +witted Navarre, and although encumbered by the assistance of the +ponderous Duke of Mayenne. His military reputation, through these +two famous reliefs and retreats, grew greater than ever. + +No commander of the age was thought capable of doing what he had thus +done. Yet, after all, what had he accomplished? Did he not feel in his +heart of hearts that he was but a strong and most skilful swimmer +struggling for a little while against an ocean-tide which was steadily +sweeping him and his master and all their fortunes far out into the +infinite depths? + +Something of this breathed ever in his most secret utterances. But, so +long as life was in him, his sword and his genius were at the disposal of +his sovereign, to carry out a series of schemes as futile as they were +nefarious. + +For us, looking back upon the Past, which was then the Future, it is +easy to see how remorselessly the great current of events was washing +away the system and the personages seeking to resist its power and to +oppose the great moral principles by which human affairs in the long run +are invariably governed. Spain and Rome were endeavouring to obliterate +the landmarks of race, nationality, historical institutions, and the +tendencies of awakened popular conscience, throughout Christendom, +and to substitute for them a dead level of conformity to one regal +and sacerdotal despotism. + +England, Holland, the Navarre party in France, and a considerable part of +Germany were contending for national unity and independence, for vested +and recorded rights. Much farther than they themselves or their +chieftains dreamed those millions of men were fighting for a system +of temperate human freedom; for that emancipation under just laws from +arbitrary human control, which is the right--however frequently trampled +upon--of all classes, conditions, and races of men; and for which it is +the instinct of the human race to continue to struggle under every +disadvantage, and often against all hope, throughout the ages, so long +as the very principle of humanity shall not be extinguished in those +who have been created after their Maker's image. + +It may safely be doubted whether the great Queen, the Bearnese, Alexander +Farnese, or his master, with many of their respective adherents, differed +very essentially from each other in their notions of the right divine and +the right of the people. But history has shown us which of them best +understood the spirit of the age, and had the keenest instinct to keep +themselves in the advance by moving fastest in the direction whither it +was marshalling all men. There were many, earnest, hard-toiling men in +those days, men who believed in the work to which they devoted their +lives. Perhaps, too, the devil-worshippers did their master's work as +strenuously and heartily as any, and got fame and pelf for their pains. +Fortunately, a good portion of what they so laboriously wrought for has +vanished into air; while humanity has at least gained something from +those who deliberately or instinctively conformed themselves to her +eternal laws. + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +Anatomical study of what has ceased to exist +Artillery +Bomb-shells were not often used although known for a century +Court fatigue, to scorn pleasure +For us, looking back upon the Past, which was then the Future +Hardly an inch of French soil that had not two possessors +Holy institution called the Inquisition +Inevitable fate of talking castles and listening ladies +Life of nations and which we call the Past +Often necessary to be blind and deaf +Picturesqueness of crime +Royal plans should be enforced adequately or abandoned entirely +Toil and sacrifices of those who have preceded us +Use of the spade +Utter disproportions between the king's means and aims +Valour on the one side and discretion on the other +Walk up and down the earth and destroy his fellow-creatures +We have the reputation of being a good housewife +Weapons + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext History of United Netherlands, v63 +by John Lothrop Motley + + + + + + +HISTORY OF THE UNITED NETHERLANDS +From the Death of William the Silent to the Twelve Year's Truce--1609 + +By John Lothrop Motley + + + +History United Netherlands, Volume 64, 1592 + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + + Return of Prince Maurice to the siege of Steenwyck--Capitulation of + the besieged--Effects of the introduction of mining operations-- + Maurice besieges Coeworden--Verdugo attempts to relieve the city, + but fails--The city capitulates, and Prince Maurice retreats into + winter quarters. + +While Farnese had thus been strengthening the bulwarks of Philip's +universal monarchy in that portion of his proposed French dominions which +looked towards England, there had been opportunity for Prince Maurice to +make an assault upon the Frisian defences of this vast realm. It was +difficult to make half Europe into one great Spanish fortification, +guarding its every bastion and every point of the curtain, without far +more extensive armaments than the "Great King," as the Leaguers proposed +that Philip should entitle himself, had ever had at his disposal. It +might be a colossal scheme to stretch the rod of empire over so large a +portion of the earth, but the dwarfish attempts to carry the design into +execution hardly reveal the hand of genius. It is astonishing to +contemplate the meagre numbers and the slender funds with which this +world-empire was to be asserted and maintained. The armies arrayed at +any important point hardly exceeded a modern division or two; while the +resources furnished for a year would hardly pay in later days for a few +weeks' campaign. + +When Alexander, the first commander of his time, moved out of Flanders +into France with less than twenty thousand men, he left most vital +portions of his master's hereditary dominions so utterly unprotected that +it was possible to attack them with a handful of troops. The young +disciple of Simon Stevinus now resumed that practical demonstration of +his principles which had been in the previous year so well begun. + +On the 28th May, 1592, Maurice, taking the field with six thousand foot +and two thousand horse, came once more before Steenwyck. It will be +remembered that he had been obliged to relinquish the siege of this place +in order to confront the Duke of Parma in July, 1591, at Nymegen. + +The city--very important from its position, being the key to the province +of Drenthe as well as one of the safeguards of Friesland--had been +besieged in vain by Count Renneberg after his treasonable surrender of +Groningen, of which he was governor, to the Spaniards, but had been +subsequently surprised by Tassis. Since that time it had held for the +king. Its fortifications were strong, and of the best description known +at that day. Its regular garrison was sixteen companies of foot and some +cavalry under Antoine de Quocqueville, military governor. Besides these +troops were twelve hundred Walloon infantry, commanded by Lewis, youngest +Count van den Berg, a brave lad of eighteen years, with whom were the +lord of Waterdyck and other Netherland nobles. + +To the military student the siege may possess importance as marking a +transitional epoch in the history of the beleaguering science. To the +general reader, as in most of the exploits of the young Poliorcetes, its +details have but slender interest. Perhaps it was here that the spade +first vindicated its dignity, and entitled itself to be classed as a +military weapon of value along with pike and arquebus. It was here that +the soldiers of Maurice, burrowing in the ground at ten stuyvers a day, +were jeered at by the enemy from the battlements as boors and ditchers, +who had forfeited their right to be considered soldiers--but jeered at +for the last time. + +From 30th May to 9th June the prince was occupied in throwing up +earthworks on the low grounds in order to bring his guns into position. +On the 13th June he began to batter with forty-five pieces, but effected +little more than to demolish some of the breast-works. He threw hot shot +into the town very diligently, too, but did small damage. The +cannonading went on for nearly a week, but the practice was so very +indifferent--notwithstanding the protection of the blessed Barbara and +the tuition of the busmasters--that the besieged began to amuse +themselves with these empty and monotonous salvos of the honourable +Artillery Guild. When all this blazing and thundering had led to no +better result than to convert a hundred thousand good Flemish florins +into noise and smoke, the thrifty Netherlanders on both sides of the +walls began to disparage the young general's reputation. After all, +they said, the Spaniards were right when they called artillery mere +'espanta-vellacos' or scare-cowards. This burrowing and bellowing must +at last give place to the old-fashioned push of pike, and then it would +be seen who the soldiers were. Observations like these were freely made +under a flag of truce; for on the 19th June--notwithstanding their +contempt for the 'espanta-vellacos'--the besieged had sent out a +deputation to treat for an honourable surrender. Maurice entertained the +negotiators hospitably in his own tent, but the terms suggested to him +were inadmissible. Nothing came of the conference therefore but mutual +criticisms, friendly enough, although sufficiently caustic. + +Maurice now ceased cannonading, and burrowed again for ten days without +interruption. Four mines, leading to different points of the defences, +were patiently constructed, and two large chambers at the terminations, +neatly finished off and filled respectively with five thousand and +twenty-five hundred pounds of powder, were at last established under two +of the principal bastions. + +During all this digging there had been a couple of sorties in which the +besieged had inflicted great damage on their enemy, and got back into the +town with a few prisoners, having lost but six of their own men. Sir +Francis Vere had been severely wounded in the leg, so that he was obliged +to keep his bed during the rest of the siege. Verdugo, too, had made a +feeble attempt to reinforce the place with three hundred men, sixty or +seventy of whom had entered, while the rest had been killed or captured. +On such a small scale was Philip's world-empire contended for by his +stadholder in Friesland; yet it was certainly not the fault of the stout +old Portuguese. Verdugo would rather have sent thirty thousand men to +save the front door of his great province than three hundred. But every +available man--and few enough of them they were--had been sent out of the +Netherlands, to defend the world-empire in its outposts of Normandy and +Brittany. + +This was Philip the Prudent's system for conquering the world, and men +looked upon him as the consummation of kingcraft. + +On the 3rd July Maurice ordered his whole force to be in readiness for +the assault. The mines were then sprung. + +The bastion of the east gate was blown to ruins. The mine under the +Gast-Huys bulwark, burst outwardly, and buried alive many Hollanders +standing ready for the assault. At this untoward accident Maurice +hesitated to give the signal for storming the breach, but the panic +within the town was so evident that Lewis William lost no time in seizing +the overthrown eastern bulwark, from the ruins of which he looked over +the whole city. The other broken bastion was likewise easily mastered, +and the besieged, seeing the storm about to burst upon them with +irresistible fury, sent a trumpet. Meantime Maurice, inspecting the +effects of the explosion and preparing for the assault, had been shot +through the left cheek. The wound was not dangerous, and the prince +extracted the bullet with his own hand, but the change of half an inch +would have made it fatal. He was not incapacitated--after his wound had +been dressed, amidst the remonstrances of his friends for his temerity- +from listening to the propositions of the city. They were refused, for +the prince was sure of having his town on his own terms. + +Next day he permitted the garrison to depart; the officers and soldiers +promising not to serve the King of Spain on the Netherland side of the +Rhine for six months. They were to take their baggage, but to leave +arms, flags, munitions, and provisions. Both Maurice and Lewis William +were for insisting on sterner conditions, but the States' deputies and +members of the council who were present, as usual, in camp urged the +building of the golden bridge. After all, a fortified city, the second +in importance after Groningen of all those regions, was the real prize +contended for. The garrison was meagre and much reduced during the +siege. The fortifications, of masonry and earthwork combined, were +nearly as strong as ever. Saint Barbara had done them but little damage, +but the town itself was in a sorry plight. Churches and houses were +nearly all shot to pieces, and the inhabitants had long been dwelling in +the cellars. Two hundred of the garrison remained, severely wounded, in +the town; three hundred and fifty had been killed, among others the young +cousin of the Nassaus, Count Lewis van den Berg. The remainder of the +royalists marched out, and were treated with courtesy by Maurice, who +gave them an escort, permitting the soldiers to retain their side-arms, +and furnishing horses to the governor. + +In the besieging army five or six hundred had been killed and many +wounded, but not in numbers bearing the same proportion to the slain as +in modern battles. + +The siege had lasted forty-four days. When it was over, and men came out +from the town to examine at leisure the prince's camp and his field of +operations, they were astounded at the amount of labor performed in so +short a time. The oldest campaigners confessed that they never before +had understood what a siege really was, and they began to conceive a +higher respect for the art of the engineer than they had ever done +before. "Even those who were wont to rail at science and labour," said +one who was present in the camp of Maurice, "declared that the siege +would have been a far more arduous undertaking had it not been for those +two engineers, Joost Matthes of Alost, and Jacob Kemp of Gorcum. It is +high time to take from soldiers the false notion that it is shameful to +work with the spade; an error which was long prevalent among the +Netherlanders, and still prevails among the French, to the great +detriment of the king's affairs, as may be seen in his sieges." + +Certainly the result of Henry's recent campaign before Rouen had proved +sufficiently how much better it would have been for him had there been +some Dutch Joosts and Jacobs with their picks and shovels in his army at +that critical period. They might perhaps have baffled Parma as they had +done Verdugo. + +Without letting the grass grow under his feet, Maurice now led his army +from Steenwyck to Zwol and arrived on the 26th July before Coeworden. + +This place, very strong by art and still stronger by-nature, was the +other key to all north Netherland--Friesland, Groningen, and Drenthe. +Should it fall into the hands of the republic it would be impossible for +the Spaniards to retain much longer the rich and important capital of all +that country, the city of Groningen. Coeworden lay between two vast +morasses, one of which--the Bourtange swamp--extended some thirty miles +to the bay of the Dollart; while the other spread nearly as far in a +westerly direction to the Zuyder Zee. Thus these two great marshes were +a frame--an almost impassable barrier--by which the northern third of the +whole territory of the republic was encircled and defended. Throughout +this great morass there was not a hand-breadth of solid ground--not a +resting-place for a human foot, save the road which led through +Coeworden. This passage lay upon a natural deposit of hard, dry sand, +interposed as if by a caprice of nature between the two swamps; and was +about half a mile in width. + +The town itself was well fortified, and Verdugo had been recently +strengthening the position with additional earthworks. A thousand +veterans formed the garrison under command of another Van den Berg, the +Count Frederic. It was the fate of these sister's-children of the great +founder of the republic to serve the cause of foreign despotism with +remarkable tenacity against their own countrymen, and against their +nearest blood relations. On many conspicuous occasions they were almost +as useful to Spain and the Inquisition as the son and nearly all the +other kinsmen of William the Silent had rendered themselves to the cause +of Holland and of freedom. + +Having thoroughly entrenched his camp before Coeworden and begun the +regular approaches, Maurice left his cousin Lewis William to superintend +the siege operations for the moment, and advanced towards Ootmarsum, a +frontier town which might give him trouble if in the hands of a relieving +force. The place fell at once, with the loss of but one life to the +States army, but that a very valuable one; General de Famars, one of the +original signers of the famous Compromise; and a most distinguished +soldier of the republic, having been killed before the gates. + +On the 31st July, Maurice returned to his entrenchments. The enemy +professed unbounded confidence; Van den Berg not doubting that he should +be relieved by Verdugo, and Verdugo being sure that Van den Berg would +need no relief. The Portuguese veteran indeed was inclined to wonder at +Maurice's presumption in attacking so impregnable a fortress. "If +Coeworden does not hold," said he, "there is no place in the world that +can hold." + +Count Peter Ernest, was still acting as governor-general for Alexander +Farnese, on returning from his second French campaign, had again betaken +himself, shattered and melancholy, to the waters of Spa, leaving the +responsibility for Netherland affairs upon the German octogenarian. To +him; and to the nonagenarian Mondragon at Antwerp, the veteran Verdugo +now called loudly for aides against the youthful pedant, whom all men had +been laughing at a twelvemonth or so before. The Macedonian phalanx, +Simon Stevinus and delving Dutch boors--unworthy of the name of soldiers- +-seemed to be steadily digging the ground from under Philip's feet in his +hereditary domains. + +What would become of the world-empire, where was the great king--not of +Spain alone, nor of France alone--but the great monarch of all +Christendom, to plant his throne securely, if his Frisian strongholds, +his most important northern outposts, were to fall before an almost +beardless youth at the head of a handful of republican militia? + +Verdugo did his best, but the best was little. The Spanish and Italian +legions had been sent out of the Netherlands into France. Many had died +there, many were in hospital after their return, nearly all the rest were +mutinous for want of pay. + +On the 16th August, Maurice formally summoned Coeworden to surrender. +After the trumpeter had blown thrice; Count Van den Berg, forbidding all +others, came alone upon the walls and demanded his message. "To claim +this city in the name of Prince Maurice of Nassau and of the States- +General," was the reply. + +"Tell him first to beat down my walls as flat as the ditch," said Van den +Berg, "and then to bring five or six storms. Six months after that I +will think whether I will send a trumpet." + +The prince proceeded steadily with his approaches, but he was infinitely +chagrined by the departure out of his camp of Sir Francis Vere with his +English contingent of three regiments, whom Queen Elizabeth had +peremptorily ordered to the relief of King Henry in Brittany. + +Nothing amazes the modern mind so much as the exquisite paucity of forces +and of funds by which the world-empire was fought for and resisted in +France, Holland, Spain, and England. The scenes of war were rapidly +shifted--almost like the slides of a magic-lantern--from one country to +another; the same conspicuous personages, almost the same individual +armies, perpetually re-appearing in different places, as if a wild +phantasmagoria were capriciously repeating itself to bewilder the +imagination. Essex, and Vere, and Roger Williams, and Black Norris-Van +der Does, and Admiral Nassau, the Meetkerks and Count Philip-Farnese and +Mansfeld, George Basti, Arenberg, Berlaymont, La None and Teligny, Aquila +and Coloma--were seen alternately fighting, retreating, triumphant, +beleaguering, campaigning all along the great territory which extends +from the Bay of Biscay to the crags of Brittany, and across the narrow +seas to the bogs of Ireland, and thence through the plains of Picardy and +Flanders to the swamps of Groningen and the frontiers of the Rhine. + +This was the arena in which the great struggle was ever going on, but the +champions were so few in number that their individual shapes become +familiar to us like the figures of an oft-repeated pageant. And now the +withdrawal of certain companies of infantry and squadrons of cavalry from +the Spanish armies into France, had left obedient Netherland too weak to +resist rebellious Netherland, while, on the other hand, the withdrawal of +some twenty or thirty companies of English auxiliaries--most hard- +fighting veterans it is true, but very few in number--was likely to +imperil the enterprise of Maurice in Friesland. + +The removal of these companies from the Low Countries to strengthen the +Bearnese in the north of France, formed the subject of much bitter +diplomatic conference between the States and England; the order having +been communicated by the great queen herself in many a vehement epistle +and caustic speech, enforced by big, manly oaths. + +Verdugo, although confident in the strength of the place, had represented +to Parma and to Mansfeld the immense importance of relieving Coeworden. +The city, he said, was more valuable than all the towns taken the year +before. All Friesland hung upon it, and it would be impossible to save +Groningen should Coeworden fall. + +Meantime Count Philip Nassau arrived from the campaign in France with his +three regiments which he threw into garrison, and thus set free an equal +number of fresh troops, which were forthwith sent to the camp of Maurice. +The prince at the same time was made aware that Verdugo was about to +receive important succour, and he was advised by the deputies of the +States-General present at his headquarters to send out his German Reiters +to intercept them. Maurice refused. Should his cavalry be defeated, he +said, his whole army would be endangered. He determined to await within +his fortified camp the attack of the relieving force. + +During the whole month of August he proceeded steadily with his sapping +and mining. By the middle of the month his lines had come through the +ditch, which he drained of water into the counterscarp. By the beginning +of September he had got beneath the principal fort, which, in the course +of three or four days, he expected to blow into the air. The rainy +weather had impeded his operations and the march of the relieving army. +Nevertheless that army was at last approaching. The regiments of +Mondragon, Charles Mansfeld, Gonzaga, Berlaymont, and Arenberg had been +despatched to reinforce Verdugo. On the 23rd August, having crossed the +Rhine at Rheinberg, they reached Olfen in the country of Benthem, ten +miles from Coeworden. Here they threw up rockets and made other signals +that relief was approaching the town. On the 3rd of September Verdugo, +with the whole force at his disposal, amounting to four thousand foot and +eighteen hundred horse, was at the village of Emblichen, within a league +of the besieged city. That night a peasant was captured with letters +from Verdugo to the Governor of Coeworden, giving information that he +intended to make an assault on the besiegers on the night of 6th-7th +September. + +Thus forewarned, Maurice took the best precautions and calmly within his +entrenchments awaited the onslaught. Punctual to his appointment, +Verdugo with his whole force, yelling "Victoria! Victoria!" made a +shirt-attack, or camiciata--the men wearing their shirts outside their +armour to distinguish each other in the darkness--upon that portion of +the camp which was under command of Hohenlo. They were met with +determination and repulsed, after fighting all night, with a loss of +three hundred killed and a proportionate number of wounded. The +Netherlanders had but three killed and six wounded. Among the latter, +however, was Lewis William, who received a musket-ball in the belly, but +remained on the ground until the enemy had retreated. It was then +discovered that his wound was not mortal--the intestines not having been +injured--and he was soon about his work again. Prince Maurice, too, as +usual, incurred the remonstrances of the deputies and others for the +reckless manner in which he exposed himself wherever the fire was hottest +He resolutely refused, however, to permit his cavalry to follow the +retreating enemy. His object was Coeworden--a prize more important than +a new victory over the already defeated Spaniards would prove--and this +object he kept ever before his eyes. + +This was Verdugo's first and last attempt to relieve the city. He had +seen enough of the young prince's tactics and had no further wish to +break his teeth against those scientific entrenchments. The Spaniards at +last, whether they wore their shirts inside or outside their doublets, +could no longer handle the Dutchmen at pleasure. That people of butter, +as the iron duke of Alva was fond of calling the Netherlanders, were +grown harder with the pressure of a twenty-five years' war. + +Five days after the sanguinary 'camiciata' the besieged offered to +capitulate. The trumpet at which the proud Van den Berg had hinted for +six months later arrived on the 12th September. Maurice was glad to get +his town. His "little soldiers" did not insist, as the Spaniards and +Italians were used to do in the good old days, on unlimited murder, rape, +and fire, as the natural solace and reward of their labours in the +trenches. Civilization had made some progress, at least in the +Netherlands. Maurice granted good terms, such as he had been in the +habit of conceding to all captured towns. Van den Berg was courteously +received by his cousins, as he rode forth from the place at the head of +what remained of his garrison, five hundred in number, with colours +flying, matches burning, bullet in mouth, and with all their arms and +baggage except artillery and ammunition, and the heroic little Lewis, +notwithstanding the wound in his belly, got on horseback and greeted him +with a cousinly welcome in the camp. + +The city was a most important acquisition, as already sufficiently set +forth, but Queen Elizabeth, much misinformed on this occasion, was +inclined to undervalue it. She wrote accordingly to the States, +reproaching them for using all that artillery and that royal force +against a mere castle and earthheap, instead of attempting some +considerable capital, or going in force to the relief of Brittany. The +day was to come when she would acknowledge the advantage of not leaving +this earth-heap in the hands of the Spaniard. Meantime, Prince Maurice-- +the season being so far advanced--gave the world no further practical +lessons in the engineering science, and sent his troops into winter +quarters. + +These were the chief military phenomena in France and Flanders during +three years of the great struggle to establish Philip's universal +dominion. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + + Negotiations between Queen Elizabeth and the States--Aspect of + affair between England and the Netherlands--Complaints of the + Hollanders on the piratical acts of the English--The Dutch Envoy and + the English Government--Caron's interview with Elizabeth--The Queen + promises redress of grievances. + +It is now necessary to cast a glance at certain negotiations on delicate +topics which had meantime been occurring between Queen Elizabeth and the +States. + +England and the republic were bound together by ties so close that it was +impossible for either to injure the other without inflicting a +corresponding damage on itself. Nevertheless this very community of +interest, combined with a close national relationship--for in the +European family the Netherlanders and English were but cousins twice +removed--with similarity of pursuits, with commercial jealousy, with an +intense and ever growing rivalry for that supremacy on the ocean towards +which the monarchy and the republic were so earnestly struggling, with a +common passion for civil and religious freedom, and with that inveterate +habit of self-assertion--the healthful but not engaging attribute of all +vigorous nations--which strongly marked them both, was rapidly producing +an antipathy between the two countries which time was likely rather to +deepen than efface. And the national divergences were as potent as the +traits of resemblance in creating this antagonism. + +The democratic element was expanding itself in the republic so rapidly +as to stifle for a time the oligarchical principle which might one day +be developed out of the same matrix; while, despite the hardy and +adventurous spirit which characterised the English nation throughout all +its grades, there was never a more intensely aristocratic influence in +the world than the governing and directing spirit of the England of that +age. + +It was impossible that the courtiers of Elizabeth and the burgher- +statesmen of Holland and Friesland should sympathize with each other in +sentiment or in manner. The republicans in their exuberant consciousness +of having at last got rid of kings and kingly paraphernalia in their own, +land--for since the rejection of the sovereignty offered to France and +England in 1585 this feeling had become so predominant as to make it +difficult to believe that those offers had been in reality so recent-- +were insensibly adopting a frankness, perhaps a roughness, of political +and social demeanour which was far from palatable to the euphuistic +formalists of other, countries. + +Especially the English statesmen, trained to approach their sovereign +with almost Oriental humility, and accustomed to exact for themselves +a large amount of deference, could ill brook the free and easy tone +occasionally adopted in diplomatic and official intercourse by these +upstart republicans. + + [The Venetian ambassador Contarin relates that in the reign of James + I. the great nobles of England were served at table by lackeys on + they knees.] + +A queen, who to loose morals, imperious disposition, and violent temper +united as inordinate a personal vanity as was ever vouchsafed to woman, +and who up to the verge of decrepitude was addressed by her courtiers in +the language of love-torn swain to blooming shepherdess, could naturally +find but little to her taste in the hierarchy of Hans Brewer and Hans +Baker. Thus her Majesty and her courtiers, accustomed to the faded +gallantries with which the serious affairs of State were so grotesquely +intermingled, took it ill when they were bluntly informed, for instance, +that the State council of the Netherlands, negotiating on Netherland +affairs, could not permit a veto to the representatives of the queen, +and that this same body of Dutchmen discussing their own business +insisted upon talking Dutch and not Latin. + +It was impossible to deny that the young Stadholder was a gentleman of a +good house, but how could the insolence of a common citizen like John of +Olden-Barneveld be digested? It was certain that behind those shaggy, +overhanging brows there was a powerful brain stored with legal and +historic lore, which supplied eloquence to an ever-ready tongue and pen. +Yet these facts, difficult to gainsay, did not make the demands so +frequently urged by the States-General upon the English Government for +the enforcement of Dutch rights and the redress of English wrongs the +more acceptable. + +Bodley, Gilpin, and the rest were in a chronic state of exasperation +with the Hollanders, not only because of their perpetual complaints, +but because their complaints were perpetually just. + +The States-General were dissatisfied, all the Netherlanders were +dissatisfied--and not entirely without reason--that the English, with +whom the republic was on terms not only of friendship but of alliance, +should burn their ships on the high seas, plunder their merchants, and +torture their sea-captains in order to extort information as to the most +precious portions of their cargoes. Sharp language against such +malpractices was considered but proof of democratic vulgarity. Yet it +would be hard to maintain that Martin Frobisher, Mansfield, Grenfell, and +the rest of the sea-kings, with all their dash and daring and patriotism, +were not as unscrupulous pirates as ever sailed blue water, or that they +were not apt to commit their depredations upon friend and foe alike. + +On the other hand; by a liberality of commerce in extraordinary contrast +with the practice of modern times, the Netherlanders were in the habit of +trading directly with the arch-enemy of both Holland and England, even in +the midst of their conflict with him, and it was complained of that even +the munitions of war and the implements of navigation by which Spain had +been enabled to effect its foot-hold in Brittany, and thus to threaten +the English coast, were derived from this very traffic. + +The Hollanders replied, that, according to their contract with England, +they were at liberty to send as many as forty or fifty vessels at a time +to Spain and Portugal, that they had never exceeded the stipulated +number, that England freely engaged in the same traffic herself with the +common enemy, that it was not reasonable to consider cordage or dried +fish or shooks and staves, butter, eggs, and corn as contraband of war, +that if they were illegitimate the English trade was vitiated to the same +degree, and that it would be utterly hopeless for the provinces to +attempt to carry on the war, except by enabling themselves, through the +widest and most unrestricted foreign commerce, even including the enemy's +realms, to provide their nation with the necessary wealth to sustain so +gigantic a conflict. + +Here were ever flowing fountains of bitterest discussion and +recrimination. It must be admitted however that there was occasionally +an advantage in the despotic and summary manner in which the queen took +matters into her own hands. It was refreshing to see this great +sovereign--who was so well able to grapple with questions of State, and +whose very imperiousness of temper impelled her to trample on shallow +sophistries and specious technicalities--dealing directly with cases of +piracy and turning a deaf ear to the counsellors, who in that, as in +every age, were too prone to shove by international justice in order to +fulfil municipal forms. + +It was, however, with much difficulty that the envoy of the republic was +able to obtain a direct hearing from her Majesty in order to press the +long list of complaints on account of the English piratical proceedings +upon her attention. He intimated that there seemed to be special reasons +why the great ones about her throne were disposed to deny him access to +the queen, knowing as they did in what intent he asked for interviews. +They described in strong language the royal wrath at the opposition +recently made by the States to detaching the English auxiliaries in the +Netherlands for the service of the French king in Normandy, hoping +thereby to deter him from venturing into her presence with a list of +grievances on the part of his government. "I did my best to indicate the +danger incurred by such transferring of troops at so critical a moment," +said Noel de Canon, "showing that it was directly in opposition to the +contract made with her Majesty. But I got no answer save very high words +from the Lord Treasurer, to the effect that the States-General were never +willing to agree to any of her Majesty's prepositions, and that this +matter was as necessary to the States' service as to that of the French +king. In effect, he said peremptorily that her Majesty willed it and +would not recede from her resolution." + +The envoy then requested an interview with the queen before her departure +into the country. + +Next day, at noon, Lord Burghley sent word that she was to leave between +five and six o'clock that evening, and that the minister would be welcome +meantime at any hour. + +"But notwithstanding that I presented myself," said Caron, "at two +o'clock in the afternoon, I was unable to speak to her Majesty until a +moment before she was about to mount her horse. Her language was then +very curt. She persisted in demanding her troops, and strongly expressed +her dissatisfaction that we should have refused them on what she called +so good an occasion for using them. I was obliged to cut my replies very +short, as it was already between six and seven o'clock, and she was to +ride nine English miles to the place where she was to pass the night. +I was quite sensible, however; that the audience was arranged to be thus +brief, in order that I should not be able to stop long enough to give +trouble, and perhaps to find occasion to renew our complaints touching +the plunderings and robberies committed upon us at sea. This is what +some of the great personages here, without doubt, are afraid of, for they +were wonderfully well overhauled in my last audience. I shall attempt to +speak to her again before she goes very deep into the country." + +It was not however before the end of the year, after Caron had made a +voyage to Holland and had returned, that he 14 Nov. was able to bring the +subject thoroughly before her Majesty. On the 14th November he had +preliminary interviews with the Lord High Admiral and the Lord Treasurer +at Hampton Court, where the queen was then residing. The plundering +business was warmly discussed between himself and the Admiral, and there +was much quibbling and special pleading in defence of the practices which +had created so much irritation and pecuniary loss in Holland. There was +a good deal of talk about want of evidence and conflict of evidence, +which, to a man who felt as sure of the facts and of the law as the Dutch +envoy did--unless it were according to public law for one friend and, +ally to plunder and burn the vessels of another friend and ally--was not +encouraging as to the probable issue of his interview with her Majesty. +It would be tedious to report the conversation as fully as it was laid by +Noel de Caron before the States-General; but at last the admiral +expressed a hope that the injured parties would be able to make good +their, case. At any rate he assured the envoy that he would take care of +Captain Mansfield for the present, who was in prison with two other +captains, so that proceedings might be had against them if it was thought +worth while. + +Caron answered with Dutch bluntness. "I recommended him very earnestly +to do this," he said, "and told him roundly that this was by all means +necessary for the sake of his own honour. Otherwise no man could ever be +made to believe that his Excellency was not seeking to get his own profit +out of the affair. But he vehemently swore and protested that this was +not the case." + +He then went to the Lord Treasurer's apartment, where a long and stormy +interview followed on the subject of the withdrawal of the English +troops. Caron warmly insisted that the measure had been full of danger, +for the States; that they had been ordered out of Prince Maurice's camp +at a most critical moment; that; had it not, been for the Stallholder's +promptness and military skill; very great disasters to the common cause +must have ensued; and that, after all, nothing had been done by the +contingent in any other field, for they had been for six months idle and +sick, without ever reaching Brittany at all. + +"The Lord Treasurer, who, contrary to his custom," said the envoy, "had +been listening thus long to what I had to say, now observed that the +States had treated her Majesty very ill, that they had kept her running +after her own troops nearly half a year, and had offered no excuse for +their proceedings." + +It would be superfluous to repeat the arguments by which Caron +endeavoured to set forth that the English troops, sent to the Netherlands +according to a special compact, for a special service, and for a special +consideration and equivalent, could not honestly be employed, contrary to +the wishes of the States-General, upon a totally different service and in +another country. The queen willed it, he was informed, and it was ill- +treatment of her Majesty on the part of the Hollanders to oppose her +will. This argument was unanswerable. + +Soon afterwards, Caron was admitted to the presence of Elizabeth. He +delivered, at first, a letter from the States-General, touching the +withdrawal of the troops. The queen, instantly broke the seal and read +the letter to the end. Coming to the concluding passage, in which the +States observed that they had great and just cause highly to complain on +that subject, she paused, reading the sentences over twice or thrice, and +then remarked: + +"Truly these are comical people. I have so often been complaining that +they refused to send my troops, and now the States complain that they are +obliged to let them go. Yet my intention is only to borrow them for a +little while, because I can give my brother of France no better succour +than by sending him these soldiers, and this I consider better than if I +should send him four thousand men. I say again, I am only borrowing +them, and surely the States ought never to make such complaints, when +the occasion was such a favourable one, and they had received already +sufficient aid from these troops, and had liberated their whole country. +I don't comprehend these grievances. They complain that I withdraw my +people, and meantime they are still holding them and have brought them +ashore again. They send me frivolous excuses that the skippers don't +know the road to my islands, which is, after all, as easy to find as the +way to Caen, for it is all one. I have also sent my own pilots; and I +complain bitterly that by making this difficulty they will cause the loss +of all Brittany. They run with their people far away from me, and +meantime they allow the enemy to become master of all the coasts lying +opposite me. But if it goes badly with me they will rue it deeply +themselves." + +There was considerable reason, even if there were but little justice, +in this strain of remarks. Her Majesty continued it for some little time +longer, and it is interesting to see the direct and personal manner in +which this great princess handled the weightiest affairs of state. The +transfer of a dozen companies of English infantry from Friesland to +Brittany was supposed to be big with the fate of France, England, and the +Dutch republic, and was the subject of long and angry controversy, not as +a contested point of principle, in regard to which numbers, of course, +are nothing, but as a matter of practical and pressing importance. + +"Her Majesty made many more observations of this nature," said Caron, +"but without getting at all into a passion, and, in my opinion, her +discourse was sensible, and she spoke with more moderation than she is +wont at other times." + +The envoy then presented the second letter from the States-General in +regard to the outrages inflicted on the Dutch merchantmen. The queen +read it at once, and expressed herself as very much displeased with her +people. She said that she had received similar information from +Counsellor Bodley, who had openly given her to understand that the +enormous outrages which her people were committing at sea upon the +Netherlanders were a public scandal. It had made her so angry, she said, +that she knew not which way to turn. She would take it in hand at once, +for she would rather make oath never more to permit a single ship of war +to leave her ports than consent to such thieveries and villanies. She +told Caron that he would do well to have his case in regard to these +matters verified, and then to give it into her own hands, since otherwise +it would all be denied her and she would find herself unable to get at +the truth." + +"I have all the proofs and documents of the merchants by me, "replied the +envoy, "and, moreover, several of the sea-captains who have been robbed +and outraged have come over with me, as likewise some merchants who were +tortured by burning of the thumbs and other kinds of torments." + +This disturbed the queen very much, and she expressed her wish that Caron +should not allow himself to be put off with, delays by the council, but +should insist upon all due criminal punishment, the infliction of which +she promised in the strongest terms to order; for she could never enjoy +peace of mind, she said; so long as such scoundrels were tolerated in her +kingdom. + +The envoy had brought with him a summary of the cases, with the names of +all the merchants interested, and a list of all the marks on the sacks of +money which had been stolen. The queen looked over it very carefully, +declaring it to be her intention that there should be no delays +interposed in the conduct of this affair by forms of special pleading, +but that speedy cognizance should be taken of the whole, and that the +property should forthwith be restored. + +She then sent for Sir Robert Cecil, whom she directed to go at once and +tell his father, the Lord Treasurer, that he was to assist Caron in this +affair exactly as if it were her own. It was her intention, she said, +that her people were in no wise to trouble the Hollanders in legitimate +mercantile pursuits. She added that it was not enough for her people to +say that they had only been seizing Spaniards' goods and money, but she +meant that they should prove it, too, or else they should swing for it. + +Caron assured her Majesty that he had no other commission from his +masters than to ask for justice, and that he had no instructions to claim +Spanish property or enemy's goods. He had brought sufficient evidence +with him, he said, to give her Majesty entire satisfaction. + +It is not necessary to pursue the subject any farther. The great nobles +still endeavoured to interpose delays, and urged the propriety of taking +the case before the common courts of law. Carom strong in the support of +the queen, insisted that it should be settled, as her Majesty had +commanded, by the council, and it was finally arranged that the judge of +admiralty should examine the evidence on both sides, and then communicate +the documents at once to the Lord Treasurer. Meantime the money was to +be deposited with certain aldermen of London, and the accused parties +kept in prison. The ultimate decision was then to be made by the +council, "not by form of process but by commission thereto ordained." +In the course of the many interviews which followed between the Dutch +envoy and the privy counsellors, the Lord Admiral stated that an English +merchant residing in the Netherlands had sent to offer him a present of +two thousand pounds sterling, in case the affair should be decided +against the Hollanders. He communicated the name of the individual to +Caron, under seal of secrecy, and reminded the Lord Treasurer that he too +had seen the letter of the Englishman. Lord Burghley observed that he +remembered the fact that certain letters had been communicated to him by +the Lord Admiral, but that he did not know from whence they came, nor +anything about the person of the writer. + +The case of the plundered merchants was destined to drag almost as slowly +before the council as it might have done in the ordinary tribunals, and +Caron was "kept running," as he expressed it, "from the court to London, +and from London to the court," and it was long before justice was done to +the sufferers. Yet the energetic manner in which the queen took the case +into her own hands, and the intense indignation with which she denounced +the robberies and outrages which had been committed by her subjects upon +her friends and allies, were effective in restraining such wholesale +piracy in the future. + +On the whole, however, if the internal machinery is examined by which the +masses of mankind were moved at epoch in various parts of Christendom, we +shall not find much reason to applaud the conformity of Governments to +the principles of justice, reason, or wisdom. + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +Accustomed to the faded gallantries +Conformity of Governments to the principles of justice +Considerable reason, even if there were but little justice +Disciple of Simon Stevinus +Self-assertion--the healthful but not engaging attribute + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext History of United Netherlands, v64 +by John Lothrop Motley + + + + + + +HISTORY OF THE UNITED NETHERLANDS +From the Death of William the Silent to the Twelve Year's Truce--1609 + +By John Lothrop Motley + + + +History United Netherlands, Volume 65, 1592-1594 + + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII + + Influence of the rule and character of Philip II.--Heroism of the + sixteenth century--Contest for the French throne--Character and + policy of the Duke of Mayenne--Escape of the Duke of Guise from + Castle Tours--Propositions for the marriage of the Infanta--Plotting + of the Catholic party--Grounds of Philip's pretensions to the crown + of France--Motives of the Duke of Parma maligned by Commander Moreo + --He justifies himself to the king--View of the private relations + between Philip and the Duke of Mayenne and their sentiments towards + each other--Disposition of the French politicians and soldiers + towards Philip--Peculiar commercial pursuits of Philip--Confused + state of affairs in France--Treachery of Philip towards the Duke of + Parma--Recall of the duke to Spain--His sufferings and death. + +The People--which has been generally regarded as something naturally +below its rulers, and as born to be protected and governed, paternally or +otherwise, by an accidental selection from its own species, which by some +mysterious process has shot up much nearer to heaven than itself--is +often described as brutal, depraved, self-seeking, ignorant, passionate, +licentious, and greedy. + +It is fitting, therefore, that its protectors should be distinguished, at +great epochs of the world's history, by an absence of such objectionable +qualities. + +It must be confessed, however, that if the world had waited for heroes-- +during the dreary period which followed the expulsion of something that +was called Henry III. of France from the gates of his capital, and +especially during the time that followed hard upon the decease of that +embodiment of royalty--its axis must have ceased to turn for a long +succession of years. The Bearnese was at least alive, and a man. He +played his part with consummate audacity and skill; but alas for an epoch +or a country in which such a shape--notwithstanding all its engaging and +even commanding qualities--looked upon as an incarnation of human +greatness! + +But the chief mover of all things--so far as one man can be prime mover-- +was still the diligent scribe who lived in the Escorial. It was he whose +high mission it was to blow the bellows of civil war, and to scatter +curses over what had once been the smiling abodes of human creatures, +throughout the leading countries of Christendom. The throne of France +was vacant, nominally as well as actually, since--the year 1589. During +two-and-twenty years preceding that epoch he had scourged the provinces, +once constituting the richest and most enlightened portions of his +hereditary domains, upon the theory that without the Spanish Inquisition +no material prosperity was possible on earth, nor any entrance permitted +to the realms of bliss beyond the grave. Had every Netherlander +consented to burn his Bible, and to be burned himself should he be found +listening to its holy precepts if read to him in shop, cottage, farm- +house, or castle; and had he furthermore consented to renounce all the +liberal institutions which his ancestors had earned, in the struggle of +centuries, by the sweat of their brows and the blood of, their hearts; +his benignant proprietor and master, who lived at the ends of the earth, +would have consented at almost any moment to peace. His arms were ever +open. Let it not be supposed that this is the language of sarcasm or +epigram. Stripped of the decorous sophistication by which human beings +are so fond of concealing their naked thoughts from each other, this was +the one simple dogma always propounded by Philip. Grimace had done its +worst, however, and it was long since it had exercised any power in the +Netherlands. The king and the Dutchmen understood each other; and the +plain truths with which those republicans answered the imperial proffers +of mediation, so frequently renewed, were something new, and perhaps not +entirely unwholesome in diplomacy. + +It is not an inviting task to abandon the comparatively healthy +atmosphere of the battle-field, the blood-stained swamp, the murderous +trench--where human beings, even if communing only by bullets and push of +pike, were at least dealing truthfully with each other--and to descend +into those subterranean regions where the effluvia of falsehood becomes +almost too foul for ordinary human organisation. + +Heroes in those days, in any country, there were few. William the Silent +was dead. De la Noue was dead. Duplessis-Mornay was living, but his +influence over his royal master was rapidly diminishing. Cecil, Hatton, +Essex, Howard, Raleigh, James Croft, Valentine Dale, John Norris, Roger +Williams, the "Virgin Queen" herself--does one of these chief agents in +public affairs, or do all of them together, furnish a thousandth part of +that heroic whole which the England of the sixteenth century presents to +every imagination? Maurice of Nassau-excellent soldier and engineer as +he had already proved himself--had certainly not developed much of the +heroic element, although thus far he was walking straightforward like a +man, in the path of duty, with the pithy and substantial Lewis William +ever at his side. Olden-Barneveld--tough burgher-statesman, hard-headed, +indomitable man of granite--was doing more work, and doing it more +thoroughly, than any living politician, but he was certainly not of the +mythological brotherhood who inhabit the serene regions of space beyond +the moon. He was not the son of god or goddess, destined, after removal +from this sphere, to shine with planetary lustre, among other +constellations, upon the scenes of mortal action. Those of us who are +willing to rise-or to descend if the phrase seems wiser--to the idea of +a self-governing people must content ourselves, for this epoch, with the +fancy of a hero-people and a people-king. + +A plain little republic, thrusting itself uninvited into the great +political family-party of heaven-anointed sovereigns and long-descended +nobles, seemed a somewhat repulsive phenomenon. It became odious and +dangerous when by the blows it could deal in battle, the logic it could +chop in council, it indicated a remote future for the world, in which +right divine and regal paraphernalia might cease to be as effective +stage-properties as they had always been considered. + +Yet it will be difficult for us to find the heroic individualised very +perceptibly at this period, look where we may. Already there seemed +ground for questioning the comfortable fiction that the accidentally +dominant families and castes were by nature wiser, better, braver than +that much-contemned entity, the People. What if the fearful heresy +should gain ground that the People was at least as wise, honest, and +brave as its masters? What if it should become a recognised fact that +the great individuals and castes, whose wealth and station furnished them +with ample time and means for perfecting themselves in the science of +government, were rather devoting their leisure to the systematic filling +of their own pockets than to the hiving up of knowledge for the good of +their fellow creatures? What if the whole theory of hereditary +superiority should suddenly exhale? What if it were found out that we +were all fellow-worms together, and that those which had crawled highest +were not necessarily the least slimy? + +Meantime it will be well for us, in order to understand what is called +the Past, to scrutinise somewhat closely that which was never meant to be +revealed. To know the springs which once controlled the world's +movements, one must ponder the secret thoughts, purposes, aspirations, +and baffled attempts of the few dozen individuals who once claimed that +world in fee-simple. Such researches are not in a cheerful field; for +the sources of history are rarely fountains of crystal, bubbling through +meadows of asphodel. Vast and noisome are the many sewers which have +ever run beneath decorous Christendom. + +Some of the leading military events in France and Flanders, patent to all +the world, which grouped themselves about the contest for the French +throne, as the central point in the history of Philip's proposed world- +empire, have already been indicated. + +It was a species of triangular contest--so far as the chief actors were +concerned--for that vacant throne. Philip, Mayenne, Henry of Navarre, +with all the adroitness which each possessed, were playing for the +splendid prize. + +Of Philip it is not necessary to speak. The preceding volumes of this +work have been written in vain, if the reader has not obtained from +irrefragable testimony--the monarch's own especially--a sufficient +knowledge of that human fetish before which so much of contemporary +humanity grovelled. + +The figure of Navarre is also one of the most familiar shapes in history. + +As for the Duke of Mayenne, he had been, since the death of his brother +the Balafre, ostensible leader of the League, and was playing, not +without skill, a triple game. + +Firstly, he hoped for the throne for himself. + +Secondly, he was assisting the King of Spain to obtain that dignity. + +Thirdly, he was manoeuvring in dull, dumb, but not ineffective manner, in +favour of Navarre. + +So comprehensive and self-contradictory a scheme would seem to indicate +an elasticity of principle and a fertility of resource not often +vouchsafed to man. + +Certainly one of the most pregnant lessons of history is furnished in +the development of these cabals, nor is it, in this regard, of great +importance whether the issue was to prove them futile or judicious. It +is sufficient for us now, that when those vanished days constituted the +Present--the vital atmosphere of Christendom--the world's affairs were +controlled by those plotters and their subordinates, and it is therefore +desirable for us to know what manner of men they were, and how they +played their parts. + +Nor should it ever be forgotten that the leading motive with all was +supposed to be religion. It was to maintain the supremacy of the Roman +Church, or to vindicate, to a certain extent, liberty of conscience, +through the establishment of a heterodox organisation, that all these +human beings of various lineage and language throughout Christendom had +been cutting each other's throats for a quarter of a century. + +Mayenne was not without courage in the field when he found himself there, +but it was observed of him that he spent more time at table than the +Bearnese in sleep, and that he was so fat as to require the assistance of +twelve men to put him in the saddle again whenever he fell from his +horse. Yet slow fighter as he was, he was a most nimble intriguer. As +for his private character, it was notoriously stained with every vice, +nor was there enough of natural intelligence or superior acquirement to +atone for his, crapulous; licentious, shameless life. His military +efficiency at important emergencies was impaired and his life endangered +by vile diseases. He was covetous and greedy beyond what was considered +decent even in that cynical age. He received subsidies and alms with +both hands from those who distrusted and despised him, but who could not +eject him from his advantageous position. + +He wished to arrive at the throne of France. As son of Francis of Guise, +as brother of the great Balafre, he considered himself entitled to the +homage of the fishwomen and the butchers' halls. The constitution of the +country in that age making a People impossible, the subtle connection +between a high-born intriguer and the dregs of a populace, which can only +exist in societies of deep chasms and precipitous contrasts, was easily +established. + +The duke's summary dealing with the sixteen tyrants of Paris in the +matter of the president's murder had, however, loosened his hold on what +was considered the democracy; but this was at the time when his schemes +were silently swinging towards the Protestant aristocracy; at the moment +when Politica was taking the place of Madam League in his secret +affections. Nevertheless, so long as there seemed a chance, he was +disposed to work the mines for his own benefit. His position as +lieutenant-general gave him an immense advantage for intriguing with both +sides, and--in case his aspirations for royalty were baffled--for +obtaining the highest possible price for himself in that auction in which +Philip and the Bearnese were likely to strain all their resources in +outbidding each other. + +On one thing his heart was fixed. His brother's son should at least not +secure the golden prize if he could prevent it. The young Duke of Guise, +who had been immured in Castle Tours since the famous murder of his +father and uncle, had made his escape by a rather neat stratagem. Having +been allowed some liberty for amusing himself in the corridors in the +neighbourhood of his apartment, he had invented a game of hop, skip, and +jump up stairs and down, which he was wont to play with the soldiers of +the guard, as a solace to the tediousness of confinement. One day he +hopped and skipped up the staircase with a rapidity which excited the +admiration of the companions of his sport, slipped into his room, slammed +and bolted the doors, and when the guard, after in vain waiting a +considerable tine for him to return and resume the game, at last forced +an entrance, they found the bird flown out of window. Rope-ladders, +confederates, fast-galloping post-horses did the rest, and at last the +young duke joined his affectionate uncle in camp, much to that eminent +relative's discomfiture. Philip gave alternately conflicting +instructions to Farnese--sometimes that he should encourage the natural +jealousy between the pair; sometimes that he should cause them to work +harmoniously together for the common good--that common good being the +attainment by the King of Spain of the sovereignty of France. + +But it was impossible, as already intimated, for Mayenne to work +harmoniously with his nephew. The Duke of Guise might marry with the +infanta and thus become King of France by the grace of God and Philip. +To such a consummation in the case of his uncle there stood, as we know, +an insuperable obstacle in the shape of the Duchess of Mayenne. Should +it come to this at last, it was certain that the Duke would make any and +every combination to frustrate such a scheme. Meantime he kept his own +counsel, worked amiably with Philip, Parma, and the young duke, and +received money in overflowing measure, and poured into his bosom from +that Spanish monarch whose veterans in the Netherlands were maddened by +starvation into mutiny. + +Philip's plans were a series of alternatives. France he regarded as the +property of his family. Of that there could be no doubt at all. He +meant to put the crown upon his own head, unless the difficulties in the +way should prove absolutely insuperable. In that case he claimed France +and all its inhabitants as the property of his daughter. The Salic law +was simply a pleasantry, a bit of foolish pedantry, an absurdity. If +Clara Isabella, as daughter of Isabella of France, as grandchild of Henry +II., were not manifestly the owner of France--queen-proprietary, as the +Spanish doctors called it--then there was no such thing, so he thought, +as inheritance of castle, farm-house, or hovel--no such thing as property +anywhere in the world. If the heiress of the Valois could not take that +kingdom as her private estate, what security could there ever be for any +possessions public or private? + +This was logical reasoning enough for kings and their counsellors. There +was much that might be said, however, in regard to special laws. There +was no doubt that great countries, with all their livestock--human or +otherwise--belonged to an individual, but it was not always so clear who +that individual was. This doubt gave much work and comfortable fees to +the lawyers. There was much learned lore concerning statutes of descent, +cutting off of entails, actions for ejectment, difficulties of enforcing +processes, and the like, to occupy the attention of diplomatists, +politicians and other sages. It would have caused general hilarity, +however, could it have been suggested that the live-stock had art or part +in the matter; that sheep, swine, or men could claim a choice of their +shepherds and butchers. + +Philip--humbly satisfied, as he always expressed himself, so long as the +purity of the Roman dogmas and the supremacy of the Romish Church over +the whole earth were maintained--affected a comparative indifference as +to whether he should put the crown of St. Louis and of Hugh Capet upon +his own grey head or whether he should govern France through his daughter +and her husband. Happy the man who might exchange the symbols of mutual +affection with Philip's daughter. + +The king had various plans in regard to the bestowal of the hand thus +richly endowed. First and foremost it was suggested--and the idea was +not held too monstrous to be even believed in by some conspicuous +individuals--that he proposed espousing his daughter himself. The pope +was to be relied on, in this case, to give a special dispensation. Such +a marriage, between parties too closely related to be usually united in +wedlock, might otherwise shock the prejudices of the orthodox. His late +niece and wife was dead, so that there was no inconvenience on that +score, should the interests of his dynasty, his family, and, above all, +of the Church, impel him, on mature reflection, to take for his fourth +marriage one step farther within the forbidden degrees than he had done +in his third. Here is the statement, which, if it have no other value, +serves to show the hideous designs of which the enemies of Philip +sincerely believed that monarch capable. + +"But God is a just God," wrote Sir Edward Stafford, "and if with all +things past, that be true that the king ('videlicet' Henry IV.) yesterday +assured me to be true, and that both his ambassador from Venice writ to +him and Monsieur de Luxembourg from Rome, that the Count Olivarez had +made a great instance to the pope (Sixtus V.) a little afore his death, +to permit his master to marry his daughter, no doubt God will not leave +it long unpunished." + +Such was the horrible tale which was circulated and believed in by Henry +the Great of France and by eminent nobles and ambassadors, and at least +thought possible by the English envoy. By such a family arrangement it +was obvious that the conflicting claims of father and daughter to the +proprietorship of France would be ingeniously adjusted, and the children +of so well assorted a marriage might reign in undisputed legitimacy over +France and Spain, and the rest of the world-monarchy. Should the king +decide on the whole against this matrimonial project, should Innocent or +Clement prove as intractable as Sixtus, then it would be necessary to +decide among various candidates for the Infanta's hand. + +In Mayenne's Opinion the Duke of Guise was likely to be the man; but +there is little doubt that Philip, in case these more cherished schemes +should fail, had made up his mind--so far as he ever did make up his mind +upon anything--to select his nephew the Archduke Ernest, brother of the +Emperor Rudolph, for his son-in-law. But it was not necessary to make an +immediate choice. His quiver was full of archdukes, any one of whom +would be an eligible candidate, while not one of them would be likely to +reject the Infanta with France on her wedding-finger. Meantime there was +a lion in the path in the shape of Henry of Navarre. + +Those who disbelieve in the influence of the individual on the fate of +mankind may ponder the possible results to history and humanity, had the +dagger of Jacques Clement entered the stomach of Henry IV. rather than of +Henry III. in the summer of 1589, or the perturbations in the world's +movements that might have puzzled philosophers had there been an +unsuspected mass of religious conviction revolving unseen in the mental +depths of the Bearnese. Conscience, as it has from time to time +exhibited itself on this planet of ours, is a powerful agent in +controlling political combinations; but the instances are unfortunately +not rare, so far as sublunary progress is concerned, in which the absence +of this dominant influence permits a prosperous rapidity to individual +careers. Eternal honour to the noble beings, true chieftains among men, +who have forfeited worldly power or sacrificed life itself at the dictate +of religious or moral conviction--even should the basis of such +conviction appear to some of us unsafe or unreal. Shame on the tongue +which would malign or ridicule the martyr or the honest convert to any +form of Christian faith! But who can discover aught that is inspiring to +the sons of men in conversions--whether of princes or of peasants-- +wrought, not at risk of life and pelf, but for the sake of securing and +increasing the one and the other? + +Certainly the Bearnese was the most candid of men. It was this very +candour, this freedom from bigotry, this want of conviction, and this +openness to conviction, that made him so dangerous and caused so much +anxiety to Philip. The Roman Church might or might not be strengthened +by the re-conversion of the legitimate heir of France, but it was certain +that the claims of Philip and the Infanta to the proprietorship of that +kingdom would be weakened by the process. While the Spanish king knew +himself to be inspired in all his actions by a single motive, the +maintenance of the supremacy of the Roman Church, he was perfectly aware +that the Prince of Bearne was not so single-hearted nor so conscientious +as himself. + +The Prince of Bearne--heretic, son of heretics, great chieftain of +heretics--was supposed capable of becoming orthodox whenever the Pope +would accept his conversion. Against this possibility Philip struggled +with all his strength. + +Since Pope Sixtus V., who had a weakness for Henry, there had been +several popes. Urban VII., his immediate successor, had reigned but +thirteen days. Gregory XIV. (Sfondrato) had died 15th October, 1591, +ten months after his election. Fachinetti, with the title of Innocent +IX., had reigned two months, from 29th October to 29th December, 1591. +He died of "Spanish poison," said Envoy Umton, as coolly as if speaking +of gout, or typhus, or any other recognised disorder. Clement VIII. +(Aldobrandini) was elected 30th January, 1592. He was no lover of Henry, +and lived in mortal fear of Philip, while it must be conceded that the +Spanish ambassador at Rome was much given to brow-beating his Holiness. +Should he dare to grant that absolution which was the secret object of +the Bearnese, there was no vengeance, hinted the envoy, that Philip would +not wreak on the holy father. He would cut off his supplies from Naples +and Sicily, and starve him and all-his subjects; he would frustrate all +his family schemes, he would renounce him, he would unpope him, he would +do anything that man and despot could do, should the great shepherd dare +to re-admit this lost sheep, and this very black sheep, into the fold of +the faithful. + +As for Henry himself, his game--for in his eyes it was nothing but a +game--lay every day plainer and plainer before him. He was indispensable +to the heretics. Neither England, nor Holland, nor Protestant Germany, +could renounce him, even should he renounce "the religion." Nor could +the French Huguenots exist without that protection which, even although +Catholic, he could still extend to them when he should be accepted as +king by the Catholics. + +Hereditary monarch by French law and history, released from his heresy by +the authority that could bind and loose, purged as with hyssop and washed +whiter than snow, it should go hard with him if Philip, and Farnese, and +Mayenne, and all the pikemen and reiters they might muster, could keep +him very long from the throne of his ancestors. + +Nothing could match the ingenuousness with which he demanded the +instruction whenever the fitting time for it should arrive; as if, +instead of having been a professor both of the Calvinist and Catholic +persuasion, and having relapsed from both, he had been some innocent +Peruvian or Hindoo, who was invited to listen to preachings and to +examine dogmas for the very first time in his life. + +Yet Philip had good grounds for hoping a favourable result from his +political and military manoeuvre. He entertained little doubt that +France belonged to him or to his daughter; that the most powerful party +in the country was in favour of his claims, provided he would pay the +voters liberally enough for their support, and that if the worst came to +the worst it would always be in his power to dismember the kingdom, and +to reserve the lion's share for himself, while distributing some of the +provinces to the most prominent of his confederates. + +The sixteen tyrants of Paris had already, as we have seen, urged the +crown upon him, provided he would establish in France the Inquisition, +the council of Trent, and other acceptable institutions, besides +distributing judiciously a good many lucrative offices among various +classes of his adherents. + +The Duke of Mayenne, in his own name and that of all the Catholics of +France, formally demanded of him to maintain two armies, forty thousand +men in all, to be respectively under command of the duke himself and of +Alexander Farnese, and regularly to pay for them. These propositions, +as has been seen, were carried into effect as nearly as possible, at +enormous expense to Philip's exchequer, and he naturally expected as good +faith on the part of Mayenne. + +In the same paper in which the demand was made Philip was urged to +declare himself king of France. He was assured that the measure could +be accomplished "by freely bestowing marquisates, baronies, and peerages, +in order to content the avarice and ambition of many persons, without at +the same time dissipating the greatness from which all these members +depended. Pepin and Charlemagne," said the memorialists, "who were +foreigners and Saxons by nation, did as much in order to get possession +of a kingdom to which they had no other right except that which they +acquired there by their prudence and force, and after them Hugh Capet, +much inferior to them in force and authority, following their example, +had the same good fortune for himself and his posterity, and one which +still endures. + +"If the authority of the holy see could support the scheme at the same +time," continued Mayenne and friends, "it would be a great help. But it +being perilous to ask for that assistance before striking the blow, it +would be better to obtain it after the execution." + +That these wholesome opinions were not entirely original on the +part of Mayenne, nor produced spontaneously, was plain from the secret +instructions given by Philip to his envoys, Don Bernardino de Mendoza, +John Baptist de Tassis, and the commander Moreo, whom he had sent soon +after the death of Henry III. to confer with Cardinal Gaetano in Paris. + +They were told, of course, to do everything in their power to prevent the +election of the Prince of Bearne, "being as he was a heretic, obstinate +and confirmed, who had sucked heresy with his mother's milk." The legate +was warned that "if the Bearnese should make a show of converting +himself, it would be frigid and fabricated." + +If they were asked whom Philip desired for king--a question which +certainly seemed probable under the circumstances--they were to reply +that his foremost wish was to establish the Catholic religion in the +kingdom, and that whatever was most conducive to that end would be most +agreeable to him. "As it is however desirable, in order to arrange +matters, that you should be informed of everything," said his Majesty, +"it is proper that you should know that I have two kinds of right to all +that there is over there. Firstly, because the crown of France has been +usurped from me, my ancestors having been unjustly excluded by foreign +occupation of it; and secondly, because I claim the same crown as first +male of the house of Valois." + +Here certainly were comprehensive pretensions, and it was obvious that +the king's desire for the establishment of the Catholic religion must +have been very lively to enable him to invent or accept such astonishing +fictions. + +But his own claims were but a portion of the case. His daughter and +possible spouse had rights of her own, hard, in his opinion, to be +gainsaid. "Over and above all this," said Philip, "my eldest daughter, +the Infanta, has two other rights; one to all the states which as dower- +property are joined by matrimony and through females to this crown, which +now come to her in direct line, and the other to the crown itself, which +belongs directly to the said Infanta, the matter of the Salic law being a +mere invention." + +Thus it would appear that Philip was the legitimate representative, not +only of the ancient races of French monarchs--whether Merovingians, +Carlovingians, or otherwise was not stated but also of the usurping +houses themselves, by whose intrusion those earlier dynasties had been +ejected, being the eldest male heir of the extinct line of Valois, while +his daughter was, if possible, even more legitimately the sovereign and +proprietor of France than he was himself. + +Nevertheless in his magnanimous desire for the peace of the world and +the advancement of the interests of the Church, he was, if reduced to +extremities, willing to forego his own individual rights--when it should +appear that they could by no possibility be enforced--in favour of his +daughter and of the husband whom he should select for her. + +"Thus it may be seen," said the self-denying man, "that I know how, for +the sake of the public repose, to strip myself of my private property." + +Afterwards, when secretly instructing the Duke of Feria, about to proceed +to Paris for the sake of settling the sovereignty of the kingdom, he +reviewed the whole subject, setting forth substantially the same +intentions. That the Prince of Bearne could ever possibly succeed to the +throne of his ancestors was an idea to be treated only with sublime scorn +by all right-minded and sensible men. "The members of the House of +Bourbon," said he, "pretend that by right of blood the crown belongs to +them, and hence is derived the pretension made by the Prince of Bearne; +but if there were wanting other very sufficient causes to prevent this +claim--which however are not wanting--it is quite enough that he is +a relapsed heretic, declared to be such by the Apostolic See, and +pronounced incompetent, as well as the other members of his house, all +of them, to say the least, encouragers of heresy; so that not one of them +can ever be king of France, where there have been such religious princes +in time past, who have justly merited the name of Most Christian; and so +there is no possibility of permitting him or any of his house to aspire +to the throne, or to have the subject even treated of in the estates. +It should on the contrary be entirely excluded as prejudicial to the +realm and unworthy to be even mentioned among persons so Catholic as +those about to meet in that assembly." + +The claims of the man whom his supporters already called Henry the +Fourth of France being thus disposed of, Philip then again alluded with +his usual minuteness to the various combinations which he had formed for +the tranquillity and good government of that kingdom and of the other +provinces of his world-empire. + +It must moreover be never forgotten that what he said passed with his +contemporaries almost for oracular dispensations. What he did or ordered +to be done was like the achievements or behests of a superhuman being. +Time, as it rolls by, leaves the wrecks of many a stranded reputation to +bleach in the sunshine of after-ages. It is sometimes as profitable to +learn what was not done by the great ones of the earth, in spite of all +their efforts, as to ponder those actual deeds which are patent to +mankind. The Past was once the Present, and once the Future, bright with +rainbows or black with impending storm; for history is a continuous whole +of which we see only fragments. + +He who at the epoch with which we are now occupied was deemed greatest +and wisest among the sons of earth, at whose threats men quailed, at +whose vast and intricate schemes men gasped in palefaced awe, has left +behind him the record of his interior being. Let us consider whether he +was so potent as his fellow mortals believed, or whether his greatness +was merely their littleness; whether it was carved out, of the +inexhaustible but artificial quarry of human degradation. Let us see +whether the execution was consonant with the inordinate plotting; whether +the price in money and blood--and certainly few human beings have +squandered so much of either as did Philip the Prudent in his long +career--was high or low for the work achieved. + +Were after generations to learn, only after curious research, +of a pretender who once called himself, to the amusement of his +contemporaries, Henry the Fourth of France; or was the world-empire for +which so many armies were marshalled, so many ducats expended, so many +falsehoods told, to prove a bubble after all? Time was to show. +Meantime wise men of the day who, like the sages of every generation, +read the future like a printed scroll, were pitying the delusion and +rebuking the wickedness of Henry the Bearnese; persisting as he did in +his cruel, sanguinary, hopeless attempt to establish a vanished and +impossible authority over a land distracted by civil war. + +Nothing could be calmer or more reasonable than the language of the great +champion of the Inquisition. + +"And as President Jeannin informs me," he said, "that the Catholics have +the intention of electing me king, that appearing to them the gentlest +and safest method to smooth all rivalries likely to arise among the +princes aspiring to the crown, I reply, as you will see by the copy +herewith sent. You will observe that after not refusing myself to that +which may be the will of our Lord, should there be no other mode of +serving Him, above all I desire that which concerns my daughter, since to +her belongs the kingdom. I desire nothing else nor anything for myself, +nor for anybody else, except as a means for her to arrive at her right." + +He had taken particular pains to secure his daughter's right in Brittany, +while the Duchess of Mercoeur, by the secret orders of her husband, had +sent a certain ecclesiastic to Spain to make over the sovereignty of this +province to the Infanta. Philip directed that the utmost secrecy should +be observed in regard to this transaction with the duke and duchess, +and promised the duke, as his reward for these proposed services in +dismembering his country, the government of the province for himself and +his heirs. + +For the king was quite determined--in case his efforts to obtain the +crown for himself or for his daughter were unsuccessful--to dismember +France, with the assistance of those eminent Frenchmen who were now so +industriously aiding him in his projects. + +"And in the third place," said he, in his secret instructions to Feria, +"if for the sins of all, we don't manage to make any election, and if +therefore the kingdom (of France) has to come to separation and to be +divided into many hands; in this case we must propose to the Duke of +Mayenne to assist him in getting possession of Normandy for himself, and +as to the rest of the kingdom, I shall take for myself that which seems +good to me--all of us assisting each other." + +But unfortunately it was difficult for any of these fellow-labourers to +assist each other very thoroughly, while they detested each other so +cordially and suspected each other with such good reason. + +Moreo, Ybarra, Feria, Parma, all assured their master that Mayenne was +taking Spanish money as fast as he could get it, but with the sole +purpose of making himself king. As to any of the House of Lorraine +obtaining the hand of the Infanta and the throne with it, Feria assured +Philip that Mayenne "would sooner give the crown to the Grand Turk." + +Nevertheless Philip thought it necessary to continue making use of the +duke. Both were indefatigable therefore in expressing feelings of +boundless confidence each in the other. + +It has been seen too how entirely the king relied on the genius and +devotion of Alexander Farnese to carry out his great schemes; and +certainly never had monarch a more faithful, unscrupulous, and dexterous +servant. Remonstrating, advising, but still obeying--entirely without +conscience, unless it were conscience to carry out his master's commands, +even when most puerile or most diabolical--he was nevertheless the object +of Philip's constant suspicion, and felt himself placed under perpetual +though secret supervision. + +Commander Moreo was unwearied in blackening the duke's character, and in +maligning his every motive and action, and greedily did the king incline +his ear to the calumnies steadily instilled by the chivalrous spy. + +"He has caused all the evil we are suffering," said Moreo. "When he sent +Egmont to France 'twas without infantry, although Egmont begged hard for +it, as did likewise the Legate, Don Bernardino, and Tassis. Had he done +this there is no doubt at all that the Catholic cause in France would +have been safe, and your Majesty would now have the control over that +kingdom which you desire. This is the opinion of friends and foes. I +went to the Duke of Parma and made free to tell him that the whole world +would blame him for the damage done to Christianity, since your Majesty +had exonerated yourself by ordering him to go to the assistance of the +French Catholics with all the zeal possible. Upon this he was so +disgusted that he has never shown me a civil face since. I doubt whether +he will send or go to France at all, and although the Duke of Mayenne +despatches couriers every day with protestations and words that would +soften rocks, I see no indications of a movement." + +Thus, while the duke was making great military preparations far invading +France without means; pawning his own property to get bread for his +starving veterans, and hanging those veterans whom starving had made. +mutinous, he was depicted, to the most suspicious and unforgiving mortal +that ever wore a crown, as a traitor and a rebel, and this while he was +renouncing his own judicious and well-considered policy in obedience to +the wild schemes of his master. + +"I must make bold to remind your Majesty," again whispered the spy, "that +there never was an Italian prince who failed to pursue his own ends, and +that there are few in the world that are not wishing to become greater +than they are. This man here could strike a greater blow than all the +rest of them put together. Remember that there is not a villain anywhere +that does not desire the death of your Majesty. Believe me, and send to +cut off my head if it shall be found that I am speaking from passion, or +from other motive than pure zeal for your royal service." + +The reader will remember into what a paroxysm of rage Alexander was +thrown on, a former occasion, when secretly invited to listen to +propositions by which the sovereignty over the Netherlands was to be +secured to himself, and how near he was to inflicting mortal punishment +with his own hand on the man who had ventured to broach that treasonable +matter. + +Such projects and propositions were ever floating, as it were, in the +atmosphere, and it was impossible for the most just men to escape +suspicion in the mind of a king who fed upon suspicion as his daily +bread. Yet nothing could be fouler or falser than the calumny which +described Alexander as unfaithful to Philip. Had he served his God as he +served his master perhaps his record before the highest tribunal would +have been a clearer one. + +And in the same vein in which he wrote to the monarch in person did the +crafty Moreo write to the principal secretary of state, Idiaquez, whose +mind, as well as his master's, it was useful to poison, and who was in +daily communication with Philip. + +"Let us make sure of Flanders," said he, "otherwise we shall all of us be +well cheated. I will tell you something of that which I have already +told his Majesty, only not all, referring you to Tassis, who, as a +personal witness to many things, will have it in his power to undeceive +his Majesty, I have seen very clearly that the duke is disgusted with his +Majesty, and one day he told me that he cared not if the whole world went +to destruction, only not Flanders." + +"Another day he told me that there was a report abroad that his Majesty +was sending to arrest him, by means of the Duke of Pastrana, and looking +at me he said: 'See here, seignior commander, no threats, as if it were +in the power of mortal man to arrest me, much less of such fellows as +these.'" + +"But this is but a small part of what I could say," continued the +detective knight-commander, "for I don't like to trust these ciphers. +But be certain that nobody in Flanders wishes well to these estates or to +the Catholic cause, and the associates of the Duke of Parma go about +saying that it does not suit the Italian potentates to have his Majesty +as great a monarch as he is trying to be." + +This is but a sample of the dangerous stuff with which the royal mind was +steadily drugged, day after day, by those to whom Farnese was especially +enjoined to give his confidence. + +Later on it will be seen how-much effect was thus produced both upon the +king and upon the duke. Moreo, Mendoza, and Tasais were placed about the +governor-general, nominally as his counsellors, in reality as police- +officers. + +"You are to confer regularly with Mendoza, Tassis, and Moreo," said +Philip to Farnese. + +"You are to assist, correspond, and harmonize in every way with the Duke +of Parma," wrote Philip to Mendoza, Tassis, and Moreo. And thus cordially +and harmoniously were the trio assisting and corresponding with the duke. + +But Moreo was right in not wishing to trust the ciphers, and indeed he +had trusted them too much, for Farnese was very well aware of his +intrigues, and complained bitterly of them to the king and to Idiaquez. + +Most eloquently and indignantly did he complain of the calumnies, ever +renewing themselves, of which he was the subject. "'Tis this good Moreo +who is the author of the last falsehoods," said he to the secretary; "and +this is but poor payment for my having neglected my family, my parents +and children for so many years in the king's service, and put my life +ever on the hazard, that these fellows should be allowed to revile me +and make game of me now, instead of assisting me." + +He was at that time, after almost superhuman exertions, engaged in the +famous relief of Paris. He had gone there, he said, against his judgment +and remonstrating with his Majesty on the insufficiency of men and money +for such an enterprise. His army was half-mutinous and unprovided with +food, artillery, or munitions; and then he found himself slandered, +ridiculed, his life's life lied away. 'Twas poor payment for his +services, he exclaimed, if his Majesty should give ear to these +calumniators, and should give him no chance of confronting his accusers +and clearing his reputation. Moreo detested him, as he knew, and Prince +Doria said that the commander once spoke so ill of Farnese in Genoa that +he was on the point of beating him; while Moreo afterwards told the story +as if he had been maltreated because of defending Farnese against Doria's +slanders. + +And still more vehemently did he inveigh against Moreo in his direct +appeals to Philip. He had intended to pass over his calumnies, of which +he was well aware, because he did not care to trouble the dead--for Moreo +meantime had suddenly died, and the gossips, of course, said it was of +Farnese poison--but he had just discovered by documents that the +commander had been steadily and constantly pouring these his calumnies +into the monarch's ears. He denounced every charge as lies, and demanded +proof. Moreo had further been endeavouring to prejudice the Duke of +Mayenne against the King of Spain and himself, saying that he, Farnese, +had been commissioned to take Mayenne into custody, with plenty of +similar lies. + +"But what I most feel," said Alexander, with honest wrath, "is to see +that your Majesty gives ear to them without making the demonstration +which my services merit, and has not sent to inform me of them, seeing +that they may involve my reputation and honour. People have made more +account of these calumnies than of my actions performed upon the theatre +of the world. I complain, after all my toils and dangers in your +Majesty's service, just when I stood with my soul in my mouth and death +in my teeth, forgetting children, house, and friends, to be treated thus, +instead of receiving rewards and honour, and being enabled to leave to my +children, what was better than all the riches the royal hand could +bestow, an unsullied and honourable name." + +He protested that his reputation had so much suffered that he would +prefer to retire to some remote corner as a humble servant of the king, +and leave a post which had made him so odious to all. Above all, he +entreated his Majesty to look upon this whole affair "not only like a +king but like a gentleman." + +Philip answered these complaints and reproaches benignantly, expressed +unbounded confidence in the duke, assured him that the calumnies of his +supposed enemies could produce no effect upon the royal mind, and coolly +professed to have entirely forgotten having received any such letter as +that of which his nephew complained. "At any rate I have mislaid it," he +said, "so that you see how much account it was with me." + +As the king was in the habit of receiving such letters every week, not +only from the commander, since deceased, but from Ybarra and others, his +memory, to say the least, seemed to have grown remarkably feeble. But +the sequel will very soon show that he had kept the letters by him and +pondered them to much purpose. To expect frankness and sincerity from +him, however, even in his most intimate communications to his most +trusted servants, would have been to "swim with fins of lead." + +Such being the private relations between the conspirators, it is +instructive to observe how they dealt with each other in the great game +they were playing for the first throne in Christendom. The military +events have been sufficiently sketched in the preceding pages, but the +meaning and motives of public affairs can be best understood by +occasional glances behind the scenes. It is well for those who would +maintain their faith in popular Governments to study the workings of the +secret, irresponsible, arbitrary system; for every Government, as every +individual, must be judged at last by those moral laws which no man born +of woman can evade. + +During the first French expedition-in the course of which Farnese had +saved Paris from falling into, the hands of Henry, and had been doing his +best to convert it prospectively into the capital of his master's empire- +-it was his duty, of course, to represent as accurately as possible the +true state of France. He submitted his actions to his master's will, but +he never withheld from him the advantage that he might have derived, had +he so chosen, from his nephew's luminous intelligence and patient +observation. + +With the chief personage he had to deal with he professed himself, at +first, well satisfied. "The Duke of Mayenne," said he to Philip, +"persists in desiring your Majesty only as King of France, and will hear +of no other candidate, which gives me satisfaction such as can't be +exaggerated." Although there were difficulties in the way, Farnese +thought that the two together with God's help might conquer them. +"Certainly it is not impossible that your Majesty may succeed," he said, +"although very problematical; and in case your Majesty does succeed in +that which we all desire and are struggling for, Mayenne not only demands +the second place in the kingdom for himself, but the fief of some great +province for his family." + +Should it not be possible for Philip to obtain the crown, Farnese was, +on the whole, of opinion that Mayenne had better be elected. In that +event he would make over Brittany and Burgundy to Philip, together with +the cities opposite the English coast. If they were obliged to make the +duke king, as was to be feared, they should at any rate exclude the +Prince of Bearne, and secure, what was the chief point, the Catholic +religion. "This," said Alexander, "is about what I can gather of +Mayenne's views, and perhaps he will put them down in a despatch to your +Majesty." + +After all, the duke was explicit enough. He was for taking all he could +get--the whole kingdom if possible--but if foiled, then as large a slice +of it as Philip would give him as the price of his services. And +Philip's ideas were not materially different from those of the other +conspirator. + +Both were agreed on one thing. The true heir must be kept out of his +rights, and the Catholic religion be maintained in its purity. As to the +inclination of the majority of the inhabitants, they could hardly be in +the dark. They knew that the Bearnese was instinctively demanded by the +nation; for his accession to the throne would furnish the only possible +solution to the entanglements which had so long existed. + +As to the true sentiments of the other politicians and soldiers of the +League with whom Bearnese came in contact in France, he did not disguise +from his master that they were anything but favourable. + +"That you may know, the, humour of this kingdom," said he, "and the +difficulties in which I am placed, I must tell you that I am by large +experience much confirmed in that which I have always suspected. Men +don't love nor esteem the royal name of your Majesty, and whatever the +benefits and assistance they get from you they have no idea of anything +redounding to your benefit and royal service, except so far as implied in +maintaining the Catholic religion and keeping out the Bearne. These two +things, however, they hold to be so entirely to your Majesty's profit, +that all you are doing appears the fulfilment of a simple obligation. +They are filled with fear, jealousy, and suspicion of your Majesty. They +dread your acquiring power here. Whatever negotiations they pretend +in regard to putting the kingdom or any of their cities under your +protection, they have never had any real intention of doing it, but their +only object is to keep up our vain hopes while they are carrying out +their own ends. If to-day they seem to have agreed upon any measure, +tomorrow they are sure to get out of it again. This has always been the +case, and all your Majesty's ministers that have had dealings here would +say so, if they chose to tell the truth. Men are disgusted with the +entrance of the army, and if they were not expecting a more advantageous +peace in the kingdom with my assistance than without it, I don't know +what they would do; for I have heard what I have heard and seen what I +have seen. They are afraid of our army, but they want its assistance and +our money." + +Certainly if Philip desired enlightenment as to the real condition of the +country he had determined to, appropriate; and the true sentiments of its +most influential inhabitants, here, was the man most competent of all the +world to advise him; describing the situation for him, day by day, in the +most faithful manner. And at every, step the absolutely puerile +inadequacy of the means, employed by the king to accomplish his gigantic +purposes became apparent. If the crime of subjugating or at least +dismembering the great kingdom of France were to, be attempted with any +hope of success, at least it might have been expected that the man +employed to consummate the deed would be furnished with more troops and +money than would be required to appropriate a savage island off the +Caribbean, or a German. principality. But Philip expected miracles to +be accomplished by the mere private assertion of his will. It was so +easy to conquer realms the writing table. + +"I don't say," continued Farnese, "if I could have entered France with a +competent army, well paid and disciplined, with plenty of artillery, and +munitions, and with funds enough to enable Mayenne to buy up the nobles +of his party, and to conciliate the leaders generally with presents and +promises, that perhaps they might not have softened. Perhaps interest +and fear would have made that name agreeable which pleases them so +little, now that the very reverse of all this has occurred. My want of +means is causing a thousand disgusts among the natives of the country, +and it is this penury that will be the chief cause of the disasters which +may occur." + +Here was sufficiently plain speaking. To conquer a war-like nation +without an army; to purchase a rapacious nobility with an empty purse, +were tasks which might break the stoutest heart. They were breaking +Alexander's. + +Yet Philip had funds enough, if he had possessed financial ability +himself, or any talent for selecting good financiers. The richest +countries of the old world and the new were under his sceptre; the mines +of Peru and Mexico; the wealth of farthest Ind, were at his disposition; +and moreover he drove a lucrative traffic in the sale of papal bulls and +massbooks, which were furnished to him at a very low figure, and which he +compelled the wild Indians of America and the savages of the Pacific to +purchase of him at an enormous advance. That very year, a Spanish +carrack had been captured by the English off the Barbary coast, with an +assorted cargo, the miscellaneous nature of which gives an idea of royal +commercial pursuits at that period. Besides wine in large quantities +there were fourteen hundred chests of quicksilver, an article +indispensable to the working of the silver mines, and which no one but +the king could, upon pain of death, send to America. He received, +according to contract; for every pound of quicksilver thus delivered a +pound of pure silver, weight for weight. The ship likewise contained ten +cases of gilded mass-books and papal bulls. The bulls, two million and +seventy thousand in number, for the dead and the living, were intended +for the provinces of New Spain, Yucatan, Guatemala, Honduras, and the +Philippines. The quicksilver and the bulls cost the king three hundred +thousand florins, but he sold them for five million. The .price at, +which the bulls were to be sold varied-according to the letters of advice +found in the ships--from two to four reals a piece, and the inhabitants +of those conquered regions were obliged to buy them. "From all this," +says a contemporary chronicler; "is to be seen what a thrifty trader was +the king." + +The affairs of France were in such confusion that it was impossible for +them, according to Farnese, to remain in such condition much longer +without bringing about entire decomposition. Every man was doing as he +chose--whether governor of a city, commander of a district, or gentleman +in his castle. Many important nobles and prelates followed the Bearnese +party, and Mayenne was entitled to credit for doing as well as he did. +There was no pretence, however, that his creditable conduct was due to +anything but the hope of being well paid. "If your Majesty should decide +to keep Mayenne," said Alexander, "you can only do it with large: sums of +money. He is a good Catholic and very firm in his purpose, but is so +much opposed by his own party, that if I had not so stimulated him by +hopes of his own grandeur, he would have grown desperate--such small +means has he of maintaining his party--and, it is to be feared, he would +have made arrangements with Bearne, who offers him carte-blanche." + +The disinterested man had expressed his assent to the views of Philip in +regard to the assembly of the estates and the election of king, but had +claimed the sum of six hundred thousand dollars as absolutely necessary +to the support of himself and followers until those events should occur. +Alexander not having that sum at his disposal was inclined to defer +matters, but was more and more confirmed in his opinion that the Duke was +a "man of truth, faith, and his word." He had distinctly agreed that no +king should be elected, not satisfactory to Philip, and had "stipulated +in return that he should have in this case, not only the second place in +the kingdom, but some very great and special reward in full property." + +Thus the man of truth, faith, and his word had no idea of selling himself +cheap, but manifested as much commercial genius as the Fuggers themselves +could have displayed, had they been employed as brokers in these +mercantile transactions. + +Above all things, Alexander implored the king to be expeditious, +resolute, and liberal; for, after all, the Bearnese might prove a more +formidable competitor than he was deemed. "These matters must be +arranged while the iron is hot," he said, "in order that the name and +memory of the Bearne and of all his family may be excluded at once and +forever; for your Majesty must not doubt that the whole kingdom inclines +to him, both because he is natural successor, to the crowns and because +in this way the civil war would cease. The only thing that gives trouble +is the religions defect, so that if this should be remedied in +appearance, even if falsely, men would spare no pains nor expense in his +cause." + +No human being at that moment, assuredly, could look into the immediate +future accurately enough to see whether the name and memory of the man, +whom his adherents called Henry the Fourth of France, and whom Spaniards, +legitimists and enthusiastic papists, called the Prince of Bearne, were +to be for ever excluded from the archives of France; whether Henry, after +spending the whole of his life as a pretender, was destined to bequeath +the same empty part to his descendants, should they think it worth their +while to play it. Meantime the sages smiled superior at his delusion; +while Alexander Farnese, on the contrary, better understanding the +chances of the great game which they were all playing, made bold to tell +his master that all hearts in France were inclining to their natural +lord. "Differing from your Majesty," said he, "I am of opinion that +there is no better means of excluding him than to make choice of the Duke +of Mayenne, as a person agreeable to the people, and who could only reign +by your permission and support." + +Thus, after much hesitation and circumlocution, the nephew made up his +mind to chill his uncle's hopes of the crown, and to speak a decided +opinion in behalf of the man of his word, faith and truth. + +And thus through the whole of the two memorable campaigns made by +Alexander in France, he never failed to give his master the most accurate +pictures of the country, and an interior view of its politics; urging +above all the absolute necessity of providing much more liberal supplies +for the colossal adventure in which he was engaged. "Money and again +money is what is required," he said. "The principal matter is to be +accomplished with money, and the particular individuals must be bought +with money. The good will of every French city must be bought with +money. Mayenne must be humoured. He is getting dissatisfied. Very +probably he is intriguing with Bearne. Everybody is pursuing his private +ends. Mayenne has never abandoned his own wish to be king, although he +sees the difficulties in the way; and while he has not the power to do us +as much good as is thought, it is certainly in his hands to do us a great +deal of injury." + +When his army was rapidly diminishing by disease, desertion, mutiny, and +death, he vehemently and perpetually denounced the utter inadequacy of +the king's means to his vast projects. He protested that he was not to +blame for the ruin likely to come upon the whole enterprise. He had +besought, remonstrated, reasoned with Philip--in vain. He assured his +master that in the condition of weakness in which they found themselves, +not very triumphant negotiations could be expected, but that he would do +his best. "The Frenchmen," he said, "are getting tired of our disorders, +and scandalized by our weakness, misery, and poverty. They disbelieve +the possibility of being liberated through us." + +He was also most diligent in setting before the king's eyes the dangerous +condition of the obedient Netherlands, the poverty of the finances, the +mutinous degeneration of the once magnificent Spanish army, the misery of +the country, the ruin of the people, the discontent of the nobles, the +rapid strides made by the republic, the vast improvement in its military +organization, the rising fame of its young stadholder, the thrift of its +exchequer, the rapid development of its commerce, the menacing aspect +which it assumed towards all that was left of Spanish power in those +regions. + +Moreover, in the midst of the toils and anxieties of war-making and +negotiation, he had found time to discover and to send to his master +the left leg of the glorious apostle St. Philip, and the head of the +glorious martyr St. Lawrence, to enrich his collection of relics; and it +may be doubted whether these treasures were not as welcome to the king as +would have been the news of a decisive victory. + +During the absence of Farnese in his expeditions against the Bearnese, +the government of his provinces was temporarily in the hands of Peter +Ernest Mansfeld. + +This grizzled old fighter--testy, choleric, superannuated--was utterly +incompetent for his post. He was a mere tool in the hands of his son. +Count Charles hated Parma very cordially, and old Count Peter was made +to believe himself in danger of being poisoned or poniarded by the duke. +He was perpetually wrangling with, importuning and insulting him in +consequence, and writing malicious letters to the king in regard to him. +The great nobles, Arschot, Chimay, Berlaymont, Champagny, Arenberg, and +the rest, were all bickering among themselves, and agreeing in nothing +save in hatred to Farnese. + +A tight rein, a full exchequer, a well-ordered and well-paid army, and +his own constant patience, were necessary, as Alexander too well knew, +to make head against the republic, and to hold what was left of the +Netherlands. But with a monthly allowance, and a military force not +equal to his own estimates for the Netherland work, he was ordered to go +forth from the Netherlands to conquer France--and with it the dominion of +the world--for the recluse of the Escorial. + +Very soon it was his duty to lay bare to his master, still more +unequivocally than ever, the real heart of Mayenne. No one could surpass +Alexander in this skilful vivisection of political characters; and he +soon sent the information that the Duke was in reality very near closing +his bargain with the Bearnese, while amusing Philip and drawing largely +from his funds. + +Thus, while faithfully doing his master's work with sword and pen, with +an adroitness such as no other man could have matched, it was a necessary +consequence that Philip should suspect, should detest, should resolve to +sacrifice him. While assuring his nephew, as we have seen, that +elaborate, slanderous reports and protocols concerning him, sent with +such regularity by the chivalrous Moreo and the other spies, had been +totally disregarded, even if they had ever met his eye, he was quietly +preparing--in the midst of all these most strenuous efforts of Alexander, +in the field at peril of his life, in the cabinet at the risk of his +soul--to deprive him of his office, and to bring him, by stratagem if +possible, but otherwise by main force, from the Netherlands to Spain. + +This project, once-resolved upon, the king proceeded to execute with +that elaborate attention to detail, with that feline stealth which +distinguished him above all kings or chiefs of police that have ever +existed. Had there been a murder at the end of the plot, as perhaps +there was to be--Philip could not have enjoyed himself more. Nothing +surpassed the industry for mischief of this royal invalid. + +The first thing to be done was of course the inditing of a most +affectionate epistle to his nephew. + +"Nephew," said he, "you know the confidence which I have always placed in +you and all that I have put in your hands, and I know how much you are to +me, and how earnestly you work in my service, and so, if I could have you +at the same time in several places, it would be a great relief to me. +Since this cannot be however, I wish to make use of your assistance, +according to the times and occasions, in order that I may have some +certainty as to the manner in which all this business is to be managed, +may see why the settlement of affairs in France is thus delayed, and what +the state of things in Christendom generally is, and may consult with, +you about an army which I am getting levied here, and about certain +schemes now on foot in regard to the remedy for all this; all which makes +me desire your presence here for some time, even if a short time, in +order to resolve upon and arrange with the aid of your advice and +opinion, many affairs concerning the public good and facilitate their +execution by means of your encouragement and presence, and to obtain the +repose which I hope for in putting them into your hands. And so I charge +and command you that, if you desire to content me, you use all possible +diligence to let me see you here as soon as possible, and that you start +at once for Genoa." + +He was further directed to leave Count Mansfeld at the head of affairs +during this temporary absence, as had been the case so often before, +instructing him to make use of the Marquis of Cerralbo, who was already +there, to lighten labours that might prove too much for a man of +Mansfeld's advanced age. + +"I am writing to the marquis," continued the king, "telling him that he +is to obey all your orders. As to the reasons of your going away, you +will give out that it is a decision of your own, founded on good cause, +or that it is a summons of mine, but full of confidence and good will +towards you, as you see that it is." + +The date of this letter was 20th February, 1592. + +The secret instructions to the man who was thus to obey all the duke's +orders were explicit enough upon that point, although they were wrapped +in the usual closely-twisted phraseology which distinguished Philip's +style when his purpose was most direct. + +Cerralbo was entrusted with general directions as to the French matter, +and as to peace negotiations with "the Islands;" but the main purport of +his mission was to remove Alexander Farnese. This was to be done by fair +means, if possible; if not, he was to be deposed and sent home by force. + +This was to be the reward of all the toil and danger through which he had +grown grey and broken in the king's service. + +"When you get to the Netherlands" (for the instructions were older than +the letter to Alexander just cited), "you are," said the king, "to treat +of the other two matters until the exact time arrives for the third, +taking good care not to, cut the thread of good progress in the affairs +of France if by chance they are going on well there. + +"When the time arrives to treat of commission number three," continued +his Majesty, "you will take occasion of the arrival of the courier of +20th February, and will give with much secrecy the letter of that date to +the duke; showing him at the same time the first of the two which you +will have received." + +If the duke showed the letter addressed to him by his uncle--which the +reader has already seen--then the marquis was to discuss with him the +details of the journey, and comment upon the benefits and increased +reputation which would be the result of his return to Spain. + +"But if the duke should not show you the letter," proceeded Philip, "and +you suspect that he means to conceal and equivocate about the particulars +of it, you can show him your letter number two, in which it is stated +that you have received a copy of the letter to the duke. This will make +the step easier." + +Should the duke declare himself ready to proceed to Spain on the ground +indicated--that the king had need of his services--the marquis was then +to hasten his departure as earnestly as possible. Every pains were to be +taken to overcome any objections that might be made by the duke on the +score of ill health, while the great credit which attached to this +summons to consult with the king in such arduous affairs was to be duly +enlarged upon. Should Count Mansfeld meantime die of old age, and should +Farnese insist the more vehemently, on that account, upon leaving his son +the Prince Ranuccio in his post as governor, the marquis was authorised +to accept the proposition for the moment--although secretly instructed +that such an appointment was really quite out of the question--if by so +doing the father could be torn from the place immediately. + +But if all would not do, and if it should become certain that the duke +would definitively refuse to take his departure, it would then become +necessary to tell him clearly, but secretly, that no excuse would be +accepted, but that go he must; and that if he did not depart voluntarily +within a fixed time, he would be publicly deprived of office and +conducted to Spain by force. + +But all these things were to be managed with the secrecy and mystery so +dear to the heart of Philip. The marquis was instructed to go first to +the castle of Antwerp, as if upon financial business, and there begin his +operations. Should he find at last all his private negotiations and +coaxings of no avail, he was then to make use of his secret letters from +the king to the army commanders, the leading nobles of the country, and +of the neighbouring princes, all of whom were to be undeceived in regard +to the duke, and to be informed of the will of his majesty. + +The real successor of Farnese was to be the Archduke Albert, Cardinal of +Austria, son of Archduke Ferdinand, and the letters on this subject were +to be sent by a "decent and confidential person" so soon as it should +become obvious that force would be necessary in order to compel the +departure of Alexander. For if it came to open rupture, it would be +necessary to have the cardinal ready to take the place. If the affair +were arranged amicably, then the new governor might proceed more at +leisure. The marquis was especially enjoined, in case the duke should be +in France, and even if it should be necessary for him to follow him there +on account of commissions number one and two, not to say a word to him +then of his recall, for fear of damaging matters in that kingdom. He was +to do his best to induce him to return to Flanders, and when they were +both there, he was to begin his operations. + +Thus, with minute and artistic treachery, did Philip provide for the +disgrace and ruin of the man who was his near blood relation, and who had +served him most faithfully from earliest youth. It was not possible to +carry out the project immediately, for, as it has already been narrated, +Farnese, after achieving, in spite of great obstacles due to the dulness +of the king alone, an extraordinary triumph, had been dangerously +wounded, and was unable for a brief interval to attend to public affairs. + +On the conclusion of his Rouen campaign he had returned to the +Netherlands, almost immediately betaking himself to the waters of Spa. +The Marquis de Cerralbo meanwhile had been superseded in his important +secret mission by the Count of Fuentes, who received the same +instructions as had been provided for the marquis. + +But ere long it seemed to become unnecessary to push matters to +extremities. Farnese, although nominally the governor, felt himself +unequal to take the field against the vigorous young commander who was +carrying everything before him in the north and east. Upon the Mansfelds +was the responsibility for saving Steenwyk and Coeworden, and to the +Mansfelds did Verdugo send piteously, but in vain, for efficient help. +For the Mansfelds and other leading personages in the obedient +Netherlands were mainly occupied at that time in annoying Farnese, +calumniating his actions, laying obstacles in the way of his +administration, military and civil, and bringing him into contempt with +the populace. When the weary soldier--broken in health, wounded and +harassed with obtaining triumphs for his master such as no other living +man could have gained with the means placed at his disposal--returned +to drink the waters, previously to setting forth anew upon the task of +achieving the impossible, he was made the mark of petty insults on the +part of both the Mansfelds. Neither of them paid their respects to him; +ill as he was, until four days after his arrival. When the duke +subsequently called a council; Count Peter refused to attend it on +account of having slept ill the night before. Champagny; who was one of, +the chief mischief-makers, had been banished by Parma to his house in +Burgundy. He became very much alarmed, and was afraid of losing his +head. He tried to conciliate the duke, but finding it difficult he +resolved to turn monk, and so went to the convent of Capuchins, and +begged hard to be admitted a member. They refused him on account of his +age and infirmities. He tried a Franciscan monastery with not much +better success, and then obeyed orders and went to his Burgundy mansion; +having been assured by Farnese that he was not to lose his head. +Alexander was satisfied with that arrangement, feeling sure, he said, +that so soon as his back was turned Champagny would come out of his +convent before the term of probation had expired, and begin to make +mischief again. A once valiant soldier, like Champagny, whose conduct in +the famous "fury of Antwerp" was so memorable; and whose services both in +field and-cabinet had, been so distinguished, fallen so low as to, be +used as a tool by the Mansfelds against a man like Farnese; and to be +rejected as unfit company by Flemish friars, is not a cheerful spectacle +to contemplate. + +The walls of the Mansfeld house and gardens, too, were decorated by Count +Charles with caricatures, intending to illustrate the indignities put +upon his father: and himself. + +Among others, one picture represented Count Peter lying tied hand and +foot, while people were throwing filth upon him; Count Charles being +pourtrayed as meantime being kicked away from the command of a battery +of cannon by, De la Motte. It seemed strange that the Mansfelds should, +make themselves thus elaborately ridiculous, in order to irritate +Farnese; but thus it was. There was so much stir, about these works of +art that Alexander transmitted copies of them to the king, whereupon +Charles Mansfeld, being somewhat alarmed, endeavoured to prove that they +had been entirely misunderstood. The venerable personage lying on the +ground, he explained, was not his father, but Socrates. He found it +difficult however to account for the appearance of La Motte, with his one +arm wanting and with artillery by his side, because, as Farnese justly +remarked, artillery had not been invented in the time of Socrates, nor +was it recorded that the sage had lost an arm. + +Thus passed the autumn of 1592, and Alexander, having as he supposed +somewhat recruited his failing strength, prepared, according to his +master's orders for a new campaign in France. For with almost +preterhuman malice Philip was employing the man whom he had doomed to +disgrace, perhaps to death, and whom he kept under constant secret +supervision, in those laborious efforts to conquer without an army and +to purchase a kingdom with an empty purse, in which, as it was destined, +the very last sands of Parma's life were to run away. + +Suffering from a badly healed wound, from water on the chest, +degeneration of the heart, and gout in the limbs, dropsical, enfeebled, +broken down into an old man before his time, Alexander still confronted +disease and death with as heroic a front as he had ever manifested in the +field to embattled Hollanders and Englishmen, or to the still more +formidable array of learned pedants and diplomatists in the hall of +negotiation. This wreck of a man was still fitter to lead armies and +guide councils than any soldier or statesman that Philip could call into +his service, yet the king's cruel hand was ready to stab the dying man in +the dark. + +Nothing could surpass the spirit with which the soldier was ready to do +battle with his best friend, coming in the guise of an enemy. To the +last moment, lifted into the saddle, he attended personally as usual to +the details of his new campaign, and was dead before he would confess +himself mortal. On the 3rd of December, 1592, in the city of Arran, he +fainted after retiring at his usual hour to bed, and thus breathed his +last. + +According to the instructions in his last will, he was laid out barefoot +in the robe and cowl of a Capuchin monk. Subsequently his remains were +taken to Parma, and buried under the pavement of the little Franciscan +church. A pompous funeral, in which the Italians and Spaniards +quarrelled and came to blows for precedence, was celebrated in Brussels, +and a statue of the hero was erected in the capitol at Rome. + +The first soldier and most unscrupulous diplomatist of his age, he died +when scarcely past his prime, a wearied; broken-hearted old man. His +triumphs, military and civil, have been recorded in these pages, and his +character has been elaborately pourtrayed. Were it possible to conceive +of an Italian or Spaniard of illustrious birth in the sixteenth century, +educated in the school of Machiavelli, at the feet of Philip, as anything +but the supple slave of a master and the blind instrument of a Church, +one might for a moment regret that so many gifts of genius and valour had +been thrown away or at least lost to mankind. Could the light of truth +ever pierce the atmosphere in which such men have their being; could the +sad music of humanity ever penetrate to their ears; could visions of a +world--on this earth or beyond it--not exclusively the property of kings +and high-priests be revealed to them, one might lament that one so +eminent among the sons of women had not been a great man. But it is a +weakness to hanker for any possible connection between truth and Italian +or Spanish statecraft of that day. The truth was not in it nor in him, +and high above his heroic achievements, his fortitude, his sagacity, his +chivalrous self-sacrifice, shines forth the baleful light of his +perpetual falsehood. + + [I pass over, as beneath the level of history, a great variety of + censorious and probably calumnious reports as to the private + character of Farnese, with which the secret archives of the times + are filled. Especially Champagny, the man by whom the duke was most + hated and feared, made himself busy in compiling the slanderous + chronicle in which the enemies of Farnese, both in Spain and the + Netherlands, took so much delight. According to the secret history + thus prepared for the enlightenment of the king and his ministers, + the whole administration of the Netherlands--especially the + financial department, with the distribution of offices--was in the + hands of two favourites, a beardless secretary named Cosmo e Massi, + and a lady of easy virtue called Franceline, who seems to have had a + numerous host of relatives and friends to provide for at the public + expense. Towards the latter end of the duke's life, it was even + said that the seal of the finance department was in the hands of his + valet-de-chambre, who, in his master's frequent absences, was in the + habit of issuing drafts upon the receiver-general. As the valet- + dechambre was described as an idiot who did not know how to read, it + may be believed that the finances fell into confusion. Certainly, + if such statements were to be accepted, it would be natural enough + that for every million dollars expended by the king in the + provinces, not more than one hundred thousand were laid out for the + public service; and this is the estimate made by Champagny, who, as + a distinguished financier and once chief of the treasury in the + provinces, might certainly be thought to know something of the + subject. But Champagny was beside himself with rage, hatred.] + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + + Effect of the death of Farnese upon Philip's schemes--Priestly + flattery and counsel--Assembly of the States-General of France-- + Meeting of the Leaguers at the Louvre--Conference at Surene between + the chiefs of the League and the "political" leaders--Henry convokes + an assembly of bishops, theologians, and others--Strong feeling on + all sides on the subject of the succession--Philip commands that the + Infanta and the Duke of Guise be elected King and Queen of France-- + Manifesto of the Duke of Mayenne--Formal re-admission of Henry to + the Roman faith--The pope refuses to consent to his reconciliation + with the Church--His consecration with the sacred oil--Entry of the + king into Paris--Departure of the Spanish garrison from the capital + --Dissimulation of the Duke of Mayenne--He makes terms with Henry-- + Grief of Queen Elizabeth on receipt of the communications from + France. + +During the past quarter of a century there had been tragic scenes enough +in France, but now the only man who could have conducted Philip's schemes +to a tragic if not a successful issue was gone. Friendly death had been +swifter than Philip, and had removed Alexander from the scene before his +master had found fitting opportunity to inflict the disgrace on which he +was resolved. Meantime, Charles Mansfeld made a feeble attempt to lead +an army from the Netherlands into France, to support the sinking fortunes +of the League; but it was not for that general-of-artillery to attempt +the well-graced part of the all-accomplished Farnese with much hope of +success. A considerable force of Spanish infantry, too, had been sent to +Paris, where they had been received with much enthusiasm; a very violent +and determined churchman, Sega, archbishop of Piacenza, and cardinal- +legate, having arrived to check on the part of the holy father any +attempt by the great wavering heretic to get himself readmitted into the +fold of the faithful. + +The King of Spain considered it his duty, as well as his unquestionable +right, to interfere in the affairs of France, and to save the cause of +religion, civilization and humanity, in the manner so dear to the +civilization-savers, by reducing that distracted country--utterly unable +to govern itself--under his sceptre. To achieve this noble end no +bribery was too wholesale, no violence too brutal, no intrigue too +paltry. It was his sacred and special mission to save France from +herself. If he should fail, he could at least carve her in pieces, and +distribute her among himself and friends. Frenchmen might assist him in +either of these arrangements, but it was absurd to doubt that on him +devolved the work and the responsibility. Yet among his advisers were +some who doubted whether the purchase of the grandees of France was +really the most judicious course to pursue. There was a general and +uneasy feeling that the grandees were making sport of the Spanish +monarch, and that they would be inclined to remain his stipendiaries for +an indefinite period, without doing their share of the work. A keen +Jesuit, who had been much in France, often whispered to Philip that he +was going astray. "Those who best understand the fit remedy for this +unfortunate kingdom, and know the tastes and temper of the nation," said +he, "doubt giving these vast presents and rewards in order that the +nobles of France may affect your cause and further your schemes. It is +the greatest delusion, because they love nothing but their own interest, +and for this reason wish for no king at all, but prefer that the kingdom +should remain topsy-turvy in order that they may enjoy the Spanish +doubloons, as they say themselves almost publicly, dancing and feasting; +that they may take a castle to-day, and to-morrow a city, and the day, +after a province, and so on indefinitely. What matters it to them that +blood flows, and that the miserable people are destroyed, who alone are +good for anything?" + +"The immediate cause of the ruin of France," continued the Jesuit, "comes +from two roots which must be torn up; the one is the extreme ignorance +and scandalous life of the ecclesiastics, the other is the tyranny and +the abominable life of the nobility, who with sacrilege and insatiable +avarice have entered upon the property of the Church. This nobility is +divided into three factions. The first, and not the least, is heretic; +the second and the most pernicious is politic or atheist; the third and +last is catholic. All these, although they differ in opinion, are the +same thing in corruption of life and manners, so that there is no choice +among them." He then proceeded to set forth how entirely, the salvation +of France depended on the King of Spain. "Morally speaking," he said, +"it is impossible for any Frenchman to apply the remedy. For this two +things are wanting; intense zeal for the honour of God, and power. I ask +now what Frenchman: has both these, or either of them. No one certainly +that we know. It is the King of Spain who alone in the world has the +zeal and the power. No man who knows the insolence and arrogance of the +French nature will believe that even if a king should be elected out of +France he would be obeyed by the others. The first to oppose him would +be Mayenne; even if a king were chosen from his family, unless everything +should be given him that he asked; which would be impossible." + +Thus did the wily Priest instil into the ready ears of Philip additional +reasons for believing himself the incarnate providence of God. When were +priestly flatterers ever wanting to pour this poison into the souls of +tyrants? It is in vain for us to ask why it is permitted that so much +power for evil should be within the grasp of one wretched human creature, +but it is at least always instructive to ponder the career of these +crowned conspirators, and sometimes consoling to find its conclusion +different from the goal intended. So the Jesuit advised the king not to +be throwing away his money upon particular individuals, but with the +funds which they were so unprofitably consuming to form a jolly army +('gallardo egercito') of fifteen thousand foot, and five thousand-horse, +all Spaniards, under a Spanish general--not a Frenchman being admitted +into it--and then to march forward, occupy all the chief towns, putting +Spanish garrisons into them, but sparing the people, who now considered +the war eternal, and who were eaten up by both armies. In a short time +the king might accomplish all he wished, for it was not in the power of +the Bearnese to make considerable resistance for any length of time. + +This was the plan of Father Odo for putting Philip on the throne of +France, and at the same time lifting up the downtrodden Church, whose +priests, according to his statement, were so profligate, and whose tenets +were rejected by all but a small minority of the governing classes of the +country. Certainly it did not lack precision, but it remained to be seen +whether the Bearnese was to prove so very insignificant an antagonist as +the sanguine priest supposed. + +For the third party--the moderate Catholics--had been making immense +progress in France, while the diplomacy of Philip had thus far steadily +counteracted their efforts at Rome. In vain had the Marquis Pisani, +envoy of the politicians' party, endeavoured to soften the heart of +Clement towards Henry. The pope lived in mortal fear of Spain, and the +Duke of Sessa, Philip's ambassador to the holy see, denouncing all these +attempts on the part of the heretic, and his friends, and urging that it +was much better for Rome that the pernicious kingdom of France should be +dismembered and subdivided, assured his holiness that Rome should be +starved, occupied, annihilated, if such abominable schemes should be for +an instant favoured. + +Clement took to his bed with sickness brought on by all this violence, +but had nothing for it but to meet Pisani and other agents of the same +cause with a peremptory denial, and send most, stringent messages to his +legate in Paris, who needed no prompting. + +There had already been much issuing of bulls by the pope, and much +burning of bulls by the hangman, according to decrees of the parliament +of Chalons and other friendly tribunals, and burning of Chalons decrees +by Paris hangmen, and edicts in favour of Protestants at Nantz and other +places--measures the enactment, repeal, and reenactment of which were to +mark the ebb and flow of the great tide of human opinion on the most +important of subjects, and the traces of which were to be for a long time +visible on the shores of time. + +Early in 1593 Mayenne, yielding to the pressure of the Spanish party, +reluctantly consented to assemble the States-General of France, in order +that a king might be chosen. The duke, who came to be thoroughly known +to Alexander Farnese before the death of that subtle Italian, relied on +his capacity to outwit all the other champions of the League and agents +of Philip now that the master-spirit had been removed. As firmly opposed +as ever to the election of any other candidate but himself, or possibly +his son, according to a secret proposition which he had lately made to +the pope, he felt himself obliged to confront the army of Spanish +diplomatists, Roman prelates, and learned doctors, by whom it was +proposed to exclude the Prince of Bearne from his pretended rights. But +he did not, after all, deceive them as thoroughly as he imagined. The +Spaniards shrewdly suspected the French tactics, and the whole business +was but a round game of deception, in which no one was much deceived, who +ever might be destined ultimately, to pocket the stakes: "I know from a +very good source," said Fuentes, "that Mayenne, Guise, and the rest of +them are struggling hard in order not to submit to Bearne, and will +suffer everything your Majesty may do to them, even if you kick them in +the mouth, but still there is no conclusion on the road we are +travelling, at least not the one which your Majesty desires. They will go +on procrastinating and gaining time, making authority for themselves out +of your Majesty's grandeur, until the condition of things comes which +they are desiring. Feria tells me that they are still taking your +Majesty's money, but I warn your Majesty that it is only to fight off +Bearne, and that they are only pursuing their own ends at your Majesty's +expense." + +Perhaps Mayenne had already a sufficiently clear insight into the not +far-distant future, but he still presented himself in Spanish cloak and +most ultramontane physiognomy. His pockets were indeed full of Spanish +coin at that moment, for he had just claimed and received eighty-eight +thousand-nine hundred dollars for back debts, together with one hundred +and eighty, thousand dollars more to distribute among the deputies of the +estates. "All I can say about France," said Fuentes, "is that it is one +great thirst for money. The Duke of Feria believes in a good result, but +I think that Mayenne is only trying to pocket as much money as he can." + +Thus fortified, the Duke of Mayenne issued the address to the States- +General of the kingdom, to meet at an early day in order to make +arrangements to secure religion and peace, and to throw off the possible +yoke of the heretic pretender. The great seal affixed to the document +represented an empty throne, instead of the usual effigy of a king. + +The cardinal-legate issued a thundering manifesto at the same time +sustaining Mayenne and virulently denouncing the Bearnese. + +The politicians' party now seized the opportunity to impress upon Henry +that the decisive moment was come. + +The Spaniard, the priest; and the League, had heated the furnace. +The iron was at a white heat. Now was the time to strike. Secretary +of State Revol Gaspar de Schomberg, Jacques Auguste de Thou, the eminent +historian, and other influential personages urged the king to give to +the great question the only possible solution. + +Said the king with much meekness, "If I am in error, let those who attack +me with so much fury instruct me, and show me the way of salvation. I +hate those who act against their conscience. I pardon all those who are +inspired by truly religious motives, and I am ready to receive all into +favour whom the love of peace, not the chagrin of ill-will, has disgusted +with the war." + +There was a great meeting of Leaguers at the Louvre, to listen to +Mayenne, the cardinal-legate, Cardinal Pelleve, the Duke of Guise, and +other chieftains. The Duke of Feria made a long speech in Latin, setting +forth the Spanish policy, veiled as usual, but already sufficiently well +known, and assuring the assembly that the King of Spain desired nothing +so much as the peace of France and of all the world, together with the +supremacy of the Roman Church. Whether these objects could best be +attained by the election of Philip or of his daughter, as sovereign, with +the Archduke Ernest as king-consort, or with perhaps the Duke of Guise +or some other eligible husband, were fair subjects for discussion. +No selfish motive influenced the king, and he placed all his wealth and +all his armies at the disposal of the League to carry out these great +projects. + +Then there was a conference at Surene between the chiefs the League and +the "political" leaders; the Archbishop of Lyons, the cardinal-legate, +Villars, Admiral of France and defender of Rouen, Belin, Governor of +Paris, President Jeannin, and others upon one side; upon the other, the +Archbishop of Bourges, Bellievre, Schomberg, Revol, and De Thou. + +The Archbishop of Lyons said that their party would do nothing either to +frustrate or to support the mission of Pisani, and that the pope would, +as ever, do all that could be done to maintain the interests of the true +religion. + +The Archbishop of Bourges, knowing well the meaning of such fine phrases, +replied that he had much respect for the holy father, but that popes had +now, become the slaves and tools of the King of Spain, who, because he +was powerful, held them subject to his caprice. + +At an adjourned meeting at the same place, the Archbishop of Lyons said +that all questions had been asked and answered. All now depended on the +pope, whom the League would always obey. If the pope would accept the +reconciliation of the Prince of Bearne it was well. He, hoped that his +conversion would be sincere. + +The political archbishop (of Bourges) replied to the League's archbishop, +that there was no time for delays, and for journeys by land and sea to +Rome. The least obstruction might prove fatal to both parties. Let the +Leaguers now show that the serenity of their faces was but the mirror of +their minds. + +But the Leaguers' archbishop said that he could make no further advances. +So ended the conference.' + +The chiefs of the politicians now went to the king and informed him that +the decisive moment had arrived. + +Henry had preserved: his coolness throughout. Amid all the hubbub of +learned doctors of law, archbishops-Leaguer and political-Sorbonne +pedants, solemn grandees from Spain with Latin orations in their pockets, +intriguing Guises, huckstering Mayennes, wrathful Huguenots, sanguinary +cardinal-legates, threatening world-monarchs--heralded by Spanish +musketeers, Italian lancers, and German reiters--shrill screams of +warning from the English queen, grim denunciations from Dutch Calvinists, +scornful repulses from the holy father; he kept his temper and his eye- +sight, as perfectly as he had ever done through the smoke and din of +the wildest battle-field. None knew better than he how to detect the +weakness of the adversary, and to sound the charge upon his wavering +line. + +He blew the blast--sure that loyal Catholics and Protestants alike would +now follow him pell-mell. + +On the 16th, May, 1593, he gave notice that he consented to get himself +instructed, and that he summoned an assembly at Mantes on the 15th July, +of bishops, theologians, princes, lords, and courts of parliament to hold +council, and to advise him what was best to do for religion and the +State. + +Meantime he returned to the siege of Dreux, made an assault on the place, +was repulsed, and then hung nine prisoners of war in full sight of the +garrison as a punishment for their temerity in resisting him. The place +soon after capitulated (8th July, 1593). + +The interval between the summons and the assembling of the clerical and +lay notables at Mantes was employed by the Leaguers in frantic and +contradictory efforts to retrieve a game which the most sagacious knew to +be lost. But the politicians were equal to the occasion, and baffled +them at every point. + +The Leaguers' archbishop inveighed bitterly against the abominable edicts +recently issued in favour of the Protestants. + +The political archbishop (of Bourges) replied not by defending; but by +warmly disapproving, those decrees of toleration, by excusing the king +for having granted them for a temporary purpose, and by asserting +positively that, so soon as the king should be converted, he would no +longer countenance such measures. + +It is superfluous to observe that very different language was held on the +part of Henry to the English and Dutch Protestants, and to the Huguenots +of his own kingdom. + +And there were many meetings of the Leaguers in Paris, many belligerent +speeches by the cardinal legate, proclaiming war to the knife rather +than that the name of Henry the heretic should ever be heard of again as +candidate for the throne, various propositions spasmodically made in full +assembly by Feria, Ybarra, Tassis, the jurisconsult Mendoza, and other +Spanish agents in favour of the Infanta as queen of France, with Archduke +Ernest or the Duke of Guise, or any other eligible prince, for her +husband. + +The League issued a formal and furious invective in answer to Henry's +announcement; proving by copious citations from Jeremiah, St. Epiphany; +St. Jerome, St. Cyprian, and St. Bernard, that it was easier for a +leopard to change his spots or for a blackamoor to be washed white; than +for a heretic to be converted, and that the king was thinking rather of +the crown of France than of a heavenly crown, in his approaching +conversion--an opinion which there were few to gainsay. + +And the Duke of Nemours wrote to his half-brother, the Duke of Mayenne; +offering to use all his influence to bring about Mayenne's election as +king on condition that if these efforts failed, Mayenne should do his +best to procure the election of Nemours. + +And the Parliament of Paris formally and prospectively proclaimed any +election of a foreigner null and void, and sent deputies to Mayenne +urging him never to consent to the election of the Infanta. + +What help, said they, can the League expect from the old and broken +Philip; from a king who in thirty years has not been able, with all the +resources of his kingdoms, to subdue the revolted provinces of the +Netherlands? How can he hope to conquer France? Pay no further heed +to the legate, they said, who is laughing in his sleeve at the miseries +and distractions of our country. So spake the deputies of the League- +Parliament to the great captain of the League, the Duke of Mayenne. +It was obvious that the "great and holy confederacy" was becoming less +confident of its invincibility. Madame League was suddenly grown +decrepit in the eyes of her adorers. + +Mayenne was angry at the action of the Parliament, and vehemently swore +that he would annul their decree. Parliament met his threats with +dignity, and resolved to stand by the decree, even if they all died in +their places. + +At the same time the Duke of Feria suddenly produced in full assembly +of Leaguers a written order from Philip that the Duke of Guise and the +Infanta should at once be elected king and queen. Taken by surprise, +Mayenne dissembled his rage in masterly-fashion, promised Feria to +support the election, and at once began to higgle for conditions. He +stipulated that he should have for himself the governments of Champagne, +Burgundy, and La Brie, and that they should be hereditary in his family: +He furthermore demanded that Guise should cede to him the principality +of Joinville, and that they should pay him on the spot in hard money two +hundred thousand crowns in gold, six hundred thousand more in different +payments, together with an annual payment of fifty thousand crowns. + +It was obvious that the duke did not undervalue himself; but he had after +all no intention of falling into the trap set for him. "He has made +these promises (as above given) in writing," said the Duke of Savoy's +envoy to his master, but he will never keep them. The Duchess of Mayenne +could not help telling me that her husband will never consent that the +Duke of Guise should have the throne." From this resolve he had never +wavered, and was not likely to do so now. Accordingly the man "of his +word, of faith, and truth," whom even the astute Farnese had at times +half believed in, and who had received millions of Philip's money, now +thought it time to break with Philip. He issued a manifesto, in which he +observed that the States-General of France had desired that Philip should +be elected King of France, and carry out his design of a universal +monarchy, as the only-means of ensuring the safety of the Catholic +religion and the pacification of the world. It was feared, however, said +Mayenne; that the king might come to the same misfortunes which befell +his father, who, when it was supposed that he was inspired only by +private ambition; and by the hope of placing a hereditary universal crown +in his family, had excited the animosity of the princes of the empire. +"If a mere suspicion had caused so great a misfortune in the empire," +continued the man of his word, "what will the princes of all Europe do +when they find his Majesty elected king of France, and grown by increase +of power so formidable to the world? Can it be doubted that they will +fly to arms at once, and give all their support to the King of Navarre, +heretic though he be? What motive had so many princes to traverse +Philip's designs in the Netherlands, but desire to destroy the enormous +power which they feared? Therefore had the Queen, of England, although +refusing the sovereignty, defended the independence of the Netherlands +these fifteen years. + +"However desirable," continued Mayenne, "that this universal monarchy, +for which the house of Austria has so long been working, should be +established, yet the king is too prudent not to see the difficulties +in his way. Although he has conquered Portugal, he is prevented by the +fleets of Holland and England from taking possession of the richest of +the Portuguese possessions, the islands and the Indies. He will find in +France insuperable objections to his election as king, for he could in +this case well reproach the Leaguers with having been changed from +Frenchmen into Spaniards. He must see that his case is hopeless in +France, he who for thirty years has been in vain endeavouring to re- +establish his authority in the Netherlands. It would be impossible in +the present position of affairs to become either the king or the +protector of France. The dignity of France allows it not." + +Mayenne then insisted on the necessity of a truce with the royalists or +politicians, and, assembling the estates at the Louvre on the 4th July, +he read a written paper declining for the moment to hold an election for +king. + +John Baptist Tassis, next day, replied by declaring that in this case +Philip would send no more succours of men or money; for that the only +effectual counter-poison to the pretended conversion of the Prince of +Bearne was the immediate election of a king. + +Thus did Mayenne escape from the snare in which the Spaniards thought to +catch the man who, as they now knew, was changing every day, and was true +to nothing save his own interests. + +And now the great day had come. The conversion of Henry to the Roman +faith, fixed long before for--the 23rd July,--1593, formally took place +at the time appointed. + +From six in the morning till the stroke of noon did Henry listen to the +exhortations and expoundings of the learned prelates and doctors whom he +had convoked, the politic Archbishop of Bourges taking the lead in this +long-expected instruction. After six mortal hours had come to an end, +the king rose from his knees, somewhat wearied, but entirely instructed +and convinced. He thanked the bishops for having taught him that of +which he was before quite ignorant, and assured them that; after having +invoked the light, of the Holy Ghost upon his musings, he should think +seriously over what they had just taught him, in order to come to a +resolution salutary to himself and to the State. + +Nothing could be more candid. Next day, at eight in the morning, there +was a great show in the cathedral of Saint Denis, and the population of +Paris, notwithstanding the prohibition of the League authorities, rushed +thither in immense crowds to witness the ceremony of the reconciliation +of the king. Henry went to the church, clothed as became a freshly +purified heretic, in white satin doublet and hose, white silk stockings, +and white silk shoes with white roses in them; but with a black hat and +a black mantle. There was a great procession with blare of trumpet and +beat of drum. The streets were strewn with flowers. + +As Henry entered the great portal of the church, he found the Archbishop +of Bourges, seated in state, effulgent in mitre and chasuble, and +surrounded by other magnificent prelates in gorgeous attire. + +"Who are you, and what do you want?" said the arch-bishop. + +"I am the king," meekly replied Henry, "and I demand to be received into +the bosom of the Roman Catholic Church." + +"Do you wish it sincerely?" asked the prelate. + +"I wish it with all my heart," said the king. + +Then throwing himself on his knees, the Bearne--great champion of the +Huguenots--protested before God that he would live and die in the +Catholic faith, and that he renounced all heresy. A passage was with +difficulty opened through the crowd, and he was then led to the high +altar, amid the acclamations of the people. Here he knelt devoutly and +repeated his protestations. His unction and contrition were most +impressive, and the people, of course, wept piteously. The king, during +the progress of the ceremony, with hands clasped together and adoring the +Eucharist with his eyes, or, as the Host was elevated, smiting himself +thrice upon the breast, was a model of passionate devotion. + +Afterwards he retired to a pavilion behind the altar, where the +archbishop confessed and absolved him. Then the Te Deum sounded, +and high mass was celebrated by the Bishop of Nantes. Then, amid +acclamations and blessings, and with largess to the crowd, the king +returned to the monastery of Saint Denis, where he dined amid a multitude +of spectators, who thronged so thickly around him that his dinner-table +was nearly overset. These were the very Parisians, who, but three years +before, had been feeding on rats and dogs and dead men's bones, and the +bodies of their own children, rather than open their gates to this same +Prince of Bearne. + +Now, although Mayenne had set strong guards at those gates, and had most +strictly prohibited all egress, the city was emptied of its populace, +which pressed in transports of adoration around the man so lately the +object of their hate. Yet few could seriously believe that much change +had been effected in the inner soul of him, whom the legate, and the +Spaniard, and the holy father at Rome still continued to denounce as the +vilest of heretics and the most infamous of impostors. + +The comedy was admirably played out and was entirely successful. It may +be supposed that the chief actor was, however, somewhat wearied. In +private, he mocked at all this ecclesiastical mummery, and described +himself as heartily sick of the business. "I arrived here last evening," +he wrote to the beautiful Gabrielle, "and was importuned with 'God save +you' till bed-time. In regard to the Leaguers I am of the order of St. +Thomas. I am beginning to-morrow morning to talk to the bishops, besides +those I told you about yesterday. At this moment of writing I have a +hundred of these importunates on my shoulders, who will make me hate +Saint Denis as much as you hate Mantes. 'Tis to-morrow that I take the +perilous leap. I kiss a million times the beautiful hands of my angel +and the mouth of my dear mistress." + +A truce--renewed at intervals--with the Leaguers lasted till the end of +the year. The Duke of Nevers was sent on special mission to Rome to +procure the holy father's consent to the great heretic's reconciliation +to the Church, and he was instructed to make the king's submission in +terms so wholesale and so abject that even some of the life-long papists +of France were disgusted, while every honest Protestant in Europe shrank +into himself for shame. But Clement, overawed by Philip and his +ambassador, was deaf to all the representations of the French envoy. +He protested that he would not believe in the sincerity of the Bearne's +conversion unless an angel from Heaven should reveal it to him. So +Nevers left Rome, highly exasperated, and professing that he would rather +have lost a leg, that he would rather have been sewn in a sack and tossed +into the Tiber, than bear back such a message. The pope ordered the +prelates who had accompanied Nevers to remain in Rome and be tried by +the Inquisition for misprision of heresy, but the duke placed them by +his side and marched out of the Porta del Popolo with them, threatening +to kill any man who should attempt to enforce the command. + +Meantime it became necessary to follow up the St. Denis comedy with a +still more exhilarating popular spectacle. The heretic had been +purified, confessed, absolved. It was time for a consecration. But +there was a difficulty. Although the fever of loyalty to the ancient +house of Bourbon, now redeemed from its worship of the false gods, was +spreading contagiously through the provinces; although all the white silk +in Lyons had been cut into scarves and banners to celebrate the +reconciliation of the candid king with mother Church; although that +ancient city was ablaze with bonfires and illuminations, while its +streets ran red, with blood no longer, but with wine; and although Madam +League, so lately the object of fondest adoration, was now publicly +burned in the effigy of a grizzly hag; yet Paris still held for that +decrepit beldame, and closed its gates to the Bearnese. + +The city of Rheims, too, had not acknowledged the former Huguenot, +and it was at Rheims, in the church of St. Remy, that the Holy Bottle was +preserved. With what chrism, by what prelate, should the consecration of +Henry be performed? Five years before, the League had proposed in the +estates of Blois to place among the fundamental laws of the kingdom that +no king should be considered a legitimate sovereign whose head had not +been anointed by the bishop at Rheims with oil from that holy bottle. +But it was now decided that to ascribe a monopoly of sanctity to that +prelate and to that bottle would be to make a schism in the Church. + +Moreover it was discovered that there was a chrism in existence still +more efficacious than the famous oil of St. Remy. One hundred and twelve +years before the baptism of Clovis, St. Martin had accidentally tumbled +down stairs, and lay desperately bruised and at the point of death. But, +according to Sulpicius Severus, an angel had straightway descended from +heaven, and with a miraculous balsam had anointed the contusions of the +saint, who next day felt no farther inconveniences from his fall. The +balsam had ever since been preserved in the church of Marmoutier near +Tours. Here, then, was the most potent of unguents brought directly from +heaven. To mix a portion thereof with the chrism of consecration was +clearly more judicious than to make use of the holy bottle, especially as +the holy bottle was not within reach. The monks of Marmoutier consented +to lend the sacred phial containing the famous oil of St. Martin for the +grand occasion of the royal consecration. + +Accompanied by a strong military escort provided by Giles de Souvri, +governor of Touraine, a deputation of friars brought the phial to +Chartres, where the consecration was to take place. Prayers were offered +up, without ceasing, in the monastery during their absence that no mishap +should befal the sacred treasure. When the monks arrived at Chartres, +four young barons of the first nobility were assigned to them as hostages +for the safe restoration of the phial, which was then borne in triumph to +the cathedral, the streets through which it was carried being covered +with tapestry. There was a great ceremony, a splendid consecration; six +bishops, with mitres on their heads and in gala robes, officiating; after +which the king knelt before the altar and took the customary oath. + +Thus the champion of the fierce Huguenots, the well-beloved of the dead +La Noue and the living Duplessis Mornay, the devoted knight of the +heretic Queen Elizabeth, the sworn ally of the stout Dutch Calvinists, +was pompously reconciled to that Rome which was the object of their +hatred and their fear. + +The admirably arranged spectacles of the instruction at St. Denis and the +consecration at Chartres were followed on the day of the vernal equinox +by a third and most conclusive ceremony: + +A secret arrangement had been made with De Cosse-Brissac, governor of +Paris, by the king, according to which the gates of Paris were at last to +be opened to him. The governor obtained a high price for his services-- +three hundred thousand livres in hard cash, thirty thousand a year for +his life, and the truncheon of marshal of France. Thus purchased, +Brissac made his preparations with remarkable secrecy and skill. Envoy +Ybarra, who had scented something suspicious in the air, had gone +straight to the governor for information, but the keen Spaniard was +thrown out by the governor's ingenuous protestations of ignorance. The +next morning, March 22nd, was stormy and rainy, and long before daylight +Ybarra, still uneasy despite the statements of Brissac, was wandering +about the streets of Paris when he became the involuntary witness of an +extraordinary spectacle. + +Through the wind and the rain came trampling along the dark streets of +the capital a body of four thousand troopers and lansquenettes. Many +torch-bearers attended on the procession, whose flambeaux threw a lurid +light upon the scene. + +There, surrounded by the swart and grizzly bearded visages of these +strange men-at-arms, who were discharging their arquebuses, as they +advanced upon any bystanders likely to oppose their progress; in the very +midst of this sea of helmed heads, the envoy was enabled to recognise the +martial figure of the Prince of Bearne. Armed to the teeth, with sword +in hand and dagger at side, the hero of Ivry rode at last through the +barriers which had so long kept him from his capital. "'Twas like +enchantment," said Ybarra. The first Bourbon entered the city through +the same gate out of which the last Valois had, five years before, so +ignominiously fled. It was a midnight surprise, although not fully +accomplished until near the dawn of day. It was not a triumphal +entrance; nor did Henry come as the victorious standard-bearer of a great +principle. He had defeated the League in many battle-fields, but the +League still hissed defiance at him from the very hearthstone of his +ancestral palace. He had now crept, in order to conquer, even lower +than the League itself; and casting off his Huguenot skin at last, +he had soared over the heads of all men, the presiding genius of the +holy Catholic Church. + +Twenty-one years before, he had entered the same city on the conclusion +of one of the truces which had varied the long monotony of the religious +wars of France. The youthful son of Antony Bourbon and Joan of Albret +had then appeared as the champion and the idol of the Huguenots. In the +same year had come the fatal nuptials with the bride of St. Bartholomew, +the first Catholic conversion of Henry and the massacre at which the +world still shudders. + +Now he was chief of the "Politicians," and sworn supporter of the Council +of Trent. Earnest Huguenots were hanging their heads in despair. + +He represented the principle of national unity against national +dismemberment by domestiv, treason and foreign violence. Had that +principle been his real inspiration, as it was in truth his sole support, +history might judge him more leniently. Had he relied upon it entirely +it might have been strong enough to restore him to the throne of his +ancestors, without the famous religious apostacy with which his name is +for ever associated. It is by no means certain that permanent religious +toleration might not have been the result of his mounting the throne, +only when he could do so without renouncing the faith of his fathers. +A day of civilization may come perhaps, sooner or later, when it will be +of no earthly cousequence to their fellow creatures to what creed, what +Christian church, what religious dogma kings or humbler individuals may +be partial; when the relations between man and his Maker shall be +undefiled by political or social intrusion. But the day will never +come when it will be otherwise than damaging to public morality and +humiliating to human dignity to forswear principle for a price, and to +make the most awful of mysteries the subject of political legerdemain and +theatrical buffoonery. + +The so-called conversion of the king marks an epoch in human history. +It strengthened the Roman Church and gave it an indefinite renewal of +life; but it sapped the foundations of religious faith. The appearance +of Henry the Huguenot as the champion of the Council of Trent was of +itself too biting an epigram not to be extensively destructive. Whether +for good or ill, religion was fast ceasing to be the mainspring of +political combinations, the motive of great wars and national +convulsions. The age of religion was to be succeeded by the +age of commerce. + +But the king was now on his throne. All Paris was in rapture. There was +Te Deum with high mass in Notre Dame, and the populace was howling itself +hoarse with rapture in honour of him so lately the object of the general +curse. Even the Sorbonne declared in favour of the reclaimed heretic, +and the decision of those sages had vast influence with less enlightened +mortals. There was nothing left for the Duke of Feria but to take +himself off and make Latin orations in favour of the Infanta elsewhere, +if fit audience elsewhere could be found. A week after the entrance of +Henry, the Spanish garrison accordingly was allowed to leave Paris with +the honours of war. + +"We marched out at 2 P.M.," wrote the duke to his master, "with closed +ranks, colours displayed, and drums beating. First came the Italians and +then the Spaniards, in the midst of whom was myself on horseback, with +the Walloons marching near me. The Prince of Bearne"--it was a solace to +the duke's heart, of which he never could be deprived, to call the king +by that title--"was at a window over the gate of St. Denis through which +we took our departure. He was dressed in light grey, with a black hat +surmounted by a great white feather. Our displayed standards rendered +him no courteous salute as we passed." + +Here was another solace! + +Thus had the game been lost and won, but Philip as usual did not +acknowledge himself beaten. Mayenne, too, continued to make the most +fervent promises to all that was left of the confederates. He betook +himself to Brussels, and by the king's orders was courteously received by +the Spanish authorities in the Netherlands. In the midst of the tempest +now rapidly destroying all rational hopes, Philip still clung to Mayenne +as to a spar in the shipwreck. For the king ever possessed the virtue, +if it be one, of continuing to believe himself invincible and infallible, +when he had been defeated in every quarter, and when his calculations had +all proved ridiculous mistakes. + +When his famous Armada had been shattered and sunk, have we not seen him +peevishly requiring Alexander Farnese to construct a new one immediately +and to proceed therewith to conquer England out of hand? Was it to be +expected that he would renounce his conquest of France, although the +legitimate king had entered his capital, had reconciled himself to the +Church, and was on the point of obtaining forgiveness of the pope? If +the Prince of Bearne had already destroyed the Holy League, why should +not the Duke of Mayenne and Archduke Ernest make another for him, +and so conquer France without further delay? + +But although it was still possible to deceive the king, who in the +universality of his deceptive powers was so prone to delude himself, +it was difficult even for so accomplished an intriguer as Mayenne to +hoodwink much longer the shrewd Spaniards who were playing so losing a +game against him. + +"Our affairs in France," said Ybarra, "are in such condition that +we are losing money and character there, and are likely to lose all the +provinces here, if things are not soon taken up in a large and energetic +manner. Money and troops are what is wanted on a great scale for France. +The king's agents are mightily discontented with Mayenne, and with +reason; but they are obliged to dissimulate and to hold their tongues. +We can send them no assistance from these regions, unless from down +yonder you send us the cloth and the scissors to cut it with." + +And the Archduke Ernest, although he invited Mayenne to confer with him +at Brussels, under the impression that he could still keep him and the +Duke of Guise from coming to an arrangement with Bearne, hardly felt more +confidence in the man than did Feria or Ybarra. "Since the loss of +Paris," said Ernest, "I have had a letter from Mayenne, in which, deeply +affected by that event, he makes me great offers, even to the last drop +of his blood, vowing never to abandon the cause of the League. But of +the intentions and inner mind of this man I find such vague information, +that I don't dare to expect more stability from him than may be founded +upon his own interest." + +And so Mayenne came to Brussels and passed three days with the archduke. +"He avows himself ready to die in our cause," said Ernest. "If your +Majesty will give men and money enough, he will undertake so to deal +with Bearne that he shall not think himself safe in his own house." +The archduke expressed his dissatisfaction to Mayenne that with the money +he had already received, so little had been accomplished, but he still +affected a confidence which he was far from feeling, "because," said he, +"it is known that Mayenne is already treating with Bearne. If he has not +concluded those arrangements, it is because Bearne now offers him less +money than before." The amount of dissimulation, politely so-called, +practised by the grandees of that age, to say nothing of their infinite +capacity for pecuniary absorption, makes the brain reel and enlarges +one's ideas of the human faculties as exerted in certain directions. It +is doubtful whether plain Hans Miller or Hans Baker could have risen to +such level. + +Feria wrote a despatch to the king, denouncing Mayenne as false, +pernicious to the cause of Spain and of catholicism, thoroughly self- +seeking and vile, and as now most traitorous to the cause of the +confederacy, engaged in surrendering its strong places to the enemy, +and preparing to go over to the Prince of Bearne. + +"If," said he, "I were to recount all his base tricks, I should go on +till midnight, and perhaps till to-morrow morning." + +This letter, being intercepted, was sent with great glee by Henry IV., +not to the royal hands for which it was destined, but to the Duke of +Mayenne. Great was the wrath of that injured personage as he read such +libellous truths. He forthwith fulminated a scathing reply, addressed +to Philip II., in which he denounced the Duke of Feria as "a dirty +ignoramus, an impudent coward, an impostor, and a blind thief;" adding, +after many other unsavoury epithets, "but I will do him an honour which +he has not merited, proving him a liar with my sword; and I humbly pray +your Majesty to grant me this favour and to pardon my just grief, which +causes me to depart from the respect due to your Majesty, when I speak of +this impostor who has thus wickedly torn my reputation." + +His invectives were, however, much stronger than his arguments in defence +of that tattered reputation. The defiance to mortal combat went for +nothing; and, in the course of the next year, the injured Mayenne turned +his back on Philip and his Spaniards, and concluded his bargain with the +Prince of Bearne. He obtained good terms: the government of Burgundy, +payment of his debts, and a hundred and twenty thousand crowns in hard +cash. It is not on record that the man of his word, of credit, and of +truth, ever restored a penny of the vast sums which he had received from +Philip to carry on the business of the League. + +Subsequently the duke came one very hot summer's-day to Monceaux to thank +the king, as he expressed it, for "delivering him from Spanish arrogance +and Italian wiles;" and having got with much difficulty upon his knees, +was allowed to kiss the royal hand. Henry then insisted upon walking +about with him through the park at a prodigious rate, to show him all the +improvements, while the duke panted, groaned, and perspired in his vain +efforts to keep pace with his new sovereign. + +"If I keep this fat fellow walking about in the sun much longer," +whispered the king to De Bethune, who was third in the party, "I shall be +sufficiently avenged for all the mischief he has done us." + +At last, when the duke was forced to admit himself to be on the point of +expiring with fatigue, he was dismissed to the palace with orders to +solace himself with a couple of bottles of excellent wine of Arbois, +expressly provided for him by the king's direction. And this was all the +punishment ever inflicted by the good-humoured monarch on the corpulent +conspirator. + +The Duke of Guise made his arrangements with the ex-Huguenot on even +better terms and at a still earlier day; while Joyeuse and Mercoeur stood +out a good while and higgled hard for conditions. "These people put such +a high price on themselves," said one of Henry's diplomatists, "that one +loses almost more than one gains in buying them. They strip and plunder +us even in our nakedness, and we are obliged, in order to conciliate such +harpies, to employ all that we can scrape out of our substance and our +blood. I think, however, that we ought to gain them by whatever means +and at whatever price." + +Thus Henry IV., the man whom so many contemporary sages had for years +been rebuking or ridiculing for his persistency in a hopeless attempt to +save his country from dismemberment, to restore legitimate authority, and +to resist the "holy confederacy" of domestic traitors, aided by foreign +despots and sympathizers, was at last successful, and the fratricidal war +in France was approaching its only possible conclusion. + +But, alas! the hopes of those who loved the reformed Church as well as +they loved their country were sadly blasted by the apostasy of their +leader. From the most eminent leaders of the Huguenots there came a +wail, which must have penetrated even to the well-steeled heart of the +cheerful Gascon. "It will be difficult," they said, "to efface very soon +from your memory the names of the men whom the sentiment of a common +religion, association in the same perils and persecutions, a common joy +in the same deliverance, and the long experience of so many faithful +services, have engraved there with a pencil of diamond. The remembrance +of these things pursues you and accompanies you everywhere; it interrupts +your most important affairs, your most ardent pleasures, your most +profound slumber, to represent to you, as in a picture, yourself to +yourself: yourself not as you are to-day, but such as you were when, +pursued to the death by the greatest princes of Europe, you went on +conducting to the harbour of safety the little vessel against which so +many tempests were beating." + +The States of the Dutch republic, where the affair of Henry's conversion +was as much a matter of domestic personal interest as it could be in +France--for religion up to that epoch was the true frontier between +nation and nation--debated the question most earnestly while it was yet +doubtful. It was proposed to send a formal deputation to the king, in +order to divert him, if possible, from the fatal step which he was about +to take. After ripe deliberation however, it was decided to leave the +matter "in the hands of God Almighty, and to pray Him earnestly to guide +the issue to His glory and the welfare of the Churches." + +The Queen of England was, as might be supposed, beside herself with +indignation, and, in consequence of the great apostasy, and of her +chronic dissatisfaction with the manner in which her contingent of +troops had been handled in France, she determined to withdraw every +English soldier from the support of Henry's cause. The unfortunate +French ambassador in London was at his wits' ends. He vowed that he +could not sleep of nights, and that the gout and the cholic, to which +he was always a martyr, were nothing to the anguish which had now come +upon his soul and brain, such as he had never suffered since the bloody +day of St. Bartholomew. + +"Ah, my God!" said he to Burghley, "is it possible that her just choler +has so suddenly passed over the great glory which she has acquired by so +many benefits and liberalities?" But he persuaded himself that her +majesty would after all not persist in her fell resolution. To do so, +he vowed, would only be boiling milk for the French papists, who would be +sure to make the most of the occasion in order to precipitate the king +into the, abyss, to the border of which they had already brought him. +He so dreaded the ire of the queen that he protested he was trembling +all over merely to see the pen of his secretary wagging as he dictated +his despatches. Nevertheless it was his terrible duty to face her in her +wrath, and he implored the lord treasurer to accompany him and to shield +him at the approaching interview. "Protect me," he cried, "by your +wisdom from the ire of this great princess; for by the living God, +when I see her enraged against any person whatever I wish myself +in Calcutta, fearing her anger like death itself." + +When all was over, Henry sent De Morlans as special envoy to communicate +the issue to the Governments of England and of Holland. But the queen, +although no longer so violent, was less phlegmatic than the States- +General, and refused to be comforted. She subsequently receded, +however, from her determination to withdraw her troops from France. + +"Ah! what grief; ah! what regrets; ah! what groans, have I felt in my +soul," she wrote, "at the sound of the news brought to me by Morlans! +My God! Is it possible that any wordly respect can efface the terror +of Divine wrath? Can we by reason even expect a good sequel to such +iniquitous acts? He who has maintained and preserved you by His mercy, +can you imagine that he permits you to walk alone in your utmost need? +'Tis bad to do evil that good may come of it. Meantime I shall not cease +to put you in the first rank of my devotions, in order that the hands of +Esau may not spoil the blessings of Jacob. As to your promises to me of +friendship and fidelity, I confess to have dearly deserved them, nor do I +repent, provided you do not change your Father--otherwise I shall be your +bastard sister by the father's side--for I shall ever love a natural +better than an adopted one. I desire that God may guide you in a +straight road and a better path. Your most sincere sister in the old +fashion. As to the new, I have nothing to do with it. ELIZABETH R." + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +All fellow-worms together +Continuing to believe himself invincible and infallible +He spent more time at table than the Bearnese in sleep +Henry the Huguenot as the champion of the Council of Trent +Highest were not necessarily the least slimy +His invectives were, however, much stronger than his arguments +History is a continuous whole of which we see only fragments +Infinite capacity for pecuniary absorption +Leading motive with all was supposed to be religion +Past was once the Present, and once the Future +Sages of every generation, read the future like a printed scroll +Sewers which have ever run beneath decorous Christendom +Wrath of that injured personage as he read such libellous truths + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext History of United Netherlands, v65 +by John Lothrop Motley + + + + + + +HISTORY OF THE UNITED NETHERLANDS +From the Death of William the Silent to the Twelve Year's Truce--1609 + +By John Lothrop Motley + + + +History United Netherlands, Volume 66, 1594 + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + + Prince Maurice lays siege to Gertruydenberg--Advantages of the new + system of warfare--Progress of the besieging operations--Superiority + of Maurice's manoeuvres--Adventure of Count Philip of Nassau-- + Capitulation of Gertruydenberg--Mutiny among the Spanish troops-- + Attempt of Verdugo to retake Coeworden--Suspicions of treason in the + English garrison at Ostend--Letter of Queen Elizabeth to Sir Edward + Norris on the subject--Second attempt on Coeworden--Assault on + Groningen by Maurice--Second adventure of Philip of Nassau--Narrow + escape of Prince Maurice--Surrender of Groningen--Particulars of the + siege--Question of religious toleration--Progress of the United + Netherlands--Condition of the "obedient" Netherlands--Incompetency + of Peter Mansfeld as Governor--Archduke Ernest, the successor of + Farnese--Difficulties of his position--His unpopularity--Great + achievements of the republicans--Triumphal entry of Ernest into + Brussels and Antwerp--Magnificence of the spectacle--Disaffection of + the Spanish troops--Great military rebellion--Philip's proposal to + destroy the English fleet--His assassination plans--Plot to poison + Queen Elizabeth--Conspiracies against Prince Maurice--Futile + attempts at negotiation--Proposal of a marriage between Henry and + the Infanta--Secret mission from Henry to the King of Spain--Special + dispatch to England and the Staten--Henry obtains further aid from + Queen Elizabeth and the States--Council--Anxiety of the Protestant + countries to bring about a war with Spain--Aspect of affairs at the + close of the year 1594. + +While Philip's world-empire seemed in one direction to be so rapidly +fading into cloudland there were substantial possessions of the Spanish +crown which had been neglected in Brabant and Friesland. + +Two very important cities still held for the King of Spain within the +territories of what could now be fairly considered the United Dutch +Republic--St. Gertruydenberg and Groningen. + +Early in the spring of 1593, Maurice had completed his preparations for a +siege, and on the 24th March appeared before Gertruydenberg. + +It was a stately, ancient city, important for its wealth, its strength, +and especially for its position. For without its possession even the +province of Holland could hardly consider itself mistress of its own +little domains. It was seated on the ancient Meuse, swollen as it +approached the sea almost to the dimension of a gulf, while from the +south another stream, called the Donge, very brief in its course, but +with considerable depth of water, came to mingle itself with the Meuse, +exactly under the walls of the city. + +The site of the place was so low that it was almost hidden and protected +by its surrounding dykes. These afforded means of fortification, which +had been well improved. Both by nature and art the city was one of the +strongholds of the Netherlands. + +Maurice had given the world a lesson in the beleaguering science at the +siege of Steenwyk, such as had never before been dreamt of; but he was +resolved that the operations before Gertruydenberg should constitute a +masterpiece. + +Nothing could be more beautiful as a production of military art, nothing, +to the general reader, more insipid than its details. + +On the land side, Hohenlo's headquarters were at Ramsdonck, a village +about a German mile to the east of Gertruydenberg. Maurice himself was +established on the west side of the city. Two bridges constructed across +the Donge facilitated the communications between the two camps, while +great quantities of planks and brush were laid down across the swampy +roads to make them passable for waggon-trains and artillery. The first +care of the young general, whose force was not more than twenty thousand +men, was to protect himself rather than to assail the town. + +His lines extended many miles in a circuit around the place, and his +forts, breastworks, and trenches were very numerous. + +The river was made use of as a natural and almost impassable ditch of +defence, and windmills were freely employed to pump water into the +shallows in one direction, while in others the outer fields, in quarters +whence a relieving force might be expected, were turned into lakes by the +same machinery. Farther outside, a system of palisade work of caltrops +and man-traps--sometimes in the slang of the day called Turkish +ambassadors--made the country for miles around impenetrable or very +disagreeable to cavally. In a shorter interval than would have seemed +possible, the battlements and fortifications of the besieging army had +risen like an exhalation out of the morass. The city of Gertruydenberg +was encompassed by another city as extensive and apparently as +impregnable as itself. Then, for the first time in that age, men +thoroughly learned the meaning of that potent implement the spade. + +Three thousand pioneers worked night and day with pickaxe and shovel. +The soldiers liked the business; for every man so employed received his +ten stivers a day additional wages, punctually paid, and felt moreover +that every stioke was bringing the work nearer to its conclusion. + +The Spaniards no longer railed at Maurice as a hedger and ditcher. When +he had succeeded in bringing a hundred great guns to bear upon the +beleaguered city they likewise ceased to sneer at heavy artillery. + +The Kartowen and half Kartowen were no longer considered "espanta +vellacos." + +Meantime, from all the country round, the peasants flocked within the +lines. Nowhere in Europe were provisions so plentiful and cheap as in +the Dutch camp. Nowhere was a readier market for agricultural products, +prompter payment, or more perfect security for the life and property of +non-combatants. Not so much as a hen's egg was taken unlawfully. The +country people found themselves more at ease within Maurice's lines than +within any other part of the provinces, obedient or revolted. They +ploughed and sowed and reaped at their pleasure, and no more striking +example was ever afforded of the humanizing effect of science upon the +barbarism of war, than in this siege of Gertruydenberg. + +Certainly it was the intention of the prince to take his city, and when +he fought the enemy it was his object to kill; but, as compared with the +bloody work which Alva, and Romero, and Requesens, and so many others had +done in those doomed provinces, such war-making as this seemed almost +like an institution for beneficent and charitable purposes. + +Visitors from the neighbourhood, from other provinces, from foreign +countries, came to witness the extraordinary spectacle, and foreign +generals repaired to the camp of Maurice to take practical lessons in the +new art of war. + +Old Peter Ernest Mansfeld, who was nominal governor of the Spanish +Netherlands since the death of Farnese, rubbed his eyes and stared aghast +when the completeness of the preparations for reducing the city at last +broke in upon his mind. Count Fuentes was the true and confidential +regent however until the destined successor to Parma should arrive; but +Fuentes, although he had considerable genius for assassination, as will +hereafter appear, and was an experienced and able commander of the old- +fashioned school, was no match for Maurice in the scientific combinations +on which the new system was founded. + +In vain did the superannuated Peter call aloud upon his sofa and +governor, Count Charles, to assist him in this dire dilemma. That +artillery general had gone with a handful of Germans, Walloons; and other +obedient Netherlanders--too few to accomplish anything abroad, too many +to be spared from the provinces--to besiege Noyon in France. But what +signified the winning or losing of such a place as Noyon at exactly the +moment when the Prince of Bearne, assisted by the able generalship of the +Archbishop of Bourges, had just executed those famous flanking movements +in the churches of St. Denis and Chartres, by which the world-empire had +been effectually shattered, and Philip and the Pope completely out- +manoeuvred. + +Better that the five thousand fighters under Charles Mansfeld had been +around Gertruydenberg. His aged father did what he could. As many men +as could be spared from the garrison of Antwerp and its neighbourhood +were collected; but the Spaniards were reluctant to march, except under +old Mondragon. That hero, who had done much of the hardest work, and had +fought in most of the battles of the century, was nearly as old as the +century. Being now turned of ninety, he thought best to keep house in +Antwerp Castle: Accordingly twelve thousand foot and three thousand horse +took the field under the more youthful Peter Ernest? But Peter Ernest, +when his son was not there to superintend his operations, was nothing +but a testy octogenarian, while the two together were not equal to the +little finger of Farnese, whom Philip would have displaced, had he not +fortunately died. + +"Nothing is to be expected out of this place but toads and poison," +wrote Ybarra in infinite disgust to the two secretaries of state at +Madrid. "I have done my best to induce Fuentes to accept that which the +patent secured him, and Count Peter is complaining that Fuentes showed +him the patent so late only to play him a trick. There is a rascally +pack of meddlers here, and the worst of them all are the women, whom I +particularly give to the devil. There is no end to the squabbles as to +who shall take the lead in relieving Gertruydenberg." + +Mansfeld at last came ponderously up in the neighbourhood of Turnhout. +There was a brilliant little skirmish, in the, neighbourhood of this +place, in which a hundred and fifty Dutch cavalry under the famous +brothers Bax defeated four hundred picked lancers of Spain and Italy. +But Mansfeld could get nothing but skirmishes. In vain he plunged +about among the caltrops and man-traps. In vain he knocked at the +fortifications of Hohenlo on the east and of Maurice on the west. +He found them impracticable, impregnable, obdurate. It was Maurice's +intention to take his town at as small sacrifice of life as possible. +A trumpet was sent on some trifling business to Mansfeld, in reply to +a communication made by the general to Maurice. + +"Why does your master," said the choleric veteran to the trumpeter, "why +does Prince Maurice, being a lusty young commander as he is, not come out +of his trenches into the open field and fight me like a man, where honour +and fame await him?" + +"Because my master," answered the trumpeter, "means to live to be a lusty +old commander like your excellency, and sees no reason to-day to give you +an advantage." + +At this the bystanders laughed, rather at the expense of the veteran. + +Meantime there were not many incidents within the lines or within the +city to vary the monotony of the scientific siege. + +On the land side, as has been seen, the city was enclosed and built out +of human sight by another Gertruydenberg. On the wide estuary of the +Meuse, a chain of war ships encircled the sea-front, in shape of a half +moon, lying so close to each other that it was scarcely possible even for +a messenger to swim out of a dark night. + +The hardy adventurers who attempted that feat with tidings of despair +were almost invariably captured. + +This blockading fleet took regular part in the daily cannonade; while, on +the other hand, the artillery practice from the landbatteries of Maurice +and Hohenlo was more perfect than anything ever known before in the +Netherlands or France. + +And the result was that in the course of the cannonade which lasted +nearly ninety days, not more than four houses in the city escaped injury. +The approaches were brought, every hour, nearer and nearer to the walls. +With subterranean lines converging in the form of the letter Y, the +prince had gradually burrowed his way beneath the principal bastion. + +Hohenlo, representative of the older school of strategy, had on one +occasion ventured to resist the authority of the commander-in-chief. He +had constructed a fort at Ramsdonck. Maurice then commanded the erection +of another, fifteen hundred yards farther back. It was as much a part of +his purpose to defend himself against the attempts of Mansfeld's +relieving force, as to go forward against the city. Hohenlo objected +that it would be impossible to sustain himself against a sudden attack in +so isolated a position. Maurice insisted. In the midst of the +altercation Hohenlo called to the men engaged in throwing up the new +fortifications: "Here, you captains and soldiers," he cried, "you are +delivered up here to be butchered. You may drop work and follow me to +the old fort." + +"And I swear to you," said Maurice quietly, "that the first man who moves +from this spot shall be hanged." + +No one moved. The fort was completed and held to the and; Hohenlo +sulkily acquiescing in the superiority which this stripling--his former +pupil--had at last vindicated over all old-fashioned men-at-arms. + +From the same cause which was apt to render Hohenlo's services +inefficient, the prince was apt to suffer inconvenience in the persons +placed in still nearer relation to himself. Count Philip of Nassau, +brother of the wise and valiant Lewis William, had already done much +brilliant campaigning against the Spaniards both in France and the +provinces. Unluckily, he was not only a desperate fighter but a mighty +drinker, and one day, after a dinner-party and potent carouse at Colonel +Brederode's quarters, he thought proper, in doublet and hose, without +armour of any kind, to mount his horse, in order to take a solitary +survey of the enemy's works. Not satisfied with this piece of +reconnoitering--which he effected with much tipsy gravity, but probably +without deriving any information likely to be of value to the commanding +general--he then proceeded to charge in person a distant battery. The +deed was not commendable in a military point of view. A fire was opened +upon him at long range so soon as he was discovered, and at the same time +the sergeant-major of his regiment and an equerry of Prince Maurice +started in pursuit, determined to bring him off if possible, before his +life had been thus absurdly sacrificed. Fortunately for him they came to +the rescue in time, pulled him from his horse, and succeeded in bringing +him away unharmed. The sergeant-major, however, Sinisky by name, while +thus occupied in preserving the count's life, was badly wounded in the +leg by a musket-shot from the fort; which casualty was the only result of +this after-dinner assault. + +As the siege proceeded, and as the hopes of relief died away, great +confusion began to reign within the city. The garrison, originally +of a thousand veterans, besides burgher militia, had been much +diminished. Two commandants of the place, one after another, had lost +their lives. On the 1st of June, Governor De Masieres, Captain Mongyn, +the father-confessor of the garrison, and two soldiers, being on the top +of the great church tower taking observations, were all brought down with +one cannon-shot. Thus the uses of artillery were again proved to be +something more than to scare cowards. + +The final result seemed to have been brought about almost by accident, +if accident could be admitted as a factor in such accurate calculations +as those of Maurice. On the 24th June Captains Haen and Bievry were +relieving watch in the trenches near the great north ravelin of the town +--a bulwark which had already been much undermined from below and +weakened above. Being adventurous officers, it occurred to them suddenly +to scale the wall of the fort and reconnoitre what was going on in the +town. It was hardly probable that they would come back alive from the +expedition, but they nevertheless threw some planks across the ditch, and +taking a few soldiers with them, climbed cautiously up. Somewhat to his +own surprise, still more to that of the Spanish sentinels, Bievry in a +few minutes found himself within the ravelin. He was closely followed by +Captain Haen, Captain Kalf, and by half a company of soldiers. The alarm +was given. There was a fierce hand-to-hand struggle. Sixteen of the +bold stormers fell, and nine of the garrison of the fort. The rest fled +into the city. The governor of the place, Captain Gysant, rushing to the +rescue without staying to put on his armour, was killed. Count Solms, on +the other hand, came from the besieging camp into the ravelin to +investigate the sudden uproar. To his profound astonishment he was met +there, after a brief interval, by a deputation from the city, asking for +terms of surrender. The envoys had already been for some little time +looking in vain for a responsible person with whom to treat. When +Maurice was informed of the propositions he thought it at first a trick; +for he had known nothing of the little adventure of the three captains. +Soon afterwards he came into a battery whither the deputies had been +brought, and the terms of capitulation were soon agreed upon. + +Next day the garrison were allowed to go out with sidearms and personal +baggage, and fifty waggons were lent them by the victor to bring their +wounded men to Antwerp. + +Thus was Gertruydenberg surrendered in the very face of Peter Mansfeld, +who only became aware of the fact by the salvos of artillery fired in +honour of the triumph, and by the blaze of illumination which broke forth +over camp and city. + +The sudden result was an illustration of the prince's perfect +arrangements. When Maurice rode into the town, he found it strong +enough and sufficiently well provisioned to have held out many a long +day. But it had been demonstrated to the besieged that relief was +impossible, and that the surrender on one day or another, after the siege +operations should be brought to their close, was certain. The inexorable +genius of the commander--skilled in a science which to the coarser war- +makers of that age seemed almost superhuman--hovered above them like a +fate. It was as well to succumb on the 24th June as to wait till the +24th July. + +Moreover the great sustaining principle--resistance to the foreigner-- +which had inspired the deeds of daring, the wonders of endurance, in the +Dutch cities beleaguered so remorselessly by the Spaniard twenty years +earlier in the century, was wanting. + +In surrendering to the born Netherlander--the heroic chieftain of the +illustrious house of Nassau--these Netherlanders were neither sullying +their flag nor injuring their country. Enough had been done for military +honour in the gallant resistance, in which a large portion of the +garrison had fallen. Nor was that religious superstition so active +within the city, which three years before had made miracles possible in +Paris when a heretic sovereign was to be defied by his own subjects. It +was known that even if the public ceremonies of the Catholic Church were +likely to be suspended for a time after the surrender, at least the +rights of individual conscience and private worship within individual +households would be tolerated, and there was no papal legate with fiery +eloquence persuading a city full of heroic dupes that it was more +virtuous for men or women to eat their own children than to forego one +high mass, or to wink at a single conventicle. + +After all, it was no such bitter hardship for the citizens of +Gertruydenberg to participate in the prosperity of the rising and +thriving young republic, and to enjoy those municipal and national +liberties which her sister cities had found so sweet. + +Nothing could be calmer or more reasonable than such a triumph, nothing +less humiliating or less disastrous than such a surrender. + +The problem was solved, the demonstration was made. To open their gates +to the soldiers of the Union was not to admit the hordes of a Spanish +commander with the avenging furies of murder, pillage, rape, which ever +followed in their train over the breach of a captured city. + +To an enemy bated or dreaded to the uttermost mortal capacity, that well- +fortified and opulent city might have held out for months, and only when +the arms and the fraud of the foe without, and of famine within, had done +their work, could it have bowed its head to the conqueror, and submitted +to the ineffable tortures which would be the necessary punishment of its +courage. + +Four thousand shots had been fired from the siege-guns upon the city, and +three hundred upon the relieving force. + +The besieging army numbered in all nine thousand one hundred and fifty +men of all arms, and they lost during the eighty-five days' siege three +hundred killed and four hundred wounded. + +After the conclusion of these operations, and the thorough remodelling +of the municipal government of the important city thus regained to the +republic, Maurice occupied himself with recruiting and refreshing his +somewhat exhausted little army. On the other hand, old Count Mansfeld, +dissatisfied with the impotent conclusion to his attempts, retired to +Brussels to be much taunted by the insolent Fuentes. He at least escaped +very violent censure on the part of his son Charles, for that general, +after his superfluous conquest of Noyon, while returning towards the +Netherlands, far too tardily to succour Gertruydenberg, had been +paralyzed in all his movements by a very extensive mutiny which broke out +among the Spanish troops in the province of Artois. The disorder went +through all its regular forms. A town was taken, an Eletto was +appointed. The country-side was black-mailed or plundered, and the +rebellion lasted some thirteen months. Before it was concluded there was +another similar outbreak among the Italians, together with the Walloons +and other obedient Netherlanders in Hainault, who obliged the city of +Mons to collect nine hundred florins a day for them. The consequence +of these military rebellions was to render the Spanish crown almost +powerless during the whole year, within the provinces nominally subject +to its sway. The cause--as always--was the non-payment of these +veterans' wages, year after year. It was impossible for Philip, with +all the wealth of the Indies and Mexico pouring through the Danaid sieve +of the Holy League in France, to find the necessary funds to save the +bronzed and war-worn instruments of his crimes in the Netherlands from +starving and from revolt. + +Meantime there was much desultory campaigning in Friesland. Verdugo +and Frederic van den Berg picked up a few cities, and strong places +which had thrown off their allegiance September, to the king--Auerzyl, +Schlochteren, Winschoten, Wedde, Ootmarzum--and invested the much more +important town of Coeworden, which Maurice had so recently reduced to the +authority of the Union. Verdugo's force was insufficient, however, and +he had neither munitions nor provisions for a long siege. Winter was +coming on; and the States, aware that he would soon be obliged to retire +from before the well-garrisoned and fortified place, thought it +unnecessary to interfere with him. After a very brief demonstration +the Portuguese veteran was obliged to raise the siege. + +There were also certain vague attempts made by the enemy to re-possess +himself of those most important seaports which had been pledged to the +English queen. On a previous page the anxiety has been indicated with +which Sir Robert Sydney regarded the withdrawal of the English troops in +the Netherlands for the sake of assisting the French king. This palpable +breach of the treaty had necessarily weakened England's hold on the +affections of the Netherlanders, and awakened dark suspicions that +treason might be impending at Flushing or Ostend. The suspicions were +unjust--so far as the governors of those places were concerned--for +Sydney and Norris were as loyal as they were intelligent and brave; but +the trust in their characters was not more implicit than it had been in +that of Sir William Stanley before the commission of his crime. It was +now believed that the enemy was preparing for a sudden assault upon +Ostend, with the connivance, it was feared, of a certain portion of the +English garrison. The intelligence was at once conveyed to her Majesty's +Government by Sir Edward Norris, and they determined to take a lesson +from past experience. Norris was at once informed that in view of the +attack which he apprehended, his garrison should be strengthened by five +hundred men under Sir Conyers Clifford from certain companies in +Flushing, and that other reinforcements should be sent from the English +troops in Normandy. The governor was ordered to look well after his +captains and soldiers, to remind them, in the queen's name, of their duty +to herself and to the States, to bid all beware of sullying the English +name, to make close investigations into any possible intrigues of the +garrison with the enemy, and, should any culprits be found, to bring them +at once to condign punishment. + +The queen, too, determined that there should be no blighting of English +honour, if she could prevent it by her warnings, indited with her own +hand a characteristic letter to Sir Edward Norris, to accompany the more +formal despatch of Lord Burghley. Thus it ran "Ned!-- + +"Though you have some tainted sheep among your flock, let not that serve +for excuse for the rest. We trust you are so carefully regarded as +nought shall be left for your excuses, but either ye lack heart or want +will; for of fear we will not make mention, as that our soul abhors, and +we assure ourselves you will never discern suspicion of it. Now or never +let for the honour of us and our nation, each man be so much of bolder +heart as their cause is good, and their honour must be according, +remembering the old goodness of our God, who never yet made us fail His +needful help, who ever bless you as I with my prince's hand beseech Him." + +The warnings and preparations proved sufficiently effective, and the +great schemes with which the new royal governor of the Netherlands was +supposed to be full--a mere episode in which was the conquest of Ostend-- +seemed not so formidable as their shadows had indicated. There was, in +the not very distant future, to be a siege of Ostend, which the world +would not soon forget, but perhaps the place would not yield to a sudden +assault. Its resistance, on the contrary, might prove more protracted +than was then thought possible. But the chronicle of events must not be +anticipated. For the present, Ostend was safe. + +Early in the following spring, Verdugo again appeared before Coeworden in +force. It was obvious that the great city of Groningen, the mistress of +all the north-eastern provinces, would soon be attacked, and Coeworden +was the necessary base of any operations against the place. Fortunately +for the States, William Lewis had in the preceding autumn occupied and +fortified the only avenue through the Bourtange morass, so that when +Verdugo sat down before Coeworden, it was possible for Maurice, by moving +rapidly, to take the royal governor at a disadvantage. + +Verdugo had eight thousand picked troops, including two thousand Walloon +cavalry, troopers who must have been very formidable, if they were to be +judged by the prowess of one of their captains, Gaucier by name. This +obedient Netherlander was in the habit of boasting that he had slain four +hundred and ten men with his own hand, including several prisoners and +three preachers; but the rest of those warriors were not so famed for +their martial achievements. + +The peril, however, was great, and Prince Maurice, trifling not a moment, +threw himself with twelve thousand infantry, Germans, Frisians, Scotch, +English, and Hollanders, and nearly two thousand horse, at once upon the +road between the Vecht and the Bourtange morass. On the 6th of May, +Verdugo found the States' commander-in-chief trenched and impregnable, +squarely established upon his line of communications. He reconnoitred, +called a council of war, and decided that to assail him were madness; to +remain, destruction. On the night of the 6th of May, he broke up his +camp and stole away in the darkness, without sound of drum or trumpet, +leaving all his fortifications and burning all his huts. + +Thus had Maurice, after showing the world how strong places were to be +reduced, given a striking exhibition of the manner in which they were to +be saved. + +Coeworden, after thirty-one weeks' investment, was relieved. + +The stadholder now marched upon Groningen. This city was one of the most +splendid and opulent of all the Netherland towns. Certainly it should +have been one of the most ancient in Europe, since it derived its name-- +according to that pains-taking banker, Francis Guicciardini--"from Grun, +a Trojan gentleman," who, nevertheless, according to Munster, was "a +Frenchman by birth."--"Both theories, however, might be true," added the +conscientious Florentine, "as the French have always claimed to be +descended from the relics of Troy." A simpler-minded antiquary might +have babbled of green fields, since 'groenighe,' or greenness, was a +sufficiently natural appellation for a town surrounded as was Groningen +on the east and west by the greenest and fattest of pastures. In +population it was only exceeded by Antwerp and Amsterdam. Situate on +the line where upper and nether Germany blend into one, the capital of +a great province whose very name was synonymous with liberty, and whose +hardy sons had clone fierce battle with despotism in every age, so long +as there had been human record of despotism and of battles, Groningen had +fallen into the hands of the foreign foe, not through the prowess of the +Spaniard but the treason of the Netherlander. The baseness of the +brilliant, trusted, valiant, treacherous young Renneberg has been +recorded on a previous page of these volumes. For thirteen years long +the republic had chafed at this acquisition of the hated enemy within +its very heart. And now the day had come when a blow should be struck +for its deliverance by the ablest soldier that had ever shown himself +in those regions, one whom the commonwealth had watched over from his +cradle. + +For in Groningen there was still a considerable party in favour of the +Union, although the treason of Renneberg had hitherto prevented both city +and province from incorporating themselves in the body politic of the +United Netherlands. Within the precincts were five hundred of Verdugo's +veterans under George Lanckema, stationed at a faubourg called +Schuytendiess. In the city there was, properly speaking, no garrison, +for the citizens in the last few years had come to value themselves on +their fidelity to church and king, and to take a sorry pride in being +false to all that was noble in their past. Their ancestors had wrested +privilege after privilege at the sword's point from the mailed hands of +dukes and emperors, until they were almost a self-governing republic; +their courts of justice recognizing no appeal to higher powers, even +under the despotic sway of Charles V. And now, under the reign of his +son, and in the feebler days of that reign, the capital of the free +Frisians--the men whom their ancient pagan statutes had once declared to +be "free so long as the wind blew out of the clouds"--relied upon the +trained bands of her burghers enured to arms and well-provided with all. +munitions of war to protect her, not against foreign tyranny nor domestic +sedition, but against liberty and against law. + +For the representative of the most ancient of the princely houses of +Europe, a youth whose ancestors had been emperors when the forefathers of +Philip, long-descended as he was, were but country squires, was now +knocking at their gates. Not as a conqueror and a despot, but as the +elected first magistrate and commander-in-chief of the freest +commonwealth in the world, Maurice of Nassau, at the head of fifteen +thousand Netherlanders, countrymen of their own, now summoned the +inhabitants of the town and province to participate with their fellow +citizens in all the privileges and duties of the prosperous republic. + +It seemed impossible that such an appeal could be resisted by force of +arms. Rather it would seem that the very walls should have fallen at his +feet at the first blast of the trumpet; but there was military honour, +there was religious hatred, there was the obstinacy of party. More than +all, there were half a dozen Jesuits within the town, and to those ablest +of generals in times of civil war it was mainly owing that the siege of +Groningen was protracted longer than under other circumstances would have +been possible. + +It is not my purpose to describe in detail the scientific operations +during the sixty-five days between the 20th May and the 24th July. Again +the commander-in-chief enlightened the world by an exhibition of a more +artistic and humane style of warfare than previously to his appearance +on the military stage had been known. But the daily phenomena of the +Leaguer--although they have been minutely preserved by most competent +eyewitnesses--are hardly entitled to a place except in special military +histories where, however, they should claim the foremost rank. + +The fortifications of the city were of the most splendid and substantial +character known to the age. The ditches, the ravelins, the curtains, +the towers were as thoroughly constructed as the defences of any place +in Europe. It was therefore necessary that Maurice and his cousin Lewis +should employ all their learning, all their skill, and their best +artillery to reduce this great capital of the Eastern Netherlands. +Again the scientific coil of approaches wound itself around and around +the doomed stronghold; again were constructed the galleries, the covered +ways, the hidden mines, where soldiers, transformed to gnomes, burrowed +and fought within the bowels of the earth; again that fatal letter Y +advanced slowly under ground, stretching its deadly prongs nearer and +nearer up to the walls; and again the system of defences against a +relieving force was so perfectly established that Verdugo or Mansfield, +with what troops they could muster, seemed as powerless as the pewter +soldiers with which Maurice in his boyhood--not yet so long passed away +--was wont to puzzle over the problems which now practically engaged +his early manhood. Again, too, strangely enough, it is recorded that +Philip Nassau, at almost the same period of the siege as in that of +Gertruydenberg, signalized himself by a deed of drunken and superfluous +daring. This time the dinner party was at the quarters of Count Solms, +in honour of the Prince of Anhalt, where, after potations pottle deep, +Count Philip rushed from the dinner-table to the breach, not yet +thoroughly practicable, of the north ravelin, and, entirely without +armour, mounted pike in hand to the assault, proposing to carry the fort +by his own unaided exertions. Another officer, one Captain Vaillant, +still more beside himself than was the count, inspired him to these deeds +of valour by assuring him that the mine was to be sprung under the +ravelin that afternoon, and that it was a plot on the part of the Holland +boatmen to prevent the soldiers who had been working so hard and so long +in the mines from taking part in the honours of the assault. The count +was with difficulty brought off with a whole skin and put to bed. Yet +despite these disgraceful pranks there is no doubt that a better and +braver officer than he was hardly to be found even among the ten noble +Nassaus who at that moment were fighting for the cause of Dutch liberty-- +fortunately with more sobriety than he at all times displayed. On the +following day, Prince Maurice, making a reconnoissance of the works with +his usual calmness, yet with the habitual contempt of personal danger +which made so singular a contrast with the cautious and painstaking +characteristics of his strategy, very narrowly escaped death. A shot +from the fort struck so hard upon the buckler under cover of which he was +taking his observations as to fell him to the ground. Sir Francis Vere, +who was with the prince under the same buckler, likewise measured his +length in the trench, but both escaped serious injury. + +Pauli, one of the States commissioners present in the camp, wrote to +Barneveld that it was to be hoped that the accident might prove a warning +to his Excellency. He had repeatedly remonstrated with him, he said, +against his reckless exposure of himself to unnecessary danger, but he +was so energetic and so full of courage that it was impossible to +restrain him from being everywhere every day. + +Three days later, the letter Y did its work. At ten o'clock 15 July, of +the night of the 15th July, Prince Maurice ordered the mines to be +sprung, when the north ravelin was blown into the air, and some forty of +the garrison with it. Two of them came flying into the besiegers' camp, +and, strange to say, one was alive and sound. The catastrophe finished +the sixty-five days' siege, the breach was no longer defensible, the +obstinacy of the burghers was exhausted, and capitulation followed. +In truth, there had been a subterranean intrigue going on for many weeks, +which was almost as effective as the mine. A certain Jan to Boer had +been going back and forth between camp and city, under various pretexts +and safe-conducts, and it had at last appeared that the Jesuits and the +five hundred of Verdugo's veterans were all that prevented Groningen from +returning to the Union. There had been severe fighting within the city +itself, for the Jesuits had procured the transfer of the veterans from +the faubourg to the town itself, and the result of all these operations, +political, military, and jesuitical, was that on 22nd July articles of +surrender were finally agreed upon between Maurice and a deputation from +the magistrates, the guilds, and commander Lanckema. + +The city was to take its place thenceforth as a member of the Union. +William Lewis, already stadholder of Friesland for the united States, was +to be recognised as chief magistrate of the whole province, which was +thus to retain all its ancient privileges, laws, and rights of self- +government, while it exchanged its dependence on a distant, foreign, and +decaying despotism for incorporation with a young and vigorous +commonwealth. + +It was arranged that no religion but the reformed religion, as then +practised in the united republic, should be publicly exercised in the +province, but that no man should be questioned as to his faith, or +troubled in his conscience: Cloisters and ecclesiastical property were to +remain 'in statu quo,' until the States-General should come to a definite +conclusion on these subjects. + +Universal amnesty was proclaimed for all offences and quarrels. Every +citizen or resident foreigner was free to remain in or to retire from the +town or province, with full protection to his person and property, and it +was expressly provided in the articles granted to Lanckema that his +soldiers should depart with arms and baggage, leaving to Prince Maurice +their colours only, while the prince furnished sufficient transportation +for their women and their wounded. The property of Verdugo, royal +stadholder of the province, was to be respected, and to remain in the +city, or to be taken thence under safe conduct, as might be preferred. + +Ten thousand cannon-shot had been fired against the city. The cost of +powder and shot consumed was estimated at a hundred thousand florins. +Four hundred of the besiegers had been killed, and a much larger number +wounded. The army had been further weakened by sickness and numerous +desertions. Of the besieged, three hundred soldiers in all were killed, +and a few citizens. + +Thirty-six cannon were taken, besides mortars, and it was said that eight +hundred tons of powder, and plenty of other ammunition and provisions +were found in the place. + +On the 23rd July Maurice and William Lewis entered the city. Some of the +soldiers were disappointed at the inexorable prohibition of pillage; but +it was the purpose of Maurice, as of the States-General, to place the +sister province at once in the unsullied possession of the liberty and +the order for which the struggle with Spain had, been carried on so long. +If the limitation of public religious worship seemed harsh, it should be +remembered that Romanism in a city occupied by Spanish troops had come to +mean unmitigated hostility to the republic. In the midst of civil war, +the hour for that religious liberty which was the necessary issue of the +great conflict had not yet struck. It was surely something gained for +humanity that no man should be questioned at all as to his creed in +countries where it was so recently the time-honoured practice to question +him on the rack, and to burn him if the answer was objectionable to the +inquirer. + +It was something that the holy Inquisition had been for ever suppressed +in the land. It must be admitted, likewise, that the terms of surrender +and the spectacle of re-established law and order which succeeded the +capture of Groningen furnished a wholesome contrast to the scenes of +ineffable horror that had been displayed whenever a Dutch town had fallen +into the hands of Philip. + +And thus the commonwealth of the United Netherlands, through the +practical military genius and perseverance of Maurice and Lewis William, +and the substantial statesmanship of Barneveld and his colleagues, had at +last rounded itself into definite shape; while in all directions toward +which men turned their eyes, world-empire, imposing and gorgeous as it +had seemed for an interval, was vanishing before its votaries like a +mirage. The republic, placed on the solid foundations of civil liberty, +self-government, and reasonable law, was steadily consolidating itself. + +No very prominent movements were undertaken by the forces of the Union +during the remainder of the year. According to the agreements with Henry +IV. it had been necessary to provide that monarch with considerable +assistance to carry on his new campaigns, and it was therefore difficult +for Maurice to begin for the moment upon the larger schemes which he had +contemplated. + +Meantime the condition of the obedient Netherlands demands a hasty +glance. + +On the death of brother Alexander the Capuchin, Fuentes produced a patent +by which Peter Ernest Mansfeld was provisionally appointed governor, in +case the post should become vacant. During the year which followed, that +testy old campaigner had indulged himself in many petty feuds with all +around him, but had effected, as we have seen, very little to maintain +the king's authority either in the obedient or disobedient provinces. + +His utter incompetency soon became most painfully apparent. His more +than puerile dependence upon his son, and the more than paternal severity +exercised over him by Count Charles, were made manifest to all the world. +The son ruled the trembling but peevish old warrior with an iron rod, and +endless was their wrangling with Fuentes and all the other Spaniards. +Between the querulousness of the one and the ferocity of the other, poor +Fuentes became sick of his life. + +"'Tis a diabolical genius, this count Charles," said Ybarra, "and so full +of ambition that he insists on governing everybody just as he rules his +father. As for me, until the archduke comes I am a fish out of water." + +The true successor to Farnese was to be, the Archduke Ernest, one of the +many candidates for the hand of the Infanta, and for the throne of that +department of the Spanish dominions which was commonly called France. +Should Philip not appropriate the throne without further scruple, in +person, it was on the, whole decided that his favorite nephew should be +the satrap of that outlying district of the Spanish empire. In such case +obedient France might be annexed to obedient Netherlands, and united +under the sway of Archduke Ernest. + +But these dreams had proved in the cold air of reality but midsummer +madness. When the name of the archduke was presented to the estates as +King Ernest I. of France, even the most unscrupulous and impassioned +Leaguers of that country fairly hung their heads. That a foreign prince, +whose very name had never been before heard of by the vast bulk of the +French population, should be deliberately placed upon the throne of St. +Louis and Hugh Capet, was a humiliation hard to defend, profusely as +Philip had scattered the Peruvian and Mexican dollars among the great +ones of the nation, in order to accomplish his purpose. + +So Archduke Ernest, early in the year 1594, came to Brussels, but he +came as a gloomy, disappointed man. To be a bachelor-governor of the +impoverished, exhausted, half-rebellious, and utterly forlorn little +remnant of the Spanish Netherlands, was a different position from that +of husband of Clara Isabella and king of France, on which his imagination +had been feeding so long. + +For nearly the whole twelvemonth subsequent to the death of Farnese, +the Spanish envoy to the Imperial court had been endeavouring to arrange +for the departure of the archduke to his seat of government in the +Netherlands. The prince himself was willing enough, but there were many +obstacles on the part of the emperor and his advisers. "Especially there +is one very great impossibility," said San Clemente, "and that is the +poverty of his Highness, which is so great that my own is not greater in +my estate. So I don't see how he can stir a step without money. Here +they'll not furnish him with a penny, and for himself he possesses +nothing but debts." The emperor was so little pleased with the adventure +that in truth, according to the same authority, he looked upon the new +viceroy's embarrassments with considerable satisfaction, so that it was +necessary for Philip to provide for his travelling expenses. + +Ernest was next brother of the Emperor Rudolph, and as intensely devoted +to the interests of the Roman Church as was that potentate himself, or +even his uncle Philip. + +He was gentle, weak, melancholy, addicted to pleasure, a martyr to the +gout. He brought no soldiers to the provinces, for the emperor, +threatened with another world-empire on his pagan flank, had no funds nor +troops to send to the assistance of his Christian brother-in-law and +uncle. Moreover, it may be imagined that Rudolph, despite the bonds of +religion and consanguinity, was disposed to look coldly on the colossal +projects of Philip. + +So Ernest brought no troops, but he brought six hundred and seventy +gentlemen, pages, and cooks, and five hundred and thirty-four horses, not +to charge upon the rebellious Dutchmen withal, but to draw coaches and +six. + +There was trouble enough prepared for the new governor at his arrival. +The great Flemish and Walloon nobles were quarrelling fiercely with the +Spaniards and among themselves for office and for precedence. Arschot +and his brother Havre both desired the government of Flanders; so did +Arenberg. All three, as well as other gentlemen, were scrambling for +the majordomo's office in Ernest's palace. Havre wanted the finance +department as well, but Ybarra, who was a financier, thought the public +funds in his hands would be in a perilous condition, inasmuch as he was +provinces was accounted the most covetous man in all the provinces. + +So soon as the archduke was known to be approaching the capital there was +a most ludicrous race run by all these grandees, in order to be the first +to greet his Highness. While Mansfeld and Fuentes were squabbling, as +usual, Arschot got the start of both, and arrived at Treves. Then the +decrepit Peter Ernest struggled as far as Luxembourg, while Fuentes +posted on to Namur. The archduke was much perplexed as to the arranging +of all these personages on the day of his entrance into Brussels. In the +council of state it was still worse. Arschot claimed the first place as +duke and as senior member, Peter Ernest demanded it as late governor- +general and because of his grey hairs. Never was imperial highness more +disturbed, never was clamour for loaves and fishes more deafening. The +caustic financier--whose mind was just then occupied with the graver +matter of assassination on a considerable scale--looked with profound +contempt at the spectacle thus presented to him. "There has been the +devil's own row," said he, "between these counts about offices, and also +about going out to receive the most serene archduke. I have had such +work with them that by the salvation of my soul I swear if it were to +last a fortnight longer I would go off afoot to Spain, even if I were +sure of dying in jail after I got there. I have reconciled the two +counts (Fuentes and Mansfeld) with each other a hundred times, and +another hundred times they have fallen out again, and behaved themselves +with such vulgarity that I blushed for them. They are both to blame, +but at any rate we have now got the archduke housed, and he will get +us out of this embarrassment." + +The archduke came with rather a prejudice against the Spaniards-- +the result doubtless of his disappointment in regard to France--and he +manifested at first an extreme haughtiness to those of that nation with +whom he came in contact. A Castilian noble of high rank, having audience +with him on one occasion, replaced his hat after salutation, as he had +been accustomed to do--according to the manner of grandees of Spain-- +during the government of Farnese. The hat was rudely struck from his +head by the archduke's chamberlain, and he was himself ignominiously +thrust out of the presence. At another time an interview was granted to +two Spanish gentlemen who had business to transact. They made their +appearance in magnificent national costume, splendidly embroidered in +gold. After a brief hearing they were dismissed, with appointment of +another audience for a few days later. When they again presented +themselves they found the archduke with his court jester standing at his +side, the buffoon being attired in a suit precisely similar to their own, +which in the interval had been prepared by the court tailor. + +Such amenities as these did not increase the popularity of Ernest with +the high-spirited Spaniards, nor was it palatable to them that it should +be proposed to supersede the old fighting Portuguese, Verdugo, as +governor and commander-in-chief for the king in Friesland, by Frederic +van den Berg, a renegade Netherlander, unworthy cousin of the Nassaus, +who had never shown either military or administrative genius. + +Nor did he succeed in conciliating the Flemings or the Germans by these +measures. In truth he was, almost without his own knowledge, under the +controlling influence of Fuentes, the most unscrupulous and dangerous +Spaniard of them all, while his every proceeding was closely watched not +only by Diego and Stephen Ybarra, but even by Christoval de Moura, one +of Philip's two secretaries of state who at this crisis made a visit +to Brussels. + +These men were indignant at the imbecility of the course pursued in the +obedient provinces. They knew that the incapacity of the Government to +relieve the sieges of Gertruydenberg and Groningen had excited the +contempt of Europe, and was producing a most damaging effect an Spanish +authority throughout Christendom. They were especially irritated by the +presence of the arch-intrigues, Mayenne, in Brussels, even after all his +double dealings had been so completely exposed that a blind man could +have read them. Yet there was Mayenne, consorting with the archduke, and +running up a great bill of sixteen thousand florins at the hotel, which +the royal paymaster declined to settle for want of funds, notwithstanding +Ernest's order to that effect, and there was no possibility of inducing +the viceroy to arrest him, much as he had injured and defrauded the king. + +How severely Ybarra and Feria denounced Mayenne has been seen; but +remonstrances about this and other grave mistakes of administration +were lost upon Ernest, or made almost impossible by his peculiar temper. +"If I speak of these things to his Highness," said Ybarra, "he will begin +to cry, as he always does." + +Ybarra, however, thought it his duty secretly to give the king frequent +information as to the blasted and forlorn condition of the provinces. +"This sick man will die in our arms," he said, "without our wishing to +kill him." He also left no doubt in the royal mind as to the utter +incompetency of the archduke for his office. Although he had much +Christianity, amiability, and good intentions, he was so unused to +business, so slow and so lazy, so easily persuaded by those around him, +as to be always falling into errors. He was the servant of his own +servants, particularly of those least disposed to the king's service +and most attentive to their own interests. He had endeavoured to make +himself beloved by the natives of the country, while the very reverse +of this had been the result. + +"As to his agility and the strength of his body," said the Spaniard, as +if he were thinking of certain allegories which were to mark the +archduke's triumphal entry, "they are so deficient as to leave him unfit +for arms. I consider him incapable of accompanying an army to the field, +and we find him so new to all such affairs as constitute government and +the conduct of warlike business, that he could not steer his way without +some one to enlighten and direct him." + +It was sometimes complained of in those days--and the thought has even +prolonged itself until later times--that those republicans of the United +Netherlands had done and could do great things; but that, after all, +there was no grandeur about them. Certainly they had done great things. +It was something to fight the Ocean for ages, and patiently and firmly to +shut him out from his own domain. It was something to extinguish the +Spanish Inquisition--a still more cruel and devouring enemy than the sea. +It was something that the fugitive spirit of civil and religious liberty +had found at last its most substantial and steadfast home upon those +storm-washed shoals and shifting sandbanks. + +It was something to come to the rescue of England in her great agony, and +help to save her from invasion. It was something to do more than any +nation but England, and as much as she, to assist Henry the Huguenot to +the throne of his ancestors and to preserve the national unity of France +which its own great ones had imperilled. It was something to found two +magnificent universities, cherished abodes of science and of antique +lore, in the midst of civil commotions and of resistance to foreign +oppression. It was something, at the same period, to lay the foundation +of a systew of common schools--so cheap as to be nearly free--for rich +and poor alike, which, in the words of one of the greatest benefactors +to the young republic, "would be worth all the soldiers, arsenals, +armouries, munitions, and alliances in the world." It was something to +make a revolution, as humane as it was effective, in military affairs, +and to create an army whose camps were European academies. It was +something to organize, at the same critical period, on the most skilful +and liberal scale, to carry out with unexampled daring, sagacity, and +fortitude, great voyages of discovery to the polar regions, and to open +new highways for commerce, new treasures for science. Many things of +this nature had been done by the new commonwealth; but, alas! she did not +drape herself melodramatically, nor stalk about with heroic wreath and +cothurn. She was altogether without grandeur. + +When Alva had gained his signal victories, and followed them up by +those prodigious massacres which, but for his own and other irrefragable +testimony, would seem too monstrous for belief, he had erected a colossal +statue to himself, attired in the most classical of costumes, and +surrounded with the most mythological of attributes. Here was grandeur. +But William the Silent, after he had saved the republic, for which he had +laboured during his whole lifetime and was destined to pour out his +heart's blood, went about among the brewers and burghers with unbuttoned +doublet and woollen bargeman's waistcoat. It was justly objected to his +clothes, by the euphuistic Fulke Greville, that a meanborn student of the +Inns of Court would have been ashamed to walk about London streets in +them. + +And now the engineering son of that shabbily-dressed personage had been +giving the whole world lessons in the science of war, and was fairly +perfecting the work which William and his great contemporaries had so +well begun. But if all this had been merely doing great things without +greatness, there was one man in the Netherlands who knew what grandeur +was. He was not a citizen of the disobedient republic, however, but a +loyal subject of the obedient provinces, and his name was John Baptist +Houwaerts, an eminent schoolmaster of Brussels. He was still more +eminent as a votary of what was called "Rhetoric" and as an arranger of +triumphal processions and living pictures. + +The arrival of Archduke Ernest at the seat of the provincial Government +offered an opportunity, which had long been wanting, for a display of +John Baptist's genius. The new viceroy was in so shattered a condition +of health, so crippled with the gout, as to be quite unable to stand, and +it required the services of several lackeys to lift him into and out of +his carriage. A few days of repose therefore were indispensable to him +before he could make his "joyous entrance" into the capital. But the day +came at last, and the exhibition was a masterpiece. + +It might have seemed that the abject condition of the Spanish provinces-- +desolate, mendicant, despairing--would render holiday making impossible. +But although almost every vestige of the ancient institutions had +vanished from the obedient Netherlands as a reward for their obedience; +although to civil and religious liberty, law, order, and a thriving +commercial and manufacturing existence, such as had been rarely witnessed +in the world, had succeeded the absolute tyranny of Jesuits, universal +beggary, and a perennial military mutiny--setting Government at defiance +and plundering the people--there was one faithful never deserted Belgica, +and that was Rhetoric. + +Neither the magnificence nor the pedantry of the spectacles by which the +entry of the mild and inefficient Ernest into Brussels and Antwerp was +now solemnized had ever been surpassed. The town councils, stimulated by +hopes absolutely without foundation as to great results to follow the +advent of the emperor's brother, had voted large sums and consumed many +days in anxious deliberation upon the manner in which they should be +expended so as most to redound to the honour of Ernest and the reputation +of the country. + +In place of the "bloody tragedies of burning, murdering, and ravishing," +of which the provinces had so long been the theatre, it was resolved +that, "Rhetoric's sweet comedies, amorous jests, and farces," should +gladden all eyes and hearts. A stately procession of knights and +burghers in historical and mythological costumes, followed by ships, +dromedaries, elephants, whales, giants, dragons, and other wonders of +the sea and shore, escorted the archduke into the city. Every street and +square was filled with triumphal arches, statues and platforms, on which +the most ingenious and thoroughly classical living pictures were +exhibited. There was hardly an eminent deity of Olympus, or hero of +ancient history, that was not revived and made visible to mortal eyes +in the person of Ernestus of Austria. + +On a framework fifty-five feet high and thirty-three feet in breadth he +was represented as Apollo hurling his darts at an enormous Python, under +one of whose fore-paws struggled an unfortunate burgher, while the other +clutched a whole city; Tellus, meantime, with her tower on her head, +kneeling anxious and imploring at the feet of her deliverer. On another +stage Ernest assumed the shape of Perseus; Belgica that of the bound and +despairing Andromeda. On a third, the interior of Etna was revealed, +when Vulcan was seen urging his Cyclops to forge for Ernest their most +tremendous thunderbolts with which to smite the foes of the provinces, +those enemies being of course the English and the Hollanders. Venus, the +while, timidly presented an arrow to her husband, which he was requested +to sharpen, in order that when the wars were over Cupid, therewith might +pierce the heart of some beautiful virgin, whose charms should reward +Ernest--fortunately for the female world, still a bachelor--for his +victories and his toils. + +The walls of every house were hung with classic emblems and inscribed +with Latin verses. All the pedagogues of Brussels and Antwerp had been +at work for months, determined to amaze the world with their dithyrambics +and acrostics, and they had outdone themselves. + +Moreover, in addition to all these theatrical spectacles and pompous +processions--accompanied as they were by blazing tar-barrels, flying +dragons, and leagues of flaring torches--John Baptist, who had been +director-in-chief of all the shows successively arranged to welcome Don +John of Austria, Archduke Matthias, Francis of Alengon, and even William +of Orange, into the capital, had prepared a feast of a specially +intellectual character for the new governor-general. + +The pedant, according to his own account, so soon as the approach of +Ernest had been announced, fell straightway into a trance. While he was +in that condition, a beautiful female apparition floated before his eyes, +and, on being questioned, announced her name to be Moralization. John +Baptist begged her to inform him whether it were true, as had been +stated, that Jupiter had just sent Mercury to the Netherlands. The +phantom, correcting his mistake, observed that the king of gods and men +had not sent Hermes but the Archduke Ernestus, beloved of the three +Graces, favourite of the nine Muses, and, in addition to these +advantages, nephew and brother-in-law of the King of Spain, to the relief +of the suffering provinces. The Netherlands, it was true, for their +religious infidelity, had justly incurred great disasters and misery; but +benignant Jove, who, to the imagination of this excited Fleming, seemed +to have been converted to Catholicism while still governing the universe, +had now sent them in mercy a deliverer. The archduke would speedily +relieve "bleeding Belgica" from her sufferings, bind up her wounds, and +annihilate her enemies. The spirit further informed the poet that the +forests of the Low Countries--so long infested by brigands, wood-beggars, +and malefactors of all kinds--would thenceforth swarm with "nymphs, +rabbits, hares, and animals of that nature." + +A vision of the conquering Ernest, attended by "eight-and-twenty noble +and pleasant females, marching two and two, half naked, each holding a +torch in one hand and a laurel-wreath in the other," now swept before the +dreamer's eyes." He naturally requested the "discreet spirit" to mention +the names of this bevy of imperfectly attired ladies thronging so +lovingly around the fortunate archduke, and was told that "they were +the eight-and-twenty virtues which chiefly characterized his serene +Highness." Prominent in this long list, and they were all faithfully +enumerated, were Philosophy, Audacity, Acrimony, Virility, Equity, Piety, +Velocity, and Alacrity." The two last-mentioned qualities could hardly +be attributed to the archduke in his decrepit condition, except in an +intensely mythological sense. Certainly, they would have been highly +useful virtues to him at that moment. The prince who had just taken +Gertruydenberg, and was then besieging Groningen, was manifesting his +share of audacity, velocity, and other good gifts on even a wider +platform than that erected for Ernest by John Baptist Houwaerts; and +there was an admirable opportunity for both to develope their respective +characteristics for the world's judgment. + +Meantime the impersonation of the gentle and very gouty invalid as +Apollo, as Perseus, as the feather-heeled Mercury, was highly applauded +by the burghers of Brussels. + +And so the dreamer dreamed on, and the discreet nymph continued to +discourse, until John Baptist, starting suddenly from his trance beheld +that it was all a truth and no vision. Ernest was really about to enter +the Netherlands, and with him the millennium. The pedant therefore +proceeded to his desk, and straightway composed the very worst poem that +had ever been written in any language, even Flemish. + +There were thousands of lines in it, and not a line without a god or a +goddess. + +Mars, Nemesis, and Ate, Pluto, Rhadamanthus, and Minos, the Fates and +the Furies, together with Charon, Calumnia, Bellona, and all such +objectionable divinities, were requested to disappear for ever from the +Low Countries; while in their stead were confidently invoked Jupiter, +Apollo, Triptolemus, and last, though not least, Rhetorica. + +Enough has been said of this raree-show to weary the reader's patience, +but not more than enough to show the docile and enervated nature of this +portion of a people who had lost everything for which men cherish their +fatherland, but who could still find relief--after thirty years of +horrible civil war in painted pageantry, Latin versification, and the +classical dictionary. + +Yet there was nothing much more important achieved by the archduke in the +brief period for which his administration was destined to endure. +Three phenomena chiefly marked his reign, but his own part in the three +was rather a passive than an active one--mutiny, assassination, and +negotiation--the two last attempted on a considerable scale but ending +abortively. + +It is impossible to exaggerate the misery of the obedient provinces at +this epoch. The insane attempt of the King of Spain, with such utterly +inadequate machinery, to conquer the world has been sufficiently dilated +upon. The Spanish and Italian and Walloon soldiers were starving in +Brabant and Flanders in order that Spanish gold might be poured into the +bottomless pit of the Holy League in France. + +The mutiny that had broken forth the preceding year in Artois and Hamault +was now continued on a vast scale in Brabant. Never had that national +institution--a Spanish mutiny--been more thoroughly organized, more +completely carried out in all its details. All that was left of the +famous Spanish discipline and military science in this their period of +rapid decay, seemed monopolized by the mutineers. Some two thousand +choice troops (horse and foot), Italians and Spanish, took possession of +two considerable cities, Sichem and Arschot, and ultimately concentrated +themselves at Sichem, which they thoroughly fortified. Having chosen +their Eletto and other officers they proceeded regularly to business. +To the rallying point came disaffected troops of all nations from far +and near. Never since the beginning of the great war had there been so +extensive a military rebellion, nor one in which so many veteran +officers, colonels, captains, and subalterns took part. The army of +Philip had at last grown more dangerous to himself than to the +Hollanders. + +The council at Brussels deliberated anxiously upon the course to be +pursued, and it was decided at last to negotiate with instead of +attacking them. But it was soon found that the mutineers were as hard +to deal with as were the republicans on the other side the border. They +refused to hear of anything short of complete payment of the enormous +arrears due to them, with thorough guarantees and hostages that any +agreement made between themselves and the archduke should be punctually +carried out. Meanwhile they ravaged the country far and near, and levied +their contributions on towns and villages, up to the very walls of +Brussels, and before the very eyes of the viceroy. + +Moreover they entered into negotiation with Prince Maurice of Nassau, not +offering to enlist under his flag, but asking for protection against the +king in exchange for a pledge meanwhile not to serve his cause. At last +the archduke plucked up a heart and sent some troops against the rebels, +who had constructed two forts on the river Demer near the city of Sichem. +In vain Velasco, commander of the expedition, endeavoured to cut off the +supplies for these redoubts. The vigour and audacity of the rebel +cavalry made the process impossible. Velasco then attempted to storm the +lesser stronghold of the two, but was repulsed with the loss of two +hundred killed. Among these were many officers, one of whom, Captain +Porto Carrero, was a near relative of Fuentes. After a siege, Velasco, +who was a marshal of the camp of considerable distinction, succeeded in +driving the mutineers out of the forts; who, finding their position +thus weakened, renewed their negotiations with Maurice. They at last +obtained permission from the prince to remain under the protection of +Gertruydenberg and Breda until they could ascertain what decision the +archduke would take. More they did not ask of Maurice, nor did he +require more of them. + +The mutiny, thus described in a few lines, had occupied nearly a year, +and had done much to paralyze for that period all the royal operations in +the Netherlands. In December the rebellious troops marched out of Sichem +in perfect order, and came to Langstraet within the territory of the +republic. + +The archduke now finding himself fairly obliged to treat with them sent +an offer of the same terms which had been proposed to mutineers on +previous occasions. At first they flatly refused to negotiate at all, +but at last, with the permission of Maurice, who conducted himself +throughout with scrupulous delicacy, and made no attempts to induce them +to violate their allegiance to the king, they received Count Belgioso, +the envoy of the archduke. They held out for payment of all their +arrears up to the last farthing, and insisted on a hostage of rank until +the debt should be discharged. Full forgiveness of their rebellious +proceedings was added as a matter of course. Their terms were accepted, +and Francisco Padiglia was assigned as a hostage. They then established +themselves, according to agreement, at Tirlemont, which they were allowed +to fortify at the expense of the province and to hold until the money for +their back wages could be scraped together. Meantime they received daily +wages and rations from the Government at Brussels, including thirty +stivers a day for each horseman, thirteen crowns a day for the Eletto, +and ten crowns a day for each counsellor, making in all five hundred +crowns a day. And here they remained, living exceedingly at their ease +and enjoying a life of leisure for eighteen months, and until long after +the death of the archduke, for it was not until the administration of +Cardinal Albert that the funds, amounting to three hundred and sixty +thousand crowns, could be collected. + +These were the chief military exploits of the podagric Perseus in behalf +of the Flemish Andromeda. + +A very daring adventure was however proposed to the archduke. Philip +calmly suggested that an expedition should be rapidly fitted out in +Dunkirk, which should cross the channel, ascend the Thames as far as +Rochester, and burn the English fleet. "I am informed by persons well +acquainted with the English coast," said the king, "that it would be an +easy matter for a few quick-sailing vessels to accomplish this. Two or +three thousand soldiers might be landed at Rochester who might burn or +sink all the unarmed vessels they could find there, and the expedition +could return and sail off again before the people of the country could +collect in sufficient numbers to do them any damage." The archduke was +instructed to consult with Fuentes and Ybarra as to whether this little +matter, thus parenthetically indicated, could be accomplished without too +much risk and trouble. + +Certainly it would seem as if the king believed in the audacity, +virility, velocity, alacrity, and the rest of the twenty-eight virtues +of his governor-general, even more seriously than did John Baptist +Houwaerts. The unfortunate archduke would have needed to be, in all +earnestness, a mythological demigod to do the work required of him. With +the best part of his army formally maintained by him in recognised +mutiny, with the great cities of the Netherlands yielding themselves to +the republic with hardly an attempt on the part of the royal forces to +relieve them, and with the country which he was supposed to govern, the +very centre of the obedient provinces, ruined, sacked, eaten up by the +soldiers of Spain; villages, farmhouses, gentlemen's castles, churches +plundered; the male population exposed to daily butchery, and the women +to outrages worse than death; it seemed like the bitterest irony to +propose that he should seize that moment to outwit the English and Dutch +sea-kings who were perpetually cruising in the channel, and to undertake +a "beard-singeing" expedition such as even the dare-devil Drake would +hardly have attempted. + +Such madcap experiments might perhaps one day, in the distant future, be +tried with reasonable success, but hardly at the beck of a Spanish king +sitting in his easy chair a thousand miles off, nor indeed by the +servants of any king whatever. + +The plots of murder arranged in Brussels during this administration were +on a far more extensive scale than were the military plans. + +The Count of Fuentes, general superintendant of foreign affairs, was +especially charged with the department of assassination. This office was +no sinecure; for it involved much correspondence, and required great +personal attention to minute details. Philip, a consummate artist in +this branch of industry, had laid out a good deal of such work which he +thought could best be carried out in and from the Netherlands. +Especially it was desirable to take off, by poison or otherwise, Henry +IV., Queen Elizabeth, Maurice of Nassau, Olden-Barneveld, St. Aldegonde, +and other less conspicuous personages. + +Henry's physician-in-chief, De la Riviere, was at that time mainly +occupied with devising antidotes to poison, which he well knew was +offered to his master on frequent occasions, and in the most insidious +ways. Andrada, the famous Portuguese poisoner, amongst others is said, +under direction of Fuentes and Ybarra, to have attempted his life by a +nosegay of roses impregnated with so subtle a powder that its smell alone +was relied upon to cause death, and De la Riviere was doing his best to +search for a famous Saxon drug, called fable-powder, as a counter-poison. +"The Turk alarms us, and well he may," said a diplomatic agent of Henry, +"but the Spaniard allows us not to think of the Turk. And what a strange +manner is this to exercise one's enmities and vengeance by having +recourse to such damnable artifices, after force and arms have not +succeeded, and to attack the person of princes by poisonings and +assassinations." + +A most elaborate attempt upon the life of Queen Elizabeth early in this +year came near being successful. A certain Portuguese Jew, Dr. Lopez, +had for some time been her physician-in-ordinary. He had first been +received into her service on the recommendation of Don Antonio, the +pretender, and had the reputation of great learning and skill. With this +man Count Fuentes and Stephen Ybarra, chief of the financial department +at Brussels, had a secret understanding. Their chief agent was Emanuel +Andrada, who was also in close communication with Bernardino de Mendoza +and other leading personages of the Spanish court. Two years previously, +Philip, by the hands of Andrada, had sent a very valuable ring of rubies +and diamonds as a present to Lopez, and the doctor had bound himself to +do any service for the king of Spain that might be required of him. +Andrada accordingly wrote to Mendoza that he had gained over this eminent +physician, but that as Lopez was poor and laden with debt, a high price +would be required for his work. Hereupon Fuentes received orders from +the King of Spain to give the Jew all that he could in reason demand, if +he would undertake to poison the queen. + +It now became necessary to handle the matter with great delicacy, and +Fuentes and Ybarra entered accordingly into a correspondence, not with +Lopez, but with a certain Ferrara de Gama. These letters were entrusted +to one Emanuel Lewis de Tinoco, secretly informed of the plot, for +delivery to Ferrara. Fuentes charged Tinoco to cause Ferrara to +encourage Lopez to poison her Majesty of England, that they might all +have "a merry Easter." Lopez was likewise requested to inform the King +of Spain when he thought he could accomplish the task. The doctor +ultimately agreed to do the deed for fifty thousand crowns, but as he had +daughters and was an affectionate parent, he stipulated for a handsome +provision in marriage for those young ladies. The terms were accepted, +but Lopez wished to be assured of the money first. + +"Having once undertaken the work," said Lord Burghley, if he it were, "he +was so greedy to perform it that he would ask Ferrara every day, 'When +will the money come? I am ready to do the service if the answer were +come out of Spain.'" + +But Philip, as has been often seen, was on principle averse to paying +for work before it had been done. Some delay occurring, and the secret, +thus confided to so many, having floated as it were imperceptibly into +the air, Tinoco was arrested on suspicion before he had been able to +deliver the letters of Fuentes and Ybarra to Ferrara, for Ferrara, too, +had been imprisoned before the arrival of Tinoco. The whole +correspondence was discovered, and both Ferrara and Tinoco confessed the +plot. Lopez, when first arrested, denied his guilt very stoutly, but +being confronted with Ferrara, who told the whole story to his face in +presence of the judges, he at last avowed the crime. + +They were all condemned, executed, and quartered at London in the spring +of 1594. The queen wished to send a special envoy to the archduke at +Brussels, to complain that Secretary of State Cristoval de Moura, Count +Fuentes, and Finance Minister Ybarra--all three then immediately about +his person--were thus implicated in the plot against her life, to demand +their punishment, or else, in case of refusals to convict the king and +the archduke as accomplices in the crime. Safe conduct was requested for +such an envoy, which was refused by Ernest as an insulting proposition +both to his uncle and himself. The queen accordingly sent word to +President Richardot by one of her council, that the whole story would be +published, and this was accordingly done. + +Early in the spring of this same year, a certain Renichon, priest and +schoolmaster of Namur, was summoned from his school to a private +interview with Count Berlaymont. That nobleman very secretly informed +the priest that the King of, Spain wished to make use of him in an affair +of great importance, and one which would be very profitable to himself. +The pair then went together to Brussels, and proceeded straightway to the +palace. They were secretly admitted to the apartments of the archduke, +but the priest, meaning to follow his conductor into the private chamber, +where he pretended to recognize the person of Ernest, was refused +admittance. The door was, however, not entirely closed, and he heard, as +he declared, the conversation between his Highness and Berlaymont, which +was carried on partly in Latin and partly in Spanish. He heard them +discussing the question--so he stated--of the recompense to be awarded +for the business about to be undertaken, and after a brief conversation, +distinctly understood the archduke to say, as the count was approaching +the door, "I will satisfy him abundantly and with interest." + +Berlaymont then invited his clerical guest to supper--so ran his +statement--and, after that repast was finished, informed him that he was +requested by the archduke to kill Prince Maurice of Nassau. For this +piece of work he was to receive one hundred Philip-dollars in hand, and +fifteen thousand more, which were lying ready for him, so soon as the +deed should be done. + +The schoolmaster at first objected to the enterprise, but ultimately +yielded to the persuasions of the count. He was informed that Maurice +was a friendly, familiar gentleman, and that there would be opportunities +enough for carrying out the project if he took his time. He was to buy a +good pair of pistols and remove to the Hague, where he was to set up a +school, and wait for the arrival of his accomplices, of whom there were +six. Berlaymont then caused to be summoned and introduced to the +pedagogue a man whom he described as one of the six. The new comer, +hearing that Renichon had agreed to the propositions made to him, hailed +him cordially as comrade and promised to follow him very soon into +Holland. Berlaymont then observed that there were several personages to +be made away with, besides Prince Maurice--especially Barneveld, and St. +Aldegonde and that the six assassins had, since the time of the Duke of +Parma, been kept in the pay of the King of Spain as nobles, to be +employed as occasion should serve. + +His new comrade accompanied Renichon to the canal boat, conversing by the +way, and informed him that they were both to be sent to Leyden in order +to entice away and murder the young brother of Maurice, Frederic Henry, +then at school at that place, even as Philip William, eldest of all the +brothers, had been kidnapped five-and-twenty years before from the same +town. + +Renichon then disguised himself as a soldier, proceeded to Antwerp, where +he called himself Michael de Triviere, and thence made his way to Breda, +provided with letters from Berlaymont. He was, however, arrested on +suspicion not long after his arrival there, and upon trial the whole plot +was discovered. Having unsuccessfully attempted to hang himself, he +subsequently, without torture, made a full and minute confession, and was +executed on the 3rd June, 1594. + +Later in the year, one Pierre du Four, who had been a soldier both in the +States and the French service, was engaged by General La Motte and +Counsellor Assonleville to attempt the assassination of Prince Maurice. +La Motte took the man to the palace, and pretended at least to introduce +him to the chamber of the archduke, who was said to be lying ill in bed. +Du Four was advised to enrol himself in the body-guard at the Hague, and +to seek an opportunity when the prince went hunting, or was mounting his +horse, or was coming from church, or at some such unguarded moment, to +take a shot at him. "Will you do what I ask," demanded from the bed the +voice of him who was said to be Ernest, "will you kill this tyrant?"-- +"I will," replied the soldier. "Then my son," was the parting +benediction of the supposed archduke, "you will go straight to paradise." + +Afterwards he received good advice from Assonleville, and was assured +that if he would come and hear a mass in the royal chapel next morning, +that religious ceremony would make him invisible when he should make his +attempt on the life of Maurice, and while he should be effecting his +escape. The poor wretch accordingly came next morning to chapel, where +this miraculous mass was duly performed, and he then received a certain +portion of his promised reward in ready money. He was also especially +charged, in case he should be arrested, not to make a confession--as had +been done by those previously employed in such work--as all complicity +with him on part of his employers would certainly be denied. + +The miserable dupe was arrested, convicted, executed; and of course +the denial was duly made on the part of the archduke, La Motte, and +Assonleville. It was also announced, on behalf of Ernest, that some +one else, fraudulently impersonating his Highness, had lain in the bed +to which the culprit had been taken, and every one must hope that the +statement was a true one. + +Enough has been given to show the peculiar school of statesmanship +according to the precepts of which the internal concerns and foreign +affairs of the obedient Netherlands were now administered. Poison and +pistols in the hands of obscure priests and deserters were relied on to +bring about great political triumphs, while the mutinous royal armies, +entrenched and defiant, were extorting capitulations from their own +generals and their own sovereign upon his own soil. + +Such a record as this seems rather like the exaggeration of a diseased +fancy, seeking to pander to a corrupt public taste which feeds greedily +upon horrors; but, unfortunately, it is derived from the register of +high courts of justice, from diplomatic correspondence, and from the +confessions, without torture or hope of free pardon, of criminals. For a +crowned king and his high functionaries and generals to devote so much of +their time, their energies, and their money to the murder of brother and +sister sovereigns, and other illustrious personages, was not to make +after ages in love with the monarchic and aristocratic system, at least +as thus administered. Popular governments may be deficient in polish, +but a system resting for its chief support upon bribery and murder cannot +be considered lovely by any healthy mind. And this is one of the lessons +to be derived from the history of Philip II. and of the Holy League. + +But besides mutiny and assassination there were also some feeble attempts +at negotiation to characterize the Ernestian epoch at Brussels. The +subject hardly needs more than a passing allusion. + +Two Flemish juris-consults, Otto Hertius and Jerome Comans, offered their +services to the archduke in the peacemaking department. Ernest accepted +the proposition,--although it was strongly opposed by Fuentes, who relied +upon the more practical agency of Dr. Lopez, Andrada, Renichon, and the +rest--and the peace-makers accordingly made their appearance at the +Hague, under safe conduct, and provided with very conciliatory letters +from his Highness to the States-General. In all ages and under all +circumstances it is safe to enlarge, with whatever eloquence may be at +command, upon the blessings of peace and upon the horrors of war; for +the appeal is not difficult to make, and a response is certain in almost +every human breast. But it is another matter to descend from the general +to the particular, and to demonstrate how the desirable may be attained +and the horrible averted. The letters of Ernest were full of benignity +and affection, breathing a most ardent desire that the miserable war, now +a quarter of a century old, should be then and there terminated. But not +one atom of concession was offered, no whisper breathed that the +republic, if it should choose to lay down its victorious arms, and +renounce its dearly gained independence, should share any different fate +from that under which it saw the obedient provinces gasping before its +eyes. To renounce religious and political liberty and self-government, +and to submit unconditionally to the authority of Philip II. as +administered by Ernest and Fuentes, was hardly to be expected as the +result of the three years' campaigns of Maurice of Nassau. + +The two doctors of law laid the affectionate common-places of the +archduke before the States-General, each of them making, moreover, +a long and flowery oration in which the same protestations of good will +and hopes of future good-fellowship were distended to formidable +dimensions by much windy rhetoric. The accusations which had been made +against the Government of Brussels of complicity in certain projects of +assassination were repelled with virtuous indignation. + +The answer of the States-General was wrathful and decided. They informed +the commissioners that they had taken up arms for a good cause and meant +to retain them in their hands. They expressed their thanks for the +expressions of good will which had been offered, but avowed their right +to complain before God and the world of those who under pretext of peace +were attempting to shed the innocent blood of Christians, and to procure +the ruin and destruction of the Netherlands. To this end the state- +council of Spain was more than ever devoted, being guilty of the most +cruel and infamous proceedings and projects. They threw out a rapid and +stinging summary of their wrongs; and denounced with scorn the various +hollow attempts at negotiation during the preceding twenty-five years. +Coming down to the famous years 1587 and 1588, they alluded in vehement +terms to the fraudulent peace propositions which had been thrown as a +veil over the Spanish invasion of England and the Armada; and they +glanced at the mediation-projects of the emperor in 1591 at the desire of +Spain, while armies were moving in force from Germany, Italy, and the +Netherlands to crush the King of France, in order that Philip might +establish his tyranny over all kings, princes, provinces, and republics. +That the Spanish Government was secretly dealing with the emperor and +other German potentates for the extension of his universal empire +appeared from intercepted letters of the king--copies of which were +communicated--from which it was sufficiently plain that the purpose of +his Majesty was not to bestow peace and tranquillity upon the +Netherlands. The names of Fuentes, Clemente, Ybarra, were sufficient in +themselves to destroy any such illusion. They spoke in blunt terms of +the attempt of Dr. Lopez to poison Queen Elizabeth, at the instigation of +Count Fuentes for fifty thousand crowns to be paid by the King of Spain: +they charged upon the same Fuentes and upon Ybarra that they had employed +the same Andrada to murder the King of France with a nosegay of roses; +and they alluded further to the revelations of Michael Renichon, who was +to murder Maurice of Nassau and kidnap Frederic William, even as their +father and brother had been already murdered and kidnapped. + +For such reasons the archduke might understand by what persons and what +means the good people of the Netherlands were deceived, and how difficult +it was for the States to forget such lessons, or to imagine anything +honest in the present propositions. + +The States declared themselves, on the contrary, more called upon than +ever before to be upon the watch against the stealthy proceedings of the +Spanish council of state--bearing in mind the late execrable attempts at +assassination, and the open war which was still carried on against the +King of France. + +And although it was said that his Highness was displeased with such +murderous and hostile proceedings, still it was necessary for the States +to beware of the nefarious projects of the King of Spain and his council. + +After the conversion of Henry IV. to the Roman Church had been duly +accomplished that monarch had sent a secret envoy to Spain. The mission +of this agent--De Varenne by name--excited intense anxiety and suspicion +in England and Holland and among the Protestants of France and Germany. +It was believed that Henry had not only made a proposition of a separate +peace with Philip, but that he had formally but mysteriously demanded the +hand of the Infanta in marriage. Such a catastrophe as this seemed to +the heated imaginations of the great body of Calvinists throughout +Europe, who had so faithfully supported the King of Navarre up to the +moment of his great apostasy, the most cruel and deadly treachery of all. +That the princess with the many suitors should come to reign over France +after all--not as the bride of her own father, not as the queen-consort +of Ernest the Habsburger or of Guise the Lorrainer, but as the lawful +wife of Henry the Huguenot--seemed almost too astounding for belief, even +amid the chances and changes of that astonishing epoch. Yet Duplessis +Mornay avowed that the project was entertained, and that he had it from +the very lips of the secret envoy who was to negotiate the marriage. +"La Varenne is on his way to Spain," wrote Duplessis to the Duke of +Bouillon, "in company with a gentleman of Don Bernardino de Mendoza, who +brought the first overtures. He is to bring back the portrait of the +Infanta. 'Tis said that the marriage is to be on condition that the +Queen and the Netherlands are comprised in the peace, but you know that +this cannot be satisfactorily arranged for those two parties. All this +was once guess-work, but is now history." + +That eminent diplomatist and soldier Mendoza had already on his return +from France given the King of Spain to understand that there were no +hopes of his obtaining the French crown either for himself or for his +daughter, that all the money lavished on the chiefs of the League was +thrown away, and that all their promises were idle wind. Mendoza in +consequence had fallen into contempt at court, but Philip, observing +apparently that there might have been something correct in his +statements, had recently recalled him, and, notwithstanding his blindness +and other infirmities, was disposed to make use of him in secret +negotiations. Mendoza had accordingly sent a confidential agent to Henry +IV. offering his good offices, now that the king had returned to the +bosom of the Church. + +This individual, whose name was Nunez, was admitted by De Bethune +(afterwards the famous Due de Sully) to the presence of the king, +but De Bethune, believing it probable that the Spaniard had been sent to +assassinate Henry, held both the hands of the emissary during the whole +interview, besides subjecting him to a strict personal visitation +beforehand. Nunez stated that he was authorized to propose to his +Majesty a marriage with the Infanta Clara Isabella, and Henry, much to +the discontent of De Bethune, listened eagerly to the suggestion, and +promised to send a secret agent to Spain to confer on the subject with +Mendoza. + +The choice he made of La Varenne, whose real name was Guillaume Fouquet, +for this mission was still more offensive to De Bethune. Fouquet had +originally been a cook in the service of Madame Catherine, and was famous +for his talent for larding poultry, but he had subsequently entered the +household of Henry, where he had been employed in the most degrading +service which one man can render to another. + + ["La Varenne," said Madame Catherine on one occasion "tu as plus + gagne ti porter les poulets de men frere, qu'a piquer les miens." + Memoires de Sully, Liv. vi. p. 296, note 6. He accumulated a large + fortune in these dignified pursuits--having, according to Winwood, + landed estates to the annual amount of sixty thousand francs a-year + --and gave large dowries to his daughters, whom he married into + noblest families; "which is the more remarkable," adds Winwood, + "considering the services wherein he is employed about the king, + which is to be the Mezzano for his loves; the place from whence he + came, which is out of the kitchen of Madame the king's sister."-- + Memorials, i. 380.] + +On his appointment to this offce of secret diplomacy he assumed all the +airs of an ambassador, while Henry took great pains to contradict the +reports which were spread as to the true nature of this mission to Spain. + +Duplessis was, in truth, not very far wrong in his conjectures, but, +as might be supposed, Henry was most anxious to conceal these secret +negotiations with his Catholic Majesty from the Huguenot chiefs whom he +had so recently deserted. "This is all done without the knowledge of +the Duke of Bouillon," said Calvaert, "or at least under a very close +disguise, as he, himself keenly feels and confesses to me." The envoy +of the republic, as well as the leaders of the Protestant party in +France, were resolved if possible to break off these dark and dangerous +intrigues, the nature of which they so shrewdly suspected, and to +substitute for them an open rupture of Henry with the King of Spain, +and a formal declaration of war against him. None of the diplomatists +or political personages engaged in these great affairs, in which the +whole world was so deeply interested, manifested more sagacity and +insight on this occasion than did the Dutch statesmen. We have seen that +even Sir Edward Stafford was deceived up to a very late moment, as to the +rumoured intentions of Henry to enter the Catholic Church. Envoy Edmonds +was now equally and completely in the dark as to the mission of Varenne, +and informed his Government that the only result of it was that the +secret agent to Spain was favoured, through the kindness of Mendoza, +with a distant view of Philip II. with his son and daughter at their +devotions in the chapel of the Escorial. This was the tale generally +recounted and believed after the agent's return from Spain, so that +Varenne was somewhat laughed at as having gone to Spain on a fool's +errand, and as having got nothing from Mendoza but a disavowal of his +former propositions. But the shrewd Calvaert, who had entertained +familiar relations with La Varenne, received from that personage after +his return a very different account of his excursion to the Escorial from +the one generally circulated. "Coming from Monceaus to Paris in his +company," wrote Calvaert in a secret despatch to the States, "I had the +whole story from him. The chief part of his negotiations with Don +Bernardino de Mendoza was that if his Majesty (the French king) would +abandon the Queen of England and your Highnesses (the States of the +Netherlands), there were no conditions that would be refused the king, +including the hand of the Infanta, together with a good recompense for +the kingdom of Navarre. La Varenne maintained that the King of Spain had +caused these negotiations to be entered upon at this time with him in the +certain hope and intention of a definite conclusion, alleging to me many +pertinent reasons, and among others that he, having been lodged at +Madrid, through the adroitness of Don Bernardino, among all the agents of +the League, and hearing all their secrets and negotiations, had never +been discovered, but had always been supposed to be one of the League +himself. He said also that he was well assured that the Infanta in her +heart had an affection for the French king, and notwithstanding any +resolutions that might be taken (to which I referred, meaning the +projects for bestowing her on the house of Austria) that she with her +father's consent or in case of his death would not fail to carry out +this marriage. You may from all this, even out of the proposal for +compensation for the kingdom of Navarre (of which his Majesty also let +out something to me inadvertently); collect the reasons why such feeble +progress is made in so great an occasion as now presents itself for a +declaration of war and an open alliance with your Highnesses. I shall +not fail to watch these events, even in case of the progress of the said +resolutions, notwithstanding the effects of which it is my opinion that +this secret intrigue is not to be abandoned. To this end, besides the +good intelligence which one gets by means of good friends, a continual +and agreeable presentation of oneself to his Majesty, in order to see and +hear everything, is necessary." + +Certainly, here were reasons more than sufficient why Henry should be +making but feeble preparations for open war in alliance with England and +the republic against Philip, as such a step was hardly compatible with +the abandonment of England and the republic and the espousal of Philip's +daughter--projects which Henry's commissioner had just been discussing +with Philip's agent at Madrid and the Escorial. + +Truly it was well for the republican envoy to watch events as closely as +possible, to make the most of intelligence from his good friends, and to +present himself as frequently and as agreeably as possible to his +Majesty, that he might hear and see everything. There was much to see +and to hear, and it needed adroitness and courage, not to slip or stumble +in such dark ways where the very ground seemed often to be sliding from +beneath the feet. + +To avoid the catastrophe of an alliance between Henry, Philip, and the +Pope against Holland and England, it was a pressing necessity for Holland +and England to force Henry into open war against Philip. To this end the +Dutch statesmen were bending all their energies. Meantime Elizabeth +regarded the campaign in Artois and Hainault with little favour. + +As he took leave on departing for France, La Varenne had requested +Mendoza to write to King Henry, but the Spaniard excused himself-- +although professing the warmest friendship for his Majesty--on the ground +of the impossibility of addressing him correctly. "If I call him here +King of Navarre, I might as well put my head on the block at once," he +observed; "if I call him King of France, my master has not yet recognized +him as such; if I call him anything else, he will himself be offended." + +And the vision of Philip in black on his knees, with his children about +him, and a rapier at his side, passed with the contemporary world as the +only phenomenon of this famous secret mission. + +But Henry, besides this demonstration towards Spain, lost no time in +despatching a special minister to the republic and to England, who was +instructed to make the most profuse, elaborate, and conciliatory +explanations as to his recent conversion and as to his future intentions. +Never would he make peace, he said, with Spain without the full consent +of the States and of England; the dearest object of his heart in making +his peace with Rome having been to restore peace to his own distracted +realm, to bring all Christians into one brotherhood, and to make a united +attack upon the grand Turk--a vision which the cheerful monarch hardly +intended should ever go beyond the ivory gate of dreams, but which +furnished substance enough for several well-rounded periods in the +orations of De Morlans. + +That diplomatist, after making the strongest representations to Queen +Elizabeth as to the faithful friendship of his master, and the necessity +he was under of pecuniary and military assistance, had received generous +promises of aid both in men and money--three thousand men besides the +troops actually serving in Brittany--from that sagacious sovereign, +notwithstanding the vehement language in which she had rebuked her royal +brother's apostasy. He now came for the same purpose to the Hague, +where he made very eloquent harangues to the States-General, +acknowledging that the republic had ever been the most upright, perfect, +and undisguised friend to his master and to France in their darkest days +and deepest affliction; that she had loved the king and kingdom for +themselves, not merely hanging on to their prosperity, but, on the +contrary, doing her best to produce that prosperity by her contributions +in soldiers, ships, and subsidies. "The king," said De Morlans, "is +deeply grieved that he can prove his gratitude only in words for so many +benefits conferred, which are absolutely without example, but he has +commissioned me to declare that if God should ever give him the occasion, +he will prove how highly he places your friendship." + +The envoy assured the States that all fears entertained by those of the +reformed religion on account of the conversion of his Majesty were +groundless. Nothing was farther from the king's thoughts than to injure +those noble spirits with whom his soul had lived so long, and whom he so +much loved and honoured. No man knew better than the king did, the +character of those who professed the Religion, their virtue, valour, +resolution, and patience in adversity. Their numbers had increased in +war, their virtues had been purified by affliction, they had never +changed their position, whether battles had been won or lost. Should +ever an attempt be made to take up arms against them within his realms, +and should there be but five hundred of them against ten thousand, the +king, remembering their faithful and ancient services, would leave the +greater number in order to die at the head of his old friends. He was +determined that they should participate in all the honours of the +kingdom, and with regard to a peace with Spain, he would have as much +care for the interests of the United Provinces as for his own. But a +peace was impossible with that monarch, whose object was to maintain his +own realms in peace while he kept France in perpetual revolt against the +king whom God had given her. The King of Spain had trembled at Henry's +cradle, at his youth, at the bloom of his manhood, and knew that he had +inflicted too much injury upon him ever to be on friendly terms with him. +The envoy was instructed to say that his master never expected to be in +amity with one who had ruined his house confiscated his property, and +caused so much misery to France; and he earnestly hoped--without +presuming to dictate--that the States-General would in this critical +emergency manifest their generosity. If the king were not assisted now, +both king and kingdom would perish. If he were assisted, the succour +would bear double fruit. + +The sentiments expressed on the part of Henry towards his faithful +subjects of the Religion, the heretic Queen of England, and the stout +Dutch Calvinists who had so long stood by him, were most noble. It was +pity that, at the same moment, he was proposing to espouse the Infanta, +and to publish the Council of Trent. + +The reply of the States-General to these propositions of the French envoy +was favourable, and it was agreed that a force of three thousand foot and +five hundred horse should be sent to the assistance of the king. +Moreover, the state-paper drawn up on this occasion was conceived with so +much sagacity and expressed with so much eloquence, as particularly to +charm the English queen when it was communicated to her Majesty. She +protested very loudly and vehemently to Noel de Caron, envoy from the +provinces at London, that this response on the part of his Government to +De Morlans was one of the wisest documents that she had ever seen. "In +all their actions," said she, "the States-General show their sagacity, +and indeed, it is the wisest Government ever known among republics. I +would show you," she added to the gentlemen around her, "the whole of the +paper if it were this moment at hand." + +After some delays, it was agreed between the French Government and that +of the United Provinces, that the king should divide his army into three +parts, and renew the military operations against Spain with the +expiration of the truce at the end of the year (1593). + +One body, composed of the English contingent, together with three +thousand French horse, three thousand Swiss, and four thousand French +harquebus-men, were to be under his own immediate command, and were to +act against the enemy wherever it should appear to his Majesty most +advantageous. A second, army was to expel the rebels and their foreign +allies from Normandy and reduce Rouen to obedience. A third was to make +a campaign in the provinces of Artois and Hainault, under the Duke of +Bouillon (more commonly called the Viscount Turenne), in conjunction with +the forces to be supplied by the republic. "Any treaty of peace on our +part with the King of Spain," said the States-General, "is our certain +ruin. This is an axiom. That monarch's object is to incorporate into +his own realms not only all the states and possessions of neighbouring +kings, principalities, and powers, but also all Christendom, aye, the +whole world, were it possible. We joyfully concur then in your Majesty's +resolution to carry on the war in Artois and Hainault, and agree to your +suggestion of diversions on our part by sieges and succour by +contingents." + +Balagny, meantime, who had so long led an independent existence at +Cambray, now agreed to recognise Henry's authority, in consideration of +sixty-seven thousand crowns yearly pension and the dignity of Marshal of +France. + +Towards the end of the year 1594, Buzanval, the regular French envoy at +the Hague, began to insist more warmly than seemed becoming that the +campaign in Artois and Hainault--so often the base of military operations +on the part of Spain against France--should begin. Further achievements +on the part of Maurice after the fall of Groningen were therefore +renounced for that year, and his troops went into garrison and winter- +quarters. The States-General, who had also been sending supplies, +troops, and ships to Brittany to assist the king, now, after soundly +rebuking Buzanval for his intemperate language, entrusted their +contingent for the proposed frontier campaign to Count Philip Nassau, +who accordingly took the field toward the end of the year at the head of +twenty-eight companies of foot and five squadrons of cavalry. He made +his junction with Turenne-Bouillon, but the duke, although provided with +a tremendous proclamation, was but indifferently supplied with troops. +The German levies, long-expected, were slow in moving, and on the whole +it seemed that the operations might have been continued by Maurice with +more effect, according to his original plan, than in this rather +desultory fashion. The late winter campaign on the border was feeble and +a failure. + +The bonds of alliance, however, were becoming very close between Henry +and the republic. Despite the change in religion on the part of the +king, and the pangs which it had occasioned in the hearts of leading +Netherlanders, there was still the traditional attraction between France +and the States, which had been so remarkably manifested during the +administration of William the Silent. The republic was more restive than +ever under the imperious and exacting friendship of Elizabeth, and, +feeling more and more its own strength, was making itself more and more +liable to the charge of ingratitude; so constantly hurled in its face by +the queen. And Henry, now that he felt himself really king of France, +was not slow to manifest a similar ingratitude or an equal love of +independence. Both monarch and republic, chafing under the protection of +Elizabeth, were drawn into so close a union as to excite her anger and +jealousy--sentiments which in succeeding years were to become yet more +apparent. And now; while Henry still retained the chivalrous and flowery +phraseology, so sweet to her ears, in his personal communications to the +queen, his ministers were in the habit of using much plainer language. +"Mr. de Sancy said to me," wrote the Netherland minister in France, +Calvaert, "that his Majesty and your Highnesses (the States-General) +must without long delay conclude an alliance offensive and defensive. +In regard to England, which perhaps might look askance at this matter, +he told me it would be invited also by his Majesty into the same +alliance; but if, according to custom, it shilly-shallied, and without +coming to deeds or to succour should put him off with words, he should in +that case proceed with our alliance without England, not doubting that +many other potentates in Italy and Germany would join in it likewise. +He said too, that he, the day before the departure of the English +ambassador, had said these words to him in the presence of his Majesty; +namely, that England had entertained his Majesty sixteen months long with +far-fetched and often-repeated questions and discontents, that one had +submitted to this sort of thing so long as his Majesty was only king of +Mantes, Dieppe, and Louviers, but that his Majesty being now king of +Paris would be no longer a servant of those who should advise him to +suffer it any longer or accept it as good payment; that England must +treat his Majesty according to his quality, and with deeds, not words. +He added that the ambassador had very anxiously made answer to these +words, and had promised that when he got back to England he would so +arrange that his Majesty should be fully satisfied, insisting to the last +on the alliance then proposed." + +In Germany, meanwhile, there was much protocolling, and more hard +drinking, at the Diet of Ratisbon. The Protestant princes did little +for their cause against the new designs of Spain and the moribund League, +while the Catholics did less to assist Philip. In truth, the holy Roman +Empire, threatened with a Turkish invasion, had neither power nor +inclination to help the new universal empire of the west into existence. +So the princes and grandees of Germany, while Amurath was knocking at the +imperial gates, busied themselves with banquetting and other diplomatic +work, but sent few reiters either to the east or west. + +Philip's envoys were indignant at the apathy displayed towards the great +Catholic cause, and felt humbled at the imbecility exhibited by Spain in +its efforts against the Netherlands and France. San Clemente, who was +attending the Diet at Ratisbon, was shocked at the scenes he witnessed. +"In less than three months," said that temperate Spaniard, "they have +drunk more than five million florins' worth of wine, at a time when the +Turk has invaded the frontiers of Germany; and among those who have done +the most of this consumption of wine, there is not one who is going to +give any assistance on the frontier. In consequence of these disorders +my purse is drained so low, that unless the king helps me I am ruined. +You must tell our master that the reputation of his grandeur and strength +has never been so low as it is now in Germany. The events in France and +those which followed in the Netherlands have thrown such impediments in +the negotiations here, that not only our enemies make sport of Marquis +Havre and myself, but even our friends--who are very few--dare not go +to public feasts, weddings, and dinners, because they are obliged to +apologize for us." + +Truly the world-empire was beginning to crumble. "The emperor has been +desiring twenty times," continued the envoy, "to get back to Prague from +the Diet, but the people hold him fast like a steer. As I think over all +that passes, I lose all judgment, for I have no money, nor influence, nor +reputation. Meantime, I see this rump of an empire keeping itself with +difficulty upon its legs. 'Tis full of wrangling and discord about +religion, and yet there is the Turk with two hundred thousand men +besieging a place forty miles from Vienna, which is the last outpost. +God grant it may last!" + +Such was the aspect of the Christian world at the close of the year 1594 + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +Beneficent and charitable purposes (War) +Chronicle of events must not be anticipated +Eat their own children than to forego one high mass +Humanizing effect of science upon the barbarism of war +Slain four hundred and ten men with his own hand + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext History of United Netherlands, v66 +by John Lothrop Motley + + + + + + +HISTORY OF THE UNITED NETHERLANDS +From the Death of William the Silent to the Twelve Year's Truce--1609 + +By John Lothrop Motley + + + +History United Netherlands, Volume 67, 1595 + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. + + Formal declaration of war against Spain--Marriage festivities--Death + of Archduke Ernest--His year of government--Fuentes declared + governor-general--Disaffection of the Duke of Arschot and Count + Arenberg--Death of the Duke of Arschot----Fuentes besieges Le + Catelet--The fortress of Ham, sold to the Spanish by De Gomeron, + besieged and taken by the Duke of Bouillon--Execution of De + Gomeron--Death of Colonel Verdugo--Siege of Dourlens by Fuentes-- + Death of La Motte--Death of Charles Mansfeld--Total defeat of the + French--Murder of Admiral De Pillars--Dourlens captured, and the + garrison and citizens put to the sword--Military operations in + eastern Netherlands and on the Rhine--Maurice lays siege to Groento + --Mondragon hastening to its relief, Prince Maurice raises the + siege--Skirmish between Maurice and Mondragon--Death of Philip of + Nassau--Death of Mondragon--Bombardment and surrender of Weerd + Castle--Maurice retires into winter quarters--Campaign of Henry Iv.- + --He besieges Dijon--Surrender of Dijon--Absolution granted to Henry + by the pope--Career of Balagny at Cambray--Progress of the siege-- + Capitulation of the town--Suicide of the Princess of Cambray, wife + of Balagny + +The year 1595 Opened with a formal declaration of war by the King of +France against the King of Spain. It would be difficult to say for +exactly how many years the war now declared had already been waged, +but it was a considerable advantage to the United Netherlands that the +manifesto had been at last regularly issued. And the manifesto was +certainly not deficient in bitterness. Not often in Christian history +has a monarch been solemnly and officially accused by a brother sovereign +of suborning assassins against his life. Bribery, stratagem, and murder, +were, however, so entirely the commonplace machinery of Philip's +administration as to make an allusion to the late attempt of Chastel +appear quite natural in Henry's declaration of war. The king further +stigmatized in energetic language the long succession of intrigues by +which the monarch of Spain, as chief of the Holy League, had been making +war upon him by means of his own subjects, for the last half dozcn years. +Certainly there was hardly need of an elaborate statement of grievances. +The deeds of Philip required no herald, unless Henry was prepared to +abdicate his hardly-earned title to the throne of France. + +Nevertheless the politic Gascon subsequently regretted the fierce style +in which he had fulminated his challenge. He was accustomed to observe +that no state paper required so much careful pondering as a declaration +of war, and that it was scarcely possible to draw up such a document +without committing many errors in the phraseology. The man who never +knew fear, despondency, nor resentment, was already instinctively acting +on the principle that a king should deal with his enemy as if sure to +become his friend, and with his friends as if they might easily change +to foes. + +The answer to the declaration was delayed for two months. When the +reply came it of course breathed nothing but the most benignant +sentiments in regard to France, while it expressed regret that it was +necessary to carry fire and sword through that country in order to avert +the unutterable woe which the crimes of the heretic Prince of Bearne were +bringing upon all mankind. + +It was a solace for Philip to call the legitimate king by the title +borne by him when heir-presumptive, and to persist in denying to him that +absolution which, as the whole world was aware, the Vicar of Christ was +at that very moment in the most solemn manner about to bestow upon him. + +More devoted to the welfare of France than were the French themselves, +he was determined that a foreign prince himself, his daughter, or one of +his nephews--should supplant the descendant of St. Louis on the French +throne. More catholic than the pope he could not permit the heretic, +whom his Holiness was just washing whiter than snow, to intrude himself +into the society of Christian sovereigns. + +The winter movements by Bouillon in Luxembourg, sustained by Philip +Nassau campaigning with a meagre force on the French frontier, were not +very brilliant. The Netherland regiments quartered at Yssoire, La Ferte, +and in the neighbourhood accomplished very little, and their numbers were +sadly thinned by dysentery. A sudden and successful stroke, too, by +which that daring soldier Heraugiere, who had been the chief captor of +Breda, obtained possession of the town, and castle of Huy, produced no +permanent advantage. This place, belonging to the Bishop of Liege, with +its stone bridge over the Meuse, was an advantageous position from which +to aid the operations of Bouillon in Luxembourg. Heraugiere was, +however, not sufficiently reinforced, and Huy was a month later +recaptured by La Motte. The campaigning was languid during that winter +in the United Netherlands, but the merry-making was energetic. The +nuptials of Hohenlo with Mary, eldest daughter of William the Silent and +own sister of the captive Philip William; of the Duke of Bouillon with +Elizabeth, one of the daughters of the same illustrious prince by his +third wife, Charlotte of Bourbon; and of Count Everard Solms, the famous +general of the Zeeland troops, with Sabina, daughter of the unfortunate +Lamoral Egmont, were celebrated with much pomp during the months of +February and March. The States of Holland and of Zeeland made +magnificent presents of diamonds to the brides; the Countess Hohenlo +receiving besides a yearly income of three thousand florins for the lives +of herself and her husband. + +In the midst of these merry marriage bells at the Hague a funeral knell +was sounding in Brussels. On the 20th February, the governor-general of +the obedient Netherlands, Archduke Ernest, breathed his last. His career +had not been so illustrious as the promises of the Spanish king and the +allegories of schoolmaster Houwaerts had led him to expect. He had not +espoused the Infanta nor been crowned King of France. He had not blasted +the rebellious Netherlands with Cyclopean thunderbolts, nor unbound the +Belgic Andromeda from the rock of doom. His brief year of government +had really been as dismal as, according to the announcement of his +sycophants, it should have been amazing. He had accomplished nothing, +and all that was left him was to die at the age of forty-two, over head +and ears in debt, a disappointed, melancholy man. He was very indolent, +enormously fat, very chaste, very expensive, fond of fine liveries and +fine clothes, so solemn and stately as never to be known to laugh, but +utterly without capacity either as a statesman or a soldier. He would +have shone as a portly abbot ruling over peaceful friars, but he was not +born to ride a revolutionary whirlwind, nor to evoke order out of chaos. +Past and Present were contending with each other in fierce elemental +strife within his domain. A world was in dying agony, another world was +coming, full-armed, into existence within the hand-breadth of time and of +space where he played his little part, but he dreamed not of it. He +passed away like a shadow, and was soon forgotten. + +An effort was made, during the last illness of Ernest, to procure from +him the appointment of the elector of Cologne as temporary successor to +tho government, but Count Fuentes was on the spot and was a man of +action. He produced a power in the French language from Philip, with a +blank for the name. This had been intended for the case of Peter Ernest +Mansfeld's possible death during his provisional administration, and +Fuentes now claimed the right of inserting his own name. + +The dying Ernest consented, and upon his death Fuentes was declared +governor-general until the king's further pleasure should be known. + +Pedro de Guzman, Count of Fuentes, a Spaniard of the hard and antique +type, was now in his sixty-fourth year. The pupil and near relative of +the Duke of Alva, he was already as odious to the Netherlanders as might +have been inferred from such education and such kin. A dark, grizzled, +baldish man, with high steep forehead, long, haggard, leathern visage, +sweeping beard, and large, stern, commanding, menacing eyes, with his +Brussels ruff of point lace and his Milan coat of proof, he was in +personal appearance not unlike the terrible duke whom men never named +without a shudder, although a quarter of a century had passed since he +had ceased to curse the Netherlands with his presence. Elizabeth of +England was accustomed to sneer at Fuentes because he had retreated +before Essex in that daring commander's famous foray into Portugal. +The queen called the Spanish general a timid old woman. If her gibe +were true, it was fortunate for her, for Henry of France, and for the +republic, that there were not many more such old women to come from +Spain to take the place of the veteran chieftains who were destined to +disappear so rapidly during this year in Flanders. He was a soldier of +fortune, loved fighting, not only for the fighting's sake, but for the +prize-money which was to be accumulated by campaigning, and he was wont +to say that he meant to enter Paradise sword in hand. + +Meantime his appointment excited the wrath of the provincial magnates. +The Duke of Arschot was beside himself with frenzy, and swore that he +would never serve under Fuentes nor sit at his council-board. The duke's +brother, Marquis Havre, and his son-in-law, Count Arenberg, shared in the +hatred, although they tried to mitigate the vehemence of its expression. +But Arschot swore that no man had the right to take precedence of him in +the council of state, and that the appointment of this or any Spaniard +was a violation of the charters of the provinces and of the promises of +his Majesty. As if it were for the nobles of the obedient provinces to +prate of charters and of oaths! Their brethren under the banner of the +republic had been teaching Philip for a whole generation how they could +deal with the privileges of freemen and with the perjury of tyrants. +It was late in the day for the obedient Netherlanders to remember their +rights. Havre and Arenberg, dissembling their own wrath, were abused and +insulted by the duke when they tried to pacify him. They proposed a +compromise, according to which Arschot should be allowed to preside in +the council of state while Fuentes should content himself with the +absolute control of the army. This would be putting a bit of fat in +the duke's mouth, they said. Fuentes would hear of no such arrangement. +After much talk and daily attempts to pacify this great Netherlander, his +relatives at last persuaded him to go home to his country place. He even +promised Arenberg and his wife that he would go to Italy, in pursuance of +a vow made to our lady of Loretto. Arenberg privately intimated to +Stephen Ybarra that there was a certain oil, very apt to be efficacious +in similar cases of irritation, which might be applied with prospect of +success. If his father-in-law could only receive some ten thousand +florins which he claimed as due to him from Government, this would do +more to quiet him than a regiment of soldiers could. He also suggested +that Fuentes should call upon the duke, while Secretary Ybarra should +excuse himself by sickness for not having already paid his respects. +This was done. Fuentes called. The duke returned the call, and the two +conversed amicably about the death of the archduke, but entered into no +political discussion. + +Arschot then invited the whole council of state, except John Baptist +Tassis, to a great dinner. He had prepared a paper to read to them in +which he represented the great dangers likely to ensue from such an +appointment as this of Fuentes, but declared that he washed his hands of +the consequences, and that he had determined to leave a country where he +was of so little account. He would then close his eyes and ears to +everything that might occur, and thus escape the infamy of remaining in a +country where so little account was made of him. He was urged to refrain +from reading this paper and to invite Tassis. After a time he consented +to suppress the document, but he manfully refused to bid the +objectionable diplomatist to his banquet. + +The dinner took place and passed off pleasantly enough. Arschot did not +read his manifesto, but, as he warmed with wine, he talked a great deal +of nonsense which, according to Stephen Ybarra, much resembled it, and he +vowed that thenceforth he would be blind and dumb to all that might +occur. A few days later, he paid a visit to the new governor-general, +and took a peaceful farewell of him. "Your Majesty knows very well what +he is," wrote Fuentes: "he is nothing but talk." Before leaving the +country he sent a bitter complaint to Ybarra, to the effect that the king +had entirely forgotten him, and imploring that financier's influence +to procure for him some gratuity from his Majesty. He was in such +necessity, he said, that it was no longer possible for him to maintain +his household. + +And with this petition the grandee of the obedient provinces shook the +dust from his shoes, and left his natal soil for ever. He died on the +11th December of the same year in Venice. + +His son the Prince of Chimay, his brother, and son-inlaw, and the other +obedient nobles, soon accommodated themselves to the new administration, +much as they had been inclined to bluster at first about their +privileges. The governor soon reported that matters were proceeding +very, smoothly. There was a general return to the former docility now +that such a disciplinarian as Fuentes held the reins. + +The opening scenes of the campaign between the Spanish governor and +France were, as usual, in Picardy. The Marquis of Varambon made a +demonstration in the neighbourhood of Dourlens--a fortified town on the +river Authie, lying in an open plain, very deep in that province--while +Fuentes took the field with eight thousand men, and laid siege to Le +Catelet. He had his eye, however, upon Ham. That important stronghold +was in the hands of a certain nobleman called De Gomeron, who had been +an energetic Leaguer, and was now disposed, for a handsome consideration, +to sell himself to the King of Spain. In the auction of governors and +generals then going on in every part of France it had been generally +found that Henry's money was more to be depended upon in the long run, +although Philip's bids were often very high, and, for a considerable +period, the payments regular. Gomeron's upset price for himself was +twenty-five thousand crowns in cash, and a pension of eight thousand a +year. Upon these terms he agreed to receive a Spanish garrison into the +town, and to cause the French in the citadel to be sworn into the service +of the Spanish king. Fuentes agreed to the bargain and paid the adroit +tradesman, who knew so well how to turn a penny for himself, a large +portion of the twenty-five thousand crowns upon the nail. + +De Gomeron was to proceed to Brussels to receive the residue. His +brother-in-law, M. d'Orville, commanded in the citadel, and so soon as +the Spanish troops had taken possession of the town its governor claimed +full payment of his services. + +But difficulties awaited him in Brussels. He was informed that a French +garrison could not be depended upon for securing the fortress, but that +town and citadel must both be placed in Spanish hands. De Gomeron loudly +protesting that this was not according to contract, was calmly assured, +by command of Fuentes, that unless the citadel were at once evacuated and +surrendered, he would not receive the balance of his twenty-five thousand +crowns, and that he should instantly lose his head. Here was more than +De Gomeron had bargained for; but this particular branch of commerce +in revolutionary times, although lucrative, has always its risks. +De Gomeron, thus driven to the wall, sent a letter by a Spanish messenger +to his brother-in-law, ordering him to surrender the fortress. +D'Orville--who meantime had been making his little arrangements with +the other party--protested that the note had been written under duress, +and refused to comply with its directions. + +Time was pressing, for the Duke of Bouillon and the Count of St. Pol lay +with a considerable force in the neighbourhood, obviously menacing Ham. + +Fuentes accordingly sent that distinguished soldier and historian, Don +Carlos Coloma, with a detachment of soldiers to Brussels, with orders +to bring Gomeron into camp. He was found seated at supper with his two +young brothers, aged respectively sixteen and eighteen years, and was +just putting a cherry into his mouth as Coloma entered the room. He +remained absorbed in thought, trifling with the cherry without eating it, +which Don Carlos set down as a proof of guilt: The three brothers were at +once put in a coach, together with their sister, a nun of the age of +twenty, and conveyed to the head-quarters of Fuentes, who lay before Le +Catelet, but six leagues from Ham. + +Meantime D'Orville had completed his negotiations with Bouillon, and had +agreed to surrender the fortress so soon as the Spanish troops should be +driven from the town. The duke knowing that there was no time to lose, +came with three thousand men before the place. His summons to surrender +was answered by a volley of cannon-shot from the town defences. An +assault was made and repulsed, D'Humieres, a most gallant officer and a +favourite of King Henry, being killed, besides at least two hundred +soldiers. The next attack was successful, the town was carried, and the +Spanish garrison put to the sword. + +D'Orville then, before giving up the citadel, demanded three hostages for +the lives of his three brothers-in-law. + +The hostages availed him little. Fuentes had already sent word to +Gomeron's mother, that if the bargain were not fulfilled he would send +her the heads of her three sons on three separate dishes. The distracted +woman made her way, to D'Orville, and fell at his feet with tears and +entreaties. It was too late, and D'Orville, unable to bear her +lamentations, suddenly rushed from the castle, and nearly fell into +the hands of the Spaniards as he fled from the scene. Two of the four +cuirassiers, who alone of the whole garrison accompanied him, were taken +prisoners. The governor escaped to unknown regions. Madame de Gomeron +then appeared before Fuentes, and tried in vain to soften him. De +Gomeron was at once beheaded in the sight of the whole camp. The two +younger sons were retained in prison, but ultimately set at liberty. +The town and citadel were thus permanently acquired by their lawful king, +who was said to be more afflicted at the death of D'Humieres than +rejoiced at the capture of Ham. + +Meantime Colonel Verdugo, royal governor of Friesland, whose occupation +in those provinces, now so nearly recovered by the republic, was gone, +had led a force of six thousand foot, and twelve hundred horse across the +French border, and was besieging La Ferte on the Cher. The siege was +relieved by Bouillon on the 26th May, and the Spanish veteran was then +ordered to take command in Burgundy. But his days were numbered. He had +been sick of dysentery at Luxembourg during the summer, but after +apparent recovery died suddenly on the 2nd September, and of course was +supposed to have been poisoned. He was identified with the whole history +of the Netherland wars. Born at Talavera de la Reyna, of noble +parentage, as he asserted--although his mother was said to have sold +dogs' meat, and he himself when a youth was a private soldier--he rose +by steady conduct and hard fighting to considerable eminence in his +profession. He was governor of Harlem after the famous siege, and +exerted himself with some success to mitigate the ferocity of the +Spaniards towards the Netherlanders at that epoch. He was marshal- +general of the camp under Don John of Austria, and distinguished himself +at the battle of Gemblours. He succeeded Count Renneberg as governor of +Friesland and Groningen, and bore a manful part in most of the rough +business that had been going on for a generation of mankind among those +blood-stained wolds and morasses. He was often victorious, and quite as +often soundly defeated; but he enjoyed campaigning, and was a glutton of +work. He cared little for parade and ceremony, but was fond of recalling +with pleasure the days when he was a soldier at four crowns a month, with +an undivided fourth of one cloak, which he and three companions wore by +turns on holidays. Although accused of having attempted to procure the +assassination of William Lewis Nassau, he was not considered ill-natured, +and he possessed much admiration for Prince Maurice. An iron-clad man, +who had scarcely taken harness from his back all his life, he was a type +of the Spanish commanders who had implanted international hatred deeply +in the Netherland soul, and who, now that this result and no other had +been accomplished, were rapidly passing away. He had been baptised +Franco, and his family appellation of Verdugo meant executioner. Punning +on these names he was wont to say, that he was frank for all good people, +but a hangman for heretics; and he acted up to his gibe. + +Foiled at Ham, Fuentes had returned to the siege of Catelet, and had soon +reduced the place. He then turned his attention again to Dourlens, and +invested that city. During the preliminary operations, another veteran +commander in these wars, Valentin Pardieu de la Motte, recently created +Count of Everbecque by Philip, who had been for a long time general-in- +chief of the artillery, and was one of the most famous and experienced +officers in the Spanish service, went out one fine moonlight night to +reconnoitre the enemy, and to superintend the erection of batteries. As +he was usually rather careless of his personal safety, and rarely known +to put on his armour when going for such purposes into the trenches, it +was remarked with some surprise, on this occasion, that he ordered his +page to bring his, accoutrements, and that he armed himself cap-a pie +before leaving his quarters. Nevertheless, before he had reached the +redoubt, a bullet from the town struck him between the fold of his morion +and the edge of his buckler and he fell dead without uttering a sound. + +Here again was a great loss to the king's service. La Motte, of a noble +family in Burgundy, had been educated in the old fierce traditions of the +Spanish system of warfare in the Netherlands, and had been one of the +very hardest instruments that the despot could use for his bloody work. +He had commanded a company of horse at the famous battle of St. Quintin, +and since that opening event in Philip's reign he had been unceasingly-- +engaged in the Flemish wars. Alva made him a colonel of a Walloon +regiment; the grand commander Requesena appointed him governor of +Gravelines. On the whole he had been tolerably faithful to his colours; +having changed sides but twice. After the pacification of Ghent he swore +allegiance to the States-General, and assisted in the bombardment of the +citadel of that place. Soon afterwards he went over to Don John of +Austria, and surrendered to him the town and fortress of Gravelines, of +which he then continued governor in the name of the king. He was +fortunate in the accumulation of office and of money; rather unlucky in +his campaigning. He was often wounded in action, and usually defeated +when commanding in chief. He lost an arm at the siege of Sluy's, and had +now lost his life almost by an accident. Although twice married he left +no children to inherit his great estates, while the civil and military +offices left vacant by his death were sufficient to satisfy the claims of +five aspiring individuals. The Count of Varax succeeded him as general +of artillery; but it was difficult to find a man to replace La Motte, +possessing exactly the qualities which had made that warrior so valuable +to his king. The type was rapidly disappearing, and most fortunately +for humanity, if half the stories told of him by grave chroniclers, +accustomed to discriminate between history and gossip, are to be +believed. He had committed more than one cool homicide. Although not +rejoicing in the same patronymic as his Spanish colleague of Friesland, +he too was ready on occasion to perform hangman's work. When sergeant- +major in Flanders, he had himself volunteered--so ran the chronicle-- +to do execution on a poor wretch found guilty of professing the faith of +Calvin; and, with his own hands, had prepared a fire of straw, tied his +victim to the stake, and burned him to cinders. Another Netherlander +for the name crime of heresy had been condemned to be torn to death by +horses. No one could be found to carry out the sentence. The soldiers +under La Motte's command broke into mutiny rather than permit themselves +to be used for such foul purposes; but the ardent young sergeant-major +came forward, tied the culprit by the arms and legs to two horses, and +himself whipped them to their work till it was duly accomplished. Was it +strange that in Philip's reign such energy should be rewarded by wealth, +rank, and honour? Was not such a labourer in the vineyard worthy of his +hire? + +Still another eminent chieftain in the king's service disappeared at this +time--one who, although unscrupulous and mischievous enough in his day, +was however not stained by any suspicion of crimes like these. Count +Charles Mansfeld, tired of governing his decrepit parent Peter Ernest, +who, since the appointment of Fuentes, had lost all further chance of +governing the Netherlands, had now left Philip's service and gone to the +Turkish wars. For Amurath III., who had died in the early days of the +year, had been succeeded by a sultan as warlike as himself. Mahomet +III., having strangled his nineteen brothers on his accession, handsomely +buried them in cypress coffins by the side of their father, and having +subsequently sacked and drowned ten infant princes posthumously born to +Amurath, was at leisure to carry the war through Transylvania and +Hungary, up to the gates of Vienna, with renewed energy. The Turk, +who could enforce the strenuous rules of despotism by which all +secundogenitures and collateral claimants in the Ottoman family were +thus provided for, was a foe to be dealt with seriously. The power of +the Moslems at that day was a full match for the holy Roman Empire. The +days were far distant when the grim Turk's head was to become a mockery +and a show; and when a pagan empire, born of carnage and barbarism, was +to be kept alive in Europe when it was ready to die, by the collective +efforts of Christian princes. Charles Mansfeld had been received with +great enthusiasm at the court of Rudolph, where he was created a prince +of the Empire, and appointed to the chief command of the Imperial armies +under the Archduke Matthias. But his warfare was over. At the siege of +Gran he was stricken with sickness and removed to Comorn, where he +lingered some weeks. There, on the 24th August, as he lay half-dozing on +his couch, he was told that the siege was at last successful; upon which +he called for a goblet of wine, drained it eagerly, and then lay resting +his head on his hand, like one absorbed in thought. When they came to +arouse him from his reverie they found that he was dead. His father +still remained superfluous in the Netherlands, hating and hated by +Fuentes; but no longer able to give that governor so much annoyance as +during his son's life-time the two had been able to create for Alexander +Farnese. The octogenarian was past work and past mischief now; but there +was one older soldier than he still left upon the stage, the grandest +veteran in Philip's service, and now the last survivor, except the +decrepit Peter Ernest, of the grim commanders of Alva's school. +Christopher Mondragon--that miracle of human endurance, who had been +an old man when the great duke arrived in the Netherlands--was still +governor of Antwerp citadel, and men were to speak of him yet once +more before he passed from the stage. + +I return from this digression to the siege of Dourlens. The death of La +Motte made no difference in the plans of Fuentes. He was determined to +reduce the place preparatively to more important operations. Bouillon +was disposed to relieve it, and to that end had assembled a force of +eight thousand men within the city of Amiens. By midsummer the Spaniards +had advanced with their mines and galleries close to the walls of the +city. Meantime Admiral Villars, who had gained so much renown by +defending Rouen against Henry IV., and who had subsequently made such an +excellent bargain with that monarch before entering his service, arrived +at Amiens. On the 24th July an expedition was sent from that city +towards Dourlens. Bouillon and St. Pol commanded in person a force of +six hundred picked cavalry. Pillars and Sanseval each led half as many, +and there was a supporting body of twelve hundred musketeers. This +little army convoyed a train of wagons, containing ammunition and other +supplies for the beleaguered town. But Fuentes, having sufficiently +strengthened his works, sallied forth with two thousand infantry, and a +flying squadron of Spanish horse, to intercept them. It was the eve of +St. James, the patron saint of Spain, at the sound, of whose name as a +war-cry so many battle-fields had been won in the Netherlands, so many +cities sacked, so many wholesale massacres perpetrated. Fuentes rode in +the midst of his troops with the royal standard of Spain floating above +him. On the other hand Yillars, glittering in magnificent armour and +mounted on a superbly caparisoned charger came on, with his three hundred +troopers, as if about to ride a course in a tournament. The battle which +ensued was one of the most bloody for the numbers engaged, and the +victory one of the most decisive recorded in this war. Villars charged +prematurely, furiously, foolishly. He seemed jealous of Bouillon, and +disposed to show the sovereign to whom he had so recently given his +allegiance that an ancient Leaguer and Papist was a better soldier for +his purpose than the most grizzled Huguenot in his army. On the other +hand the friends of Villars accused the duke of faintheartedness, or at +least of an excessive desire to save himself and his own command. The +first impetuous onset of the admiral was successful, and he drove half- +a-dozen companies of Spaniards before him. But he had ventured too far +from his supports. Bouillon had only intended a feint, instead of a +desperate charge; the Spaniards were rallied, and the day was saved by +that cool and ready soldier, Carlos Coloma. In less than an hour the +French were utterly defeated and cut to pieces. Bouillon escaped to +Amiens with five hundred men; this was all that was left of the +expedition. The horse of Villars was shot under him and the admiral's +leg was broken as he fell. He was then taken prisoner by two lieutenants +of Carlos Coloma; but while these warriors were enjoying, +by anticipation, the enormous ransom they should derive from so +illustrious a captive, two other lieutenants in the service of Marshal de +Rosnes came up and claimed their share in the prize. While the four were +wrangling, the admiral called out to them in excellent Spanish not to +dispute, for he had money enough to satisfy them all. Meantime the +Spanish commissary--general of cavalry, Contreras, came up, rebuked this +unseemly dispute before the enemy had been fairly routed, and, in order +to arrange the quarrel impartially, ordered his page to despatch De +Villars on the spot. The page, without a word, placed his arquebus to +the admiral's forehead and shot him dead. + +So perished a bold and brilliant soldier, and a most unscrupulous +politician. Whether the cause of his murder was mere envy on the part +of the commissary at having lost a splendid opportunity for prize-money, +or hatred to an ancient Leaguer thus turned renegade, it is fruitless +now to enquire. + +Villars would have paid two hundred thousand crowns for his ransom, so +that the assassination was bad as a mercantile speculation; but it was +pretended by the friends of Contreras that rescue was at hand. It is +certain, however, that nothing was attempted by the French to redeem +their total overthrow. Count Belin was wounded and fell into the hands +of Coloma. Sanseval was killed; and a long list of some of the most +brilliant nobles in France was published by the Spaniards as having +perished on that bloody field. This did not prevent a large number of +these victims, however, from enjoying excellent health for many long +years afterwards, although their deaths have been duly recorded in +chronicle from that day to our own times. + +But Villars and Sanseval were certainly slain, and Fuentes sent their +bodies, with a courteous letter, to the Duke of Nevers, at Amiens, who +honoured them with a stately funeral. + +There was much censure cast on both Bouillon and Villars respectively +by the antagonists of each chieftain; and the contest as to the cause of +the defeat was almost as animated as the skirmish itself. Bouillon was +censured for grudging a victory to the Catholics, and thus leaving the +admiral to his fate. Yet it is certain that the Huguenot duke himself +commanded a squadron composed almost entirely of papists. Villars, on +the other hand, was censured for rashness, obstinacy, and greediness for +distinction; yet it is probable that Fuentes might have been defeated had +the charges of Bouillon been as determined and frequent as were those of +his colleague. Savigny de Rosnes, too, the ancient Leaguer, who +commanded under Fuentes, was accused of not having sufficiently followed +up the victory, because unwilling that his Spanish friends should +entirely trample upon his own countrymen. Yet there is no doubt whatever +that De Rosnes was as bitter an enemy to his own country as the most +ferocious Spaniard of them all. It has rarely been found in civil war +that the man who draws his sword against his fatherland, under the banner +of the foreigner, is actuated by any lingering tenderness for the nation +he betrays; and the renegade Frenchman was in truth the animating spirit +of Fuentes during the whole of his brilliant campaign. The Spaniard's +victories were, indeed, mainly attributable to the experience, the +genius, and the rancour of De Rosnes. + +But debates over a lost battle are apt to be barren. Meantime Fuentes, +losing no time in controversy, advanced upon the city of Dourlens, was +repulsed twice, and carried it on the third assault, exactly one week +after the action just recounted. The Spaniards and Leaguers, howling +"Remember Ham!" butchered without mercy the garrison and all the +citizens, save a small number of prisoners likely to be lucrative. Six +hundred of the townspeople and two thousand five hundred French soldiers +were killed within a few hours. Well had Fuentes profited by the +relationship and tuition of Alva! + +The Count of Dinant and his brother De Ronsoy were both slain, and two or +three hundred thousand florins were paid in ransom by those who escaped +with life. The victims were all buried outside of the town in one vast +trench, and the effluvia bred a fever which carried off most of the +surviving inhabitants. Dourlens became for the time a desert. + +Fuentes now received deputies with congratulations from the obedient +provinces, especially from Hainault, Artois, and Lille. He was also +strongly urged to attempt the immediate reduction of Cambray, to which +end those envoys were empowered to offer contributions of four hundred +and fifty thousand florins and a contingent of seven thousand infantry. +Berlaymont, too, bishop of Tournay and archbishop of Cambray, was ready +to advance forty thousand florins in the same cause. + +Fuentes, in the highest possible spirits at his success, and having just +been reinforced by Count Bucquoy with a fresh Walloon regiment of fifteen +hundred foot and with eight hundred and fifty of the mutineers from +Tirlemont and Chapelle, who were among the choicest of Spanish veterans, +was not disposed to let the grass grow under his feet. Within four days +after the sack of Dourlens he broke up his camp, and came before Cambray +with an army of twelve thousand foot and nearly four thousand horse. But +before narrating the further movements of the vigorous new governor- +general, it is necessary to glance at the military operations in the +eastern part of the Netherlands and upon the Rhine. + +The States-General had reclaimed to their authority nearly all that +important region lying beyond the Yssel--the solid Frisian bulwark of the +republic--but there were certain points nearer the line where Upper and +Nether Germany almost blend into one, which yet acknowledged the name of +the king. The city of Groenlo, or Grol, not a place of much interest or +importance in itself, but close to the frontier, and to that destined +land of debate, the duchies of Cleves, Juliers, and Berg, still retained +its Spanish garrison. On the 14th July Prince Maurice of Nassau came +before the city with six thousand infantry, some companies of cavalry, +and sixteen pieces of artillery. He made his approaches in form, and +after a week's operations he fired three volleys, according to his +custom, and summoned the place to capitulate. Governor Jan van Stirum +replied stoutly that he would hold the place for God and the king to the +last drop of his blood. Meantime there was hope of help from the +outside. + +Maurice was a vigorous young commander, but there was a man to be dealt +with who had been called the "good old Mondragon" when the prince was in +his cradle; and who still governed the citadel of Antwerp, and was still +ready for an active campaign. + +Christopher Mondragon was now ninety-two years old. Not often in the +world's history has a man of that age been capable of personal, +participation in the joys of the battlefield, whatever natural reluctance +veterans are apt to manifest at relinquishing high military control. + +But Mondragon looked not with envy but with admiration on the growing +fame of the Nassau chieftain, and was disposed, before he himself left +the stage, to match himself with the young champion. + +So soon as he heard of the intended demonstration of Maurice against +Grol, the ancient governor of Antwerp collected a little army by throwing +together all the troops that could be spared from the various garrisons +within his command. With two Spanish regiments, two thousand Swiss, the +Walloon troops of De Grisons, and the Irish regiment of Stanley--in all +seven thousand foot and thirteen hundred horse--Mondragon marched +straight across Brabant and Gelderland to the Rhine. At Kaiserworth he +reviewed his forces, and announced his intention of immediately crossing +the river. There was a murmur of disapprobation among officers and men +at what they considered the foolhardy scheme of mad old Mondragon. But +the general had not campaigned a generation before, at the age of sixty- +nine, in the bottom of the sea, and waded chin-deep for six hours long of +an October night, in the face of a rising tide from the German Ocean and +of an army of Zeelanders, to be frightened now at the summer aspect of +the peaceful Rhine. + +The wizened little old man, walking with difficulty by the aid of a +staff, but armed in proof, with plumes waving gallantly from his iron +headpiece, and with his rapier at his side, ordered a chair to be brought +to the river's edge. Then calmly seating himself in the presence of his +host, he stated that he should not rise from that chair until the last +man had crossed the river. Furthermore, he observed that it was not only +his purpose to relieve the city of Grol, but to bring Maurice to an +action, and to defeat him, unless he retired. The soldiers ceased to +murmur, the pontoons were laid, the, river was passed, and on the 25th +July, Maurice, hearing of the veteran's approach, and not feeling safe +in his position, raised the siege of the city. Burning his camp and +everything that could not be taken with him on his march, the prince came +in perfect order to Borkelo, two Dutch miles from Grol. Here he occupied +himself for some time in clearing the country of brigands who in the +guise of soldiers infested that region and made the little cities of +Deutecom, Anholt, and Heerenberg unsafe. He ordered the inhabitants of +these places to send out detachments to beat the bushes for his cavalry, +while Hohenlo was ordered to hunt the heaths and wolds thoroughly with +packs of bloodhounds until every man and beast to be found lurking in +those wild regions should be extirpated. By these vigorous and cruel, +but perhaps necessary, measures the brigands were at last extirpated, and +honest people began to sleep in their beds. + +On the 18th August Maurice took up a strong position at Bislich, not +far from Wesel, where the River Lippe empties itself into the Rhine. +Mondragon, with his army strengthened by reinforcements from garrisons +in Gelderland, and by four hundred men brought by Frederic, van den Berg +from Grol, had advanced to a place called Walston in den Ham, in the +neighbourhood of Wesel. The Lippe flowed between the two hostile forces. +Although he had broken up his siege, the prince was not disposed to +renounce his whole campaign before trying conclusions with his veteran +antagonist. He accordingly arranged an ambush with much skill, by means +of which he hoped to bring on a general engagement and destroy Mondragon +and his little army. + +His cousin and favourite lieutenant, Philip Nassau, was entrusted with +the preliminaries. That adventurous commander, with a picked force of +seven hundred cavalry, moved quietly from the camp on the evening of the +1st September. He took with him his two younger brothers, Ernest and +Lewis Gunther, who, as has been seen, had received the promise of the +eldest brother of the family, William Lewis, that they should be employed +from time to time in any practical work that might be going, forward. +Besides these young gentlemen, several of the most famous English and +Dutch commanders were on, the expedition; the brothers Paul and Marcellus +Bax, Captains Parker, Cutler, and Robert Vere, brother of Sir Francis, +among the number. + +Early in the morning of the 2nd September the force crossed the Lippe, +according to orders, keeping a pontoon across the stream to secure their +retreat. + +They had instructions thus to feel the enemy at early dawn, and, as he +was known to have foraging parties out every morning along the margin of +the river, to make a sudden descent upon their pickets, and to capture +those companies before they could effect their escape or be reinforced. +Afterwards they were to retreat across the Lippe, followed, as it was +hoped would be the case, by the troops: of Mondragon, anxious to punish +this piece of audacity. Meantime Maurice with five thousand infantry, +the rest of his cavalry, and several pieces of artillery, awaited their +coming, posted behind some hills in the neighbourhood of Wesel. + +The plot of the young commander was an excellent one, but the ancient +campaigner on the other side of the river had not come all the way from +his comfortable quarters in Antwerp to be caught napping on that +September morning. Mondragon had received accurate information from his +scouts as to what was going on in the enemy's camp; and as to the exact +position of Maurice. He was up long before daybreak--"the good old +Christopher"--and himself personally arranged a counter-ambush. In the +fields lying a little back from the immediate neighbourhood of, the Lippe +he posted the mass of his cavalry, supported by a well-concealed force of +infantry. The pickets on the stream and the foraging companies were left +to do their usual work as if nothing were likely to happen. + +Philip Nassau galloped cheerfully forward; according to the well- +concerted plan, sending Cutler and Marcellus Bax with a handful of +troopers to pounce upon the enemy's pickets. When those officers got to +the usual foraging ground they, came upon a much larger cavalry force +than they had looked for; and, suspecting something wrong; dashed back-- +again to give information to Count Philip. That impatient commander, +feeling sure of his game unless this foolish delay should give the +foraging companies time to, escape; ordered an immediate advance with his +whole cavalry force: The sheriff of Zallant was ordered to lead the way. +He objected that the pass, leading through a narrow lane and opening by a +gate into an open field, was impassable for more than two troopers +abreast; and that the enemy was in force beyond. Philips scorning these +words of caution, and exclaiming that seventy-five lancers were enough to +put fifty carabineers to rout; put on his casque, drew his sword; and +sending his brother Lewis to summon Kinski and Donck; dashed into the +pass, accompanied by the two counts and, a couple of other nobles. The +sheriff, seeing this, followed him at full gallop; and after him came the +troopers of Barchon, of Du Bois, and of Paul Bax; riding single file but +in much disorder. When they had all entered inextricably into the lane, +with the foremost of the lancers already passing through the gate, they +discovered the enemy's cavalry and infantry drawn up in force upon the +watery, heathery pastures beyond. There was at once a scene of +confusion. To use lances was impossible, while they were all struggling +together through the narrow passage offering themselves an easy prey to +the enemy as they slowly emerged into the gelds. The foremost defended +themselves with sabre and pistol as well as they could. The hindmost did +their best to escape, and rode for their lives to the other side of the +river. All trampled upon each other and impeded each other's movements. +There was a brief engagement, bloody, desperate, hand to hand, and many +Spaniards fell before the entrapped Netherlanders. But there could not +be a moment's doubt as to the issue. Count Philip went down in the +beginning of the action, shot through the body by an arquebus, discharged +so close to him that his clothes were set on fire. As there was no water +within reach the flames could be extinguished at last only by rolling him +over, and over, wounded as he was, among the sand and heather. Count +Ernest Solms was desperately wounded at the same time. For a moment both +gentlemen attempted to effect their escape by mounting on one horse, but +both fell to the ground exhausted and were taken prisoners. Ernest +Nassau was also captured. His young brother, Lewis Gunther, saved +himself by swimming the river. Count Kinski was mortally wounded. +Robert Vere, too, fell into the enemy's hands, and was afterwards +murdered in cold blood. Marcellus Bax, who had returned to the field by +a circuitous path, still under the delusion that he was about handsomely +to cut off the retreat of the foraging companies, saved himself and a +handful of cavalry by a rapid flight, so soon as he discovered the enemy +drawn up in line of battle. Cutler and Parker were equally fortunate. +There was less than a hundred of the States' troops killed, and it is +probable that a larger number of the Spaniards fell. But the loss of +Philip Nassau, despite the debauched life and somewhat reckless valour. +of that soldier, was a very severe one to the army and to his family. +He was conveyed to Rheinberg, where his wounds were dressed. As he lay +dying he was courteously visited by Mondragon, and by many other Spanish +officers, anxious to pay their respects to so distinguished and warlike a +member of an illustrious house. He received them with dignity, and +concealed his physical agony so as to respond to their conversation as +became a Nassau. His cousin, Frederic van den Berg, who was among the +visitors, indecently taunted him with his position; asking him what he +had expected by serving the cause of the Beggars. Philip turned from him +with impatience and bade him hold his peace. At midnight he died. + +William of Orange and his three brethren had already laid down their +lives for the republic, and now his eldest brother's son had died in the +same cause. "He has carried the name of Nassau with honour into the +grave," said his brother Lewis William, to their father. Ten others of +the house, besides many collateral relations, were still in arms for +their adopted country. Rarely in history has a single noble race so +entirely identified itself with a nation's record in its most heroic +epoch as did that of Orange-Nassau with the liberation of Holland. + +Young Ernest Solms, brother of Count Everard, lay in the same chamber +with Philip Nassau, and died on the following day. Their bodies were +sent by Mondragon with a courteous letter to Maurice at Bisslich. Ernest +Nassau was subsequently ransomed for ten thousand florins. + +This skirmish on the Lippe has no special significance in a military +point of view, but it derives more than a passing interest, not only from +the death of many a brave and distinguished soldier, but for the +illustration of human vigour triumphing, both physically and mentally, +over the infirmities of old age, given by the achievement of Christopher +Mondragon. Alone he had planned his expedition across the country from +Antwerp, alone he had insisted on crossing the Rhine, while younger +soldiers hesitated; alone, with his own active brain and busy hands, he +had outwitted the famous young chieftain of the Netherlands, counteracted +his subtle policy, and set the counter-ambush by which his choicest +cavalry were cut to pieces, and one of his bravest generals slain. So +far could the icy blood of ninety-two prevail against the vigour of +twenty-eight. + +The two armies lay over against each other, with the river between them, +for some days longer, but it was obvious that nothing further would be +attempted on either side. Mondragon had accomplished the object for +which he had marched from Brabant. He had, spoiled the autumn campaign +of Maurice, and, was, now disposed to return before winter to, his own +quarters. He sent a trumpet accordingly to his antagonist, begging him, +half in jest, to have more consideration for his infirmities than to keep +him out in his old age in such foul weather, but to allow him the +military honour of being last to break up camp. Should Maurice consent +to move away, Mondragon was ready to pledge himself not to pursue him, +and within three days to leave his own entrenchments. + +The proposition was not granted, and very soon afterwards the Spaniard, +deciding to retire, crossed the Rhine on the 11th October. Maurice made +a slight attempt at pursuit, sending Count William Lewis with some +cavalry, who succeeded in cutting off a few wagons. The army, however, +returned safely, to be dispersed into various garrisons. + +This was Mondragon's last feat of, arms. Less than three months +afterwards, in Antwerp citadel, as the veteran was washing his hands +previously to going to the dinner-table, he sat down and died. Strange +to say, this man--who had spent almost a century on the battlefield, who +had been a soldier in nearly every war that had been waged in any part of +Europe during that most belligerent age, who had come an old man to the +Netherlands before Alva's arrival, and had ever since been constantly and +personally engaged in the vast Flemish tragedy which had now lasted well +nigh thirty years--had never himself lost a drop of blood. His battle- +fields had been on land and water, on ice, in fire, and at the bottom of +the sea, but he had never received a wound. Nay, more; he had been blown +up in a fortress--the castle of Danvilliers in Luxembourg, of which he +was governor--where all perished save his wife and himself, and, when +they came to dig among the ruins, they excavated at last the ancient +couple, protected by the framework of a window in the embrasure of which +they had been seated, without a scratch or a bruise. He was a Biscayan +by descent, but born in Medina del Campo. A strict disciplinarian, very +resolute and pertinacious, he had the good fortune to be beloved by his +inferiors, his equals, and his superiors. He was called the father of +his soldiers, the good Mondragon, and his name was unstained by any of +those deeds of ferocity which make the chronicles of the time resemble +rather the history of wolves than of men. To a married daughter, mother +of several children, he left a considerable fortune. + +Maurice broke up his camp soon after the departure of his antagonist, and +paused for a few days at Arnheim to give honourable burial to his cousin +Philip and Count Solms. Meantime Sir Francis Vere was detached, with +three regiments, which were to winter in Overyssel, towards Weerd castle, +situate at a league's distance from Ysselsburg, and defended by a +garrison of twenty-six men under Captain Pruys. That doughty commandant, +on being summoned to surrender, obstinately refused. Vere, according to +Maurice's orders, then opened with his artillery against the place, which +soon capitulated in great panic and confusion. The captain demanded the +honours of war. Vere told him in reply that the honours of war were +halters for the garrison who had dared to defend such a hovel against +artillery. The twenty-six were accordingly ordered to draw black and +white straws. This was done, and the twelve drawing white straws were +immediately hanged; the thirteenth receiving his life on consenting to +act as executioner for his comrades. The commandant was despatched first +of all. The rope broke, but the English soldiers held him under the +water of the ditch until he was drowned. The castle was then thoroughly +sacked, the women being sent unharmed to Ysselsburg. + +Maurice then shipped the remainder of his troops along the Rhine and Waal +to their winter quarters and returned to the Hague. It was the feeblest +year's work yet done by the stadholder. + +Meantime his great ally, the Huguenot-Catholic Prince of Bearne, was +making a dashing, and, on the whole, successful campaign in the heart of +his own kingdom. The constable of Castile, Don Ferdinando de Velasco, +one of Spain's richest grandees and poorest generals, had been sent with +an army of ten thousand men to take the field in Burgundy against the man +with whom the great Farnese had been measuring swords so lately, and with +not unmingled success, in Picardy. Biron, with a sudden sweep, took +possession of Aussone, Autun, and Beaune, but on one adventurous day +found himself so deeply engaged with a superior force of the enemy in the +neighbourhood of Fontaine Francaise, or St. Seine, where France's great +river takes its rise, as to be nearly cut off and captured. But Henry +himself was already in the field, and by one of those mad, reckless +impulses which made him so adorable as a soldier and yet so profoundly +censurable as a commander-in-chief, he flung himself, like a young +lieutenant, with a mere handful of cavalry, into the midst of the fight, +and at the imminent peril of his own life succeeded in rescuing the +marshal and getting off again unscathed. On other occasions Henry said +he had fought for victory, but on that for dear life; and, even as in the +famous and foolish skirmish at Aumale three years before, it was absence +of enterprise or lack of cordiality on the part of his antagonists, that +alone prevented a captive king from being exhibited as a trophy of +triumph for the expiring League. + +But the constable of Castile was not born to cheer the heart of his +prudent master with such a magnificent spectacle. Velasco fell back to +Gray and obstinately refused to stir from his entrenchments, while Henry +before his eyes laid siege to Dijon. On the 28th June the capital of +Burgundy surrendered to its sovereign, but no temptations could induce +the constable to try the chance of a battle. Henry's movements in the +interior were more successful than were the operations nearer the +frontier, but while the monarch was thus cheerfully fighting for his +crown in France, his envoys were winning a still more decisive campaign +for him in Rome. + +D'Ossat and Perron had accomplished their diplomatic task with consummate +ability, and, notwithstanding the efforts and the threats of the Spanish +ambassador and the intrigues of his master, the absolution was granted. +The pope arose early on the morning of the 5th August, and walked +barefoot from his palace of Mount Cavallo to the church of Maria +Maggiore, with his eyes fixed on the ground, weeping loudly and praying +fervently. He celebrated mass in the church, and then returned as he +went, saluting no one on the road and shutting himself up in his palace +afterwards. The same ceremony was performed ten days later on the +festival of our Lady's Ascension. In vain, however, had been the +struggle on the part of his Holiness to procure from the ambassador the +deposition of the crown of France in his hands, in order that the king +might receive it back again as a free gift and concession from the chief +pontiff. Such a triumph was not for Rome, nor could even the publication +of the Council of Trent in France be conceded except with a saving clause +"as to matters which could not be put into operation without troubling +the repose of the kingdom." And to obtain this clause the envoys +declared "that they had been obliged to sweat blood and water." + +On the 17th day of September the absolution was proclaimed with great +pomp and circumstance from the gallery of St. Peter's, the holy father +seated on the highest throne of majesty, with his triple crown on has +head, and all his cardinals and bishops about him in their most effulgent +robes. + +The silver trumpets were blown, while artillery roared from the castle +of St. Angelo, and for two successive nights Rome was in a blaze of +bonfires and illumination, in a whirl of bell-ringing, feasting, and +singing of hosannaha. There had not been such a merry-making in the +eternal city since the pope had celebrated solemn thanksgiving for the +massacre of St. Bartholomew. The king was almost beside himself with +rapture when the great news reached him, and he straightway wrote +letters, overflowing with gratitude and religious enthusiasm, to the +pontiff and expressed his regret that military operations did not allow +him to proceed at once to Rome in person to kiss the holy father's feet. + + +The narrative returns to Fuentes, who was left before the walls of +Cambray. + +That venerable ecclesiastical city; pleasantly seated amid gardens, +orchards, and green pastures, watered, by the winding Scheld, was well +fortified after the old manner, but it was especially defended and +dominated by a splendid pentagonal citadel built by Charles V. It was +filled with fine churches, among which the magnificent cathedral was +pre-eminent, and with many other stately edifices. The population was +thrifty, active, and turbulent, like that of all those Flemish and +Walloon cities which the spirit of mediaeval industry had warmed for a +time into vehement little republics. + +But, as has already been depicted in these pages, the Celtic element had +been more apt to receive than consistent to retain the generous impress +which had once been stamped on all the Netherlands. The Walloon +provinces had fallen away from their Flemish sisters and seemed likely to +accept a permanent yoke, while in the territory of the united States, as +John Baptist Tassis was at that very moment pathetically observing in a +private letter to Philip, "with the coming up of a new generation +educated as heretics from childhood, who had never heard what the word +king means, it was likely to happen at last that the king's memory, being +wholly forgotten nothing would remain in the land but heresy alone." +From this sad fate Cambray had been saved. Gavre d'Inchy had seventeen +years before surrendered the city to the Duke of Alencon during that +unlucky personage's brief and base career in the Netherlands, all, that +was left of his visit being the semi-sovereignty which the notorious +Balagny had since that time enjoyed, in the archiepiscopal city. This +personage, a natural son of Monluc, Bishop of Valence, and nephew of the, +distinguished Marshal Monluci was one of the most fortunate and the most +ignoble of all the soldiers of fortune who had played their part at this +epoch in the Netherlands. A poor creature himself, he had a heroine for +a wife. Renee, the sister of Bussy d'Amboise, had vowed to unite herself +to a man who would avenge the assassination of her brother by the Count +Montsoreau? Balagny readily agreed to perform the deed, and accordingly +espoused the high-born dame, but it does not appear that he ever wreaked +her vengeance on the murderer. He had now governed Cambray until the +citizens and the whole countryside were galled and exhausted by his +grinding tyranny, his inordinate pride, and his infamous extortions. +His latest achievement had been to force upon his subjects a copper +currency bearing the nominal value of silver, with the same blasting +effects which such experiments in political economy are apt to produce +on princes and peoples. He had been a Royalist, a Guisist, a Leaguer, +a Dutch republican, by turns, and had betrayed all the parties, at whose +expense he had alternately filled his coffers. During the past year he +had made up his mind--like most of the conspicuous politicians and +campaigners of France--that the moribund League was only fit to be +trampled upon by its recent worshippers, and he had made accordingly one +of the very best bargains with Henry IV. that had yet been made, even at +that epoch of self-vending grandees. + +Henry, by treaty ratified in August, 1594, had created him Prince of +Cambray and Marshal of France, so that the man who had been receiving +up to that very moment a monthly subsidy of seven thousand two hundred +dollars from the King of Spain was now gratified with a pension to about +the same yearly amount by the King of France. During the autumn Henry +had visited Cambray, and the new prince had made wondrous exhibitions of +loyalty to the sovereign whom he had done his best all his life to +exclude from his kingdom. There had been a ceaseless round of +tournaments, festivals, and masquerades in the city in honour of the +Huguenot chieftain, now changed into the most orthodox and most +legitimate of monarchs, but it was not until midsummer of the present +year that Balagny was called on to defend his old possessions and his new +principality against a well-seasoned army and a vigorous commander. +Meanwhile his new patron was so warmly occupied in other directions that +it might be difficult for him to send assistance to the beleaguered city. + +On the 14th August Fuentes began his siege operations. Before the +investment had been completed the young Prince of Rhetelois, only fifteen +years of age, son of the Duke of Nevers, made his entrance into the city +attended by thirty of his father's archers. De Vich, too, an experienced +and faithful commander, succeeded in bringing four or five hundred +dragoons through the enemy's lines. These meagre reinforcements were all +that reached the place; for, although the States-General sent two or +three thousand Scotchmen and Zeelanders, under Justinus of Nassau, to +Henry, that he might be the better enabled to relieve this important +frontier city, the king's movements were not sufficiently prompt to turn +the force to good account Balagny was left with a garrison of three +thousand French and Walloons in the city, besides five hundred French in +the fortress. + +After six weeks steady drawing of parallels and digging of mines Fuentes +was ready to open his batteries. On the 26th September, the news, very +much exaggerated, of Mondragon's brilliant victory near Wessel, and of +the deaths of Philip Nassau and Ernest Solms, reached the Spanish camp. +Immense was the rejoicing. Triumphant salutes from eighty-seven cannon +and many thousand muskets shook the earth and excited bewilderment and +anxiety within the walls of the city. Almost immediately afterwards a +tremendous cannonade was begun and so vigorously sustained that the +burghers, and part of the garrison, already half rebellious with hatred +to Balagny, began loudly to murmur as the balls came flying into their +streets. A few days later an insurrection broke out. Three thousand +citizens, with red flags flying, and armed to the teeth were discovered +at daylight drawn up in the market place. Balagny came down from the +citadel and endeavoured to calm the tumult, but was received with +execrations. They had been promised, shouted the insurgents, that +every road about Cambray was to swarm with French soldiers under their +formidable king, kicking the heads of the Spaniards in all directions. +And what had they got? a child with thirty archers, sent by his father, +and half a man at the head of four hundred dragoons. To stand a siege +under such circumstances against an army of fifteen thousand Spaniards, +and to take Balagny's copper as if it were gold, was more than could be +asked of respectable burghers. + +The allusion to the young prince Rhetelois and to De Vich, who had lost a +leg in the wars, was received with much enthusiasm. Balagny, appalled at +the fury of the people, whom he had so long been trampling upon while +their docility lasted, shrank back before their scornful denunciations +into the citadel. + +But his wife was not appalled. This princess had from the beginning of +the siege showed a courage and an energy worthy of her race. Night and +day she had gone the rounds of the ramparts, encouraging and directing +the efforts of the garrison. She had pointed batteries against the +enemy's works, and, with her own hands, had fired the cannon. She now +made her appearance in the market-place, after her husband had fled, and +did her best to assuage the tumult, and to arouse the mutineers to a +sense of duty or of shame. She plucked from her bosom whole handfuls +of gold which she threw among the bystanders, and she was followed by a +number of carts filled with sacks of coin ready to be exchanged for the +debased currency. + +Expressing contempt for the progress made by the besieging army, and for +the, slight impression so far produced upon the defences of the city, she +snatched a pike from a soldier and offered in person to lead the garrison +to the breach. Her audience knew full well that this was no theatrical +display, but that the princess was ready as the boldest warrior to lead +a forlorn hope or to repel the bloodiest assault. Nor, from a military +point of view, was their situation desperate. But their hatred and scorn +for Balagny could not be overcome by any passing sentiment of admiration +for his valiant though imperious wife. No one followed her to the +breach. Exclaiming that she at least would never surrender, and that +she would die a sovereign princess rather than live a subject, Renee de +Balagny retained to the citadel. + +The town soon afterwards capitulated, and as the Spanish soldiers, on +entering, observed the slight damage that had been caused by their +batteries, they were most grateful to the faint-hearted or mutinous +condition by which they had been spared the expense of an assault. + +The citadel was now summoned to surrender; and Balagny agreed, in case he +should not be relieved within six days, to accept what was considered +honourable terms. It proved too late to expect succour from Henry, and +Balagny, but lately a reigning prince, was fain to go forth on the +appointed day and salute his conqueror. But the princess kept her vow. +She had done her best to defend her dominions and to live a sovereign, +and now there was nothing left her but to die. With bitter reproaches on +her husband's pusillanimity, with tears and sobs of rage and shame, she +refused food, spurned the idea of capitulation, and expired before the +9th of October. + +On that day a procession moved out of the citadel gates. Balagny, +with a son of eleven years of age, the Prince of Rhetelois, the Commander +De Vich; and many other distinguished personages, all magnificently +attired, came forth at the head of what remained of the garrison. The +soldiers, numbering thirteen hundred foot and two hundred and forty +horse, marched with colours flying, drums beating, bullet in mouth, and +all the other recognised palliatives of military disaster. Last of all +came a hearse, bearing the coffin of the Princess of Cambray. Fuentes +saluted the living leaders of the procession, and the dead heroine; with +stately courtesy, and ordered an escort as far as Peronne. + +Balagny met with a cool reception from Henry at St. Quintin, but +subsequently made his peace, and espoused the sister of the king's +mistress, Gabrielle d'Estrees. The body of Gavre d'Inchy, which had been +buried for years, was dug up and thrown into a gutter. + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +Deal with his enemy as if sure to become his friend +Mondragon was now ninety-two years old +More catholic than the pope +Octogenarian was past work and past mischief +Sacked and drowned ten infant princes +Strangled his nineteen brothers on his accession + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext History of United Netherlands, v67 +by John Lothrop Motley + + + + + + +HISTORY OF THE UNITED NETHERLANDS +From the Death of William the Silent to the Twelve Year's Truce--1609 + +By John Lothrop Motley + + + +History United Netherlands, Volume 68, 1595-1596 + + + +CHAPTER XXXII. + + Archduke Cardinal Albert appointed governor of the Netherlands-- + Return of Philip William from captivity--His adherence to the King + of Spain--Notice of the Marquis of Varambon, Count Varax, and other + new officers--Henry's communications with Queen Elizabeth--Madame de + Monceaux--Conversation of Henry with the English ambassador-- + Marseilles secured by the Duke of Guise--The fort of Rysbank taken + by De Roane Calais in the hands of the Spanish--Assistance from + England solicited by Henry--Unhandsome conditions proposed by + Elizabeth--Annexation of Calais to the obedient provinces--Pirates + of Dunkirk--Uneasiness of the Netherlanders with regard to the + designs of Elizabeth--Her protestations of sincerity--Expedition of + Dutch and English forces to Spain--Attack on the Spanish war-ships-- + Victory of the allies--Flag of the Republic planted on the fortress + of Cadiz--Capitulation of the city--Letter of Elizabeth to the Dutch + Admirals--State of affairs in France--Proposition of the Duke of + Montpensier for the division of the kingdom--Successes of the + Cardinal Archduke in Normandy--He proceeds to Flanders--Siege and + capture of Hulat--Projected alliance against Spain--Interview of De + Sancy with Lord Burghley--Diplomatic conference at Greenwich-- + Formation of a league against Spain--Duplicity of the treaty-- + Affairs in Germany--Battle between the Emperor and the Grand Turk-- + Endeavours of Philip to counteract the influence of the league--His + interference in the affairs of Germany--Secret intrigue of Henry + with Spain--Philip's second attempt at the conquest of England. + +Another governor-general arrived in the early days of the year 1596, to +take charge of the obedient provinces. It had been rumoured for many +months that Philip's choice was at last fixed upon the Archduke Cardinal +Albert, Archbishop of Toledo, youngest of the three surviving brothers, +of the Emperor Rudolph, as the candidate for many honours. He was to +espouse the Infanta, he was to govern the Netherlands, and, as it was +supposed, there were wider and wilder schemes for the aggrandizement of +this fortunate ecclesiastic brooding in the mind of Philip than yet had +seen the light. + +Meantime the cardinal's first care was to unfrock himself. He had also +been obliged to lay down the most lucrative episcopate in Christendom, +that of Toledo, the revenues of which amounted to the enormous sum of +three hundred thousand dollars a year. Of this annual income, however, +he prudently reserved to himself fifty thousand dollars, by contract with +his destined successor. + +The cardinal reached the Netherlands before the end of January. He +brought with him three thousand Spanish infantry, and some companies of +cavalry, while his personal baggage was transported on three hundred and +fifty mules. Of course there was a triumphal procession when, on the +11th February, the new satrap entered the obedient Netherlands, and there +was the usual amount of bell-ringing, cannon-firing, trumpet-blowing, +with torch-light processions, blazing tar-barrels, and bedizened +platforms, where Allegory, in an advanced state of lunacy, performed its +wonderful antics. It was scarcely possible for human creatures to bestow +more adulation, or to abase themselves more thoroughly, than the honest +citizens of Brussels had so recently done in honour of the gentle, gouty +Ernest, but they did their best. That mythological conqueror and demigod +had sunk into an unhonoured grave, despite the loud hosannaha sung to him +on his arrival in Belgica, and the same nobles, pedants, and burghers +were now ready and happy to grovel at the feet of Albert. But as it +proved as impossible to surpass the glories of the holiday which had been +culled out for his brother, so it would be superfluous now to recall the +pageant which thus again delighted the capital. + +But there was one personage who graced this joyous entrance whose +presence excited perhaps more interest than did that of the archduke +himself. The procession was headed by three grandees riding abreast. +There was the Duke of Aumale, pensionary of Philip, and one of the last +of the Leaguers, who had just been condemned to death and executed in +effigy at Paris, as a traitor to his king and country; there was the +Prince of Chimay, now since the recent death of his father at Venice +become Duke of Arschot; and between the two rode a gentleman forty-two +years of age, whose grave; melancholy features--although wearing a +painful expression of habitual restraint and distrust suggested, more +than did those of the rest of his family, the physiognomy of William +the Silent to all who remembered that illustrious rebel. + +It was the eldest son of the great founder of the Dutch republic. Philip +William, Prince of Orange, had at last, after twenty-eight years of +captivity in Spain, returned to the Netherlands, whence he had been +kidnapped while a school boy at Louvain, by order of the Duke of Alva. +Rarely has there been a more dreary fate, a more broken existence than +his. His almost life-long confinement, not close nor cruel, but strict +and inexorable, together with the devilish arts of the Jesuits, had +produced nearly as blighting an effect upon his moral nature as a closer +dungeon might have done on his physical constitution. Although under +perpetual arrest in Madrid, he had been allowed to ride and to hunt, to +go to mass, and to enjoy many of the pleasures of youth. But he had been +always a prisoner, and his soul--a hopeless captive--could no longer be +liberated now that the tyrant, in order to further his own secret +purposes; had at last released his body from gaol. Although the eldest- +born of his father, and the inheritor of the great estates of Orange and +of Buren, he was no longer a Nassau except in name. The change wrought +by the pressure of the Spanish atmosphere was complete. All that was +left of his youthful self was a passionate reverence for his father's +memory, strangely combined with a total indifference to all that his +father held dear, all for which his father had laboured his whole +lifetime, and for which his heart's blood had been shed. On being at +last set free from bondage he had been taken to the Escorial, and +permitted to kiss the hand of the king--that hand still reeking with his +father's murder. He had been well received by the Infante and the +Infanta, and by the empress-mother, daughter of Charles V., while the +artistic treasures of the palace and cloister were benignantly pointed +out to him. It was also signified to him that he was to receive the +order of the Golden Fleece, and to enter into possession of his paternal +and maternal estates. And Philip William had accepted these conditions +as if a born loyal subject of his Most Catholic Majesty. + +Could better proof be wanting that in that age religion was the only +fatherland, and that a true papist could sustain no injury at the hands +of his Most Catholic Majesty. If to be kidnapped in boyhood, to be +imprisoned during a whole generation of mankind, to be deprived of vast +estates, and to be made orphan by the foulest of assassinations, could +not engender resentment against, the royal, perpetrator of these crimes +in the bosom of his victim, was it strange that Philip should deem +himself, something far, more than man, and should placidly accept the +worship rendered to him by inferior beings, as to the holy impersonation +of Almighty Wrath? + +Yet there is no doubt that the prince had a sincere respect for his +father, and had bitterly sorrowed at his death. When a Spanish officer, +playing chess with him, in prison, had ventured to speak lightly of that +father, Philip William had seized him bodily, thrown him from the window, +and thus killed him on the spot. And when on his arrival in Brussels it +was suggested to him by President Riehardat that it was the king's +intention to reinstate him in the possession of his estates, but that a +rent-charge of eighteen thousand florins a year was still to be paid from +them; to the heirs of Balthazar Gerard, his father's assassin, he flamed +into a violent rage, drew his poniard, and would have stabbed the +president; had not the bystanders forcibly inteferred. In consequence of +this refusal--called magnanimous by contemporary writers--to accept his +property under such conditions, the estates were detained from him for a +considerable time longer. During the period of his captivity he had been +allowed an income of fifteen thousand livres; but after his restoration +his household, gentlemen, and servants alone cost him eighty thousand +livres annually. It was supposed that the name of Orange-Nassau might +now be of service to the king's designs in the Netherlands. Philip +William had come by way of Rome, where he had been allowed to kiss the +pope's feet and had received many demonstrations of favour, and it was +fondly thought that he would now prove an instrument with which king and +pontiff might pipe back the rebellious republic to its ancient +allegiance. But the Dutchmen and Frisians were deaf. They had tasted +liberty too long, they had dealt too many hard blows on the head of regal +and sacerdotal despotism, to be deceived by coarse artifices. Especially +the king thought that something might be done with Count Hohenlo. That +turbulent personage having recently married the full sister of Philip +William, and being already at variance with Count Maurice, both for +military and political causes, and on account of family and pecuniary +disputes, might, it was thought, be purchased by the king, and perhaps +a few towns and castles in the united Netherlands might be thrown into +the bargain. In that huckstering age, when the loftiest and most valiant +nobles of Europe were the most shameless sellers of themselves, the most +cynical mendicants for alms and the most infinite absorbers of bribes in +exchange for their temporary fealty; when Mayenne, Mercoeur, Guise, +Pillars, Egmont, and innumerable other possessors of ancient and +illustrious names alternately and even simultaneously drew pensions from +both sides in the great European conflict, it was not wonderful that +Philip should think that the boisterous Hohenlo might be bought as well +as another. The prudent king, however, gave his usual order that nothing +was to be paid beforehand, but that the service was to be rendered first; +and the price received afterwards. + +The cardinal applied himself to the task on his first arrival, but was +soon obliged to report that he could make but little progress in the +negotiation. + +The king thought, too, that Heraugiere, who had commanded the memorable +expedition against Breda, and who was now governor of that stronghold, +might be purchased, and he accordingly instructed the cardinal to make +use of the Prince of Orange in the negotiations to be made for that +purpose. The cardinal, in effect, received an offer from Heraugiere in +the course of a few months not only to surrender Breda, without previous +recompense, but likewise to place Gertruydenberg, the governor of which +city was his relative, in the king's possession. But the cardinal was +afraid of a trick, for Heraugiere was known to be as artful as he was +brave, and there can be little doubt that the Netherlander was only +disposed to lay an ambush for the governor-general. + +And thus the son of William the Silent made his reappearance in the +streets of Brussels, after twenty-eight years of imprisonment, riding in +the procession of the new viceroy. The cardinal-archduke came next, with +Fuentes riding at his left hand. That vigorous soldier and politician +soon afterwards left the Netherlands to assume the government of Milan. + +There was a correspondence between the Prince of Orange and the States- +General, in which the republican authorities after expressing themselves +towards him with great propriety, and affectionate respect, gave him +plainly but delicately to understand that his presence at that time in +the United Provinces would neither be desirable, nor, without their +passports, possible. They were quite aware of the uses to which the king +was hoping to turn their reverence for the memory and the family of the +great martyr, and were determined to foil such idle projects on the +threshold. + +The Archduke Albert, born on 3rd of November, 1560, was now in his +thirty-sixth year. A small, thin, pale-faced man, with fair hair, and +beard, commonplace features, and the hereditary underhanging Burgundian +jaw prominently developed, he was not without a certain nobility of +presence. His manners were distant to haughtiness and grave to +solemnity. He spoke very little and very slowly. He had resided long in +Spain, where he had been a favourite with his uncle--as much as any man +could be a favourite with Philip--and he had carefully formed himself on +that royal model. He looked upon the King of Spain as the greatest, +wisest, and best of created beings, as the most illustrious specimen of +kingcraft ever yet vouchsafed to the world. He did his best to look +sombre and Spanish, to turn his visage into a mask; to conceal his +thoughts and emotions, not only by the expression of his features but by +direct misstatements of his tongue, and in all things to present to the +obedient Flemings as elaborate a reproduction of his great prototype as +copy can ever recall inimitable original. Old men in the Netherlands; +who remembered in how short a time Philip had succeeded, by the baleful +effect of his personal presence, in lighting up a hatred which not the +previous twenty years of his father's burnings, hangings, and butcherings +in those provinces had been able to excite, and which forty subsequent +years of bloodshed had not begun to allay, might well shake their heads +when they saw this new representative of Spanish authority. It would +have been wiser--so many astute politicians thought--for Albert to take +the Emperor Charles for his model, who had always the power of making his +tyranny acceptable to the Flemings, through the adroitness with which he +seemed to be entirely a Fleming himself. + +But Albert, although a German, valued himself on appearing like a +Spaniard. He was industrious, regular in his habits, moderate in eating +and drinking, fond of giving audiences on business. He spoke German, +Spanish, and Latin, and understood French and Italian. He had at times +been a student, and, especially, had some knowledge of mathematics. He +was disposed to do his duty--so far as a man can do his duty, who +imagines himself so entirely lifted above his fellow creatures as to owe +no obligation except to exact their obedience and to personify to them +the will of the Almighty. To Philip and the Pope he was ever faithful. +He was not without pretensions to military talents, but his gravity, +slowness, and silence made him fitter to shine in the cabinet than in the +field. Henry IV., who loved his jests whether at his own expense or that +of friend or foe, was wont to observe that there were three things which +nobody would ever believe, and which yet were very true; that Queen +Elizabeth deserved her title of the, throned vestal, that he was himself +a good Catholic, and that Cardinal Albert was a good general. It is +probable that the assertions were all equally accurate. + +The new governor did not find a very able group of generals or statesmen +assembled about him to assist in the difficult task which he had +undertaken. There were plenty of fine gentlemen, with ancient names and +lofty pretensions, but the working men in field or council had mostly +disappeared. Mondragon, La Motte, Charles Mansfeld, Frank Verdugo were +all dead. Fuentes was just taking his departure for Italy. Old Peter +Ernest was a cipher; and his son's place was filled by the Marquis of +Varambon; as principal commander in active military operations. This was +a Burgundian of considerable military ability, but with an inordinate +opinion of himself and of his family. "Accept the fact that his lineage +is the highest possible, and that he has better connections than those of +anybody else in the whole world, and he will be perfectly contented," +said a sharp, splenetic Spaniard in the cardinal's confidence. "'Tis a +faithful and loyal cavalier, but full of impertinences." The brother of +Varambon, Count Varax, had succeeded la Motte as general of artillery, +and of his doings there was a, tale ere long to be told. On the whole, +the best soldier in the archduke's service for the moment was the +Frenchman Savigny de Rosne, an ancient Leaguer, and a passionate hater of +the Bearnese, of heretics, and of France as then constituted. He had +once made a contract with Henry by which he bound himself to his service; +but after occasioning a good deal of injury by his deceitful attitude, +he had accepted a large amount of Spanish dollars, and had then thrown +off the mask and proclaimed himself the deadliest foe of his lawful +sovereign. "He was foremost," said Carlos Coloma, "among those who were +successfully angled for by the Commander Moreo with golden hooks." +Although prodigiously fat, this renegade was an active and experienced +campaigner; while his personal knowledge of his own country made his +assistance of much value to those who were attempting its destruction. + +The other great nobles, who were pressing themselves about the new +viceroy with enthusiastic words of welcome, were as like to give him +embarrassment as support. All wanted office, emoluments, distinctions, +nor could, much dependence be placed on the ability or the character of +any of them. The new duke of Arschot had in times past, as prince of +Chimay, fought against the king, and had even imagined himself a +Calvinist, while his wife was still a determined heretic. It is true +that she was separated from her husband. He was a man of more quickness +and acuteness than his father had been, but if possible more mischievous +both to friend and foe; being subtle, restless, intriguing, fickle; +ambitious, and deceitful. The Prince of Orange was considered a man of +very ordinary intelligence, not more than half witted, according to Queen +Elizabeth, and it was probable that the peculiar circumstances of his +life would extinguish any influence that he might otherwise have attained +with either party. He was likely to affect a neutral position and, in +times of civil war, to be neutral is to be nothing. + +Arenberg, unlike the great general on the Catholic side who had made +the name illustrious in the opening scenes of the mighty contest, was +disposed to quiet obscurity so far as was compatible with his rank. +Having inherited neither fortune nor talent with his ancient name, he +was chiefly occupied with providing for the wants of his numerous family. +A good papist, well-inclined and docile, he was strongly recommended for +the post of admiral, not because he had naval acquirements, but because +he had a great many children. The Marquis of Havre, uncle to the Duke of +Arschot, had played in his time many prominent parts in the long +Netherland tragedy. Although older than he was when Requesens and Don +John of Austria had been governors, he was not much wiser, being to the +full as vociferous, as false, as insolent, as self-seeking, and as +mischievous as in his youth. Alternately making appeals to popular +passions in his capacity of high-born demagogue, or seeking crumbs of +bounty as the supple slave of his sovereign, he was not more likely to +acquire the confidence of the cardinal than he had done that of his +predecessors. + +The most important and opulent grandee of all the provinces was the Count +de Ligne, who had become by marriage or inheritance Prince of Espinay, +Seneschal of Hainault, and Viscount of Ghent. But it was only his +enormous estates that gave him consideration, for he was not thought +capable of either good or bad intentions. He had, however, in times +past, succeeded in the chief object of his ambition, which was to keep +out of trouble, and to preserve his estates from confiscation. His wife, +who governed him, and had thus far guided him safely, hoped to do so to +the end. The cardinal was informed that the Golden Fleece would be all- +sufficient to keep him upon the right track. + +Of the Egmonts, one had died on the famous field of Ivry, another was an +outlaw, and had been accused of participation in plots of assassination +against William of Orange; the third was now about the archduke's court, +and was supposed, to be as dull a man--as Ligne, but likely to be +serviceable so long as he could keep his elder brother out of his +inheritance. Thus devoted to Church and King were the sons of the man +whose head Philip had taken off on a senseless charge of treason. The +two Counts Van den Berg--Frederic and Herman--sons of the sister of +William the Silent, were, on the whole, as brave, efficient, and +trustworthy servants of the king and cardinal as were to be found in the +obedient, provinces. + +The new governor had come well provided with funds, being supplied for +the first three-quarters of the year with a monthly: allowance of +1,100,000 florins. For reasons soon to appear, it was not probable that +the States-General would be able very, soon to make a vigorous campaign, +and it was thought best for the cardinal to turn his immediate attention +to France. + +The negotiations for, effecting an alliance offensive and defensive, +between the three powers most interested in opposing the projects of +Spain for universal empire, were not yet begun, and will be reserved for +a subsequent chapter. Meantime there had been much informal discussion +and diplomatic trifling between France and England for the purpose of +bringing about a sincere co-operation of the two crowns against the Fifth +Monarchy--as it was much the fashion to denominate Philip's proposed +dominion. + +Henry had suggested at different times to Sir Robert Sidney, during his +frequent presence in France as special envoy for the queen, the necessity +of such a step, but had not always found a hearty sympathy. But as the +king began to cool in his hatred to Spain, after his declaration of war +against that power, it seemed desirable to Elizabeth to fan his +resentment afresh, and to revert to those propositions which had been so +coolly received when made. Sir Harry Umton, ambassador from her Majesty, +was accordingly provided with especial letters on the subject from the +queen's own hand, and presented them early in the year at Coucy (Feb. +13, 1596). No man in the world knew better the tone to adopt in his +communications with Elizabeth than did the chivalrous king. No man knew +better than he how impossible it was to invent terms of adulation too +gross for her to accept as spontaneous and natural effusions, of the +heart. He received the letters from the hands of Sir Henry, read them +with rapture, heaved a deep sigh, and exclaimed. "Ah! Mr. Ambassador, +what shall I say to you? This letter of the queen, my sister, is full of +sweetness and affection. I see that she loves me, while that I love her +is not to be doubted. Yet your commission shows me the contrary, and +this proceeds from her, ministers. How else can these obliquities stand +with her professions of love? I am forced, as a king, to take a course +which, as Henry, her loving brother, I could never adopt." + +They then walked out into the park, and the king fell into frivolous +discourse, on purpose to keep the envoy from the important subject which +had been discussed in the cabinet. Sir Henry brought him back to +business, and insisted that there was no disagreement between her Majesty +and her counsellors, all being anxious to do what she wished. The envoy, +who shared in the prevailing suspicions that Henry was about to make a +truce with Spain, vehemently protested against such a step, complaining +that his ministers, whose minds were distempered with jealousy, +were inducing him to sacrifice her friendship to a false and hollow +reconciliation with Spain. Henry protested that his preference would be +for England's amity, but regretted that the English delays were so great, +and that such dangers were ever impending over his head, as to make it +impossible for him, as a king, to follow the inclinations of his heart. + +They then met Madame de Monceaux, the beautiful Gabrielle, who was +invited to join in the walk, the king saying that she was no meddler in +politics, but of a tractable spirit. + +This remark, in Sir Henry's opinion, was just, for, said he to Burghley, +she is thought incapable of affairs, and, very simple. + +The duchess unmasked very graciously as the ambassador was presented; +but, said the splenetic diplomatist, "I took no pleasure in it, nor held +it any grace at all." "She was attired in a plain satin gown," he +continued, "with a velvet hood to keep her from the weather, which became +her very ill. In my opinion, she is altered very much for the worse, and +was very grossly painted." The three walked together discoursing of +trifles, much to the annoyance of Umton. At last, a shower forced the +lady into the house, and the king soon afterwards took the ambassador to +his cabinet. "He asked me how I liked his mistress," wrote Sir Henry to +Burghley, "and I answered sparingly in her praise, and told him that if +without offence I might speak it, I had the picture of a far more +excellent mistress, and yet did her picture come far from the perfection +of her beauty." + +"As you love me," cried the king, "show it me, if you have it about you!" + +"I made some difficulty," continued Sir Henry, "yet upon his importunity +I offered it to his view very secretly, still holding it in my hand. He +beheld it with passion and admiration, saying that I was in the right." +"I give in," said the king, "Je me rends." + +Then, protesting that he had never seen such beauty all his life, he +kissed it reverently twice or thrice, Sir Henry still holding the +miniature firmly in his hand. + +The king then insisted upon seizing the picture, and there was a charming +struggle between the two, ending in his Majesty's triumph. He then told +Sir Henry that he might take his leave of the portrait, for he would +never give it up again for any treasure, and that to possess the favour +of the original he would forsake all the world. He fell into many more +such passionate and incoherent expressions of rhapsody, as of one +suddenly smitten and spell-bound with hapless love, bitterly reproaching +the ambassador for never having brought him any answers to the many +affectionate letters which he had written to the queen, whose silence had +made him so wretched. Sir Henry, perhaps somewhat confounded at being +beaten at his own fantastic game, answered as well as he could, "but I +found," said he, "that the dumb picture did draw on more speech and +affection from him than all my best arguments and eloquence. This was +the effect of our conference, and, if infiniteness of vows and outward +professions be a strong argument of inward affection, there is good +likelihood of the king's continuance of amity with her Majesty; only I +fear lest his necessities may inconsiderately draw him into some +hazardous treaty with Spain, which I hope confidently it is yet in the +power of her Majesty to prevent." + +The king, while performing these apish tricks about the picture of a lady +with beady black eyes, a hooked nose, black teeth, and a red wig, who was +now in the sixty-fourth year of her age, knew very well that the whole +scene would be at once repeated to the fair object of his passion by her +faithful envoy; but what must have been the opinion entertained of +Elizabeth by contemporary sovereigns and statesmen when such fantastic +folly could be rehearsed and related every day in the year! + +And the king knew, after all, and was destined very soon to acquire proof +of it which there was no gainsaying, that the beautiful Elizabeth had +exactly as much affection for him as he had for her, and was as capable +of sacrificing his interests for her own, or of taking advantage of his +direct necessities as cynically and as remorselessly, as the King of +Spain, or the Duke of Mayenne, or the Pope had ever done. + +Henry had made considerable progress in re-establishing his authority +over a large portion of the howling wilderness to which forty years of +civil war had reduced his hereditary kingdom. There was still great +danger, however, at its two opposite extremities. Calais, key to the +Norman gate of France, was feebly held; while Marseilles, seated in such +dangerous proximity to Spain on the one side, and to the Republic of +Genoa, that alert vassal of Spain, on the other, was still in the +possession of the League. A concerted action was undertaken by means of +John Andrew Doria, with a Spanish fleet from Genoa on the outside and a +well-organised conspiracy from within, to carry the city bodily over to +Philip. Had it succeeded, this great Mediterranean seaport would have +become as much a Spanish 'possession as Barcelona or Naples, and infinite +might have been the damage to Henry's future prospects in consequence. +But there was a man in Marseilles; Petrus Libertas by name, whose +ancestors had gained this wholesome family appellation by a successful +effort once made by them to rescue the little town of Calvi, in Corsica, +from the tyranny of Genoa. Peter Liberty needed no prompting to +vindicate, on a fitting occasion, his right to his patronymic. In +conjunction with men in Marseilles who hated oppression, whether of +kings, priests, or renegade republics, as much as he did, and with a +secret and well-arranged understanding with the Duke of Guise, who was +burning with ambition to render a signal benefit to the cause which he +had just espoused, this bold tribune of the people succeeded in stirring +the population to mutiny at exactly the right moment, and in opening the +gates of Marseilles to the Duke of Guise and his forces before it was +possible for the Leaguers to admit the fleet of Doria into its harbour. +Thus was the capital of Mediterranean France lost and won. Guise gained +great favour in Henry's eyes; and with reason; for the son of the great +Balafre, who was himself the League, had now given the League the stroke +of mercy. Peter Liberty became consul of Marseilles, and received a +patent of nobility. It was difficult, however, for any diploma to confer +anything more noble upon him than the name which he hade inherited, and +to which he had so well established his right. + +But while Henry's cause had thus been so well served in the south, +there was danger impending in the north. The king had been besieging, +since autumn, the town of La Fere, an important military and strategic +position, which had been Farnese's basis of operations during his +memorable campaigns in France, and which had ever since remained in +the hands of the League. + +The cardinal had taken the field with an army of fifteen thousand foot +and three thousand horse, assembled at Valenciennes, and after hesitating +some time whether, or not he should attempt to relieve La Fere, he +decided instead on a diversion. In the second week of April; De Rosne +was detached at the head of four thousand men, and suddenly appeared +before Calais. The city had been long governed by De Gordan, but this +wary and experienced commander had unfortunately been for two years dead. +Still more unfortunately, it had been in his power to bequeath, not +only his fortune, which was very large, but the government of Calais, +considered the most valuable command in France, to his nephew, +De Vidosan. He had, however, not bequeathed to him his administrative +and military genius. + +The fortress called the Risban, or Rysbank, which entirely governed the +harbour, and the possession of which made Calais nearly impregnable, as +inexhaustible supplies could thus be poured into it by sea, had fallen +into comparative decay. De Gordan had been occupied in strengthening +the work, but since his death the nephew had entirely neglected the task. +On the land side, the bridge of Nivelet was the key to the place. The +faubourg was held by two Dutch companies, under Captains Le Gros and +Dominique, who undertook to prevent the entrance of the archduke's +forces. Vidosan, however; ordered these faithful auxiliaries into the +citadel. + +De Rosne, acting with great promptness; seized both the bridge of Nivelet +and the fort of Rysbank by a sudden and well-concerted movement. This +having been accomplished, the city was in his power, and, after +sustaining a brief cannonade, it surrendered. Vidosan, with his +garrison, however, retired into the citadel, and it was agreed between, +himself and De Rosne that unless succour should be received from the +French king before the expiration of six days; the citadel should also +be-evacuated. + +Meantime Henry, who was at Boulogne, much disgusted at this unexpected +disaster, had sent couriers to the Netherlands, demanding assistance of +the States-General and of the stadholder. Maurice had speedily responded +to the appeal. Proceeding himself to Zeeland, he had shipped fifteen +companies of picked troops from Middelburg, together with a flotilla +laden with munitions and provisions enough to withstand a siege of +several weeks. When the arrangements were completed, he went himself on +board of a ship of war to take command of the expedition in person. On +the 17th of April he arrived with his succours off the harbour of Calais, +and found to his infinite disappointment that the Rysbank fort was in the +hands of the enemy. As not a vessel could pass the bar without almost +touching that fortress, the entrance to Calais was now impossible. Had +the incompetent Vidosan heeded the advice of his brave Dutch officers; +the place might still have been saved, for it had surrendered in a panic +on the very day when the fleet of Maurice arrived off the port. + +Henry had lost no time in sending, also, to his English allies for +succour. The possession of Calais by the Spaniards might well seem +alarming to Elizabeth, who could not well forget that up to the time of +her sister this important position had been for two centuries an English +stronghold. The defeat of the Spanish husband of an English queen had +torn from England the last trophies of the Black Prince, and now the +prize had again fallen into the hands of Spain; but of Spain no longer +in alliance, but at war, with England. Obviously it was most dangerous +to the interests and to the safety of the English realm, that this +threatening position, so near the gates of London, should be in the hands +of the most powerful potentate in the world and the dire enemy of +England. In response to Henry's appeal, the Earl of Essex was despatched +with a force of six thousand men--raised by express command of the queen +on Sunday when the people were all at church--to Dover, where shipping +was in readiness to transport the troops at once across the Channel. At +the same time, the politic queen and some of her counsellors thought the +opening a good one to profit by the calamity of their dear ally, +Certainly it was desirable to prevent Calais from falling into the grasp +of Philip. But it was perhaps equally desirable, now that the place +without the assistance of Elizabeth could no longer be preserved by +Henry, that Elizabeth, and not Henry, should henceforth be its possessor. +To make this proposition as clear to the French king as it seemed to the +English queen, Sir Robert Sidney was despatched in all haste to Boulogne, +even while the guns of De Rosne were pointed at Calais citadel, and while +Maurice's fleet, baffled by the cowardly surrender of the Risban, was on +its retreat from the harbour. + +At two o'clock in the afternoon of the 21st of April, Sidney landed at +Boulogne. Henry, who had been intensely impatient to hear from England, +and who suspected that the delay was boding no good to his cause, went +down to the strand to meet the envoy, with whom then and there he engaged +instantly in the most animated discourse. + +As there was little time to be lost, and as Sidney on getting out of the +vessel found himself thus confronted with the soldier-king in person, he +at once made the demand which he had been sent across the Channel to +make. He requested the king to deliver up the town and citadel of Calais +to the Queen of England as soon as, with her assistance, he should +succeed in recovering the place. He assigned as her Majesty's reasons +for this peremptory summons that she would on no other terms find it in +her power to furnish the required succour. Her subjects, she said, would +never consent to it except on these conditions. It was perhaps not very +common with the queen to exhibit so much deference to the popular will, +but on this occasion the supposed inclinations of the nation furnished +her with an excellent pretext for carrying out her own. Sidney urged +moreover that her Majesty felt certain of being obliged--in case she did +not take Calais into her own safe-keeping and protection--to come to the +rescue again within four or six months to prevent it once more from being +besieged, conquered, and sacked by the enemy. + +The king had feared some such proposition as this, and had intimated as +much to the States' envoy, Calvaert, who had walked with him down to the +strand, and had left him when the conference began. Henry was not easily +thrown from his equanimity nor wont to exhibit passion on any occasion, +least of all in his discussions with the ambassadors of England, but the +cool and insolent egotism of this communication was too much for him. + +He could never have believed, he said in reply, that after the repeated +assurances of her Majesty's affection for him which he had received from +the late Sir Henry Umton in their recent negotiations, her Majesty would +now so discourteously seek to make her profit out of his misery. He had +come to Boulogne, he continued, on the pledge given by the Earl of Essex +to assist him with seven or eight thousand men in the recovery of Calais. +If this after all should fail him--although his own reputation would be +more injured by the capture of the place thus before his eyes than if it +had happened in his absence--he would rather a hundred times endure the +loss of the place than have it succoured with such injurious and +dishonourable conditions. After all, he said, the loss of Calais was +substantially of more importance to the queen than to himself. To him +the chief detriment would be in the breaking up of his easy and regular +communications with his neighbours through this position, and especially +with her Majesty. But as her affection for him was now proved to be so +slender as to allow her to seek a profit from his misfortune and +dishonour, it would be better for him to dispense with her friendship +altogether and to strengthen his connections with truer and more +honourable friends. Should the worst come to the worst, he doubted not +that he should be able, being what he was and much more than he was of +old, to make a satisfactory arrangement with, the King of Spain. He was +ready to save Calais at the peril of his life, to conquer it in person, +and not by the hands of any of his lieutenants; but having done so, he +was not willing--at so great a loss of reputation without and at so much +peril within--to deliver it to her Majesty or to any-one else. He would +far rather see it fall into the hands of the Spaniards. + +Thus warmly and frankly did Henry denounce the unhandsome proposition +made in the name of the queen, while, during his vehement expostulations, +Sidney grew red with shame, and did not venture to look the king for one +moment in the face. He then sought to mitigate the effect of his demand +by intimating, with much embarrassment of demeanour, that perhaps her +Majesty would be satisfied with the possession of Calais for her own +life-time, and--as this was at once plumply refused--by the suggestion of +a pledge of it for the term of one year. But the king only grew the more +indignant as the bargaining became more paltry, and he continued to heap +bitter reproaches upon the queen, who, without having any children or +known inheritor of her possessions, should nevertheless, be so desirous +of compassing his eternal disgrace and of exciting the discontent of his +subjects for the sake of an evanescent gain for herself. At such a +price, he avowed, he had no wish to purchase her Majesty'a friendship. + +After this explosion the conference became more amicable. The English +envoy assured the king that there could be, at all events, no doubt of +the arrival of Essex with eight thousand men on the following Thursday +to assist in the relief of the citadel; notwithstanding the answer which, +he had received to the demand of her Majesty. + +He furthermore expressed the strong desire which he felt that the king +might be induced to make a personal visit to the queen at Dover, whither +she would gladly come to receive him, so soon as Calais should have been +saved. To this the king replied with gallantry, that it was one of the +things in the world that he had most at heart. The envoy rejoined that +her Majesty would consider such a visit a special honour and favour. She +had said that she could leave this world more cheerfully, when God should +ordain, after she had enjoyed two hours' conversation with his Majesty. + +Sidney on taking his departure repeated the assurance that the troops +under Essex would arrive before Calais by Thursday, and that they were +fast marching to the English coast; forgetting, apparently, that, at the +beginning of the interview, he had stated, according to the queen's +instructions, that the troops had been forbidden to march until a +favourable answer had been returned by the king to her proposal. + +Henry then retired to his headquarters for the purpose of drawing up +information for his minister in England, De Saucy, who had not yet been +received by the queen, and who had been kept in complete ignorance of +this mission of Sidney and of its purport. + +While the king was thus occupied, the English envoy was left in the +company of Calvaert, who endeavoured, without much success, to obtain +from him the result of the conference which had just taken place. +Sidney was not to be pumped by the Dutch diplomatist, adroit as he +unquestionably was, but, so soon as the queen's ambassador was fairly +afloat again on his homeward track--which was the case within three hours +after his arrival at Boulogne--Calvaert received from the king a minute +account of the whole conversation. + +Henry expressed unbounded gratitude to the States-General of the republic +for their prompt and liberal assistance, and he eagerly contrasted the +conduct of Prince Maurice--sailing forth in person so chivalrously to +his rescue--with the sharp bargainings and shortcomings of the queen. +He despatched a special messenger to convey his thanks to the prince, +and he expressed his hope to Calvaert that the States might be willing +that their troops should return to the besieged place under the command +of Maurice, whose, presence alone, as he loudly and publicly protested, +was worth four thousand men. + +But it was too late. The six days were rapidly passing, away. The +governor of Boulogne, Campagnolo, succeeded, by Henry's command, in +bringing a small reinforcement of two or three hundred men into the +citadel of Calais during the night of the 22nd of April. This devoted +little band made their way, when the tide was low, along the flats which +stretched between the fort of Rysbank and the sea. Sometimes wading up +to the neck in water, sometimes swimming for their lives, and during a +greater part of their perilous, march clinging so close to the hostile +fortress as almost to touch its guns, the gallant adventurers succeeded +in getting into the citadel in time to be butchered with the rest of the +garrison on the following day. For so soon as the handful of men had +gained admittance to the gates--although otherwise the aspect of affairs +was quite unchanged--the rash and weak De Vidosan proclaimed that the +reinforcements stipulated in his conditional capitulation having arrived, +he should now resume hostilities. Whereupon he opened fire, upon the +town, and a sentry was killed. De Rosne, furious, at what he considered +a breach of faith, directed a severe cannonade against the not very +formidable walls of the castle. During the artillery engagement which +ensued the Prince of Orange, who had accompanied De Rosne to the siege, +had a very narrow escape. A cannon-ball from the town took off the heads +of two Spaniards standing near him, bespattering him with their blood and +brains. He was urged to retire, but assured those about him that he came +of too good a house to be afraid. His courage was commendable, but it +seems not to have occurred to him that the place for his father's son was +not by the aide of the general who was doing the work of his father's +murderer. While his brother Maurice with a fleet of twenty Dutch war- +ships was attempting in vain to rescue Calais from the grasp of the +Spanish king, Philip William of Nassau was looking on, a pleased and +passive spectator of the desperate and unsuccessful efforts at defence. +The assault was then ordered? The-first storm was repulsed, mainly by +the Dutch companies, who fought in the breach until most of their numbers +were killed or wounded, their captains Dominique and Le Gros having both +fallen. The next attack was successful, the citadel was carried; and the +whole garrison, with exception of what remained of the Hollanders and +Zeelanders, put to the sword. De Vidosan himself perished. Thus Calais +was once more a Spanish city, and was re-annexed to the obedient +provinces of Flanders. Of five thousand persons, soldiers and citizens, +who had taken refuge in the castle, all were killed or reduced to +captivity.' + +The conversion of this important naval position into a Spanish-Flemish +station was almost as disastrous to the republic as it was mortifying to +France and dangerous to England. The neighbouring Dunkirk had long been +a nest of pirates, whence small, fast-sailing vessels issued, daily and +nightly, to prey indiscriminately upon the commerce of all nations. +These corsairs neither gave nor took quarter, and were in the habit, +after they had plundered their prizes, of setting them adrift, with the +sailors nailed to the deck or chained to the rigging; while the dfficers +were held for ransom. In case the vessels themselves were wanted, the +crews were indiscriminately tossed overboard; while, on the ether hand, +the buccaneers rarely hesitated to blow up their own ships, when unable +to escape from superior force. Capture was followed by speedy execution, +and it was but recently that one of these freebooters having been brought +into Rotterdam, the whole crew, forty-four in number, were hanged on the +day of their arrival, while some five and twenty merchant-captains held +for ransom by the pirates thus obtained their liberty. + +And now Calais was likely to become a second and more dangerous sea- +robbers' cave than even Dunkirk had been. + +Notwithstanding this unlucky beginning of the campaign for the three +allies, it was determined to proceed with a considerable undertaking +which had been arranged between England and the republic. For the time, +therefore, the importunate demands of the queen for repayments by the +States of her disbursements during the past ten years were suspended. +It had, indeed, never been more difficult than at that moment for the +republic to furnish extraordinary sums of money. The year 1595 had not +been prosperous. Although the general advance in commerce, manufactures, +and in every department of national development had been very remark +able, yet there had recently been, for exceptional causes, an apparent +falling off; while, on the other hand, there had been a bad harvest in +the north of Europe. In Holland, where no grain was grown, and which yet +was the granary of the world, the prices were trebled. One hundred and +eight bushels (a last) of rye, which ordinarily was worth fifty florins, +now sold for one hundred and fifty florins, and other objects of +consumption were equally enhanced in value. On the other hand, the +expenses of the war were steadily increasing, and were fixed for this +year at five millions of florins. The republic, and especially the +States of Holland, never hesitated to tax heroically. The commonwealth +had no income except that which the several provinces chose to impose +upon themselves in order to fill the quota assigned to them by the +States-General; but this defect in their political organization was not +sensibly felt so long as the enthusiasm for the war continued in full +force. The people of the Netherlands knew full well that there was no +liberty for them without fighting, no fighting without an army, no army +without wages, and no wages without taxation; and although by the end of +the century the imposts had become so high that, in the language of that +keen observer, Cardinal Bentivoglio; nuncio at Brussels, they could +scarcely be imagined higher, yet, according to the same authority, they +were laid unflinchingly and paid by the people without a murmur. During +this year and the next the States of Holland, whose proportion often +amounted to fifty per cent. of the whole contribution of the United +Provinces, and who ever set a wholesome example in taxation, raised the +duty on imports and all internal taxes by one-eighth, and laid a fresh +impost on such articles of luxury as velvets and satins, pleas and +processes. Starch, too, became a source of considerable revenue. +With the fast-rising prosperity of the country luxury had risen likewise, +and, as in all ages and countries of the world of which there is record, +woman's dress signalized itself by extravagant and very often tasteless +conceptions. In a country where, before the doctrine of popular +sovereignty had been broached in any part of the world by the most +speculative theorists, very vigorous and practical examples of democracy +had been afforded to Europe; in a country where, ages before the science +of political economy had been dreamed of, lessons of free trade on the +largest scale had been taught to mankind by republican traders +instinctively breaking in many directions through the nets by which +monarchs and oligarchs, guilds and corporations, had hampered the +movements of commerce; it was natural that fashion should instinctively +rebel against restraint. The honest burgher's vrow of Middelburg or +Enkhuyzen claimed the right to make herself as grotesque as Queen +Elizabeth in all her glory. Sumptuary laws were an unwholesome part of +feudal tyranny, and, as such, were naturally dropping into oblivion on +the free soil of the Netherlands. It was the complaint therefore of +moralists that unproductive consumption was alarmingly increasing. +Formerly starch had been made of the refuse parts of corn, but now the +manufacturers of that article made use of the bloom of the wheat and +consumed as much of it as would have fed great cities. In the little +village of Wormer the starch-makers used between three and four thousand +bushels a week. Thus a substantial gentlewoman in fashionable array +might bear the food of a parish upon her ample bosom. A single +manufacturer in Amsterdam required four hundred weekly bushels. Such was +the demand for the stiffening of the vast ruffs, the wonderful head-gear, +the elaborate lace-work, stomachers and streamers, without which no lady +who respected herself could possibly go abroad to make her daily +purchases of eggs and poultry in the market-place. + +"May God preserve us," exclaimed a contemporary chronicler, unreasonably +excited on the starch question, "from farther luxury and wantonness, and +abuse of His blessings and good gifts, that the punishment of Jeroboam, +which followed upon Solomon's fortunate reign and the gold-ships of Ophir +may not come upon us." + +The States of Holland not confounding--as so often has been the case-- +the precepts of moral philosophy with those of political economy, did +not, out of fear for the doom of Jeroboam, forbid the use of starch. +They simply laid a tax of a stiver a pound on the commodity, or about six +per cent, ad valorem; and this was a more wholesome way of serving the +State than by abridging the liberty of the people in the choice of +personal attire. Meantime the preachers were left to thunder from their +pulpits upon the sinfulness of starched rues and ornamental top-knots, +and to threaten their fair hearers with the wrath to come, with as much +success as usually attends such eloquence. + +There had been uneasiness in the provinces in regard to the designs of +the queen, especially since the States had expressed their inability to +comply in full with her demands for repayment. Spanish emissaries had +been busily circulating calumnious reports that her Majesty was on the +eve of concluding a secret peace with Philip, and that it was her +intention to deliver the cautionary towns to the king. The Government +attached little credence to such statements, but it was natural that +Envoy Caron should be anxious at their perpetual recurrence both in +England and in the provinces. So, one day, he had a long conversation +with the Earl of Essex on the subject; for it will be recollected that +Lord Leicester had strenuously attempted at an earlier day to get +complete possession, not only of the pledged cities but of Leyden also, +in order to control the whole country. Essex was aflame with indignation +at once, and, expressed himself with his customary recklessness. +He swore that if her Majesty were so far forsaken of God and so forgetful +of her own glory, as through evil counsel to think of making any treaty +with Spain without the knowledge of the States-General and in order to +cheat them, he would himself make the matter as public as it was possible +to do, and would place himself in direct opposition to such a measure, so +as to show the whole world that his heart and soul were foreign at least +to any vile counsel of the kind that might have been given to his +Sovereign. Caron and Essex conversed much in this vein, and although the +envoy, especially requested him not to do so, the earl, who was not +distinguished, for his powers of dissimulation, and who suspected +Burleigh of again tampering, as he had often before tampered, with secret +agents of Philip, went straight to the queen with the story. Next day, +Essex invited Caron to dine and to go with him after dinner to the queen. +This was done, and, so soon as the States' envoy was admitted to the +royal presence, her Majesty at once opened the subject. She had heard, +she said, that the reports in question had been spread through the +provinces, and she expressed much indignation in regard to them. She +swore very vehemently, as usual, and protested that she had better never +have been born than prove so miserable a princess as these tales would +make her. The histories of England, she said, should never describe her +as guilty of such falsehood. She could find a more honourable and +fitting means of making peace than by delivering up cities and +strongholds so sincerely and confidingly placed in her hands. She hoped +to restore them as faithfully as they had loyally been entrusted to her +keeping. She begged Caron to acquaint the States-General with these +asseverations; declaring that never since she had sent troops to the +Netherlands had she lent her ear to those who had made such underhand +propositions. She was aware that Cardinal Albert had propositions to +make, and that he was desirous of inducing both the French king and, +herself to consent to a peace with Spain: but she promised, the States' +envoy solemnly before God to apprise him of any such overtures, so soon +as they should be made known to herself. + +Much more in this strain, with her usual vehemence and mighty oaths, did +the great queen aver, and the republican envoy, to whom she was on this +occasion very gracious, was fain to believe in her sincerity. Yet the +remembrance of the amazing negotiations between the queen's ministers and +the agents of Alexander Farnese, by which the invasion of the Armada had +been masked; could not but have left an uneasy feeling in the mind of +every Dutch statesman. "I trust in God," said Caron, "that He may never +so abandon her as to permit her to do the reverse of what she now +protests with so much passion. Should it be otherwise--which God forbid +--I should think that He would send such chastisement upon her and her +people that other princes would see their fate therein as in a mirror, +should they make and break such oaths and promises. I tell you these +things as they occur, because, as I often feel uneasiness myself, I +imagine that my friends on the other side the water may be subject to the +same anxiety. Nevertheless, beat the bush as I may, I can obtain no +better information than this which I am now sending you." + +It had been agreed that for a time the queen should desist from her +demands for repayment--which, according to the Treaty of 1585, was to be +made only after conclusion of peace between Spain and the provinces, but +which Elizabeth was frequently urging on the ground that the States could +now make that peace when they chose--and in return for such remission the +republic promised to furnish twenty-four ships of war and four tenders +for a naval expedition which was now projected against the Spanish coast. +These war-ships were to be of four hundred, three hundred, and two +hundred tons-eight of each dimension--and the estimated expense of their +fitting out for five months was 512,796 florins. + +Before the end of April, notwithstanding the disappointment occasioned +in the Netherlands by the loss of Calais, which the States had so +energetically striven to prevent, the fleet under Admiral John of +Duvenwoord, Seigneur of Warmond, and Vice-Admirals Jan Gerbrantz and +Cornelius Leusen, had arrived at Plymouth, ready to sail with their +English allies. There were three thousand sailors of Holland and Zeeland +on board, the best mariners in the world, and two thousand two hundred +picked veterans from the garrisons of the Netherlands. These land-troops +were English, but they belonged to the States' army, which was composed +of Dutch, German, Walloon, Scotch, and Irish soldiers, and it was a +liberal concession on the part of the republican Government to allow them +to serve on the present expedition. By the terms of the treaty the queen +had no more power to send these companies to invade Spain than to +campaign against Tyr Owen in Ireland, while at a moment when the cardinal +archduke had a stronger and better-appointed army in Flanders than had +been seen for many years in the provinces, it was a most hazardous +experiment for the States to send so considerable a portion of their land +and naval forces upon a distant adventure. It was also a serious blow to +them to be deprived for the whole season of that valiant and experienced +commander, Sir Francis Vere, the most valuable lieutenant, save Lewis +William, that Maurice had at his disposition. Yet Vere was to take +command of this contingent thus sent to the coast of Spain, at the very +moment when the republican army ought to issue from their winter quarters +and begin active operations in the field. The consequence of this +diminution of their strength and drain upon their resources was that the +States were unable to put an army in the field during the current year, +or make any attempt at a campaign. + +The queen wrote a warm letter of thanks to Admiral Warmond for the +promptness and efficiency with which he had brought his fleet to the +place of rendezvous, and now all was bustle and preparation in the +English ports for the exciting expedition resolved upon. Never during +Philip's life-time, nor for several years before his birth, had a hostile +foot trod the soil of Spain, except during the brief landing at Corunna +in 1590, and, although the king's beard had been well singed ten years +previously by Sir Francis Drake, and although the coast of Portugal had +still more recently been invaded by Essex and Vere, yet the present +adventure was on a larger scale, and held out brighter prospects of +success than any preceding expedition had done. In an age when the line +between the land and sea service, between regular campaigners and +volunteers, between public and private warfare, between chivalrous +knights-errant and buccaneers, was not very distinctly drawn, there could +be nothing more exciting to adventurous spirits, more tempting to the +imagination of those who hated the Pope and Philip, who loved fighting, +prize-money, and the queen, than a foray into Spain. + +It was time to return the visit of the Armada. Some of the sea-kings +were gone. Those magnificent freebooters, Drake and Hawkins, had just +died in the West Indies, and doughty Sir Roger Williams had left the +world in which he had bustled so effectively, bequeathing to posterity a +classic memorial of near a half century of hard fighting, written, one +might almost imagine, in his demi-pique saddle. But that most genial, +valiant, impracticable, reckless, fascinating hero of romance, the Earl +of Essex--still a youth although a veteran in service--was in the spring- +tide of favour and glory, and was to command the land-forces now +assembled at Plymouth. That other "corsair"--as the Spaniards called +him--that other charming and heroic shape in England's chequered +chronicle of chivalry and crime--famous in arts and arms, politics, +science, literature, endowed with so many of the gifts by which men +confer lustre on their age and country, whose name was already a part of +England's eternal glory, whose tragic destiny was to be her undying +shame--Raleigh, the soldier, sailor, scholar, statesman, poet, historian, +geographical discoverer, planter of empires yet unborn--was also present, +helping to organize the somewhat chaotic elements of which the chief +Anglo-Dutch enterprise for this year against--the Spanish world-dominion +was compounded. + +And, again, it is not superfluous to recal the comparatively slender +materials, both in bulk and numbers, over which the vivid intelligence +and restless energy of the two leading Protestant powers, the Kingdom and +the Republic, disposed. Their contest against the overshadowing empire, +which was so obstinately striving to become the fifth-monarchy of +history, was waged by land: and naval forces, which in their aggregate +numbers would scarce make a startling list of killed and wounded in a +single modern battle; by ships such that a whole fleet of them might be +swept out of existence with half-a-dozen modern broadsides; by weapons +which would seem to modern eyes like clumsy toys for children. Such was +the machinery by which the world was to be lost and won, less than three +centuries ago. Could science; which even in that age had made gigantic +strides out of the preceding darkness, have revealed its later miracles, +and have presented its terrible powers to the despotism which was seeking +to crush all Christendom beneath its feet, the possible result might have +been most tragical to humanity. While there are few inventions in +morals, the demon Intellect is ever at his work, knowing no fatigue and +scorning contentment in his restless demands upon the infinite Unknown. +Yet moral truth remains unchanged, gradually through the ages extending +its influence, and it is only by conformity to its simple and, eternal +dictates that nations, like individuals, can preserve a healthful +existence. In the unending warfare between right and wrong, between +liberty and despotism; Evil has the advantage of rapidly assuming many +shapes. It has been well said that constant vigilance is the price of +liberty. The tendency of our own times, stimulated by scientific +discoveries and their practical application, is to political +consolidation, to the absorption of lesser communities in greater; just +as disintegration was the leading characteristic of the darker ages. The +scheme of Charlemagne to organize Europe into a single despotism was a +brilliant failure because the forces which were driving human society +into local and gradual reconstruction around various centres of +crystallization: were irresistible to any countervailing enginry which +the emperor had at his disposal. The attempt of Philip, eight centuries +later, at universal monarchy, was frivolous, although he could dispose of +material agencies which in the hands of Charlemagne might have made the +dreams of Charlemagne possible. It was frivolous because the rising +instinct of the age was for religious, political, and commercial freedom +in a far intenser degree than those who lived in that age were themselves +aware. A considerable republic had been evolved as it were involuntarily +out of the necessities of the time almost without self-consciousness that +it was a republic, and even against the desire of many who were guiding +its destinies. And it found itself in constant combination with two +monarchs, despotic at heart and of enigmatical or indifferent religious +convictions, who yet reigned over peoples, largely influenced by +enthusiasm for freedom. Thus liberty was preserved for the world; but, +as the law of human progress would seem to be ever by a spiral movement, +it; seems strange to the superficial observer not prone to generalizing, +that Calvinism, which unquestionably was the hard receptacle in which the +germ of human freedom was preserved in various countries and at different +epochs, should have so often degenerated into tyranny. Yet +notwithstanding the burning of Servetus at Geneva, and the hanging of +Mary Dyer at Boston, it is certain that France, England, the Netherlands, +and America, owe a large share of such political liberty as they have +enjoyed to Calvinism. It may be possible for large masses of humanity to +accept for ages the idea of one infallible Church, however tyrannical but +the idea once admitted that there may be many churches; that what is +called the State can be separated from what is called the Church; the +plea of infallibility and of authority soon becomes ridiculous--a mere +fiction of political or fashionable quackery to impose upon the +uneducated or the unreflecting. + +And now Essex, Raleigh and Howard, Vere, Warmond and Nassau were about to +invade the shores of the despot who sat in his study plotting to annex +England, Scotland, Ireland, France, the Dutch republic, and the German +empire to the realms of Spain, Portugal, Naples, Milan, and the Eastern +and Western Indies, over which he already reigned. + +The fleet consisted of fifty-seven ships of war, of which twenty-four +were Dutch vessels under Admiral Warmond, with three thousand sailors of +Holland and Zeeland. Besides the sailors, there was a force of six +thousand foot soldiers, including the English veterans from the +Netherlands under Sir Francis Vere. There were also fifty transports +laden with ammunition and stores. The expedition was under the joint +command of Lord High Admiral Howard and of the Earl of Essex. Many noble +and knightly volunteers, both from England and the republic, were on +board, including, besides those already mentioned, Lord Thomas Howard, +son of the Duke of Norfolk, Sir John Wingfield, who had commanded at +Gertruydenburg, when it had been so treacherously surrendered to Farnese; +Count Lewis Gunther of Nassau, who had so recently escaped from the +disastrous fight with Mondragon in the Lippe, and was now continuing his +education according to the plan laid down for him by his elder brother +Lewis William; Nicolas Meetkerk, Peter Regesmortes, Don Christopher of +Portugal, son of Don Antonio, and a host of other adventurers. + +On the last day of June the expedition arrived off Cadiz. Next morning +they found a splendid Spanish fleet in the harbour of that city, +including four of the famous apostolic great galleons, St. Philip, St. +Matthew, St. Thomas, and St. Andrew, with twenty or thirty great war- +ships besides, and fifty-seven well-armed Indiamen, which were to be +convoyed on their outward voyage, with a cargo estimated at twelve +millions of ducats. + +The St. Philip was the phenomenon of naval architecture of that day, +larger and stronger than any ship before known. She was two thousand +tons burthen, carried eighty-two bronze cannon, and had a crew of twelve +hundred men. The other three apostles carried each fifty guns and four +hundred men. The armament of the other war-ships varied from fifty-two +to eighteen guns each. The presence of such a formidable force might +have seemed a motive for discouragement, or at least of caution. On the +contrary, the adventurers dashed at once upon their prey; thus finding a +larger booty than they had dared to expect. There was but a brief +engagement. At the outset a Dutch ship accidentally blew up, and gave +much encouragement to the Spaniards. Their joy was but short-lived. Two +of the great galleons were soon captured, the other two, the St. Philip +and the St. Thomas, were run aground and burned. The rest of the war- +ships were driven within the harbour, but were unable to prevent a +landing of the enemy's forces. In the eagerness of the allies to seize +the city, they unluckily allowed many of the Indiamen to effect their +escape through the puente del Zuazzo, which had not been supposed a +navigable passage for ships of such burthen. Nine hundred soldiers under +Essex, and four hundred noble volunteers under Lewis Gunther of Nassau, +now sprang on shore, and drove some eleven hundred Spanish skirmishers +back within the gates of the city, or into a bastion recently raised to +fortify the point when the troops had landed. Young Nassau stormed the +bulwark sword in hand, carried it at the first assault, and planted his +colours on its battlement. It was the flag of William the Silent; for +the republican banner was composed of the family colours of the founder +of the new commonwealth. The blazonry of the proscribed and assassinated +rebel waved at last defiantly over one of the chief cities of Spain. +Essex and Nassau and all the rest then entered the city. There was +little fighting. Twenty-five English and Hollanders were killed, and +about as many Spaniards. Essex knighted about fifty gentlemen, +Englishmen and Hollanders, in the square of Cadiz for their gallantry. +Among the number were Lewis Gunther of Nassau, Admiral Warmond, and Peter +Regesmortes. Colonel Nicolas Meetkerke was killed in the brief action, +and Sir John Wingfield, who insisted in prancing about on horseback +without his armour, defying the townspeople and neglecting the urgent +appeal of Sir Francis Vere, was also slain. The Spanish soldiers, +discouraged by the defeat of the ships on which they had relied for +protection of the town, retreated with a great portion of the inhabitants +into the citadel. Next morning the citadel capitulated without striking +a blow, although there, were six thousand able-bodied, well-armed men +within its walls. It was one of the most astonishing panics ever +recorded. The great fleet, making a third of the king's navy, the city +of Cadiz and its fortress, were surrendered to this audacious little +force, which had only arrived off the harbour thirty-six hours before. +The invaders had, however, committed a great mistake. They had routed, +and, as it were, captured the Spanish galleons, but they had not taken +possession of them, such had been their eagerness to enter the city. It +was now agreed that the fleet should be ransomed for two million ducats, +but the proud Duke of Medina Sidonia, who had already witnessed the +destruction of one mighty armada, preferred that these splendid ships +too should perish rather than that they should pay tribute to the enemy. +Scorning the capitulation of the commandant of the citadel, he ordered +the fleet to be set on fire. Thirty-two ships, most of them vessels of +war of the highest class, were burned, with all their equipments. Twelve +hundred cannon sunk at once to the bottom of the Bay of Cadiz, besides +arms for five or six thousand men. At least one-third of Philip's +effective navy was thus destroyed. + +The victors now sacked the city very thoroughly, but the results +were disappointing. A large portion of the portable wealth of the +inhabitants, their gold and their jewelry, had been so cunningly +concealed that, although half a dozen persons were tortured till they +should reveal hidden treasures, not more than five hundred thousand +ducats worth of-plunder was obtained. Another sum of equal amount +having been levied upon the citizens; forty notable personages; among +them eighteen ecclesiastical dignitaries, were carried off as hostages +for its payment. The city was now set on fire by command of Essex in +four different quarters. Especially the cathedral and other churches, +the convents and the hospitals, were burned. It was perhaps not +unnatural: that both Englishmen and Hollanders should be disposed to +wreak a barbarous vengeance on everything representative of the Church +which they abhorred, and from which such endless misery had issued to +the, uttermost corners of their own countries. But it is at any rate +refreshing to record amid these acts of pillage and destruction, in +which, as must ever be the case, the innocent and the lowly were made +to suffer for the crimes of crowned and mitred culprits, that not many +special acts of cruelty were committed upon individuals: + +No man was murdered in cold blood, no woman was outraged. The beautiful +city was left a desolate and blackened ruin, and a general levy of spoil +was made for the benefit of the victors, but there was no infringement +of the theory and practice of the laws of war as understood in that day +or in later ages. It is even recorded that Essex ordered one of his +soldiers, who was found stealing a woman's gown, to be hanged on the +spot, but that, wearied by the intercession of an ecclesiastic of Cadiz, +the canon Quesada, he consented at last to pardon the marauder. + +It was the earnest desire of Essex to hold Cadiz instead of destroying +it. With three thousand men, and with temporary supplies from the fleet, +the place could be maintained against all comers; Holland and England +together commanding the seas. Admiral Warmond and all the Netherlanders +seconded the scheme, and offered at once to put ashore from their vessels +food and munitions enough to serve two thousand men for two months. If +the English admiral would do as much, the place might be afterwards +supplied without limit and held till doomsday, a perpetual thorn in +Philip's side. Sir Francis Vere was likewise warmly in favour of the +project, but he stood alone. All the other Englishmen opposed it as +hazardous, extravagant, and in direct contravention of the minute +instructions of the queen. With a sigh or a curse for what he considered +the superfluous caution of his royal mistress, and the exaggerated +docility of Lord High Admiral Howard, Essex was fain to content himself +with the sack and the conflagration, and the allied fleet sailed away +from Cadiz. + +On their way towards Lisbon they anchored off Faro, and landed a force, +chiefly of Netherlanders, who expeditiously burned and plundered the +place. When they reached the neighbourhood of Lisbon, they received +information that a great fleet of Indiamen, richly laden, were daily +expected from the Flemish islands, as the Azores were then denominated. +Again Essex was vehemently disposed to steer at once for that station, +in order to grasp so tempting a prize; again he was strenuously supported +by the Dutch admiral and Yere, and again Lord Howard peremptorily +interdicted the plan. It was contrary to his instructions and to his +ideas of duty, he said, to risk so valuable a portion of her Majesty's +fleet on so doubtful a venture. His ships were not fitted for a winter's +cruise, he urged. Thus, although it was the very heart of midsummer, +the fleet was ordered to sail homeward. The usual result of a divided +command was made manifest, and it proved in the sequel that, had they +sailed for the islands, they would have pounced at exactly the right +moment upon an unprotected fleet of merchantmen, with cargoes valued at +seven millions of ducats. Essex, not being willing to undertake the +foray to the Azores with the Dutch ships alone, was obliged to digest +his spleen as: best he could. Meantime the English fleet bore away for +England, leaving Essex in his own ship, together with the two captured +Spanish galleons, to his fate. That fate might, have been a disastrous +one, for his prizes were not fully manned, his own vessel was far from +powerful, and there were many rovers and cruisers upon the seas. The +Dutch admiral, with all his ships, however, remained in company, and +safely convoyed him to Plymouth, where they arrived only a day or two +later than Howard and his fleet. Warmond, who had been disposed to sail +up the Thames in order to pay his respects to the queen, was informed +that his presence would not be desirable but rather an embarrassment. +He, however, received the following letter from the hand of Elizabeth. + +MONSIEUR DUYENWOORD,--The report made to me by the generals of our +fleet, just happily arrived from the coast of Spain, of the devoirs of +those who have been partakers in so, famous a victory, ascribes so much +of it to the valour, skill, and readiness exhibited by yourself and our +other friends from the Netherlands under your command, during the whole +course of the expedition, as to fill our mind with special joy and +satisfaction, and, with a desire to impart these feelings to you. No +other means presenting themselves at this moment than that of a letter +(in some sense darkening the picture of the conceptions of our soul), we +are willing to make use of it while waiting for means more effectual. +Wishing thus to disburthen ourselves we find ourselves confused, not- +knowing where to begin, the greatness of each part exceeding the merit +of the other. For, the vigour and promptness with which my lords the +States-General stepped into the enterprise, made us acknowledge that the +good favour, which we have always borne the United Provinces and the +proofs thereof which we have given in the benefits conferred by us upon +them, had not been ill-bestowed. The valour, skill, and discipline +manifested by you in this enterprise show that you and your, whole nation +are worthy the favour and protection of princes against those who wish to +tyrannize over you. But the honourableness and the valour shown by you, +Sir Admiral, towards our cousin the Earl of Essex on his return, when he +unfortunately was cut off from the fleet, and deep in the night was +deprived of all support, when you kept company with him and gave him +escort into the harbour of Plymouth, demonstrate on the one hand your +foresight in providing thus by your pains and patience against all +disasters, which through an accident falling upon one of the chiefs of +our armada might have darkened the great victory; and on the other hand +the fervour and fire of the affection which you bear us, increasing thus, +through a double bond, the obligations we are owing you, which is so +great in our hearts that we have felt bound to discharge a part of it by +means of this writing, which we beg you to communicate to the whole +company of our friends under your command; saying to them besides, that +they may feel assured that even as we have before given proof of our +goodwill to their fatherland, so henceforth--incited by their devoirs and +merits--we are ready to extend our bounty and affection in all ways which +may become a princess recompensing the virtues and gratitude of a nation +so worthy as yours. + "ELIZABETH R. + +"14th August, 1596." + +This letter was transmitted by the admiral to the States-General; who, +furnished him with a copy of it, but enrolled the original in their +archives; recording as it did, in the hand of the great English queen, +so striking a testimony to the valour and the good conduct of +Netherlanders. + +The results of this expedition were considerable, for the king's navy was +crippled, a great city was destroyed, and some millions of plunder had +been obtained. But the permanent possession of Cadiz, which, in such +case, Essex hoped to exchange for Calais, and the destruction of the +fleet at the Azores--possible achievements both, and unwisely neglected +--would have been far more profitable, at least to England. It was also +matter of deep regret that there was much quarrelling between the +Netherlanders and the Englishmen as to their respective share of the +spoils; the Netherlanders complaining loudly that they had been +defrauded. Moreover the merchants of Middelburg, Amsterdam, and other +commercial cities of Holland and Zeeland were, as it proved, the real +owners of a large portion of the property destroyed or pillaged at Cadiz; +so that a loss estimated as high as three hundred thousand florins fell +upon those unfortunate traders through this triumph of the allies. + +The internal consequences of the fall of Calais had threatened at the +first moment to be as disastrous as the international results of that +misfortune had already proved. The hour for the definite dismemberment +and partition of the French kingdom, not by foreign conquerors but among +its own self-seeking and disloyal grandees, seemed to have struck. The +indomitable Henry, ever most buoyant when most pressed by misfortune, was +on the way to his camp at La Fere, encouraging the faint-hearted, and +providing as well as he could for the safety of the places most menaced, +when he was met at St. Quentin by a solemn deputation of the principal +nobles, military commanders, and provincial governors of France. The +Duke of Montpensier was spokesman of the assembly, and, in an harangue +carefully prepared for the occasion, made an elaborate proposition to the +king that the provinces, districts, cities, castles; and other strong- +holds throughout the kingdom should now be formally bestowed upon the +actual governors and commandants thereof in perpetuity, and as hereditary +property, on condition of rendering a certain military service to the +king and his descendants. It seemed so amazing that this temporary +disaster to the national arms should be used as a pretext for parcelling +out France, and converting a great empire into a number of insignificant +duchies and petty principalities; that this movement should be made, not +by the partisans of Spain, but by the adherents of the king; and that its +leader should be his own near relative, a prince of the blood, and a +possible successor to the crown, that Henry was struck absolutely dumb. +Misinterpreting his silence, the duke proceeded very confidently with his +well-conned harangue; and was eloquently demonstrating that, under such a +system, Henry, as principal feudal chief, would have greater military +forces at his disposal whenever he chose to summon his faithful vassals +to the field than could be the case while the mere shadow of royal power +or dignity was allowed to remain; when the king, finding at last a +tongue, rebuked his cousin; not angrily, but with a grave melancholy +which was more impressive than wrath. + +He expressed his pity for the duke that designing intriguers should have +thus taken advantage of his facility of character to cause him to enact +a part so entirely unworthy a Frenchman, a gentleman, and a prince of the +blood. He had himself, at the outset of his career, been much farther +from the throne than Montpensier was at that moment; but at no period of +his life would he have consented to disgrace himself by attempting the +dismemberment of the realm. So far from entering for a moment into the +subject-matter of the duke's discourse, he gave him and all his +colleagues distinctly to understand that he would rather die a thousand +deaths than listen to suggestions which would cover his family and the +royal dignity with infamy. + +Rarely has political cynicism been displayed in more revolting shape than +in this deliberate demonstration by the leading patricians and generals +of France, to whom patriotism seemed an unimaginable idea. Thus signally +was their greediness to convert a national disaster into personal profit +rebuked by the king. Henry was no respecter of the People, which he +regarded as something immeasurably below his feet. On the contrary, he +was the most sublime self-seeker of them all; but his courage, his +intelligent ambition, his breadth and strength of purpose, never +permitted him to doubt that his own greatness was inseparable from the +greatness of France. Thus he represented a distinct and wholesome +principle--the national integrity of a great homogeneous people at a +period when that integrity seemed, through domestic treason and foreign +hatred, to be hopelessly lost. Hence it is not unnatural that he should +hold his place in the national chronicle as Henry the Great. + +Meantime, while the military events just recorded had been occurring in +the southern peninsula, the progress of the archduke and his lieutenants +in the north against the king and against the republic had been +gratifying to the ambition of that martial ecclesiastic. Soon after the +fall of Calais, De Rosne had seized the castles of Guynes and Hames, +while De Mexia laid siege to the important stronghold of Ardres. The +garrison, commanded by Count Belin, was sufficiently numerous and well +supplied to maintain the place until Henry, whose triumph at La Fere +could hardly be much longer delayed, should come to its relief. To the +king's infinite dissatisfaction, however, precisely as Don Alvario de +Osorio was surrendering La Fere to him, after a seven months' siege, +Ardres was capitulating to De Mexia. The reproaches upon Belin for +cowardice, imbecility, and bad faith, were bitter and general. All his +officers had vehemently protested against the surrender, and Henry at +first talked of cutting off his head. It was hardly probable, however-- +had the surrender been really the result of treachery--that the governor +would have put himself, as he did at once in the king's power; for the +garrison marched out of Ardres with the commandant at their head, banners +displayed, drums beating, matches lighted and bullet in mouth, twelve +hundred fighting men strong, besides invalids. Belin was possessed of +too much influence, and had the means of rendering too many pieces of +service to the politic king, whose rancour against Spain was perhaps not +really so intense as was commonly supposed, to meet with the condign +punishment which might have been the fate of humbler knaves. + +These successes having been obtained in Normandy, the cardinal with a +force of nearly fifteen thousand men now took the field in Flanders; +and, after hesitating for a time whether he should attack Breda, Bergen, +Ostend, or Gertruydenburg,--and after making occasional feints in various +directions, came, towards the end of June, before Hulst. This rather +insignificant place, with a population of but one thousand inhabitants, +was defended by a strong garrison under command of that eminent and +experienced officer Count Everard Solms. Its defences were made more +complete by a system of sluices, through which the country around could +be laid under water; and Maurice, whose capture of the town in the year +1591 had been one of his earliest military achievements, was disposed to +hold it at all hazards. He came in person to inspect the fortifications, +and appeared to be so eager on the subject, and so likely to encounter +unnecessary hazards, that the States of Holland passed a resolution +imploring him "that he would not, in his heroic enthusiasm and laudable +personal service, expose a life on which the country so much depended to +manifest dangers." The place was soon thoroughly invested, and the usual +series of minings and counter-minings, assaults, and sorties followed, +in the course of which that courageous and corpulent renegade, De Rosne, +had his head taken off by a cannon-ball, while his son, a lad of sixteen, +was fighting by his side. On the 16th August the cardinal formally +demanded the surrender of the place, and received the magnanimous reply +that Hulst would be defended to the death. This did not, however, +prevent the opening of negotiations the very same day. All the officers, +save one, united in urging Solms to capitulate; and Solms, for somewhat +mysterious reasons, and, as was stated, in much confusion, gave his +consent. The single malcontent was the well-named Matthew Held, whose +family name meant Hero, and who had been one of the chief actors in the +far-famed capture of Breda. He was soon afterwards killed in an +unsuccessful attack made by Maurice upon Venlo. + +Hulst capitulated on the 18th August. The terms were honourable; but the +indignation throughout the country against Count Solms was very great. +The States of Zeeland, of whose regiment he had been commander ever, +since the death of Sir Philip Sidney, dismissed him from their service, +while a torrent of wrath flowed upon him from every part of the country. +Members of the States-General refused to salute him in the streets; +eminent person, ages turned their backs upon him, and for a time there +was no one willing to listen to a word in his defence. The usual +reaction in such cases followed; Maurice sustained the commander, who had +doubtless committed a grave error, but who had often rendered honourable +service to the republic, and the States-General gave him a command as +important as that of which he had been relieved by the Zeeland States. +It was mainly on account of the tempest thus created within the +Netherlands, that an affair of such slight importance came to occupy so +large a space in contemporary history. The defenders of Solmstold wild +stories about the losses of the besieging army. The cardinal, who was +thought prodigal of blood, and who was often quoted as saying "his +soldiers' lives belonged to God and their bodies to the king," had +sacrificed, it, was ridiculously said, according to the statement of the +Spaniards themselves, five thousand soldiers before the walls of Hulst. +It was very logically deduced therefrom that the capture of a few more +towns of a thousand inhabitants each would cost him his whole army. +People told each other, too, that the conqueror had refused a triumph +which the burghers of Brussels wished to prepare for him on his entrance +into the capital, and that he had administered the very proper rebuke +that, if they had more money than they knew what to do with, they should +expend it in aid of the wounded and of the families of the fallen, rather +than in velvets and satins and triumphal arches. The humanity of the +suggestion hardly tallied with the blood-thirstiness of which he was at +the same time so unjustly accused--although it might well be doubted +whether the commander-in-chief, even if he could witness unflinchingly +the destruction of five thousand soldiers on the battle-field, would dare +to confront a new demonstration of schoolmaster Houwaerts and his +fellowpedants. + +The fact was, however, that the list of casualties in the cardinal's camp +during the six weeks' siege amounted to six hundred, while the losses +within the city were at least as many. There was no attempt to relieve +the place; for the States, as before observed, had been too much cramped +by the strain upon their resources and by the removal of so many veterans +for the expedition against Cadiz to be able to muster any considerable +forces in the field during the whole of this year. + +For a vast war in which the four leading powers of the earth were +engaged, the events, to modern eyes, of the campaign of 1596 seem +sufficiently meagre. Meantime, during all this campaigning by land and +sea in the west, there had been great but profitless bloodshed in the +east. With difficulty did the holy Roman Empire withstand the terrible, +ever-renewed assaults of the unholy realm of Ottoman--then in the full +flush of its power--but the two empires still counterbalanced each other, +and contended with each'other at the gates of Vienna. + +As the fighting became more languid, however, in the western part of +Christendom, the negotiations and intrigues grew only the more active. +It was most desirable for the republic to effect, if possible, a formal +alliance offensive and defensive with France and England against Spain. +The diplomacy of the Netherlands had been very efficient in bringing +about the declaration of war by Henry against Philip, by which the +current year had opened, after Henry and Philip had been doing their best +to destroy each other and each other's subjects during the half-dozen +previous years. Elizabeth, too, although she had seen her shores invaded +by Philip with the most tremendous armaments that had ever floated on the +seas, and although she had herself just been sending fire and sword into +the heart of Spain, had very recently made the observation that she and +Philip were not formally at war with each other. It seemed, therefore, +desirable to the States-General that this very practical warfare should +be, as it were, reduced to a theorem. In this case the position of the +republic to both powers and to Spain itself might perhaps be more +accurately defined. + +Calvaert, the States' envoy--to use his own words--haunted Henry like his +perpetual shadow, and was ever doing his best to persuade him of the +necessity of this alliance. De Saucy, as we have seen, had just arrived +in England, when the cool proposition of the queen to rescue Calais from +Philip on condition of keeping it for herself had been brought to +Boulogne by Sidney. Notwithstanding the indignation of the king, he had +been induced directly afterwards to send an additional embassy to +Elizabeth, with the Duke of Bouillon at its head; and he had insisted +upon Calvaert's accompanying the mission. He had, as he frequently +observed, no secrets from the States-General, or from Calvaert, who had +been negotiating upon these affairs for two years past and was so well +acquainted with all their bearings. The Dutch envoy was reluctant to go, +for he was seriously ill and very poor in purse, but Henry urged the +point so vehemently, that Calvaert found himself on board ship within six +hours of the making of the proposition. The incident shows of how much +account the republican diplomatist was held by so keen a judge of mankind +as the Bearnese; but it will subsequently appear that the candour of the +king towards the States-General and their representative was by no means +without certain convenient limitations. + +De Sancy had arrived just as--without his knowledge--Sidney had been +despatched across the channel with the brief mission already mentioned. +When he was presented to the queen, the next day, she excused herself for +the propositions by which Henry had been so much enraged, by assuring the +envoy that it had been her intention only to keep Calais out of the +enemy's hand, so long as the king's forces were too much occupied at a +distance to provide for its safety. As diplomatic conferences were about +to begin in which--even more than in that age, at least, was usually the +case--the object of the two conferring powers was to deceive each other, +and at the same time still more decidedly to defraud other states, Sancy +accepted the royal explanation, although Henry's special messenger, +Lomenie, had just brought him from the camp at Boulogne a minute account +of the propositions of Sidney. + +The envoy had, immediately afterwards, an interview with Lord Burghley, +and at once perceived that he was no friend to his master. Cecil +observed that the queen had formerly been much bound to the king for +religion's sake. As this tie no longer existed, there was nothing now to +unite them save the proximity of the two States to each other and their +ancient alliances, a bond purely of interest which existed only so long +as princes found therein a special advantage. + +De Sancy replied that the safety of the two crowns depended upon their +close alliance against a very powerful foe who was equally menacing to +them both. Cecil rejoined that he considered the Spaniards deserving of +the very highest praise for having been able to plan so important an +enterprise, and to have so well deceived the King of France by the +promptness and the secrecy of their operations as to allow him to +conceive no suspicion as to their designs. + +To this not very friendly sarcasm the envoy, indignant that France should +thus be insulted in her misfortunes, exclaimed that he prayed to God that +the affairs of Englishmen might never be reduced to such a point as to +induce the world to judge by the result merely, as to the sagacity of +their counsels. He added that there were many passages through which to +enter France, and that it was difficult to be present everywhere, in +order to defend them all against the enemy. + +A few days afterwards the Duke of Bouillon arrived in London. He had +seen Lord Essex at Dover as he passed, and had endeavoured without +success to dissuade him from his expedition against the Spanish coast. +The conferences opened on the 7th May, at Greenwich, between Burghley, +Cobham, the Lord Chamberlain, and one or two other commissioners on the +part of the queen, and Bouillon, Sancy, Du Yair, and Ancel, as +plenipotentiaries of Henry. + +There was the usual indispensable series of feints at the outset, as if +it were impossible for statesmen to meet around a green table except as +fencers in the field or pugilists in the ring. + +"We have nothing to do," said Burghley, "except to listen to such +propositions as may be made on the part of the king, and to repeat them +to her Highness the queen." + +"You cannot be ignorant," replied Bouillon, "of the purpose for which we +have been sent hither by his Very Christian Majesty. You know very well +that it is to conclude a league with England. 'Tis necessary, therefore, +for the English to begin by declaring whether they are disposed to enter +into such an alliance. This point once settled, the French can make +their propositions, but it would be idle to dispute about the conditions +of a treaty, if there is after all no treaty to be made." + +To this Cecil rejoined, that, if the king were reduced to the necessity +of asking succour from the queen, and of begging for her alliance, it was +necessary for them, on the other hand, to see what he was ready to do for +the queen in return, and to learn what advantage she could expect from +the league. + +The duke said that the English statesmen were perfectly aware of the +French intention of proposing a league against the common enemy of both +nations, and that it would be unquestionably for the advantage of both +to unite their forces for a vigorous attack upon Spain, in which case it +would be more difficult for the Spanish to resist them than if each were +acting separately. It was no secret that the Spaniards would rather +attack England than France, because their war against England, being +coloured by a religious motive, would be much less odious, and would even +have a specious pretext. Moreover the conquest of England would give +them an excellent vantage ground to recover what they had lost in the +Netherlands. If, on the contrary, the enemy should throw himself with +his whole force upon France, the king, who would perhaps lose many places +at once, and might hardly be able to maintain himself single-handed +against domestic treason and a concentrated effort on the part of Spain, +would probably find it necessary to make a peace with that power. +Nothing could be more desirable for Spain than such a result, for she +would then be free to attack England and Holland, undisturbed by any fear +of France. This was a piece of advice, the duke said, which the king +offered, in the most friendly spirit, and as a proof of his affection, +to her Majesty's earnest consideration. + +Burghley replied that all this seemed to him no reason for making a +league. "What more can the queen do," he observed, "than she is already +doing? She has invaded Spain by land and sea, she has sent troops to +Spain, France, and the Netherlands; she has lent the king fifteen hundred +thousand crowns in gold. In short, the envoys ought rather to be +studying how to repay her Majesty for her former benefits than to be +soliciting fresh assistance." He added that the king was so much +stronger by the recent gain of Marseilles as to be easily able to bear +the loss of places of far less importance, while Ireland, on the +contrary, was a constant danger to the queen. The country was already +in a blaze, on account of the recent landing effected there by the +Spaniards, and it was a very ancient proverb among the English, that to +attack England it was necessary to take the road of Ireland. + +Bouillon replied that in this war there was much difference between the +position of France and that of England. The queen, notwithstanding +hostilities, obtained her annual revenue as usual, while the king was cut +off from his resources and obliged to ruin his kingdom in order to wage +war. Sancy added, that it must be obvious to the English ministers that +the peril of Holland was likewise the peril of England and of France, but +that at the same time they could plainly see that the king, if not +succoured, would be forced to a peace with Spain. All his counsellors +were urging him to this, and it was the interest of all his neighbours +to prevent such a step. Moreover, the proposed league could not but be +advantageous to the English; whether by restraining the Spaniards from +entering England, or by facilitating a combined attack upon the common +enemy. The queen might invade any portion of the Flemish coast at her +pleasure, while the king's fleet could sail with troops from his ports to +prevent any attack upon her realms. + +At this Burghley turned to his colleagues and said, in English, "The +French are acting according to the proverb; they wish to sell us the +bear-skin before they have killed the bear." Sancy, who understood +English, rejoined, "We have no bear-skin to sell, but we are giving you +a very good and salutary piece of advice. It is for you to profit by it +as you may." + +"Where are these ships of war, of which you were speaking?" asked +Burghley. + +"They are at Rochelle, at Bordeaux, and at St. Malo," replied de Sancy. + +"And these ports are not in the king's possession," said the Lord +Treasurer. + +The discussion was growing warm. The Duke of Bouillon, in order to, put +an end to it, said that what England had most to fear was a descent by +Spain upon her coasts, and that the true way to prevent this was to give +occupation to Philip's army in Flanders. The soldiers in the fleet then +preparing were raw levies with which he would not venture to assail her +kingdom. The veterans in Flanders were the men on whom he relied for +that purpose. Moreover the queen, who had great influence with the +States-General, would procure from them a prohibition of all commerce +between the provinces and Spain; all the Netherlands would be lost to +Philip, his armies would disperse of their own accord; the princes of +Italy, to whom the power of Spain was a perpetual menace, would secretly +supply funds to the allied powers, and the Germans, declared enemies of +Philip, would furnish troops. + +Burghley asserted confidently that this could never be obtained from the +Hollanders, who lived by commerce alone. Upon which Saucy, wearied with +all these difficulties, interrupted the Lord Treasurer by exclaiming, +"If the king is to expect neither an alliance nor any succour on your +part, he will be very much obliged to the queen if she will be good +enough to inform him of the decision taken by her, in order that he may, +upon his side, take the steps most suitable to the present position of +his affairs." + +The session then terminated. Two days afterwards, in another conference, +Burghley offered three thousand men on the part of the queen, on +condition that they should be raised at the king's expense, and that +they should not leave England until they had received a month's pay +in advance. + +The Duke of Bouillon said this was far from being what had been expected +of the generosity of her Majesty, that if the king had money he would +find no difficulty in raising troops in Switzerland and Germany, and that +there was a very great difference between hired princes and allies. The +English ministers having answered that this was all the queen could do, +the duke and Saucy rose in much excitement, saying that they had then no +further business than to ask for an audience of leave, and to return to +France as fast as possible. + +Before they bade farewell to the queen, however, the envoys sent a memoir +to her Majesty, in which they set forth that the first proposition as to +a league had been made by Sir Henry Umton, and that now, when the king +had sent commissioners to treat concerning an alliance, already +recommended by the queen's ambassador in France, they had been received +in such a way as to indicate a desire to mock them rather than to treat +with them. They could not believe, they said, that it was her Majesty's +desire to use such language as had been addressed to them, and they +therefore implored her plainly to declare her intentions, in order that +they might waste no more time unnecessarily, especially as the high +offices with which their sovereign had honoured them did not allow them +to remain for a long time absent from France. + +The effect of this memoir upon the queen was, that fresh conferences were +suggested, which took place at intervals between the 11th and the 26th +of May. They were characterized by the same mutual complaints of +overreachings and of shortcomings by which all the previous discussions +had been distinguished. On the 17th May the French envoys even insisted +on taking formal farewell of the queen, and were received by her Majesty +for that purpose at a final audience. After they had left the presence-- +the preparations for their homeward journey being already made--the queen +sent Sir Robert Cecil, Henry Brooke, son of Lord Cobham, and La Fontaine, +minister of a French church in England, to say to them how very much +mortified she was that the state of her affairs did not permit her to +give the king as much assistance as he desired, and to express her wish +to speak to them once more before their departure. + +The result of the audience given accordingly to the envoys, two days +later, was the communication of her decision to enter into the league +proposed, but without definitely concluding the treaty until it should be +ratified by the king. + +On the 26th May articles were finally agreed upon, by which the king and +queen agreed to defend each other's dominions, to unite in attacking the +common enemy, and to invite other princes and states equally interested +with themselves in resisting the ambitious projects of Spain, to join in +the league. It was arranged that an army should be put in the field as +soon as possible, at the expense of the king and queen, and of such other +powers as should associate themselves in the proposed alliance; that this +army should invade the dominions of the Spanish monarch, that the king +and queen were never, without each other's consent, to make peace or +truce with Philip; that the queen should immediately raise four thousand +infantry to serve six months of every year in Picardy and Normandy, with +the condition that they were never to be sent to a distance of more than +fifty leaguas from Boulogna; that when the troubles of Ireland should be +over the queen should be at liberty to add new troops to the four +thousand men thus promised by her to the league; that the queen was to +furnish to these four thousand men six months' pay in advance before they +should leave England, and that the king should agree to repay the amount +six months afterwards, sending meanwhile four nobles to England as +hostages. If the dominions of the queen should be attacked it was +stipulated that, at two months' notice, the king should raise four +thousand men at the expense of the queen and send them to her assistance, +and that they were to serve for six months at her charge, but were not to +be sent to a distance of more than fifty leagues from the coasts of +France. + +The English were not willing that the States-General should be +comprehended among the powers to be invited to join the league, because +being under the protection of the Queen of England they were supposed to +have no will but hers. Burghley insisted accordingly that, in speaking +of those who were thus to be asked, no mention was to be made of peoples +nor of states, for fear lest the States-General might be included under +those terms. The queen was, however, brought at last to yield the point, +and consented, in order to satisfy the French envoys, that to the word +princes should be added the general expression orders or estates. The +obstacle thus interposed to the formation of the league by the hatred of +the queen and of the privileged classes of England to popular liberty, +and by the secret desire entertained of regaining that sovereignty over +the provinces which had been refused ten years before by Elizabeth, was +at length set aside. The republic, which might have been stifled at its +birth, was now a formidable fact, and could neither be annexed to the +English dominions nor deprived of its existence as a new member of the +European family. + +It being no longer possible to gainsay the presence of the young +commonwealth among the nations, the next best thing--so it was thought-- +was to defraud her in the treaty to which she was now invited to accede. +This, as it will presently appear, the King of France and the Queen of +England succeeded in doing very thoroughly, and they accomplished it +notwithstanding the astuteness and the diligence of the States' envoy, +who at Henry's urgent request had accompanied the French mission to +England. Calvaert had been very active in bringing about the +arrangement, to assist in which he had, as we have seen, risen from a +sick bed and made the journey to England: "The proposition for an +offensive and defensive alliance was agreed to by her Majesty's Council, +but under intolerable and impracticable conditions," said he, "and, as +such, rejected by the duke and Sancy, so that they took leave of her +Majesty. At last, after some negotiation in which, without boasting, I +may say that I did some service, it was again taken in hand, and at last, +thank God, although with much difficulty, the league has been concluded." + +When the task was finished the French envoys departed to obtain their +master's ratification of the treaty. Elizabeth expressed herself warmly +in regard to her royal brother, inviting him earnestly to pay her a +visit, in which case she said she would gladly meet him half way; for a +sight of him would be her only consolation in the midst of her adversity +and annoyance. "He may see other princesses of a more lovely +appearance," she added, "but he will never make a visit to a more +faithful friend." + +But the treaty thus concluded was for the public. The real agreement +between France and England was made by a few days later, and reduced the +ostensible arrangement to a sham, a mere decoy to foreign nations, +especially to the Dutch republic, to induce them to imitate England in +joining the league, and to emulate her likewise in affording that +substantial assistance to the league which in reality England was very +far from giving. + +"Two contracts were made," said Secretary of State Villeroy; "the one +public, to give credit and reputation to the said league, the other +secret, which destroyed the effects and the promises of the first. By +the first his Majesty was to be succoured by four thousand infantry, +which number was limited by the second contract to two thousand, who were +to reside and to serve only in the cities of Boulogne and Montreuil, +assisted by an equal number of French, and not otherwise, and on +condition of not being removed from those towns unless his Majesty should +be personally present in Picardy with an army, in which case they might +serve in Picardy, but nowhere else." + +An English garrison in a couple of French seaports, over against the +English coast, would hardly have seemed a sufficient inducement to other +princes and states to put large armies in the field to sustain the +Protestant league, had they known that this was the meagre result of the +protocolling and disputations that had been going on all the summer at +Greenwich. + +Nevertheless the decoy did its work, The envoys returned to France, and +it was not until three months later that the Duke of Bouillon again made +his appearance in England, bringing the treaty duly ratified by Henry. +The league was then solemnized, on, the 26th August, by the queen with +much pomp and ceremony. Three peers of the realm waited upon the French +ambassador at his lodgings, and escorted him and his suite in seventeen +royal coaches to the Tower. Seven splendid barges then conveyed them +along the Thames to Greenwich. On the pier the ambassador was received +by the Earl of Derby at the head of a great suite of nobles and high +functionaries, and conducted to the palace of Nonesuch. + +There was a religious ceremony in the royal chapel, where a special +pavilion had been constructed. Standing, within this sanctuary, the +queen; with her hand on her breast, swore faithfully to maintain the +league just concluded. She then gave her hand to the Duke of Bouillon, +who held it in both his own, while psalms were sung and the organ +resounded through the chapel. Afterwards there was a splendid banquet in +the palace, the duke sitting in solitary grandeur at the royal table, +being placed at a respectful distance from her Majesty, and the dishes +being placed on the board by the highest nobles of the realm, who, upon +their knees, served the queen with wine. No one save the ambassador sat +at Elizabeth's table, but in the same hall was spread another, at which +the Earl of Essex entertained many distinguished guests, young Count +Lewis Gunther of Nassau among the number. + +In the midsummer twilight the brilliantly decorated barges were again +floating on the historic river, the gaily-coloured lanterns lighting the +sweep of the oars, and the sound of lute and viol floating merrily across +the water. As the ambassador came into the courtyard of his house, he +found a crowd of several thousand people assembled, who shouted welcome +to the representative of Henry, and invoked blessings on the head of +Queen Elizabeth and of her royal brother of France. Meanwhile all the +bells of London were ringing, artillery was thundering, and bonfires were +blazing, until the night was half spent. + +Such was the holiday-making by which the league between the great +Protestant queen and the ex-chief of the Huguenots of France was +celebrated within a year after the pope had received him, a repentant +sinner, into the fold of the Church. Truly it might be said that +religion was rapidly ceasing to be the line of demarcation among the +nations, as had been the case for the two last generations of mankind. + +The Duke of Bouillon soon afterwards departed for the Netherlands, where +the regular envoy to the commonwealth, Paul Chouart Seigneur de Buzanval, +had already been preparing the States-General for their entrance into the +league. Of course it was duly impressed upon those republicans that they +should think themselves highly honoured by the privilege of associating +themselves with so august an alliance. The queen wrote an earnest letter +to the States, urging them to join the league. "Especially should you do +so," she said, "on account of the reputation which you will thereby gain +for your affairs with the people who are under you, seeing you thus +sustained (besides the certainty which you have of our favour) by the +friendship of other confederated princes, and particularly by that of the +most Christian king." + +On the 31st October the articles of agreement under which the republic +acceded to the new confederation were signed at the Hague. Of course +it was not the exact counterpart of the famous Catholic association. +Madam League, after struggling feebly for the past few years, a decrepit +beldame, was at last dead and buried. But there had been a time when she +was filled with exuberant and terrible life. She, at least, had known +the object of her creation, and never, so long as life was in her, had +she faltered in her dread purpose. To extirpate Protestantism, to murder +Protestants, to burn, hang, butcher, bury them alive, to dethrone every +Protestant sovereign in Europe, especially to assassinate the Queen of +England, the Prince of Orange, with all his race, and Henry of Navarre, +and to unite in the accomplishment of these simple purposes all the +powers of Christendom under the universal monarchy of Philip of Spain-- +for all this, blood was shed in torrents, and the precious metals of the +"Indies" squandered as fast as the poor savages, who were thus taking +their first lessons in the doctrines of Jesus of Nazareth, could dig it +from the mines. For this America had been summoned, as it were by +almighty fiat, out of previous darkness, in order that it might furnish +money with which to massacre all the heretics of the earth. For this +great purpose was the sublime discovery of the Genoese sailor to be +turned to account. These aims were intelligible, and had in part been +attained. William of Orange had fallen, and a patent of nobility, with a +handsome fortune, had been bestowed upon his assassin. Elizabeth's life +had been frequently attempted. So had those of Henry, of Maurice, of +Olden-Barneveld. Divine providence might perhaps guide the hand of +future murderers with greater accuracy, for even if Madam League were +dead, her ghost still walked among the Jesuits and summoned them to +complete the crimes left yet unfinished. + +But what was the design of the new confederacy? It was not a Protestant +league. Henry of Navarre could no longer be the chief of such an +association, although it was to Protestant powers only that he could turn +for assistance. It was to the commonwealth of the Netherlands, to the +northern potentates and to the Calvinist and Lutheran princes of Germany, +that the king and queen could alone appeal in their designs against +Philip of Spain. + +The position of Henry was essentially a false one from the beginning. +He felt it to be so, and the ink was scarce dry with which he signed the +new treaty before he was secretly casting about him to, make peace with +that power with which he was apparently summoning all the nations of the +earth to do battle. Even the cautious Elizabeth was deceived by the +crafty Bearnese, while both united to hoodwink the other states and +princes. + +On the 31st October, accordingly, the States-General agreed to go into +the league with England and France; "in order to resist the enterprises +and ambitious designs of the King of Spain against all the princes and +potentates of Christendom." As the queen had engaged--according to the +public treaty or decoy--to furnish four thousand infantry to the league, +the States now agreed to raise and pay for another four thousand to be +maintained in the king's service at a cost of four hundred and fifty +thousand florins annually, to be paid by the month. The king promised, +in case the Netherlands should be invaded by the enemy with the greater +part of his force, that these four thousand soldiers should return to the +Netherlands. The king further bound himself to carry on a sharp +offensive war in Artois and Hainault. + +The States-General would have liked a condition inserted in the treaty +that no peace should be made with Spain by England or France without the +consent of the provinces; but this was peremptorily refused. + +Perhaps the republic had no special reason to be grateful for the +grudging and almost contemptuous manner in which it had thus been +virtually admitted into the community of sovereigns; but the men who +directed its affairs were far too enlightened not to see how great a step +was taken when their political position, now conceded to them, had been +secured. In good faith they intended to carry out the provisions of the +new treaty, and they immediately turned their attention to the vital +matters of making new levies and of imposing new taxes, by means of which +they might render themselves useful to their new allies. + +Meantime Ancel was deputed by Henry to visit the various courts of +Germany and the north in order to obtain, if possible, new members for +the league? But Germany was difficult to rouse. The dissensions among +Protestants were ever inviting the assaults of the Papists. Its +multitude of sovereigns were passing their leisure moments in wrangling +among themselves as usual on abstruse points of theology, and devoting +their serious hours to banquetting, deep drinking, and the pleasures of +the chase. The jeremiads of old John of Nassau grew louder than ever, +but his voice was of one crying in the wilderness. The wrath to come of +that horrible Thirty Years' War, which he was not to witness seemed to +inspire all his prophetic diatribes. But there were few to heed them. +Two great dangers seemed ever impending over Christendom, and it is +difficult to decide which fate would have been the more terrible, the +establishment of the universal monarchy of Philip II., or the conquest of +Germany by the Grand Turk. But when Ancel and other emissaries sought to +obtain succour against the danger from the south-west, he was answered by +the clash of arms and the shrieks of horror which came daily from the +south-east. In vain was it urged, and urged with truth, that the Alcoran +was less cruel than the Inquisition, that the soil of Europe might be +overrun by Turks and Tartars, and the crescent planted triumphantly in +every village, with less disaster to the human race, and with better hope +that the germs of civilization and the precepts of Christianity might +survive the invasion, than if the system of Philip, of Torquemada, and of +Alva, should become the universal law. But the Turk was a frank enemy of +Christianity, while Philip murdered Christians in the name of Christ. +The distinction imposed upon the multitudes, with whom words were things. +Moreover, the danger from the young and enterprising Mahomet seemed more +appalling to the imagination than the menace, from which experience had +taken something of its terrors, of the old and decrepit Philip. + +The Ottoman empire, in its exact discipline, in its terrible +concentration of purpose, in its contempt for all arts and sciences, and +all human occupation save the trade of war and the pursuit of military +dominion, offered a strong contrast to the distracted condition of +the holy Roman empire, where an intellectual and industrious people, +distracted by half a century of religious controversy and groaning under +one of the most elaborately perverse of all the political systems ever +invented by man, seemed to offer itself an easy prey to any conqueror. +The Turkish power was in the fulness of its aggressive strength, and +seemed far more formidable than it would have done had there been clearer +perceptions of what constitutes the strength and the wealth of nations. +Could the simple truth have been thoroughly, comprehended that a realm +founded upon such principles was the grossest of absurdities, the Eastern +might have seemed less terrible than the Western danger. + +But a great campaign, at no considerable distance from the walls of +Vienna, had occupied the attention of Germany during the autumn. Mahomet +had taken the field in person with a hundred thousand men, and the +emperor's brother, Maximilian, in conjunction with the Prince of +Transylvania, at the head of a force of equal magnitude, had gone forth +to give him battle. Between the Theiss and the Danube, at Keveste, not +far from the city of Erlau, on the 26th October, the terrible encounter +on which the fate of Christendom seemed to hang at last took place, and +Europe held its breath in awful suspense until its fate should be +decided. When the result at last became known, a horrible blending of +the comic and the tragic, such as has rarely been presented in history, +startled the world. Seventy thousand human beings--Moslems and +Christians--were lying dead or wounded on the banks of a nameless little +stream which flows into the Theisa, and the commanders-in-chief of both +armies were running away as fast as horses could carry them. Each army +believed itself hopelessly defeated, and abandoning tents, baggage, +artillery, ammunition, the remnants of each, betook themselves to panic- +stricken flight. Generalissimo Maximilian never looked behind him as he +fled, until he had taken refuge in Kaschan, and had thence made his way, +deeply mortified and despondent, to Vienna. The Prince of Transylvania +retreated into the depths of his own principality. Mahomet, with his +principal officers, shut himself up in Buda, after which he returned to +Constantinople and abandoned himself for a time to a voluptuous ease, +inconsistent with the Ottoman projects of conquering the world. The +Turks, less prone to desperation than the Christians, had been utterly +overthrown in the early part of the action, but when the victors were, +as usual, greedily bent upon plunder before the victory had been fairly +secured, the tide of battle was turned by the famous Italian renegade +Cicala. The Turks, too, had the good sense to send two days afterwards +and recover their artillery, trains, and other property, which ever since +the battle had been left at the mercy of the first comers. + +So ended the Turkish campaign of the year 1596. Ancel, accordingly, +fared ill in his negotiations with Germany. On the other hand Mendoza, +Admiral of Arragon, had been industriously but secretly canvassing the +same regions as the representative of the Spanish king. It was important +for Philip, who put more faith in the league of the three powers than +Henry himself did, to lose no time in counteracting its influence. The +condition of the holy Roman empire had for some time occupied his most +serious thoughts. It seemed plain that Rudolph would never marry. +Certainly he would never marry the Infanta, although he was very angry +that his brother should aspire to the hand which he himself rejected. +In case of his death without children, Philip thought it possible that +there might be a Protestant revolution in Germany, and that the house of +Habsburg might lose the imperial crown altogether. It was even said that +the emperor himself was of that opinion, and preferred that the empire +should end with his own life." Philip considered that neither Matthias +nor Maximilian was fit to succeed their brother, being both of them +lukewarm in the Catholic faith." In other words, he chose that his +destined son-in-law, the Cardinal Albert, should supersede them, and he +was anxious to have him appointed as soon as possible King of the Romans. + +"His Holiness the Pope and the King of Spain," said the Admiral of +Arragon, "think it necessary to apply most stringent measures to the +emperor to compel him to appoint a successor, because, in case of his +death without one, the administration during the vacancy would fall to +the elector palatine,--a most perverse Calvinistic heretic, and as great +an enemy of the house of Austria and of our holy religion as the Turk +himself--as sufficiently appears in those diabolical laws of his +published in the palatinate a few months since. A vacancy is so +dreadful, that in the north of Germany the world would come to an end; +yet the emperor, being of rather a timid nature than otherwise, is +inclined to quiet, and shrinks from the discussions and conflicts likely +to be caused by an appointment. Therefore his Holiness and his Catholic +Majesty, not choosing that we should all live in danger of the world's +falling in ruins, have resolved to provide the remedy. They are to +permit the electors to use the faculty which they possess of suspending +the emperor and depriving him of his power; there being examples of this +in other times against emperors who governed ill." + +The Admiral farther alluded to the great effort made two years before to +elect the King of Denmark emperor, reminding Philip that in Hamburg they +had erected triumphal arches, and made other preparations to receive him. +This year, he observed, the Protestants were renewing their schemes. On +the occasion of the baptism of the child of the elector palatine, the +English envoy being present, and Queen Elizabeth being god-mother, they +had agreed upon nine articles of faith much more hostile to the Catholic +creed than anything ever yet professed. In case of the death of the +emperor, this elector palatine would of course make much trouble, and +the emperor should therefore be induced, by fair means if possible, on +account of the great inconvenience of forcing him, but not without a hint +of compulsion, to acquiesce in the necessary measures. Philip was +represented as willing to assist the empire with considerable force +against the Turk--as there could be no doubt that Hungary was in great +danger--but in recompense it was necessary to elect a King of the Romans +in all respects satisfactory to him. There were three objections to the +election of Albert, whose recent victories and great abilities entitled +him in Philip's opinion to the crown. Firstly, there was a doubt whether +the kingdoms of Hungary and Bohemia were elective or hereditary, and it +was very important that the King of the Romans should succeed to those +two crowns, because the electors and other princes having fiefs within +those kingdoms would be unwilling to swear fealty to two suzerains, and +as Albert was younger than his brothers he could scarcely expect to take +by inheritance. + +Secondly, Albert had no property of his own, but the Admiral suggested +that the emperor might be made to abandon to him the income of the Tyrol. + +Thirdly, it was undesirable for Albert to leave the Netherlands at that +juncture. Nevertheless, it was suggested by the easy-going Admiral, with +the same tranquil insolence which marked all his proposed arrangements, +that as Rudolph would retire from the government altogether, Albert, as +King of the Romans and acting emperor, could very well take care of the +Netherlands as part of his whole realm. Albert being moreover about to +marry the Infanta, the handsome dowry which he would receive with her +from the king would enable him to sustain his dignity. + +Thus did Philip who had been so industrious during the many past years +in his endeavours to expel the heretic Queen of England and the Huguenot +Henry from the realms of their ancestors, and to seat himself or his +daughter, or one or another of his nephews, in their places, now busy +himself with schemes to discrown Rudolph of Habsburg, and to place the +ubiquitous Infanta and her future husband on his throne. Time would show +the result. + +Meantime, while the Protestant Ancel and other agents of the new league +against Philip were travelling about from one court of Europe to another +to gain adherents to their cause, the great founder of the confederacy +was already secretly intriguing for a peace with that monarch. The ink +was scarce dry on the treaty to which he had affixed his signature before +he was closeted with the agents of the Archduke Albert, and receiving +affectionate messages and splendid presents from that military +ecclesiastic. + +In November, 1596, La Balvena, formerly a gentleman of the Count de la +Fera, came to Rouen. He had a very secret interview with Henry IV. at +three o'clock one morning, and soon afterwards at a very late hour in the +night. The king asked him why the archduke was not willing to make a +general peace, including England and Holland. Balvena replied that he +had no authority to treat on that subject; it being well known, however, +that the King of Spain would never consent to a peace with the rebels, +except on the ground of the exclusive maintenance of the Catholic +religion. + +He is taking the very course to destroy that religion, said Henry. The +king then avowed himself in favour of peace for the sake of the poor +afflicted people of all countries. He was not tired of arms, he said, +which were so familiar to him, but his wish was to join in a general +crusade against the Turk. This would be better for the Catholic religion +than the present occupations of all parties. He avowed that the Queen of +England was his very good friend, and said he had never yet broken his +faith with her, and never would do so. She had sent him the Garter, and +he had accepted it, as his brother Henry III. had done before him, and he +would negotiate no peace which did not include her. The not very distant +future was to show how much these stout professions of sincerity were +worth. Meantime Henry charged Balvena to keep their interviews a +profound secret, especially from every one in France. The king expressed +great anxiety lest the Huguenots should hear of it, and the agent +observed that any suspicion of peace negotiations would make great +disturbance among the heretics, as one of the conditions of the king's +absolution by the pope was supposed to be that he should make war upon +his Protestant subjects. On his return from Rouen the emissary made a +visit to Monlevet, marshal of the camp to Henry IV. and a Calvinist. +There was much conversation about peace, in the course of which Monlevet +observed, "We are much afraid of you in negotiation, for we know that you +Spaniards far surpass us in astuteness." + +"Nay," said Balvena, "I will only repeat the words of the Emperor Charles +V.--'The Spaniards seem wise, and are madmen; the French seem madmen, and +are wise.'" + +A few weeks later the archduke sent Balvena again to Rouen. He had +another interview with the king, at which not only Villeroy and other +Catholics were present, but Monlevet also. This proved a great obstacle +to freedom of conversation. The result was the same as before. + +There were strong professions of a desire on the part of the king for a +peace but it was for a general peace; nothing further. + +On the 4th December Balvena was sent for by the king before daylight, +just as he was mounting his horse for the chase. + +"Tell his Highness," said Henry, "that I am all frankness, and incapable +of dissimulation, and that I believe him too much a man of honour to wish +to deceive me. Go tell him that I am most anxious for peace, and that I +deeply regret the defeat that has been sustained against the Turk. Had I +been there I would have come out dead or victorious. Let him arrange an +agreement between us, so that presto he may see me there with my brave +nobles, with infantry and with plenty of Switzers. Tell him that I am +his friend: Begone. Be diligent." + +On the last day but two of the year, the archduke, having heard this +faithful report of Henry's affectionate sentiments, sent him a suit of +splendid armour, such as was then made better in Antwerp than anywhere +else, magnificently burnished of a blue colour, according to an entirely +new fashion. + +With such secret courtesies between his most Catholic Majesty's +vicegerent and himself was Henry's league with the two Protestant +powers accompanied. + +Exactly at the same epoch Philip was again preparing an invasion of the +queen's dominions. An armada of a hundred and twenty-eight ships, with a +force of fourteen thousand infantry and three thousand horse, had been +assembled during the autumn of this year at Lisbon, notwithstanding the +almost crushing blow that the English and Hollanders had dealt the king's +navy so recently at Cadiz. This new expedition was intended for Ireland, +where it was supposed that the Catholics would be easily roused. It was +also hoped that the King of Scots might be induced to embrace this +opportunity of wreaking vengeance on his mother's destroyer. "He was on +the watch the last time that my armada went forth against the English," +said Philip, "and he has now no reason to do the contrary, especially if +he remembers that here is a chance to requite the cruelty which was +practised on his mother." + +The fleet sailed on the 5th October under the command of the Count Santa +Gadea. Its immediate destination was the coast of Ireland, where they +were to find some favourable point for disembarking the troops. Having +accomplished this, the ships, with the exception of a few light vessels, +were to take their departure and pass the winter in Ferrol. In case the +fleet should be forced by stress of weather on the English coast, the +port of Milford Haven in Wales was to be seized, "because," said Philip, +"there are a great many Catholics there well affected to our cause, and +who have a special enmity to the English." In case the English fleet +should come forth to give battle, Philip sent directions that it was to +be conquered at once, and that after the victory Milford Haven was to be +firmly held. + +This was easily said. But it was not fated that this expedition should +be more triumphant than that of the unconquerable armada which had been +so signally conquered eight years before. Scarcely had the fleet put to +sea when it was overtaken by a tremendous storm, in which forty ships +foundered with five thousand men. The shattered remnants took refuge in +Ferrol. There the ships were to refit, and in the spring the attempt was +to be renewed. Thus it was ever with the King of Spain. There was a +placid unconsciousness on his part of defeat which sycophants thought +sublime. And such insensibility might have been sublimity had the +monarch been in person on the deck of a frigate in the howling tempest, +seeing ship after ship go down before his eyes; and exerting himself with +tranquil energy and skill to encourage his followers, and to preserve +what remained afloat from destruction. Certainly such exhibitions of +human superiority to the elements are in the highest degree inspiring. +His father had shown himself on more than one occasion the master of his +fate. The King of France, too, bare-headed, in his iron corslet, leading +a forlorn hope, and, by the personal charm of his valour, changing +fugitives into heroes and defeat into victory, had afforded many examples +of sublime unconsciousness of disaster, such as must ever thrill the +souls of mankind. But it is more difficult to be calm in battle and +shipwreck than at the writing desk; nor is that the highest degree of +fortitude which enables a monarch--himself in safety--to endure without +flinching the destruction of his fellow creatures. + +No sooner, however, was the remnant of the tempest-tost fleet safe in +Ferrol than the king requested the cardinal to collect an army at Calais +and forthwith to invade England. He asked his nephew whether he could +not manage to send his troops across the channel in vessels of light +draught, such as he already had at command, together with some others +which might be furnished him from Spain. In this way he was directed to +gain a foot-hold in England, and he was to state immediately whether he +could accomplish this with his own resources or should require the +assistance of the fleet at Ferrol. The king further suggested that the +enemy, encouraged by his success at Cadiz the previous summer, might be +preparing a fresh expedition against Spain, in which case the invasion of +England would be easier to accomplish. + +Thus on the last day of 1596, Philip, whose fleet sent forth for the +conquest of Ireland and England had been too crippled to prosecute the +adventure, was proposing to his nephew to conquer England without any +fleet at all. He had given the same advice to Alexander Farnese so soon +as he heard of the destruction of the invincible armada. + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +Allow her to seek a profit from his misfortune +Burning of Servetus at Geneva +Constant vigilance is the price of liberty +Evil has the advantage of rapidly assuming many shapes +French seem madmen, and are wise +Hanging of Mary Dyer at Boston +Imposed upon the multitudes, with whom words were things +Impossible it was to invent terms of adulation too gross +In times of civil war, to be neutral is to be nothing +Meet around a green table except as fencers in the field +One-third of Philip's effective navy was thus destroyed +Patriotism seemed an unimaginable idea +Placid unconsciousness on his part of defeat +Plea of infallibility and of authority soon becomes ridiculous +Religion was rapidly ceasing to be the line of demarcation +So often degenerated into tyranny (Calvinism) +Spaniards seem wise, and are madmen +The Alcoran was less cruel than the Inquisition +There are few inventions in morals +To attack England it was necessary to take the road of Ireland +Tranquil insolence +Unproductive consumption was alarmingly increasing +Upon their knees, served the queen with wine +Wish to sell us the bear-skin before they have killed the bear + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext History of United Netherlands, v68 +by John Lothrop Motley + + + + + + +HISTORY OF THE UNITED NETHERLANDS +From the Death of William the Silent to the Twelve Year's Truce--1609 + +By John Lothrop Motley + + + +History United Netherlands, Volume 69, 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 this Project Gutenberg Etext History of United Netherlands, v69 +by John Lothrop Motley + + + + + + +HISTORY OF THE UNITED NETHERLANDS +From the Death of William the Silent to the Twelve Year's Truce--1609 + +By John Lothrop Motley + + + +History United Netherlands, Volume 70, 1598 + + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV. + + Mission of the States to Henry to prevent the consummation of peace + with Spain--Proposal of Henry to elevate Prince Maurice to the + sovereignty, of the States--Embarkation of the States' envoys for + England--Their interview with Queen Elizabeth--Return of the envoys + from England--Demand of Elizabeth for repayment of her advances to + the republic--Second embassy to England--Final arrangement between + the Queen and the States. + +The great Advocate was now to start on his journey in order to make a +supreme effort both with Henry and with Elizabeth to prevent the +consummation of this fatal peace. Admiral Justinus of Nassau, natural +son of William the Silent, was associated with Barneveld in the mission, +a brave fighting man, a staunch patriot, and a sagacious counsellor; but +the Advocate on this occasion, as in other vital emergencies of the +commonwealth, was all in all. + +The instructions of the envoys were simple. They were to summon the +king to fulfil his solemnly sworn covenants with the league. The States- +General had never doubted, they said, that so soon as the enemy had begun +to feel the effects, of that league he would endeavour to make a +composition with one or other of the parties in order to separate them, +and to break up that united strength which otherwise he could never +resist. The king was accordingly called upon to continue the war against +the common enemy, and the States-General offered, over and above the four +hundred and fifty thousand florins promised by them for the support of +the four thousand infantry for the year 1598, to bring their whole +military power, horse and foot, into the field to sustain his Majesty in +the war, whether separately or in conjunction, whether in the siege of +cities or in open campaigns. Certainly they could hardly offer fairer +terms than these. + +Henry had complained, and not unreasonably, that Elizabeth had made no +offers of assistance for carrying on the war either to Fonquerolles or to +Hurault de Maisse; but he certainly could make no reproach of that nature +against the republic, nor assign their lukewarmness as an excuse for his +desertion. + +The envoys were ready to take their departure for France on the last day +of January. + +It might be a curious subject to consider how far historical events are +modified and the world's destiny affected by the different material +agencies which man at various epochs has had at his disposal. The human +creature in his passions and ambitions, his sensual or sordid desires, +his emotional and moral nature, undergoes less change than might be hoped +from age to age. The tyrant; the patriot, the demagogue, the voluptuary, +the peasant, the trader, the intriguing politician, the hair-splitting +diplomatist, the self-sacrificing martyr, the self-seeking courtier, +present essentially one type in the twelfth, the sixteenth, the +nineteenth, or any other century. The human tragi-comedy seems ever +to repeat itself with the same bustle, with the same excitement for +immediate interests, for the development of the instant plot or passing +episode, as if the universe began and ended with each generation--as in +reality it would appear to do for the great multitude of the actors. +There seems but a change of masks, of costume, of phraseology, combined +with a noisy but eternal monotony. Yet while men are produced and are +whirled away again in endless succession, Man remains, and to all +appearance is perpetual and immortal even on this earth. Whatever +science acquires man inherits. Whatever steadfastness is gained for +great moral truths which change not through the ages--however they may be +thought, in dark or falsely brilliant epochs, to resolve themselves into +elemental vapour--gives man a securer foothold in his onward and upward +progress. The great, continuous history of that progress is not made up +of the reigns of kings or the lives of politicians, with whose names +history has often found it convenient to mark its epochs. These are but +milestones on the turnpike. Human progress is over a vast field, and it +is only at considerable intervals that a retrospective view enables us to +discern whether the movement has been slow or rapid, onward or +retrograde. + +The record of our race is essentially unwritten. What we call history is +but made up of a few scattered fragments, while it is scarcely given to +human intelligence to comprehend the great whole. Yet it is strange to +reflect upon the leisurely manner in which great affairs were conducted +in the period with which we are now occupied, as compared with the fever +and whirl of our own times, in which the stupendous powers of steam and +electricity are ever-ready to serve the most sublime or the most vulgar +purposes of mankind. Whether there were ever a critical moment in which +a rapid change might have been effected in royal or national councils, +had telegraphic wires and express trains been at the command of Henry, +or Burghley, or Barneveld, or the Cardinal Albert, need not and cannot +be decided. It is almost diverting, however, to see how closely the +intrigues of cabinets, the movements of armies, the plans of patriots, +were once dependent on those natural elements over which man has now +gained almost despotic control. + +Here was the republic intensely eager to prevent, with all speed, the +consummation of a treaty between its ally and its enemy--a step which it +was feared might be fatal to its national existence, and concerning which +there seemed a momentary hesitation. Yet Barneveld and Justinus of +Nassau, although ready on the last day of January, were not able to sail +from the Brill to Dieppe until the 18th March, on account of a persistent +south-west wind. + +After forty-six days of waiting, the envoys, accompanied by Buzanval, +Henry's resident at the Hague, were at last, on the 18th March, enabled +to set sail with a favourable breeze. As it was necessary for travellers +in that day to provide themselves with every possible material for their +journey--carriages, horses, hosts of servants, and beds, fortunate enough +if they found roads and occasionally food--Barneveld and Nassau were +furnished with three ships of war, while another legation on its way to +England had embarked in two other vessels of the same class. A fleet of +forty or fifty merchantmen sailed under their convoy. Departing from the +Brill in this imposing manner, they sailed by Calais, varying the +monotony of the voyage by a trifling sea-fight with some cruisers from +that Spanish port, neither side receiving any damage. + +Landing at Dieppe on the morning of the 20th, the envoys were received +with much ceremony at the city gates by the governor of the place, who +conducted them in a stately manner to a house called the king's mansion, +which he politely placed at their disposal. "As we learned, however," +says Barneveld, with grave simplicity; "that there was no furniture +whatever in that royal abode, we thanked his Excellency, and declared +that we would rather go to a tavern." + +After three days of repose and preparation in Dieppe, they started at +dawn on their journey to Rouen, where they arrived at sundown. + +On the next morning but one they set off again on their travels, and +slept that night at Louviers. Another long day's journey brought them to +Evreux. On the 27th they came to Dreux, on the 28th to Chartres, and on +the 29th to Chateaudun. On the 30th, having started an hour before +sunrise, they were enabled after a toilsome journey to reach Blois at an +hour after dark. Exhausted with fatigue, they reposed in that city for a +day, and on the 1st April proceeded, partly by the river Loire and partly +by the road, as far as Tours. Here they were visited by nobody, said +Barneveld, but fiddlers and drummers, and were execrably lodged. +Nevertheless they thought the town in other respects agreeable, and +apparently beginning to struggle out of the general desolation of, +France. On the end April they slept at Langeais, and on the night of the +3rd reached Saumur, where they were disappointed at the absence of the +illustrious Duplessis Mornay, then governor of that city. A glance at +any map of France will show the course of the journey taken by the +travellers, which, after very hard work and great fatigue, had thus +brought them from Dieppe to Saumur in about as much time as is now +consumed by an average voyage from Europe to America. In their whole +journey from Holland to Saumur, inclusive of the waiting upon the wind +and other enforced delays, more than two months had been consumed. +Twenty-four hours would suffice at present for the excursion. + +At Saumur they received letters informing them that the king was +"expecting them with great devotion at Angiers." A despatch from Cecil, +who was already with Henry, also apprised them that he found "matters +entirely arranged for a peace." This would be very easily accomplished, +he said, for France and England, but the great difficulty was for the +Netherlands. He had come to France principally for the sake of managing +affairs for the advantage of the States, but he begged the envoys not to +demean themselves as if entirely bent on war. + +They arrived at Angiers next day before dark, and were met at a league's +distance from the gates by the governor of the castle, attended by young +Prince Frederic Henry of Nassau; followed by a long train of nobles and +mounted troops. Welcomed in this stately manner on behalf of the king, +the envoys were escorted to the lodgings provided for them in the city. +The same evening they waited on the widowed princess of Orange, Louisa of +Coligny, then residing temporarily with her son in Angiera, and were +informed by her that the king's mind was irrevocably fixed on peace. She +communicated, however, the advice of her step-son in law, the Duke of +Bouillon, that they should openly express their determination to continue +the war, notwithstanding that both their Majesties of England and France +wished to negotiate. Thus the counsels of Bouillon to the envoys were +distinctly opposed to those of Cecil, and it was well known to them that +the duke was himself sincerely anxious that the king should refuse the +pacific offers of Spain. + +Next morning, 5th April, they were received at the gates of the castle +by the governor of Anjou and the commandant of the citadel of Angiers, +attended by a splendid retinue, and were conducted to the king, who was +walking in the garden of the fortress. Henry received them with great +demonstrations of respect, assuring them that he considered the States- +General the best and most faithful friends that he possessed in the +world, and that he had always been assisted by them in time of his +utmost need with resoluteness and affection. + +The approach of the English ambassador, accompanied by the Chancellor of +France and several other persons, soon brought the interview to a +termination. Barneveld then presented several gentlemen attached to the +mission, especially his son and Hugo Grotius, then a lad of fifteen, but +who had already gained such distinction at Leyden that Scaliger, +Pontanus; Heinsius, Dousa, and other professors, foretold that he would +become more famous than Erasmus. They were all very cordially received +by the king, who subsequently bestowed especial marks of his +consideration upon the youthful Grotius. + +The same day the betrothal of Monsieur Caesar with the daughter of the +Duke of Mercoeur was celebrated, and there was afterwards much dancing +and banqueting at the castle. It was obvious enough to the envoys that +the matter of peace and war was decided. The general of the Franciscans, +sent by the pope, had been flitting very busily for many months between +Rome, Madrid, Brussels, and Paris, and there could be little doubt that +every detail of the negotiations between France and Spain had been +arranged while Olden-Barneveld and his colleague had been waiting +for the head-wind to blow itself out at the Brill. + +Nevertheless no treaty had as yet been signed, and it was the business of +the republican diplomatists to prevent the signature if possible. They +felt, however, that they were endeavouring to cause water to run up hill. +Villeroy, De Maisse, and Buzanval came to them to recount, by the king's +order, everything that had taken place. This favour was, however, the +less highly appreciated by them, as they felt that the whole world was +in a very short time to be taken as well into the royal confidence. + +These French politicians stated that the king, after receiving the most +liberal offers of peace on the part of Spain, had communicated all the +facts to the queen, and had proposed, notwithstanding these most +profitable overtures, to continue the war as long as her Majesty and the +States-General would assist him in it. De Maisse had been informed, +however, by the queen that she had no means to assist the king withal, +and was, on the contrary, very well disposed to make peace. The lord +treasurer had avowed the same opinions as his sovereign, had declared +himself to be a man of peace, and had exclaimed that peace once made he +would sing "Nunc dimitte servum tuum Domine." Thereupon, at the +suggestion of the legate, negotiations had begun at Vervins, and although +nothing was absolutely concluded, yet Sir Robert Cecil, having just been +sent as special ambassador from the queen, had brought no propositions +whatever of assistance in carrying on the war, but plenty of excuses +about armadas, Irish rebellions, and the want of funds. There was +nothing in all this, they said, but want of good will. The queen had +done nothing and would do nothing for the league herself, nor would she +solicit for it the adherence of other kings and princes. The king, by +making peace, could restore his kingdom to prosperity, relieve the +distress of his subjects, and get back all his lost cities--Calais, +Ardres, Dourlens, Blavet, and many more--without any expense of treasure +or of blood. + +Certainly there was cogency in this reasoning from the point of view of +the French king, but it would have been as well to state, when he was so +pompously making a league for offensive and defensive war, that his real +interests and his real purposes were peace. Much excellent diplomacy, +much ringing of bells, firing of artillery, and singing of anthems in +royal chapels, and much disappointment to honest Dutchmen, might have +thus been saved. It is also instructive to observe the difference +between the accounts of De Maisse's negotiations in England given by that +diplomatist himself, and those rendered by the queen to the States' +envoy. + +Of course the objurgations of the Hollanders that the king, in a very +fallacious hope of temporary gain to himself, was about to break his +solemn promises to his allies and leave them to their fate, drew but few +tears down the iron cheeks of such practised diplomatists as Villeroy and +his friends. + +The envoys visited De Rosuy, who assured them that he was very much their +friend, but gave them to understand that there was not the slightest +possibility of inducing the king to break off the negotiations. + +Before taking final leave of his Majesty they concluded, by advice of the +Princess of Orange and of Buzanval, to make the presents which they had +brought with them from the States-General. Accordingly they sent, +through the hands of the princess, four pieces of damask linen and two +pieces of fine linen to the king's sister, Madame Catherine, two pieces +of linen to Villeroy, and two to the beautiful Gabrielle. The two +remaining pieces were bestowed upon Buzanval for his pains in +accompanying them on the journey and on their arrival at court. + +The incident shows the high esteem in which the Nethcrland fabrics were +held at that period. + +There was a solemn conference at last between the leading counsellors of +the king, the chancellor, the Dukes of Espernon and Bouillon, Count +Schomberg, and De Sancy, Plessis, Buzanval, Maisse, the Dutch envoys, and +the English ambassador and commissioner Herbert. Cecil presided, and +Barneveld once more went over the whole ground, resuming with his usual +vigour all the arguments by which the king's interest and honour were +proved to require him to desist from the peace negotiations. And the +orator had as much success as is usual with those who argue against a +foregone conclusion. Everyone had made up his mind. Everyone knew that +peace was made. It is unnecessary, therefore, to repeat the familiar +train of reasoning. It is superfluous to say that the conference was +barren. On the same evening Villeroy called on the States' envoys, and +informed them plainly, on the part of the king, that his Majesty had +fully made up his mind. + +On the 23rd April--three mortal weeks having thus been wasted in +diplomatic trilling--Barneveld was admitted to his Majesty's dressing- +room. The Advocate at the king's request came without his colleague, +and was attended only by his son. No other persons were present in the +chamber save Buzanval and Beringen. The king on this occasion confirmed +what had so recently been stated by Villeroy. He had thoroughly +pondered, he said, all the arguments used by the States to dissuade him +from the negotiation, and had found them of much weight. The necessities +of his kingdom, however, compelled him to accept a period of repose. He +would not, however, in the slightest degree urge the States to join in +the treaty. He desired their security, and would aid in maintaining it. +What had most vexed him was that the Protestants with great injustice +accused him of intending to make war upon them. But innumerable and +amazing reports were flying abroad, both among his own subjects, the +English, and the enemies' spies, as to these secret conferences. He then +said that he would tell the Duke of Bouillon to speak with Sir Robert +Cecil concerning a subject which now for the first time he would mention +privately to Olden-Barneveld. + +The king then made a remarkable and unexpected suggestion. Alluding +to the constitution of the Netherlands, he remarked that a popular +government in such emergencies as those then existing was subject to more +danger than monarchies were, and he asked the Advocate if he thought +there was no disposition to elect a prince. Barneveld replied that the +general inclination was rather for a good republic. The government, +however, he said, was not of the people, but aristocratic, and the state +was administered according to laws and charters by the principal +inhabitants, whether nobles or magistrates of cities. Since the death +of the late Prince of Orange, and the offer made to the King of France, +and subsequently to the Queen of England, of the sovereignty, there had +been no more talk on that subject, and to discuss again so delicate a +matter might cause divisions and other difficulties in the State. + +Henry then spoke of Prince Maurice, and asked whether, if he should be +supported by the Queen of England and the King of France, it would not be +possible to confer the sovereignty upon him. + +Here certainly was an astounding question to be discharged like a pistol- +shot full in the face of a republican minister. + +The answer of the Advocate was sufficiently adroit if not excessively +sincere. + +If your Majesty, said he, together with her Majesty the queen, think the +plan expedient, and are both willing on this footing to continue the war, +to rescue all the Netherlands from the hands of the Spaniards and their +adherents, and thus render the States eternally obliged to the sovereigns +and kingdoms of France and England, my lords the States-General would +probably be willing to accept this advice. + +But the king replied by repeating that repose was indispensable to him. + +Without inquiring for the present whether the project of elevating +Maurice to the sovereignty of the Netherlands, at the expense of the +republican constitution, was in harmony or not with the private opinions +of Barneveld at that period, it must be admitted that the condition he +thus suggested was a very safe one to offer. He had thoroughly satisfied +himself during the period in which he had been baffled by the southwest +gales at the Brill and by the still more persistent head-winds which he +had found prevailing at the French court, that it was hopeless to strive +for that much-desired haven, a general war. The admiral and himself +might as well have endeavoured to persuade Mahomet III. and Sigismund of +Poland to join the States in a campaign against Cardinal Albert, as to +hope for the same good offices from Elizabeth and Henry. + +Having received exactly the answer which he expected, he secretly +communicated, next day, to Cecil the proposition thus made by the king. +Subsequently he narrated the whole conversation to the Queen of England. + +On the 27th April both Barneveld and Nassau were admitted to the royal +dressing-room in Nantes citadel for a final audience. Here, after the +usual common places concerning his affection for the Netherlands, and the +bitter necessity which compelled him to desert the alliance, Henry again +referred to his suggestion in regard to Prince Maurice; urging a change +from a republican to a monarchical form of government as the best means +of preserving the State. + +The envoys thanked the king for all the honours conferred upon them, but +declared themselves grieved to the heart by his refusal to grant their +request. The course pursued by his Majesty, they said, would be found +very hard of digestion by the States, both in regard to the whole force +of the enemy which would now come upon their throats, and because of the +bad example thus set for other powers. + +They then took leave, with the usual exchange of compliments. +At their departure his Majesty personally conducted them through various +apartments until they came to the chamber of his mistress, the Duchess +of Beaufort, then lying in childbed. Here he drew wide open the bed- +curtains, and bade them kiss the lady. They complied, and begging the +duchess to use her influence in their behalf, respectfully bade her +farewell. She promised not to forget their request, and thanked them +for the presents of damask and fine linen. + +Such was the result of the mission of the great Advocate and his +colleague to Henry IV., from which so much had been hoped; and for +anything useful accomplished, after such an expenditure of time, money, +and eloquence, the whole transaction might have begun and ended in this +touching interview with the beautiful Gabrielle. + +On the 19th of May the envoys embarked at Dieppe for England, and on the +25th were safely lodged with the resident minister of the republic, Noel +de Caron, at the village of Clapham. + +Having so ill-succeeded in their attempts to prevent the treaty between +France and Spain, they were now engaged in what seemed also a forlorn +hope, the preservation of their offensive and defensive alliance with +England. They were well aware that many of the leading counsellors of +Elizabeth, especially Burghley and Buckhurst, were determined upon peace. +They knew that the queen was also heartily weary of the war and of the +pugnacious little commonwealth which had caused her so much expense. But +they knew, too, that Henry, having now secured the repose of his own +kingdom, was anything but desirous that his deserted allies should enjoy +the same advantage. The king did not cease to assure the States that he +would secretly give them assistance in their warfare against his new +ally, while Secretary of State Villeroy, as they knew, would place every +possible impediment in the way of the queen's negotiations with Spain. + +Elizabeth, on her part, was vexed with everybody. What the States most +feared was that she might, in her anger or her avarice, make use of the +cautionary towns in her negotiations with Philip. At any rate, said +Francis Aerssens, then States' minister in France, she will bring us to +the brink of the precipice, that we may then throw ourselves into +her arms in despair. + +The queen was in truth resolved to conclude a peace if a peace could be +made. If not, she was determined to make as good a bargain with the +States as possible, in regard to the long outstanding account of her +advances. Certainly it was not unreasonable that she should wish to see +her exchequer reimbursed by people who, as she believed, were rolling in +wealth, the fruit of a contraband commerce which she denied to her own +subjects, and who were in honour bound to pay their debts to her now, if +they wished her aid to be continued. Her subjects were impoverished and +panting for peace, and although, as she remarked, "their sense of duty +restrained them from the slightest disobedience to her absolute +commands," still she could not forgive herself for thus exposing them to +perpetual danger. + +She preferred on the whole, however, that the commonwealth should consent +to its own dissolution; for she thought it unreasonable that--after this +war of thirty years, during fifteen of which she had herself actively +assisted them--these republican Calvinists should, refuse to return to +the dominion of their old tyrant and the pope. To Barneveld, Maurice +of Nassau, and the States-General this did not seem a very logical +termination to so much hard fighting. + +Accordingly, when on the 26th of May the two envoys fell on their knees-- +as the custom was--before the great queen, and had been raised by her to +their feet again, they found her Majesty in marvellously ill-humour. +Olden-Barneveld recounted to her the results of their mission to France, +and said that from beginning to end it had been obvious that there could +be no other issue. The king was indifferent, he had said, whether the +States preferred peace or war, but in making his treaty he knew that he +had secured a profit for himself, iuflicted damage on his enemy, and done +no harm to his friends. + +Her Majesty then interrupted the speaker by violent invectives against +the French king for his treachery. She had written with her own hand, +she said, to tell him that she never had believed him capable of doing +what secretaries and other servants had reported concerning him, but +which had now proved true. + +Then she became very abusive to the Dutch envoys, telling them that they +were quite unjustifiable in not following Sir Robert Cecil's advice, +and in not engaging with him at once in peace negotiations; at least so +far as to discover what the enemy's intentions might be. She added, +pettishly, that if Prince Maurice and other functionaries were left in +the enjoyment of their offices, and if the Spaniards were sent out of the +country, there seemed no reason why such terms should not be accepted. + +Barneveld replied that such accommodation was of course impossible, +unless they accepted their ancient sovereign as prince. Then came the +eternal two points--obedience to God, which meant submission to the pope; +and obedience to the king, that was to say, subjection to his despotic +authority. Thus the Christian religion would be ruined throughout the +provinces, and the whole land be made a bridge and a ladder for Spanish +ambition. + +The queen here broke forth into mighty oaths, interrupting the envoy's +discourse, protesting over and over again by the living God that she +would not and could not give the States any further assistance; that she +would leave them to their fate; that her aid rendered in their war had +lasted much longer than the siege of Troy did, and swearing that she had +been a fool to help them and the king of France as she had done, for it +was nothing but evil passions that kept the States so obstinate. + +The envoy endeavoured to soothe her, urging that as she had gained the +reputation over the whole world of administering her affairs with +admirable, yea with almost divine wisdom, she should now make use of that +sagacity in the present very difficult matter. She ought to believe that +it was not evil passion, nor ambition, nor obstinacy that prevented the +States from joining in these negotiations, but the determination to +maintain their national existence, the Christian religion, and their +ancient liberties and laws. They did not pretend, he said, to be wiser +than great monarch or their counsellors, but the difference between their +form of government and a monarchy must be their excuse. + +Monarchs, when they made treaties, remained masters, and could protect +their realms and their subjects from danger. The States-General could +not accept a prince without placing themselves under his absolute +authority, and the Netherlanders would never subject themselves to +their deadly enemy, whom they had long ago solemnly renounced. + +Surely these remarks of the Advocate should have seemed entirely +unanswerable. Surely there was no politician in Europe so ignorant as +not to know that any treaty of peace between Philip and the States meant +their unconditional subjugation and the complete abolition of the +Protestant religion. Least of all did the Queen of England require +information on this great matter of state. It was cruel trifling +therefore, it was inhuman insolence on her part, to suggest anything +like a return of the States to the dominion of Spain. + +But her desire for peace and her determination to get back her money +overpowered at that time all other considerations. + +The States wished to govern themselves, she said; why then could they not +make arrangements against all dangers, and why could they not lay down +conditions under which the king would not really be their master; +especially if France and England should guarantee them against any +infraction of their rights. By the living God! by the living God! by the +living God! she swore over and over again as her anger rose, she would +never more have anything to do with such people; and she deeply regretted +having thrown away her money and the lives of her subjects in so stupid a +manner. + +Again the grave and experienced envoy of the republic strove with calm +and earnest words to stay the torrent of her wrath; representing that her +money and her pains had by no means been wasted, that the enemy had been +brought to shame and his finances to confusion; and urging her, without +paying any heed to the course pursued by the King of France, to allow the +republic to make levies of troops, at its own expense, within her +kingdom. + +But her Majesty was obdurate. "How am I to defend myself?" she cried; +"how are the affairs of Ireland to be provided for? how am I ever to get +back my money? who is to pay the garrisons of Brill and Flushing?" +And with this she left the apartment, saying that her counsellors +would confer with the envoys.' + +From the beginning to the end of the interview the queen was in a very +evil temper, and took no pains to conceal her dissatisfaction with all +the world. + +Now there is no doubt whatever that the subsidies furnished by England +to the common cause were very considerable, amounting in fourteen years, +according to the queen's calculation, to nearly fourteen hundred thousand +pounds sterling. But in her interviews with the republican statesmen she +was too prone to forget that it was a common cause, to forget that the +man who had over and over again attempted her assassination, who had +repeatedly attempted the invasion of her realms with the whole strength +of the most powerful military organization in the world, whose dearest +wish on earth was still to accomplish her dethronement and murder, to +extirpate from England the religion professed by the majority of living +Englishmen, and to place upon her vacant throne a Spanish, German, or +Italian prince, was as much her enemy as he was the foe of his ancient +subjects in the Netherlands. At that very epoch Philip was occupied in +reminding the pope that the two had always agreed as to the justice of +the claims of the Infanta Isabella to the English crown, and calling on +his Holiness to sustain those pretensions, now that she had been obliged, +in consequence of the treaty with the Prince of Bearne, to renounce her +right to reign over France. + +Certainly it was fair enough for the queen and her, counsellors to stand +out for an equitable arrangement of the debt; but there was much to +dispute in the figures. When was ever an account of fifteen years' +standing adjusted, whether between nations or individuals, without much +wrangling? Meantime her Majesty held excellent security in two thriving +and most important Netherland cities. But had the States consented to +re-establish the Spanish authority over the whole of their little +Protestant republic, was there an English child so ignorant of arithmetic +or of history as not to see how vast would be the peril, and how +incalculable the expense, thus caused to England? + +Yet besides the Cecils and the lord high admiral, other less influential +counsellors of the crown--even the upright and accomplished Buckhurst, +who had so often proved his friendship for the States--were in favour of +negotiation. There were many conferences with meagre results. The +Englishmen urged that the time had come for the States to repay the +queen's advances, to relieve her from future subsidies, to assume the +payment of the garrisons in the cautionary towns, and to furnish a force +in defence of England when attacked. Such was the condition of the +kingdom, they said--being, as it was, entirely without fortified cities-- +that a single battle would imperil the whole realm, so that it was +necessary to keep the enemy out of it altogether. + +These arguments were not unreasonable, but the inference was surely +illogical. The special envoys from the republic had not been instructed +to treat about the debt. This had been the subject of perpetual +negotiation. It was discussed almost every day by the queen's +commissioners at the Hague and by the States' resident minister at +London. Olden-Barneveld and the admiral had been sent forth by the +Staten in what in those days was considered great haste to prevent a +conclusion of a treaty between their two allies and the common enemy. +They had been too late in France, and now, on arriving in England, they +found that government steadily drifting towards what seemed the hopeless +shipwreck of a general peace. + +What must have been the grief of Olden-Barneveld when he heard from the +lips of the enlightened Buckhurst that the treaty of 1585 had been +arranged to expire--according to the original limitation--with a peace, +and that as the States could now make peace and did not choose to do so, +her Majesty must be considered as relieved from her contract of alliance, +and as justified in demanding repayment of her advances! + +To this perfidious suggestion what could the States' envoy reply but that +as a peace such as the treaty of 1585 presupposed--to wit, with security +for the Protestant religion and for the laws and liberties of the +provinces--was impossible, should the States now treat with the king or +the cardinal? + +The envoys had but one more interview with, the queen, in which she was +more benignant in manner but quite as peremptory in her demands. Let the +States either thoroughly satisfy her as to past claims and present +necessities, or let them be prepared for her immediate negotiation with +the enemy. Should she decide to treat, she would not be unmindful of +their interests, she said, nor deliver them over into the enemy's hands. +She repeated, however, the absurd opinion that there were means enough of +making Philip nominal sovereign of all the Netherlands, without allowing +him to exercise any authority over them. As if the most Catholic and +most absolute monarch that ever breathed could be tied down by the +cobwebs of constitutional or treaty stipulations; as if the previous +forty years could be effaced from the record of history. + +She asked, too, in case the rumours of the intended transfer of the +Netherlands to the cardinal or the Infanta should prove true, which she +doubted, whether this arrangement would make any difference in the +sentiments of the States. + +Barneveld replied that the transfer was still uncertain, but that they +had no more confidence in the cardinal or the Infants than in the King of +Spain himself. + +On taking leave of the queen the envoys waited upon Lord Burghley, whom +they found sitting in an arm-chair in his bedchamber, suffering from the +gout and with a very fierce countenance. He made no secret of his +opinions in favour of negotiation, said that the contracts made by +monarchs should always be interpreted reasonably, and pronounced a warm +eulogy on the course pursued by the King of France. It was his Majesty's +duty, he said, to seize the best opportunity for restoring repose to his +subjects and his realms, and it was the duty of other sovereigns to do +the same. + +The envoys replied that they were not disposed at that moment to sit in +judgment upon the king's actions. They would content themselves with +remarking that in their opinion even kings and princes were bound by +their, contracts, oaths, and pledges before God and man; and with this +wholesome sentiment they took leave of the lord high treasurer. + +They left London immediately, on the last day of May, without, passports. +or despatches of recal, and embarked at Gravesend in the midst of a gale +of wind. + +Lord Essex, the sincere friend of the republic, was both surprised and +disturbed at their sudden departure, and sent a special courier, after +them to express his regrets at the unsatisfactory termination to their +mission: "My mistress knows very well," said he, "that she is an absolute +princess, and that, when her ministers have done their extreme duty, she +wills what she wills." + +The negotiations between England and Spain were deferred, however, for a +brief space, and a special message was despatched to the Hague as to the +arrangement of the debt. "Peace at once with Philip," said the queen, +"or else full satisfaction of my demands." + +Now it was close dealing between such very thrifty and acute bargainers +as the queen and the Netherland republic. + +Two years before, the States had offered to pay twenty thousand pounds a +year on her Majesty's birthday so long as the war should last, and after +a peace, eighty thousand pounds annually for four years. The queen, on +her part, fixed the sum total of the debt at nearly a million and a half +sterling, and required instant payment of at least one hundred thousand +pounds on account, besides provision for a considerable annual refunding, +assumption by the States of the whole cost of the garrisons in the +cautionary towns, and assurance of assistance in case of an attack upon +England. Thus there was a whole ocean between the disputants. + +Vere and Gilpin were protocolling and marshalling accounts at the Hague, +and conducting themselves with much arrogance and bitterness, while, +meantime, Barneveld had hardly had time to set his foot on his native +shores before he was sent back again to England at the head of another +solemn legation. One more effort was to be made to arrange this +financial problem and to defeat the English peace party. + +The offer of the year 1596 just alluded to was renewed and instantly +rejected. Naturally enough, the Dutch envoys were disposed, in the +exhausting warfare which was so steadily draining their finances, to pay +down as little as possible on the nail, while providing for what they +considered a liberal annual sinking fund. + +The English, on the contrary, were for a good round sum in actual cash, +and held the threatened negotiation with Spain over the heads of the +unfortunate envoys like a whip. + +So the queen's counsellors and the republican envoys travelled again and +again over the well-worn path. + +On the 29th June, Buckhurst took Olden-Barneveld into his cabinet, and +opened his heart to him, not as a servant of her Majesty, he said, but +as a private Englishman. He was entirely for peace. Now that peace was +offered to her Majesty, a continuance of the war was unrighteous, and the +Lord God's blessing could not be upon it. Without God's blessing no +resistance could be made by the queen nor by the States to the enemy, +who was ten times more powerful than her Majesty in kingdoms, provinces, +number of subjects, and money. He had the pope, the emperor, the Dukes +of Savoy and Lorraine, and the republic of Genoa, for his allies. He +feared that the war might come upon England, and that they might be fated +on one single day to win or lose all. The queen possessed no mines, and +was obliged to carry on the war by taxing her people. The king had ever- +flowing fountains in his mines; the queen nothing but a stagnant pool, +which, when all the water was pumped out, must in the end be dry. He +concluded, therefore, that as her Majesty had no allies but the +Netherlands, peace was best for England, and advisable for the provinces. +Arrangements could easily be made to limit the absolute authority of +Spain. + +This highly figurative view of the subject--more becoming to the author +of Ferrex and Porrex than to so, experienced a statesman as Sackville had +become since his dramatic days--did not much impress Barneveld. He +answered that, although the King of Spain was unquestionably very +powerful, the Lord God was still stronger; that England and the +Netherlands together could maintain the empire of the seas, which was +of the utmost importance, especially for England; but that if the +republic were to make her submission to Spain, and become incorporate +with that power, the control of the seas was lost for ever to England. + +The Advocate added the unanswerable argument that to admit Philip as +sovereign, and then to attempt a limitation of his despotism was a +foolish dream. + +Buckhurst repeated that the republic was the only ally of England, that +there was no confidence to be placed by her in any other power, and that +for himself, he was, as always, very much the friend of the States. + +Olden-Barneveld might well have prayed, however, to be delivered from +such friends. To thrust one's head into the lion's mouth, while one's +friends urge moderation on the noble animal, can never be considered a +cheerful or prudent proceeding. + +At last, after all offers had been rejected which the envoys had ventured +to make, Elizabeth sent for Olden-Barneveld and Caron and demanded their +ultimatum within twenty-four hours. Should it prove unsatisfactory, she +would at once make peace with Spain. + +On the 1st August the envoys accordingly proposed to Cecil and the other +ministers to pay thirty thousand pounds a year, instead of twenty +thousand, so long as the war should last, but they claimed the right of +redeeming the cautionary towns at one hundred thousand pounds each. This +seemed admissible, and Cecil and his colleagues pronounced the affair +arranged. But they had reckoned without the queen after all. + +Elizabeth sent for Caron as soon as she heard of the agreement, flew into +a great rage, refused the terms, swore that she would instantly make +peace with Spain, and thundered loudly against her ministers. + +"They were great beasts," she said, "if they had stated that she would +not treat with the enemy. She had merely intended to defer the +negotiations." + +So the whole business was to be done over again. At last the sum claimed +by the queen, fourteen hundred thousand pounds, was reduced by agreement +to eight hundred thousand, and one-half of this the envoys undertook on +the part of the States to refund in annual payments of thirty thousand +pounds, while the remaining four hundred thousand should be provided for +by some subsequent arrangement. All attempts, however, to obtain a +promise from the queen to restore the cautionary towns to the republic in +case of a peace between Spain and England remained futile. + +That was to be a bone of contention for many years. + +It was further agreed by the treaty, which was definitely signed on the +16th August, that, in case England were invaded by the common enemy, the +States should send to the queen's assistance at least thirty ships of +war, besides five thousand infantry and five squadrons of horse. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV. + + Negotiations between France and Spain--Conclusion of the treaty of + peace--Purchase of the allegiance of the French nobles--Transfer of + the Netherlands to Albert and Isabella--Marriage of the Infante and + the Infanta--Illness of Philip II.--Horrible nature of his malady-- + His last hours and death--Review of his reign--Extent of the Spanish + dominions--Causes of the greatness of Spain, and of its downfall-- + Philip's wars and their expenses--The Crown revenues of Spain-- + Character of the people--Their inordinate self-esteem--Consequent + deficiency of labour--Ecclesiastical Government--Revenues of the + Church--Characteristics of the Spanish clergy--Foreign commerce of + Spain--Governmental system of Philip II.--Founded on the popular + ignorance and superstition--Extinction of liberty in Spain--The Holy + Inquisition--The work and character of Philip. + +While the utterly barren conferences had been going on at Angiers and +Nantes between Henry IV. and the republican envoys, the negotiations had +been proceeding at Vervins. + +President Richardot on behalf of Spain, and Secretary of State Villeroy +as commissioner of Henry, were the chief negotiators. + +Two old acquaintances, two ancient Leaguers, two bitter haters of +Protestants and rebels, two thorough adepts in diplomatic chicane, they +went into this contest like gladiators who thoroughly understood and +respected each other's skill. + +Richardot was recognized by all as the sharpest and most unscrupulous +politician in the obedient Netherlands. Villeroy had conducted every +intrigue of France during a whole generation of mankind. They scarcely +did more than measure swords and test each other's objects, before +arriving at a conviction as to the inevitable result of the encounter. + +It was obvious at once to Villeroy that Philip was determined to make +peace with France in order that the triple alliance might be broken up. +It was also known to the French diplomatist that the Spanish king was +ready for, almost every concession to Henry, in order that this object +might be accomplished. + +All that Richardot hoped to save out of the various conquests made by +Spain over France was Calais. + +But Villeroy told him that it was useless to say a word on that subject. +His king insisted on the restoration of the place. Otherwise he would +make no peace. It was enough, he said, that his Majesty said nothing +about Navarre. + +Richardot urged that at the time when the English had conquered Calais +it had belonged to Artois, not to France. It was no more than equitable, +then, that it should be retained by its original proprietor. + +The general of the Franciscans, who acted as a kind of umpire in the +transactions, then took each negotiator separately aside and whispered in +his ear. + +Villeroy shook his head, and said he had given his ultimatum. Richardot +acknowledged that he had something in reserve, upon which the monk said +that it was time to make it known. + +Accordingly--the two being all ears--Richardot observed that what he was +about to state he said with fear and trembling. He knew not what the +King of Spain would think of his proposition, but he would, nevertheless, +utter the suggestion that Calais should be handed over to the pope. + +His Holiness would keep the city in pledge until the war with the rebels +was over, and then there would be leisure enough to make definite +arrangements on the subject. + +Now Villeroy was too experienced a practitioner to be imposed upon, by +this ingenious artifice. Moreover, he happened to have an intercepted +letter in his possession in which Philip told the cardinal that Calais +was to be given up if the French made its restitution a sine qua non. +So Villeroy did make it a sine qua non, and the conferences soon after +terminated in an agreement on the part of Spain to surrender all its +conquests in France. + +Certainly no more profitable peace than this could have been made by the +French king under such circumstances, and Philip at the last moment had +consented to pay a heavy price for bringing discord between the three +friends. The treaty was signed at Vervins on the 2nd May, and contained +thirty-five articles. Its basis was that of the treaty of Cateau +Cambresis of 1559. Restitution of all places conquered by either party +within the dominions of the other since the day of that treaty was +stipulated. Henry recovered Calais, Ardres, Dourlens, Blavet, and many +other places, and gave up the country of Charolois. Prisoners were to be +surrendered on both sides without ransom, and such of those captives of +war as had been enslaved at the galleys should be set free. + +The pope, the emperor, all states, and cities under their obedience or +control, the Duke of Savoy, the King of Poland and Sweden, the Kings of +Denmark and Scotland, the Dukes of Lorraine and Tuscany, the Doge of +Venice, the republic of Genoa, and many lesser states and potentates, +were included in the treaty. The famous Edict of Nantes in favour of +the Protestant subjects of the French king was drawn up and signed in +the city of which it bears the name at about the same time with these +negotiations. Its publication was, however, deferred until after the +departure of the legate from France in the following year. + +The treaty of Cateau Cambresis had been pronounced the most disgraceful +and disastrous one that had ever been ratified by a French monarch; and +surely Henry had now wiped away that disgrace and repaired that disaster. +It was natural enough that he should congratulate himself on the rewards +which he had gathered by deserting his allies. + +He had now sufficient occupation for a time in devising ways and means, +with the aid of the indefatigable Bethune, to pay the prodigious sums +with which he had purchased the allegiance of the great nobles and lesser +gentlemen of France. Thirty-two millions of livres were not sufficient +to satisfy the claims of these patriots, most of whom had been drawing +enormous pensions from the King of Spain up to the very moment, or beyond +it, when they consented to acknowledge the sovereign of their own +country. Scarcely a, great name in the golden book of France but was +recorded among these bills of sale. + +Mayenne, Lorraine, Guise, Nemours, Mercoeur, Montpensier, Joyeuse, +Epernon, Brissac, D'Arlincourt, Balagny, Rochefort, Villeroy, Villars, +Montespan, Leviston, Beauvillars, and countless others, figured in the +great financier's terrible account-book, from Mayenne, set down at the +cool amount of three and a half millions, to Beauvoir or Beauvillars at +the more modest price of a hundred and sixty thousand livres. "I should +appal my readers," said De Bethune, "if I should show to them that this +sum makes but a very small part of the amounts demanded from the royal +treasury, either by Frenchmen or by strangers, as pay and pension, and +yet the total was thirty-two millions's." + +And now the most Catholic king, having brought himself at last to +exchange the grasp of friendship with the great ex-heretic, and to +recognize the Prince of Bearne as the legitimate successor of St. Louis, +to prevent which consummation he had squandered so many thousands of +lives, so many millions of treasure, and brought ruin to so many +prosperous countries, prepared himself for another step which he had +long hesitated to take. + +He resolved to transfer the Netherlands to his daughter Isabella and to +the Cardinal Archduke Albert, who, as the king had now decided, was to +espouse the Infanta. + +The deed of cession was signed at Madrid on the 6th May, 1598. It was +accompanied by a letter of the same date from the Prince Philip, heir +apparent to the crown. + +On the 30th May the Infanta executed a procuration by which she gave +absolute authority to her future husband to rule over the provinces of +the Netherlands, Burgundy, and Charolois, and to receive the oaths of the +estates and of public functionaries. + + [See all the deeds and documents in Bor, IV. 461-466. Compare + Herrera, iii. 766-770. Very elaborate provisions were made in + regard to the children and grand-children to spring from this + marriage, but it was generally understood at the time that no issue + was to be expected. The incapacity of the cardinal seems to have + been revealed by an indiscretion of the General of Franciscans-- + diplomatist and father confessor--and was supported by much + collateral evidence. Hence all these careful stipulations were a + solemn jest, like much of the diplomatic work of this reign.] + +It was all very systematically done. No transfer of real estate, no +'donatio inter vivos' of mansions and messuages, parks and farms, herds +and flocks, could have been effected in a more business-like manner than +the gift thus made by the most prudent king to his beloved daughter. + +The quit-claim of the brother was perfectly regular. + +So also was the power of attorney, by which the Infanta authorised the +middle-aged ecclesiastic whom she was about to espouse to take possession +in her name of the very desirable property which she had thus acquired. + +It certainly never occurred, either to the giver or the receivers, that +the few millions of Netherlanders, male and female, inhabiting these +provinces in the North Sea, were entitled to any voice or opinion as to +the transfer of themselves and their native land to a young lady living +in a remote country. For such was the blasphemous system of Europe at +that day. Property had rights. Kings, from whom all property emanated, +were enfeoffed directly from the Almighty; they bestowed certain +privileges on their vassals, but man had no rights at all. He was +property, like the ox or the ass, like the glebe which he watered with +the sweat of his brow. + +The obedient Netherlands acquiesced obediently in these new arrangements. +They wondered only that the king should be willing thus to take from his +crown its choicest jewels--for it is often the vanity of colonies and +dependencies to consider themselves gems. + +The republican Netherlanders only laughed at these arrangements, and +treated the invitation to transfer themselves to the new sovereigns of +the provinces with silent contempt. + +The cardinal-archduke left Brussels in September, having accomplished the +work committed to him by the power of attorney, and having left Cardinal +Andrew of Austria, bishop of Constantia, son of the Archduke Ferdinand, +to administer affairs during his absence. Francis de Mendoza, Admiral of +Arragon, was entrusted with the supreme military command for the same +interval. + +The double marriage of the Infante of Spain with the Archduchess Margaret +of Austria, and of the unfrocked Cardinal Albert of Austria with the +Infanta Clara Eugenia Isabella, was celebrated by proxy, with immense +pomp, at Ferrara, the pope himself officiating with the triple crown upon +his head. + +Meantime, Philip II., who had been of delicate constitution all his life, +and who had of late years been a confirmed valetudinarian, had been +rapidly failing ever since the transfer of the Netherlands in May. +Longing to be once more in his favourite retirement of the Escorial, +he undertook the journey towards the beginning of June, and was carried +thither from Madrid in a litter borne by servants, accomplishing the +journey of seven leagues in six days. + +When he reached the palace cloister, he was unable to stand. The gout, +his life-long companion, had of late so tortured him in the hands and +feet that the mere touch of a linen sheet was painful to him. By the +middle of July a low fever had attacked him, which rapidly reduced his +strength. Moreover, a new and terrible symptom of the utter +disintegration of his physical constitution had presented itself. +Imposthumes, from which he had suffered on the breast and at the joints, +had been opened after the usual ripening applications, and the result was +not the hoped relief, but swarms of vermin, innumerable in quantities, +and impossible to extirpate, which were thus generated and reproduced in +the monarch's blood and flesh. + +The details of the fearful disorder may have attraction for the +pathologist, but have no especial interest for the general reader. Let +it suffice, that no torture ever invented by Torquemada or Peter Titelman +to serve the vengeance of Philip and his ancestors or the pope against +the heretics of Italy or Flanders, could exceed in acuteness the agonies +which the most Catholic king was now called upon to endure. And not one +of the long line of martyrs, who by decree of Charles or Philip had been +strangled, beheaded, burned, or buried alive, ever faced a death of +lingering torments with more perfect fortitude, or was sustained by more +ecstatic visions of heavenly mercy, than was now the case with the great +monarch of Spain. + +That the grave-worms should do their office before soul and body were +parted, was a torment such as the imagination of Dante might have +invented for the lowest depths of his "Inferno." + + [A great English poet has indeed expressed the horrible thought:-- + + "It is as if the dead could feel + The icy worm about them steal:"--BYRON.] + +On the 22nd July, the king asked Dr. Mercado if his sickness was likely +to have a fatal termination. The physician, not having the courage at +once to give the only possible reply, found means to evade the question. +On the 1st August his Majesty's confessor, father Diego de Yepes, after +consultation with Mercado, announced to Philip that the only issue to his +malady was death. Already he had been lying for ten days on his back, a +mass of sores and corruption, scarcely able to move, and requiring four +men to turn him in his bed. + +He expressed the greatest satisfaction at the sincerity which had now +been used, and in the gentlest and most benignant manner signified his +thanks to them for thus removing all doubts from his mind, and for giving +him information which it was of so much importance for his eternal +welfare to possess. + +His first thought was to request the papal nuncio, Gaetano, to despatch a +special courier to Rome to request the pope's benediction. This was +done, and it was destined that the blessing of his Holiness should arrive +in time. + +He next prepared himself to make a general confession, which lasted three +days, father Diego having drawn up at his request a full and searching +interrogatory. The confession may have been made the more simple, +however, by the statement which he made to the priest, and subsequently +repeated to the Infante his son, that in all his life he had never +consciously done wrong to any one. If he had ever committed an act of +injustice, it was unwittingly, or because he had been deceived in the +circumstances. This internal conviction of general righteousness was +of great advantage to him in the midst of his terrible sufferings, and +accounted in great degree for the gentleness, thoughtfulness for others, +and perfect benignity, which, according to the unanimous testimony of +many witnesses, characterised his conduct during this whole sickness. + +After he had completed his long general confession, the sacrament of the +Lord's Supper was administered to him. Subsequently, the same rites were +more briefly performed every few days. + +His sufferings were horrible, but no saint could have manifested in them +more gentle resignation or angelic patience. He moralized on the +condition to which the greatest princes might thus be brought at last by +the hand of God, and bade the prince observe well his father's present +condition, in order that, when he too should be laid thus low, he might +likewise be sustained by a conscience void of offence. He constantly +thanked his assistants and nurses for their care, insisted upon their +reposing themselves after their daily fatigues, and ordered others to +relieve them in their task. + +He derived infinite consolation from the many relics of saints, of which, +as has been seen, he had made plentiful prevision during his long reign. +Especially a bone of St. Alban, presented to him by Clement VIII., in +view of his present straits, was of great service. With this relic, and +with the arm of St. Vincent of Ferrara, and the knee-bone of St. +Sebastian, he daily rubbed his sores, keeping the sacred talismans ever +in his sight on the altar, which was not far from his bed. He was much +pleased when the priests and other bystanders assured him that the +remains of these holy men would be of special efficacy to him, because he +had cherished and worshipped them in times when misbelievers and heretics +had treated them with disrespect. + +On a sideboard in his chamber a human skull was placed, and upon this +skull--in ghastly mockery of royalty, in truth, yet doubtless in the +conviction that such an exhibition showed the superiority of anointed +kings even over death--he ordered his servants to place a golden crown. +And thus, during the whole of his long illness, the Antic held his state, +while the poor mortal representative of absolute power lay living still, +but slowly mouldering away. + +With perfect composure, and with that minute attention to details which +had characterised the king all his lifetime, and was now more evident +than ever, he caused the provisions for his funeral obsequies to be read +aloud one day by Juan Ruys de Velasco, in order that his children, his +ministers, and the great officers of state who were daily in attendance +upon him, might thoroughly learn their lesson before the time came for +performing the ceremony. + +"Having governed my kingdom for forty years," said he, "I now give it +back, in the seventy-first year of my age, to God Almighty, to whom it +belongs, recommending my soul into His blessed hands, that His Divine +Majesty may do what He pleases therewith." + +He then directed that after his body should have been kept as long as the +laws prescribed, it should be buried thus:-- + +The officiating bishop was to head the procession, bearing the crucifix, +and followed by the clergy. + +The Adelantado was to come next, trailing the royal standard along the +ground. Then the Duke of Novara was to appear, bearing the crown on an +open salver, covered with a black cloth, while the Marquis of Avillaer +carried the sword of state. + +The coffin was to be borne by eight principal grandees, clad in mourning +habiliments, and holding lighted torches. + +The heir apparent was to follow, attended by Don Garcia de Loyasa, who +had just been consecrated, in the place of Cardinal Albert, as Archbishop +of Toledo. + +The body was to be brought to the church, and placed in the stately tomb +already prepared for its reception. "Mass being performed," said the +king, "the prelate shall place me in the grave which shall be my last +house until I go to my eternal dwelling. Then the prince, third king of +my name, shall go into the cloister of St. Jerome at Madrid, where he +shall keep nine days mourning. My daughter, and her aunt--my sister, +the ex-empress--shall for the same purpose go to the convent of the grey +sisters." + +The king then charged his successor to hold the Infanta in especial +affection and consideration; "for," said he, "she has been my mirror, +yea; the light of my eyes." He also ordered that the Marquis of Mondejar +be taken from prison and set free, on condition never to show himself at +Court. The wife of Antonio Perez was also to be released from prison, in +order that she might be immured in a cloister, her property being +bestowed upon her daughters. + +As this unfortunate lady's only crime consisted in her husband's intrigue +with the king's mistress, Princess Eboli, in which she could scarcely be +considered an accomplice, this permission to exchange one form of +incarceration for another did not seem an act of very great benignity. + +Philip further provided that thirty thousand masses should be said for +his soul, five hundred slaves liberated from the galleys, and five +hundred maidens provided with marriage portions. + +After these elaborate instructions had been read, the king ordered a +certain casket to be brought to him and opened in his presence. From +this he took forth a diamond of great price and gave it to the Infanta, +saying that it had belonged to her mother, Isabella of France. He asked +the prince if he consented to the gift. The prince answered in the +affirmative. + +He next took from the coffer a written document, which he handed to his +son, saying, "Herein you will learn how to govern your kingdoms." + +Then he produced a scourge, which he said was the instrument with which +his father, the emperor, had been in the habit of chastising himself +during his retreat at the monastery of Juste. He told the by-standers to +observe the imperial blood by which the lash was still slightly stained. + +As the days wore on he felt himself steadily sinking, and asked to +receive extreme unction. As he had never seen that rite performed he +chose to rehearse it beforehand, and told Ruys Velasco; who was in +constant attendance upon him, to go for minute instructions on the +subject to the Archbishop of Toledo. The sacrament having been duly. +administered; the king subsequently, on the 1st September, desired to +receive it once more. The archbishop, fearing that the dying monarch's +strength would be insufficient for the repetition of the function, +informed him that the regulations of the Church required in such cases +only a compliance with certain trifling forms, as the ceremony had been +already once thoroughly carried out. But the king expressed himself as +quite determined that the sacrament should be repeated in all its parts; +that he should once more--be anointed--to use the phrase of brother +Francis Neyen--with the oil which holy athletes require in their wrestle +with death. + +This was accordingly done in the presence of his son and daughter, and, +of his chief secretaries, Christopher de Moura and John de Idiaquez, +besides the Counts Chinchon, Fuensalido, and several other conspicuous +personages. He was especially desirous that his son should be present, +in order that; when he too should come to die, he might not find himself, +like his father, in ignorance of the manner in which this last sacrament +was to be performed. + +When it was finished he described himself as infinitely consoled, and as +having derived even more happiness from the rite than he had dared to +anticipate. + +Thenceforth he protested that he would talk no more of the world's +affairs. He had finished with all things below, and for the days or +hours still remaining to him he would keep his heart exclusively fixed +upon Heaven. Day by day as he lay on his couch of unutterable and almost +unexampled misery, his confessors and others read to him from religious +works, while with perfect gentleness he would insist that one reader +should relieve another, that none might be fatigued. + +On the 11th September he dictated these words to Christopher de Moura, +who was to take them to Diego de Yepes, the confessor:-- + +"Father Confessor, you are in the place of God, and I protest thus +before His presence that I will do all that you declare necessary for my +salvation. Thus upon you will be the, responsibility for my omissions, +because I am ready to do all." + +Finding that the last hour was approaching, he informed Don Fernando de +Toledo where: he could find some candles of our lady of Montserrat, one +of which he desered to keep in his hand at the supreme moment. He also +directed Ruys de Velasco to take from a special shrine--which he had +indicated to him six years before--a crucifix which the emperor his +father had held upon his death-bed. All this was accomplished according +to his wish. + +He had already made arrangements for his funeral procession, and had +subsequently provided all the details of his agony. It was now necessary +to give orders as to the particulars of his burial. + +He knew that decomposition had made such progress even while he was still +living as to render embalming impossible: He accordingly instructed Don +Christopher to see his body wrapped in a shroud just as it lay, and to +cause it to be placed in a well-soldered metallic coffin already +provided. The coffin of state, in which the leaden one was to be +enclosed, was then brought into the chamber by his command, that he might +see if it was entirely to his taste. Having examined it, he ordered that +it should be lined with white satin and ornamented with gold nails and +lace-work. He also described a particular brocade of black and gold, to +be found in the jewelroom, which he desired for the pall. + +Next morning he complained to Don Christopher that the Sacrament of the +Lord's Supper had not been administered to him for several days. It was +urged that his strength was deemed insufficient, and that, as he had +received that rite already four times during his illness, and extreme +unction twice, it was thought that the additional fatigue might be spared +him. But as the king insisted, the sacrament was once more performed and +prayers were read. He said with great fervour many times, "Pater, non +mea voluntas, sed tux fiat." He listened, too, with much devotion to the +Psalm, "As the hart panteth for the water-brooks;" and he spoke faintly +at long intervals of the Magdalen, of the prodigal son, and of the +paralytic. + +When these devotional exercises had been concluded, father Diego +expressed the hope to him that he might then pass away, for it would be a +misfortune by temporary convalescence to fall from the exaltation of +piety which he had then reached. The remark was heard by Philip with an +expression of entire satisfaction. + +That day both the Infanta and the prince came for the last time to his +bedside to receive his blessing. He tenderly expressed his regret to his +daughter that he had not been permitted to witness her marriage, but +charged her never to omit any exertion to augment and sustain the holy +Roman Catholic religion in the Netherlands. It was in the interest of +that holy Church alone that he had endowed her with those provinces, and +he now urged it upon her with his dying breath to impress upon her future +husband these his commands to both. + +His two children took leave of him with tears and sobs: As the prince +left the chamber he asked Don Christopher who it was that held the key to +the treasury. + +The secretary replied, "It is I, Sir." The prince demanded that he +should give it into his hands. But Don Christopher excused himself, +saying that it had been entrusted to him by the king, and that without +his consent he could not part with it. Then the prince returned to the +king's chamber, followed by the secretary, who narrated to the dying +monarch what had taken place. + +"You have done wrong," said Philip; whereupon Don Christopher, bowing to +the earth, presented the key to the prince. + +The king then feebly begged those about his bedside to repeat the dying +words of our Saviour on the cross, in order that he might hear them and +repeat them in his heart as his soul was taking flight. + +His father's crucifix was placed in his hands, and he said distinctly, +"I die like a good Catholic, in faith and obedience to the holy Roman +Church." Soon after these last words had been spoken, a paroxysm, +followed by faintness, came over him, and he lay entirely still. + +They had covered his face with a cloth, thinking that he had already +expired, when he suddenly started, with great energy, opened his eyes, +seized the crucifix again from the hand of Don Fernando de Toledo, kissed +it, and fell back again into agony. + +The archbishop and the other priests expressed the opinion that he must +have had, not a paroxysm, but a celestial vision, for human powers would +not have enabled him to arouse himself so quickly and so vigorously as he +had done at that crisis. + +He did not speak again, but lay unconsciously dying for some hours, and +breathed his last at five in the morning of Sunday the 13th September. + +His obsequies were celebrated according to the directions which he had so +minutely given. + + ------------------------------------ + +These volumes will have been written in vain if it be now necessary to +recal to my readers the leading events in the history of the man who had +thus left the world where, almost invisible himself, he had so long +played a leading part. It may not be entirely useless, however, to throw +a parting glance at a character which it has been one of the main objects +of this work, throughout its whole course, to pourtray. My theme has +been the reign of Philip II., because, as the less is included in the +greater, the whole of that reign, with the exception of a few episodes, +is included in the vast movement out of which the Republic of the United +Netherlands was born and the assailed independence of France and England +consolidated. The result of Philip's efforts to establish a universal +monarchy was to hasten the decline of the empire which he had inherited, +by aggravating the evils which had long made that downfall inevitable. + +It is from no abstract hatred to monarchy that I have dwelt with emphasis +upon the crimes of this king, and upon the vices of the despotic system, +as illustrated during his lifetime. It is not probable that the +military, monarchical system--founded upon conquests achieved by +barbarians and pirates of a distant epoch over an effete civilization and +over antique institutions of intolerable profligacy--will soon come to an +end in the older world. And it is the business of Europeans so to deal +with the institutions of their inheritance or their choice as to ensure +their steady melioration and to provide for the highest interests of the +people. It matters comparatively little by what name a government is +called, so long as the intellectual and moral development of mankind, and +the maintenance of justice among individuals, are its leading principles. +A government, like an individual, may remain far below its ideal; but, +without an ideal, governments and individuals are alike contemptible. +It is tyranny only--whether individual or popular--that utters its feeble +sneers at the ideologists, as if mankind were brutes to whom instincts +were all in all and ideas nothing. Where intellect and justice are +enslaved by that unholy trinity--Force; Dogma, and Ignorance--the +tendency of governments, and of those subjected to them, must of +necessity be retrograde and downward. + +There can be little doubt to those who observe the movements of mankind +during the course of the fourteen centuries since the fall of the Roman +Empire--a mere fragment of human history--that its progress, however +concealed or impeded, and whether for weal or woe, is towards democracy; +for it is the tendency of science to liberate and to equalize the +physical and even the intellectual forces of humanity. A horse and a +suit of armour would now hardly enable the fortunate possessor of such +advantages to conquer a kingdom, nor can wealth and learning be +monopolised in these latter days by a favoured few. Yet veneration for a +crown and a privileged church--as if without them and without their close +connection with each other law and religion were impossible--makes +hereditary authority sacred to great masses of mankind in the old world. +The obligation is the more stringent, therefore, on men thus set apart +as it were by primordial selection for ruling and instructing their +fellow-creatures, to keep their edicts and their practice in harmony with +divine justice. For these rules cannot be violated with impunity during +along succession of years, and it is usually left for a comparatively +innocent generation, to atone for the sins of their forefathers. If +history does not teach this it teaches nothing, and as the rules of +morality; whether for individuals or for nations, are simple and devoid +of mystery; there is the less excuse for governments which habitually and +cynically violate the eternal law. + +Among self-evident truths not one is more indisputable than that which, +in the immortal words of our Declaration of Independence, asserts the +right of every human being to life, liberty, and the pursuit of +happiness; but the only happiness that can be recognised by a true +statesman as the birthright of mankind is that which comes from +intellectual and moral development, and from the subjugation of the +brutal instincts. + +A system according to which clowns remain clowns through all the ages, +unless when extraordinary genius or fortunate accident enables an +exceptional individual to overleap the barrier of caste, necessarily +retards the result to which the philosopher looks forward with perfect +faith. + +For us, whose business it is to deal with, and, so far as human +fallibility will permit, to improve our inevitable form of government- +which may degenerate into the most intolerable of polities unless we are +ever mindful that it is yet in its rudimental condition; that, although +an immense step has been taken in the right direction by the abolition of +caste, the divorce of Church and State, and the limitation of intrusion +by either on the domain of the individual, it is yet only a step from +which, without eternal vigilance, a falling back is very easy; and that +here, more than in other lands, ignorance of the scientific and moral +truths on--which national happiness and prosperity depend, deserves +bitter denunciation--for us it is wholesome to confirm our faith in +democracy, and to justify our hope that the People will prove itself +equal to the awful responsibility of self-government by an occasional +study of the miseries which the opposite system is capable of producing. +It is for this reason that the reign of the sovereign whose closing +moments have just been recorded is especially worthy of a minute +examination, and I still invite a parting glance at the spectacle thus +presented, before the curtain falls. + +The Spanish monarchy in the reign of Philip II. was not only the most +considerable empire then existing, but probably the most powerful and +extensive empire that had ever been known. Certainly never before had so +great an agglomeration of distinct and separate sovereignties been the +result of accident. For it was owing to a series of accidents--in the +common acceptation of that term--that Philip governed so mighty a realm. +According to the principle that vast tracts: of the earth's surface, with +the human beings feeding upon: them, were transferable in fee-simple from +one man or woman to another by marriage, inheritance, or gift, a +heterogeneous collection of kingdoms, principalities, provinces, and: +wildernesses had been consolidated, without geographical continuity, into +an artificial union--the populations differing from each other as much as +human beings can differ, in race, language, institutions, and historical +traditions, and resembling each other in little, save in being the +property alike of the same fortunate individual. + +Thus the dozen kingdoms of Spain, the seventeen provinces of the +Netherlands, the kingdoms of the Two Sicilies, the duchy of Milan, and +certain fortresses and districts of Tuscany, in Europe; the kingdom of +Barbary, the coast of Guinea, and an indefinite and unmeasured expanse. +of other territory, in Africa; the controlling outposts and cities all +along the coast of the two Indian peninsulas, with as much of the country +as it seemed good to occupy, the straits and the, great archipelagoes, so +far as they had--been visited'by Europeans, in Asia; Peru, Brazil, +Mexico, the Antilles--the whole recently discovered fourth quarter of the +world in short, from the "Land of Fire" in the South to the frozen +regions of the North--as much territory as the Spanish and Portuguese +sea-captains could circumnavigate and the pope in the plentitude of his +power and his generosity could bestow on his fortunate son, in America; +all this enormous proportion of the habitable globe was the private +property, of Philip; who was the son of Charles, who was the son of +Joanna, who was the daughter of Isabella, whose husband was Ferdinand. +By what seems to us the most whimsical of political arrangements, the +Papuan islander, the Calabrian peasant, the Amsterdam merchant, the semi- +civilized Aztec, the Moor of Barbary, the Castilian grandee, the roving +Camanche, the Guinea negro, the Indian Brahmin, found themselves--could +they but have known it--fellow-citizens of one commonwealth. Statutes of +family descent, aided by fraud, force, and chicane, had annexed the +various European sovereignties to the crown of Spain; the genius of a +Genoese sailor had given to it the New World, and more recently the +conquest of Portugal, torn from hands not strong enough to defend the +national independence, had vested in the same sovereignty those Oriental +possessions which were due to the enterprise of Vasco de Gama, his +comrades and successors. The, voyager, setting forth from the straits of +Gibraltar, circumnavigating the African headlands and Cape Comorin, and +sailing through the Molucca channel and past the isles which bore the +name of Philip in the Eastern sea, gave the hand at last to his +adventurous comrade, who, starting from the same point, and following +westward in the track of Magellaens and under the Southern Cross, coasted +the shore of Patagonia, and threaded his path through unmapped and +unnumbered clusters of islands in the Western Pacific; and during this +spanning of the earth's whole circumference not an inch of land or water +was traversed that was not the domain of Philip. + +For the sea, too, was his as well as the dry land. + +From Borneo to California the great ocean was but a Spanish lake, as much +the king's private property as his fish-ponds at the Escorial with their +carp and perch. No subjects but his dared to navigate those sacred +waters. Not a common highway of the world's commerce, but a private path +for the gratification of one human being's vanity, had thus been laid out +by the bold navigators of the sixteenth century. + +It was for the Dutch rebels to try conclusions upon this point, as they +had done upon so many others, with the master of the land and sea. The +opening scenes therefore in the great career of maritime adventure and +discovery by which these republicans were to make themselves famous will +soon engage the reader's attention. + +Thus the causes of what is called the greatness of Spain are not far to +seek. Spain was not a nation, but a temporary and factitious conjunction +of several nations, which it was impossible to fuse into a permanent +whole, but over whose united resources a single monarch for a time +disposed. And the very concentration of these vast and unlimited, +powers, fortuitous as it was, in this single hand, inspiring the +individual, not unnaturally, with a consciousness of superhuman grandeur; +impelled him to those frantic and puerile efforts to achieve the +impossible which resulted, in the downfall of Spain. The man who +inherited so much material greatness believed himself capable of +destroying the invisible but omnipotent spirit of religious and political +liberty in the Netherlands, of trampling out the national existence of +France and of England, and of annexing those realms to his empire: It has +been my task to relate, with much minuteness, how miserably his efforts +failed. + +But his resources were great. All Italy was in his hands, with the +single exception of the Venetian republic; for the Grand Duke of Florence +and the so-called republic of Genoa were little more than his vassals, +the pope was generally his other self, and the Duke of Savoy was his son- +in-law. Thus his armies, numbering usually a hundred thousand men, were +supplied from the best possible sources. The Italians were esteemed the +best soldiers for siege; assault, light skirmishing. The German heavy +troopers and arquebuseers were the most effective for open field-work, +and these were to be purchased at reasonable prices and to indefinite +amount from any of the three or four hundred petty sovereigns to whom +what was called Germany belonged. The Sicilian and Neapolitan pikemen, +the Milanese light-horse, belonged exclusively to Philip, and were used, +year after year, for more than a generation of mankind, to fight battles +in which they had no more interest than had their follow-subjects in the +Moluccas or in Mexico, but which constituted for them personally as +lucrative a trade on the whole as was afforded them at that day by +any branch of industry. + +Silk, corn, wine, and oil were furnished in profusion from these favoured +regions, not that the inhabitants might enjoy life, and, by accumulating +wealth, increase the stock of human comforts and contribute to +intellectual and scientific advancement, but in order that the proprietor +of the soil might feed those eternal armies ever swarming from the south +to scatter desolation over the plains of France, Burgundy, Flanders, and +Holland, and to make the crown of Spain and the office of the Holy +Inquisition supreme over the world. From Naples and Sicily were derived +in great plenty the best materials and conveniences for ship-building and +marine equipment. The galleys and the galley-slaves furnished by these +subject realms formed the principal part of the royal navy. From distant +regions, a commerce which in Philip's days had become oceanic supplied +the crown with as much revenue as could be expected in a period of gross +ignorance as to the causes of the true grandeur and the true wealth of +nations. Especially from the mines of Mexico came an annual average of +ten or twelve millions of precious metals, of which the king took twenty- +five per cent. for himself. + +It would be difficult and almost superfluous to indicate the various +resources placed in the hands of this one personage, who thus controlled +so large a portion of the earth. All that breathed or grew belonged to +him, and most steadily was the stream of blood and treasure poured +through the sieve of his perpetual war. His system was essentially a +gigantic and perpetual levy of contributions in kind, and it is only in +this vague and unsatisfactory manner that the revenues of his empire can +be stated. A despot really keeps no accounts, nor need to do so, for he +is responsible to no man for the way in which he husbands or squanders +his own. Moreover, the science of statistics had not a beginning of +existence in those days, and the most common facts can hardly be +obtained, even by approximation. The usual standard of value, the +commodity which we call money--gold or silver--is well known to be at +best a fallacious guide for estimating the comparative wealth--of +individuals or of nations at widely different epochs. The dollar of +Philip's day was essentially the same bit of silver that it is in our +time in Spain, Naples, Rome, or America, but even should an elaborate +calculation be made as to the quantity of beef, or bread or broadcloth to +be obtained for that bit of silver in this or that place in the middle of +the sixteenth century, the result, as compared with prices now prevalent, +would show many remarkable discrepancies. Thus a bushel of wheat at +Antwerp during Philip's reign might cost a quarter of a dollar, in +average years, and there have been seasons in our own time when two +bushels of wheat could have been bought for a quarter of a dollar in +Illinois. Yet if, notwithstanding this, we should allow a tenfold value +in exchange to the dollar of Philip's day, we should be surprised at the +meagreness of his revenues, of his expenditures, and of the debts which +at the close of his career brought him to bankruptcy; were the sums +estimated in coin. + +Thus his income was estimated by careful contemporary statesmen at what +seemed to them the prodigious annual amount of sixteen millions of +dollars. He carried on a vast war without interruption during the whole +of his forty-three years' reign against the most wealthy and military +nations of Christendom not recognising his authority, and in so doing he +is said to have expended a sum total of seven hundred millions of +dollars--a statement which made men's hair stand on their heads. Yet the +American republic, during its civil war to repress the insurrection of +the slaveholders, has spent nominally as large a sum as this every year; +and the British Empire in time of profound peace spends half as much +annually. And even if we should allow sixteen millions to have +represented the value of a hundred and sixty millions--a purely arbitrary +supposition--as compared with our times, what are a hundred and sixty, +millions of dollars, or thirty-three millions of pounds sterling--as the +whole net revenue of the greatest empire that had ever existed in the +world, when compared with the accumulated treasures over which civilized +and industrious countries can now dispose? Thus the power of levying men +and materials in kind constituted the chief part of the royal power, and, +in truth, very little revenue in money was obtained from Milan or Naples, +or from any of the outlying European possessions of the crown. + +Eight millions a year were estimated as the revenue from the eight +kingdoms incorporated under the general name of Castile, while not more +than six hundred thousand came from the three kingdoms which constituted +Arragon. The chief sources of money receipts were a tax of ten per cent. +upon sales, paid by the seller, called Alcavala, and the Almoxarifalgo or +tariff upon both imports and exports. Besides these imposts he obtained +about eight hundred thousand dollars a year by selling to his subjects +the privilege of eating eggs upon fast-days, according to the permission +granted him by the pope, in the bull called the Cruzada. He received +another annual million from the Sussidio and the Excusado. The first was +a permission originally given by the popes to levy six hundred thousand +dollars a year upon ecclesiastical property for equipment of a hundred +war-galleys against the Saracens, but which had more recently established +itself as a regular tax to pay for naval hostilities against Dutch and +English heretics--a still more malignant species of unbelievers in the +orthodox eyes of the period. The Excusado was the right accorded to the +king always to select from the Church possessions a single benefice and +to appropriate its fruit--a levy commuted generally for four hundred +thousand dollars a year. Besides these regular sources of income, large +but irregular amounts of money were picked up by his Majesty in small +sums, through monks sent about the country simply as beggars, under no +special license, to collect alms from rich and poor for sustaining the +war against the infidels of England and Holland. A certain Jesuit, +father Sicily by name, had been industrious enough at one period in +preaching this crusade to accumulate more than a million and a half, so +that a facetious courtier advised his sovereign to style himself +thenceforth king, not of the two, but of the three Sicilies, in honour of +the industrious priest. + +It is worthy of remark that at different periods during Philip's reign, +and especially towards its close, the whole of his regular revenue was +pledged to pay the interest, on his debts, save only the Sussidio and the +Cruzada. Thus the master of the greatest empire of the earth had at +times no income at his disposal except the alma he could solicit from his +poorest subjects to maintain his warfare against foreign miscreants, the +levy on the Church for war-galleys; and the proceeds of his permission to +eat meat on Fridays. This sounds like an epigram, but it is a plain, +incontestable fact. + +Thus the revenues of his foreign dominions being nearly consumed by their +necessary expenses, the measure of his positive wealth was to be found in +the riches of Spain. But Spain at that day was not an opulent country. +It was impossible that it should be rich, for nearly every law, according +to which the prosperity of a country becomes progressive; was habitually +violated. It is difficult to state even by approximation the amount of +its population, but the kingdoms united under the crown of Castile were +estimated by contemporaries to contain eight millions, while the kingdom +of Portugal, together with those annexed to Arragon and the other +provinces of the realm, must have numbered half as many. Here was a +populous nation in a favoured land, but the foundation of all wealth was +sapped by a perverted moral sentiment. + +Labour was esteemed dishonourable. The Spaniard, from highest to lowest, +was proud, ignorant, and lazy. For a people endowed by nature with many +noble qualities--courage, temperance, frugality, endurance, quickness of +perception; a high sense of honour, a reverence for law--the course of +the national history had proved as ingeniously bad a system of general +education as could well be invented. + +The eternal contests, century after century, upon the soil of Spain +between the crescent and the cross, and the remembrance of the ancient +days in which Oriental valour and genius had almost extirpated Germanic +institutions and Christian faith from the peninsula, had inspired one +great portion of the masses with a hatred, amounting almost to insanity, +towards every form of religion except the Church of Rome, towards every +race of mankind except the Goths and Vandals. Innate reverence for +established authority had expanded into an intensity of religious emotion +and into a fanaticism of loyalty which caused the anointed monarch +leading true believers against infidels to be accepted as a god. The +highest industrial and scientific civilization that had been exhibited +upon Spanish territory was that of Moors and Jews. When in the course of +time those races had been subjugated, massacred, or driven into exile, +not only was Spain deprived of its highest intellectual culture and its +most productive labour, but intelligence, science, and industry were +accounted degrading, because the mark of inferior and detested peoples. + +The sentiment of self-esteem, always a national characteristic, assumed +an almost ludicrous shape. Not a ragged Biscayan muleteer, not a +swineherd of Estremadura, that did not imagine himself a nobleman because +he was not of African descent. Not a half-starved, ignorant brigand, +gaining his living on the highways and byways by pilfering or +assassination, that did not kneel on the church pavement and listen to +orisons in an ancient tongue, of which he understood not a syllable, with +a sentiment of Christian self-complacency to which Godfrey of Bouillon +might have been a stranger. Especially those born towards the northern +frontier, and therefore farthest removed from Moorish contamination, were +proudest of the purity of their race. To be an Asturian or a Gallician, +however bronzed by sun and wind, was to be furnished with positive proof +against suspicion of Moorish blood; but the sentiment was universal +throughout the peninsula. + +It followed as a matter of course that labour of any kind was an +impeachment against this gentility of descent. To work was the province +of Moors, Jews, and other heretics; of the Marani or accursed, miscreants +and descendants of miscreants; of the Sanbeniti or infamous, wretches +whose ancestors had been convicted by the Holy Inquisition of listening, +however secretly, to the Holy Scriptures as expounded by other lips than +those of Roman priests. And it is a remarkable illustration of this +degradation of labour and of its results, that in the reign of Philip +twenty-five thousand individuals of these dishonoured and comparatively +industrious classes, then computed at four millions in number in the +Castilian kingdoms alone, had united in a society which made a formal +offer to the king to pay him two thousand dollars a head if the name and +privileges of hidalgo could be conferred upon them. Thus an +inconsiderable number of this vilest and most abject of the population-- +oppressed by taxation which was levied exclusively upon the low, and from +which not only the great nobles but mechanics and other hidalgos were, +exempt--had been able to earn and to lay by enough to offer the monarch +fifty millions of dollars to purchase themselves out of semi-slavery into +manhood, and yet found their offer rejected by an almost insolvent king. +Nothing could exceed the idleness and the frivolity of the upper classes, +as depicted by contemporary and not unfriendly observers. The nobles +were as idle and as ignorant as their inferiors. They were not given to +tournays nor to the delights of the chase and table, but were fond of +brilliant festivities, dancing, gambling, masquerading, love-making, and +pompous exhibitions of equipage, furniture, and dress. These diversions +--together with the baiting of bulls and the burning of Protestants--made +up their simple round of pleasures. When they went to the wars they +scorned all positions but that of general, whether by land or sea, and as +war is a trade which requires an apprenticeship; it is unnecessary to +observe that these grandees were rarely able to command, having never +learned to obey. The poorer Spaniards were most honourably employed +perhaps--so far as their own mental development was concerned--when they +were sent with pike and arquebus to fight heretics in France and +Flanders. They became brave and indomitable soldiers when exported to +the seat of war, and thus afforded proof--by strenuously doing the +hardest physical work that human beings can be called upon to perform, +campaigning year after year amid the ineffable deprivations, dangers, and +sufferings which are the soldier's lot--that it was from no want of +industry or capacity that the lower masses of Spaniards in that age were +the idle, listless, dice-playing, begging, filching vagabonds into which +cruel history and horrible institutions had converted them at home. + +It is only necessary to recal these well-known facts to understand why +one great element of production--human labour--was but meagrely supplied. +It had been the deliberate policy of the Government for ages to extirpate +the industrious classes, and now that a great portion of Moors and Jews +were exiles and outcasts, it was impossible to supply their place by +native workmen. Even the mechanics, who condescended to work with their +hands in the towns, looked down alike upon those who toiled in the field +and upon those who, attempted to grow rich by traffic. A locksmith or a +wheelwright who could prove four descents of western, blood called +himself a son of somebody--a hidalgo--and despised the farmer and the +merchant. And those very artisans were careful not to injure themselves +by excessive industry, although not reluctant by exorbitant prices to +acquire in one or-two days what might seem a fair remuneration for a +week, and to impress upon their customers that it was rather by way of +favour that they were willing to serve them at all. + +Labour being thus deficient, it is obvious that there could hardly have +been a great accumulation, according to modern ideas, of capital. That +other chief element of national wealth, which is the result of +generations of labour and of abstinence, was accordingly not abundant. +And even those accretions of capital, which in the course of centuries +had been inevitable, were as clumsily and inadequately diffused as the +most exquisite human perverseness could desire. If the object of civil +and political institutions had been to produce the greatest ill to the +greatest number, that object had been as nearly attained at last in Spain +as human imperfection permits; the efforts of government and of custom +coming powerfully to the aid of the historical evils already indicated. + +It is superfluous to say that the land belonged not to those who lived +upon it--but subject to the pre-eminent right of the crown--to a small +selection of the human species. Moderate holdings, small farms, peasant +proprietorship's, were unknown. Any kind of terrestrial possession; in +short, was as far beyond the reach of those men who held themselves so +haughtily and esteemed themselves so inordinately, as were the mountains +in the moon. + +The great nobles--and of real grandees of Spain there were but forty- +nine, although the number of titled families was much larger--owned all +the country, except that vast portion of it which had reposed for ages in +the dead-hand of the Church. The law of primogeniture, strictly +enforced, tended with every generation to narrow the basis of society. +Nearly every great estate was an entail, passing from eldest son to +eldest son, until these were exhausted, in which case a daughter +transferred the family possessions to a new house. Thus the capital of +the country--meagre at best in comparison with what it might have been, +had industry been honoured instead of being despised, had the most +intelligent and most diligent classes been cherished rather than hunted +to death or into obscure dens like vermin--was concentrated in very few +hands. Not only was the accumulation less than it should have been, but +the slenderness of its diffusion had nearly amounted to absolute +stagnation. The few possessors of capital wasted their revenues in +unproductive consumption. The millions of the needy never dreamed of the +possibility of deriving benefit from the capital of the rich, nor would +have condescended to employ it, nor known how to employ it, had its use +in any form been vouchsafed to them. The surface of Spain, save only +around the few royal residences, exhibited no splendour of architecture, +whether in town or country, no wonders of agricultural or horticultural +skill, no monumentsof engineering and constructive genius in roads, +bridges, docks, warehouses, and other ornamental and useful fabrics, or +in any of the thousand ways in which man facilitates intercourse among +his kind and subdues nature to his will. + +Yet it can never be too often repeated that it, is only the Spaniard of +the sixteenth century, such as extraneous circumstances had made him, +that is here depicted; that he, even like his posterity and his +ancestors, had been endowed by Nature with some of her noblest gifts. +Acuteness of intellect, wealth of imagination, heroic qualities of heart, +and hand, and brain, rarely surpassed in any race, and manifested on a +thousand battle-fields, and in the triumphs of a magnificent and most +original literature, had not been able to save a whole nation from the +disasters and the degradation which the mere words Philip II, and the +Holy Inquisition suggest to every educated mind. + +Nor is it necessary for my purpose to measure exactly the space which +separated Spain from the other leading monarchies of the day. That the +standard of civilization was a vastly higher one in England, Holland, or +even France--torn as they all were with perpetual civil war--no thinker +will probably deny; but as it is rather my purpose at this moment to +exhibit the evils which may spring from a perfectly bad monarchical +system, as administered by a perfectly bad king, I prefer not to wander +at present from the country which was ruled for almost half a century by +Philip II. + +Besides the concentration of a great part of the capital of the country +in a very small number of titled families, still another immense portion +of the national wealth belonged, as already intimated, to the Church. + +There were eleven archbishops, at the head of whom stood the Archbishop +of Toledo, with the enormous annual revenue of three hundred thousand +dollars. Next to him came the Archbishop of Seville, with one hundred +and fifty thousand dollars yearly, while the income of the others varied +from fifty thousand to twenty thousand dollars respectively. + +There were sixty-two bishops, with annual incomes ranging from fifty +thousand to six thousand dollars. The churches, also, of these various +episcopates were as richly endowed as the great hierarchs themselves. +But without fatiguing the reader with minute details, it is sufficient to +say that one-third of the whole annual income of Spain and Portugal +belonged to the ecclesiastical body. In return for this enormous +proportion of the earth's fruits, thus placed by the caprice of destiny +at their disposal, these holy men did very little work in the world. +They fed their flocks neither with bread nor with spiritual food. +They taught little, preached little, dispensed little in charity. +Very few of the swarming millions of naked and hungry throughout the land +were clothed or nourished out of these prodigious revenues of the Church. +The constant and avowed care of those prelates was to increase their +worldly, possessions, to build up the fortunes of their respective +families, to grow richer and richer at the expense of the people whom for +centuries they had fleeced. Of gross crime, of public ostentatious +immorality, such as had made the Roman priesthood of that and preceding +ages loathsome in the sight of man and God, the Spanish Church- +dignitaries were innocent. Avarice; greediness, and laziness were +their characteristics. It is almost superfluous to say that, while the +ecclesiastical princes were rolling in this almost fabulous wealth, the +subordinate clergy, the mob of working priests, were needy, half-starved +mendicants. + +From this rapid survey of the condition of the peninsula it will seem +less surprising than it might do at first glance that the revenue of the +greatest monarch of the world was rated at the small amount--even after +due allowance for the difference of general values between the sixteenth +and nineteenth centuries--of sixteen millions of dollars. The King of +Spain was powerful and redoubtable at home and abroad, because accident +had placed the control of a variety of separate realms in his single +hand. At the same time Spain was poor and weak, because she had lived +for centuries in violation of the principles on which the wealth and +strength of nations depend. Moreover, every one of those subject and +violently annexed nations hated Spain with undying fervour, while an +infernal policy--the leading characteristics of which were to sow +dissensions among the nobles, to confiscate their property on all +convenient occasions, and to bestow it upon Spaniards and other +foreigners; to keep the discontented masses in poverty, but to deprive +them of the power or disposition to unite with their superiors in rank +in demonstrations against the crown--had sufficed to suppress any +extensive revolt in the various Italian states united under Philip's +sceptre. Still more intense than the hatred of the Italians was the +animosity which was glowing in every Portuguese breast against the +Spanish sway; while even the Arragonese were only held in subjection by +terror, which, indeed, in one form or another, was the leading instrument +of Philip's government. + +It is hardly necessary to enlarge upon the regulations of Spain's foreign +commerce; for it will be enough to repeat the phrase that in her eyes the +great ocean from east to west was a Spanish lake, sacred to the ships of +the king's subjects alone. With such a simple code of navigation coming +in aid of the other causes which impoverished the land, it may be +believed that the maritime traffic of the country would dwindle into the +same exiguous proportions which characterised her general industry. + +Moreover, it should never be forgotten that, although the various +kingdoms of Spain were politically conjoined by their personal union +under one despot, they were commercially distinct. A line of custom- +houses separated each province from the rest, and made the various +inhabitants of the peninsula practically strangers to each other. Thus +there was less traffic between Castile, Biscay, and Arragon than there +was between any one of them and remote foreign nations. The Biscayans, +for example, could even import and export commodities to and from remote +countries by sea, free of duty, while their merchandize to and from +Castile was crushed by imposts. As this ingenious perversity of positive +arrangements came to increase the negative inconveniences caused by the +almost total absence of tolerable roads, canals, bridges, and other means +of intercommunication, it may be imagined that internal traffic--the very +life-blood of every prosperous nation--was very nearly stagnant in Spain. +As an inevitable result, the most thriving branch of national industry +was that of the professional smuggler, who, in the pursuit of his +vocation, did his best to aid Government in sapping the wealth of the +nation. + +The whole accumulated capital of Spain, together with the land--in the +general sense which includes not only the soil but the immovable property +of a country being thus exclusively owned by the crown, the church, and +a very small number of patrician families, while the supply of labour +owing to the special causes which had converted the masses of the people +into paupers ashamed to work but not unwilling to beg or to rob--was +incredibly small, it is obvious that, so long as the same causes +continued in operation, the downfall of the country was a logical result +from which there was no escape. Nothing but a general revolution of mind +and hand against the prevalent system, nothing but some great destructive +but regenerating catastrophe, could redeem the people. + +And it is the condition of the people which ought always to be the +prominent subject of interest to those who study the records of the Past. +It is only by such study that we can derive instruction from history, +and enable ourselves, however dimly and feebly, to cast the horoscope +of younger nations. Human history, so far as it has been written, is at +best a mere fragment; for the few centuries or year-thousands of which +there is definite record are as nothing compared to the millions of +unnumbered years during which man has perhaps walked the earth. It may +be as practicable therefore to derive instruction from a minute +examination in detail of a very limited period of time and space, and +thus to deduce general rules for the infinite future, during which our +species may be destined to inhabit this planet, as by a more extensive +survey, which must however be at best a limited one. Men die, but Man is +immortal, and it would be a sufficiently forlorn prospect for humanity if +we were not able to discover causes in operation which would ultimately +render the system of Philip II. impossible in any part of the globe. +Certainly, were it otherwise, the study of human history would be the +most wearisome and unprofitable of all conceivable occupations. The +festivities of courts, the magnificence of an aristocracy, the sayings +and doings of monarchs and their servants, the dynastic wars, the solemn +treaties; the Ossa upon Pelion of diplomatic and legislative rubbish by +which, in the course of centuries, a few individuals or combinations of +individuals have been able to obstruct the march of humanity, and have +essayed to suspend the operation of elemental laws--all this contains but +little solid food for grown human beings. The condition of the brave and +quickwitted Spanish people in the latter half of the sixteenth century +gives more matter for reflection and possible instruction. + +That science is the hope of the world, that ignorance is the real +enslaver of mankind, and therefore the natural ally of every form of +despotism, may be assumed as an axiom, and it was certainly the ignorance +and superstition of the people upon which the Philippian policy was +founded. + +A vast mass, entirely uneducated, half fed, half clothed, unemployed; and +reposing upon a still lower and denser stratum--the millions namely of +the "Accursed," of the Africans, and last and vilest of all, the +"blessed" descendants of Spanish protestants whom the Holy Office had +branded with perpetual infamy because it had burned their progenitors-- +this was the People; and it was these paupers and outcasts, nearly the +whole nation, that paid all the imposts of which the public revenue was +composed. The great nobles, priests, and even the hidalgos, were exempt +from taxation. Need more be said to indicate the inevitable ruin of both +government and people? + +And it was over such a people, and with institutions like these, that +Philip II. was permitted to rule during forty-three years. His power was +absolute. With this single phrase one might as well dismiss any attempt +at specification. He made war or peace at will with foreign nations. +He had power of life and death over all his subjects. He had unlimited +control of their worldly goods. As he claimed supreme jurisdiction over +their religious opinions also, he was master of their minds, bodies, and +estates. As a matter of course, he nominated and removed at will every +executive functionary, every judge, every magistrate, every military or +civil officer; and moreover, he not only selected, according to the +license tacitly conceded to him by the pontiff, every archbishop, bishop, +and other Church dignitary, but, through his great influence at Rome, +he named most of the cardinals, and thus controlled the election of the +popes. The whole machinery of society, political, ecclesiastical, +military, was in his single hand. There was a show of provincial +privilege here and there in different parts of Spain, but it was but the +phantom of that ancient municipal liberty which it had been the especial +care of his father and his great-grandfather to destroy. Most patiently +did Philip, by his steady inactivity, bring about the decay of the +last ruins of free institutions in the peninsula. The councils and +legislative assemblies were convoked and then wearied out in waiting +for that royal assent to their propositions and transactions, which was +deferred intentionally, year after year, and never given. Thus the time +of the deputies was consumed in accomplishing infinite nothing, until the +moment arrived when the monarch, without any violent stroke of state, +could feel safe in issuing decrees and pragmatic edicts; thus reducing +the ancient legislative and consultative bodies to nullity, and +substituting the will of an individual for a constitutional fabric. To +criticise the expenses of government or to attempt interference with the +increase of taxation became a sorry farce. The forms remained in certain +provinces after the life had long since fled. Only in Arragon had the +ancient privileges seemed to defy the absolute authority of the monarch; +and it was reserved for Antonio Perez to be the cause of their final +extirpation. The grinning skulls of the Chief Justice of that kingdom +and of the boldest and noblest advocates and defenders of the national +liberties, exposed for years in the market-place, with the record of +their death-sentence attached, informed the Spaniards, in language which +the most ignorant could read, that the crime of defending a remnant of +human freedom and constitutional law was sure to draw down condign +punishment. It was the last time in that age that even the ghost of +extinct liberty was destined to revisit the soil of Spain. It mattered +not that the immediate cause for pursuing Perez was his successful amour +with the king's Mistress, nor that the crime of which he was formally +accused was the deadly offence of Calvinism, rather than his intrigue +with the Eboli and his assassination of Escovedo; for it was in the +natural and simple sequence of events that the last vestige of law or +freedom should be obliterated wherever Philip could vindicate his sway. +It must be admitted, too, that the king seized this occasion to strike a +decisive blow with a promptness very different from his usual artistic +sluggishness. Rarely has a more terrible epigram been spoken by man than +the royal words which constituted the whole trial and sentence of the +Chief Justice of Arragon, for the crime of defending the law of his +country: "You will take John of Lanuza, and you will have his head cut +off." This was the end of the magistrate and of the constitution which +he had defended. + +His power, was unlimited. A man endowed with genius and virtue, and +possessing the advantages of a consummate education, could have perhaps +done little more than attempt to mitigate the general misery, and to +remove some of its causes. For it is one of the most pernicious dogmas +of the despotic system, and the one which the candid student of history +soonest discovers to be false, that the masses of mankind are to look to +any individual, however exalted by birth or intellect, for their +redemption. Woe to the world if the nations are never to learn that +their fate is and ought to be in their own hands; that their +institutions, whether liberal or despotic, are the result of the +national biography and of the national character, not the work of a few +individuals whose names have been preserved by capricious Accident as +heroes and legislators. Yet there is no doubt that, while comparatively +powerless for good, the individual despot is capable of almost infinite +mischief. There have been few men known to history who have been able to +accomplish by their own exertions so vast an amount of evil as the king +who had just died. If Philip possessed a single virtue it has eluded the +conscientious research of the writer of these pages. If there are vices +--as possibly there are from which he was exempt, it is because it is not +permitted to human nature to attain perfection even in evil. The only +plausible explanation--for palliation there is none--of his infamous +career is that the man really believed himself not a king but a god. He +was placed so high above his fellow-creatures as, in good faith perhaps, +to believe himself incapable of doing wrong; so that, whether indulging +his passions or enforcing throughout the world his religious and +political dogmas, he was ever conscious of embodying divine inspirations +and elemental laws. When providing for the assassination of a monarch, +or commanding the massacre of a townfill of Protestants; when trampling +on every oath by which a human being can bind himself; when laying +desolate with fire and sword, during more than a generation, the +provinces which he had inherited as his private property, or in carefully +maintaining the flames of civil war in foreign kingdoms which he hoped to +acquire; while maintaining over all Christendom a gigantic system of +bribery, corruption, and espionage, keeping the noblest names of England +and Scotland on his pension-lists of traitors, and impoverishing his +exchequer with the wages of iniquity paid in France to men of all +degrees, from princes of blood like Guise and Mayenne down to the +obscurest of country squires, he ever felt that these base or bloody +deeds were not crimes, but the simple will of the godhead of which he was +a portion. He never doubted that the extraordinary theological system +which he spent his life in enforcing with fire and sword was right, for +it was a part of himself. The Holy Inquisition, thoroughly established +as it was in his ancestral Spain, was a portion of the regular working +machinery by which his absolute kingship and his superhuman will +expressed themselves. A tribunal which performed its functions with a +celerity, certainty, and invisibility resembling the attributes of +Omnipotence; which, like the pestilence, entered palace or hovel at will, +and which smote the wretch guilty or suspected of heresy with a precision +against which no human ingenuity or sympathy could guard--such an +institution could not but be dear to his heart. It was inevitable that +the extension and perpetuation of what he deemed its blessings throughout +his dominions should be his settled purpose. Spain was governed by an +established terrorism. It is a mistake to suppose that Philip was +essentially beloved in his native land, or that his religious and +political system was heartily accepted because consonant to the national +character. On the contrary, as has been shown, a very large proportion +of the inhabitants were either secretly false to the Catholic faith, or +descended at least from those who had expiated their hostility to it with +their lives. But the Grand Inquisitor was almost as awful a personage; +as the king or the pope. His familiars were in every village and at +every fireside, and from their fangs there was no escape. Millions of +Spaniards would have rebelled against the crown or accepted the reformed +religion, had they not been perfectly certain of being burned or hanged +at the slightest movement in such a direction. The popular force in the +course of the political combinations of centuries seemed at last to have +been eliminated. The nobles, exempt from taxation, which crushed the +people to the earth, were the enemies rather than the chieftains and +champions of the lower classes in any possible struggle with a crown to +which they were united by ties of interest as well as of affection, while +the great churchmen, too, were the immediate dependants and of course the +firm supporters of the king. Thus the people, without natural leaders, +without organisation, and themselves divided into two mutually hostile +sections, were opposed by every force in the State. Crown, nobility, and +clergy; all the wealth and all that there was of learning, were banded +together to suppress the democratic principle. But even this would +hardly have sufficed to extinguish every spark of liberty, had it not +been for the potent machinery of the Inquisition; nor could that +perfection of terrorism have become an established institution but for +the extraordinary mixture of pride and superstition of which the national +character had been, in the course of the national history, compounded. +The Spanish portion of the people hated the nobles, whose petty exactions +and oppressions were always visible; but they had a reverential fear of +the unseen monarch, as the representative both of the great unsullied +Christian nation to which the meanest individual was proud to belong, and +of the God of wrath who had decreed the extermination of all unbelievers. +The "accursed" portion of the people were sufficiently disloyal at heart, +but were too much crushed by oppression and contempt to imagine +themselves men. As to the Netherlanders, they did not fight originally +for independence. It was not until after a quarter of a century of +fighting that they ever thought of renouncing their allegiance to Philip. +They fought to protect themselves against being taxed by the king without +the consent of those constitutional assemblies which he had sworn to +maintain, and to save themselves and their children from being burned +alive if they dared to read the Bible. Independence followed after +nearly a half-century of fighting, but it would never have been obtained, +or perhaps demanded, had those grievances of the people been redressed. + +Of this perfect despotism Philip was thus the sole administrator. +Certainly he looked upon his mission with seriousness, and was +industrious in performing his royal functions. But this earnestness and +seriousness were, in truth, his darkest vices; for the most frivolous +voluptuary that ever wore a crown would never have compassed a thousandth +part of the evil which was Philip's life-work. It was because he was a +believer in himself, and in what he called his religion, that he was +enabled to perpetrate such a long catalogue of crimes. When an humble +malefactor is brought before an ordinary court of justice, it is not +often, in any age or country, that he escapes the pillory or the gallows +because, from his own point of view, his actions, instead of being +criminal, have been commendable, and because the multitude and continuity +of his offences prove him to have been sincere. And because anointed +monarchs are amenable to no human tribunal, save to that terrible assize +which the People, bursting its chain from time to time in the course of +the ages, sets up for the trial of its oppressors, and which is called +Revolution, it is the more important for the great interests of humanity +that before the judgment-seat of History a crown should be no protection +to its wearer. There is no plea to the jurisdiction of history, if +history be true to itself. + +As for the royal criminal called Philip II., his life is his arraignment, +and these volumes will have been written in vain if a specification is +now required. + +Homicide such as was hardly ever compassed before by one human being was +committed by Philip when in the famous edict of 1568 he sentenced every +man, woman, and child in the Netherlands to death. That the whole of +this population, three millions or more, were not positively destroyed +was because no human energy could suffice to execute the diabolical +decree. But Alva, toiling hard, accomplished much of this murderous +work. By the aid of the "Council of Blood," and of the sheriffs and +executioners of the Holy Inquisition, he was able sometimes to put eight +hundred human beings to death in a single week for the crimes of +Protestantism or of opulence, and at the end of half a dozen years he +could boast of having strangled, drowned, burned, or beheaded somewhat +more than eighteen thousand of his fellow-creatures. These were some of +the non-combatant victims; for of the tens of thousands who perished +during his administration alone, in siege and battle, no statistical +record has been preserved. + +In face of such wholesale crimes, of these forty years of bloodshed, it +is superfluous to refer to such isolated misdeeds as his repeated +attempts to procure the assassination of the Prince of Orange, crowned at +last by the success of Balthazar Gerard, nor to his persistent efforts to +poison the Queen of England; for the enunciation of all these murders or +attempts at murder would require a repetition of the story which it has +been one of the main purposes of these volumes to recite. + +For indeed it seems like mere railing to specify his crimes. Their very +magnitude and unbroken continuity, together with their impunity, give +them almost the appearance of inevitable phenomena. The horrible +monotony of his career stupefies the mind until it is ready to accept the +principle of evil as the fundamental law of the world. + +His robberies, like his murders, were colossal. The vast, system of +confiscation set up in the Netherlands was sufficient to reduce +unnumbered innocent families to beggary, although powerless to break +the spirit of civil and religious liberty or to pay the expenses of +subjugating a people. Not often in the world's history have so many +thousand individual been plundered by a foreign tyrant for no crime, save +that they were rich enough to be worth robbing. For it can never be too +often repeated that those confiscations and extortions were perpetrated +upon Catholics as well as Protestants, monarchists as well as rebels; the +possession of property making proof of orthodoxy or of loyalty well-nigh +impossible. + +Falsehood was the great basis of the king's character, which perhaps +derives its chief importance, as a political and psychological study, +from this very fact. It has been shown throughout the whole course of +this history, by the evidence of his most secret correspondence, that he +was false, most of all, to those to whom he gave what he called his +heart. Granvelle, Alva, Don John, Alexander Farnese, all those, in +short, who were deepest in his confidence experienced in succession his +entire perfidy, while each in turn was sacrificed to his master's +sleepless suspicion. The pope himself was often as much the dupe of the +Catholic monarch's faithlessness as the vilest heretic had ever been. +Could the great schoolmaster of iniquity for the sovereigns and +politicians of the south have lived to witness the practice of the +monarch who had most laid to heart the precepts of the "Prince," he would +have felt that he had not written in vain, and that his great paragon of +successful falsehood, Ferdinand of Arragon, had been surpassed by the +great grandson. For the ideal perfection of perfidy, foreshadowed by the +philosopher who died in the year of Philip's birth, was thoroughly +embodied at last by this potentate. Certainly Nicholas Macchiavelli +could have hoped for no more docile pupil. That all men are vile, that +they are liars; scoundrels, poltroons, and idiots alike--ever ready to +deceive and yet easily to be duped, and that he only is fit to be king +who excels his kind in the arts of deception; by this great maxim of the +Florentine, Philip was ever guided. And those well-known texts of +hypocrisy, strewn by the same hand, had surely not fallen on stony ground +when received into Philip's royal soul. + +"Often it is necessary, in order to maintain power, to act contrary to +faith, contrary to charity, contrary to humanity, contrary to religion +. . . . . . A prince ought therefore to have great care that from +his mouth nothing should ever come that is not filled with those five +qualities, and that to see and hear him he should appear all piety, all +faith, all integrity, all humanity, all religion. And nothing is more +necessary than to seem to have this last-mentioned quality. Every one +sees what you seem, few perceive what you are." + +Surely this hand-book of cant had been Philip's 'vade mecum' through his +life's pilgrimage. + +It is at least a consolation to reflect that a career controlled by such +principles came to an ignominious close. Had the mental capacity of this +sovereign been equal to his criminal intent, even greater woe might have +befallen the world. But his intellect was less than mediocre. His +passion for the bureau, his slavery to routine, his puerile ambition +personally to superintend details which could have been a thousand times +better administered by subordinates, proclaimed every day the narrowness +of his mind. His diligence in reading, writing, and commenting upon +despatches may excite admiration only where there has been no opportunity +of judging of his labours by personal inspection. Those familiar with +the dreary displays of his penmanship must admit that such work could +have been at least as well done by a copying clerk of average capacity. +His ministers were men of respectable ability, but he imagined himself, +as he advanced in life, far superior to any counsellor that he could +possibly select, and was accustomed to consider himself the first +statesman in the world. + +His reign was a thorough and disgraceful failure. Its opening scene was +the treaty of Catean Cambresis, by which a triumph over France had been +achieved for him by the able generals and statesmen of his father, so +humiliating and complete as to make every French soldier or politician +gnash his teeth. Its conclusion was the treaty of Vervins with the same +power, by which the tables were completely turned, and which was as +utterly disgraceful to Spain as that of Cateau Cambresis had been to +France. He had spent his life in fighting with the spirit of the age-- +that invincible power of which he had not the faintest conception--while +the utter want of adaptation of his means to his ends often bordered, not +on the ludicrous, but the insane. + +He attempted to reduce the free Netherlands to slavery and to papacy. +Before his death they had expanded into an independent republic, with a +policy founded upon religious toleration and the rights of man. He had +endeavoured all his life to exclude the Bearnese from his heritage and +to place himself or his daughter on the vacant throne; before his death +Henry IV. was the most powerful and popular sovereign that had ever +reigned in France. He had sought to invade and to conquer England, and +to dethrone and assassinate its queen. But the queen outwitted, +outgeneralled, and outlived, him; English soldiers and sailors, assisted. +by their Dutch comrades in arms, accomplished on the shores of Spain what +the Invincible Armada had in vain essayed against England and Holland; +while England, following thenceforth the opposite system to that of +absolutism and the Inquisition, became, after centuries of struggles +towards the right, the most powerful, prosperous, and enlightened kingdom +in the world. + +His exchequer, so full when he ascended the throne as to excite the awe +of contemporary financiers, was reduced before his death to a net income +of some four millions of dollars. His armies; which had been the wonder +of the age in the earlier period of his reign for discipline, courage, +and every quality on which military efficiency depends, were in his later +years a horde of starving, rebellious brigands, more formidable to their +commanders than to the foe. Mutiny was the only organised military +institution that was left in his dominions, while the Spanish +Inquisition, which it was the fell purpose of his life from youth upwards +to establish over the world, became a loathsome and impossible nuisance +everywhere but in its natal soil. + +If there be such a thing as historical evidence, then is Philip II., +convicted before the tribunal of impartial posterity of every crime +charged in his indictment. He lived seventy-one years and three months, +he reigned forty-three years. He endured the martyrdom of his last +illness with the heroism of a saint, and died in the certainty of +immortal bliss as the reward of his life of evil. + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +A despot really keeps no accounts, nor need to do so +All Italy was in his hands +Every one sees what you seem, few perceive what you are +God of wrath who had decreed the extermination of all unbeliever +Had industry been honoured instead of being despised +History is but made up of a few scattered fragments +Hugo Grotius +Idle, listless, dice-playing, begging, filching vagabonds +Ignorance is the real enslaver of mankind +Innocent generation, to atone for the sins of their forefathers +Intelligence, science, and industry were accounted degrading +Labour was esteemed dishonourable +Man had no rights at all He was property +Matters little by what name a government is called +Moral nature, undergoes less change than might be hoped +Names history has often found it convenient to mark its epochs +National character, not the work of a few individuals +Proceeds of his permission to eat meat on Fridays +Rarely able to command, having never learned to obey +Rich enough to be worth robbing +Seems but a change of masks, of costume, of phraseology +Selling the privilege of eating eggs upon fast-days +Sentiment of Christian self-complacency +Spain was governed by an established terrorism +That unholy trinity--Force; Dogma, and Ignorance +The great ocean was but a Spanish lake +The most thriving branch of national industry (Smuggler) +The record of our race is essentially unwritten +Thirty thousand masses should be said for his soul +Those who argue against a foregone conclusion +Three or four hundred petty sovereigns (of Germany) +Utter want of adaptation of his means to his ends +While one's friends urge moderation +Whole revenue was pledged to pay the interest, on his debts + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext History of United Netherlands, v70 +by John Lothrop Motley + + + + + + +HISTORY OF THE UNITED NETHERLANDS +From the Death of William the Silent to the Twelve Year's Truce--1609 + +By John Lothrop Motley + + + +History United Netherlands, Volume 71, 1598-1599 + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI. + + Commercial prospects of Holland--Travels of John Huygen van + Linschoten Their effect on the trade and prosperity of the + Netherlands--Progress of nautical and geographical science--Maritime + exploration--Fantastic notions respecting the polar regions--State + of nautical science--First arctic expedition--Success of the + voyagers--Failure of the second expedition--Third attempt to + discover the north-east passage--Discovery of Spitzbergen-- + Scientific results of the voyage--Adventures in the frozen regions-- + Death of William Barendz--Return of the voyagers to Amsterdam-- + Southern expedition against the Spanish power--Disasters attendant + upon it--Extent of Dutch discovery. + +During a great portion of Philip's reign the Netherlanders, despite their +rebellion, had been permitted to trade with Spain. A spectacle had thus +been presented of a vigorous traffic between two mighty belligerents, who +derived from their intercourse with each other the means of more +thoroughly carrying on their mutual hostilities. The war fed their +commerce, and commerce fed their war. The great maritime discoveries at +the close of the fifteenth century had enured quite as much to the +benefit of the Flemings and Hollanders as to that of the Spaniards and +Portuguese, to whom they were originally due. Antwerp and subsequently +Amsterdam had thriven on the great revolution of the Indian trade which +Vasco de Gama's voyage around the Cape had effected. The nations of the +Baltic and of farthest Ind now exchanged their products on a more +extensive scale. and with a wider sweep across the earth than when the +mistress of the Adriatic alone held the keys of Asiatic commerce. The +haughty but intelligent oligarchy of shopkeepers, which had grown so rich +and attained so eminent a political position from its magnificent +monopoly, already saw the sources of its grandeur drying up before its +eyes, now that the world's trade--for the first time in human history-- +had become oceanic. + +In Holland, long since denuded of forests, were great markets of timber, +whither shipbuilders and architects came from all parts of the world to +gather the utensils for their craft. There, too, where scarcely a pebble +had been deposited in the course of the geological transformations of our +planet, were great artificial quarries of granite, and marble, and +basalt. Wheat was almost as rare a product of the soil as cinnamon, yet +the granaries of Christendom, and the Oriental magazines of spices and +drugs, were found chiefly on that barren spot of earth. There was the +great international mart where the Osterling, the Turk, the Hindoo, the +Atlantic and the Mediterranean traders stored their wares and negotiated +their exchanges; while the curious and highly-prized products of +Netherland skill--broadcloths, tapestries, brocades, laces, substantial +fustians, magnificent damasks, finest linens--increased the mass of +visible wealth piled mountains high upon that extraordinary soil which +produced nothing and teemed with everything. + +After the incorporation of Portugal with Spain however many obstacles +were thrown in the way of the trade from the Netherlands to Lisbon and +the Spanish ports. Loud and bitter were the railings uttered, as we +know, by the English sovereign and her statesmen against the nefarious +traffic which the Dutch republic persisted in carrying on with the common +enemy. But it is very certain that although the Spanish armadas would +have found it comparatively difficult to equip themselves without the tar +and the timber, the cordage, the stores, and the biscuits furnished by +the Hollanders, the rebellious commonwealth, if excluded from the world's +commerce, in which it had learned to play so controlling a part, must +have ceased to exist. For without foreign navigation the independent +republic was an inconceivable idea. Not only would it have been +incapable of continuing the struggle with the greatest monarch in the +world, but it might as well have buried itself once and for ever beneath +the waves from which it had scarcely emerged. Commerce and Holland were +simply synonymous terms. Its morsel of territory was but the wharf to +which the republic was occasionally moored; its home was in every ocean +and over all the world. Nowhere had there ever existed before so large a +proportion of population that was essentially maritime. They were born +sailors--men and women alike--and numerous were the children who had +never set foot on the shore. At the period now treated of the republic +had three times as many ships and sailors as any one nation in the world. +Compared with modern times, and especially with the gigantic commercial +strides of the two great Anglo-Saxon families, the statistics both of +population and of maritime commerce in that famous and most vigorous +epoch would seem sufficiently meagre. Yet there is no doubt that in the +relative estimate of forces then in activity it would be difficult to +exaggerate the naval power of the young commonwealth. When therefore, +towards the close of Philip II.'s reign, it became necessary to renounce +the carrying trade with Spain and Portugal, by which the communication +with India and China was effected, or else to submit to the confiscation +of Dutch ships in Spanish ports, and the confinement of Dutch sailors in +the dungeons of the Inquisition, a more serious dilemma was presented to +the statesmen of the Netherlands than they had ever been called upon to +solve. + +For the splendid fiction of the Spanish lake was still a formidable fact. +Not only were the Portuguese and Spaniards almost the only direct traders +to the distant East, but even had no obstacles been interposed by +Government, the exclusive possession of information as to the course of +trade, the pre-eminent practical knowledge acquired by long experience of +that dangerous highway around the world at a time when oceanic navigation +was still in its infancy, would have given a monopoly of the traffic to +the descendants of the bold discoverers who first opened the great path +to the world's commerce. + +The Hollanders as a nation had never been engaged in the direct trade +around the Cape of Good Hope. Fortunately however at this crisis in +their commercial destiny there was a single Hollander who had thoroughly +learned the lesson which it was so necessary that all his countrymen +should now be taught. Few men of that period deserve a more kindly and +more honourable remembrance by posterity for their contributions to +science and the progress of civilization than John Huygen van Linschoten, +son of a plain burgher of West Friesland. Having always felt a strong +impulse to study foreign history and distant nations and customs; he +resolved at the early age of seventeen "to absent himself from his +fatherland, and from the conversation of friends and relatives," in order +to gratify this inclination for self-improvement. After a residence of +two years in Lisbon he departed for India in the suite of the Archbishop +of Goa, and remained in the East for nearly thirteen years. Diligently +examining all the strange phenomena which came under his observation and +patiently recording the results of his researches day by day and year by +year, he amassed a fund of information which he modestly intended for the +entertainment of his friends when he should return to his native country. +It was his wish that "without stirring from their firesides or counting- +houses" they might participate with him in the gratification and +instruction to be derived fiom looking upon a world then so strange, and +for Europeans still so new. He described the manners and customs, the +laws, the religions, the social and political institutions, of the +ancient races who dwelt in either peninsula of India. He studied the +natural history, the botany, the geography of all the regions which he +visited. Especially the products which formed the material of a great +traffic; the system of culture, the means of transportation, and the +course of commerce, were examined by him with minuteness, accuracy, and +breadth of vision. He was neither a trader nor a sailor, but a man of +letters, a scientific and professional traveller. But it was obvious +when he returned, rich with the spoils of oriental study during thirteen +years of life, that the results of his researches were worthy of a wider +circulation than that which he had originally contemplated. His work was +given to the public in the year 1596, and was studied with avidity not +only by men of science but by merchants and seafarers. He also added to +the record of his Indian experiences a practical manual for navigators. +He described the course of the voyage from Lisbon to the East, the +currents, the trade-winds and monsoons, the harbours, the islands, the +shoals, the sunken rocks and dangerous quicksands, and he accompanied +his work with various maps and charts, both general and special, of land +and water, rarely delineated before his day, as well as by various +astronomical and mathematical calculations. Already a countryman of +his own, Wagenaar of Zeeland, had laid the mariners of the world under +special obligation by a manual which came into such universal use that +for centuries afterwards the sailors of England and of other countries +called their indispensable 'vade-mecum' a Wagenaar. But in that text- +book but little information was afforded to eastern voyagers, because, +before the enterprise of Linschoten, little was known of the Orient +except to the Portuguese and Spaniards, by whom nothing was communicated. + +The work of Linschoten was a source of wealth, both from the scientific +treasures which it diffused among an active and intelligent people, and +the impulse which it gave to that direct trade between the Netherlands +and the East which had been so long deferred, and which now came to +relieve the commerce of the republic, and therefore the republic itself, +from the danger of positive annihilation. + +It is not necessary for my purpose to describe in detail the series of +voyages by way of the Cape of Good Hope which, beginning with the +adventures of the brothers Houtmann at this period, and with the +circumnavigation of the world by Olivier van Noord, made the Dutch for +a long time the leading Christian nation in those golden regions, and +which carried the United Netherlands to the highest point of prosperity +and power. The Spanish monopoly of the Indian and the Pacific Ocean was +effectually disposed of, but the road was not a new road, nor did any +striking discoveries at this immediate epoch illustrate the enterprise of +Holland in the East. In the age just opening the homely names most dear +to the young republic were to be inscribed on capes, islands, and +promontories, seas, bays, and continents. There was soon to be a "Staten +Island" both in the frozen circles of the northern and of the southern +pole, as well as in that favoured region where now the mighty current of +a worldwide commerce flows through the gates of that great metropolis of +the western world, once called New Amsterdam. Those well-beloved words, +Orange and Nassau, Maurice and William, intermingled with the names of +many an ancient town and village, or with the simple patronymics of hardy +navigators or honoured statesmen, were to make the vernacular of the new +commonwealth a familiar sound in the remotest corners of the earth; while +a fifth continent, discovered by the enterprise of Hollanders, was soon +to be fitly baptized with the name of the fatherland. Posterity has been +neither just nor grateful, and those early names which Dutch genius and +enterprise wrote upon so many prominent points of the earth's surface, +then seen for the first time by European eyes, are no longer known. + +The impulse given to the foreign trade of the Netherlands by the +publication of Linschoten's work was destined to be a lasting one. +Meantime this most indefatigable and enterprising voyager--one of those +men who had done nothing in his own estimation so long as aught remained +to do--was deeply pondering the possibility of a shorter road to the +opulent kingdoms of Cathay and of China than the one which the genius of +De Gama had opened to his sovereigns. Geography as a science was +manifesting the highest activity at that period, but was still in a +rudimentary state. To the Hollanders especially much of the progress +already made by it was owing. The maps of the world by Mercator of +Leyden, published on a large scale, together with many astronomical and +geographical charts, delineations of exploration, and other scientific +works, at the magnificent printing establishment of William Blaeuw, in +Amsterdam, the friend and pupil of Tycho Brahe, and the first in that +line of typographers who made the name famous, constituted an epoch in +cosmography. Another ardent student of geography lived in Amsterdam, +Peter Plancius by name, a Calvinist preacher, and one of the most zealous +and intolerant of his cloth. In an age and a country which had not yet +thoroughly learned the lesson taught by hundreds of thousands of murders +committed by an orthodox church, he was one of those who considered the +substitution of a new dogma and a new hierarchy, a new orthodoxy and a +new church, in place of the old ones, a satisfactory result for fifty, +years of perpetual bloodshed. Nether Torquemada nor Peter Titelmann +could have more thoroughly abhorred a Jew or a Calvinist than Peter +Plancius detested a Lutheran, or any other of the unclean tribe of +remonstranta. That the intolerance of himself and his comrades was +confined to fiery words, and was not manifested in the actual burning +alive of the heterodox, was a mark of the advance made by the mass of +mankind in despite of bigotry. It was at any rate a solace to those who +believed in human progress; even in matters of conscience, that no other +ecclesiastical establishment was ever likely to imitate the matchless +machinery for the extermination of heretical vermin which the Church of +Rome had found in the Spanish Inquisition. The blasts of denunciation +from the pulpit of Plancius have long since mingled with empty air and +been forgotten, but his services in the cause of nautical enterprise and +geographical science, which formed, as it were, a relaxation to what he +deemed the more serious pursuits of theology, will endear his name for +ever to the lovers of civilization. + +Plancius and Dr. Francis Maalzoon--the enlightened pensionary of +Enkhuizen--had studied long and earnestly the history and aspects of the +oceanic trade, which had been unfolding itself then for a whole century, +but was still comparatively new, while Barneveld, ever ready to assist in +the advancement of science, and to foster that commerce which was the +life of the commonwealth, was most favourably disposed towards projects +of maritime exploration. For hitherto, although the Hollanders had been +among the hardiest and the foremost in the art of navigation they had +contributed but little to actual discovery. A Genoese had led the way to +America, while one Portuguese mariner had been the first to double the +southern cape of Africa, and another, at the opposite side of the world, +had opened what was then supposed the only passage through the vast +continent which, according to ideas then prevalent, extended from the +Southern Pole to Greenland, and from Java to Patagonia. But it was +easier to follow in the wake of Columbus, Gama, or Magellan, than to +strike out new pathways by the aid of scientific deduction and audacious +enterprise. At a not distant day many errors, disseminated by the +boldest of Portuguese navigators, were to be corrected by the splendid +discoveries of sailors sent forth by the Dutch republic, and a rich +harvest in consequence was to be reaped both by science and commerce. It +is true, too, that the Netherlanders claimed to have led the way to the +great voyages of Columbus by their discovery of the Azores. Joshua van +den Berg, a merchant of Bruges, it was vigorously maintained, had landed +in that archipelago in the year 1445. He had found there, however, no +vestiges of the human race, save that upon the principal island, in the +midst of the solitude, was seen--so ran the tale--a colossal statue of a +man on horseback, wrapped in a cloak, holding the reins of his steed in +his left hand, and solemnly extending his right arm to the west. This +gigantic and solitary apparition on a rock in the ocean was supposed +to indicate the existence of a new world, and the direction in which it +was to be sought, but it is probable that the shipwrecked Fleeting was +quite innocent of any such magnificent visions. The original designation +of the Flemish Islands, derived from their first colonization by +Netherlanders, was changed to Azores by Portuguese mariners, amazed at +the myriads of hawks which they found there. But if the Netherlanders +had never been able to make higher claims as discoverers than the +accidental and dubious landing upon an unknown shore of a tempest-tost +mariner, their position in the records of geographical exploration would +not be so eminent as it certainly is. + +Meantime the eyes of Linschoten, Plancius, Maalzoon, Barneveld, and of +many other ardent philosophers and patriots, were turned anxiously +towards the regions of the North Pole. Two centuries later--and still +more recently in our own day and generation--what heart has not thrilled +with sympathy and with pride at the story of the magnificent exploits, +the heroism, the contempt of danger and of suffering which have +characterized the great navigators whose names are so familiar to the +world; especially the arctic explorers of England and of our own country? +The true chivalry of an advanced epoch--recognizing that there can be no +sublimer vocation for men of action than to extend the boundary of human +knowledge in the face of perils and obstacles more formidable and more +mysterious than those encountered by the knights of old in the cause of +the Lord's sepulchre or the holy grail--they have thus embodied in a form +which will ever awaken enthusiasm in imaginative natures, the noble +impulses of our latter civilization. To win the favour of that noblest +of mistresses, Science; to take authoritative possession, in her name, +of the whole domain of humanity; to open new pathways to commerce; to +elevate and enlarge the human intellect, and to multiply indefinitely the +sum of human enjoyments; to bring the inhabitants of the earth into +closer and more friendly communication, so that, after some yet +unimagined inventions and discoveries, and after the lapse of many years, +which in the sight of the Omnipotent are but as one day, the human race +may form one pacific family, instead of being broken up, as are the most +enlightened of peoples now, into warring tribes of internecine savages, +prating of the advancement of civilization while coveting each other's +possessions, intriguing against each other's interests, and thoroughly in +earnest when cutting each other's throats; this is truly to be the +pioneers of a possible civilization, compared to which our present +culture may seem but a poor barbarism. If the triumphs and joys of the +battle-field have been esteemed among the noblest themes for poet, +painter, or chronicler, alike in the mists of antiquity and in the full +glare of later days, surely a still more encouraging spectacle for those +who believe in the world's progress is the exhibition of almost infinite +valour, skill, and endurance in the cause of science and humanity. + +It was believed by the Dutch cosmographers that some ten thousand miles +of voyaging might be saved, could the passage to what was then called the +kingdoms of Cathay be effected by way of the north. It must be +remembered that there were no maps of the unknown regions lying beyond +the northern headlands of Sweden. Delineations of continents, islands, +straits, rivers, and seas, over which every modern schoolboy pores, were +not attempted even by the hand of fancy. It was perhaps easier at the +end of the sixteenth century than it is now, to admit the possibility of +a practical path to China and India across the pole; for delusions as to +climate and geographical configuration then prevalent have long since +been dispelled. While, therefore, at least as much heroism was required +then as now to launch into those unknown seas, in hope to solve the dread +mystery of the North; there was even a firmer hope than can ever be +cherished again of deriving an immediate and tangible benefit from the +enterprise. Plancius and Maalzoon, the States-General and Prince +Maurice, were convinced that the true road to Cathay would be found by +sailing north-east. Linschoten, the man who knew India and the beaten +paths to India better than any other living Christian, was so firmly +convinced of the truth of this theory, that he volunteered to take the +lead in the first expedition. Many were the fantastic dreams in which +even the wisest thinkers of the age indulged as to the polar regions. +Four straits or channels, pierced by a magic hand, led, it was thought, +from the interior of Muscovy towards the arctic seas. According to some +speculators, however, those seas enclosed a polar continent where +perpetual summer and unbroken daylight reigned, and whose inhabitants, +having obtained a high degree of culture; lived in the practice of every +virtue and in the enjoyment of every blessing. Others peopled these +mysterious regions with horrible savages, having hoofs of horses and +heads of dogs, and with no clothing save their own long ears coiled +closely around their limbs and bodies; while it was deemed almost certain +that a race of headless men, with eyes in their breasts, were the most +enlightened among those distant tribes. Instead of constant sunshine, +it was believed by such theorists that the wretched inhabitants of that +accursed zone were immersed in almost incessant fogs or tempests, that +the whole population died every winter and were only recalled to +temporary existence by the advent of a tardy and evanescent spring. +No doubt was felt that the voyager in those latitudes would have to +encounter volcanoes of fire and mountains of ice, together with land and +sea monsters more ferocious than the eye of man had ever beheld; but it +was universally admitted that an opening, either by strait or sea, into +the desired Indian haven would reveal itself at last. + +The instruments of navigation too were but rude and defective compared to +the beautiful machinery with which modern art and science now assist +their votaries along the dangerous path of discovery. The small yet +unwieldy, awkward, and, to the modern mind, most grotesque vessels in +which such audacious deeds were performed in the sixteenth and +seventeenth centuries awaken perpetual astonishment. A ship of a hundred +tons burden, built up like a tower, both at stem and stern, and +presenting in its broad bulbous prow, its width of beam in proportion to +its length, its depression amidships, and in other sins against symmetry, +as much opposition to progress over the waves as could well be imagined, +was the vehicle in which those indomitable Dutchmen circumnavigated the +globe and confronted the arctic terrors of either pole. An astrolabe-- +such as Martin Beheim had invented for the Portuguese, a clumsy +astronomical ring of three feet in circumference--was still the chief +machine used for ascertaining the latitude, and on shipboard a most +defective one. There were no logarithms, no means of determining at sea +the variations of the magnetic needle, no system of dead reckoning by +throwing the log and chronicling the courses traversed. The firearms +with which the sailors were to do battle with the unknown enemies that +might beset their path were rude and clumsy to handle. The art of +compressing and condensing provisions was unknown. They had no tea nor +coffee to refresh the nervous system in its terrible trials; but there +was one deficiency which perhaps supplied the place of many positive +luxuries. Those Hollanders drank no ardent spirits. They had beer +and wine in reasonable quantities, but no mention is ever made in the +journals of their famous voyages of any more potent liquor; and to +this circumstance doubtless the absence of mutinous or disorderly +demonstrations, under the most trying circumstances, may in a great +degree be attributed. + +Thus, these navigators were but slenderly provided with the appliances +with which hazardous voyages have been smoothed by modern art; but they +had iron hearts, faith in themselves, in their commanders, in their +republic, and in the Omnipotent; perfect discipline and unbroken +cheerfulness amid toil, suffering, and danger. No chapter of history +utters a more beautiful homily an devotion to duty as the true guiding +principle of human conduct than the artless narratives which have been +preserved of many of these maritime enterprises. It is for these noble +lessons that they deserve to be kept in perpetual memory. + +And in no individual of that day were those excellent qualities more +thoroughly embodied than in William Barendz, pilot and burgher of +Amsterdam. It was partly under his charge that the first little +expedition set forth on the 5th of June, 1594, towards those unknown +arctic seas, which no keel from Christendom had ever ploughed, and to +those fabulous regions where the foot of civilized men had never trod. +Maalzoon, Plancius, and Balthaser Moucheron, merchant of Middelburg, were +the chief directors of the enterprise; but there was a difference of +opinion between them. + +The pensionary was firm in the faith that the true path to China would be +found by steering through the passage which was known to exist between +the land of Nova Zembla and the northern coasts of Muscovy, inhabited by +the savage tribes called Samoyedes. It was believed that, after passing +those straits, the shores of the great continent would be found to trend +in a south-easterly direction, and that along that coast it would +accordingly be easy to make the desired voyage to the eastern ports of +China. Plancius, on the contrary, indicated as the most promising +passage the outside course, between the northern coast of Nova Zembla and +the pole. Three ships and a fishing yacht were provided by the cities of +Enkhuizen, Amsterdam, and by the province of Zeeland respectively. +Linschoten was principal commissioner on board the Enkhuizen vessel, +having with him an experienced mariner, Brandt Ijsbrantz by name, as +skipper. Barendz, with the Amsterdam ship and the yacht, soon parted +company with the others, and steered, according to the counsels of +Plancius and his own convictions; for the open seas of the north. And in +that memorable summer, for the first time in the world's history, the +whole desolate region of Nova Zembla was visited, investigated, and +thoroughly mapped out. Barendz sailed as far as latitude 77 deg. and to +the extreme north-eastern point of the island. In a tremendous storm off +a cape, which he ironically christened Consolationhook (Troost-hoek), his +ship, drifting under bare poles amid ice and mist and tempest, was nearly +dashed to pieces; but he reached at last the cluster of barren islets +beyond the utmost verge of Nova Zembla, to which he hastened to affix the +cherished appellation of Orange. This, however, was the limit of his +voyage. His ship was ill-provisioned, and the weather had been severe +beyond expectation. He turned back on the 1st of August, resolving to +repeat his experiment early in the following year. + +Meantime Linschoten, with the ships Swan and Mercury, had entered the +passage which they called the Straits of Nassau, but which are now +known to all the world as the Waigats. They were informed by the +Samoyedes of the coast that, after penetrating the narrow channel, they +would find themselves in a broad and open sea. Subsequent discoveries +showed the correctness of the statement, but it was not permitted to the +adventurers on this occasion to proceed so far. The strait was already +filled with ice-drift, and their vessels were brought to a standstill, +after about a hundred and fifty English miles of progress beyond the +Waigats; for the whole sea of Tartary, converted into a mass of ice- +mountains and islands, and lashed into violent agitation by a north +easterly storm, seemed driving down upon the doomed voyagers. It was +obvious that the sunny clime of Cathay was not thus to be reached, at +least upon that occasion. With difficulty they succeeded in extricating +themselves from the dangers surrounding them, and emerged at last from +the Waigats. + +On the 15th of August, in latitude 69 deg. 15', they met the ship of +Barendz and returned in company to Holland, reaching Amsterdam on the +16th of September. Barendz had found the seas and coasts visited by him +destitute of human inhabitants, but swarming with polar bears, with +seals, with a terrible kind of monsters, then seen for the first time, as +large as oxen, with almost human faces and with two long tusks protruding +from each grim and grotesque visage. These mighty beasts, subsequently +known as walrusses or sea-horses, were found sometimes in swarms of two +hundred at a time, basking in the arctic sun, and seemed equally at home +on land, in the sea, and on icebergs. When aware of the approach of +their human visitors, they would slide off an iceblock into the water, +holding their cubs in their arms, and ducking up and down in the sea as +if in sport. Then tossing the young ones away, they would rush upon the +boats, and endeavour to sink the strangers, whom they instinctively +recognised as their natural enemies. Many were the severe combats +recorded by the diarist of that voyage of Barendz with the walrusses and +the bears. + +The chief result of this first expedition was the geographical +investigation made, and, with unquestionable right; these earliest arctic +pilgrims bestowed the names of their choice upon the regions first +visited by themselves. According to the unfailing and universal impulse +on such occasions, the names dear to the fatherland were naturally +selected. The straits were called Nassau, the island at its mouth became +States or Staten Island; the northern coasts of Tartary received the +familiar appellations of New Holland, New Friesland, New Walcheren; while +the two rivers, beyond which Linschoten did not advance, were designated +Swan and Mercury respectively, after his two ships. Barendz, on his +part, had duly baptized every creek, bay, islet, and headland of Nova +Zembla, and assuredly Christian mariner had never taken the latitude of +77 deg. before. Yet the antiquary, who compares the maps soon afterwards +published by William Blaeuw with the charts now in familiar use, will +observe with indignation the injustice with which the early geographical +records have been defaced, and the names rightfully bestowed upon those +terrible deserts by their earliest discoverers rudely torn away. The +islands of Orange can still be recognized, and this is almost the only +vestige left of the whole nomenclature. But where are Cape Nassau, +William's Island, Admiralty Island, Cape Plancius, Black-hook, Cross- +hook, Bear's-hook, Ice-hook, Consolation-hook, Cape Desire, the Straits +of Nassau, Maurice Island, Staten Island, Enkhuizen Island, and many +other similar appellations. + +The sanguine Linschoten, on his return, gave so glowing an account of the +expedition that Prince Maurice and Olden-Barneveld, and prominent members +of the States-General, were infected with his enthusiasm. He considered +the north-east passage to China discovered and the problem solved. It +would only be necessary to fit out another expedition on a larger scale +the next year, provide it with a cargo of merchandize suitable for the +China market, and initiate the direct polar-oriental trade without +further delay. It seems amazing that so incomplete an attempt to +overcome such formidable obstacles should have been considered a decided +success. Yet there is no doubt of the genuineness of the conviction by +which Linschoten was actuated. The calmer Barendz, and his friend and +comrade Gerrit de Veer, were of opinion that the philosopher had made +"rather a free representation" of the enterprise of 1594 and of the +prospects for the future. + +Nevertheless, the general Government, acting on Linschoten's suggestion, +furnished a fleet of seven ships: two from Enkhuizen, two from Zeeland, +two from Amsterdam; and a yacht which was to be despatched homeward with +the news, so soon as the expedition should have passed through the +straits of Nassau, forced its way through the frozen gulf of Tartary, +doubled Cape Tabin, and turned southward on its direct course to China. +The sublime credulity which accepted Linschoten's hasty solution of the +polar enigma as conclusive was fairly matched by the sedateness with +which the authorities made the preparations for the new voyage. So +deliberately were the broadcloths, linens, tapestries, and other assorted +articles for this first great speculation to Cathay, via the North Pole, +stowed on board the fleet, that nearly half the summer had passed before +anchor was weighed in the Meuse. The pompous expedition was thus +predestined to an almost ridiculous failure. Yet it was in the hands of +great men, both on shore and sea. Maurice, Barneveld, and Maalzoon had +personally interested themselves in the details of its outfitting, +Linschoten sailed as chief commissioner, the calm and intrepid Barendz +was upper pilot of the whole fleet, and a man who was afterwards destined +to achieve an immortal name in the naval history of his country, Jacob +Heemskerk, was supercargo of the Amsterdam ship. In obedience to the +plans of Linschoten and of Maalzoon, the passage by way of the Waigats +was of course attempted. A landing was effected on the coast of Tartary. +Whatever geographical information could be obtained from such a source +was imparted by the wandering Samoyedes. On the 2nd of September a party +went ashore on Staten Island and occupied themselves in gathering some +glistening pebbles which the journalist of the expedition describes with +much gravity as a "kind of diamonds, very plentiful upon the island." +While two of the men were thus especially engaged in a deep hollow, one +of them found himself suddenly twitched from behind. "What are you +pulling at me for, mate?" he said, impatiently to his comrade as he +supposed. But his companion was a large, long, lean white bear, and in +another instant the head of the unfortunate diamond-gatherer was off and +the bear was sucking his blood. The other man escaped to his friends, +and together a party of twenty charged upon the beast. Another of the +combatants was killed and half devoured by the hungry monster before a +fortunate bullet struck him in the head. But even then the bear +maintained his grip upon his two victims, and it was not until his brains +were fairly beaten out with the butt end of a snaphance by the boldest of +the party that they were enabled to secure the bodies of their comrades +and give them a hurried kind of Christian burial. They flayed the bear +and took away his hide with them, and this, together with an ample supply +of the diamonds of Staten Island, was the only merchandize obtained upon +the voyage for which such magnificent preparations had been made. For, +by the middle of September, it had become obviously hopeless to attempt +the passage of the frozen sea that season, and the expedition returned, +having accomplished nothing. It reached Amsterdam upon the 18th of +November, 1595. + +The authorities, intensely disappointed at this almost ridiculous result, +refused to furnish direct assistance to any farther attempts at arctic +explorations. The States-General however offered a reward of twenty-five +thousand florins to any navigators who might succeed in discovering the +northern passage, with a proportionate sum to those whose efforts in that +direction might be deemed commendable, even if not crowned with success. + +Stimulated by the spirit of adventure and the love of science far more +than by the hope of gaining a pecuniary prize, the undaunted Barendz, who +was firm in the faith that a pathway existed by the north of Nova Zembla +and across the pole to farthest Ind, determined to renew the attempt the +following summer. The city of Amsterdam accordingly, early in the year +1596, fitted out two ships. Select crews of entirely unmarried men +volunteered for the enterprise. John Cornelisz van der Ryp, an +experienced sea-captain, was placed in charge of one of the vessels, +William Barendz was upper pilot of the other, and Heemskerk, "the man who +ever steered his way through ice or iron," was skipper and supercargo. + +The ships sailed from the Vlie on the 18th May. The opinions of Peter +Plancius prevailed in this expedition at last; the main object of both +Ryp and Barendz being to avoid the fatal, narrow, ice-clogged Waigats. +Although identical in this determination, their views as to the +configuration of the land and sea, and as to the proper course to be +steered, were conflicting. They however sailed in company mainly in a +N.E. by N. direction, although Barendz would have steered much more to +the east. + +On the 5th June the watch on deck saw, as they supposed, immense flocks +of white swans swimming towards the ships, and covering the sea as far as +the eye could reach. All hands came up to look at the amazing spectacle, +but the more experienced soon perceived that the myriads of swans were +simply infinite fields of ice, through which however they were able to +steer their course without much impediment, getting into clear sea beyond +about midnight, at which hour the sun was one degree above the horizon. + +Proceeding northwards two days more they were again surrounded by ice, +and, finding the "water green as grass, they believed themselves to be +near Greenland." On the 9th June they discovered an island in latitude, +according to their observation, 74 deg. 30', which seemed about five +miles long. In this neighbourhood they remained four days, having on one +occasion a "great fight which lasted four glasses" with a polar bear, and +making a desperate attempt to capture him in order to bring him as a show +to Holland. The effort not being successful, they were obliged to take +his life to save their own; but in what manner they intended, had they +secured him alive, to provide for such a passenger in the long voyage +across the North Pole to China, and thence back to Amsterdam, did not +appear. The attempt illustrated the calmness, however, of those hardy +navigators. They left the island on the 13th June, having baptised it +Bear Island in memory of their vanquished foe, a name which was +subsequently exchanged for the insipid appellation of Cherry Island, in +honour of a comfortable London merchant who seven years afterwards sent a +ship to those arctic regions. + +Six days later they saw land again, took the sun, and found their +latitude 80 deg. 11'. Certainly no men had ever been within less than +ten degrees of the pole before. On the longest day of the year they +landed on this newly discovered country, which they at first fancied to +be a part of Greenland. They found its surface covered with eternal +snow, broken into mighty glaciers, jagged with precipitous ice-peaks; and +to this land of almost perpetual winter, where the mercury freezes during +ten months in the year, and where the sun remains four months beneath the +horizon, they subsequently gave the appropriate and vernacular name of +Spitzbergen. Combats with the sole denizens of these hideous abodes, +the polar bears, on the floating ice, on the water, or on land, were +constantly occurring, and were the only events to disturb the monotony of +that perpetual icy sunshine, where no night came to relieve the almost +maddening glare. They rowed up a wide inlet on the western coast, and +came upon great numbers of wild-geese sitting on their eggs. They proved +to be the same geese that were in the habit of visiting Holland in vast +flocks every summer, and it had never before been discovered where they +laid and hatched their eggs. "Therefore," says the diarist of the +expedition, "some voyagers have not scrupled to state that the eggs grow +on trees in Scotland, and that such of the fruits of those trees as fall +into the water become goslings, while those which drop on the ground +burst in pieces and come to nothing. We now see that quite the contrary +is the case," continues De Veer, with perfect seriousness, "nor is it to +be wondered at, for nobody has ever been until now where those birds lay +their eggs. No man, so far as known, ever reached the latitude of eighty +degrees before. This land was hitherto unknown." + +The scientific results of this ever-memorable voyage might be deemed +sufficiently meagre were the fact that the eggs of wild geese did not +grow on trees its only recorded discovery. But the investigations made +into the dread mysteries of the north, and the actual problems solved, +were many, while the simplicity of the narrator marks the infantine +character of the epoch in regard to natural history. When so illustrious +a mind as Grotius was inclined to believe in a race of arctic men whose +heads grew beneath their shoulders; the ingenuous mariner of Amsterdam +may be forgiven for his earnestness in combating the popular theory +concerning goslings. + +On the 23rd June they went ashore again, and occupied themselves, as well +as the constant attacks of the bears would permit, in observing the +variation of the needle, which they ascertained to be sixteen degrees. +On the same day, the ice closing around in almost infinite masses, they +made haste to extricate themselves from the land and bore southwards +again, making Bear Island once more on the 1st July. Here Cornelius Ryp +parted company with Heemskerk and Barendz, having announced his intention +to sail northward again beyond latitude 80 deg. in search of the coveted +passage. Barendz, retaining his opinion that the true inlet to the +circumpolar sea, if it existed, would be found N.E. of Nova Zembla, +steered in that direction. On the 13th July they found themselves by +observation in latitude 73 deg., and considered themselves in the +neighbourhood of Sir Hugh Willoughby's land. Four days later they were +in Lomms' Bay, a harbour of Nova Zembla, so called by them from the +multitude of lomms frequenting it, a bird to which they gave the +whimsical name of arctic parrots. On the 20th July the ice obstructed +their voyage; covering the sea in all directions with floating mountains +and valleys, so that they came to an anchor off an islet where on a +former voyage the Hollanders had erected the precious emblem of Christian +faith, and baptised the dreary solitude Cross Island. But these +pilgrims, as they now approached the spot, found no worshippers there, +while, as if in horrible mockery of their piety, two enormous white bears +had reared themselves in an erect posture, in order the better to survey +their visitors, directly at the foot of the cross. The party which had +just landed were unarmed, and were for making off as fast as possible to +their boats. But Skipper Heemskerk, feeling that this would be death to +all of them, said simply, "The first man that runs shall have this boat- +hook of mine in his hide. Let us remain together and face them off." It +was done. The party moved slowly towards their boats, Heemskerlk +bringing up the rear, and fairly staring the polar monsters out of +countenance, who remained grimly regarding them, and ramping about the +cross. + +The sailors got into their boat with much deliberation, and escaped to +the ship, "glad enough," said De Veer, "that they were alive to tell the +story, and that they had got out of the cat-dance so fortunately." + +Next day they took the sun, and found their latitude 76 deg. 15', and the +variation of the needle twenty-six degrees. + +For seventeen days more they were tossing about in mist and raging snow- +storms, and amidst tremendous icebergs, some of them rising in steeples +and pinnacles to a hundred feet above the sea, some grounded and +stationary, others drifting fearfully around in all directions, +threatening to crush them at any moment or close in about them and +imprison them for ever. They made fast by their bower anchor on the +evening of 7th August to a vast iceberg which was aground, but just as +they had eaten their supper there was a horrible groaning, bursting, and +shrieking all around them, an indefinite succession of awful, sounds +which made their hair stand on end, and then the iceberg split beneath +the water into more than four hundred pieces with a crash "such as no +words could describe." They escaped any serious damage, and made their +way to a vast steepled and towered block like a floating cathedral, where +they again came to anchor. + +On the 15th August they reached the isles of Orange, on the extreme +north-eastern verge of Nova Zembla. Here a party going ashore climbed to +the top of a rising ground, and to their infinite delight beheld an open +sea entirely free from ice, stretching to the S. E. and E.S.E. as far +as eye could reach. At last the game was won, the passage to Cathay was +discovered. Full of joy, they pulled back in their boat to the ship, +"not knowing how to get there quick enough to tell William Barendz." +Alas! they were not aware of the action of that mighty ocean river, the +Gulf-stream, which was sweeping around those regions with its warm +dissolving current. + +Three days later they returned baffled in their sanguine efforts to sail +through the open sea. The ice had returned upon them, setting +southwardly in obedience to the same impulse which for a moment had +driven it away, and they found themselves imprisoned again near the "Hook +of Desire." + +On the 25th August they had given up all the high hopes by which they had +been so lately inspired, and, as the stream was again driving the ice +from the land, they trusted to sail southward and westward back towards +the Waigats. Having passed by Nova Zembla, and found no opening into the +seas beyond, they were disposed in the rapidly waning summer to effect +their retreat by the south side of the island, and so through the Straits +of Nassau home. In vain. The catastrophe was upon them. As they +struggled slowly past the "Ice-haven," the floating mountains and +glaciers, impelled by the mighty current, once more gathered around and +forced them back to that horrible harbour. During the remaining days of +August the ship struggled, almost like a living creature, with the perils +that, beset her; now rearing in the air, her bows propped upon mighty +blocks, till she absolutely sat erect upon her stern, now lying prostrate +on her side, and anon righting again as the ice-masses would for a moment +float away and leave her breathing space and room to move in. A blinding +snow-storm was raging the while, the ice was cracking and groaning in all +directions, and the ship was shrieking, so that the medley of awful +sights and sounds was beyond the power of language. "'Twas enough to +make the hair stand on end," said Gerrit de Veer, "to witness the hideous +spectacle." + +But the agony was soon over. By the 1st September the ship was hard and +fast. The ice was as immoveable as the dry land, and she would not move +again that year even if she ever floated. Those pilgrims from the little +republic were to spend the winter in their arctic harbour. Resigning +themselves without a murmur to their inevitable fate, they set about +their arrangements with perfect good humour and discipline. Most +fortunately a great quantity of drift wood, masses of timber, and great +trees torn away with their roots from distant shores, lay strewn along +the coast, swept thither by the wandering currents. At once they +resolved to build a house in which they might shelter themselves from the +wild beasts, and from their still more cruel enemy, the cold. So +thanking God for the providential and unexpected supply of building +material and fuel, they lost no time in making sheds, in hauling timber, +and in dragging supplies from the ship before the dayless winter should +descend upon them. + +Six weeks of steady cheerful labour succeeded. Tremendous snow-storms, +accompanied by hurricanes of wind, often filled the atmosphere to +suffocation, so that no human being could move a ship's length without +perishing; while, did any of their number venture forth, as the tempest +subsided, it was often to find himself almost in the arms of a polar bear +before the dangerous snow-white form could be distinguished moving +sluggishly through the white chaos. + +For those hungry companions never left them so long as the sun remained +above the horizon, swarming like insects and birds in tropical lands. +When the sailors put their meat-tubs for a moment out upon the ice a +bear's intrusive muzzle would forthwith be inserted to inspect the +contents. Maddened by hunger, and their keen scent excited by the salted +provisions, and by the living flesh and blood of these intruders upon +their ancient solitary domains, they would often attempt to effect their +entrance into the ship. + +On one such occasion, when Heemskerk and two companions were the whole +garrison, the rest being at a distance sledding wood, the future hero of +Gibraltar was near furnishing a meal to his Nova Zembla enemies. It was +only by tossing sticks and stones and marling-spikes across the ice, +which the bears would instantly turn and pursue, like dogs at play with +children, that the assault could be diverted until a fortunate shot was +made. + +Several were thus killed in the course of the winter, and one in +particular was disembowelled and set frozen upon his legs near their +house, where he remained month after month with a mass of snow and ice +accumulated upon him, until he had grown into a fantastic and gigantic +apparition, still wearing the semblance of their mortal foe. + +By the beginning of October the weather became so intensely cold that it +was almost impossible to work. The carpenter died before the house was +half completed. To dig a grave was impossible, but they laid him in a +cleft of the ice, and he was soon covered with the snow. Meantime the +sixteen that were left went on as they best might with their task, and on +October 2nd they had a house-raising. The frame-work was set up, and in +order to comply with the national usage in such cases, they planted, +instead of the May-pole with its fluttering streamers, a gigantic icicle +before their new residence. Ten days later they moved into the house and +slept there for the first time, while a bear, profiting by their absence, +passed the night in the deserted ship. + +On the 4th November the sun rose no more, but the moon at first shone day +and night, until they were once in great perplexity to know whether it +were midday or midnight. It proved to be exactly noon. The bears +disappeared with the sun, but white foxes swarmed in their stead, and all +day and night were heard scrambling over their roof. These were caught +daily in traps and furnished them food, besides furs for raiment. The +cold became appalling, and they looked in each other's faces sometimes in +speechless amazement. It was obvious that the extreme limit of human +endurance had been reached. Their clothes were frozen stiff. Their +shoes were like iron, so that they were obliged to array themselves from +head to foot in the skins of the wild foxes. The clocks stopped. The +beer became solid. The Spanish wine froze and had to be melted in +saucepans. The smoke in the house blinded them. Fire did not warm them, +and their garments were often in a blaze while their bodies were half +frozen. All through the month of December an almost perpetual snow- +deluge fell from the clouds. For days together they were unable to +emerge, and it was then only by most vigorous labour that they could +succeed in digging a passage out of their buried house. On the night of +the 7th December sudden death had nearly put an end to the sufferings of +the whole party. Having brought a quantity of seacoal from the ship, +they had made a great fire, and after the smoke was exhausted, they had +stopped up the chimney and every crevice of the house. Each man then +turned into his bunk for the night, "all rejoicing much in the warmth and +prattling a long time with each other." At last an unaccustomed +giddiness and faintness came over them, of which they could not guess the +cause, but fortunately one of the party had the instinct, before he lost +consciousness, to open the chimney, while another forced open the door +and fell in a swoon upon the snow. Their dread enemy thus came to their +relief, and saved their lives. + +As the year drew to a close, the frost and the perpetual snow-tempest +became, if that were possible, still more frightful. Their Christmas was +not a merry one, and for the first few days of the new year, it was +impossible for them to move from the house. On the 25th January, the +snow-storms having somewhat abated, they once more dug themselves as it +were out of their living grave, and spent the whole day in hauling wood +from the shore. As their hour-glasses informed them that night was +approaching, they bethought themselves that it was Twelfth Night, or +Three Kings' Eve. So they all respectfully proposed to Skipper +Heemskerk, that, in the midst of their sorrow they might for once have a +little diversion. A twelfth-night feast was forthwith ordained. A +scanty portion of the wine yet remaining to them was produced. Two +pounds weight of flour, which they had brought to make paste with for +cartridges, was baked into pancakes with a little oil, and a single hard +biscuit was served out to each man to be sopped in his meagre allowance +of wine. "We were as happy," said Gerrit de veer, with simple pathos, +"as if we were having a splendid banquet at home. We imagined ourselves +in the fatherland with all our friends, so much did we enjoy our repast." + +That nothing might be omitted, lots were drawn for king, and the choice +fell on the gunner, who was forthwith proclaimed monarch of Nova Zembla. +Certainly no men, could have exhibited more undaunted cheerfulness amid +bears and foxes, icebergs and cold--such as Christians had never +conceived of before--than did these early arctic pilgrims. Nor did +Barendz neglect any opportunity of studying the heavens. A meridian was +drawn near the house, on which the compass was placed, and observations +of various stars were constantly made, despite the cold, with +extraordinary minuteness. The latitude, from concurrent measurement of +the Giant, the Bull, Orion, Aldebaran, and other constellations--in the +absence of the sun--was ascertained to be a little above seventy-six +degrees, and the variations of the needle were accurately noted. + +On the 24th January it was clear weather and comparatively mild, so that +Heemskerk, with De Veer and another, walked to the strand. To their +infinite delight and surprise they again saw the disk of the sun on the +edge of the horizon, and they all hastened back with the glad tidings. +But Barendz shook his head. Many days must elapse, he said, before the +declination of the sun should be once more 14 deg., at which point in the +latitude of 76 deg. they had lost sight of the luminary on the 4th +November, and at which only it could again be visible. This, according +to his calculations, would be on the 10th February. Two days of mirky +and stormy atmosphere succeeded, and those who had wagered in support of +the opinion of Barendz were inclined to triumph over those who believed +in the observation of Heemskerk. On the 27th January there was, however, +no mistake. The sky was bright, and the whole disk of the sun was most +distinctly seen by all, although none were able to explain the +phenomenon, and Barendz least of all. They had kept accurate diaries +ever since their imprisonment, and although the clocks sometimes had +stopped, the hour-glasses had regularly noted the lapse of time. +Moreover, Barendz knew from the Ephemerides for 1589 to 1600, published +by Dr. Joseph Scala in Venice, a copy of which work he had brought with +him, that on the 24th January, 1597, the moon would be seen at one +o'clock A.M. at Venice, in conjunction with Jupiter. He accordingly took +as good an observation as could be done with the naked eye and found that +conjunction at six o'clock A.M. Of the same day, the two bodies appearing +in the same vertical line in the sign of Taurus. The date was thus +satisfactorily established, and a calculation of the longitude of the +house was deduced with an accuracy which in those circumstances was +certainly commendable. Nevertheless, as the facts and the theory of +refraction were not thoroughly understood, nor Tycho Brahe's tables of +refraction generally known, pilot Barendz could not be expected to be +wiser than his generation. + +The startling discovery that in the latitude of 76 deg. the sun +reappeared on the 24th January, instead of the 10th February, was +destined to awaken commotion throughout the whole scientific world, +and has perhaps hardly yet been completely explained. + +But the daylight brought no mitigation of their sufferings. The +merciless cold continued without abatement, and the sun seemed to mock +their misery. The foxes disappeared, and the ice-bears in their stead +swarmed around the house, and clambered at night over the roof. Again +they constantly fought with them for their lives. Daily the grave +question was renewed whether the men should feed on the bears or the +bears on the men. On one occasion their dead enemy proved more dangerous +to them than in life, for three of their number, who had fed on bear's +liver, were nearly poisoned to death. Had they perished, none of the +whole party would have ever left Nova Zembla. "It seemed," said the +diarist, "that the beasts had smelt out that we meant to go away, and had +just begin to have a taste for us." + +And thus the days wore on. The hour-glass and the almanac told them +that winter had given place to spring, but nature still lay in cold +obstruction. One of their number, who had long been ill, died. They +hollowed a grave for him in the frozen snow, performing a rude burial +service, and singing a psalm; but the cold had nearly made them all +corpses before the ceremony was done. + +At last, on the 17th April, some of them climbing over the icebergs to +the shore found much open sea. They also saw a small bird diving in the +water, and looked upon it as a halcyon and harbinger of better fortunes. +The open weather continuing, they began to hanker for the fatherland. So +they brought the matter, "not mutinously but modestly and reasonably, +before William Barendz; that he might suggest it to Heemskerk, for they +were all willing to submit to his better judgment." It was determined to +wait through the month of May. Should they then be obliged to abandon +the ship they were to make the voyage in the two open boats, which had +been carefully stowed away beneath the snow. It was soon obvious that +the ship was hard and fast, and that she would never float again, except +perhaps as a portion of the icebergs in which she had so long been +imbedded, when they should be swept off from the shore. + +As they now set to work repairing and making ready the frail skiffs which +were now their only hope, and supplying them with provisions and even +with merchandize from the ship, the ravages made by the terrible winter +upon the strength of the men became painfully apparent. But Heemskerk +encouraged them to persevere; "for," said he, "if the boats are not got +soon under way we must be content to make our graves here as burghers of +Nova Zembla." + +On the 14th June they launched the boats, and "trusting themselves to +God," embarked once more upon the arctic sea. Barendz, who was too ill +to walk, together with Claas Anderson, also sick unto death, were dragged +to the strand in sleds, and tenderly placed on board. + +Barendz had, however, despite his illness, drawn up a triple record of +their voyage; one copy being fastened to the chimney of their deserted +house, and one being placed in each of the boats. Their voyage was full +of danger as they slowly retraced their way along the track by which they +reached the memorable Ice Haven, once more doubling the Cape of Desire +and heading for the Point of Consolation--landmarks on their desolate +progress, whose nomenclature suggests the immortal apologue so familiar +to Anglo-Saxon ears. + +Off the Ice-hook, both boats came alongside each other, and Skipper +Heemskerk called out to William Barendz to ask how it was with him. + +"All right, mate," replied Barendz, cheerfully; "I hope to be on my legs +again before we reach the Ward-huis." Then' he begged De Veer to lift +him up, that he might look upon the Ice-hook once more. The icebergs +crowded around them, drifting this way and that, impelled by mighty +currents and tossing on an agitated sea. There was "a hideous groaning +and bursting and driving of the ice, and it seemed every moment as if the +boats were to be dashed into a hundred pieces." It was plain that their +voyage would now be finished for ever, were it not possible for some one +of their number to get upon the solid ice beyond and make fast a line. +"But who is to bell the cat?" said Gerrit de Veer, who soon, however, +volunteered himself, being the lightest of all. Leaping from one +floating block to another at the imminent risk of being swept off into +space, he at last reached a stationary island, and fastened his rope. +Thus they warped themselves once more into the open sea. + +On the 20th June William Barendz lay in the boat studying carefully the +charts which they had made of the land and ocean discovered in their +voyage. Tossing about in an open skiff upon a polar sea, too weak to sit +upright, reduced by the unexampled sufferings of that horrible winter +almost to a shadow, he still preserved his cheerfulness, and maintained +that he would yet, with God's help, perform his destined task. In his +next attempt he would steer north-east from the North Cape, he said, and +so discover the passage. + +While he was "thus prattling," the boatswain of the other boat came on +board, and said that Claas Anderson would hold out but little longer. + +"Then," said William Barendz, "methinks I too shall last but a little +while. Gerrit, give me to drink." When he had drunk, he turned his eyes +on De Veer and suddenly breathed his last. + +Great was the dismay of his companions, for they had been deceived by +the dauntless energy of the man, thus holding tenaciously to his great +purpose, unbaffled by danger and disappointment, even to the last instant +of life. He was their chief pilot and guide, "in whom next to God they +trusted." + +And thus the hero, who for vivid intelligence, courage, and perseverance +amid every obstacle, is fit to be classed among the noblest of maritime +adventurers, had ended his career. Nor was it unmeet that the man who +had led those three great although unsuccessful enterprises towards the +North Pole, should be laid at last to rest--like the soldier dying in a +lost battle--upon the field of his glorious labours. + +Nearly six weeks longer they struggled amid tempestuous seas. Hugging +the shore, ever in danger of being dashed to atoms by the ice, pursued by +their never-failing enemies the bears, and often sailing through enormous +herds of walrusses, which at times gave chase to the boats, they at last +reached the Schanshoek on the 28th July. + +Here they met with some Russian fishermen, who recognised Heemskerk and +De Veer, having seen them on their previous voyage. Most refreshing it +was to see other human faces again, after thirteen months' separation +from mankind, while the honest Muscovites expressed compassion for the +forlorn and emaciated condition of their former acquaintance. Furnished +by them with food and wine, the Hollanders sailed in company with the +Russians as far as the Waigats. + +On the 18th August they made Candenoes, at the mouth of the White Sea, +and doubling that cape stood boldly across the gulf for Kildin. Landing +on the coast they were informed by the Laps that there were vessels from +Holland at Kola. + +On the 25th August one of the party, guided by a Lap, set forth on foot +for that place. Four days later the guide was seen returning without +their comrade; but their natural suspicion was at once disarmed as the +good-humoured savage straightway produced a letter which he handed to +Heemakerk. + +Breaking the seal, the skipper found that his correspondent expressed +great surprise at the arrival of the voyagers, as he he had supposed them +all to be long since dead. Therefore he was the more delighted with +their coming, and promised to be with them soon, bringing with him plenty +of food and drink. + +The letter was signed-- + "By me, JAN CORNELISZ RYP." + +The occurrence was certainly dramatic, but, as one might think, +sufficiently void of mystery. Yet, astonishing to relate, they all fell +to pondering who this John Ryp might be who seemed so friendly and +sympathetic. It was shrewdly suggested by some that it might perhaps be +the sea-captain who had parted company with them off Bear Island fourteen +months before in order to sail north by way of Spitzbergen. As his +Christian name and surname were signed in full to the letter, the +conception did not seem entirely unnatural, yet it was rejected on the +ground that they had far more reasons to believe that he had perished +than he for accepting their deaths as certain. One might imagine it to +have been an every day occurrence for Hollanders to receive letters by a +Lapland penny postman in those, desolate regions. At last Heemskerk +bethought himself that among his papers were several letters from their +old comrade, and, on comparison, the handwriting was found the same as +that of the epistle just received. This deliberate avoidance of any +hasty jumping at conclusions certainly inspires confidence in the general +right accuracy of the adventurers, and we have the better right to +believe that on the 24th January the sun's disk was really seen by them +in the ice harbour--a fact long disputed by the learned world--when the +careful weighing of evidence on the less important matter of Ryp's letter +is taken into account. + +Meantime while they were slowly admitting the identity of their friend +and correspondent, honest John Cornelius Ryp himself arrived--no +fantastic fly-away Hollander, but in full flesh and blood, laden with +provisions, and greeting them heartily. + +He had not pursued his Spitzbergen researches of the previous year, but +he was now on a trading voyage in a stout vessel, and he conveyed them +all by way of the Ward-huis, where he took in a cargo, back to the +fatherland. + +They dropped anchor in the Meuse on the 29th October, and on the 1st +November arrived at Amsterdam. Here, attired in their robes and caps of +white fox-skin which they had worn while citizens of Nova Zembla, they +were straightway brought before the magistrates to give an account of +their adventures. + +They had been absent seventeen months, they had spent a whole autumn, +winter, and spring--nearly ten months--under the latitude of 76 deg. in a +frozen desert, where no human beings had ever dwelt before, and they had +penetrated beyond 80 deg. north--a farther stride towards the pole than +had ever been hazarded. They had made accurate geographical, +astronomical, and meteorological observations of the regions visited. +They had carefully measured latitudes and longitudes and noted the +variations of the magnet. They had thoroughly mapped out, described, and +designated every cape, island, hook, and inlet of those undiscovered +countries, and more than all, they had given a living example of courage, +endurance, patience under hardship, perfect discipline, fidelity, to +duty, and trust in God, sufficient to inspire noble natures with +emulation so long as history can read moral lessons to mankind. + +No farther attempt was made to discover the north-eastern passage. The +enthusiasm of Barendz had died with him, and it may be said that the +stern negation by which this supreme attempt to solve the mystery of the +pole was met was its best practical result. Certainly all visions of a +circumpolar sea blessed with a gentle atmosphere and eternal +tranquillity, and offering a smooth and easy passage for the world's +commerce between Europe and Asia, had been for ever dispelled. + +The memorable enterprise of Barendz and Heemskerk has been thought worthy +of a minute description because it was a voyage of discovery, and +because, however barren of immediate practical results it may, seem to +superficial eyes, it forms a great landmark in the history of human +progress and the advancement of science. + +Contemporaneously with these voyages towards the North Pole, the +enlightened magistrates of the Netherland municipalities, aided by +eminent private citizens, fitted out expeditions in the opposite +direction. It was determined to measure strength with the lord of the +land and seas, the great potentate against whom these republicans had +been so long in rebellion, in every known region of the globe. Both from +the newly discovered western world, and from the ancient abodes of +oriental civilization, Spanish monopoly had long been furnishing the +treasure to support Spanish tyranny, and it was the dearest object of +Netherland ambition to confront their enemy in both those regions, and +to clip both those overshadowing wings of his commerce at once. + +The intelligence, enthusiasm, and tenacity in wrestling against immense +obstacles manifested by the young republic at this great expanding era of +the world's history can hardly be exaggerated. It was fitting that the +little commonwealth, which was foremost among the nations in its hatred +of tyranny, its love of maritime adventure, and its aptitude for foreign +trade, should take the lead in the great commercial movements which +characterized the close of the sixteenth and the commencement of the +seventeenth centuries. + +While Barendz and Heemskerk were attempting to force the frozen gates +which were then supposed to guard the northern highway of commerce, +fleets were fitting out in Holland to storm the Southern Pole, or at +least to take advantage of the pathways already opened by the genius and +enterprise of the earlier navigators of the century. Linschoten had +taught his countrymen the value of the technical details of the Indian +trade as then understood. The voyages of the brothers Houtmann, 1595- +1600, the first Dutch expeditions to reach the East by doubling the Cape +of Good Hope, were undertaken according to his precepts, and directed by +the practical knowledge obtained by the Houtmanns during a residence in +Portugal, but were not signalized by important discoveries. They are +chiefly memorable as having laid the foundation of the vast trade out of +which the republic was to derive so much material power, while at the +same time they mark the slight beginnings of that mighty monopoly, the +Dutch East India Company, which was to teach such tremendous lessons in +commercial restriction to a still more colossal English corporation, +that mercantile tyrant only in our own days overthrown. + +At the same time and at the other side of the world seven ships, fitted +out from Holland by private enterprise, were forcing their way to the +South Sea through the terrible strait between Patagonia and Fire Land; +then supposed the only path around the globe. For the tortuous mountain +channel, filled with whirlpools and reefs, and the home of perpetual +tempest, which had been discovered in the early part of the century by +Magellan, was deemed the sole opening pierced by nature through the +mighty southern circumpolar continent. A few years later a daring +Hollander was to demonstrate the futility of this theory, and to give his +own name to a broader pathway, while the stormy headland of South +America, around which the great current of universal commerce was +thenceforth to sweep, was baptized by the name of the tranquil town in +West Friesland where most of his ship's company were born. + +Meantime the seven ships under command of Jacob Mahu, Simon de Cordes, +and Sebald de Weerdt; were contending with the dangers of the older +route. The expedition sailed from Holland in June, 1598, but already the +custom was forming itself of directing those navigators of almost unknown +seas by explicit instructions from those who remained on shore, and who +had never navigated the ocean at all. The consequence on this occasion +was that the voyagers towards the Straits of Magellan spent a whole +summer on the coast of Africa, amid pestiferous heats and distracting +calms, and reached the straits only in April of the following year. +Admiral Mahu and a large proportion of the crew had meantime perished of +fevers contracted by following the course marked out for them by their +employers, and thus diminished in numbers, half-stripped of provisions, +and enfeebled by the exhausting atmosphere of the tropics, the survivors +were ill prepared to confront the antarctic ordeal which they were +approaching. Five months longer the fleet, under command of Admiral de +Cordes, who had succeeded to the command, struggled in those straits, +where, as if in the home of Eolus, all the winds of heaven seemed holding +revel; but indifference to danger, discipline, and devotion to duty +marked the conduct of the adventurers, even as those qualities had just +been distinguishing their countrymen at the other pole. They gathered no +gold, they conquered no kingdoms, they made few discoveries, they +destroyed no fleets, yet they were the first pioneers on a path on which +thereafter were to be many such achievements by the republic. + +At least one heroic incident, which marked their departure from the +straits, deserves to be held in perpetual remembrance. Admiral de Cordes +raised on the shore, at the western mouth of the channel, a rude memorial +with an inscription that the Netherlanders were the first to effect this +dangerous passage with a fleet of heavy ships. On the following day, in +commemoration of the event, he founded an order of knighthood. The chief +officers of the squadron were the knights-commanders, and the most +deserving of the crew were the knights-brethren. The members of the +fraternity made solemn oath to De Cordes, as general, and to each other, +that "by no danger, no necessity, nor by the fear of death, would they +ever be moved to undertake anything prejudicial to their honour, to, the +welfare of the fatherland, or to the success of the enterprise in which +they were engaged; pledging themselves to stake their lives in order, +consistently with honour, to inflict every possible damage on the +hereditary enemy, and to plant the banner of Holland in all those +territories whence the King of Spain gathered the treasures with which he +had carried on this perpetual war against the Netherlands." + +Thus was instituted on the desolate shores of Fire Land the order of +Knights of the Unchained Lion, with such rude solemnities as were +possible in those solitudes. The harbour where the fleet was anchored +was called the Chevaliers' Bay, but it would be in vain to look on modern +maps for that heroic appellation. Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego +know the honest knights of the Unchained Lion no more; yet to an +unsophisticated mind no stately brotherhood of sovereigns and patricians +seems more thoroughly inspired with the spirit of Christian chivalry than +were those weather-beaten adventurers. The reefs and whirlwinds of +unknown seas, polar cold, Patagonian giants, Spanish cruisers, a thousand +real or fabulous dangers environed them. Their provisions were already +running near exhaustion; and they were feeding on raw seal-flesh, on +snails and mussels, and on whatever the barren rocks and niggard seas +would supply, to save them from absolutely perishing, but they held their +resolve to maintain their honour unsullied, to be true to each other and +to the republic, and to circumnavigate the globe to seek the proud enemy +of their fatherland on every sea, and to do battle with him in every +corner of the earth. The world had already seen, and was still to see, +how nobly Netherlanders could keep their own. Meantime disaster on +disaster descended on this unfortunate expedition. One ship after +another melted away and was seen no more. Of all the seven, only one, +that of Sebald de Weerdt, ever returned to the shores of Holland. +Another reached Japan, and although the crew fell into hostile hands, the +great trade with that Oriental empire was begun. In a third--the Blyde +Boodachaft, or Good News--Dirk Gerrits sailed nearer the South Pole than +man had ever been before, and discovered, as he believed, a portion of +the southern continent, which he called, with reason good, Gerrit's Land. +The name in course of time faded from maps and charts, the existence of +the country was disputed, until more than two centuries later the +accuracy of the Dutch commander was recognised. The rediscovered land +however no longer bears his name, but has been baptized South Shetland. + +Thus before the sixteenth century had closed, the navigators of Holland +had reached almost the extreme verge of human discovery at either pole. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII. + + Military Operations in the Netherlands--Designs of the Spanish + Commander--Siege of Orsoy--Advance upon Rheinberg--Murder of the + Count of Broeck and his garrison--Capture of Rees and Emmerich-- + Outrages of the Spanish soldiers in the peaceful provinces-- + Inglorious attempt to avenge the hostilities--State of trade in the + Provinces--Naval expedition under van der Does--Arrival of Albert + and Isabella at Brussels--Military operations of Prince Maurice-- + Negotiation between London and Brussels--Henry's determination to + enact the Council of Trent--His projected marriage--Queen Elizabeth + and Envoy Caron--Peace proposals of Spain to Elizabeth--Conferences + at Gertruydenberg--Uncertain state of affairs. + +The military operations in the Netherlands during the whole year 1598 +were on a comparatively small scale and languidly conducted. The States +were exhausted by the demands made upon the treasury, and baffled by the +disingenuous policy of their allies. The cardinal-archduke, on the other +hand, was occupied with the great events of his marriage, of his father- +in-law's death, and of his own succession in conjunction with +his wife to the sovereignty of the provinces. + +In the autumn, however, the Admiral of Arragon, who, as has been stated, +was chief military commander during the absence of Albert, collected an +army of twenty-five thousand foot and two thousand cavalry, crossed the +Meuse at Roermond, and made his appearance before a small town called +Orsoy, on the Rhine. It was his intention to invade the duchies of +Clever, Juliers, and Berg, taking advantage of the supposed madness of +the duke, and of the Spanish inclinations of his chief counsellors, who +constituted a kind of regency. By obtaining possession of these +important provinces--wedged as they were between the territory of the +republic, the obedient Netherlands, and Germany--an excellent military +position would be gained for making war upon the rebellious districts +from the east, for crushing Protestantism in the duchies, for holding +important passages of the Rhine, and for circumventing the designs of the +Protestant sons-in-law and daughters of the old Duke of Cleves. Of +course, it was the determination of Maurice and the States-General to +frustrate these operations. German and Dutch Protestantism gave battle +on this neutral ground to the omnipotent tyranny of the papacy and Spain. + +Unfortunately, Maurice had but a very slender force that autumn at his +command. Fifteen hundred horse and six thousand infantry were all his +effective troops, and with these he took the field to defend the borders +of the republic, and to out-manceuvre, so far as it might lie in his +power, the admiral with his far-reaching and entirely unscrupulous +designs. + +With six thousand Spanish veterans, two thousand Italians, and many +Walloon and German regiments under Bucquoy, Hachincourt, La Bourlotte, +Stanley, and Frederic van den Berg, the admiral had reached the frontiers +of the mad duke's territory. Orsoy was garrisoned by a small company of +"cocks' feathers," or country squires, and their followers. + +Presenting himself in person before the walls of the town, with a priest +at his right hand and a hangman holding a bundle of halters at the other, +he desired to be informed whether the governor would prefer to surrender +or to hang with his whole garrison. The cock feathers surrendered. +The admiral garrisoned and fortified Orsoy as a basis and advanced upon +Rheinberg, first surprising the Count of Broeck in his castle, who was at +once murdered in cold blood with his little garrison. + +He took Burik on the 11th October, Rheinberg on the 15th of the same +month, and compounded with Wesel for a hundred and twenty thousand +florins. Leaving garrisons in these and a few other captured places, he +crossed the Lippe, came to Borhold, and ravaged the whole country side. +His troops being clamorous for pay were only too eager to levy black-mail +on this neutral territory. The submission of the authorities to this +treatment brought upon them a reproach of violation of neutrality by the +States-General; the Governments of Munster and of the duchies being +informed that, if they aided and abetted the one belligerent, they must +expect to be treated as enemies by the other. + +The admiral took Rees on the 30th October, and Emmerich on the 2nd +November--two principal cities of Cleves. On the 8th November he crossed +into the territory of the republic and captured Deutekom, after a very +short siege. Maurice, by precaution, occupied Sevenaer in Cleves. The +prince--whose difficult task was to follow up and observe an enemy by +whom he was outnumbered nearly four to one, to harass him by skirmishes, +to make forays on his communications, to seize important points before he +could reach them, to impose upon him by an appearance of far greater +force than the republican army could actually boast, to protect the +cities of the frontier like Zutphen, Lochem, and Doesburg, and to prevent +him from attempting an invasion of the United Provinces in force, by +crossing any of the rivers, either in the autumn or after the winter's +ice had made them passable for the Spanish army-succeeded admirably in +all his strategy. The admiral never ventured to attack him, for fear of +risking a defeat of his whole army by an antagonist whom he ought to have +swallowed at a mouthful, relinquished all designs upon the republic, +passed into Munster, Cleves, and Berg, and during the whole horrible +winter converted those peaceful provinces into a hell. No outrage which +even a Spanish army could inflict was spared the miserable inhabitants. +Cities and villages were sacked and burned, the whole country was placed +under the law of black-mail. The places of worship, mainly Protestant, +were all converted at a blow of the sword into Catholic churches. Men +were hanged, butchered, tossed in sport from the tops of steeples, +burned, and buried alive. Women of every rank were subjected by +thousands to outrage too foul and too cruel for any but fiends or Spanish +soldiers to imagine. + +Such was the lot of thousands of innocent men and women at the hands of +Philip's soldiers in a country at peace with Philip, at the very moment +when that monarch was protesting with a seraphic smile on his expiring +lips that he had never in his whole life done injury to a single human +being. + +In vain did the victims call aloud upon their sovereign, the Emperor +Rudolph. The Spaniards laughed the feeble imperial mandates to scorn, +and spurned the word neutrality. "Oh, poor Roman Empire!" cried John +Fontanus, "how art thou fallen! Thy protector has become thy despoiler, +and, although thy members see this and know it, they sleep through it +all. One day they may have a terrible awakening from their slumbers +. . . . . . . The Admiral of Arragon has entirely changed the +character of the war, recognizes no neutrality, saying that there must be +but one God, one pope, and one king, and that they who object to this +arrangement must be extirpated with fire and sword, let them be where +they may." + +The admiral, at least, thoroughly respected the claims of the dead Philip +to universal monarchy. + +Maurice gained as much credit by the defensive strategy through which he +saved the republic from the horrors thus aficting its neighbours, as he +had ever done by his most brilliant victories. Queen Elizabeth was +enchanted with the prowess of the prince, and with the sagacious +administration of those republican magistrates whom she never failed to +respect, even when most inclined to quarrel with them. "Never before was +it written or heard of," said the queen, "that so great an extent of +country could be defended with so few troops, that an invasion of so +superior a hostile force could be prevented, especially as it appeared +that all the streams and rivers were frozen." This, she added, was owing +to the wise and far-seeing counsels of the States-General, and to the +faithful diligence of their military commander, who now, as she declared, +deserved the title of the first captain of all Christendom. + +A period of languor and exhaustion succeeded. The armies of the States +had dwindled to an effective force of scarcely four or five thousand men, +while the new levies came in but slowly. The taxation, on the other +hand, was very severe. The quotas for the provinces had risen to the +amount of five million eight hundred thousand florins for the year 1599, +against an income of four millions six hundred thousand, and this deficit +went on increasing, notwithstanding a new tax of one-half per cent. on +the capital of all estates above three thousand florins in value, and +another of two and a half per cent. on all sales of real property. The +finances of the obedient provinces were in a still worse condition, and +during the absence of the cardinal-archduke an almost universal mutiny, +occasioned by the inability of the exchequer to provide payment for the +troops, established itself throughout Flanders and Brabant. There was +much recrimination on the subject of the invasion of the Rhenish duchies, +and a war of pamphlets and manifestos between the archduke's Government +and the States-General succeeded to those active military operations by +which so much misery had been inflicted on the unfortunate inhabitants of +that border land. There was a slight attempt on the part of the Princes +of Brunswick, Hesse, and Brandenburg to counteract and to punish the +hostilities of the Spanish troops committed upon German soil. An army +--very slowly organized, against the wishes of the emperor, the bishops, +and the Catholic party--took the field, and made a feeble demonstration +upon Rheinberg and upon Rees entirely without result and then disbanded +itself ingloriously. + +Meantime the admiral had withdrawn from German territory, and was amusing +himself with a variety of blows aimed at vital points of the republic. +An excursion into the Isle of Bommel was not crowned with much success. +The assault on the city was repulsed. The fortress of Crevecoeur was, +however, taken, and the fort of St. Andrew constructed--in spite of the +attempts of the States to frustrate the design--at a point commanding the +course of both the Waal and the Meuse. Having placed a considerable +garrison in each of those strongholds, the admiral discontinued his +labours and went into winter-quarters. + +The States-General for political reasons were urgent that Prince Maurice +should undertake some important enterprise, but the stadholder, sustained +by the opinion of his cousin Lewis William, resisted the pressure. The +armies of the Commonwealth were still too slender in numbers and too +widely scattered for active service on a large scale, and the season for +active campaigning was wisely suffered to pass without making any attempt +of magnitude during the year. + +The trade of the provinces, moreover, was very much hampered, and their +revenues sadly diminished by the severe prohibitions which had succeeded +to the remarkable indulgence hitherto accorded to foreign commerce. +Edicts in the name of the King of Spain and of the Archdukes Albert and +Isabella, forbidding all intercourse between the rebellious provinces and +the obedient Netherlands or any of the Spanish possessions, were met by +countervailing decrees of the States-General. Free trade with its +enemies and with all the world, by means of which the commonwealth had +prospered in spite of perpetual war, was now for a season destroyed, and +the immediate results were at once visible in its diminished resources. +To employ a portion of the maritime energies of the Hollanders and +Zeelanders, thus temporarily deprived of a sufficient field, a naval +expedition of seventy-five war vessels under Admiral van der Does was +fitted out, but met with very trifling success. They attacked and +plundered the settlements and forts of the Canary Islands, inflicted much +damage on the inhabitants, sailed thence to the Isle of St. Thomas, near +the equator, where the towns and villages were sacked and burned, and +where a contagious sickness broke out in the fleet, sweeping off in a +very brief period a large proportion of the crew. The admiral himself +fell a victim to the disease and was buried on the island. The fleet put +to sea again under Admiral Storm van Wena, but the sickness pursued the +adventurers on their voyage towards Brazil, one thousand of them dying at +sea in fifteen days. At Brazil they accomplished nothing, and, on their +homeward voyage, not only the new commander succumbed to the same +contagion, but the mortality continued to so extraordinary an extent +that, on the arrival of the expedition late in the winter in Holland, +there were but two captains left alive, and, in many of the vessels, not +more than six sound men to each. Nothing could be more wretched than +this termination of a great and expensive voyage, which had occasioned +such high hopes throughout the provinces; nothing more dismal than the +political atmosphere which surrounded the republic during the months +which immediately ensued. It was obvious to Barneveld and the other +leading personages, in whose hands was the administration of affairs, +that a great military success was absolutely indispensable, if the +treacherous cry of peace, when peace was really impossible, should +not become universal and fatal. + +Meantime affairs were not much more cheerful in the obedient provinces. +Archduke Albert arrived with his bride in the early days of September, +1599, at Brussels, and was received with great pomp and enthusiastic +rejoicings. When are pomp and enthusiasm not to be obtained by imperial +personages, at brief notice and in vast quantities, if managers +understand their business? After all, it may be doubted whether the +theatrical display was as splendid as that which marked the beginning of +the Ernestian era. Schoolmaster Houwaerts had surpassed himself on that +occasion, and was no longer capable of deifying the new sovereign as +thoroughly as he had deified his brother. + +Much real discontent followed close upon the fictitious enthusiasm. The +obedient provinces were poor and forlorn, and men murmured loudly at the +enormous extravagance of their new master's housekeeping. There were one +hundred and fifty mules, and as many horses in their sovereign's stables, +while the expense of feeding the cooks; lackeys, pages, and fine +gentlemen who swelled the retinue of the great household, was estimated, +without, wages or salaries, at two thousand florins a day. Albert +had wished to be called a king, but had been unable to obtain the +gratification of his wish. He had aspired to be emperor, and he was at +least sufficiently imperial in his ideas of expense. The murmurers were +loftily rebuked for their complaints, and reminded of the duty of +obedient provinces to contribute at least as much for the defence of +their masters as the rebels did in maintenance of their rebellion. +The provincial estates were summoned accordingly to pay roundly for the +expenses of the war as well as of the court, and to enable the new +sovereigns to suppress the military mutiny, which amid the enthusiasm +greeting their arrival was the one prominent and formidable fact. + +The archduke was now thirty-nine years of age, the Infanta Isabella six +years younger. She was esteemed majestically beautiful by her courtiers, +and Cardinal Bentivoglio, himself a man of splendid intellect, pronounced +her a woman of genius, who had grown to be a prodigy of wisdom, under the +tuition of her father, the most sagacious statesman of the age. In +attachment to the Roman faith and ritual, in superhuman loftiness of +demeanour, and in hatred of heretics, she was at least a worthy child of +that sainted sovereign. In a moral point of view she was his superior. +The archdukes--so Albert and Isabella were always designated--were a +singularly attached couple, and their household, if extravagant and +imperial, was harmonious. They loved each other--so it was believed-- +as sincerely as they abhorred heretics and rebels, but it does not appear +that they had a very warm affection for their Flemish subjects. Every +characteristic of their court was Spanish. Spanish costume, Spanish +manners, the Spanish tongue, were almost exclusively predominant, and +although the festivals, dances, banquets, and tourneys, were all very +magnificent, the prevailing expression of the Brabantine capital +resembled that of a Spanish convent, so severely correct, so stately, and +so grim, was the demeanour of the court. + +The earliest military operations of the stadholder in the first year of +the new century were successful. Partly by menace; but more effectually +by judicious negotiation. Maurice recovered Crevecoeur, and obtained the +surrender of St. Andrew, the fort which the admiral had built the +preceding year in honour of Albert's uncle. That ecclesiastic, with whom +Mendoza had wrangled most bitterly during the whole interval of Albert's +absence, had already taken his departure for Rome, where he soon +afterwards died. The garrisons of the forts, being mostly Walloon +soldiers, forsook the Spanish service for that of the States, and were +banded together in a legion some twelve hundred strong, which became +known as the "New Beggars," and were placed under the nominal command of +Frederick Henry of Nassau, youngest child of William the Silent. The +next military event of the year was a mad combat, undertaken by formal +cartel, between Breaute, a young Norman noble in the service of the +republic, and twenty comrades, with an equal number of Flemish warriors +from the obedient provinces, under Grobbendonck. About one half of the +whole number were killed, including the leaders, but the encounter, +although exciting much interest at the time, had of course no permanent +importance. + +There was much negotiation, informal and secret, between Brussels and +London during this and a portion of the following year. Elizabeth, +naturally enough, was weary of the war, but she felt, after all, as did +the Government of France, that a peace between the United Netherlands and +Spain would have for its result the restoration of the authority of his +most Catholic Majesty over all the provinces. The statesmen of France +and England, like most of the politicians of Europe, had but slender +belief in the possibility of a popular government, and doubted therefore +the continued existence of the newly-organized republic. Therefore they +really deprecated the idea of a peace which should include the States, +notwithstanding that from time to time the queen or some of her +counsellors had so vehemently reproached the Netherlanders with their +unwillingness to negotiate. "At the first recognition that these people +should make of the mere shadow of a prince," said Buzanval, the keenly +observing and experienced French envoy at the Hague, "they lose the form +they have. All the blood of the body would flow to the head, and the +game would be who should best play the valet. . . . . The house of +Nassau would lose its credit within a month in case of peace." As such +statesmen could not imagine a republic, they ever dreaded the restoration +in the United Provinces of the subverted authority of Spain. + +France and England were jealous of each other, and both were jealous of +Spain. Therefore even if the republican element, the strength and +endurance of which was so little suspected, had been as trifling a factor +in the problem, as was supposed, still it would have been difficult for +any one of these powers to absorb the United Netherlands. As for +France, she hardly coveted their possession. "We ought not to flatter +ourselves," said Buzanval, "that these maritime peoples will cast +themselves one day into our nets, nor do I know that it would be +advisable to pull in the net if they should throw themselves in." + +Henry was full of political schemes and dreams at this moment--as much as +his passion for Mademoiselle d'Entraigues, who had so soon supplanted the +image of the dead Gabrielle in his heart, would permit. He was very well +disposed to obtain possession of the Spanish Netherlands, whenever he +should see his way to such an acquisition, and was even indulging in +visions of the imperial crown. + +He was therefore already, and for the time at least, the most intense +of papists. He was determined to sacrifice the Huguenot chiefs, and +introduce the Council of Trent, in order, as he told Du Plessis, that all +might be Christians. If he still retained any remembrance of the ancient +friendship between himself and the heretic republic, it was not likely +to exhibit itself, notwithstanding his promises and his pecuniary +liabilities to her, in anything more solid than words. "I repeat it," +said the Dutch envoy at Paris; "this court cares nothing for us, for all +its cabals tend to close union with Rome, whence we can expect nothing +but foul weather. The king alone has any memory of our past services." +But imperturbable and self-confident as ever, Henry troubled himself +little with fears in regard to the papal supremacy, even when his +Parliament professed great anxiety in regard to the consequences of the +Council of Trent, if not under him yet under his successors. "I will so +bridle the popes," said he, cheerfully, "that they will never pass my +restrictions. My children will be still more virtuous and valiant than I. +If I have none, then the devil take the hindmost. Nevertheless I choose +that the council shall be enacted. I desire it more ardently than I +pressed the edict for the Protestants." Such being the royal humour at +the moment, it may well be believed that Duplessis Mornay would find but +little sunshine from on high on the occasion of his famous but forgotten +conferences with Du Perron, now archbishop of Evreux, before the king and +all the court at Fontainebleau. It was natural enough that to please the +king the king's old Huguenot friend should be convicted of false +citations from the fathers; but it would seem strange, were the motives +unknown, that Henry should have been so intensely interested in this most +arid and dismal of theological controversies. Yet those who had known +and observed the king closely for thirty years, declared that he had +never manifested so much passion, neither on the eve of battles nor of +amorous assignations, as he then did for the demolition of Duplessis and +his deductions. He had promised the Nuncius that the Huguenot should be +utterly confounded, and with him the whole fraternity, "for," said the +king, "he has wickedly and impudently written against the pope, to whom I +owe as much as I do to God." + +These were not times in which the Hollanders, battling as stoutly against +Spain and the pope as they had done during the years when the republic +stood shoulder to shoulder with Henry the Huguenot, could hope for aid +and comfort from their ancient ally. + +It is very characteristic of that age of dissimulation and of reckless +political gambling, that at the very moment when Henry's marriage with +Marie de Medicis was already arranged, and when that princess was soon +expected in Lyons, a cabal at the king's court was busy with absurd +projects to marry their sovereign to the Infanta of Spain. It is true +that the Infanta was already the wife of the cardinal-archduke, but it +was thought possible--for reasons divulged through the indiscretions or +inventions of the father confessor--to obtain the pope's dispensation on +the ground of the nullity of the marriage. Thus there were politicians +at the French court seriously occupied in an attempt to deprive the +archduke of his wife, of his Netherland provinces, and of the crown of, +the holy Roman empire, which he still hoped to inherit. Yet the ink was +scarcely dry with which Henry had signed the treaty of amity with Madrid +and Brussels. + +The Queen of England, on the other hand--although often listenting to +secret agents from Brussels and Madrid who offered peace, and although +perfectly aware that the great abject of Spain in securing peace with +England was to be able to swoop down at once upon the republic, thus +deprived of any allies was beside herself with rage, whenever she +suspected, with or without reason, that Brussels or Madrid had been +sending peace emissaries to the republic. + +"Before I could get into the room," said Caron, on one such occasion, +"she called out, 'Have you not always told me that the States never +could, would, or should treat for peace with the enemy? Yet now it +is plain enough that they have proceeded only too far in negotiations.' +And she then swore a big oath that if the States were to deceive her she +meant to take such vengeance that men should talk of it for ever and +ever." It was a long time before the envoy could induce her to listen +to a single word, although the, perfect sincerity of the States in their +attitude to the queen and to Spain was unquestionable, and her ill-humour +on the subject continued long after it had been demonstrated how much she +had been deceived. + +Yet it was impossible in the nature of things for the States to play her +false, even if no reliance were to be placed on their sagacity and their +honour. Even the recent naval expedition of the republic against the +distant possessions of Spain--which in its result had caused so much +disappointment to the States, and cost them so many lives, including that +of the noble admiral whom every sailor in the Netherlands adored had been +of immense advantage to England. The queen acknowledged that the Dutch +Navy had averted the storm which threatened to descend upon her kingdom +out of Spain, the Spanish ships destined for the coast of Ireland having +been dispersed and drawn to the other aide of the world by these +demonstrations of her ally. For this she vowed that she would be +eternally grateful, and she said as much in "letters full of sugar and +honey"--according to the French envoy--which she sent to the States by +Sir Francis Vere. She protested, in short, that she had been better and +more promptly served in her necessities by the Netherlands than by her +own subjects. + +All this sugar and honey however did not make the mission of Envoy +Edmonds less bitter to the States. They heard that he was going about +through half the cities of the obedient Netherlands in a sort of +triumphal procession, and it was the general opinion of the politicians +and financiers of the continent that peace between Spain and England was +as good as made. Naturally therefore, notwithstanding the exuberant +expressions of gratitude on the part of Elizabeth, the republican +Government were anxious to know what all this parleying meant. They +could not believe that people would make a raree-show of the English +envoy except for sufficient reason. Caron accordingly presented himself +before the queen, with respectful inquiries on the subject. He found her +in appearance very angry, not with him, but with Edmonds, from whom she +had received no advices. "I don't know what they are doing with him," +said her Majesty, "I hear from others that they are ringing the church +bells wherever he goes, and that they have carried him through a great +many more places than was necessary. I suppose that they think him a +monster, and they are carrying him about to exhibit him. All this is +done," she continued, "to throw dust in the eyes of the poor people, and +to put it into their heads that the Queen of England is suing for peace, +which is very wide of the mark." + +She further observed that, as the agents of the Spanish Government had +been perpetually sending to her, she had been inclined once for all to +learn what they had to say. Thus she should make manifest to all the +world that she was not averse to a treaty such as might prove a secure +peace for herself and for Christendom; otherwise not. + +It subsequently appeared that what they had to say was that if the queen +would give up to the Spanish Government the cautionary towns which she +held as a pledge for her advances to the republic, forbid all traffic and +intercourse between her subjects and the Netherlanders, and thenceforth +never allow an Englishman to serve in or with the armies of the States, +a peace might be made. + +Surely it needed no great magnanimity on the queen's part to spurn such +insulting proposals, the offer of which showed her capable, in the +opinion of Verreycken, the man who made them, of sinking into the very +depths of dishonour. And she did spurn them. Surely, for the ally, the +protrectress, the grateful friend of the republic, to give its chief +seaports to its arch-enemy, to shut the narrow seas against its ships, +so that they never more could sail westward, and to abandon its whole +population to their fate, would be a deed of treachery such as history, +full of human baseness as it is, has rarely been obliged to record. + +Before these propositions had been made by Verreycken Elizabeth protested +that, should he offer them, she would send him home with such an answer +that people should talk of it for some time to come. "Before I consent +to a single one of those points," said the queen, "I wish myself taken +from this world. Until now I have been a princess of my word, who would +rather die than so falsely deceive such good people as the States." And +she made those protestations with such expression and attitude that the +Dutch envoy believed her incapable at that moment of dissimulation. + +Nevertheless her indignation did not carry her so far as to induce her to +break off the negotiations. The answer of which mankind was to talk in +time to come was simply that she would not send her commissioners to +treat for peace unless the Spanish Government should recede from the +three points thus offered by Verreycken. This certainly was not a very +blasting reply, and the Spanish agents were so far from losing heart in +consequence that the informal conferences continued for a long time, much +to the discomfort of the Netherlanders. + +For more than an hour and a half on one occasion of an uncommonly hot +afternoon in April did Noel de Caron argue with her Majesty against these +ill-boding negotiations, and ever and anon, oppressed by the heat of the +weather and the argument, did the queen wander from one room of the +palace to the other in search of cool air, still bidding the envoy follow +her footsteps. "We are travelling about like pilgrims," said Elizabeth, +"but what is life but a pilgrimage?" + +Yet, notwithstanding this long promenade and these moral reflections, +Caron could really not make out at the end of the interview whether or no +she intended to send her commissioners. At last he asked her the +question bluntly. + +"Hallo! Hallo!" she replied. "I have only spoken to my servant once, +and I must obtain more information and think over the matter before I +decide. Be assured however that I shall always keep you informed of the +progress of the negotiations, and do you inform the States that they may +build upon me as upon a rock." + +After the envoy had taken his leave, the queen said to him in Latin, +"Modicae fidei quare dubitasti?" Caron had however so nearly got out +of the door that he did not hear this admonition. + +This the queen perceived, and calling him by name repeated, "O Caron! +modicae fidei quare dubitasti?" adding the injunction that he should +remember this dictum, for he well knew what she meant by it. + +Thus terminated the interview, while the negotiations with Spain, not for +lack of good-will on her part, and despite the positive assertions to the +contrary of Buzanval and other foreign agents, were destined to come to +nothing. + +At a little later period, at the time of certain informal and secret +conferences at Gertruydenberg, the queen threatened the envoy with her +severest displeasure, should the States dare to treat with Spain without +her permission. "Her Majesty called out to me," said Caron, "as soon as +I entered the room, that I had always assured her that the States neither +would nor could make peace with the enemy. Yet it was now looking very +differently, she continued, swearing with a mighty oath that if the +States should cheat her in that way she meant to revenge herself in such +a fashion that men would talk of it through all eternity." + +The French Government was in a similar state of alarm in consequence of +the Gertruydenberg conferences. + +The envoy of the archdukes, Marquis d'Havre, reported on the other +hand that all attempts to negotiate had proved fruitless, that Olden- +Barneveld, who spoke for all his colleagues, was swollen with pride, and +made it but too manifest that the States had no intention to submit to +any foreign jurisdiction, but were resolved to maintain themselves in the +form of a republic. + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +Children who had never set foot on the shore +Done nothing so long as aught remained to do +Fed on bear's liver, were nearly poisoned to death +Inhabited by the savage tribes called Samoyedes + + + + +End of this Project Gutenberg Etext History of United Netherlands, v71 +by John Lothrop Motley + + + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS, ENTIRE 1590-99 UNITED NETHERLANDS: + +A pusillanimous peace, always possible at any period +A despot really keeps no accounts, nor need to do so +Accustomed to the faded gallantries +Alexander's exuberant discretion +All Italy was in his hands +All fellow-worms together +Allow her to seek a profit from his misfortune +Anatomical study of what has ceased to exist +Artillery +At length the twig was becoming the tree +Auction sales of judicial ermine +Being the true religion, proved by so many testimonies +Beneficent and charitable purposes (War) +Bomb-shells were not often used although known for a century +Burning of Servetus at Geneva +Certainly it was worth an eighty years' war +Chief seafaring nations of the world were already protestant +Children who had never set foot on the shore +Chronicle of events must not be anticipated +Conceding it subsequently, after much contestation +Conformity of Governments to the principles of justice +Considerable reason, even if there were but little justice +Constant vigilance is the price of liberty +Continuing to believe himself invincible and infallible +Court fatigue, to scorn pleasure +Deal with his enemy as if sure to become his friend +Decline a bribe or interfere with the private sale of places +Disciple of Simon Stevinus +Divine right of kings +Done nothing so long as aught remained to do +Eat their own children than to forego one high mass +Ever met disaster with so cheerful a smile +Every one sees what you seem, few perceive what you are +Evil has the advantage of rapidly assuming many shapes +Famous fowl in every pot +Fed on bear's liver, were nearly poisoned to death +Fellow worms had been writhing for half a century in the dust +Fled from the land of oppression to the land of liberty +For his humanity towards the conquered garrisons (censured) +For us, looking back upon the Past, which was then the Future +French seem madmen, and are wise +Future world as laid down by rival priesthoods +German Highland and the German Netherland +God of wrath who had decreed the extermination of all unbeliever +Had industry been honoured instead of being despised +Hanging of Mary Dyer at Boston +Hardly an inch of French soil that had not two possessors +He spent more time at table than the Bearnese in sleep +Henry the Huguenot as the champion of the Council of Trent +Highest were not necessarily the least slimy +His invectives were, however, much stronger than his arguments +Historical scepticism may shut its eyes to evidence +History is but made up of a few scattered fragments +History is a continuous whole of which we see only fragments +Holy institution called the Inquisition +Hugo Grotius +Humanizing effect of science upon the barbarism of war +Idle, listless, dice-playing, begging, filching vagabonds +Ignorance is the real enslaver of mankind +Imagining that they held the world's destiny in their hands +Imposed upon the multitudes, with whom words were things +Impossible it was to invent terms of adulation too gross +In times of civil war, to be neutral is to be nothing +Inevitable fate of talking castles and listening ladies +Infinite capacity for pecuniary absorption +Inhabited by the savage tribes called Samoyedes +Innocent generation, to atone for the sins of their forefathers +Intelligence, science, and industry were accounted degrading +Invaluable gift which no human being can acquire, authority +King was often to be something much less or much worse +King had issued a general repudiation of his debts +Labour was esteemed dishonourable +Leading motive with all was supposed to be religion +Life of nations and which we call the Past +Little army of Maurice was becoming the model for Europe +Loud, nasal, dictatorial tone, not at all agreeable +Luxury had blunted the fine instincts of patriotism +Magnificent hopefulness +Man had no rights at all He was property +Maritime heretics +Matters little by what name a government is called +Meet around a green table except as fencers in the field +Mondragon was now ninety-two years old +Moral nature, undergoes less change than might be hoped +More catholic than the pope +Myself seeing of it methinketh that I dream +Names history has often found it convenient to mark its epochs +National character, not the work of a few individuals +Nothing cheap, said a citizen bitterly, but sermons +Obscure were thought capable of dying natural deaths +Octogenarian was past work and past mischief +Often necessary to be blind and deaf +One-third of Philip's effective navy was thus destroyed +Past was once the Present, and once the Future +Patriotism seemed an unimaginable idea +Peace would be destruction +Philip II. gave the world work enough +Picturesqueness of crime +Placid unconsciousness on his part of defeat +Plea of infallibility and of authority soon becomes ridiculous +Portion of these revenues savoured much of black-mail +Proceeds of his permission to eat meat on Fridays +Rarely able to command, having never learned to obey +Religion was rapidly ceasing to be the line of demarcation +Repudiation of national debts was never heard of before +Rich enough to be worth robbing +Righteous to kill their own children +Road to Paris lay through the gates of Rome +Royal plans should be enforced adequately or abandoned entirely +Sacked and drowned ten infant princes +Sages of every generation, read the future like a printed scroll +Seems but a change of masks, of costume, of phraseology +Self-assertion--the healthful but not engaging attribute +Selling the privilege of eating eggs upon fast-days +Sentiment of Christian self-complacency +Sewers which have ever run beneath decorous Christendom +Shift the mantle of religion from one shoulder to the other +Slain four hundred and ten men with his own hand +So often degenerated into tyranny (Calvinism) +Some rude lessons from that vigorous little commonwealth +Spain was governed by an established terrorism +Spaniards seem wise, and are madmen +Strangled his nineteen brothers on his accession +Such a crime as this had never been conceived (bankruptcy) +That unholy trinity--Force; Dogma, and Ignorance +The history of the Netherlands is history of liberty +The great ocean was but a Spanish lake +The divine speciality of a few transitory mortals +The Alcoran was less cruel than the Inquisition +The nation which deliberately carves itself in pieces +The most thriving branch of national industry (Smuggler) +The record of our race is essentially unwritten +There are few inventions in morals +They liked not such divine right nor such gentle-mindedness +They had come to disbelieve in the mystery of kingcraft +Thirty thousand masses should be said for his soul +Thirty-three per cent. interest was paid (per month) +Those who argue against a foregone conclusion +Three or four hundred petty sovereigns (of Germany) +To attack England it was necessary to take the road of Ireland +Toil and sacrifices of those who have preceded us +Tranquil insolence +Under the name of religion (so many crimes) +Unproductive consumption was alarmingly increasing +Upon their knees, served the queen with wine +Use of the spade +Utter want of adaptation of his means to his ends +Utter disproportions between the king's means and aims +Valour on the one side and discretion on the other +Walk up and down the earth and destroy his fellow-creatures +We have the reputation of being a good housewife +Weapons +Whether murders or stratagems, as if they were acts of virtue +While one's friends urge moderation +Whole revenue was pledged to pay the interest, on his debts +Wish to sell us the bear-skin before they have killed the bear +Worn nor caused to be worn the collar of the serf +Wrath of that injured personage as he read such libellous truths + + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY UNITED NETHERLANDS, 1590-99 *** + +************ This file should 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