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Title: The Rise of the Dutch Republic, 1568
Author: John Lothrop Motley
Release Date: January, 2004 [EBook #4816]
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[This file was first posted on March 19, 2002]
Edition: 10
Language: English
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DUTCH REPUBLIC, 1568 ***
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MOTLEY'S HISTORY OF THE NETHERLANDS, PG EDITION, VOLUME 16.
THE RISE OF THE DUTCH REPUBLIC
By John Lothrop Motley
1855
1568 [CHAPTER III.]
Preparations of the Duke against Count Louis--Precarious situation
of Louis in Friesland--Timidity of the inhabitants--Alva in
Friesland--Skirmishing near Groningen--Retreat of the patriots--
Error committed by Louis--His position at Jemmingen--Mutinous
demonstrations of his troops--Louis partially restores order--
Attempt to destroy the dykes interrupted by the arrival of Alva's
forces--Artful strategy of the Duke--Defeat of Count Louis and utter
destruction of his army--Outrages committed by the Spaniards--Alva
at Utrecht--Execution of Vrow van Diemen--Episode of Don Carlos--
Fables concerning him and Queen Isabella--Mystery, concerning his
death--Secret letters of Philip to the Pope--The one containing the
truth of the transaction still concealed in the Vatican--Case
against Philip as related by Mathieu, De Thou, and others--Testimony
in the King's favor by the nuncio, the Venetian envoy, and others--
Doubtful state of the question--Anecdotes concerning Don Carlos--His
character.
Those measures were taken with the precision and promptness which marked
the Duke's character, when precision and promptness were desirable.
There had been a terrible energy in his every step, since the successful
foray of Louis Nassau. Having determined to take the field in person
with nearly all the Spanish veterans, he had at once acted upon the
necessity of making the capital secure, after his back should be turned.
It was impossible to leave three thousand choice troops to guard Count
Egmont. A less number seemed insufficient to prevent a rescue. He had,
therefore, no longer delayed the chastisement which had already been
determined, but which the events in the north had precipitated. Thus the
only positive result of Louis Nassau's victory was the execution of his
imprisoned friends.
The expedition under Aremberg had failed from two causes. The Spanish
force had been inadequate, and they had attacked the enemy at a
disadvantage. The imprudent attack was the result of the contempt
with which they had regarded their antagonist. These errors were not to
be repeated. Alva ordered Count Meghem, now commanding in the province
of Groningen, on no account to hazard hostilities until the game was
sure. He also immediately ordered large reinforcements to move forward
to the seat of war. The commanders intrusted with this duty were Duke
Eric of Brunswick, Chiappin Vitelli, Noircarmes, and Count de Roeulx.
The rendezvous for the whole force was Deventer, and here they all
arrived on the 10th July. On the same day the Duke of Alva himself
entered Deventer, to take command in person. On the evening of the 14th
July he reached Rolden, a village three leagues distant from Groningen,
at the head of three terzios of Spanish infantry, three companies of
light horse, and a troop of dragoons. His whole force in and about
Groningen amounted to fifteen thousand choice troops besides a large but
uncertain number of less disciplined soldiery.
Meantime, Louis of Nassau, since his victory, had accomplished nothing.
For this inactivity there was one sufficient excuse, the total want of
funds. His only revenue was the amount of black mail which he was able
to levy upon the inhabitants of the province. He repeated his
determination to treat them all as enemies, unless they furnished him
with the means of expelling their tyrants from the country. He obtained
small sums in this manner from time to time. The inhabitants were
favorably disposed, but they were timid and despairing. They saw no
clear way towards the accomplishment of the result concerning which Louis
was so confident. They knew that the terrible Alva was already on his
way. They felt sure of being pillaged by both parties, and of being
hanged as rebels, besides, as soon as the Governor-general should make
his appearance.
Louis had, however, issued two formal proclamations for two especial
contributions. In these documents he had succinctly explained that the
houses of all recusants should be forthwith burned about their ears, and
in consequence of these peremptory measures, he had obtained some ten
thousand florins. Alva ordered counter-proclamations to be affixed to
church doors and other places, forbidding all persons to contribute to
these forced loans of the rebels, on penalty of paying twice as much to
the Spaniards, with arbitrary punishment in addition, after his arrival.
The miserable inhabitants, thus placed between two fires, had nothing for
it but to pay one-half of their property to support the rebellion in the
first place, with the prospect of giving the other half as a subsidy to
tyranny afterwards; while the gibbet stood at the end of the vista to
reward their liberality. Such was the horrible position of the peasantry
in this civil conflict. The weight of guilt thus accumulated upon the
crowned head which conceived, and upon the red right hand which wrought
all this misery, what human scales can measure?
With these precarious means of support, the army of Louis of Nassau, as
may easily be supposed, was anything but docile. After the victory of
Heiliger Lee there had seemed to his German mercenaries a probability of
extensive booty, which grew fainter as the slender fruit of that battle
became daily more apparent. The two abbots of Wittewerum and of Heiliger
Lee, who had followed Aremberg's train in order to be witnesses of his
victory, had been obliged to pay to the actual conqueror a heavy price
for the entertainment to which they had invited themselves, and these
sums, together with the amounts pressed from the reluctant estates, and
the forced contributions paid by luckless peasants, enabled him to keep
his straggling troops together a few weeks longer. Mutiny, however, was
constantly breaking out, and by the eloquent expostulations and vague
promises of the Count, was with difficulty suppressed.
He had, for a few weeks immediately succeeding the battle, distributed
his troops in three different stations. On the approach of the Duke,
however, he hastily concentrated his whole force at his own strongly
fortified camp, within half cannon shot of Groningen. His army, such as
it was, numbered from 10,000 to 12,000 men. Alva reached Groningen early
in the morning, and without pausing a moment, marched his troops directly
through the city. He then immediately occupied an entrenched and
fortified house, from which it was easy to inflict damage upon the camp.
This done, the Duke, with a few attendants, rode forward to reconnoitre
the enemy in person. He found him in a well fortified position, having
the river on his front, which served as a moat to his camp, and with a
deep trench three hundred yards beyond, in addition. Two wooden bridges
led across the river; each was commanded by a fortified house, in which
was a provision of pine torches, ready at a moment's warning, to set fire
to the bridges. Having thus satisfied himself, the Duke rode back to his
army, which had received strict orders not to lift a finger till his
return. He then despatched a small force of five hundred musketeers,
under Robles, to skirmish with the enemy, and, if possible, to draw them
from their trenches.
The troops of Louis, however, showed no greediness to engage. On the
contrary, it soon became evident that their dispositions were of an
opposite tendency. The Count himself, not at that moment trusting his
soldiery, who were in an extremely mutinous condition, was desirous of
falling back before his formidable antagonist. The Duke, faithful,
however, to his life-long principles, had no intentions of precipitating
the action in those difficult and swampy regions. The skirmishing,
therefore, continued for many hours, an additional force of 1000 men
being detailed from the Spanish army. The day was very sultry, however,
the enemy reluctant, and the whole action languid. At last, towards
evening, a large body, tempted beyond their trenches, engaged warmly with
the Spaniards. The combat lasted but a few minutes, the patriots were
soon routed, and fled precipitately back to their camp. The panic spread
with them, and the whole army was soon in retreat. On retiring, they
had, however, set fire to the bridges, and thus secured an advantage at
the outset of the chase. The Spaniards were no longer to be held.
Vitelli obtained permission to follow with 2000 additional troops. The
fifteen hundred who had already been engaged, charged furiously upon
their retreating foes. Some dashed across the blazing bridges, with
their garments and their very beards on fire. Others sprang into the
river. Neither fire nor water could check the fierce pursuit. The
cavalry dismounting, drove their horses into the stream, and clinging to
their tails, pricked the horses forward with their lances. Having thus
been dragged across, they joined their comrades in the mad chase along
the narrow dykes, and through the swampy and almost impassable country
where the rebels were seeking shelter. The approach of night, too soon
advancing, at last put an end to the hunt. The Duke with difficulty
recalled his men, and compelled them to restrain their eagerness until
the morrow. Three hundred of the patriots were left dead upon the field,
besides at least an equal number who perished in the river and canals.
The army of Louis was entirely routed, and the Duke considered it
virtually destroyed. He wrote to the state council that he should pursue
them the next day, but doubted whether he should find anybody to talk
with him. In this the Governor-general soon found himself delightfully
disappointed.
Five days later, the Duke arrived at Reyden, on the Ems. Owing to the
unfavorable disposition of the country people, who were willing to
protect the fugitives by false information to their pursuers, he was
still in doubt as to the position then occupied by the enemy. He had
been fearful that they would be found at this very village of Reyden.
It was a fatal error on the part of Count Louis that they were not.
Had lie made a stand at this point, he might have held out a long time.
The bridge which here crossed the river would have afforded him a retreat
into Germany at any moment, and the place was easily to be defended in
front. Thus he might have maintained himself against his fierce but wary
foe, while his brother Orange, who was at Strasburg watching the progress
of events, was executing his own long-planned expedition into the heart
of the Netherlands. With Alva thus occupied in Friesland, the results of
such an invasion might have been prodigious. It was, however, not on the
cards for that campaign. The mutinous disposition of the mercenaries
under his command had filled Louis with doubt and disgust. Bold and
sanguine, but always too fiery and impatient, he saw not much possibility
of paying his troops any longer with promises. Perhaps he was not
unwilling to place them in a position where they would be obliged to
fight or to perish. At any rate, such was their present situation.
Instead of halting at Reyden, he had made his stand at Jemmingen, about
four leagues distant from that place, and a little further down the
river. Alva discovered this important fact soon after his arrival at
Reyden, and could not conceal his delight. Already exulting at the error
made by his adversary, in neglecting the important position which he now
occupied himself, he was doubly delighted at learning the nature of the
place which he had in preference selected. He saw that Louis had
completely entrapped himself.
Jemmingen was a small town on the left bank of the Ems. The stream here
very broad and deep, is rather a tide inlet than a river, being but a
very few miles from the Dollart. This circular bay, or ocean chasm, the
result of the violent inundation of the 13th century, surrounds, with the
river, a narrow peninsula. In the corner of this peninsula, as in the
bottom of a sack, Louis had posted his army. His infantry, as usual,
was drawn up in two large squares, and still contained ten thousand men.
The rear rested upon the village, the river was upon his left; his meagre
force of cavalry upon the right. In front were two very deep trenches.
The narrow road, which formed the only entrance to his camp, was guarded
by a ravelin on each side, and by five pieces of artillery.
The Duke having reconnoitred the enemy in person, rode back, satisfied
that no escape was possible. The river was too deep and too wide for
swimming or wading, and there were but very few boats. Louis was shut up
between twelve thousand Spanish veterans and the river Ems. The rebel
army, although not insufficient in point of numbers, was in a state of
disorganization. They were furious for money and reluctant to fight.
They broke out into open mutiny upon the very verge of battle, and swore
that they would instantly disband, if the gold, which, as they believed,
had been recently brought into the camp, were not immediately distributed
among them. Such was the state of things on the eventful morning of the
21st July. All the expostulations of Count Louis seemed powerless. His
eloquence and his patience, both inferior to his valor, were soon
exhausted. He peremptorily, refused the money for which they clamored,
giving the most cogent of all reasons, an empty coffer. He demonstrated
plainly that they were in that moment to make their election, whether to
win a victory or to submit to a massacre. Neither flight nor surrender
was possible. They knew how much quarter they could expect from the
lances of the Spaniards or the waters of the Dollart. Their only chance
of salvation lay in their own swords. The instinct of self-preservation,
thus invoked, exerted a little of its natural effect.
Meantime, a work which had been too long neglected, was then, if
possible, to be performed. In that watery territory, the sea was only
held in check by artificial means. In a very short time, by the
demolition of a few dykes and the opening of a few sluices, the whole
country through which the Spaniards had to pass could be laid under
water. Believing it yet possible to enlist the ocean in his defence,
Louis, having partially reduced his soldiers to obedience, ordered a
strong detachment upon this important service. Seizing a spade, he
commenced the work himself, and then returned to set his army in battle
array. Two or three tide gates had been opened, two or three bridges had
been demolished, when Alva, riding in advance of his army, appeared
within a mile or two of Jemmingen. It was then eight o'clock in the
morning. The patriots redoubled their efforts. By ten o'clock the
waters were already knee high, and in some places as deep as to the
waist. At that hour, the advanced guard of the Spaniards arrived.
Fifteen hundred musketeers were immediately ordered forward by the Duke.
They were preceded by a company of mounted carabineers, attended by a
small band of volunteers of distinction. This little band threw
themselves at once upon the troops engaged in destroying the dykes. The
rebels fled at the first onset, and the Spaniards closed the gates.
Feeling the full importance of the moment, Count Louis ordered a large
force of musketeers to recover the position, and to complete the work of
inundation. It was too late. The little band of Spaniards held the post
with consummate tenacity. Charge after charge, volley after volley, from
the overwhelming force brought against them, failed to loosen the fierce
grip with which they held this key to the whole situation. Before they
could be driven from the dykes, their comrades arrived, when all their
antagonists at once made a hurried retreat to their camp.
Very much the same tactics were now employed by the Duke, as in the
engagement near Selwaert Abbey. He was resolved that this affair, also,
should be a hunt, not a battle; but foresaw that it was to be a more
successful one. There was no loophole of escape, so that after a little
successful baiting, the imprisoned victims would be forced to spring from
their lurking-place, to perish upon his spears. On his march from Reyden
that morning, he had taken care to occupy every farm-house, every
building of whatever description along the road, with his troops. He had
left a strong guard on the bridge at Reyden, and had thus closed
carefully every avenue. The same fifteen hundred musketeers were now
advanced further towards the camp. This small force, powerfully but
secretly sustained, was to feel the enemy; to skirmish with him, and to
draw him as soon as possible out of his trenches. The plan succeeded.
Gradually the engagements between them and the troops sent out by Count
Louis grew more earnest. Finding so insignificant a force opposed to
them, the mutinous rebels took courage. The work waged hot. Lodrono and
Romero, commanders of the musketeers, becoming alarmed, sent to the Duke
for reinforcements. He sent back word in reply, that if they were not
enough to damage the enemy, they could, at least, hold their own for the
present. So much he had a right to expect of Spanish soldiers. At any
rate, he should send no reinforcements,
Again they were more warmly pressed; again their messenger returned with
the same reply. A third time they send the most urgent entreaties for
succour. The Duke was still inexorable.
Meantime the result of this scientific angling approached. By noon the
rebels, not being able to see how large a portion of the Spanish army had
arrived, began to think the affair not so serious. Count Louis sent out
a reconnoitring party upon the river in a few boats. They returned
without having been able to discover any large force. It seemed
probable, therefore, that the inundation had been more successful in
stopping their advance than had been supposed. Louis, always too rash,
inflamed his men with temporary enthusiasm. Determined to cut their way
out by one vigorous movement, the whole army at last marched forth from
their entrenchments, with drums beating, colors flying; but already the
concealed reinforcements of their enemies were on the spot. The patriots
met with a warmer reception than they had expected. Their courage
evaporated. Hardly had they advanced three hundred yards, when the whole
body wavered and then retreated precipitately towards the encampment,
having scarcely exchanged a shot with the enemy. Count Louis, in a
frenzy of rage and despair, flew from rank to rank, in vain endeavouring
to rally his terror-stricken troops. It was hopeless. The battery which
guarded the road was entirely deserted. He rushed to the cannon himself,
and fired them all with his own hand. It was their first and last
discharge. His single arm, however bold, could not turn the tide of
battle, and he was swept backwards with his coward troops. In a moment
afterwards, Don Lope de Figueroa, who led the van of the Spaniards,
dashed upon the battery, and secured it, together with the ravelins.
Their own artillery was turned against the rebels, and the road was
soon swept. The Spaniards in large numbers now rushed through the
trenches in pursuit of the retreating foe. No resistance was offered,
nor quarter given. An impossible escape was all which was attempted.
It was not a battle, but a massacre. Many of the beggars in their flight
threw down their arms; all had forgotten their use. Their antagonists
butchered them in droves, while those who escaped the sword were hurled
into the river. Seven Spaniards were killed, and seven thousand rebels.
[Letter of Alva to the Council of State. Correspondanee du Duc
d'Albe, 158. The same letter is published in Igor, iv. 245, 246.
All writers allow seven thousand to have been killed on the patriot
side, and--the number of Spaniards slain is not estimated at more
than eighty, even by the patriotic Meteren, 55. Compare Bor, iv.
245-246; Herrera, av. 696; Hoofd, v, 176, and Mendoza, 72.]
The swift ebb-tide swept the hats of the perishing wretches in such
numbers down the stream, that the people at Embden knew the result of the
battle in an incredibly short period of time. The skirmishing had lasted
from ten o'clock till one, but the butchery continued much longer. It
took time to slaughter even unresisting victims. Large numbers obtained
refuge for the night upon an island in the river. At low water next day
the Spaniards waded to them, and slew every man. Many found concealment
in hovels, swamps, and thickets, so that the whole of the following day
was occupied in ferreting out and despatching them. There was so much to
be done, that there was work enough for all. "Not a soldier," says, with
great simplicity, a Spanish historian who fought in the battle, "not a
soldier, nor even a lad, who wished to share in the victory, but could
find somebody to wound, to kill, to burn, or to drown." The wounding,
killing, burning, drowning lasted two days, and very few escaped. The
landward pursuit extended for three or four leagues around, so that the
roads and pastures were covered with bodies, with corslets, and other
weapons. Count Louis himself stripped off his clothes, and made his
escape, when all was over, by swimming across the Ems. With the paltry
remnant of his troops he again took refuge in Germany.
The Spanish army, two days afterwards, marched back to Groningen. The
page which records their victorious campaign is foul with outrage and red
with blood. None of the horrors which accompany the passage of hostile
troops through a defenceless country were omitted. Maids and matrons
were ravished in multitudes; old men butchered in cold blood. As Alva
returned, with the rear-guard of his army, the whole sky was red with a
constant conflagration; the very earth seemed changed to ashes. Every
peasant's hovel, every farm-house, every village upon the road had been
burned to the ground. So gross and so extensive had been the outrage,
that the commander-in-chief felt it due to his dignity to hang some of
his own soldiers who had most distinguished themselves in this work.
Thus ended the campaign of Count Louis in Friesland. Thus signally and
terribly had the Duke of Alva vindicated the supremacy of Spanish
discipline and of his own military skill.
On his return to Groningen, the estates were summoned, and received a
severe lecture for their suspicious demeanour in regard to the rebellion.
In order more effectually to control both province and city, the
Governor-general ordered the construction of a strong fortress, which
was soon begun but never completed. Having thus furnished himself with
a key to this important and doubtful region, he returned by way of
Amsterdam to Utrecht. There he was met by his son Frederic with strong
reinforcements. The Duke reviewed his whole army, and found himself at
the head of 30,000 infantry and 7,000 cavalry. Having fully subdued the
province, he had no occupation for such a force, but he improved the
opportunity by cutting off the head of an old woman in Utrecht. The Vrow
van Diemen, eighteen months previously, had given the preacher Arendsoon
a night's lodging in her house. The crime had, in fact, been committed
by her son-in-law, who dwelt under her roof, and who had himself, without
her participation, extended this dangerous hospitality to a heretic; but
the old lady, although a devout Catholic, was rich. Her execution would
strike a wholesome terror into the hearts of her neighbours. The
confiscation of her estates would bring a handsome sum into the
government coffers. It would be made manifest that the same hand which
could destroy an army of twelve thousand rebels at a blow could inflict
as signal punishment on the small delinquencies of obscure individuals.
The old lady, who was past eighty-four years of age, was placed in a
chair upon the scaffold. She met her death with heroism, and treated her
murderers with contempt. "I understand very well," she observed, "why my
death is considered necessary. The calf is fat and must be killed." To
the executioner she expressed a hope that his sword was sufficiently
sharp, "as he was likely to find her old neck very tough." With this
grisly parody upon the pathetic dying words of Anne Boleyn, the
courageous old gentlewoman submitted to her fate.
The tragedy of Don Carlos does not strictly belong to our subject, which
is the rise of the Netherland commonwealth--not the decline of the
Spanish monarchy, nor the life of Philip the Second. The thread is but
slender which connects the unhappy young prince with the fortunes of the
northern republic. He was said, no doubt with truth, to desire the
government of Flanders. He was also supposed to be in secret
correspondence with the leaders of the revolt in the provinces.
He appeared, however, to possess very little of their confidence.
His name is only once mentioned by William of Orange, who said in a
letter that "the Prince of Spain had lately eaten sixteen pounds of
fruit, including four pounds of grapes at a single sitting, and had
become ill in consequence." The result was sufficiently natural, but it
nowhere appears that the royal youth, born to consume the fruits of the
earth so largely, had ever given the Netherlanders any other proof of
his capacity to govern them. There is no doubt that he was a most
uncomfortable personage at home, both to himself and to others, and that
he hated his father' very cordially. He was extremely incensed at the
nomination of Alva to the Netherlands, because he had hoped that either
the King would go thither or entrust the mission to him, in either of
which events he should be rid for a time of the paternal authority, or
at least of the paternal presence. It seems to be well ascertained that
Carlos nourished towards his father a hatred which might lead to criminal
attempts, but there is no proof that such attempts were ever made. As to
the fabulous amours of the Prince and the Queen, they had never any
existence save in the imagination of poets, who have chosen to find
a source of sentimental sorrow for the Infante in the arbitrary
substitution of his father for himself in the marriage contract with the
daughter of Henry the Second. As Carlos was but twelve or thirteen years
of age when thus deprived of a bride whom he had never seen, the
foundation for a passionate regret was but slight. It would hardly be
a more absurd fantasy, had the poets chosen to represent Philip's father,
the Emperor Charles, repining in his dotage for the loss of "bloody
Mary," whom he had so handsomely ceded to his son. Philip took a bad old
woman to relieve his father; he took a fair young princess at his son's
expense; but similar changes in state marriages were such matters of
course, that no emotions were likely to be created in consequence. There
is no proof whatever, nor any reason to surmise; that any love passages
ever existed between Don Carlos and his step-mother.
As to the process and the death of the Prince, the mystery has not yet
been removed, and the field is still open to conjecture. It seems a
thankless task to grope in the dark after the truth at a variety of
sources; when the truth really exists in tangible shape if profane hands
could be laid upon it. The secret is buried in the bosom of the Vatican.
Philip wrote two letters on the subject to Pius V. The contents of the
first (21st January, 1568) are known. He informed the pontiff that he
had been obliged to imprison his son, and promised that he would, in the
conduct of the affair, omit nothing which could be expected of a father
and of a just and prudent king. The second letter, in which he narrated,
or is supposed to have narrated, the whole course of the tragic
proceedings, down to the death and burial of the Prince, has never yet
been made public. There are hopes that this secret missive, after three
centuries of darkness, may soon see the light.--[I am assured by Mr.
Gachard that a copy of this important letter is confidently expected by
the Commission Royale d'Histoire.]
As Philip generally told the truth to the Pope, it is probable that the
secret, when once revealed, will contain the veritable solution of the
mystery. Till that moment arrives, it seems idle to attempt fathoming
the matter. Nevertheless, it may be well briefly to state the case as it
stands. As against the King, it rests upon no impregnable, but certainly
upon respectable authority. The Prince of Orange, in his famous Apology,
calls Philip the murderer of his wife and of his son, and says that there
was proof of the facts in France. He alludes to the violent death of
Carlos almost as if it were an indisputable truth. "As for Don Charles,"
he says, "was he not our future sovereign? And if the father could
allege against his son fit cause for death, was it not rather for us
to judge him than for three or four monks or inquisitors of Spain?"
The historian, P. Matthieu, relates that Philip assembled his council of
conscience; that they recommended mercy; that hereupon Philip gave the
matter to the inquisition, by which tribunal Carlos was declared a
heretic on account of his connexion with Protestants, and for his attempt
against his father's life was condemned to death, and that the sentence
was executed by four slaves, two holding the arms, one the feet, while
the fourth strangled him.
De Thou gives the following account of the transaction, having derived
many of his details from the oral communications of Louis de Foix:
Philip imagined that his son was about to escape from Spain, and to make
his way to the Netherlands. The King also believed himself in danger of
assassination from Carlos, his chief evidence being that the Prince
always carried pistols in the pockets of his loose breeches. As Carlos
wished always to be alone at night without any domestic in his chamber,
de Foix had arranged for him a set of pulleys, by means of which he could
open or shut his door without rising from his bed. He always slept with
two pistols and two drawn swords under his pillow, and had two loaded
arquebusses in a wardrobe close at hand. These remarkable precautions
would seem rather to indicate a profound fear of being himself
assassinated; but they were nevertheless supposed to justify Philip's
suspicions, that the Infante was meditating parricide. On Christmas eve,
however (1567), Don Carlos told his confessor that he had determined to
kill a man. The priest, in consequence, refused to admit him to the
communion. The Prince demanded, at least, a wafer which was not
consecrated, in order that he might seem to the people to be
participating in the sacrament. The confessor declined the proposal,
and immediately repairing to the King, narrated the whole story. Philip
exclaimed that he was himself the man whom the Prince intended to kill,
but that measures should be forthwith taken to prevent such a design.
The monarch then consulted the Holy Office of the inquisition, and the
resolution was taken to arrest his son. De Foix was compelled to alter
the pulleys of the door to the Prince's chamber in such a manner that it
could be opened without the usual noise, which was almost sure to awaken
him. At midnight, accordingly, Count Lerma entered the room so
stealthily that the arms were all, removed from the Prince's pillow and
the wardrobe, without awakening the sleeper. Philip, Ruy Gomez, the Duke
de Feria, and two other nobles, then noiselessly, crept into the
apartment. Carlos still slept so profoundly that it was necessary
for Derma to shake him violently by the arm before he could be aroused.
Starting from his sleep in the dead of night, and seeing his father thus
accompanied, before his bed, the Prince cried out that he was a dead man,
and earnestly besought the bystanders to make an end of him at once.
Philip assured him, however, that he was not come to kill him, but to
chastise him paternally, and to recal him to his duty. He then read
him a serious lecture, caused him to rise from his bed, took away his
servants, and placed him under guard. He was made to array himself in
mourning habiliments, and to sleep on a truckle bed. The Prince was in
despair. He soon made various attempts upon his own life. He threw
himself into the fire, but was rescued by his guards, with his clothes
all in flames. He passed several days without taking any food, and then
ate so many patties of minced meat that he nearly died of indigestion.
He was also said to have attempted to choke himself with a diamond, and
to have been prevented by his guard; to have filled his bed with ice; to
have sat in cold draughts; to have gone eleven days without food, the
last method being, as one would think, sufficiently thorough. Philip,
therefore, seeing his son thus desperate, consulted once more with the
Holy Office, and came to the decision that it was better to condemn him
legitimately to death than to permit him to die by his own hand. In
order, however, to save appearances, the order was secretly carried into
execution. Don Carlos was made to swallow poison in a bowl of broth, of
which he died in a few hours. This was at the commencement of his
twenty-third year. The death was concealed for several months, and was
not made public till after Alva's victory at Jemmingen.
Such was the account drawn up by de Thou from the oral communications of
de Foix, and from other sources not indicated. Certainly, such a
narrative is far from being entitled to implicit credence. The historian
was a contemporary, but he was not in Spain, and the engineer's testimony
is, of course, not entitled to much consideration on the subject of the
process and the execution (if there were an execution); although
conclusive as to matters which had been within his personal knowledge.
For the rest, all that it can be said to establish is the existence of
the general rumor, that Carlos came to his death by foul means and in
consequence of advice given by the inquisition.
On the other hand, in all the letters written at the period by persons
in Madrid most likely, from their position, to know the truth, not a
syllable has been found in confirmation of the violent death said to have
been suffered by Carlos. Secretary Erasso, the papal nuncio Castagna,
the Venetian envoy Cavalli, all express a conviction that the death of
the prince had been brought about by his own extravagant conduct and
mental excitement; by alternations of starving and voracious eating, by
throwing himself into the fire; by icing his bed, and by similar acts of
desperation. Nearly every writer alludes to the incident of the refusal
of the priest to admit Carlos to communion, upon the ground of his
confessed deadly hatred to an individual whom all supposed to be the
King. It was also universally believed that Carlos meant to kill his
father. The nuncio asked Spinosa (then president of Castile) if this
report were true. "If nothing more were to be feared," answered the
priest, "the King would protect himself by other measures," but the matter
was worse, if worse could be. The King, however, summoned all the
foreign diplomatic body and assured them that the story was false. After
his arrest, the Prince, according to Castagna, attempted various means
of suicide, abstaining, at last, many days from food, and dying in
consequence, "discoursing, upon his deathbed, gravely and like a man of
sense."
The historian Cabrera, official panegyrist of Philip the Second, speaks
of the death of Carlos as a natural one, but leaves a dark kind of
mystery about the symptoms of his disease. He states, that the Prince
was tried and condemned by a commission or junta, consisting of Spinosa,
Ruy Gomez, and the Licentiate Virviesca, but that he was carried off by
an illness, the nature of which he does not describe.
Llorente found nothing in the records of the Inquisition to prove that
the Holy Office had ever condemned the Prince or instituted any process
against him. He states that he was condemned by a commission, but that
he died of a sickness which supervened. It must be confessed that the
illness was a convenient one, and that such diseases are very apt to
attack individuals whom tyrants are disposed to remove from their path,
while desirous, at the same time, to save appearances. It would
certainly be presumptuous to accept implicitly the narrative of de Thou,
which is literally followed by Hoofd and by many modern writers. On the
other hand, it would be an exaggeration of historical scepticism to
absolve Philip from the murder of his son, solely upon negative
testimony. The people about court did not believe in the crime. They
saw no proofs of it. Of course they saw none. Philip would take good
care that there should be none if he had made up his mind that the death
of the Prince should be considered a natural one. And priori argument,
which omits the character of the suspected culprit, and the extraordinary
circumstances of time and place, is not satisfactory. Philip thoroughly
understood the business of secret midnight murder. We shall soon have
occasion to relate the elaborate and ingenious method by which the
assassination of Montigny was accomplished and kept a profound secret
from the whole world, until the letters of the royal assassin, after
three centuries' repose, were exhumed, and the foul mystery revealed.
Philip was capable of any crime. Moreover, in his letter to his aunt,
Queen Catharine of Portugal, he distinctly declares himself, like
Abraham, prepared to go all lengths in obedience to the Lord. "I have
chosen in this matter," he said, "to make the sacrifice to God of my own
flesh and blood, and to prefer His service and the universal welfare to
all other human considerations." Whenever the letter to Pius V. sees the
light, it will appear whether the sacrifice which the monarch thus made
to his God proceeded beyond the imprisonment and condemnation of his son,
or was completed by the actual immolation of the victim.
With regard to the Prince himself, it is very certain that, if he had
lived, the realms of the Spanish Crown would have numbered one tyrant
more. Carlos from his earliest youth, was remarkable for the ferocity of
his character. The Emperor Charles was highly pleased with him, then
about fourteen years of age, upon their first interview after the
abdication. He flattered himself that the lad had inherited his own
martial genius together with his name. Carlos took much interest in his
grandfather's account of his various battles, but when the flight from
Innspruck was narrated, he repeated many times, with much vehemence, that
he never would have fled; to which position he adhered, notwithstanding
all the arguments of the Emperor, and very much to his amusement. The
young Prince was always fond of soldiers, and listened eagerly to
discourses of war. He was in the habit also of recording the names of
any military persons who, according to custom, frequently made offers of
their services to the heir apparent, and of causing them to take a solemn
oath to keep their engagements. No other indications of warlike talent,
however, have been preserved concerning him. "He was crafty, ambitious,
cruel, violent," says the envoy Suriano, "a hater of buffoons, a lover of
soldiers." His natural cruelty seems to have been remarkable from his
boyhood. After his return from the chase, he was in the habit of cutting
the throats of hares and other animals, and of amusing himself with their
dying convulsions. He also frequently took pleasure in roasting them
alive. He once received a present of a very large snake from some person
who seemed to understand how to please this remarkable young prince.
After a time, however, the favorite reptile allowed itself to bite its
master's finger, whereupon Don Carlos immediately retaliated by biting
off its head.
He was excessively angry at the suggestion that the prince who was
expected to spring from his father's marriage with the English queen,
would one day reign over the Netherlands, and swore he would challenge
him to mortal combat in order to prevent such an infringement of his
rights. His father and grandfather were both highly diverted with this
manifestation of spirit, but it was not decreed that the world should
witness the execution of these fraternal intentions against the babe
which was never to be born.
Ferocity, in short, seems to have been the leading characteristic of the
unhappy Carlos. His preceptor, a man of learning and merit, who was
called "the honorable John", tried to mitigate this excessive ardor of
temperament by a course of Cicero de Officiis, which he read to him
daily. Neither the eloquence of Tully, however, nor the precepts of the
honorable John made the least impression upon this very savage nature.
As he grew older he did not grow wiser nor more gentle. He was
prematurely and grossly licentious. All the money which as a boy, he was
allowed, he spent upon women of low character, and when he was penniless,
he gave them his chains, his medals, even the clothes from his back.
He took pleasure in affronting respectable females when he met them in
the streets, insulting them by the coarsest language and gestures.
Being cruel, cunning, fierce and licentious, he seemed to combine many
of the worst qualities of a lunatic. That he probably was one is the
best defence which can be offered for his conduct. In attempting to
offer violence to a female, while he was at the university of Alcala, he
fell down a stone staircase, from which cause he was laid up for a long
time with a severely wounded head, and was supposed to have injured his
brain.
The traits of ferocity recorded of him during his short life are so
numerous that humanity can hardly desire that it should have been
prolonged. A few drops of water having once fallen upon his head from a
window, as he passed through the street, he gave peremptory orders to his
guard to burn the house to the ground, and to put every one of its
inhabitants to the sword. The soldiers went forthwith to execute the
order, but more humane than their master, returned with the excuse that
the Holy Sacrament of the Viaticum had that moment been carried into the
house. This appeal to the superstition of the Prince successfully
suspended the execution of the crimes which his inconceivable malignity
had contemplated. On another occasion, a nobleman, who slept near his
chamber, failed to answer his bell on the instant. Springing upon his
dilatory attendant, as soon as he made his appearance, the Prince seized
him in his arms and was about to throw him from the window, when the
cries of the unfortunate chamberlain attracted attention, and procured a
rescue.
The Cardinal Espinoza had once accidentally detained at his palace an
actor who was to perform a favorite part by express command of Don
Carlos. Furious at this detention, the Prince took the priest by the
throat as soon as he presented himself at the palace, and plucking his
dagger from its sheath, swore, by the soul of his father, that he would
take his life on the spot. The grand inquisitor fell on his knees and
begged for mercy, but it is probable that the entrance of the King alone
saved his life.
There was often something ludicrous mingled with the atrocious in these
ungovernable explosions of wrath. Don Pedro Manuel, his chamberlain, had
once, by his command, ordered a pair of boots to be made for the Prince.
When brought home, they were, unfortunately, too tight. The Prince after
vainly endeavouring to pull them on, fell into a blazing passion. He
swore that it was the fault of Don Pedro, who always wore tight boots
himself, but he at the same time protested that his father was really at
the bottom of the affair. He gave the young nobleman a box on the ear
for thus conspiring with the King against his comfort, and then ordered
the boots to be chopped into little pieces, stewed and seasoned. Then
sending for the culprit shoemaker, he ordered him to eat his own boots,
thus converted into a pottage; and with this punishment the unfortunate
mechanic, who had thought his life forfeited, was sufficiently glad to
comply.
Even the puissant Alva could not escape his violence. Like all the men
in whom his father reposed confidence, the Duke was odious to the heir
apparent. Don Carlos detested him with the whole force of his little
soul. He hated him as only a virtuous person deserved to be hated by
such a ruffian. The heir apparent had taken the Netherlands under his
patronage. He had even formed the design of repairing secretly to the
provinces, and could not, therefore, disguise his wrath at the
appointment of the Duke. It is doubtful whether the country would have
benefited by the gratification of his wishes. It is possible that the
pranks of so malignant an ape might have been even more mischievous than
the concentrated and vigorous tyranny of an Alva. When the new Captain-
general called, before his departure, to pay his respects to the Infante,
the Duke seemed, to his surprise, to have suddenly entered the den of a
wild beast. Don Carlos sprang upon him with a howl of fury, brandishing
a dagger in his hand. He uttered reproaches at having been defrauded of
the Netherland government. He swore that Alva should never accomplish
his mission, nor leave his presence alive. He was proceeding to make
good the threat with his poniard, when the Duke closed with him.
A violent struggle succeeded. Both rolled together on the ground,
the Prince biting and striking like a demoniac, the Duke defending
himself as well as he was able, without attempting his adversary's life.
Before the combat was decided, the approach of many persons put an end to
the disgraceful scene. As decent a veil as possible was thrown over the
transaction, and the Duke departed on his mission. Before the end of the
year, the Prince was in the prison whence he never came forth alive.
The figure of Don Carlos was as misshapen as his mind. His head was
disproportionately large, his limbs were rickety, one shoulder was
higher, one leg longer than the other. With features resembling those
of his father, but with a swarthy instead of a fair complexion, with an
expression of countenance both fierce and foolish, and with a character
such as we have sketched it, upon the evidence of those who knew him
well, it is indeed strange that he should ever have been transformed by
the magic of poetry into a romantic hero. As cruel and cunning as his
father, as mad as his great-grandmother, he has left a name, which not
even his dark and mysterious fate can render interesting.
1568 [CHAPTER IV.]
Continued and excessive barbarity of the government--Execution of
Antony van Straalen, of "Red--Rod" Spelle--The Prince of Orange
advised by his German friends to remain quiet--Heroic sentiments of
Orange--His religious opinions--His efforts in favor of toleration--
His fervent piety--His public correspondence with the Emperor--His
"Justification," his "Warning," and other papers characterized--The
Prince, with a considerable army, crosses the Rhine--Passage of the
Meuse at Stochem--He offers battle to Alva--Determination of the
Duke to avoid an engagement--Comparison of his present situation
with his previous position in Friesland--Masterly tactics of the
Duke--Skirmish on the Geta--Defeat of the Orangists--Death of
Hoogstraaten--Junction with Genlis--Adherence of Alva to his
original plan--The Prince crosses the frontier of France--
Correspondence between Charles IX. and Orange--The patriot army
disbanded at Strasburg--Comments by Granvelle upon the position of
the Prince--Triumphant attitude of Alva--Festivities at Brussels--
Colossal statue of Alva erected by himself in Antwerp citadel--
Intercession of the Emperor with Philip--Memorial of six Electors to
the Emperor--Mission of the Archduke Charles to Spain--His
negotiations with Philip--Public and private correspondence between
the King and Emperor--Duplicity of Maximilian--Abrupt conclusion to
the intervention--Granvelle's suggestions to Philip concerning the
treaty of Passau.
The Duke having thus crushed the project of Count Bouts, and quelled the
insurrection in Friesland, returned in triumph to Brussels. Far from
softened by the success of his arms, he renewed with fresh energy the
butchery which, for a brief season, had been suspended during his
brilliant campaign in the north. The altars again smoked with victims;
the hanging, burning, drowning, beheading, seemed destined to be the
perpetual course of his administration, so long as human bodies remained
on which his fanatical vengeance could be wreaked. Four men of eminence
were executed soon after his return to the capital. They had previously
suffered such intense punishment on the rack, that it was necessary to
carry them to the scaffold and bind them upon chairs, that they might be
beheaded. These four sufferers were a Frisian nobleman, named Galena,
the secretaries of Egmont and Horn, Bakkerzeel and La Loo, and the
distinguished burgomaster of Antwerp, Antony Van Straalen. The arrest of
the three last-mentioned individuals, simultaneously with that of the two
Counts, has been related in a previous chapter. In the case of Van
Straalen, the services rendered by him to the provinces during his long
and honorable career, had been so remarkable, that even the Blood-
Council, in sending his case to Alva for his sentence, were inspired by a
humane feeling. They felt so much compunction at the impending fate of a
man who, among other meritorious acts, had furnished nearly all the funds
for the brilliant campaign in Picardy, by which the opening years of
Philip's reign had been illustrated, as to hint at the propriety of a
pardon. But the recommendation to mercy, though it came from the lips
of tigers, dripping with human blood, fell unheeded on the tyrant's ear.
It seemed meet that the man who had supplied the nerves of war in that
unforgiven series of triumphs, should share the fate of the hero who had
won the laurels.
[Bor, Cappella, Hoofd, ubi sup. The last words of the Burgomaster
as he bowed his neck to the executioner's stroke were, "Voor wel
gedaan, kwaclyk beloud,"--"For faithful service, evil recompense."
--Cappella, 232.]
Hundreds of obscure martyrs now followed in the same path to another
world, where surely they deserved to find their recompense, if steadfast
adherence to their faith, and a tranquil trust in God amid tortures and
death too horrible to be related, had ever found favor above. The "Red-
Rod," as the provost of Brabant was popularly designated, was never idle.
He flew from village to village throughout the province, executing the
bloody behests of his masters with congenial alacrity. Nevertheless his
career was soon destined to close upon the same scaffold where he had so
long officiated. Partly from caprice, partly from an uncompromising and
fantastic sense of justice, his master now hanged the executioner whose
industry had been so untiring. The sentence which was affixed to his
breast, as he suffered, stated that he had been guilty of much
malpractice; that he had executed many persons without a warrant,
and had suffered many guilty persons for a bribe, to escape their doom.
The reader can judge which of the two clauses constituted the most
sufficient reason.
During all these triumphs of Alva, the Prince of Orange had not lost
his self-possession. One after another, each of his bold, skilfully-
conceived and carefully-prepared plans had failed. Villers had been
entirely discomfited at Dalhena, Cocqueville had been cut to pieces in
Picardy, and now the valiant and experienced Louis had met with an entire
overthrow in Friesland. The brief success of the patriots at Heiliger
Zee had been washed out in the blood-torrents of Jemmingen. Tyranny was
more triumphant, the provinces more timidly crouching, than ever. The
friends on whom William of Orange relied in Germany, never enthusiastic
in his cause, although many of them true-hearted and liberal, now grew
cold and anxious. For months long, his most faithful and affectionate
allies, such men as the Elector of Hesse and the Duke of Wirtemberg, as
well as the less trustworthy Augustus of Saxony, had earnestly expressed
their opinion that, under the circumstances, his best course was to sit
still and watch the course of events.
It was known that the Emperor had written an urgent letter to Philip on
the subject of his policy in the Netherlands in general, and concerning
the position of Orange in particular. All persons, from the Emperor down
to the pettiest potentate, seemed now of opinion that the Prince had
better pause; that he was, indeed, bound to wait the issue of that
remonstrance. "Your highness must sit still," said Landgrave William.
"Your highness must sit still," said Augustus of Saxony. "You must move
neither hand nor foot in the cause of the perishing provinces," said the
Emperor. "Not a soldier-horse, foot, or dragoon-shall be levied within
the Empire. If you violate the peace of the realm, and embroil us with
our excellent brother and cousin Philip, it is at your own peril. You
have nothing to do but to keep quiet and await his answer to our letter."
But the Prince knew how much effect his sitting still would produce upon
the cause of liberty and religion. He knew how much effect the Emperor's
letter was like to have upon the heart of Philip. He knew that the more
impenetrable the darkness now gathering over that land of doom which he
had devoted his life to defend, the more urgently was he forbidden to
turn his face away from it in its affliction. He knew that thousands of
human souls, nigh to perishing, were daily turning towards him as their
only hope on earth, and he was resolved, so long as he could dispense a
single ray of light, that his countenance should never be averted. It is
difficult to contemplate his character, at this period, without being
infected with a perhaps dangerous enthusiasm. It is not an easy task
coldly to analyse a nature which contained so much of the self-
sacrificing and the heroic, as well as of the adroit and the subtle; and
it is almost impossible to give utterance to the emotions which naturally
swell the heart at the contemplation of so much active virtue, without
rendering oneself liable to the charge of excessive admiration. Through
the mists of adversity, a human form may dilate into proportions which
are colossal and deceptive. Our judgment may thus, perhaps, be led
captive, but at any rate the sentiment excited is more healthful than
that inspired by the mere shedder of blood, by the merely selfish
conqueror. When the cause of the champion is that of human right against
tyranny, of political ind religious freedom against an all-engrossing and
absolute bigotry, it is still more difficult to restrain veneration
within legitimate bounds. To liberate the souls and bodies of millions,
to maintain for a generous people, who had well-nigh lost their all,
those free institutions which their ancestors had bequeathed, was a noble
task for any man. But here stood a Prince of ancient race, vast
possessions, imperial blood, one of the great ones of the earth, whose
pathway along the beaten track would have been smooth and successful,
but who was ready to pour out his wealth like water, and to coin his
heart's blood, drop by drop, in this virtuous but almost desperate cause.
He felt that of a man to whom so much had been entrusted, much was to be
asked. God had endowed him with an incisive and comprehensive genius,
unfaltering fortitude, and with the rank and fortune which enable a man
to employ his faculties, to the injury or the happiness of his fellows,
on the widest scale. The Prince felt the responsibility, and the world
was to learn the result.
It was about this time that a deep change came over his mind. Hitherto,
although nominally attached to the communion of the ancient Church, his
course of life and habits of mind had not led him to deal very earnestly
with things beyond the world. The severe duties, the grave character of
the cause to which his days were henceforth to be devoted, had already
led him to a closer inspection of the essential attributes of
Christianity. He was now enrolled for life as a soldier of the
Reformation. The Reformation was henceforth his fatherland, the sphere,
of his duty and his affection. The religious Reformers became his
brethren, whether in France, Germany, the Netherlands, or England.
Yet his mind had taken a higher flight than that of the most eminent
Reformers. His goal was not a new doctrine, but religious liberty. In
an age when to think was a crime, and when bigotry and a persecuting
spirit characterized Romanists and Lutherans, Calvinists and Zwinglians,
he had dared to announce freedom of conscience as the great object for
which noble natures should strive. In an age when toleration was a vice,
he had the manhood to cultivate it as a virtue. His parting advice to
the Reformers of the Netherlands, when he left them for a season in the
spring of 1567, was to sink all lesser differences in religious union.
Those of the Augsburg Confession and those of the Calvinistic Church, in
their own opinion as incapable of commingling as oil and water, were, in
his judgment, capable of friendly amalgamation. He appealed eloquently
to the good and influential of all parties to unite in one common cause
against oppression. Even while favoring daily more and more the cause of
the purified Church, and becoming daily more alive to the corruption of
Rome, he was yet willing to tolerate all forms of worship, and to leave
reason to combat error.
Without a particle of cant or fanaticism, he had become a deeply
religious man. Hitherto he had been only a man of the world and a
statesman, but from this time forth he began calmly to rely upon God's
providence in all the emergencies of his eventful life. His letters
written to his most confidential friends, to be read only by themselves,
and which have been gazed upon by no other eyes until after the lapse of
nearly three centuries, abundantly prove his sincere and simple trust.
This sentiment was not assumed for effect to delude others, but cherished
as a secret support for himself. His religion was not a cloak to his
designs, but a consolation in his disasters. In his letter of
instruction to his most confidential agent, John Bazius, while he
declared himself frankly in favor of the Protestant principles, he
expressed his extreme repugnance to the persecution of Catholics.
"Should we obtain power over any city or cities," he wrote, "let the
communities of papists be as much respected and protected as possible.
Let them be overcome, not by violence, but with gentle-mindedness and
virtuous treatment." After the terrible disaster at Jemmingen, he had
written to Louis, consoling him, in the most affectionate language, for
the unfortunate result of his campaign. Not a word of reproach escaped
from him, although his brother had conducted the operations in Friesland,
after the battle of Heiliger Lee, in a manner quite contrary to his own
advice. He had counselled against a battle, and had foretold a defeat;
but after the battle had been fought and a crushing defeat sustained, his
language breathed only unwavering submission to the will of God, and
continued confidence in his own courage. "You may be well assured, my
brother," he wrote, "that I have never felt anything more keenly than the
pitiable misfortune which has happened to you, for many reasons which you
can easily imagine. Moreover, it hinders us much in the levy which we
are making, and has greatly chilled the hearts of those who otherwise
would have been ready to give us assistance. Nevertheless, since it has
thus pleased God, it is necessary to have patience and to lose not
courage; conforming ourselves to His divine will, as for my part I have
determined to do in everything which may happen, still proceeding onward
in our work with his Almighty aid. 'Soevis tranquillus in undis', he was
never more placid than when the storm was wildest and the night darkest.
He drew his consolations and refreshed his courage at the never-failing
fountains of Divine mercy.
"I go to-morrow," he wrote to the unworthy Anne of Saxony; "but when I
shall return, or when I shall see you, I cannot, on my honor, tell you
with certainty. I have resolved to place myself in the hands of the
Almighty, that he may guide me whither it is His good pleasure that I
should go. I see well enough that I am destined to pass this life in
misery and labor, with which I am well content, since it thus pleases the
Omnipotent, for I know that I have merited still greater chastisement.
I only implore Him graciously to send me strength to endure with
patience."
Such language, in letters the most private, never meant to be seen by
other eyes than those to which they were addressed, gives touching
testimony to the sincere piety of his character. No man was ever more
devoted to a high purpose, no man had ever more right to imagine himself,
or less inclination to pronounce himself, entrusted with a divine
mission. There was nothing of the charlatan in his character. His
nature was true and steadfast. No narrow-minded usurper was ever more
loyal to his own aggrandisement than this large-hearted man to the cause
of oppressed humanity. Yet it was inevitable that baser minds should
fail to recognise his purity. While he exhausted his life for the
emancipation of a people, it was easy to ascribe all his struggles to the
hope of founding a dynasty. It was natural for grovelling natures to
search in the gross soil of self-interest for the sustaining roots of the
tree beneath whose branches a nation found its shelter. What could they
comprehend of living fountains and of heavenly dews?
In May, 1568, the Emperor Maximilian had formally issued a requisition to
the Prince of Orange to lay down his arms, and to desist from all levies
and machinations against the King of Spain and the peace of the realm.
This summons he was commanded to obey on pain of forfeiting all rights,
fiefs, privileges and endowments bestowed by imperial hands on himself or
his predecessors, and of incurring the heaviest disgrace, punishment, and
penalties of the Empire.
To this document the Prince replied in August, having paid in the
meantime but little heed to its precepts. Now that the Emperor, who at
first was benignant, had begun to frown on his undertaking, he did not
slacken in his own endeavours to set his army on foot. One by one, those
among the princes of the empire who had been most stanch in his cause,
and were still most friendly to his person, grew colder as tyranny became
stronger; but the ardor of the Prince was not more chilled by their
despair than by the overthrow at Jemmingen, which had been its cause.
In August, he answered the letter of the Emperor, respectfully but
warmly. He still denounced the tyranny of Alva and the arts of Granvelle
with that vigorous eloquence which was always at his command, while, as
usual, he maintained a show of almost exaggerated respect for their
monarch. It was not to be presumed, he said, that his Majesty, "a king
debonair and bountiful," had ever intended such cruelties as those which
had been rapidly retraced in the letter, but it was certain that the Duke
of Alva had committed them all of his own authority. He trusted,
moreover, that the Emperor, after he had read the "Justification"
which the Prince had recently published, would appreciate the reason
for his taking up arms. He hoped that his Majesty would now consider
the resistance just, Christian, and conformable to the public peace.
He expressed the belief that rather than interpose any hindrance, his
Majesty would thenceforth rather render assistance "to the poor and
desolate Christians," even as it was his Majesty's office and authority
to be the last refuge of the injured.
The "Justification against the false blame of his calumniators by the
Prince of Orange," to which the Prince thus referred, has been mentioned
in a previous chapter. This remarkable paper had been drawn up at the
advice of his friends, Landgrave William and Elector Augustus, but it was
not the only document which the Prince caused to be published at this
important epoch. He issued a formal declaration of war against the Duke
of Alva; he addressed a solemn and eloquent warning or proclamation to
all the inhabitants of the Netherlands. These documents are all
extremely important and interesting. Their phraseology shows the
intentions and the spirit by which the Prince was actuated on first
engaging in the struggle. Without the Prince and his efforts--at this
juncture, there would probably have never been a free Netherland
commonwealth. It is certain, likewise, that without an enthusiastic
passion for civil and religious liberty throughout the masses of the
Netherland people, there would have been no successful effort on the
part of the Prince. He knew his countrymen; while they, from highest
to humblest, recognised in him their saviour. There was, however,
no pretence of a revolutionary movement. The Prince came to maintain,
not to overthrow. The freedom which had been enjoyed in the provinces
until the accession of the Burgundian dynasty, it was his purpose to
restore. The attitude which he now assumed was a peculiar one in
history. This defender of a people's cause set up no revolutionary
standard. In all his documents he paid apparent reverence to the
authority of the King. By a fiction, which was not unphilosophical,
he assumed that the monarch was incapable of the crimes which he charged
upon the Viceroy. Thus he did not assume the character of a rebel in
arms against his prince, but in his own capacity of sovereign he levied
troops and waged war against a satrap whom he chose to consider false to
his master's orders. In the interest of Philip, assumed to be identical
with the welfare of his people, he took up arms against the tyrant who
was sacrificing both. This mask of loyalty would never save his head
from the block, as he well knew, but some spirits lofty as his own, might
perhaps be influenced by a noble sophistry, which sought to strengthen
the cause of the people by attributing virtue to the King.
And thus did the sovereign of an insignificant little principality stand
boldly forth to do battle with the most powerful monarch in the world.
At his own expense, and by almost superhuman exertions, he had assembled
nearly thirty thousand men. He now boldly proclaimed to the world, and
especially to the inhabitants of the provinces, his motives, his
purposes, and his hopes.
"We, by God's grace Prince of Orange," said his declaration of 31st
August, 1568, "salute all faithful subjects of his Majesty. To few
people is it unknown that the Spaniards have for a long time sought
to govern the land according to their pleasure. Abusing his
Majesty's goodness, they have persuaded him to decree the
introduction of the inquisition into the Netherlands. They well
understood, that in case the Netherlanders could be made to tolerate
its exercise, they would lose all protection to their liberty; that
if they opposed its introduction, they would open those rich
provinces as a vast field of plunder. We had hoped that his
Majesty, taking the matter to heart, would have spared his
hereditary provinces from such utter ruin. We have found our hopes
futile. We are unable, by reason of our loyal service due to his
Majesty, and of our true compassion for the faithful lieges, to look
with tranquillity any longer at such murders, robberies, outrages,
and agony. We are, moreover, certain that his Majesty has been
badly informed upon Netherland matters. We take up arms, therefore,
to oppose the violent tyranny of the Spaniards, by the help of the
merciful God, who is the enemy of all bloodthirstiness. Cheerfully
inclined to wager our life and all our worldly wealth on the cause,
we have now, God be thanked, an excellent army of cavalry, infantry,
and artillery, raised all at our own expense. We summon all loyal
subjects of the Netherlands to come and help us. Let them take to
heart the uttermost need of the country, the danger of perpetual
slavery for themselves and their children, and of the entire
overthrow of the Evangelical religion. Only when Alva's blood-
thirstiness shall have been at last overpowered, can the provinces
hope to recover their pure administration of justice, and a
prosperous condition for their commonwealth."
In the "warning" or proclamation to all the inhabitants of the
Netherlands, the Prince expressed similar sentiments. He announced his
intention of expelling the Spaniards forever from the country. To
accomplish the mighty undertaking, money was necessary. He accordingly
called on his countrymen to contribute, the rich out of their abundance,
the poor even out of their poverty, to the furtherance of the cause.
To do this, while it was yet time, he solemnly warned them "before God,
the fatherland, and the world." After the title of this paper were cited
the 28th, 29th, and 30th verses of the tenth chapter of Proverbs. The
favorite motto of the Prince, "pro lege, rege, grege," was also affixed
to the document.
These appeals had, however, but little effect. Of three hundred thousand
crowns, promised on behalf of leading nobles and merchants of the
Netherlands by Marcus Perez, but ten or twelve thousand came to hand.
The appeals to the gentlemen who had signed the Compromise, and to many
others who had, in times past, been favorable to the liberal party were
powerless. A poor Anabaptist preacher collected a small sum from a
refugee congregation on the outskirts of Holland, and brought it, at the
peril of his life, into the Prince's camp. It came from people, he said,
whose will was better than the gift. They never wished to be repaid, he
said, except by kindness, when the cause of reform should be triumphant
in the Netherlands. The Prince signed a receipt for the money,
expressing himself touched by this sympathy from these poor outcasts. In
the course of time, other contributions from similar sources, principally
collected by dissenting preachers, starving and persecuted church
communities, were received. The poverty-stricken exiles contributed
far more, in proportion, for the establishment of civil and religious
liberty, than the wealthy merchants or the haughty nobles.
Late in September, the Prince mustered his army in the province of
Treves, near the monastery of Romersdorf. His force amounted to nearly
thirty thousand men, of whom nine thousand were cavalry. Lumey, Count de
la Marek, now joined him at the head of a picked band of troopers; a
bold, ferocious partisan, descended from the celebrated Wild Boar of
Ardennes. Like Civilis, the ancient Batavian hero, he had sworn to leave
hair and beard unshorn till the liberation of the country was achieved,
or at least till the death of Egmont, whose blood relation he was, had
been avenged. It is probable that the fierce conduct of this chieftain,
and particularly the cruelties exercised upon monks and papists by his
troops, dishonored the cause more than their valor could advance it. But
in those stormy times such rude but incisive instruments were scarcely to
be neglected, and the name of Lumey was to be forever associated with
important triumphs of the liberal cause.
It was fated, however, that but few laurels should be won by the patriots
in this campaign. The Prince crossed the Rhine at Saint Feit, a village
belonging to himself. He descended along the banks as far as the
neighbourhood of Cologne. Then, after hovering in apparent uncertainty
about the territories of Juliers and Limburg, he suddenly, on a bright
moonlight night, crossed the Meuse with his whole army, in the
neighbourhood of Stochem. The operation was brilliantly effected.
A compact body of cavalry, according to the plan which had been more than
once adopted by Julius Caesar, was placed in the midst of the current,
under which shelter the whole army successfully forded the river.
The Meuse was more shallow than usual, but the water was as high as the
soldiers' necks. This feat was accomplished on the night and morning of
the 4th and 5th of October. It was considered so bold an achievement
that its fame spread far and wide. The Spaniards began to tremble at the
prowess of a Prince whom they had affected to despise. The very fact of
the passage was flatly contradicted. An unfortunate burgher at Amsterdam
was scourged at the whipping-post, because he mentioned it as matter of
common report. The Duke of Alva refused to credit the tale when it was
announced to him. "Is the army of the Prince of Orange a flock of wild
geese," he asked, "that it can fly over rivers like the Meuse?"
Nevertheless it was true. The outlawed, exiled Prince stood once more on
the borders of Brabant, with an army of disciplined troops at his back.
His banners bore patriotic inscriptions. "Pro Lege, Rege, Grege," was
emblazoned upon some. A pelican tearing her breast to nourish her young
with her life-blood was the pathetic emblem of others. It was his
determination to force or entice the Duke of Alva into a general
engagement. He was desirous to wipe out the disgrace of Jemmingen.
Could he plant his victorious standard thus in the very heart of the
country, he felt that thousands would rally around it. The country would
rise almost to a man, could he achieve a victory over the tyrant, flushed
as he was with victory, and sated with blood.
With banners flying, drums beating, trumpets sounding, with all the pomp
and defiance which an already victorious general could assume, Orange
marched into Brabant, and took up a position within six thousand paces of
Alva's encampment. His plan was at every hazard to dare or to decoy his
adversary into the chances of a stricken field. The Governor was
entrenched at a place called Keiserslager, which Julius Caesar had once
occupied. The city of Maestricht was in his immediate neighbourhood,
which was thus completely under his protection, while it furnished him
with supplies. The Prince sent to the Duke a herald, who was to propose
that all prisoners who might be taken in the coming campaign should be
exchanged instead of being executed. The herald, booted and spurred,
even as he had dismounted from his horse, was instantly hanged. This was
the significant answer to the mission of mercy. Alva held no parley with
rebels before a battle, nor gave quarter afterwards.
In the meantime, the Duke had carefully studied the whole position of
affairs, and had arrived at his conclusion. He was determined not to
fight. It was obvious that the Prince would offer battle eagerly,
ostentatiously, frequently, but the Governor was resolved never to accept
the combat. Once taken, his resolution was unalterable. He recognized
the important difference between his own attitude at present, and that in
which he had found himself during the past summer in Friesland. There a
battle had been necessary, now it was more expedient to overcome his
enemy by delay. In Friesland, the rebels had just achieved a victory
over the choice troops of Spain. Here they were suffering from the
stigma of a crushing defeat. Then, the army of Louis Nassau was swelling
daily by recruits, who poured in from all the country round. Now,
neither peasant nor noble dared lift a finger for the Prince. The army
of Louis had been sustained by the one which his brother was known to be
preparing. If their movements had not been checked, a junction would
have been effected. The armed revolt would then have assumed so
formidable an aspect, that rebellion would seem, even for the timid,
a safer choice than loyalty. The army of the Prince, on the contrary,
was now the last hope of the patriots: The three by which it had been
preceded had been successively and signally vanquished.
Friesland, again, was on the outskirts of the country. A defeat
sustained by the government there did not necessarily imperil the
possession of the provinces. Brabant, on the contrary, was the heart of
the Netherlands. Should the Prince achieve a decisive triumph then and
there, he would be master of the nation's fate. The Viceroy knew himself
to be odious, and he reigned by terror. The Prince was the object of the
people's idolatry, and they would rally round him if they dared.
A victory gained by the liberator over the tyrant, would destroy the
terrible talisman of invincibility by which Alva governed. The Duke had
sufficiently demonstrated his audacity in the tremendous chastisement
which he had inflicted upon the rebels under Louis. He could now afford
to play that scientific game of which he was so profound a master,
without risking any loss of respect or authority. He was no enthusiast.
Although he doubtless felt sufficiently confident of overcoming the
Prince in a pitched battle, he had not sufficient relish for the joys
of contest to be willing to risk even a remote possibility of defeat.
His force, although composed of veterans and of the best musketeers and
pikemen in Europe, was still somewhat inferior in numbers to that of his
adversary. Against the twenty thousand foot and eight thousand, horse of
Orange, he could oppose only fifteen or sixteen thousand foot and fifty-
five hundred riders. Moreover, the advantage which he had possessed in
Friesland, a country only favorable to infantry, in which he had been
stronger than his opponent, was now transferred to his new enemy. On the
plains of Brabant, the Prince's superiority in cavalry was sure to tell.
The season of the year, too, was an important element in the calculation.
The winter alone would soon disperse the bands of German mercenaries,
whose expenses Orange was not able to support, even while in active
service. With unpaid wages and disappointed hopes of plunder, the rebel
army would disappear in a few weeks as totally as if defeated in the open
field. In brief, Orange by a victory would gain new life and strength,
while his defeat could no more than anticipate, by a few weeks, the
destruction of his army, already inevitable. Alva, on the contrary,
might lose the mastery of the Netherlands if unfortunate, and would gain
no solid advantage if triumphant. The Prince had everything to hope, the
Duke everything to fear, from the result of a general action.
The plan, thus deliberately resolved upon, was accomplished with
faultless accuracy. As a work of art, the present campaign of Alva
against Orange was a more consummate masterpiece than the, more brilliant
and dashing expedition into Friesland. The Duke had resolved to hang
upon his adversary's skirts, to follow him move by move, to check him at
every turn, to harass him in a hundred ways, to foil all his enterprises,
to parry all his strokes, and finally to drive him out of the country,
after a totally barren campaign, when, as he felt certain, his ill-paid
hirelings would vanish in all directions, and leave their patriot Prince
a helpless and penniless adventurer. The scheme thus sagaciously
conceived, his adversary, with all his efforts, was unable to circumvent.
The campaign lasted little more than a month. Twenty-nine times the
Prince changed his encampment, and at every remove the Duke was still
behind him, as close and seemingly as impalpable as his shadow. Thrice
they were within cannon-shot of each other; twice without a single trench
or rampart between them. The country people refused the Prince supplies,
for they trembled at the vengeance of the Governor. Alva had caused the
irons to be removed from all the mills, so that not a bushel of corn
could be ground in the whole province. The country thus afforded but
little forage for the thirty thousand soldiers of the Prince.
The troops, already discontented, were clamorous for pay and plunder.
During one mutinous demonstration, the Prince's sword was shot from his
side, and it was with difficulty that a general outbreak was suppressed.
The soldiery were maddened and tantalized by the tactics of Alva. They
found themselves constantly in the presence of an enemy, who seemed to
court a battle at one moment and to vanish like a phantom at the next
They felt the winter approaching, and became daily more dissatisfied with
the irritating hardships to which they were exposed. Upon the night of
the 5th and 6th of October the Prince had crossed the Meuse at Stochem.
Thence he had proceeded to Tongres, followed closely by the enemy's
force, who encamped in the immediate neighbourhood. From Tongres he
had moved to Saint Trond, still pursued and still baffled in the same
cautious manner. The skirmishing at the outposts was incessant, but the
main body was withdrawn as soon as there seemed a chance of its becoming
involved.
From Saint Trond, in the neighbourhood of which he had remained several
days, he advanced in a southerly direction towards Jodoigne. Count de
Genlis, with a reinforcement of French Huguenots, for which the Prince
had been waiting, had penetrated through the Ardennes, crossed the Meuse
at Charlemont, and was now intending a junction with him at Waveron. The
river Geta flowed between them. The Prince stationed a considerable
force upon a hill near the stream to protect the passage, and then
proceeded leisurely to send his army across the river. Count
Hoogstraaten, with the rear-guard, consisting of about three thousand
men, were alone left upon the hither bank, in order to provoke or to
tempt the enemy, who, as usual, was encamped very near. Alva refused to
attack the main army, but Frederic with a force of four thousand men,
were alone left on the hither bank, in order to provoke or to tempt the
enemy, who as usual, was encamped very near. Alva refused to attack the
main army but rapidly detached his son, Don Fredrick, with a force of
four thousand foot and three thousand horse, to cut off the rear-guard.
The movement was effected in a masterly manner, the hill was taken, the
three thousand troops which had not passed the river were cut to pieces,
and Vitelli hastily despatched a gentleman named Barberini to implore the
Duke to advance with the main body, cross the river, and, once for all,
exterminate the rebels in a general combat. Alva, inflamed, not with
ardor for an impending triumph, but with rage, that his sagely-conceived
plans could not be comprehended even by his son and by his favorite
officers, answered the eager messenger with peremptory violence. "Go
back to Vitelli," he cried. "Is he, or am I, to command in this
campaign? Tell him not to suffer a single man to cross the river. Warn
him against sending any more envoys to advise a battle; for should you or
any other man dare to bring me another such message, I swear to you, by
the head of the King, that you go not hence alive."
With this decisive answer the messenger had nothing for it but to gallop
back with all haste, in order to participate in what might be left of the
butchery of Count Hoogstraaten's force, and to prevent Vitelli and Don
Frederic in their ill-timed ardor, from crossing the river. This was
properly effected, while in the meantime the whole rear-guard of the
patriots had been slaughtered. A hundred or two, the last who remained,
had made their escape from the field, and had taken refuge in a house in
the neighbourhood. The Spaniards set the buildings on fire, and standing
around with lifted lances, offered the fugitives the choice of being
consumed in the flames or of springing out upon their spears. Thus
entrapped some chose the one course, some the other. A few, to escape
the fury of the fire and the brutality of the Spaniards, stabbed
themselves with their own swords. Others embraced, and then killed each
other, the enemies from below looking on, as at a theatrical exhibition;
now hissing and now applauding, as the death struggles were more or less
to their taste. In a few minutes all the fugitives were dead. Nearly
three thousand of the patriots were slain in this combat, including those
burned or butchered after the battle was over. The Sieur de Louverwal
was taken prisoner, and soon afterwards beheaded in Brussels; but the
greatest misfortune sustained by the liberal party upon this occasion was
the death of Antony de Lalaing, Count of Hoogstraaten. This brave and
generous nobleman, the tried friend of the Prince of Orange, and his
colleague during the memorable scenes at Antwerp, was wounded in the foot
during the action, by an accidental discharge of his own pistol. The
injury, although apparently slight, caused his death in a few days.
There seemed a strange coincidence in his good and evil fortunes.
A casual wound in the hand from his own pistol while he was on his way
to Brussels, to greet Alva upon his first arrival, had saved him from
the scaffold. And now in his first pitched battle with the Duke, this
seemingly trifling injury in the foot was destined to terminate his
existence. Another peculiar circumstance had marked the event. At a gay
supper in the course of this campaign, Hoogstraaten had teased Count
Louis, in a rough, soldierly way, with his disaster at Jemmingen.
He had affected to believe that the retreat upon that occasion had been
unnecessary. "We have been now many days in the Netherlands;" said he,
"and we have seen nothing of the Spaniards but their backs."--"And when
the Duke does break loose," replied Louis, somewhat nettled, "I warrant
you will see their faces soon enough, and remember them for the rest of
your life." The half-jesting remark was thus destined to become a gloomy
prophecy.
This was the only important action daring the campaign. Its perfect
success did not warp Alva's purpose, and, notwithstanding the murmurs of
many of his officers, he remained firm in his resolution. After the
termination of the battle on the Geta, and the Duke's obstinate refusal
to pursue his advantage, the Baron de Chevreau dashed his pistol to the
ground, in his presence, exclaiming that the Duke would never fight.
The Governor smiled at the young man's chagrin, seemed even to approve
his enthusiasm, but reminded him that it was the business of an officer
to fight, of a general to conquer. If the victory were bloodless, so
much the better for all.
This action was fought on the 20th of October. A few days afterwards,
the Prince made his junction with Genlis at Waveren, a place about three
leagues from Louvain and from Brussels. This auxiliary force was,
however, insignificant. There were only five hundred cavalry and three
thousand foot, but so many women and children, that it seemed rather an
emigrating colony than an invading army. They arrived late. If they had
come earlier, it would have been of little consequence, for it had been
written that no laurels were to be gathered in that campaign. The
fraternal spirit which existed between the Reformers in all countries
was all which could be manifested upon the occasion. The Prince was
frustrated in his hopes of a general battle, still more bitterly
disappointed by the supineness of the country. Not a voice was raised
to welcome the deliverer. Not a single city opened its gates. All was
crouching, silent, abject. The rising, which perhaps would have been
universal had a brilliant victory been obtained, was, by the masterly
tactics of Alva, rendered an almost inconceivable idea. The mutinous
demonstrations in the Prince's camp became incessant; the soldiers were
discontented and weary. What the Duke had foretold was coming to pass,
for the Prince's army was already dissolving.
Genlis and the other French officers were desirous that the Prince should
abandon the Netherlands for the present, and come to the rescue of the
Huguenots, who had again renewed the religious war under Conde and
Coligny. The German soldiers, however would listen to no such proposal.
They had enlisted to fight the Duke of Alva in the Netherlands, and would
not hear of making war against Charles IX. in France. The Prince was
obliged to countermarch toward the Rhine. He recrossed the Geta,
somewhat to Alva's astonishment, and proceeded in the direction of the
Meuse. The autumn rains, however, had much swollen that river since his
passage at the beginning of the month, so that it could no longer be
forded. He approached the city of Liege, and summoned their Bishop, as
he had done on his entrance into the country, to grant a free passage to
his troops. The Bishop who stood in awe of Alva, and who had accepted
his protection again refused. The Prince had no time to parley. He was
again obliged to countermarch, and took his way along the high-road to
France, still watched and closely pursued by Alva, between whose troops
and his own daily skirmishes took place. At Le Quesnoy, the Prince
gained a trifling advantage over the Spaniards; at Cateau Cambresis he
also obtained a slight and easy-victory; but by the 17th of November the
Duke of Alva had entered Cateau Cambresis, and the Prince had crossed the
frontier of France.
The Marechal de Cosse, who was stationed on the boundary of France and
Flanders, now harassed the Prince by very similar tactics to those of
Alva. He was, however, too weak to inflict any serious damage, although
strong enough to create perpetual annoyance. He also sent a secretary to
the Prince, with a formal prohibition, in the name of Charles IX.,
against his entering the French territory with his troops.
Besides these negotiations, conducted by Secretary Favelles on the part
of Marechal de Cosse, the King, who was excessively alarmed, also
despatched the Marechal Gaspar de Schomberg on the same service. That
envoy accordingly addressed to the Prince a formal remonstrance in the
name of his sovereign. Charles IX., it was represented, found it very
strange that the Prince should thus enter the French territory. The King
was not aware that he had ever given him the least cause for hostile
proceedings, could not therefore take it in good part that the Prince
should thus enter France with a "large and puissant army;" because no
potentate, however humble, could tolerate such a proceeding, much less a
great and powerful monarch. Orange was therefore summoned to declare his
intentions, but was at the same, time informed, that if he merely desired
"to pass amiably through the country," and would give assurance, and
request permission to that, effect, under his hand and seal, his Majesty
would take all necessary measures to secure that amiable passage.
The Prince replied by a reference to the statements which he had already
made to Marechal de Cosse. He averred that he had not entered France
with evil intent, but rather with a desire to render very humble service
to his Majesty, so far as he could do so with a clear conscience.
Touching the King's inability to remember having given any occasion to
hostile proceedings on the part of the Prince, he replied that he would
pass that matter by. Although he could adduce many, various, and strong
reasons for violent measures, he was not so devoid of understanding as
not to recognize the futility of attempting anything, by his own personal
means, against so great and powerful a King, in comparison with whom he
was "but a petty companion."
"Since the true religion," continued Orange, "is a public and general
affair, which ought to be preferred to all private matters; since the
Prince, as a true Christian, is held by his honor and conscience to
procure, with all his strength, its advancement and establishment in
every place whatever; since, on the other hand, according to the edict
published in September last by his Majesty, attempts have been made to
force in their consciences all those who are of the Christian religion;
and since it has been determined to exterminate the pure word of God,
and the entire exercise thereof, and to permit no other religion than
the Roman Catholic, a thing very, prejudicial to the neighbouring nations
where there is a free exercise of the Christian religion, therefore the
Prince would put no faith in the assertions of his Majesty, that it was
not his Majesty's intentions to force the consciences of any one."
Having given this very deliberate and succinct contradiction to the
statements of the French King, the Prince proceeded to express his
sympathy for the oppressed Christians everywhere. He protested that he
would give them all the aid, comfort, counsel, and assistance that he was
able to give them. He asserted his conviction that the men who professed
the religion demanded nothing else than the glory of God and the
advancement of His word, while in all matters of civil polity they were
ready to render obedience to his Majesty. He added that all his doings
were governed by a Christian and affectionate regard for the King and his
subjects, whom his Majesty must be desirous of preserving from extreme
ruin. He averred, moreover, that if he should perceive any indication
that those of the religion were pursuing any other object than liberty of
conscience and security for life and property, he would not only withdraw
his assistance from them, but would use the whole strength of his army to
exterminate them. In conclusion, he begged the King to believe that the
work which the Prince had undertaken was a Christian work, and that his
intentions were good and friendly towards his Majesty.
[This very eloquently written letter was dated Ciasonne, December
3rd, 1568. It has never been published. It is in the Collection of
MSS, Pivoen concernant, etc., Hague archives.]
It was, however, in vain that the Prince endeavoured to induce his army
to try the fortunes of the civil war in France. They had enlisted for
the Netherlands, the campaign was over, and they insisted upon being led
back to Germany. Schomberg, secretly instructed by the King of France,
was active in fomenting the discontent, and the Prince was forced to
yield. He led his army through Champagne and Lorraine to Strasburg,
where they were disbanded. All the money which the Prince had been able
to collect was paid them. He pawned all his camp equipage, his plate,
his furniture.
What he could not pay in money he made up in promises, sacredly to be
fulfilled, when he should be restored to his possessions. He even
solemnly engaged, should he return from France alive, and be still unable
to pay their arrears of wages, to surrender his person to them as a
hostage for his debt.
Thus triumphantly for Alva, thus miserably for Orange, ended the
campaign. Thus hopelessly vanished the army to which so many proud hopes
had attached themselves. Eight thousand teen had been slain in paltry
encounters, thirty thousand were dispersed, not easily to be again
collected. All the funds which the Prince could command had been wasted
without producing a result. For the present, nothing seemed to afford a
ground of hope for the Netherlands, but the war of freedom had been
renewed in France. A band of twelve hundred mounted men-at-arms were
willing to follow the fortunes of the Prince. The three brothers
accordingly; William, Louis, and Henry--a lad of eighteen, who had
abandoned his studies at the university to obey the chivalrous instincts
of his race--set forth early in the following spring to join the banner
of Conde.
Cardinal Granvelle, who had never taken his eyes or thoughts from the
provinces during his residence at Rome, now expressed himself with
exultation. He had predicted, with cold malice, the immediate results
of the campaign, and was sanguine enough to believe the contest over,
and the Prince for ever crushed. In his letters to Philip he had taken
due notice of the compliments paid to him by Orange in his Justification,
in his Declaration, and in his letter to the Emperor. He had declined to
make any answer to the charges, in order to enrage the Prince the more.
He had expressed the opinion, however, that this publication of writings
was not the business of brave soldiers, but of cowards. He made the same
reflection upon the alleged intrigues by Orange to procure an embassy on
his own behalf from the Emperor to Philip--a mission which was sure to
end in smoke, while it would cost the Prince all credit, not only in
Germany but the Netherlands. He felt sure, he said, of the results of
the impending campaign. The Duke of Alva was a man upon whose
administrative prudence and military skill his sovereign could implicitly
rely, nor was there a person in the ranks of the rebels capable of,
conducting an enterprise of such moment. Least of all had the Prince of
Orange sufficient brains for carrying on such weighty affairs, according
to the opinion which he had formed of him during their long intercourse
in former days.
When the campaign had been decided, and the Prince had again become an
exile, Granvelle observed that it was now proved how incompetent he and
all his companions were to contend in military skill with the Duke of
Alva. With a cold sneer at motives which he assumed, as a matter of
course, to be purely selfish, he said that the Prince had not taken the
proper road to recover his property, and that he would now be much
embarrassed to satisfy his creditors. Thus must those ever fall, he
moralized, who would fly higher than they ought; adding, that henceforth
the Prince would have enough to do in taking care of madam his wife, if
she did not change soon in humor and character.
Meantime the Duke of Alva, having despatched from Cateau Cambresis a
brief account of the victorious termination of the campaign, returned in
triumph to Brussels. He had certainly amply vindicated his claim to be
considered the first warrior of the age. By his lieutenants he had
summarily and rapidly destroyed two of the armies sent against him; he
had annihilated in person the third, by a brilliantly successful battle,
in which he had lost seven men, and his enemies seven thousand; and he
had now, by consummate strategy, foiled the fourth and last under the
idolized champion of the Netherlands, and this so decisively that,
without losing a man, he had destroyed eight thousand rebels, and
scattered to the four winds the remaining twenty thousand. Such signal
results might well make even a meeker nature proud. Such vast and
fortunate efforts to fix for ever an impregnable military tyranny upon a
constitutional country, might cause a more modest despot to exult. It
was not wonderful that the haughty, and now apparently omnipotent Alva,
should almost assume the god. On his return to Brussels he instituted a
succession of triumphant festivals. The people were called upon to
rejoice and to be exceeding glad, to strew flowers in his path, to sing
Hosannas in his praise who came to them covered with the blood of those
who had striven in their defence. The holiday was duly called forth;
houses, where funeral hatchments for murdered inmates had been
perpetually suspended, were decked with garlands; the bells, which had
hardly once omitted their daily knell for the victims of an incredible
cruelty, now rang their merriest peals; and in the very square where so
lately Egmont and Horn, besides many other less distinguished martyrs,
had suffered an ignominious death, a gay tournament was held, day after
day, with all the insolent pomp which could make the exhibition most
galling.
But even these demonstrations of hilarity were not sufficient. The
conqueror and tamer of the Netherlands felt that a more personal and
palpable deification was necessary for his pride. When Germanicus had
achieved his last triumph over the ancient freedom of those generous
races whose descendants, but lately in possession of a better organized
liberty, Alva had been sent by the second and the worse Tiberius to
insult and to crush, the valiant but modest Roman erected his trophy upon
the plains of Idistavisus. "The army of Tiberius Caesar having subdued
the nations between the Rhine and the Elbe, dedicate this monument to
Mars, to Jupiter, and to Augustus." So ran the inscription of
Germanicus, without a word of allusion to his own name. The Duke of
Alva, on his return from the battle-fields of Brabant and Friesland,
reared a colossal statue of himself, and upon its pedestal caused these
lines to be engraved: "To Ferdinand Alvarez de Toledo, Duke of Alva,
Governor of the Netherlands under Philip the Second, for having
extinguished sedition, chastised rebellion, restored religion, secured
justice, established peace; to the King's most faithful minister this
monument is erected."
[Bor, iv. 257, 258. Meteren, 61. De Thou, v. 471-473, who saw it
after it was overthrown, and who was "as much struck by the beauty
of the work as by the insane pride of him who ordered it to be
made."]
So pompous a eulogy, even if truthful and merited, would be sufficiently
inflated upon a tombstone raised to a dead chieftain by his bereaved
admirers. What shall we say of such false and fulsome tribute, not to a
god, not to the memory of departed greatness, but to a living, mortal
man, and offered not by his adorers but by himself? Certainly, self-
worship never went farther than in this remarkable monument, erected in
Alva's honor, by Alva's hands. The statue was colossal, and was placed
in the citadel of Antwerp. Its bronze was furnished by the cannon
captured at Jemmingen. It represented the Duke trampling upon a
prostrate figure with two heads, four arms, and one body. The two
heads were interpreted by some to represent Egmont and Horn, by others,
the two Nassaus, William and Louis. Others saw in them an allegorical
presentment of the nobles and commons of the Netherlands, or perhaps an
impersonation of the Compromise and the Request. Besides the chief
inscription on the pedestal, were sculptured various bas-reliefs; and the
spectator, whose admiration for the Governor-general was not satiated
with the colossal statue itself, was at liberty to find a fresh,
personification of the hero, either in a torch-bearing angel or a gentle
shepherd. The work, which had considerable esthetic merit, was executed
by an artist named Jacob Jongeling. It remained to astonish and disgust
the Netherlanders until it was thrown down and demolished by Alva's
successor, Requesens.
It has already been observed that many princes of the Empire had, at
first warmly and afterwards, as the storm darkened around him, with less
earnestness, encouraged the efforts of Orange. They had, both privately
and officially, urged the subject upon the attention of the Emperor, and
had solicited his intercession with Philip. It was not an interposition
to save the Prince from chastisement, however the artful pen of Granvelle
might distort the facts. It was an address in behalf of religious
liberty for the Netherlands, made by those who had achieved it in their
own persons, and who were at last enjoying immunity from persecution.
It was an appeal which they who made it were bound to make, for the
Netherland commissioners had assisted at the consultations by which the
Peace of Passau had been wrung from the reluctant hand of Charles.
These applications, however, to the Emperor, and through him to the King
of Spain, had been, as we have seen, accompanied by perpetual advice to
the Prince of Orange, that he should "sit still." The Emperor had
espoused his cause with apparent frankness, so far as friendly mediation
went, but in the meantime had peremptorily commanded him to refrain from
levying war upon Alva, an injunction which the Prince had as peremptorily
declined to obey. The Emperor had even sent especial envoys to the Duke
and to the Prince, to induce them to lay down their arms, but without
effect. Orange knew which course was the more generous to his oppressed
country; to take up arms, now that hope had been converted into despair
by the furious tyranny of Alva, or to "sit still" and await the result of
the protocols about to be exchanged between king and kaiser. His arms
had been unsuccessful indeed, but had he attended the issue of this
sluggish diplomacy, it would have been even worse for the cause of
freedom. The sympathy of his best friends, at first fervent then
lukewarm, had, as disasters thickened around him, grown at last stone-
cold. From the grave, too, of Queen Isabella arose the most importunate
phantom in his path. The King of Spain was a widower again, and the
Emperor among his sixteen children had more than one marriageable
daughter. To the titles of "beloved cousin and brother-in-law," with
which Philip had always been greeted in the Imperial proclamations, the
nearer and dearer one of son-in-law was prospectively added.
The ties of wedlock were sacred in the traditions of the Habsburg house,
but still the intervention was nominally made. As early as August, 1568,
the Emperor's minister at Madrid had addressed a memorial to the King.
He had spoken in warm and strong language of the fate of Egmont and Horn,
and had reminded Philip that the executions which were constantly taking
place in the provinces were steadily advancing the Prince of Orange's
cause. On the 22nd September, 1568, the six electors had addressed a
formal memorial to the Emperor. They thanked him for his previous
interposition in favor of the Netherlands, painted in lively colors the
cruelty of Alva, and denounced the unheard-of rigor with which he had
massacred, not only many illustrious seigniors, but people of every
degree. Notwithstanding the repeated assurances given by the King to the
contrary, they reminded the Emperor, that the inquisition, as well as the
Council of Trent, had now been established in the Netherlands in full
vigor. They maintained that the provinces had been excluded from the
Augsburg religious peace, to which their claim was perfect. Nether
Germany was entitled to the same privileges as Upper Germany. They
begged the Emperor to make manifest his sentiments and their own. It
was fitting that his Catholic Majesty should be aware that the princes
of the Empire were united for the conservation of fatherland and of
tranquillity. To this end they placed in the Emperor's hands their
estates, their fortunes, and their lives.
Such was the language of that important appeal to the Emperor in behalf
of oppressed millions in the Netherlands, an appeal which Granvelle had
coldly characterized as an intrigue contrived by Orange to bring about
his own restoration to favor!
The Emperor, in answer, assured the electoral envoys that he had taken
the affair to heart, and had resolved to despatch his own brother, the
Archduke Charles, on a special mission to Spain.
Accordingly, on the 21st October, 1568, the Emperor presented his brother
with an ample letter of instructions. He was to recal to Philip's memory
the frequent exhortations made by the Emperor concerning the policy
pursued in the Netherlands. He was to mention the urgent interpellations
made to him by the electors and princes of the Empire in their recent
embassy. He was to state that the Emperor had recently deputed
commissioners to the Prince of Orange and the Duke of Alva, in order
to bring about, if possible, a suspension of arms. He was to represent
that the great number of men raised by the Prince of Orange in Germany,
showed the powerful support which he had found in the country. Under
such circumstances he was to show that it had been impossible for the
Emperor to decree the ban against him, as the Duke of Alva had demanded.
The Archduke was to request the King's consent to the reconciliation of
Orange, on honorable conditions. He was to demand the substitution of
clemency in for severity, and to insist on the recall of the foreign
soldiery from the Netherlands.
Furnished with this very warm and stringent letter, the Archduke arrived
in Madrid on the 10th December, 1568. A few days later he presented the
King with a copy of the instructions; those brave words upon which the
Prince of Orange was expected to rely instead of his own brave heart and
the stout arms of his followers. Philip having examined the letter,
expressed his astonishment that such propositions should be made to him,
and by the agency, too, of such a personage as the Archduke. He had
already addressed a letter to the Emperor, expressing his dissatisfaction
at the step now taken. He had been disturbed at the honor thus done to
the Prince of Orange, and at this interference with his own rights. It
was, in his opinion, an unheard-of proceeding thus to address a monarch
of his quality upon matters in which he could accept the law from no man.
He promised, however, that a written answer should be given to the letter
of instructions.
On the 20th of January, 1569, that answer was placed in the hands of the
Archduke. It was intimated that the paper was a public one, fit to be
laid by the Emperor, before the electors; but that the King had also
caused a confidential one to be prepared, in which his motives and
private griefs were indicated to Maximilian.
In the more public document, Philip observed that he had never considered
himself obliged to justify his conduct, in his own affairs, to others.
He thought, however, that his example of severity would have been
received with approbation by princes whose subjects he had thus taught
obedience. He could not admit that, on account of the treaties which
constituted the Netherlands a circle of the Empire, he was obliged to
observe within their limits the ordinances of the imperial diet. As to
the matter of religion, his principal solicitude, since his accession to
the crown, had been to maintain the Catholic faith throughout all his
states. In things sacred he could admit no compromise. The Church alone
had the right to prescribe rules to the faithful. As to the chastisement
inflicted by him upon the Netherland rebels, it would be found that he
had not used rigor, as had been charged against him, but, on the,
contrary, great clemency and gentleness. He had made no change in the
government of the provinces, certainly none in the edicts, the only
statutes binding upon princes. He had appointed the Duke of Alva to the
regency, because it was his royal will and pleasure so to appoint him.
The Spanish soldiery were necessary for the thorough chastisement of the
rebels, and could not be at present removed. As to the Prince of Orange,
whose case seemed the principal motive for this embassy, and in whose
interest so much had been urged, his crimes were so notorious that it was
impossible even to attempt to justify them. He had been, in effect, the
author of all the conspiracies, tumults, and seditious which had taken
place in the Netherlands. All the thefts, sacrileges, violations of
temples, and other misdeeds of which these provinces had been the
theatre, were, with justice, to be imputed to him. He had moreover,
levied an army and invaded his Majesty's territories. Crimes so enormous
had closed the gate to all clemency. Notwithstanding his respect for the
intercession made by the Emperor and the princes of the Empire, the King
could not condescend to grant what was now asked of him in regard to the
Prince of Orange. As to a truce between him and the Duke of Alva, his
Imperial Majesty ought to reflect upon the difference between a sovereign
and his rebellious vassal, and consider how indecent and how prejudicial
to the King's honor such a treaty must be esteemed.
So far the public letter, of which the Archduke was furnished with a
copy, both in Spanish and in Latin. The private memorandum was intended
for the Emperor's eyes alone and those of his envoy. In this paper the
King expressed himself with more warmth and in more decided language.
He was astonished, he said, that the Prince of Orange, in levying an army
for the purpose of invading the states of his natural sovereign, should
have received so much aid and comfort in Germany. It seemed incredible
that this could not have been prevented by imperial authority. He had
been pained that commissioners had been sent to the Prince. He regretted
such a demonstration in his favor as had now been made by the mission of
the Archduke to Madrid. That which, however, had caused the King the
deepest sorrow was, that his Imperial Majesty should wish to persuade him
in religious matters to proceed with mildness. The Emperor ought to be
aware that no human consideration, no regard for his realms, nothing in
the world which could be represented or risked, would cause him to swerve
by a single hair's breadth from his path in the matter of religion. This
path was the same throughout all his kingdoms. He had ever trod in it
faithfully, and he meant to keep in it perpetually. He would admit
neither counsel nor persuasion to the contrary, and should take it ill if
counsel or persuasion should be offered. He could not but consider the
terms of the instructions given to the Archduke as exceeding the limits
of amicable suggestion. They in effect amounted to a menace, and he was
astonished that a menace should be employed, because, with princes
constituted like himself, such means could have but little success.
On the 23rd of January, 1569, the Archduke presented the King with a
spirited reply to the public letter. It was couched in the spirit of the
instructions, and therefore need not be analysed at length. He did not
believe that his Imperial Majesty would admit any justification of the
course pursued in the Netherlands. The estates of the Empire would never
allow Philip's reasoning concerning the connexion of those countries with
the Empire, nor that they were independent, except in the particular
articles expressed in the treaty of Augsburg. In 1555, when Charles the
Fifth and King Ferdinand had settled the religious peace, they had been
assisted by envoys from the Netherlands. The princes of the Empire held
the ground, therefore, that the religious peace, which alone had saved a
vestige of Romanism in Germany, should of right extend to the provinces.
As to the Prince of Orange, the Archduke would have preferred to say
nothing more, but the orders of the Emperor did not allow him to be
silent. It was now necessary to put an end to this state of things in
Lower Germany. The princes of the Empire were becoming exasperated. He
recalled the dangers of the Smalcaldian war--the imminent peril in which
the Emperor had been placed by the act of a single elector. They who
believed that Flanders could be governed in the same manner as Italy and
Spain were greatly mistaken, and Charles the Fifth had always recognised
that error.
This was the sum and substance of the Archduke's mission to Madrid, so
far as its immediate objects were concerned. In the course, however, of
the interview between this personage and Philip, the King took occasion
to administer a rebuke to his Imperial Majesty for his general negligence
in religious matters. It was a matter which lay at his heart, he said,
that the Emperor, although, as he doubted not, a Christian and Catholic
prince, was from policy unaccustomed to make those exterior
demonstrations which matters of faith required. He therefore begged the
Archduke to urge this matter upon the attention of his Imperial Majesty.
The Emperor, despite this solemn mission, had become more than
indifferent before his envoy had reached Madrid. For this indifference
there were more reasons than one. When the instructions had been drawn
up, the death of the Queen of Spain had not been known in Vienna. The
Archduke had even been charged to inform Philip of the approaching
marriages of the two Archduchesses, that of Anne with the King of France,
and that of Isabella with the King of Portugal. A few days later,
however, the envoy received letters from the Emperor, authorizing him to
offer to the bereaved Philip the hand of the Archduchess Anne.
[Herrera (lib. xv. 707) erroneously states that the Archduke was,
at the outset, charged with these two commissions by the Emperor;
namely, to negotiate the marriage of the Archduchess Anne with
Philip, and to arrange the affairs of the Netherlands. On the
contrary, he was empowered to offer Anne to the King of France,
and had already imparted his instructions to that effect to Philip,
before he received letters from Vienna, written after the death of
Isabella had become known. At another interview, he presented this
new matrimonial proposition to Philip. These facts are important,
for they indicate how completely the objects of the embassy, the
commencement of which was so pretentious, were cast aside, that a
more advantageous marriage for one of the seven Austrian
Archduchesses might be secured.--Compare Correspondance de Philippe]
The King replied to the Archduke, when this proposition was made, that if
he had regard only to his personal satisfaction, he should remain as he
was. As however he had now no son, he was glad that the proposition had
been made, and would see how the affair could be arranged with France.
Thus the ill success of Orange in Brabant, so disheartening to the German
princes most inclined to his cause, and still more the widowhood of
Philip, had brought a change over the views of Maximilian. On the 17th
of January, 1569, three days before his ambassador had entered upon his
negotiations, he had accordingly addressed an autograph letter to his
Catholic Majesty. In this epistle, by a few, cold lines, he entirely
annihilated any possible effect which might have been produced by the
apparent earnestness of his interposition in favor of the Netherlands.
He informed the King that the Archduke had been sent, not to vex him, but
to convince him of his friendship. He assured Philip that he should be
satisfied with his response, whatever it might be. He entreated only
that it might be drawn up in such terms that the princes and electors to
whom it must be shown, might not be inspired with suspicion.
The Archduke left Madrid on the 4th of March, 1569. He retired, well
pleased with the results of his mission, not because its ostensible
objects had been accomplished, for those had signally failed, but because
the King had made him a present of one hundred thousand ducats, and had
promised to espouse the Archduchess Anne. On the 26th of May, 1569, the
Emperor addressed a final reply to Philip, in which he expressly approved
the King's justification of his conduct. It was founded, he thought,
in reason and equity. Nevertheless, it could hardly be shown, as it was,
to the princes and electors, and he had therefore modified many points
which he thought might prove offensive.
Thus ended "in smoke," as Granvelle had foretold, the famous mission of
Archduke Charles. The Holy Roman Emperor withdrew from his pompous
intervention, abashed by a rebuke, but consoled by a promise. If it were
good to be guardian of religious freedom in Upper and Nether Germany, it
was better to be father-in-law to the King of Spain and both the Indies.
Hence the lame and abrupt conclusion.
Cardinal Granvelle had been very serviceable in this juncture. He had
written to Philip to assure him that, in his, opinion, the Netherlands
had no claim, under the transaction of Augsburg, to require the
observance within their territory of the decrees of the Empire. He
added, that Charles the Fifth had only agreed to the treaty of Passau to
save his brother Ferdinand from ruin; that he had only consented to it as
Emperor, and had neither directly nor indirectly included the Netherlands
within its provisions. He stated, moreover, that the Emperor had revoked
the treaty by an act which was never published, in consequence of the
earnest solicitations of Ferdinand.
It has been seen that the King had used this opinion of Granvelle in the
response presented to the Archduke. Although he did not condescend to an
argument, he had laid down the fact as if it were indisputable. He was
still more delighted to find that Charles had revoked the treaty of
Passau, and eagerly wrote to Granvelle to inquire where the secret
instrument was to be found. The Cardinal replied that it was probably
among his papers at Brussels, but that he doubted whether it would be
possible to find it in his absence. Whether such a document ever
existed, it is difficult to say. To perpetrate such a fraud would have
been worthy of Charles; to fable its perpetration not unworthy of the
Cardinal. In either case, the transaction was sufficiently high-handed
and exceedingly disgraceful.
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