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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/4881.txt b/4881.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..588bd64 --- /dev/null +++ b/4881.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1650 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook History of The United Netherlands, 1608(a) +#81 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, 1608(a) + +Author: John Lothrop Motley + +Release Date: January, 2004 [EBook #4881] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on April 15, 2002] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + + + + + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY UNITED NETHERLANDS, 1608(a) *** + + + +This eBook was produced by David Widger + + + +[NOTE: There is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of the +file for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making an +entire meal of them. D.W.] + + + + + +HISTORY OF THE UNITED NETHERLANDS +From the Death of William the Silent to the Twelve Year's Truce--1609 + +By John Lothrop Motley + + + +MOTLEY'S HISTORY OF THE NETHERLANDS, Project Gutenberg Edition, Vol. 81 + +History of the United Netherlands, 1608(a) + + + +CHAPTER L. + + Movements of the Emperor Rudolph--Marquis Spinola's reception at the + Hague--Meeting of Spinola and Prince Maurice--Treaty of the Republic + with the French Government--The Spanish commissioners before the + States-General--Beginning of negotiations--Stormy discussions--Real + object of Spain in the negotiations--Question of the India trade-- + Abandonment of the peace project--Negotiations for a truce-- + Prolongation of the armistice--Further delays--Treaty of the States + with England--Proposals of the Spanish ambassadors to Henry of + France and to James of England--Friar Neyen at the court of Spain-- + Spanish procrastination--Decision of Philip on the conditions of + peace--Further conference at the Hague--Answer of the States-General + to the proposals of the Spanish Government--General rupture. + +Towards the close of the year 1607 a very feeble demonstration was made +in the direction of the Dutch republic by the very feeble Emperor of +Germany. Rudolph, awaking as it might be from a trance, or descending +for a moment from his star-gazing tower and his astrological pursuits to +observe the movements of political spheres, suddenly discovered that the +Netherlands were no longer revolving in their preordained orbit. Those +provinces had been supposed to form part of one great system, deriving +light and heat from the central imperial sun. It was time therefore to +put an end to these perturbations. The emperor accordingly, as if he had +not enough on his hands at that precise moment with the Hungarians, +Transylvanians, Bohemian protestants, his brother Matthias and the Grand +Turk, addressed a letter to the States of Holland, Zeeland, and the +provinces confederated with them. + +Reminding them of the care ever taken by himself and his father to hear +all their petitions, and to obtain for them a good peace, he observed +that he had just heard of their contemplated negotiations with King +Philip and Archduke Albert, and of their desire to be declared free +states and peoples. He was amazed, he said, that they should not have +given him notice of so important an affair, inasmuch as all the United +Provinces belonged to and were fiefs of the holy Roman Empire. They were +warned, therefore, to undertake nothing that might be opposed to the +feudal law except with his full knowledge. This letter was dated the 9th +of October. The States took time to deliberate, and returned no answer +until after the new year. + +On the 2nd of January, 1608, they informed the emperor that they could +never have guessed of his requiring notification as to the approaching +conferences. They had not imagined that the archduke would keep them a +secret from his brother, or the king from his uncle-cousin. Otherwise, +the States would have sent due notice to his Majesty. They well +remembered, they said, the appeals made by the provinces to the emperor +from time to time, at the imperial diets, for help against the tyranny of +the Spaniards. They well remembered, too, that no help was ever given +them in response to those appeals. They had not forgotten either the +famous Cologne negotiations for peace in presence of the imperial envoys, +in consequence of which the enemy had carried on war against them with +greater ferocity than before. At that epoch they had made use of an +extreme remedy for an intolerable evil, and had solemnly renounced +allegiance to the king. Since that epoch a whole generation of mankind +had passed away, and many kings and potentates had recognised their +freedom, obtained for just cause and maintained by the armed hand. +After a long and bloody war, Albert and Philip had at last been brought +to acknowledge the provinces as free countries over which they pretended +to no right, as might be seen by the letters of both, copies of which +were forwarded to the emperor. Full confidence was now expressed, +therefore, that the emperor and all Germany would look with favour on +such a God-fearing transaction, by which an end would be put to so +terrible a war. Thus the States-General; replying with gentle scorn to +the antiquated claim of sovereignty on the part of imperial majesty. +Duly authenticated by citations of investitures, indulgences, and +concordates, engrossed on yellowest parchment, sealed with reddest +sealing-wax, and reposing in a thousand pigeon-holes in mustiest +archives, no claim could be more solemn or stately. Unfortunately, +however, rebel pikes and matchlocks, during the past forty years, had +made too many rents in those sacred parchments to leave much hope of +their ever being pieced handsomely together again. As to the historical +theory of imperial enfeoffment, the States thought it more delicate to +glide smoothly and silently over the whole matter. It would have been +base to acknowledge and impolite to refute the claim. + +It is as well to imitate this reserve. It is enough simply to remind the +reader that although so late as the time of Charles V., the provinces had +been declared constituent parts of the empire, liable to its burthens, +and entitled to its protection; the Netherlanders being practical people, +and deeming burthens and protection correlative, had declined the burthen +because always deprived of the protection. + +And now, after a year spent in clearing away the mountains of dust which +impeded the pathway to peace, and which one honest vigorous human breath +might at once have blown into space, the envoys of the archduke set forth +towards the Hague. + +Marquis Spinola, Don Juan de Mancicidor, private secretary to the King of +Spain, President Richardot, Auditor Verreyken, and Brother John Neyen-- +a Genoese, a Spaniard, a Burgundian, a Fleming, and a Franciscan friar +--travelling in great state, with a long train of carriages, horses, +lackeys, cooks, and secretaries, by way of Breda, Bergen-op-Zoom, + +Dort, Rotterdam, and Delft, and being received in each town and village +through which they passed with great demonstrations of respect and +cordial welcome, arrived at last within a mile of the Hague. + +It was the dead of winter, and of the severest winter that had occurred +for many years. Every river, estuary, canal was frozen hard. All +Holland was one broad level sheet of ice, over which the journey had been +made in sledges. On the last day of January Prince Maurice, accompanied +by Lewes William, and by eight state coaches filled with distinguished +personages, left the Hague and halted at the Hoorn bridge, about midway +between Ryswyk and the capital. The prince had replied to the first +request of the States that he should go forward to meet Spinola, by +saying that he would do so willingly if it were to give him battle; +otherwise not. Olden-Barneveld urged upon him however that, as servant +of the republic, he was bound to do what the States commanded, as a +matter involving the dignity of the nation. In consequence of this +remonstrance Maurice consented to go, but he went unwillingly. The +advancing procession of the Spanish ambassadors was already in sight. +Far and wide in whatever direction the eye could sweep, the white surface +of the landscape was blackened with human beings. It seemed as if the +whole population of the Netherlands had assembled, in mass meeting, to +witness the pacific interview between those two great chieftains who had +never before stood face to face except upon the battle-field. + +In carriages, in donkey carts, upon horseback, in sledges, on skates, +upon foot-men, women, and children, gentle and simple, Protestants, +Catholics, Gomarites, Armenians, anabaptists, country squires in buff and +bandaleer, city magistrates and merchants in furs and velvet, artisans, +boatmen, and peasants, with their wives and daughters in well-starched +ruff and tremendous head-gear--they came thronging in countless +multitudes, those honest Hollanders, cheering and throwing up their caps +in honour of the chieftain whose military genius had caused so much +disaster to their country. This uproarious demonstration of welcome on +the part of the multitude moved the spleen of many who were old enough to +remember the horrors of Spanish warfare within their borders. "Thus +unreflecting, gaping, boorish, are nearly all the common people of these +provinces," said a contemporary, describing the scene, and forgetting +that both high and low, according to his own account, made up the mass of +spectators on that winter's day. Moreover it seems difficult to +understand why the Hollanders should not have indulged a legitimate +curiosity, and made a holiday on this memorable occasion. Spinola was +not entering their capital in triumph, a Spanish army was not marching +--as it might have done had the course of events been different--over the +protective rivers and marshes of the fatherland, now changed by the +exceptional cold into solid highways for invasion. On the contrary, the +arrival of the great enemy within their gates, with the olive-branch +instead of the sword in his hand, was a victory not for Spain but for the +republic. It was known throughout the land that he was commissioned by +the king and the archdukes to treat for peace with the States-General of +the United Provinces as with the representatives of a free and +independent nation, utterly beyond any foreign control. + +Was not this opening of a cheerful and pacific prospect, after a half +century's fight for liberty, a fair cause for rejoicing? + +The Spanish commissioners arrived at the Hoorn bridge, Spinola alighted +from his coach, Prince Maurice stepped forward into the road to greet +him. Then the two eminent soldiers, whose names had of late been so +familiar in the mouths of men, shook hands and embraced with heroic +cordiality, while a mighty shout went up from the multitude around. It +was a stately and dramatic spectacle, that peaceful meeting of the rival +leaders in a war which had begun before either of them was born. The +bystanders observed, or thought that they observed, signs of great +emotion on the faces of both. It has also been recorded that each +addressed the other in epigrammatic sentences of compliment. "God is my +witness," Maurice was supposed to have said, "that the arrival of these +honourable negotiators is most grateful to me. Time, whose daughter is +truth, will show the faith to be given to my words." + +"This fortunate day," replied Spinola, "has filled full the measure of my +hopes and wishes, and taken from me the faculty of ever wishing for +anything again. I trust in divine clemency that an opportunity may be +given to show my gratitude, and to make a fit return for the humanity +thus shown me by the most excellent prince that the sun shines upon." + +With this both got into the stadholder's carriage, Spinola being placed +on Maurice's right hand. Their conversation during their brief drive to +the capital, followed by their long retinue, and by the enthusiastic and +vociferating crowd, has not been chronicled. It is also highly probable +that the second-rate theatrical dialogue which the Jesuit historian, +writing from Spinola's private papers, has preserved for posterity, was +rather what seemed to his imagination appropriate for the occasion than a +faithful shorthand report of anything really uttered. A few commonplace +phrases of welcome, with a remark or two perhaps on the unexampled +severity of the frost, seem more likely to have formed the substance of +that brief conversation. + +A couple of trumpeters of Spinola went braying through the streets of the +village capital, heralding their master's approach with superfluous +noise, and exciting the disgust of the quieter portion of the burghers. +At last however the envoys and their train were all comfortably housed. +The Marquis, President Richardot, and Secretary Mancicidor, were +established at a new mansion on the Vyverberg, belonging to Goswyn +Menskens. The rest of the legation were lodged at the house of +Wassenaer. + +It soon became plain that the ways of life and the style housekeeping +habitual to great officers of the Spanish crown were very different from +the thrifty manners and customs of Dutch republicans. It was so long +since anything like royal pomp and circumstance had been seen in their +borders that the exhibition, now made, excited astonishment. It was a +land where every child went to school, where almost every individual +inhabitant could read and write, where even the middle classes were +proficients in mathematics and the classics, and could speak two or more +modern languages; where the whole nation, with but few exceptions, were +producers of material or intellectual wealth, and where comparatively +little of unproductive consumption prevailed. Those self-governing and +self-sustaining municipalities had almost forgotten the existence of the +magnificent nothings so dear to the hearts of kings. + +Spinola's house was open day and night. The gorgeous plate, gigantic +candelabra, mighty ewers, shields and layers of silver and gold, which +decorated his tables and sideboards, amazed the gaping crowd. He dined +and supped in state every day, and the public were admitted to gaze upon +his banquets as if he had been a monarch. It seemed, said those homely +republicans, as if "a silver christening were going on every day in his +house." + +There were even grave remonstrances made to the magistracy and to, the +States-General against the effect of such ostentatious and immoral +proceedings upon the popular mind, and suggestions that at least the +doors should be shut, so that the scandal might be confined to Spinola's +own household. But the republican authorities deciding, not without +wisdom, that the spectacle ought to serve rather as a wholesome warning +than as a contaminating example, declined any inquisitorial interference +with the housekeeping of the Spanish ambassadors. + +Before the negotiations began, a treaty had been made between the +republic and the French Government, by which it was stipulated that every +effort should be made by both contracting parties to bring about an +honourable and assured peace between the United Provinces, Spain, and the +archdukes. In case of the continuance of the war, however, it was agreed +that France should assist the States with ten thousand men, while in case +at any time, during the continuance of the league, France should be +attacked by a foreign enemy, she should receive from her ally five +thousand auxiliary troops, or their equivalent in maritime assistance. +This convention was thought by other powers to be so profitable to the +Netherlands as to excite general uneasiness and suspicion. + +The States would have gladly signed a similar agreement with England, but +nothing was to be done with that Government until an old-standing dispute +in regard to the cloth trade had been arranged. Middelburg had the +exclusive right of deposit for the cloths imported from England. This +monopoly for Zealand being naturally not very palatable to Amsterdam and +other cities of Holland, the States-General had at last authorized the +merchant-adventurers engaged in this traffic to deposit their goods in +any city of the United Provinces. The course of trade had been to +import the raw cloth from England, to dress and dye it in the +Netherlands, and then to re-export it to England. Latterly, however, +some dyers and clothiers emigrating from the provinces to that country, +had obtained a monopoly from James for practising their art in his +dominions. In consequence of this arrangement the exportation of undyed +cloths had been forbidden. This prohibition had caused irritation both +in the kingdom and the republic, had necessarily deranged the natural +course of trade and manufacture, and had now prevented for the time any +conclusion of an alliance offensive and defensive between the countries, +even if political sentiment had made such a league possible. The States- +General had recourse to the usual expedient by which bad legislation on +one side was countervailed by equally bad legislation on the other. The +exportation of undyed English cloths being forbidden by England, the +importation of dyed English cloths was now prohibited by the Netherlands. +The international cloth trade stopped. This embargo became at last so +detestable to all parties that concession was made by the crown for a +limited export of raw cloths. The concession was soon widened by custom +into a general exportation, the royal Government looking through its +fingers at the open infraction of its own laws, while the natural laws of +trade before long re-established the old equilibrium. Meantime the ill- +feeling produced by this dissension delayed any cordial political +arrangement between the countries. + +On the 5th of February the Spanish commissioners came for the first time +before the States-General, assembled to the number of a hundred and +thirty, in their palace at the Hague. + +The first meeting was merely one of mutual compliment, President +Richardot, on behalf of his colleagues, expressing gratitude for the +cordial welcome which had been manifested to the envoys on their journey +through so many towns of the United Provinces. They had been received, +he said, not as enemies with whom an almost perpetual war had been waged, +but as friends, confederates, and allies. A warmer reception they could +never have hoped for nor desired. + +Two special commissioners were now appointed by the States-General to +negotiate with the envoys. These were count Lewis William and Brederode. +With these delegates at large were associated seven others, one from each +province. Barneveld of course represented Holland; Maldere, Zeeland; +Berk, Utrecht; Hillama, Friesland; Bloat, Overyssel; Koender van Helpen, +Groningen; Cornelius Vail Gend, Gelderland. + +The negotiations began at once. The archdukes had empowered the five +envoys to deal in their name and in that of the King of Spain. Philip +had authorized the archdukes to take this course by an instrument dated +10th January. + +In this paper he called the archdukes hereditary sovereigns of the +Netherlands. + +It was agreed that the various points of negotiation should be taken up +in regular order; but the first question of all that presented itself was +whether the conferences should be for a truce or, a peace. + +The secret object of Spain was for a truce of years. Thus she thought to +save her dignity, to reserve her rights of re-conquest, to replenish her +treasury, and to repair her military strength. Barneveld and his party, +comprising a large majority of the States-General, were for peace. +Prince Maurice, having done his utmost to oppose negotiations for peace, +was, for still stronger reasons, determined to avoid falling into what he +considered the ambush of a truce. The French ambassadors were also for +peace. The Spanish envoys accordingly concealed their real designs, and +all parties began discussions for the purpose of establishing a permanent +peace. + +This preliminary being settled, Barneveld asked the Spaniards if they had +full powers to treat with the States as with a free nation, and if they +recognised them as such. + +"The most ample power," was the reply; "and we are content to treat with +you even if you should choose to call yourself a kingdom." + +"By what right then are the archdukes called by the king hereditary +sovereigns of the Netherlands, and why do they append the seals of the +seven United Provinces to this document?" asked the Advocate, taking up +from the table the full power of Albert and Isabella and putting his +finger on the seals." + +"By the same right," replied President Richardot, "that the King of +France calls himself King of Navarre, that the King of Great Britain +calls himself King of France, that the King of Spain calls himself King +of Jerusalem." + +Nothing could be more logical, nothing more historically accurate. +But those plain-spoken republicans saw no advantage in beginning a +negotiation for peace on the basis of their independence by permitting +the archduke to call himself their sovereign, and to seal solemn state +papers with their signet. It might seem picturesque to genealogical +minds, it might be soothing to royal vanity, that paste counterfeits +should be substituted for vanished jewels. It would be cruelty to +destroy the mock glitter without cause. But there was cause. On this +occasion the sham was dangerous. James Stuart might call himself King of +France. He was not more likely to take practical possession of that +kingdom than of the mountains in the moon. Henry of Bourbon was not at +present contemplating an invasion of the hereditary possessions of the +house of Albret. It was a matter of indifference to the Netherlands +whether Philip III. were crowned in Jerusalem that very day, or the week +afterwards, or never. It was very important however that the United +Provinces should have it thoroughly recognised that they were a free and +independent republic, nor could that recognition be complete so long as +any human being in the whole world called himself their master, and +signed with their seals of state. "'Tis absurd," said the Hollanders, +"to use the names and arms of our provinces. We have as yet no precedent +to prove that you consider the United Provinces as lost, and name and +arms to be but wind." Barneveld reminded them that they had all +expressed the most straightforward intention, and that the father +commissary especially had pledged his very soul for the sincerity of the +king and the archdukes. "We ourselves never wished and never could +deceive any one," continued the Advocate, "and it is also very difficult +for others to deceive us." + +This being the universal sentiment of the Netherlanders, it was thought +proper to express it in respectful but vigorous language. This was done +and the session was terminated. Tile Spanish envoys, knowing very well +that neither the king nor the archduke regarded the retention of the +titles and seals of all the seventeen Netherlands as an empty show, but +that a secret and solid claim lurked beneath that usurpation, were very +indignant. They however dissembled their wrath from the States' +commissioners. They were unwilling that the negotiations should be +broken up at the very first session, and they felt that neither Prince +Maurice nor Barneveld was to be trifled with upon this point. But they +were loud and magnificent in their demonstrations when they came to talk +the matter over with the ambassadors of France and England. It was most +portentous, they thought, to the cause of monarchy and good government +all over the world, that these republicans, not content to deal with +kings and princes on a footing of equality, should presume to dictate to +them as to inferiors. Having passed through rebellion to liberty, they +were now proceeding to trample upon the most hallowed customs and rites. +What would become of royalty, if in the same breath it should not only +renounce the substance, but even put away the symbols of authority. This +insolence of the people was not more dangerous to the king and the +archdukes than it was to every potentate in the universe. It was a +sacred duty to resist such insults. Sage Jeannin did his best to pacify +the vehemence of the commissioners. He represented to them that foreign +titles borne by anointed kings were only ensigns of historical +possessions which they had for ever renounced; but that it might become +one day the pleasure of Spain, or lie in the power of Spain, to vindicate +her ancient rights to the provinces. + +Hence the anxiety of the States was but natural. The old Leaguer and +political campaigner knew very well, moreover, that at least one half of +Richardot's noble wrath was feigned. The commissioners would probably +renounce the title and the seven seals, but in so doing would drive a +hard bargain. For an empty phrase and a pennyworth of wax they would +extort a heavy price. And this was what occurred. The commissioners +agreed to write for fresh instructions to Brussels. A reply came in due +time from the archdukes, in which they signified their willingness to +abandon the title of sovereigns over all the Netherlands, and to abstain +from using their signet. In exchange for this concession they merely +demanded from the States-General a formal abandonment of the navigation +to both the Indies. This was all. The archdukes granted liberty to the +republic. The republic would renounce its commerce with more than half +the world. + +The scorn of the States' commissioners at this proposition can be +imagined, and it became difficult indeed for them to speak on the subject +in decorous language. Because the archdukes were willing to give up +something which was not their property, the republic was voluntarily to +open its veins and drain its very life-blood at the bidding of a foreign +potentate. She was to fling away all the trophies of Heemskerk and +Sebalt de Weerd, of Balthasar de Cordes, Van der Hagen, Matelieff, and +Verhoeff; she was to abdicate the position which she had already acquired +of mistress of the seas, and she was to deprive herself for ever of that +daily increasing ocean commerce which was rapidly converting a cluster of +puny, half-submerged provinces into a mighty empire. Of a certainty the +Spanish court at this new epoch was an astounding anachronism. In its +view Pope Alexander VI. still lived and reigned. + +Liberty was not a boon conferred upon the Netherlanders by their defeated +enemy. It had been gained by their own right hands; by the blood, and +the gold, and the sweat of two generations. If it were the king's to +give, let him try once more if he could take it away. Such were the +opinions and emotions of the Dutchmen, expressed in as courteous language +as they could find. + +"It would be a political heresy," said Barneveld to the Spanish +commissioners at this session, "if my lords the States should by contract +banish their citizens out of two-thirds of the world, both land and sea." + +"'Tis strange," replied the Spaniards, "that you wish to have more than +other powers--kings or republics--who never make any such pretensions. +The Indies, East and West, are our house, privately possessed by us for +more than a hundred years, and no one has a right to come into it without +our permission. This is not banishment, but a custom to which all other +nations submit. We give you your sovereignty before all the world, +quitting all claims upon it. We know very well that you deny receiving +it from us; but to give you a quit claim, and to permit free trade +besides, would be a little more than you have a right to expect." + +Was it not well for the cause of liberty, commercial intercourse, and +advancement of the human intellect, that there was this obstinate little +republic in the world, refusing to tolerate that to which all other great +powers of the earth submitted; that there was one nation determined not +to acknowledge three-quarters of the world, including America and India, +as the private mansion of the King of Spain, to be locked against the +rest of the human race? + +The next session of the negotiators after the arrival of this +communication from the archdukes was a stormy one. The India trade +was the sole subject of discussion. As the States were firmly resolved +never to relinquish that navigation which in truth was one of their most +practical and valuable possessions, and as the royal commissioners were +as solemnly determined that it should never be conceded, it may be +imagined how much breath, how much foolscap paper, was wasted. + +In truth, the negotiation for peace had been a vile mockery from the +beginning. Spain had no real intention of abdicating her claim to the +United Provinces. + +At the very moment when the commissioners were categorically making that +concession in Brussels, and claiming such a price for it, Hoboken, the +archduke's diplomatic representative in London, was earnestly assuring +King James that neither his master nor Philip had the remotest notion of +renouncing their sovereignty over all the Netherlands. What had been +said and written to that effect was merely a device, he asserted, to +bring about a temporary truce. During the interval of imaginary freedom +it was certain that the provinces would fall into such dire confusion +that it would be easier for Spain to effect their re-conquest, after a +brief delay for repairing her own strength, than it would be by +continuing the present war without any cessation. + +The Spanish ambassador at Vienna too on his part assured the Emperor +Rudolph that his master was resolved never to abdicate the sovereignty +of the provinces. The negotiations then going on, he said, were simply +intended to extort from the States a renunciation of the India trade and +their consent to the re-introduction of the Catholic religion throughout +their territories. + +Something of all this was known and much more suspected at the Hague; +the conviction therefore that no faith would be kept with rebels and +heretics, whatever might be said or written, gained strength every day. +That these delusive negotiations with the Hollanders were not likely to +be so successful as the comedy enacted twenty years before at Bourbourg, +for the amusement of Queen Elizabeth and her diplomatists while the +tragedy of the Armada was preparing, might be safely prophesied. +Richardot was as effective as ever in the part which he had so often +played, but Spinola laboured under the disadvantage of being a far +honester man than Alexander Farnese. Far from equal to that famous +chieftain in the management of a great military campaign, it is certain +that he was infinitely inferior to him in genteel comedy. Whether +Maurice and Lewis William, Barneveld and Brederode, were to do better in +the parts formerly assigned to John Rogers, Valentine Dale, Comptroller +Croft, and their colleagues, remained to be seen. + +On the 15th of February, at the fifth conference of the commissioners, +the first pitched battle on the India trade was fought. Thereafter the +combat was almost every day renewed. Exactly, as a year before, the +news of Heemskerk's victory at Gibraltar had made the king and the +archdukes eager to obtain an armistice with the rebels both by land and +sea, so now the report of Matelieff's recent achievements in the Indian +ocean was increasing their anxiety to exclude the Netherlanders from the +regions which they were rapidly making their own. + +As we look back upon the negotiations, after the lapse of two centuries +and a half, it becomes difficult to suppress our amazement at those +scenes of solemn trickery and superhuman pride. It is not necessary to +follow, step by step, the proceedings at each daily conference, but it is +impossible for me not to detain the reader for yet a season longer with +those transactions, and especially to invite him to ponder the valuable +lesson which in their entirety they convey. + +No higher themes could possibly be laid before statesmen to discuss. +Questions of political self-government, religious liberty, national +independence, divine Right, rebellious Power, freedom of commerce, +supremacy of the seas, omnipotence claimed by the old world over the +destiny of what was called the new, were importunately demanding +solution. All that most influenced human passion, or stirred human +reason to its depths--at that memorable point of time when two great +epochs seemed to be sweeping against each other in elemental conflict-- +was to be dealt with. The emancipated currents of human thought, the +steady tide of ancient dogma, were mingling in wrath. There are times of +paroxysm in which Nature seems to effect more in a moment, whether +intellectually or materially, than at other periods during a lapse of +years. The shock of forces, long preparing and long delayed, is apt at +last to make itself sensible to those neglectful of gradual but vital +changes. Yet there are always ears that are deaf to the most portentous +din. + +Thus, after that half century of war, the policy of Spain was still +serenely planting itself on the position occupied before the outbreak of +the revolt. The commonwealth, solidly established by a free people, +already one of the most energetic and thriving among governments, a +recognised member of the great international family, was now gravely +expected to purchase from its ancient tyrant the independence which it +had long possessed, while the price demanded for the free papers was not +only extravagant, but would be disgraceful to an emancipated slave. +Holland was not likely at that turning point in her history, and in the +world's history, to be false to herself and to the great principles of +public law. It was good for the cause of humanity that the republic +should reappear at that epoch. It was wholesome for Europe that there +should be just then a plain self-governing people, able to speak homely +and important truths. It was healthy for the moral and political +atmosphere--in those days and in the time to come--that a fresh breeze +from that little sea-born commonwealth should sweep away some of the +ancient fog through which a few very feeble and very crooked mortals had +so long loomed forth like giants and gods. + +To vindicate the laws of nations and of nature; to make a noble effort +for reducing to a system--conforming, at least approximately, to divine +reason--the chaotic elements of war and peace; to recal the great facts +that earth, sea, and sky ought to belong to mankind, and not to an +accidental and very limited selection of the species was not an unworthy +task for a people which had made such unexampled sacrifice for liberty +and right. + +Accordingly, at the conference on the 15th February, the Spanish +commissioners categorically summoned the States to desist entirely from +the trade to either India, exactly as before the war. To enforce this +prohibition, they said, was the principal reason why Philip desired +peace. To obtain their freedom was surely well worth renunciation of +this traffic; the more so, because their trade with Spain, which was so +much shorter and safer, was now to be re-opened. If they had been able +to keep that commerce, it was suggested, they would have never talked +about the Indies. The commissioners added, that this boon had not been +conceded to France nor England, by the treaties of Vervins and London, +and that the States therefore could not find it strange that it should be +refused to them. + +The States' commissioners stoutly replied that commerce was open to all +the world, that trade was free by the great law of nature, and that +neither France, England, nor the United Provinces, were to receive edicts +on this great subject from Spain and Portugal. It was absurd to +circumscribe commercial intercourse at the very moment of exchanging +war for peace. To recognise the liberty of the States upon paper, +and to attempt the imposition of servitude in reality, was a manifest +contradiction. The ocean was free to all nations. It had not been +enclosed by Spain with a rail-fence. + +The debate grew more stormy every hour. Spinola expressed great +indignation that the Netherlanders should be so obstinate upon this +point. The tall, spare President arose in wrath from his seat at the +council-board, loudly protesting that the King of Spain would never +renounce his sovereignty over the provinces until they had forsworn the +India trade; and with this menace stalked out of the room. + +The States' commissioners were not frightened. Barneveld was at least a +match for Richardot, and it was better, after all, that the cards should +be played upon the table. Subsequent meetings were quite as violent as +the first, the country was agitated far and wide, the prospects of +pacification dwindled to a speck in the remote horizon. Arguments at +the Board of Conference, debates in the States-General, pamphlets by +merchants and advocates--especially several emanating from the East India +Company--handled the great topic from every point of view, and it became +more and more evident that Spain could not be more resolute to prohibit +than the republic to claim the trade. + +It was an absolute necessity, so it was urged, for the Hollanders to +resist the tyrannical dominion of the Spaniards. But this would be +impossible for them, should they rely on the slender natural resources +of their own land. Not a sixth part of the population could be nourished +from the soil. The ocean was their inheritance, their birthright, their +empire. It was necessary that Spain should understand this first, last, +and always. She ought to comprehend, too, that her recognition of Dutch +independence was not a gift, but the acknowledgment of a fact. Without +that acknowledgment peace was impossible. If peace were to be +established, it was not to be bought by either party. Each gave and each +received, and certainly Spain was in no condition to dictate the terms of +a sale. Peace, without freedom of commerce, would be merely war without +killing, and therefore without result. The Netherlanders, who in the +middle of the previous century had risen against unjust taxation and +arbitrary laws, had not grown so vile as to accept from a vanquished foe +what they had spurned from their prince. To be exiled from the ocean was +an unimaginable position for the republic. Moreover, to retire from the +Indies would be to abandon her Oriental allies, and would be a dishonour +as well us a disaster. Her good faith, never yet contaminated, would be +stained, were she now to desert the distant peoples and potentates with +whom she had formed treaties of friendship and commerce, and hand them +over to the vengeance of the Spaniards and Portuguese. + +And what a trade it was which the United Provinces were thus called upon +to renounce! The foreign commerce of no other nation could be compared +in magnitude to that of their commonwealth. Twenty ships traded +regularly to Guinea, eighty to the Cape de Verd Islands, twenty to +America, and forty to the East Indies. Ten thousand sailors, who gained +their living in this traffic, would be thrown out of employment, if the +States should now listen to the Spanish propositions. + +It was well known too that the profits of the East India Company had +vastly increased of late, and were augmenting with every year. The trade +with Cambay, Malabar, Ceylon, Koromandel, and Queda, had scarcely begun, +yet was already most promising. Should the Hollanders only obtain a +footing in China, they felt confident of making their way through the +South Seas and across the pole to India. Thus the search for a great +commercial highway between Cathay, Europe, and the New World, which had +been baffled in the arctic regions, should be crowned with success at the +antarctic, while it was deemed certain that there were many lands, +lighted by the Southern Cross, awaiting the footsteps of the fortunate +European discoverer. What was a coasting-trade with Spain compared with +this boundless career of adventure? Now that the world's commerce, since +the discovery of America and the passage around the Cape of Good Hope, +had become oceanic and universal, was the nation which took the lead on +blue water to go back to the creeping land-locked navigation of the +ancient Greeks and Phoenicians? If the East India Company, in whose womb +was empire, were now destroyed, it would perish with its offspring for +ever. There would be no regeneration at a future day. The Company's +ships too were a navy in themselves, as apt for war as for trade. This +the Spaniards and Portuguese had already learned to their cost. The +merchant-traders to Spain would be always in the power of Spain, and at +any favourable moment might be seized by Spain. The Spanish monopoly in +the East and West was the great source of Spanish power, the chief cause +of the contempt with, which the Spanish monarchy looked down upon other +nations. Let those widely expanded wings be clipped, and Spain would +fall from her dizzy height. To know what the States ought to refuse the +enemy, it was only necessary to observe what he strenuously demanded, to +ponder the avowed reason why he desired peace. The enemy was doing his +best to damage the commonwealth; the States were merely anxious to +prevent injury to themselves and to all the world; to vindicate for +themselves, and for all men, the common use of ocean, land, and sky. + +A nation which strove to shut up the seas, and to acquire a monopoly +of the world's trade, was a pirate, an enemy of mankind. She was as +deserving of censure as those who created universal misery in time +of famine, by buying up all the corn in order to enrich themselves. +According to the principles of the ancients, it was legitimate to make +war upon such States as closed their own ports to foreign intercourse. +Still more just was it, therefore, to carry arms against a nation which +closed the ports of other people. + +The dispute about the India navigation could be settled in a moment, if +Spain would but keep her word. She had acknowledged the great fact of +independence, which could not be gainsaid. Let each party to the +negotiation, therefore keep that which it already possessed. Let neither +attempt to prescribe to the other--both being free and independent +States--any regulations about interior or foreign trade. + +Thus reasoned the States-General, the East India directors, the great +majority of the population of the provinces, upon one great topic of +discussion. A small minority only attempted to defend the policy of +renouncing the India trade as a branch of industry, in which a certain +class, and that only in the maritime provinces, was interested. It is +certainly no slight indication of the liberty of thought, of speech, and +of the press, enjoyed at that epoch in the Netherlands and nowhere else +to anything like the same extent--that such opinions, on a subject deemed +vital to the very existence of the republic, were freely published and +listened to with toleration, if not with respect. Even the enlightened +mind of Grotius was troubled with terrors as to the effect on the public +mind at this crisis of anonymous pamphlets concerning political affairs. +But in this regard it must be admitted that Grotius was not in advance of +his age, although fully conceding that press-laws were inconsistent with +human liberty. + +Maurice and Barneveld were equally strenuous in maintaining the India +trade; the prince, because he hoped that resistance to Spain upon this +point would cause the negotiations to be broken off, the Advocate in the +belief that firmness on the part of the States would induce the royal +commissioners to yield. + +The States-General were not likely to be deficient in firmness. They +felt that the republic was exactly on the point of wresting the control +of the East from the hands of the Portuguese, and they were not inclined +to throw away the harvest of their previous labours just as it was +ripening. Ten thousand persons at least, besides the sailors employed, +were directly interested in the traffic, most of whom possessed great +influence in the commonwealth, and would cause great domestic dissension +should they now be sacrificed to Spain. To keep the India trade was the +best guarantee for the future possession of the traffic to Spain; for the +Spanish Government would never venture an embargo upon the direct +intercourse between the provinces and its own dominions, for fear +of vengeance in the East. On the other hand, by denouncing oceanic +commerce, they would soon find themselves without a navy at all, and +their peaceful coasting ships would be at the mercy of Spain or of any +power possessing that maritime energy which would have been killed in the +republic. By abandoning the ocean, the young commonwealth would sink +into sloth, and become the just object of contempt to the world. It +would cease to be an independent power, and deserve to fall a prey to any +enterprising neighbour. + +Even Villeroy admitted the common belief to be, that if the India trade +were abandoned "the States would melt away like snow in the sun." He +would not, on that account, however, counsel to the States obstinacy upon +the subject, if Spain refused peace or truce except on condition of their +exclusion from the traffic. Jeannin, Villeroy, and their master; Isaac +le Maire and Peter Plancius, could have told the reason why if they had +chosen. + +Early in March a triple proposition was made by the States' +commissioners. Spain might take her choice to make peace on the basis of +free trade; to make peace, leaving everything beyond the Tropic of Cancer +to the chance of war; or to make peace in regard to all other than the +tropical regions, concluding for those only a truce during a definite +number of years. + +The Spaniards rejected decidedly two of these suggestions. Of course +they would not concede freedom of the sea. They considered the mixture +of peace and war a monstrous conception. They were, however, willing to +favour peace for Europe and truce in the tropics, provided the States +bound themselves; on the expiration of the limited period, to abandon the +Indian and American trade for ever. And to this proposition the States +of course were deaf. And thus they went on spinning around, day after +day, in the same vicious circle, without more hope of progress than +squirrels in a cage. + +Barneveld, always overbearing with friend or foe, and often violent, was +not disposed to make preposterous concessions, notwithstanding his eager +desire for peace. "The might of the States-General," said he, "is so +great, thank God, that they need not yield so much to the King of Spain +as seems to be expected, nor cover themselves with dishonour." + +"And do you think yourselves more mighty than the Kings of England and +France?" cried Richardot in a great rage, "for they never dared to make +any attempt upon the Indies, East or West." + +"We are willing to leave the king in his own quarters," was the reply, +"and we expect him to leave us in ours." + +"You had better take a sheet of paper at once," said Richardot, "write +down exactly what you wish, and order us to agree to it all without +discussion." + +"We demand nothing that is unreasonable in these negotiations," was the +firm rejoinder, "and expect that nothing unjust will be required of us." + +It was now suggested by the States' commissioners that a peace; with free +navigation, might be concluded for Europe, and a truce for other parts of +the world, without any stipulations as to what should take place on its +termination. This was hardly anything new, but it served as a theme for +more intellectual buffeting. Hard words were freely exchanged during +several hours; and all parties lost their temper. At last the Spaniards +left the conference-chamber in a rage. Just as they were going, +Barneveld asked them whether he should make a protocol of the session +for the States-General, and whether it was desirable in future to resume +the discussion. + +"Let every one do exactly as he likes," replied Spinola, wrathfully, as +he moved to the door. + +Friar John, always plausible, whispered a few soothing words in the ear +of the marquis, adding aloud, so that the commissioners might hear, +"Night brings counsel." These words he spoke in Latin. + +"He who wishes to get everything is apt to lose everything," cried, out +Maldere, the Zeeland deputy, in Spanish, to the departing commissioners. + +"Take that to yourselves," rejoined Richardot, very fiercely; "you may be +sure that it will be your case."' + +So ended that interview. + +Directly afterwards there was a conference between the States' +commissioners and the French envoys. + +Jeannin employed all his powers of argument: and persuasion to influence +the Netherlanders against a rupture of the negotiations because of the +India trade. It would be better to abandon that commerce, so he urged, +than to give up the hope of peace. The commissioners failed to see the +logic or to melt at the eloquence of his discourse. They would have been +still less inclined, if that were possible, to move from their position, +had they known of the secret conferences which Jeannin had just been +holding with Isaac le Maire of Amsterdam, and other merchants practically +familiar with the India trade. Carrying out the French king's plan to +rob the republic of that lucrative traffic, and to transplant it, by +means of experienced Hollanders, into France, the president, while openly +siding with the States, as their most disinterested friend, was secretly +doing all in his power to destroy the very foundation of their +commonwealth. + +Isaac le Maire came over from Amsterdam in a mysterious manner, almost in +disguise. Had his nocturnal dealings with the French minister been +known, he would have been rudely dealt with by the East India Company. +He was a native of Tournay, not a sincere republican therefore, was very +strongly affected to France, and declared that all his former fellow- +townsmen, and many more, had the fleur-de-lys stamped on their hearts. +If peace should be made without stipulation in favour of the East India +Company, he, with his three brothers, would do what they could to +transfer that corporation to France. All the details of such a +prospective arrangement were thoroughly discussed, and it was intimated +that the king would be expected to take shares in the enterprise. +Jeannin had also repeated conferences on the same subject with the great +cosmographer Plancius. It may be well understood, therefore, that the +minister of Henry IV. was not very ardent to encourage the States in +their resolve to oppose peace or truce, except with concession of the +India trade. + +The States preferred that the negotiations should come to nought on the +religious ground rather than on account of the India trade. The +provinces were nearly unanimous as to the prohibition of the Catholic +worship, not from bigotry for their own or hatred of other creeds, but +from larger views of what was then called tolerance, and from practical +regard for the necessities of the State. To permit the old worship, not +from a sense of justice but as an article of bargain with a foreign +power, was not only to abase the government of the States but to convert +every sincere Catholic throughout the republic into a grateful adherent +of Philip and the archdukes. It was deliberately to place a lever, to be +used in all future time, for the overthrow of their political structure. + +In this the whole population was interested, while the India navigation, +although vital to the well-being of the nation, was not yet universally +recognised as so supremely important, and was declared by a narrow-minded +minority to concern the provinces of Holland and Zeeland alone. + +All were silently agreed, therefore, to defer the religious question to +the last. + +Especially, commercial greed induced the States to keep a firm clutch on +the great river on which the once splendid city of Antwerp stood. Ever +since that commercial metropolis had succumbed to Farnese, the republic +had maintained the lower forts, by means of which, and of Flushing at the +river's mouth, Antwerp was kept in a state of suspended animation. To +open the navigation of the Scheld, to permit free approach to Antwerp, +would, according to the narrow notions of the Amsterdam merchants, be +destructive to their own flourishing trade. + +In vain did Richardot, in one well-fought conference, do his best to +obtain concessions on this important point. The States' commissioners +were as deaf as the Spaniards had been on the India question. Richardot, +no longer loud and furious, began to cry. With tears running down his +cheeks, he besought the Netherlanders not to insist so strenuously upon +all their points, and to remember that concessions were mutually +necessary, if an amicable arrangement were to be framed. The chances for +peace were promising. "Let not a blight be thrown over all our hopes," +he exclaimed, "by too great pertinacity on either side. Above all, let +not the States dictate terms as to a captive or conquered king, but +propose such conditions as a benevolent but powerful sovereign could +accept." + +These adjurations might be considered admirable, if it had been possible +for the royal commissioners to point to a single mustard-seed of +concession ever vouchsafed by them to the republic. + +Meantime the month of March had passed. Nothing had been accomplished, +but it was agreed to prolong the armistice through April and May. + +The negotiations having feebly dribbled off into almost absolute +extinction, Friar John was once more set in motion, and despatched to +Madrid. He was sent to get fresh instructions from Philip, and he +promised, on departing, to return in forty days. He hoped as his reward, +he said, to be made bishop of Utrecht. "That will be a little above your +calibre," replied Barneveld. Forty days was easily said, and the States +consented to the additional delay. + +During his absence there was much tedious discussion of minor matters, +such as staple rights of wine and cloths, regulations of boundaries, +removal of restrictions on trade and navigation, passports, sequestered +estates, and the like; all of which were subordinate to the all-important +subjects of India and Religion, those two most tender topics growing so +much more tender the more they were handled as to cause at last a shiver +whenever they were approached. Nevertheless both were to be dealt with, +or the negotiations would fall to the ground. + +The States felt convinced that they would fall to the ground, that they +had fallen to the ground, and they at least would not stoop to pick them +up again. + +The forty days passed away, but the friar never returned. April and May +came and went, and again the armistice expired by its own limitation. +The war party was disgusted with the solemn trifling, Maurice was +exasperated beyond endurance, Barneveld and the peace men began to find +immense difficulty in confronting the gathering storm. + +The prince, with difficulty, consented to a prolongation of the armistice +for two months longer; resolute to resume hostilities should no accord be +made before the end of July. The Advocate, with much earnestness, and +with more violence than was habitual with him, insisted on protracting +the temporary truce until the end of the year. The debates in the +States-General and the state-council were vehement; passion rose to +fever-heat, but the stadholder, although often half beside himself with +rage, ended by submitting once more to the will of Barneveld. + +This was the easier, as the Advocate at last proposed an agreement which +seemed to Maurice and Lewis William even better than their own original +suggestion. It was arranged that the armistice should be prolonged until +the end of the year, but it was at the same time stipulated that unless +the negotiations had reached a definite result before the 1st of August, +they should be forthwith broken off. + +Thus a period of enforced calm--a kind of vacation, as if these great +soldiers and grey-beards had been a troop of idle school-boys--was now +established, without the slightest reason. + +President Jeannin took occasion to make a journey to Paris, leaving the +Hague on the 20th June. + +During his absence a treaty of the States with England, similar in its +terms to the one recently concluded between the republic and France, but +only providing for half the number of auxiliary troops arranged for in +the French convention, was signed at the Hague. The English +plenipotentiaries, Vinwood and Spencer, wished to delay the exchange of +signatures under the pending negotiations with Spain and the archdukes +were brought to a close, as King James was most desirous at that epoch to +keep on good terms with his Catholic Majesty. The States were so urgent, +however, to bring at least this matter to a termination, and the English +so anxious lest France should gain still greater influence than she now +enjoyed in the provinces, that they at last gave way. It was further +stipulated in the convention that the debt of the States to England, then +amounting to L815,408 sterling, should be settled by annual payments of +L60,000; to begin with the expected peace. + +Besides this debt to the English Government, the States-General owed nine +millions of florins (L900,000), and the separate provinces altogether +eighteen millions (L1,800,000). In short, there would be a deficiency +of at least three hundred thousand florins a month if the war went on, +although every imaginable device had already been employed for increasing +the revenue from taxation. It must be admitted therefore, that the +Barneveld party were not to be severely censured for their desire to +bring about an honourable peace. + +That Jeannin was well aware of the disposition prevailing throughout a +great part of the commonwealth is certain. It is equally certain that he +represented to his sovereign, while at Paris, that the demand upon his +exchequer by the States, in case of the resumption of hostilities, would +be more considerable than ever. Immense was the pressure put upon Henry +by the Spanish court, during the summer, to induce him to abandon his +allies. Very complicated were the nets thrown out to entangle the wary +old politician in "the grey jacket and with the heart of gold," as he was +fond of designating himself, into an alliance with Philip and the +archdukes. + +Don Pedro de Toledo, at the head of a magnificent embassy, arrived in +Paris with projects of arranging single, double, or triple marriages +between the respective nurseries of France and Spain. The Infanta might +marry with a French prince, and have all the Netherlands for her dower, +so soon as the childless archdukes should have departed this life. +Or an Infante might espouse a daughter of France with the same heritage +assigned to the young couple. + +Such proposals, duly set forth in sonorous Spanish by the Constable of +Castile, failed to produce a very soothing effect on Henry's delicate +ear. He had seen and heard enough of gaining thrones by Spanish +marriages. Had not the very crown on his own head, which he had won with +foot in stirrup and lance in rest, been hawked about for years, appended +to the wedding ring of the Spanish Infanta? It might become convenient +to him at some later day, to form a family alliance with the house of +Austria, although he would not excite suspicion in the United Provinces +by openly accepting it then. But to wait for the shoes of Albert and +Isabella, and until the Dutch republic had been absorbed into the +obedient Netherlands by his assistance, was not a very flattering +prospect for a son or daughter of France. The ex-Huguenot and +indomitable campaigner in the field or in politics was for more drastic +measures. Should the right moment come, he knew well enough how to +strike, and could appropriate the provinces, obedient or disobedient, +without assistance from the Spanish babies. + +Don Pedro took little by his propositions. The king stoutly declared +that the Netherlands were very near to his heart, and that he would never +abandon them on any consideration. So near, indeed, that he meant to +bring them still nearer, but this was not then suspected by the Spanish +court; Henry, the while, repelling as a personal insult to himself the +request that he should secretly labour to reduce the United Provinces +under subjection to the archdukes. It had even been proposed that he +should sign a secret convention to that effect, and there were those +about the court who were not ill-disposed for such a combination. +The king was, however, far too adroit to be caught in any such trap. +The marriage proposals in themselves he did not dislike, but Jeannin +and he were both of a mind that they should be kept entirely secret. + +Don Pedro, on the contrary, for obvious reasons, was for making the +transactions ostentatiously public, and, as a guarantee of his master's +good faith in regard to the heritage of the Netherlands, he proposed that +every portion of the republic, thenceforth to be conquered by the allies, +should be confided to hands in which Henry and the archdukes would have +equal confidence. + +But these artifices were too trivial to produce much effect. Henry +remained true, in his way, to the States-General, and Don Pedro was much +laughed at in Paris, although the public scarcely knew wherefore. + +These intrigues had not been conducted so mysteriously but that Barneveld +was aware of what was going on. Both before Jeannin's departure from the +Hague in June, and on his return in the middle of August, he catechised +him very closely on the subject. The old Leaguer was too deep, however, +to be thoroughly pumped, even by so practised a hand as the Advocate's, +so that more was suspected than at the time was accurately known. + +As, at the memorable epoch of the accession of the King of Scots to the +throne of Elizabeth, Maximilian de Bethune had flattered the new monarch +with the prospect of a double marriage, so now Don Fernando Girono had +been sent on solemn mission to England, in order to offer the same +infants to James which Don Pedro was placing at the disposition of Henry. + +The British sovereign, as secretly fascinated by the idea of a Spanish +family alliance as he had ever been by the proposals of the Marquis de +Rosny for the French marriages, listened with eagerness. Money was +scattered as profusely among the English courtiers by Don Fernando as had +been done by De Bethune four years before. The bribes were accepted, and +often by the very personages who knew the colour of Bourbon money, but +the ducats were scarcely earned. Girono, thus urging on the English +Government the necessity of deserting the republic and cementing a +cordial, personal, and political understanding between James and Philip, +effected but little. It soon became thoroughly understood in England +that the same bargaining was going on simultaneously in France. As it +was evident that the Spanish children could not be disposed of in both +markets at the same time, it was plain to the dullest comprehension that +either the brokerage of Toledo or of Girono was a sham, and that a policy +erected upon such flimsy foundations would soon be washed away. + +It is certain, however, that James, while affecting friendship for the +States, and signing with them the league of mutual assistance, was +secretly longing to nibble the bait dangled before him by Girono, and was +especially determined to prevent, if possible, the plans of Toledo. + +Meantime, brother John Neyen was dealing with Philip and the Duke of +Lerma, in Spain. + +The friar strenuously urged upon the favourite and the rest of the royal +advisers the necessity of prompt action with the States. This needed not +interfere with an unlimited amount of deception. It was necessary to +bring the negotiations to a definite agreement. It would be by no means +requisite, however, to hold to that agreement whenever a convenient +opportunity for breaking it should present itself. The first object of +Spanish policy, argued honest John, should be to get the weapons out of +the rebels' hands. The Netherlanders ought to be encouraged to return to +their usual pursuits of commerce and manufactures, whence they derived +their support, and to disband their military and naval forces. Their +sailors and traders should be treated kindly in Spain, instead of being +indulged as heretofore with no hospitality save that of the Holy +Inquisition and its dungeons. Let their minds be disarmed of all +suspicion. Now the whole population of the provinces had been convinced +that Spain, in affecting to treat, was secretly devising means to re- +impose her ancient yoke upon their necks. + +Time went by in Aranjuez and Madrid. The forty days, promised as the +period of Neyen's absence, were soon gone; but what were forty days, or +forty times forty, at the Spanish court? The friar, who, whatever his +faults, was anything but an idler, chafed at a procrastination which +seemed the more stupendous to him, coming fresh as he did from a busy +people who knew the value of time. In the anguish of his soul he went to +Rodrigo Calderon, of the privy council, and implored his influence with +Government to procure leave for him to depart. Calderon, in urbane but +decisive terms, assured him that this would be impossible before the king +should return to Madrid. The monk then went to Idiaquez, who was in +favour of his proceeding at once to the Netherlands, but who on being +informed that Calderon was of a different opinion, gave up the point. +More distressed than ever, Neyen implored Prada's assistance, but Prada +plunged him into still deeper despair. His Majesty, said that +counsellor, with matchless effrontery, was studying the propositions of +the States-General, and all the papers in the negotiation, line by line, +comma by comma. There were many animadversions to make, many counter +suggestions to offer. The king was pondering the whole subject most +diligently. When those lucubrations were finished, the royal decision, +aided by the wisdom of the privy council, would be duly communicated to +the archdukes. + +To wait for an answer to the propositions of the suspicious States- +General until Philip III. had mastered the subject in detail, was a +prospect too dreary even for the equable soul of Brother John. Dismayed +at the position in which he found himself, he did his best to ferret out +the reasons for the preposterous delay; not being willing to be paid off +in allusions to the royal investigations. He was still further appalled +at last by discovering that the delay was absolutely for the delay's +sake. It was considered inconsistent with the dignity of the Government +not to delay. The court and cabinet had quite made up their minds as to +the answer to be made to the last propositions of the rebels, but to make +it known at once was entirely out of the question. In the previous year +his Majesty's administration, so it was now confessed with shame, had +acted with almost indecent haste. That everything had been conceded to +the confederated provinces was the--common talk of Europe. Let the time- +honoured, inveterate custom of Spain in grave affairs to proceed slowly, +and therefore surely, be in future observed. A proper self-respect +required the king to keep the universe in suspense for a still longer +period upon the royal will and the decision of the royal council. + +Were the affairs of the mighty Spanish empire so subordinate to the +convenience of that portion of it called the Netherlands that no time was +to be lost before settling their affairs? + +Such dismal frivolity, such palsied pride, seems scarcely credible; but +more than all this has been carefully recorded in the letters of the +friar. + +If it were precipitation to spend the whole year 1607 in forming a single +phrase; to wit, that the archdukes and the king would treat with the +United Provinces as with countries to which they made no pretensions; and +to spend the best part of another year in futile efforts to recal that +phrase; if all this had been recklessness and haste, then, surely, the +most sluggish canal in Holland was a raging cataract, and the march of a +glacier electric speed. + +Midsummer had arrived. The period in which peace was to be made or +abandoned altogether had passed. Jeannin had returned from his visit to +Paris; the Danish envoys, sent to watch the negotiations, had left the +Hague, utterly disgusted with a puppet-show, all the strings of which, +they protested, were pulled from the Louvre. Brother John, exasperated +by the superhuman delays, fell sick of a fever at Burgos, and was sent, +on his recovery, to the court at Valladolid to be made ill again by the +same cause, and still there came no sound from the Government of Spain. + +At last the silence was broken. Something that was called the voice of +the king reached the ears of the archduke. Long had he wrestled in +prayer on this great subject, said Philip III., fervently had he besought +the Omnipotent for light. He had now persuaded himself that he should +not fulfil his duty to God, nor satisfy his own strong desire for +maintaining the Catholic faith, nor preserve his self-respect, if he now +conceded his supreme right to the Confederated Provinces at any other +price than the uncontrolled exercise, within their borders, of the +Catholic religion. He wished, therefore, as obedient son of the Church +and Defender of the Faith, to fulfil this primary duty, untrammelled by +any human consideration, by any profit that might induce him towards a +contrary course. That which he had on other occasions more than once +signified he now confirmed. His mind was fixed; this was his last and +immutable determination, that if the confederates should permit the free +and public exercise of the Catholic, Roman, Apostolic religion to all +such as wished to live and die in it, for this cause so grateful to God, +and for no other reason, he also would permit to them that supreme right +over the provinces, and that authority which now belonged to himself. +Natives and residents of those countries should enjoy liberty, just so +long as the exercise of the Catholic religion flourished there, and not +one day nor hour longer. + +Philip then proceeded flatly to refuse the India navigation, giving +reasons very satisfactory to himself why the provinces ought cheerfully +to abstain from that traffic. If the confederates, in consequence of the +conditions thus definitely announced, moved by their innate pride and +obstinacy, and relying on the assistance of their allies, should break +off the negotiations, then it would be desirable to adopt the plan +proposed by Jeannin to Richardot, and conclude a truce for five or six +years. The king expressed his own decided preference for a truce rather +than a peace, and his conviction that Jeannin had made the suggestion by +command of his sovereign. + +The negotiators stood exactly where they did when Friar John, disguised +as a merchant, first made his bow to the Prince and Barneveld in the +palace at the Hague. + +The archduke, on receiving at last this peremptory letter from the king, +had nothing for it but to issue instructions accordingly to the +plenipotentiaries at the Hague. A decisive conference between those +diplomatists and the States' commissioners took place immediately +afterwards. + +It was on the 20th August. + +Although it had been agreed on the 1st May to break off negotiations on +the ensuing 1st of August, should no result be reached, yet three weeks +beyond that period had been suffered to elapse, under a tacit agreement +to wait a little longer for the return of the friar. President Jeannin, +too, had gone to Paris on the 20th June, to receive new and important +instructions; verbal and written, from his sovereign, and during his +absence it had not been thought expedient to transact much business. +Jeannin returned to the Hague on the 15th of August, and, as definite +instructions from king and archduke had now arrived, there seemed no +possibility of avoiding an explanation. + +The Spanish envoys accordingly, with much gravity, and as if they had +been propounding some cheerful novelty, announced to the assembled +commissioners that all reports hitherto flying about as to the Spanish +king's intentions were false. + +His Majesty had no intention of refusing to give up the sovereignty of +the provinces. On the contrary, they were instructed to concede that +sovereignty freely and frankly to my lords the States-General--a pearl +and a precious jewel, the like of which no prince had ever given away +before. Yet the king desired neither gold nor silver, neither cities nor +anything else of value in exchange. He asked only for that which was +indispensable to the tranquillity of his conscience before God, to wit, +the re-establishment in those countries of the Catholic Apostolic Roman +religion. This there could surely be no reasons for refusing. They owed +it as a return for the generosity of the king, they owed it to their own +relatives, they owed it to the memory of their ancestors, not to show +greater animosity to the ancient religion than to the new and pernicious +sect of Anabaptists, born into the world for the express purpose of +destroying empires; they owed it to their many fellow-citizens, who would +otherwise be driven into exile, because deprived of that which is dearest +to humanity. + +In regard to the East India navigation, inasmuch as the provinces had no +right whatever to it, and as no other prince but the sovereign of Spain +had any pretensions to it, his Majesty expected that the States would at +once desist from it. + +This was the magnificent result of twenty months of diplomacy. As the +king's father had long ago flung away the pearl and precious jewel which +the son now made a merit of selling to its proprietors at the price of +their life's blood--the world's commerce--it is difficult to imagine that +Richardot, while communicating thin preposterous ultimatum, could have +kept his countenance. But there were case-hardened politicians on both +sides. The proposition was made and received with becoming seriousness, +and it was decided by the States' commissioners to make no answer at all +on that occasion. They simply promised to render their report to the +States-General, who doubtless would make short work with the matter. + +They made their report and it occasioned a tumult. Every member present +joined in a general chorus of wrathful denunciation. The Spanish +commissioners were infamous swindlers, it was loudly asserted. There +should be no more dealings with them at all. Spain was a power only to +be treated with on the battle-field. In the tempest of general rage no +one would listen to argument, no one asked which would be the weaker, +which the stronger party, what resources for the renewed warfare could be +founds or who would be the allies of the republic. Hatred, warlike fury +and scorn at the duplicity with which they had been treated, washed every +more politic sentiment away, and metamorphosed that body of burghers as +in an instant. The negotiations should be broken off, not on one point, +but on all points, and nothing was left but to prepare instantly for war. +Three days later, after the French and English ambassadors, as well as +Prince Maurice and Count Lewis William, had been duly consulted, +comparative calm was restored, and a decisive answer was unanimously +voted by the States-General. The proposition of the commissioners was +simply declared to be in direct violation of the sovereignty and freedom +of the country, and it was announced that, if it should be persisted in, +the whole negotiation might be considered as broken off. A formal answer +to the royal propositions would be communicated likewise to the envoys of +foreign powers, in order that the royal commissioners might be placed +completely in the wrong. + +On the 25th August an elaborate response was accordingly delivered in +writing by the States' commissioners to those of the archdukes and king, +it being at the same time declared by Barneveld and his colleagues that +their functions were ended, and that this document, emanating from the +States-General, was a sovereign resolution, not a diplomatic note. + +The contents of this paper may be inferred from all that has been +previously narrated. The republic knew its own mind, and had always +expressed itself with distinctness. The Spanish Government having at +last been brought to disclose its intentions, there was an end to the +negotiations for peace. The rupture was formally announced. + + + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +Night brings counsel +This obstinate little republic +Triple marriages between the respective nurseries +Usual expedient by which bad legislation on one side countered + + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY UNITED NETHERLANDS, 1608(a) *** + +************ This file should be named 4881.txt or 4881.zip ************ + +This eBook was produced by David Widger + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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