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diff --git a/4891.txt b/4891.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5b65105 --- /dev/null +++ b/4891.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1366 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook The Life of John of Barneveld, 1613-15 +#91 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: The Life of John of Barneveld, 1613-15 + +Author: John Lothrop Motley + +Release Date: January, 2004 [EBook #4891] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on April 22, 2002] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + + + + + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIFE OF JOHN OF BARNEVELD, 1613-15 *** + + + +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.] + + + + + +THE LIFE AND DEATH of JOHN OF BARNEVELD, ADVOCATE OF HOLLAND + +WITH A VIEW OF THE PRIMARY CAUSES AND MOVEMENTS OF THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR + +By John Lothrop Motley, D.C.L., LL.D. + + + +MOTLEY'S HISTORY OF THE NETHERLANDS, Project Gutenberg Edition, Volume 91 + +Life of John of Barneveld, 1613-15 + + +CHAPTER IX. + + Aerssens remains Two Years longer in France--Derives many Personal + Advantages from his Post--He visits the States-General--Aubery du + Maurier appointed French Ambassador--He demands the Recall of + Aerssens--Peace of Sainte-Menehould--Asperen de Langerac appointed + in Aerssens' Place. + +Francis Aerssens had remained longer at his post than had been intended +by the resolution of the States of Holland, passed in May 1611. + +It is an exemplification of the very loose constitutional framework of +the United Provinces that the nomination of the ambassador to France +belonged to the States of Holland, by whom his salary was paid, although, +of course, he was the servant of the States-General, to whom his public +and official correspondence was addressed. His most important despatches +were however written directly to Barneveld so long as he remained in +power, who had also the charge of the whole correspondence, public or +private, with all the envoys of the States. + +Aerssens had, it will be remembered, been authorized to stay one year +longer in France if he thought he could be useful there. He stayed two +years, and on the whole was not useful. He had too many eyes and too +many ears. He had become mischievous by the very activity of his +intelligence. He was too zealous. There were occasions in France at +that moment in which it was as well to be blind and deaf. It was +impossible for the Republic, unless driven to it by dire necessity, to +quarrel with its great ally. It had been calculated by Duplessis-Mornay +that France had paid subsidies to the Provinces amounting from first to +last to 200 millions of livres. This was an enormous exaggeration. It +was Barneveld's estimate that before the truce the States had received +from France eleven millions of florins in cash, and during the truce up +to the year 1613, 3,600,000 in addition, besides a million still due, +making a total of about fifteen millions. During the truce France kept +two regiments of foot amounting to 4200 soldiers and two companies of +cavalry in Holland at the service of the States, for which she was bound +to pay yearly 600,000 livres. And the Queen-Regent had continued all the +treaties by which these arrangements were secured, and professed sincere +and continuous friendship for the States. While the French-Spanish +marriages gave cause for suspicion, uneasiness, and constant watchfulness +in the States, still the neutrality of France was possible in the coming +storm. So long as that existed, particularly when the relations of +England with Holland through the unfortunate character of King James were +perpetually strained to a point of imminent rupture, it was necessary to +hold as long as it vas possible to the slippery embrace of France. + +But Aerssens was almost aggressive in his attitude. He rebuked the +vacillations, the shortcomings, the imbecility, of the Queen's government +in offensive terms. He consorted openly with the princes who were on the +point of making war upon the Queen-Regent. He made a boast to the +Secretary of State Villeroy that he had unravelled all his secret plots +against the Netherlands. He declared it to be understood in France, +since the King's death, by the dominant and Jesuitical party that the +crown depended temporally as well as spiritually on the good pleasure of +the Pope. + +No doubt he was perfectly right in many of his opinions. No ruler or +statesman in France worthy of the name would hesitate, in the impending +religious conflict throughout Europe and especially in Germany, to +maintain for the kingdom that all controlling position which was its +splendid privilege. But to preach this to Mary de' Medici was waste of +breath. She was governed by the Concini's, and the Concini's were +governed by Spain. The woman who was believed to have known beforehand +of the plot to murder her great husband, who had driven the one powerful +statesman on whom the King relied, Maximilian de Bethune, into +retirement, and whose foreign affairs were now completely in the hands +of the ancient Leaguer Villeroy--who had served every government in the +kingdom for forty years--was not likely to be accessible to high views +of public policy. + +Two years had now elapsed since the first private complaints against the +Ambassador, and the French government were becoming impatient at his +presence. Aerssens had been supported by Prince Maurice, to whom he had +long paid his court. He was likewise loyally protected by Barneveld, +whom he publicly flattered and secretly maligned. But it was now +necessary that he should be gone if peaceful relations with France were +to be preserved. + +After all, the Ambassador had not made a bad business of his embassy from +his own point of view. A stranger in the Republic, for his father the +Greffier was a refugee from Brabant, he had achieved through his own +industry and remarkable talents, sustained by the favour of Barneveld-- +to whom he owed all his diplomatic appointments--an eminent position in +Europe. Secretary to the legation to France in 1594, he had been +successively advanced to the post of resident agent, and when the +Republic had been acknowledged by the great powers, to that of +ambassador. The highest possible functions that representatives of +emperors and kings could enjoy had been formally recognized in the person +of the minister of a new-born republic. And this was at a moment when, +with exception of the brave but insignificant cantons of Switzerland, the +Republic had long been an obsolete idea. + +In a pecuniary point of view, too, he had not fared badly during his +twenty years of diplomatic office. He had made much money in various +ways. The King not long before his death sent him one day 20,000 florins +as a present, with a promise soon to do much more for him. + +Having been placed in so eminent a post, he considered it as due to +himself to derive all possible advantage from it. "Those who serve at +the altar," he said a little while after his return, "must learn to live +by it. I served their High Mightinesses at the court of a great king, +and his Majesty's liberal and gracious favours were showered upon me. My +upright conscience and steady obsequiousness greatly aided me. I did not +look upon opportunity with folded arms, but seized it and made my profit +by it. Had I not met with such fortunate accidents, my office would not +have given me dry bread." + +Nothing could exceed the frankness and indeed the cynicism with which the +Ambassador avowed his practice of converting his high and sacred office +into merchandise. And these statements of his should be scanned closely, +because at this very moment a cry was distantly rising, which at a later +day was to swell into a roar, that the great Advocate had been bribed and +pensioned. Nothing had occurred to justify such charges, save that at +the period of the truce he had accepted from the King of France a fee of +20,000 florins for extra official and legal services rendered him a dozen +years before, and had permitted his younger son to hold the office of +gentleman-in-waiting at the French court with the usual salary attached +to it. The post, certainly not dishonourable in itself, had been +intended by the King as a kindly compliment to the leading statesman +of his great and good ally the Republic. It would be difficult to +say why such a favour conferred on the young man should be held more +discreditable to the receiver than the Order of the Garter recently +bestowed upon the great soldier of the Republic by another friendly +sovereign. It is instructive however to note the language in which +Francis Aerssens spoke of favours and money bestowed by a foreign monarch +upon himself, for Aerssens had come back from his embassy full of gall +and bitterness against Barneveld. Thenceforth he was to be his evil +demon. + +"I didn't inherit property," said this diplomatist. "My father and +mother, thank God, are yet living. I have enjoyed the King's liberality. +It was from an ally, not an enemy, of our country. Were every man +obliged to give a reckoning of everything he possesses over and above his +hereditary estates, who in the government would pass muster? Those who +declare that they have served their country in her greatest trouble, and +lived in splendid houses and in service of princes and great companies +and the like on a yearly salary of 4000 florins, may not approve these +maxims." + +It should be remembered that Barneveld, if this was a fling at the +Advocate, had acquired a large fortune by marriage, and, although +certainly not averse from gathering gear, had, as will be seen on a +subsequent page, easily explained the manner in which his property had +increased. No proof was ever offered or attempted of the anonymous +calumnies levelled at him in this regard. + +"I never had the management of finances," continued Aerssens. "My +profits I have gained in foreign parts. My condition of life is without +excess, and in my opinion every means are good so long as they are +honourable and legal. They say my post was given me by the Advocate. +Ergo, all my fortune comes from the Advocate. Strenuously to have +striven to make myself agreeable to the King and his counsellors, while +fulfilling my office with fidelity and honour, these are the arts by +which I have prospered, so that my splendour dazzles the eyes of the +envious. The greediness of those who believe that the sun should shine +for them alone was excited, and so I was obliged to resign the embassy." + +So long as Henry lived, the Dutch ambassador saw him daily, and at all +hours, privately, publicly, when he would. Rarely has a foreign envoy +at any court, at any period of history, enjoyed such privileges of being +useful to his government. And there is no doubt that the services of +Aerssens had been most valuable to his country, notwithstanding his +constant care to increase his private fortune through his public +opportunities. He was always ready to be useful to Henry likewise. +When that monarch same time before the truce, and occasionally during +the preliminary negotiations for it, had formed a design to make himself +sovereign of the Provinces, it was Aerssens who charged himself with the +scheme, and would have furthered it with all his might, had the project +not met with opposition both from the Advocate and the Stadholder. +Subsequently it appeared probable that Maurice would not object to the +sovereignty himself, and the Ambassador in Paris, with the King's +consent, was not likely to prove himself hostile to the Prince's +ambition. + +"There is but this means alone," wrote Jeannini to Villeroy, "that can +content him, although hitherto he has done like the rowers, who never +look toward the place whither they wish to go." The attempt of the +Prince to sound Barneveld on this subject through the Princess-Dowager +has already been mentioned, and has much intrinsic probability. +Thenceforward, the republican form of government, the municipal +oligarchies, began to consolidate their power. Yet although the people +as such were not sovereigns, but subjects, and rarely spoken of by the +aristocratic magistrates save with a gentle and patronizing disdain, they +enjoyed a larger liberty than was known anywhere else in the world. +Buzenval was astonished at the "infinite and almost unbridled freedom" +which he witnessed there during his embassy, and which seemed to him +however "without peril to the state." + +The extraordinary means possessed by Aerssens to be important and useful +vanished with the King's death. His secret despatches, painting in +sombre and sarcastic colours the actual condition of affairs at the +French court, were sent back in copy to the French court itself. It was +not known who had played the Ambassador this vilest of tricks, but it was +done during an illness of Barneveld, and without his knowledge. Early in +the year 1613 Aerssens resolved, not to take his final departure, but to +go home on leave of absence. His private intention was to look for some +substantial office of honour and profit at home. Failing of this, he +meant to return to Paris. But with an eye to the main chance as usual, +he ingeniously caused it to be understood at court, without making +positive statements to that effect, that his departure was final. On his +leavetaking, accordingly, he received larger presents from the crown than +had been often given to a retiring ambassador. At least 20,000 florins +were thus added to the frugal store of profits on which he prided +himself. Had he merely gone away on leave of absence, he would have +received no presents whatever. But he never went back. The Queen-Regent +and her ministers were so glad to get rid of him, and so little disposed, +in the straits in which they found themselves, to quarrel with the +powerful republic, as to be willing to write very complimentary public +letters to the States, concerning the character and conduct of the man +whom they so much detested. + +Pluming himself upon these, Aerssens made his appearance in the Assembly +of the States-General, to give account by word of mouth of the condition +of affairs, speaking as if he had only come by permission of their +Mightinesses for temporary purposes. Two months later he was summoned +before the Assembly, and ordered to return to his post. + +Meantime a new French ambassador had arrived at the Hague, in the spring +of 1613. Aubery du Maurier, a son of an obscure country squire, a +Protestant, of moderate opinions, of a sincere but rather obsequious +character, painstaking, diligent, and honest, had been at an earlier day +in the service of the turbulent and intriguing Due de Bouillon. He had +also been employed by Sully as an agent in financial affairs between +Holland and France, and had long been known to Villeroy. He was living +on his estate, in great retirement from all public business, when +Secretary Villeroy suddenly proposed him the embassy to the Hague. +There was no more important diplomatic post at that time in Europe. +Other countries were virtually at peace, but in Holland, notwithstanding +the truce, there vas really not much more than an armistice, and great +armies lay in the Netherlands, as after a battle, sleeping face to face +with arms in their hands. The politics of Christendom were at issue in +the open, elegant, and picturesque village which was the social capital +of the United Provinces. The gentry from Spain, Italy, the south of +Europe, Catholic Germany, had clustered about Spinola at Brussels, to +learn the art of war in his constant campaigning against Maurice. +English and Scotch officers, Frenchmen, Bohemians, Austrians, youths from +the Palatinate and all Protestant countries in Germany, swarmed to the +banners of the prince who had taught the world how Alexander Farnese +could be baffled, and the great Spinola outmanoeuvred. Especially there +was a great number of Frenchmen of figure and quality who thronged to the +Hague, besides the officers of the two French regiments which formed a +regular portion of the States' army. That army was the best appointed +and most conspicuous standing force in Europe. Besides the French +contingent there were always nearly 30,000 infantry and 3000 cavalry on a +war footing, splendidly disciplined, experienced, and admirably armed. +The navy, consisting of thirty war ships, perfectly equipped and manned, +was a match for the combined marine forces of all Europe, and almost as +numerous. + +When the Ambassador went to solemn audience of the States-General, he was +attended by a brilliant group of gentlemen and officers, often to the +number of three hundred, who volunteered to march after him on foot to +honour their sovereign in the person of his ambassador; the Envoy's +carriage following empty behind. Such were the splendid diplomatic +processions often received by the stately Advocate in his plain civic +garb, when grave international questions were to be publicly discussed. + +There was much murmuring in France when the appointment of a personage +comparatively so humble to a position so important was known. It was +considered as a blow aimed directly at the malcontent princes of the +blood, who were at that moment plotting their first levy of arms against +the Queen. Du Maurier had been ill-treated by the Due de Bouillon, who +naturally therefore now denounced the man whom he had injured to the +government to which he was accredited. Being the agent of Mary de' +Medici, he was, of course, described as a tool of the court and a secret +pensioner of Spain. He was to plot with the arch traitor Barneveld as to +the best means for distracting the Provinces and bringing them back into +Spanish subjection. Du Maurier, being especially but secretly charged to +prevent the return of Francis Aerssens to Paris, incurred of course the +enmity of that personage and of the French grandees who ostentatiously +protected him. It was even pretended by Jeannin that the appointment of +a man so slightly known to the world, so inexperienced in diplomacy, and +of a parentage so little distinguished, would be considered an affront by +the States-General. + +But on the whole, Villeroy had made an excellent choice. No safer man +could perhaps have been found in France for a post of such eminence, in +circumstances so delicate, and at a crisis so grave. The man who had +been able to make himself agreeable and useful, while preserving his +integrity, to characters so dissimilar as the refining, self-torturing, +intellectual Duplessis-Mornay, the rude, aggressive, and straightforward +Sully, the deep-revolving, restlessly plotting Bouillon, and the smooth, +silent, and tortuous Villeroy--men between whom there was no friendship, +but, on the contrary, constant rancour--had material in him to render +valuable services at this particular epoch. Everything depended on +patience, tact, watchfulness in threading the distracting, almost +inextricable, maze which had been created by personal rivalries, +ambitions, and jealousies in the state he represented and the one to +which he was accredited. "I ascribe it all to God," he said, in his +testament to his children, "the impenetrable workman who in His goodness +has enabled me to make myself all my life obsequious, respectful, and +serviceable to all, avoiding as much as possible, in contenting some, not +to discontent others." He recommended his children accordingly to +endeavour "to succeed in life by making themselves as humble, +intelligent, and capable as possible." + +This is certainly not a very high type of character, but a safer one for +business than that of the arch intriguer Francis Aerssens. And he had +arrived at the Hague under trying circumstances. Unknown to the foreign +world he was now entering, save through the disparaging rumours +concerning him, sent thither in advance by the powerful personages +arrayed against his government, he might have sunk under such a storm at +the outset, but for the incomparable kindness and friendly aid of the +Princess-Dowager, Louise de Coligny. "I had need of her protection and +recommendation as much as of life," said du Maurier; "and she gave them +in such excess as to annihilate an infinity of calumnies which envy had +excited against me on every side." He had also a most difficult and +delicate matter to arrange at the very moment of his arrival. + +For Aerssens had done his best not only to produce a dangerous division +in the politics of the Republic, but to force a rupture between the +French government and the States. He had carried matters before the +assembly with so high a hand as to make it seem impossible to get rid of +him without public scandal. He made a parade of the official letters +from the Queen-Regent and her ministers, in which he was spoken of in +terms of conventional compliment. He did not know, and Barneveld wished, +if possible, to spare him the annoyance of knowing, that both Queen and +ministers, so soon as informed that there was a chance of coming back +to them, had written letters breathing great repugnance to him and +intimating that he would not be received. Other high personages of state +had written to express their resentment at his duplicity, perpetual +mischief-making, and machinations against the peace of the kingdom, and +stating the impossibility of his resuming the embassy at Paris. And at +last the queen wrote to the States-General to say that, having heard +their intention to send him back to a post "from which he had taken leave +formally and officially," she wished to prevent such a step. "We should +see M. Aerssens less willingly than comports with our friendship for you +and good neighbourhood. Any other you could send would be most welcome, +as M. du Maurier will explain to you more amply." + +And to du Maurier himself she wrote distinctly, "Rather than suffer the +return of the said Aerssens, you will declare that for causes which +regard the good of our affairs and our particular satisfaction we cannot +and will not receive him in the functions which he has exercised here, +and we rely too implicitly upon the good friendship of My Lords the +States to do anything in this that would so much displease us." + +And on the same day Villeroy privately wrote to the Ambassador, "If, in +spite of all this, Aerssens should endeavour to return, he will not be +received, after the knowledge we have of his factious spirit, most +dangerous in a public personage in a state such as ours and in the +minority of the King." + +Meantime Aerssens had been going about flaunting letters in everybody's +face from the Duc de Bouillon insisting on the necessity of his return! +The fact in itself would have been sufficient to warrant his removal, for +the Duke was just taking up arms against his sovereign. Unless the +States meant to interfere officially and directly in the civil war about +to break out in France, they could hardly send a minister to the +government on recommendation of the leader of the rebellion. + +It had, however, become impossible to remove him without an explosion. +Barneveld, who, said du Maurier, "knew the man to his finger nails," had +been reluctant to "break the ice," and wished for official notice in the +matter from the Queen. Maurice protected the troublesome diplomatist. +"'Tis incredible," said the French ambassador "how covertly Prince +Maurice is carrying himself, contrary to his wont, in this whole affair. +I don't know whether it is from simple jealousy to Barneveld, or if there +is some mystery concealed below the surface." + +Du Maurier had accordingly been obliged to ask his government for +distinct and official instructions. "He holds to his place," said he, +"by so slight and fragile a root as not to require two hands to pluck him +up, the little finger being enough. There is no doubt that he has been +in concert with those who are making use of him to re-establish their +credit with the States, and to embark Prince Maurice contrary to his +preceding custom in a cabal with them." + +Thus a question of removing an obnoxious diplomatist could hardly be +graver, for it was believed that he was doing his best to involve the +military chief of his own state in a game of treason and rebellion +against the government to which he was accredited. It was not the first +nor likely to be the last of Bouillon's deadly intrigues. But the man +who had been privy to Biron's conspiracy against the crown and life of +his sovereign was hardly a safe ally for his brother-in-law, the +straightforward stadholder. + +The instructions desired by du Maurier and by Barneveld had, as we have +seen, at last arrived. The French ambassador thus fortified appeared +before the Assembly of the States-General and officially demanded the +recall of Aerssens. In a letter addressed privately and confidentially +to their Mightinesses, he said, "If in spite of us you throw him at our +feet, we shall fling him back at your head." + +At last Maurice yielded to, the representations of the French envoy, and +Aerssens felt obliged to resign his claims to the post. The States- +General passed a resolution that it would be proper to employ him in some +other capacity in order to show that his services had been agreeable to +them, he having now declared that he could no longer be useful in France. +Maurice, seeing that it was impossible to save him, admitted to du +Maurier his unsteadiness and duplicity, and said that, if possessed of +the confidence of a great king, he would be capable of destroying the +state in less than a year. + +But this had not always been the Prince's opinion, nor was it likely to +remain unchanged. As for Villeroy, he denied flatly that the cause of +his displeasure had been that Aerssens had penetrated into his most +secret affairs. He protested, on the contrary, that his annoyance with +him had partly proceeded from the slight acquaintance he had acquired of +his policy, and that, while boasting to be better informed than any one, +he was in the habit of inventing and imagining things in order to get +credit for himself. + +It was highly essential that the secret of this affair should be made +clear; for its influence on subsequent events was to be deep and wide. +For the moment Aerssens remained without employment, and there was no +open rupture with Barneveld. The only difference of opinion between the +Advocate and himself, he said, was whether he had or had not definitely +resigned his post on leaving Paris. + +Meantime it was necessary to fix upon a successor for this most important +post. The war soon after the new year had broken out in France. Conde, +Bouillon, and the other malcontent princes with their followers had taken +possession of the fortress of Mezieres, and issued a letter in the name +of Conde to the Queen-Regent demanding an assembly of the States-General +of the kingdom and rupture of the Spanish marriages. Both parties, that +of the government and that of the rebellion, sought the sympathy and +active succour of the States. Maurice, acting now in perfect accord +with the Advocate, sustained the Queen and execrated the rebellion of +his relatives with perfect frankness. Conde, he said, had got his head +stuffed full of almanacs whose predictions he wished to see realized. +He vowed he would have shortened by a head the commander of the garrison +who betrayed Mezieres, if he had been under his control. He forbade on +pain of death the departure of any officer or private of the French +regiments from serving the rebels, and placed the whole French force at +the disposal of the Queen, with as many Netherland regiments as could be +spared. One soldier was hanged and three others branded with the mark of +a gibbet on the face for attempting desertion. The legal government was +loyally sustained by the authority of the States, notwithstanding all the +intrigues of Aerssens with the agents of the princes to procure them +assistance. The mutiny for the time was brief, and was settled on the +15th of May 1614, by the peace of Sainte-Menehould, as much a caricature +of a treaty as the rising had been the parody of a war. Van der Myle, +son-in-law of Barneveld, who had been charged with a special and +temporary mission to France, brought back the terms, of the convention to +the States-General. On the other hand, Conde and his confederates sent a +special agent to the Netherlands to give their account of the war and the +negotiation, who refused to confer either with du Maurier or Barneveld, +but who held much conference with Aerssens. + +It was obvious enough that the mutiny of the princes would become +chronic. In truth, what other condition was possible with two characters +like Mary de' Medici and the Prince of Conde respectively at the head of +the government and the revolt? What had France to hope for but to remain +the bloody playground for mischievous idiots, who threw about the +firebrands and arrows of reckless civil war in pursuit of the paltriest +of personal aims? + +Van der Myle had pretensions to the vacant place of Aerssens. He had +some experience in diplomacy. He had conducted skilfully enough the +first mission of the States to Venice, and had subsequently been employed +in matters of moment. But he was son-in-law to Barneveld, and although +the Advocate was certainly not free from the charge of nepotism, he +shrank from the reproach of having apparently removed Aerssens to make a +place for one of his own family. + +Van der Myle remained to bear the brunt of the late ambassador's malice, +and to engage at a little later period in hottest controversy with him, +personal and political. "Why should van der Myle strut about, with his +arms akimbo like a peacock?" complained Aerssens one day in confused +metaphor. A question not easy to answer satisfactorily. + +The minister selected was a certain Baron Asperen de Langerac, wholly +unversed in diplomacy or other public affairs, with abilities not above +the average. A series of questions addressed by him to the Advocate, the +answers to which, scrawled on the margin of the paper, were to serve for +his general instructions, showed an ingenuousness as amusing as the +replies of Barneveld were experienced and substantial. + +In general he was directed to be friendly and respectful to every one, to +the Queen-Regent and her counsellors especially, and, within the limits +of becoming reverence for her, to cultivate the good graces of the Prince +of Conde and the other great nobles still malcontent and rebellious, but +whose present movement, as Barneveld foresaw, was drawing rapidly to a +close. Langerac arrived in Paris on the 5th of April 1614. + +Du Maurier thought the new ambassador likely to "fall a prey to the +specious language and gentle attractions of the Due de Bouillon." He +also described him as very dependent upon Prince Maurice. On the other +hand Langerac professed unbounded and almost childlike reverence for +Barneveld, was devoted to his person, and breathed as it were only +through his inspiration. Time would show whether those sentiments would +outlast every possible storm. + + + + +CHAPTER X + + Weakness of the Rulers of France and England--The Wisdom of + Barneveld inspires Jealousy--Sir Dudley Carleton succeeds Winwood-- + Young Neuburg under the Guidance of Maximilian--Barneveld strives to + have the Treaty of Xanten enforced--Spain and the Emperor wish to + make the States abandon their Position with regard to the Duchies-- + The French Government refuses to aid the States--Spain and the + Emperor resolve to hold Wesel--The great Religious War begun--The + Protestant Union and Catholic League both wish to secure the Border + Provinces--Troubles in Turkey--Spanish Fleet seizes La Roche--Spain + places large Armies on a War Footing. + +Few things are stranger in history than the apathy with which the wide +designs of the Catholic party were at that moment regarded. The +preparations for the immense struggle which posterity learned to call the +Thirty Years' War, and to shudder when speaking of it, were going forward +on every side. In truth the war had really begun, yet those most deeply +menaced by it at the outset looked on with innocent calmness because +their own roofs were not quite yet in a blaze. The passage of arms in +the duchies, the outlines of which have just been indicated, and which +was the natural sequel of the campaign carried out four years earlier on +the same territory, had been ended by a mockery. In France, reduced +almost to imbecility by the absence of a guiding brain during a long +minority, fallen under the distaff of a dowager both weak and wicked, +distracted by the intrigues and quarrels of a swarm of self-seeking +grandees, and with all its offices, from highest to lowest, of court, +state, jurisprudence, and magistracy, sold as openly and as cynically as +the commonest wares, there were few to comprehend or to grapple with the +danger. It should have seemed obvious to the meanest capacity in the +kingdom that the great house of Austria, reigning supreme in Spain and in +Germany, could not be allowed to crush the Duke of Savoy on the one side, +and Bohemia, Moravia, and the Netherlands on the other without danger of +subjection for France. Yet the aim of the Queen-Regent was to cultivate +an impossible alliance with her inevitable foe. + +And in England, ruled as it then was with no master mind to enforce +against its sovereign the great lessons of policy, internal and external, +on which its welfare and almost its imperial existence depended, the only +ambition of those who could make their opinions felt was to pursue the +same impossibility, intimate alliance with the universal foe. + +Any man with slightest pretensions to statesmanship knew that the liberty +for Protestant worship in Imperial Germany, extorted by force, had been +given reluctantly, and would be valid only as long as that force +could still be exerted or should remain obviously in reserve. +The "Majesty-Letter" and the "Convention" of the two religions would +prove as flimsy as the parchment on which they were engrossed, the +Protestant churches built under that sanction would be shattered like +glass, if once the Catholic rulers could feel their hands as clear as +their consciences would be for violating their sworn faith to heretics. +Men knew, even if the easy-going and uxorious emperor, into which +character the once busy and turbulent Archduke Matthias had subsided, +might be willing to keep his pledges, that Ferdinand of Styria, who would +soon succeed him, and Maximilian of Bavaria were men who knew their own +minds, and had mentally never resigned one inch of the ground which +Protestantism imagined itself to have conquered. + +These things seem plain as daylight to all who look back upon them +through the long vista of the past; but the sovereign of England did not +see them or did not choose to see them. He saw only the Infanta and her +two millions of dowry, and he knew that by calling Parliament together +to ask subsidies for an anti-Catholic war he should ruin those golden +matrimonial prospects for his son, while encouraging those "shoemakers," +his subjects, to go beyond their "last," by consulting the +representatives of his people on matters pertaining to the mysteries of +government. He was slowly digging the grave of the monarchy and building +the scaffold of his son; but he did his work with a laborious and +pedantic trifling, when really engaged in state affairs, most amazing to +contemplate. He had no penny to give to the cause in which his nearest +relatives mere so deeply involved and for which his only possible allies +were pledged; but he was ready to give advice to all parties, and with +ludicrous gravity imagined himself playing the umpire between great +contending hosts, when in reality he was only playing the fool at the +beck of masters before whom he quaked. + +"You are not to vilipend my counsel," said he one day to a foreign envoy. +"I am neither a camel nor an ass to take up all this work on my +shoulders. Where would you find another king as willing to do +it as I am?" + +The King had little time and no money to give to serve his own family and +allies and the cause of Protestantism, but he could squander vast sums +upon worthless favourites, and consume reams of paper on controverted +points of divinity. The appointment of Vorstius to the chair of theology +in Leyden aroused more indignation in his bosom, and occupied more of his +time, than the conquests of Spinola in the duchies, and the menaces of +Spain against Savoy and Bohemia. He perpetually preached moderation to +the States in the matter of the debateable territory, although moderation +at that moment meant submission to the House of Austria. He chose to +affect confidence in the good faith of those who were playing a comedy +by which no statesman could be deceived, but which had secured the +approbation of the Solomon of the age. + +But there was one man who was not deceived. The warnings and the +lamentations of Barneveld sound to us out of that far distant time like +the voice of an inspired prophet. It is possible that a portion of the +wrath to come might have been averted had there been many men in high +places to heed his voice. I do not wish to exaggerate the power and +wisdom of the man, nor to set him forth as one of the greatest heroes of +history. But posterity has done far less than justice to a statesman and +sage who wielded a vast influence at a most critical period in the fate +of Christendom, and uniformly wielded it to promote the cause of +temperate human liberty, both political and religious. Viewed by the +light of two centuries and a half of additional experience, he may appear +to have made mistakes, but none that were necessarily disastrous or even +mischievous. Compared with the prevailing idea of the age in which he +lived, his schemes of polity seem to dilate into large dimensions, his +sentiments of religious freedom, however limited to our modern ideas, +mark an epoch in human progress, and in regard to the general +commonwealth of Christendom, of which he was so leading a citizen, the +part he played was a lofty one. No man certainly understood the tendency +of his age more exactly, took a broader and more comprehensive view than +he did of the policy necessary to preserve the largest portion of the +results of the past three-quarters of a century, or had pondered the +relative value of great conflicting forces more skilfully. Had his +counsels been always followed, had illustrious birth placed him virtually +upon a throne, as was the case with William the Silent, and thus allowed +him occasionally to carry out the designs of a great mind with almost +despotic authority, it might have been better for the world. But in that +age it was royal blood alone that could command unflinching obedience +without exciting personal rivalry. Men quailed before his majestic +intellect, but hated him for the power which was its necessary result. +They already felt a stupid delight in cavilling at his pedigree. To +dispute his claim to a place among the ancient nobility to which he was +an honour was to revenge themselves for the rank he unquestionably +possessed side by side in all but birth with the kings and rulers of the +world. Whether envy and jealousy be vices more incident to the +republican form of government than to other political systems may be an +open question. But it is no question whatever that Barneveld's every +footstep from this period forward was dogged by envy as patient as it was +devouring. Jealousy stuck to him like his shadow. We have examined the +relations which existed between Winwood and himself; we have seen that +ambassador, now secretary of state for James, never weary in denouncing +the Advocate's haughtiness and grim resolution to govern the country +according to its laws rather than at the dictate of a foreign sovereign, +and in flinging forth malicious insinuations in regard to his relations +to Spain. The man whose every hour was devoted in spite of a thousand +obstacles strewn by stupidity, treachery, and apathy, as well as by envy, +hatred, and bigotry--to the organizing of a grand and universal league of +Protestantism against Spain, and to rolling up with strenuous and +sometimes despairing arms a dead mountain weight, ever ready to fall back +upon and crush him, was accused in dark and mysterious whispers, soon to +grow louder and bolder, of a treacherous inclination for Spain. + +There is nothing less surprising nor more sickening for those who observe +public life, and wish to retain faith in the human species, than the +almost infinite power of the meanest of passions. + +The Advocate was obliged at the very outset of Langerac's mission to +France to give him a warning on this subject. + +"Should her Majesty make kindly mention of me," he said, "you will say +nothing of it in your despatches as you did in your last, although I am +sure with the best intentions. It profits me not, and many take umbrage +at it; wherefore it is wise to forbear." + +But this was a trifle. By and by there would be many to take umbrage at +every whisper in his favour, whether from crowned heads or from the +simplest in the social scale. Meantime he instructed the Ambassador, +without paying heed to personal compliments to his chief, to do his best +to keep the French government out of the hands of Spain, and with that +object in view to smooth over the differences between the two great +parties in the kingdom, and to gain the confidence, if possible, of Conde +and Nevers and Bouillon, while never failing in straightforward respect +and loyal friendship to the Queen-Regent and her ministers, as the +legitimate heads of the government. + +From England a new ambassador was soon to take the place of Winwood. +Sir Dudley Carleton was a diplomatist of respectable abilities, and well +trained to business and routine. Perhaps on the whole there was none +other, in that epoch of official mediocrity, more competent than he to +fill what was then certainly the most important of foreign posts. His +course of life had in no wise familiarized him with the intricacies of +the Dutch constitution, nor could the diplomatic profession, combined +with a long residence at Venice, be deemed especially favourable for deep +studies of the mysteries of predestination. Yet he would be found ready +at the bidding of his master to grapple with Grotius and Barneveld on the +field of history and law, and thread with Uytenbogaert or Taurinus all +the subtleties of Arminianism and Gomarism as if he had been half his +life both a regular practitioner at the Supreme Court of the Hague and +professor of theology at the University of Leyden. Whether the triumphs +achieved in such encounters were substantial and due entirely to his own +genius might be doubtful. At all events he had a sovereign behind him +who was incapable of making a mistake on any subject. + +"You shall not forget," said James in his instructions to Sir Dudley, +"that you are the minister of that master whom God hath made the sole +protector of his religion . . . . . and you may let fall how hateful +the maintaining of erroneous opinions is to the majesty of God and how +displeasing to us." + +The warlike operations of 1614 had been ended by the abortive peace +of Xanten. The two rival pretenders to the duchies were to halve the +territory, drawing lots for the first choice, all foreign troops were +to be withdrawn, and a pledge was to be given that no fortress should +be placed in the hands of any power. But Spain at the last moment had +refused to sanction the treaty, and everything was remitted to what might +be exactly described as a state of sixes and sevens. Subsequently it was +hoped that the States' troops might be induced to withdraw simultaneously +with the Catholic forces on an undertaking by Spinola that there should +be no re-occupation of the disputed territory either by the Republic or +by Spain. But Barneveld accurately pointed out that, although the +Marquis was a splendid commander and, so long as he was at the head of +the armies, a most powerful potentate, he might be superseded at any +moment. Count Bucquoy, for example, might suddenly appear in his place +and refuse to be bound by any military arrangement of his predecessor. +Then the Archduke proposed to give a guarantee that in case of a mutual +withdrawal there should be no return of the troops, no recapture of +garrisons. But Barneveld, speaking for the States, liked not the +security. The Archduke was but the puppet of Spain, and Spain had no +part in the guarantee. She held the strings, and might cause him at any +moment to play what pranks she chose. It would be the easiest thing in +the world for despotic Spain, so the Advocate thought, to reappear +suddenly in force again at a moment's notice after the States' troops had +been withdrawn and partially disbanded, and it would be difficult for the +many-headed and many-tongued republic to act with similar promptness. +To withdraw without a guarantee from Spain to the Treaty of Xanten, which +had once been signed, sealed, and all but ratified, would be to give up +fifty points in the game. Nothing but disaster could ensue. The +Advocate as leader in all these negotiations and correspondence was +ever actuated by the favourite quotation of William the Silent from +Demosthenes, that the safest citadel against an invader and a tyrant is +distrust. And he always distrusted in these dealings, for he was sure +the Spanish cabinet was trying to make fools of the States, and there +were many ready to assist it in the task. Now that one of the +pretenders, temporary master of half the duchies, the Prince of Neuburg, +had espoused both Catholicism and the sister of the Archbishop of Cologne +and the Duke of Bavaria, it would be more safe than ever for Spain to +make a temporary withdrawal. Maximilian of Bavaria was beyond all +question the ablest and most determined leader of the Catholic party in +Germany, and the most straightforward and sincere. No man before or +since his epoch had, like him, been destined to refuse, and more than +once refuse, the Imperial crown. + +Through his apostasy the Prince of Neuburg was in danger of losing his +hereditary estates, his brothers endeavouring to dispossess him on the +ground of the late duke's will, disinheriting any one of his heirs who +should become a convert to Catholicism. He had accordingly implored aid +from the King of Spain. Archduke Albert had urged Philip to render such +assistance as a matter of justice, and the Emperor had naturally declared +that the whole right as eldest son belonged, notwithstanding the will, +to the Prince. + +With the young Neuburg accordingly under the able guidance of Maximilian, +it was not likely that the grasp of the Spanish party upon these all- +important territories would be really loosened. The Emperor still +claimed the right to decide among the candidates and to hold the +provinces under sequestration till the decision should be made--that was +to say, until the Greek Kalends. The original attempt to do this through +Archduke Leopold had been thwarted, as we have seen, by the prompt +movements of Maurice sustained by the policy of Barneveld. The Advocate +was resolved that the Emperor's name should not be mentioned either in +the preamble or body of the treaty. And his course throughout the +simulations, which were never negotiations, was perpetually baffled as +much by the easiness and languor of his allies as the ingenuity of the +enemy. + +He was reproached with the loss of Wesel, that Geneva of the Rhine, +which would never be abandoned by Spain if it was not done forthwith. +Let Spain guarantee the Treaty of Xanten, he said, and then she cannot +come back. All else is illusion. Moreover, the Emperor had given +positive orders that Wesel should not be given up. He was assured by +Villeroy that France would never put on her harness for Aachen, that +cradle of Protestantism. That was for the States-General to do, whom it +so much more nearly concerned. The whole aim of Barneveld was not to +destroy the Treaty of Xanten, but to enforce it in the only way in which +it could be enforced, by the guarantee of Spain. So secured, it would be +a barrier in the universal war of religion which he foresaw was soon to +break out. But it was the resolve of Spain, instead of pledging herself +to the treaty, to establish the legal control of the territory in the +hand of the Emperor. Neuburg complained that Philip in writing to him +did not give him the title of Duke of Julich and Cleve, although be had +been placed in possession of those estates by the arms of Spain. Philip, +referring to Archduke Albert for his opinion on this subject, was advised +that, as the Emperor had not given Neuburg the investiture of the +duchies, the King was quite right in refusing him the title. Even +should the Treaty of Xanten be executed, neither he nor the Elector of +Brandenburg would be anything but administrators until the question of +right was decided by the Emperor. + +Spain had sent Neuburg the Order of the Golden Fleece as a reward for his +conversion, but did not intend him to be anything but a man of straw in +the territories which he claimed by sovereign right. They were to form a +permanent bulwark to the Empire, to Spain, and to Catholicism. + +Barneveld of course could never see the secret letters passing between +Brussels and Madrid, but his insight into the purposes of the enemy was +almost as acute as if the correspondence of Philip and Albert had been in +the pigeonholes of his writing-desk in the Kneuterdyk. + +The whole object of Spain and the Emperor, acting through the Archduke, +was to force the States to abandon their positions in the duchies +simultaneously with the withdrawal of the Spanish troops, and to be +satisfied with a bare convention between themselves and Archduke Albert +that there should be no renewed occupation by either party. Barneveld, +finding it impossible to get Spain upon the treaty, was resolved that at +least the two mediating powers, their great allies, the sovereigns of +Great Britain and France, should guarantee the convention, and that the +promises of the Archduke should be made to them. This was steadily +refused by Spain; for the Archduke never moved an inch in the matter +except according to the orders of Spain, and besides battling and +buffeting with the Archduke, Barneveld was constantly deafened with the +clamour of the English king, who always declared Spain to be in the right +whatever she did, and forced to endure with what patience he might the +goading of that King's envoy. France, on the other hand, supported the +States as firmly as could have been reasonably expected. + +"We proposed," said the Archduke, instructing an envoy whom he was +sending to Madrid with detailed accounts of these negotiations, "that +the promise should be made to each other as usual in treaties. But the +Hollanders said the promise should be made to the Kings of France and +England, at which the Emperor would have been deeply offended, as if +in the affair he was of no account at all. At any moment by this +arrangement in concert with France and England the Hollanders might walk +in and do what they liked." + +Certainly there could have been no succincter eulogy of the policy +steadily recommended, as we shall have occasion to see, by Barneveld. +Had he on this critical occasion been backed by England and France +combined, Spain would have been forced to beat a retreat, and +Protestantism in the great general war just beginning would have had +an enormous advantage in position. But the English Solomon could not +see the wisdom of this policy. "The King of England says we are right," +continued the Archduke, "and has ordered his ambassador to insist on our +view. The French ambassador here says that his colleague at the Hague +has similar instructions, but admits that he has not acted up to them. +There is not much chance of the Hollanders changing. It would be well +that the King should send a written ultimatum that the Hollanders should +sign the convention which we propose. If they don't agree, the world at +least will see that it is not we who are in fault." + +The world would see, and would never have forgiven a statesman in +the position of Barneveld, had he accepted a bald agreement from a +subordinate like the Archduke, a perfectly insignificant personage in +the great drama then enacting, and given up guarantees both from the +Archduke's master and from the two great allies of the Republic. He +stood out manfully against Spain and England at every hazard, and under a +pelting storm of obloquy, and this was the man whose designs the English +secretary of state had dared to describe "as of no other nature than to +cause the Provinces to relapse into the hands of Spain." + +It appeared too a little later that Barneveld's influence with the French +government, owing to his judicious support of it so long as it was a +government, had been decidedly successful. Drugged as France was by the +Spanish marriage treaty, she was yet not so sluggish nor spell-bound as +the King of Great Britain. + +"France will not urge upon the Hollanders to execute the proposal as we +made it," wrote the Archduke to the King, "so negotiations are at a +standstill. The Hollanders say it is better that each party should +remain with what each possesses. So that if it does not come to blows, +and if these insolences go on as they have done, the Hollanders will be +gaining and occupying more territory every day." + +Thus once more the ancient enemies and masters of the Republic were +making the eulogy of the Dutch statesman. It was impossible at present +for the States to regain Wesel, nor that other early stronghold of the +Reformation, the old Imperial city of Aachen (Aix-la-Chapelle). The +price to be paid was too exorbitant. + +The French government had persistently refused to assist the States and +possessory princes in the recovery of this stronghold. The Queen-Regent +was afraid of offending Spain, although her government had induced the +citizens of the place to make the treaty now violated by that country. +The Dutch ambassador had been instructed categorically to enquire whether +their Majesties meant to assist Aachen and the princes if attacked by the +Archdukes. "No," said Villeroy; "we are not interested in Aachen, 'tis +too far off. Let them look for assistance to those who advised their +mutiny." + +To the Ambassador's remonstrance that France was both interested in and +pledged to them, the Secretary of State replied, "We made the treaty +through compassion and love, but we shall not put on harness for Aachen. +Don't think it. You, the States and the United Provinces, may assist +them if you like." + +The Envoy then reminded the Minister that the States-General had always +agreed to go forward evenly in this business with the Kings of Great +Britain and France and the united princes, the matter being of equal +importance to all. They had given no further pledge than this to the +Union. + +It was plain, however, that France was determined not to lift a finger at +that moment. The Duke of Bouillon and those acting with him had tried +hard to induce their Majesties "to write seriously to the Archduke in +order at least to intimidate him by stiff talk," but it was hopeless. +They thought it was not a time then to quarrel with their neighbour and +give offence to Spain. + +So the stiff talk was omitted, and the Archduke was not intimidated. The +man who had so often intimidated him was in his grave, and his widow was +occupied in marrying her son to the Infanta. "These are the first- +fruits," said Aerssens, "of the new negotiations with Spain." + +Both the Spanish king and the Emperor were resolved to hold Wesel to the +very last. Until the States should retire from all their positions on +the bare word of the Archduke, that the Spanish forces once withdrawn +would never return, the Protestants of those two cities must suffer. +There was no help for it. To save them would be to abandon all. For +no true statesman could be so ingenuous as thus to throw all the cards +on the table for the Spanish and Imperial cabinet to shuffle them at +pleasure for a new deal. The Duke of Neuburg, now Catholic and +especially protected by Spain, had become, instead of a pretender with +more or less law on his side, a mere standard-bearer and agent of the +Great Catholic League in the debateable land. He was to be supported at +all hazard by the Spanish forces, according to the express command of +Philip's government, especially now that his two brothers with the +countenance of the States were disputing his right to his hereditary +dominions in Germany. + +The Archduke was sullen enough at what he called the weak-mindedness of +France. Notwithstanding that by express orders from Spain he had sent +5000 troops under command of Juan de Rivas to the Queen's assistance just +before the peace of Sainte-Menehould, he could not induce her government +to take the firm part which the English king did in browbeating the +Hollanders. + +"'Tis certain," he complained, "that if, instead of this sluggishness on +the part of France, they had done us there the same good services we have +had from England, the Hollanders would have accepted the promise just as +it was proposed by us." He implored the King, therefore, to use his +strongest influence with the French government that it should strenuously +intervene with the Hollanders, and compel them to sign the proposal which +they rejected. "There is no means of composition if France does not +oblige them to sign," said Albert rather piteously. + +But it was not without reason that Barneveld had in many of his letters +instructed the States' ambassador, Langerac, "to caress the old +gentleman" (meaning and never naming Villeroy), for he would prove to be +in spite of all obstacles a good friend to the States, as he always had +been. And Villeroy did hold firm. Whether the Archduke was right or +not in his conviction, that, if France would only unite with England in +exerting a strong pressure on the Hollanders, they would evacuate the +duchies, and so give up the game, the correspondence of Barneveld shows +very accurately. But the Archduke, of course, had not seen that +correspondence. + +The Advocate knew what was plotting, what was impending, what was +actually accomplished, for he was accustomed to sweep the whole horizon +with an anxious and comprehensive glance. He knew without requiring to +read the secret letters of the enemy that vast preparations for an +extensive war against the Reformation were already completed. The +movements in the duchies were the first drops of a coming deluge. +The great religious war which was to last a generation of mankind had +already begun; the immediate and apparent pretext being a little +disputed succession to some petty sovereignties, the true cause being +the necessity for each great party--the Protestant Union and the Catholic +League--to secure these border provinces, the possession of which would +be of such inestimable advantage to either. If nothing decisive occurred +in the year 1614, the following year would still be more convenient for +the League. There had been troubles in Turkey. The Grand Vizier had +been murdered. The Sultan was engaged in a war with Persia. There was +no eastern bulwark in Europe to the ever menacing power of the Turk and +of Mahometanism in Europe save Hungary alone. Supported and ruled as +that kingdom was by the House of Austria, the temper of the populations +of Germany had become such as to make it doubtful in the present conflict +of religious opinions between them and their rulers whether the Turk or +the Spaniard would be most odious as an invader. But for the moment, +Spain and the Emperor had their hands free. They were not in danger of +an attack from below the Danube. Moreover, the Spanish fleet had been +achieving considerable successes on the Barbary coast, having seized La +Roche, and one or two important citadels, useful both against the +corsairs and against sudden attacks by sea from the Turk. There were at +least 100,000 men on a war footing ready to take the field at command of +the two branches of the House of Austria, Spanish and German. In the +little war about Montserrat, Savoy was on the point of being crushed, +and Savoy was by position and policy the only possible ally, in the +south, of the Netherlands and of Protestant Germany. + +While professing the most pacific sentiments towards the States, and a +profound anxiety to withdraw his troops from their borders, the King of +Spain, besides daily increasing those forces, had just raised 4,000,000 +ducats, a large portion of which was lodged with his bankers in Brussels. +Deeds like those were of more significance than sugared words. + + + +ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS: + +Almost infinite power of the meanest of passions +Ludicrous gravity +Safest citadel against an invader and a tyrant is distrust +Their own roofs were not quite yet in a blaze +Therefore now denounced the man whom he had injured + + + + + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LIFE OF JOHN OF BARNEVELD, 1613-15 *** + +************ This file should be named 4891.txt or 4891.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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