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Title: The Rise of the Dutch Republic, 1570-72
Author: John Lothrop Motley
Release Date: January, 2004 [EBook #4818]
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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, 1570-72 ***
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MOTLEY'S HISTORY OF THE NETHERLANDS, PG EDITION, VOLUME 18.
THE RISE OF THE DUTCH REPUBLIC
By John Lothrop Motley
1855
1570 [CHAPTER VI.]
Orange and Count Louis in France--Peace with the Huguenots--
Coligny's memoir, presented by request to Charles IX., on the
subject of invading the Netherlands--Secret correspondence of Orange
organized by Paul Buys--Privateering commissions issued by the
Prince--Regulations prescribed by him for the fleets thus created--
Impoverished condition of the Prince--His fortitude--His personal
sacrifices and privations--His generosity--Renewed contest between
the Duke and the Estates on the subject of the tenth and twentieth
pence--Violent disputes in the council--Firm opposition of Viglius--
Edict commanding the immediate collection of the tax--Popular
tumults--Viglius denounced by Alva--The Duke's fierce complaints to
the King--Secret schemes of Philip against Queen Elizabeth of
England--The Ridolphi plot to murder Elizabeth countenanced by
Philip and Pius V.--The King's orders to Alva to further the plan--
The Duke's remonstrances--Explosion of the plot--Obstinacy of
Philip--Renewed complaints of Alva as to the imprudent service
required of him--Other attempts of Philip to murder Elizabeth--Don
John of Austria in the Levant----Battle of Lepanto--Slothfulness of
Selim--Appointment of Medina Celi--Incessant wrangling in Brussels
upon the tax--Persevering efforts of Orange--Contempt of Alva for
the Prince--Proposed sentence of ignominy against his name--Sonoy's
mission to Germany--Remarkable papers issued by the Prince--The
"harangue"--Intense hatred for Alva entertained by the highest as
well as lower orders--Visit of Francis de Alva to Brussels--His
unfavourable report to the King--Querulous language of the Duke--
Deputation to Spain--Universal revolt against the tax--Ferocity of
Alva--Execution of eighteen tradesmen secretly ordered--Interrupted
by the capture of Brill--Beggars of the sea--The younger Wild Boar
of Ardennes--Reconciliation between the English government and that
of Alva--The Netherland privateersmen ordered out of English ports--
De la Marck's fleet before Brill--The town summoned to surrender--
Commissioners sent out to the fleet--Flight of the magistrates and
townspeople--Capture of the place--Indignation of Alva--Popular
exultation in Brussels--Puns and Caricatures--Bossu ordered to
recover the town of Brill--His defeat--His perfidious entrance into
Rotterdam--Massacre in that city--Flushing revolutionized--
Unsuccessful attempt of Governor de Bourgogne to recal the citizens
to their obedience--Expedition under Treslong from Brill to assist
the town of Flushing--Murder of Paccheco by the Patriots--Zeraerts
appointed Governor of Walcheren by Orange.
While such had been the domestic events of the Netherlands during the
years 1569 and 1570, the Prince of Orange, although again a wanderer, had
never allowed himself to despair. During this whole period, the darkest
hour for himself and for his country, he was ever watchful. After
disbanding his troops at Strasburg, and after making the best
arrangements possible under the circumstances for the eventual payment of
their wages, he had joined the army which the Duke of Deux Ponts had been
raising in Germany to assist the cause of the Huguenots in France. The
Prince having been forced to acknowledge that, for the moment, all open
efforts in the Netherlands were likely to be fruitless, instinctively
turned his eyes towards the more favorable aspect of the Reformation in
France. It was inevitable that, while he was thus thrown for the time
out of his legitimate employment, he should be led to the battles of
freedom in a neighbouring land. The Duke of Deux Ponts, who felt his own
military skill hardly adequate to the task which he had assumed, was
glad, as it were, to put himself and his army under the orders of Orange.
Meantime the battle of Jamac had been fought; the Prince of Condo,
covered with wounds, and exclaiming that it was sweet to die for Christ
and country, had fallen from his saddle; the whole Huguenot army had been
routed by the royal forces under the nominal command of Anjou, and the
body of Conde, tied to the back of a she ass, had been paraded through
the streets of Jarnap in derision.
Affairs had already grown almost as black for the cause of freedom in
France as in the provinces. Shortly afterwards William of Orange, with a
band of twelve hundred horsemen, joined the banners of Coligny. His two
brothers accompanied him. Henry, the stripling, had left the university
to follow the fortunes of the Prince. The indomitable Louis, after seven
thousand of his army had been slain, had swum naked across the Ems,
exclaiming "that his courage, thank God, was as fresh and lively as
ever," and had lost not a moment in renewing his hostile schemes against
the Spanish government. In the meantime he had joined the Huguenots in
France. The battle of Moncontour had succeeded, Count Peter Mansfeld,
with five thousand troops sent by Alva, fighting on the side of the
royalists, and Louis Nassau on that of the Huguenots, atoning by the
steadiness and skill with which he covered the retreat, for his
intemperate courage, which had precipitated the action, and perhaps been
the main cause of Coligny's overthrow. The Prince of Orange, who had
been peremptorily called to the Netherlands in the beginning of the
autumn, was not present at the battle. Disguised as a peasant, with but
five attendants, and at great peril, he had crossed the enemy's lines,
traversed France, and arrived in Germany before the winter. Count Louis
remained with the Huguenots. So necessary did he seem to their cause,
and so dear had he become to their armies, that during the severe illness
of Coligny in the course of the following summer all eyes were turned
upon him as the inevitable successor of that great man, the only
remaining pillar of freedom in France.
Coligny recovered. The deadly peace between the Huguenots and the Court
succeeded. The Admiral, despite his sagacity and his suspicions,
embarked with his whole party upon that smooth and treacherous current
which led to the horrible catastrophe of Saint Bartholomew. To occupy
his attention, a formal engagement was made by the government to send
succor to the Netherlands. The Admiral was to lead the auxiliaries which
were to be despatched across the frontier to overthrow the tyrannical
government of Alva. Long and anxious were the colloquies held between
Coligny and the Royalists. The monarch requested a detailed opinion, in
writing, from the Admiral, on the most advisable plan for invading the
Netherlands. The result was the preparation of the celebrated memoir,
under Coligny's directions, by young De Mornay, Seigneur de Plessis.
The document was certainly not a paper of the highest order. It did not
appeal to the loftier instincts which kings or common mortals might be
supposed to possess. It summoned the monarch to the contest in the
Netherlands that the ancient injuries committed by Spain might be
avenged. It invoked the ghost of Isabella of France, foully murdered, as
it was thought, by Philip. It held out the prospect of re-annexing the
fair provinces, wrested from the King's ancestors by former Spanish
sovereigns. It painted the hazardous position of Philip; with the
Moorish revolt gnawing at the entrails of his kingdom, with the Turkish
war consuming its extremities, with the canker of rebellion corroding
the very heart of the Netherlands. It recalled, with exultation, the
melancholy fact that the only natural and healthy existence of the
French was in a state of war--that France, if not occupied with foreign
campaigns, could not be prevented from plunging its sword into its own
vitals.
It indulged in refreshing reminiscences of those halcyon days, not long
gone by, when France, enjoying perfect tranquillity within its own
borders, was calmly and regularly carrying on its long wars beyond the
frontier.
In spite of this savage spirit, which modern documents, if they did not
scorn, would, at least have shrouded, the paper was nevertheless a
sagacious one; but the request for the memoir, and the many interviews on
the subject of the invasion, were only intended to deceive. They were
but the curtain which concealed the preparations for the dark tragedy
which was about to be enacted. Equally deceived, and more sanguine than
ever, Louis Nassau during this period was indefatigable in his attempts
to gain friends for his cause. He had repeated audiences of the King,
to whose court he had come in disguise. He made a strong and warm
impression upon Elizabeth's envoy at the French Court, Walsingham. It is
probable that in the Count's impetuosity to carry his point, he allowed
more plausibility to be given to certain projects for subdividing the
Netherlands than his brother would ever have sanctioned. The Prince was
a total stranger to these inchoate schemes. His work was to set his
country free, and to destroy the tyranny which had grown colossal. That
employment was sufficient for a lifetime, and there is no proof to be
found that a paltry and personal self-interest had even the lowest place
among his motives.
Meantime, in the autumn of 1569, Orange had again reached Germany.
Paul Buys, Pensionary of Leyden, had kept him constantly informed of
the state of affairs in the provinces. Through his means an extensive
correspondence was organized and maintained with leading persons in every
part of the Netherlands. The conventional terms by which different
matters and persons of importance were designated in these letters were
familiarly known to all friends of the cause, not only in the provinces,
but in France, England, Germany, and particularly in the great commercial
cities. The Prince, for example, was always designated as Martin
Willemzoon, the Duke of Alva as Master Powels van Alblas, the Queen of
England as Henry Philipzoon, the King of Denmark as Peter Peterson. The
twelve signs of the zodiac were used instead of the twelve months, and a
great variety of similar substitutions were adopted. Before his visit to
France, Orange had, moreover, issued commissions, in his capacity of
sovereign, to various seafaring persons, who were empowered to cruise
against Spanish commerce.
The "beggars of the sea," as these privateersmen designated themselves,
soon acquired as terrible a name as the wild beggars, or the forest
beggars; but the Prince, having had many conversations with Admiral
Coligny on the important benefits to be derived from the system, had
faithfully set himself to effect a reformation of its abuses after his
return from France. The Seigneur de Dolhain, who, like many other
refugee nobles, had acquired much distinction in this roving corsair
life, had for a season acted as Admiral for the Prince. He had, however,
resolutely declined to render any accounts of his various expeditions,
and was now deprived of his command in consequence. Gillain de Fiennes,
Seigneur de Lumbres, was appointed to succeed him. At the same time
strict orders were issued by Orange, forbidding all hostile measures
against the Emperor or any of the princes of the empire, against Sweden,
Denmark, England, or against any potentates who were protectors of the
true Christian religion. The Duke of Alva and his adherents were
designated as the only lawful antagonists. The Prince, moreover, gave
minute instructions as to the discipline to be observed in his fleet.
The articles of war were to be strictly enforced. Each commander was to
maintain a minister on board his ship, who was to preach God's word, and
to preserve Christian piety among the crew. No one was to exercise any
command in the fleet save native Netherlanders, unless thereto expressly
commissioned by the Prince of Orange. All prizes were to be divided and
distributed by a prescribed rule. No persons were to be received on
board, either as sailors or soldiers, save "folk of goad name and fame."
No man who had ever been punished of justice was to be admitted. Such
were the principal features in the organization of that infant navy
which, in course of this and the following centuries, was to achieve so
many triumphs, and to which a powerful and adventurous mercantile marine
had already led the way. "Of their ships," said Cardinal Bentivoglio,
"the Hollanders make houses, of their houses schools. Here they are
born, here educated, here they learn their profession. Their sailors,
flying from one pale to the other, practising their art wherever the sun
displays itself to mortals, become so skilful that they can scarcely be
equalled, certainly not surpassed; by any nation in the civilized world."
The Prince, however, on his return from France, had never been in so
forlorn a condition. "Orange is plainly perishing," said one of the
friends of the cause. Not only had he no funds to organize new levies,
but he was daily exposed to the most clamorously-urged claims, growing
out of the army which be had been recently obliged to disband. It had
been originally reported in the Netherlands that he had fallen in the
battle of Moncontour. "If he have really been taken off," wrote Viglius,
hardly daring to credit the great news, "we shall all of us have less
cause to tremble." After his actual return, however, lean and beggared,
with neither money nor credit, a mere threatening shadow without
substance or power, he seemed to justify the sarcasm of Granvelle.
"Vana sine viribus ira," quoted the Cardinal, and of a verity it seemed
that not a man was likely to stir in Germany in his behalf, now that so
deep a gloom had descended upon his cause. The obscure and the oppressed
throughout the provinces and Germany still freely contributed out of
their weakness and their poverty, and taxed themselves beyond their means
to assist enterprizes for the relief of the Netherlands. The great ones
of the earth, however, those on whom the Prince had relied; those to whom
he had given his heart; dukes, princes, and electors, in this fatal
change of his fortunes fell away like water.
Still his spirit was unbroken. His letters showed a perfect appreciation
of his situation, and of that to which his country was reduced; but they
never exhibited a trace of weakness or despair. A modest, but lofty
courage; a pious, but unaffected resignation, breathed through--every
document, public or private, which fell from his pen during this epoch.
He wrote to his brother John that he was quite willing to go, to
Frankfort, in order to give himself up as a hostage to his troops for the
payment of their arrears. At the same time he begged his brother to move
heaven and earth to raise at least one hundred thousand thalers. If he
could only furnish them with a month's pay, the soldiers would perhaps be
for a time contented. He gave directions also concerning the disposition
of what remained of his plate and furniture, the greater part of it
having been already sold and expended in the cause. He thought it would,
on the whole, be better to have the remainder sold, piece by piece, at
the fair. More money would be raised by that course than by a more
wholesale arrangement.
He was now obliged to attend personally to the most minute matters of
domestic economy. The man who been the mate of emperors, who was himself
a sovereign, had lived his life long in pomp and luxury, surrounded by
countless nobles, pages, men-at-arms, and menials, now calmly accepted
the position of an outlaw and an exile. He cheerfully fulfilled tasks
which had formerly devolved upon his grooms and valets. There was an
almost pathetic simplicity in the homely details of an existence which,
for the moment, had become so obscure and so desperate. "Send by the
bearer," he wrote, "the little hackney given me by the Admiral; send also
my two pair of trunk hose; one pair is at the tailor's to be mended, the
other, pair you will please order to be taken from the things which I
wore lately at Dillenburg. They lie on the table with my accoutrements.
If the little hackney be not in condition, please send the grey horse
with the cropped ears and tail."
He was always mindful, however, not only of the great cause to which he
had devoted himself, but of the wants experienced by individuals who had
done him service. He never forgot his friends. In the depth of his own
misery he remembered favors received from humble persons. "Send a little
cup, worth at least a hundred florins, to Hartmann Wolf," he wrote to his
brother; "you can take as much silver out of the coffer, in which there
is still some of my chapel service remaining."--"You will observe that
Affenstein is wanting a horse," he wrote on another occasion; "please
look him out one, and send it to me with the price. I will send you the
money. Since he has shown himself so willing in the cause, one ought to
do something for him."
The contest between the Duke and the estates, on the subject of the tenth
and twentieth penny had been for a season adjusted. The two years' term,
however, during which it had been arranged that the tax should be
commuted, was to expire in the autumn of 1571. Early therefore in this
year the disputes were renewed with greater acrimony than ever. The
estates felt satisfied that the King was less eager than the Viceroy.
Viglius was satisfied that the power of Alva was upon the wane. While
the King was not likely openly to rebuke his recent measures, it seemed
not improbable that the Governor's reiterated requests to be recalled
might be granted. Fortified by these considerations, the President,
who had so long been the supple tool of the tyrant, suddenly assumed
the character of a popular tribune. The wranglings, the contradictions,
the vituperations, the threatenings, now became incessant in the council.
The Duke found that he had exulted prematurely, when he announced to the
King the triumphant establishment, in perpetuity, of the lucrative tax.
So far from all the estates having given their consent, as he had
maintained, and as he had written to Philip, it now appeared that not
one of those bodies considered itself bound beyond its quota for the two
years. This was formally stated in the council by Berlaymont and other
members. The wrath of the Duke blazed forth at this announcement. He
berated Berlaymont for maintaining, or for allowing it to be maintained,
that the consent of the orders had ever been doubtful. He protested that
they had as unequivocally agreed to the perpetual imposition of the tag
as he to its commutation during two years. He declared, however, that he
was sick of quotas. The tax should now be collected forthwith, and
Treasurer Schetz was ordered to take his measures accordingly.
At a conference on the 29th May, the Duke asked Viglius for his opinion.
The President made a long reply, taking the ground that the consent of
the orders had been only conditional, and appealing to such members of
the finance council as were present to confirm his assertion. It was
confirmed by all. The Duke, in a passion, swore that those who dared
maintain such a statement should be chastised. Viglius replied that it
had always been the custom for councillors to declare their opinion,
and that they had never before been threatened with such consequences.
If such, however, were his Excellency's sentiments, councillors had
better stay at home, hold their tongues, and so avoid chastisement.
The Duke, controlling himself a little, apologized for this allusion to
chastisement, a menace which he disclaimed having intended with reference
to councillors whom he had always commended to the King, and of whom his
Majesty had so high an opinion. At a subsequent meeting the Duke took
Viglius aside, and assured him that he was quite of his own way of
thinking. For certain reasons, however, he expressed himself as
unwilling that the rest of the council should be aware of the change
in his views. He wished, he said, to dissemble. The astute President,
for a moment, could not imagine the Governor's drift. He afterwards
perceived that the object of this little piece of deception had been to
close his mouth. The Duke obviously conjectured that the President,
lulled into security, by this secret assurance, would be silent; that the
other councillors, believing the President to have adopted the Governor's
views, would alter their opinions; and that the opposition of the
estates, thus losing its support in the council, would likewise very soon
be abandoned. The President, however, was not to be entrapped by this
falsehood. He resolutely maintained his hostility to the tax, depending
for his security on the royal opinion, the popular feeling, and the
judgment of his colleagues.
The daily meetings of the board were almost entirely occupied by this
single subject. Although since the arrival of Alva the Council of Blood
had usurped nearly all the functions of the state and finance-councils,
yet there now seemed a disposition on the part of Alva to seek the
countenance, even while he spurned the authority, of other functionaries.
He found, however, neither sympathy nor obedience. The President stoutly
told him that he was endeavouring to swim against the stream, that the
tax was offensive to the people, and that the voice of the people was the
voice of God. On the last day of July, however, the Duke issued an
edict, by which summary collection of the tenth and twentieth pence was
ordered. The whole country was immediately in uproar. The estates of
every province, the assemblies of every city, met and remonstrated. The
merchants suspended all business, the petty dealers shut up their shops.
The people congregated together in masses, vowing resistance to the
illegal and cruel impost. Not a farthing was collected. The "seven
stiver people", spies of government, who for that paltry daily stipend
were employed to listen for treason in every tavern, in every huckster's
booth, in every alley of every city, were now quite unable to report all
the curses which were hourly heard uttered against the tyranny of the
Viceroy. Evidently, his power was declining. The councillors resisted
him, the common people almost defied him. A mercer to whom he was
indebted for thirty thousand florins' worth of goods, refused to open
his shop, lest the tax should be collected on his merchandize. The Duke
confiscated his debt, as the mercer had foreseen, but this being a
pecuniary sacrifice, seemed preferable to acquiescence in a measure so
vague and so boundless that it might easily absorb the whole property of
the country.
No man saluted the governor as he passed through the streets. Hardly an
attempt was made by the people to disguise their abhorrence of his
person: Alva, on his side, gave daily exhibitions of ungovernable fury.
At a council held on 25th September, 1571, he stated that the King had
ordered the immediate enforcement of the edict. Viglius observed that
there were many objections to its form. He also stoutly denied that the
estates had ever given their consent. Alva fiercely asked the President
if he had not himself once maintained that the consent had been granted!
Viglius replied that he had never made such an assertion. He had
mentioned the conditions and the implied promises on the part of
government, by which a partial consent had been extorted. He never could
have said that the consent had been accorded, for he had never believed
that it could be obtained. He had not proceeded far in his argument when
he was interrupted by the Duke--"But you said so, you said so, you said
so," cried the exasperated Governor, in a towering passion, repeating
many times this flat contradiction to the President's statements.
Viglius firmly stood his ground. Alva loudly denounced him for the
little respect he had manifested for his authority. He had hitherto done
the President good offices, he said, with his Majesty, but certainly
should not feel justified in concealing his recent and very unhandsome
conduct.
Viglius replied that he had always reverently cherished the Governor,
and had endeavoured to merit his favor by diligent obsequiousness.
He was bound by his oath, however; to utter in council that which
comported with his own sentiments and his Majesty's interests. He had
done this heretofore in presence of Emperors, Kings, Queens, and Regents,
and they had not taken offence. He did not, at this hour, tremble for
his grey head, and hoped his Majesty would grant him a hearing before
condemnation. The firm attitude of the President increased the
irritation of the Viceroy. Observing that he knew the proper means
of enforcing his authority he dismissed the meeting.
Immediately afterwards, he received the visits of his son, Don Frederic
of Vargas, and other familiars. To these he recounted the scene which
had taken place, raving the while so ferociously against Viglius as to
induce the supposition that something serious was intended against him.
The report flew from mouth to mouth. The affair became the town talk,
so that, in the words of the President, it was soon discussed by every
barber and old woman in Brussels. His friends became alarmed for his
safety, while, at the same time, the citizens rejoiced that their cause
had found so powerful an advocate. Nothing, however, came of these
threats and these explosions. On the contrary, shortly afterwards the
Duke gave orders that the tenth penny should be remitted upon four great
articles-corn, meat, wine, and beer. It was also not to be levied upon
raw materials used in manufactures. Certainly, these were very important
concessions. Still the constitutional objections remained. Alva could
not be made to understand why the alcabala, which was raised without
difficulty in the little town of Alva, should encounter such fierce
opposition in the Netherlands. The estates, he informed the King, made
a great deal of trouble. They withheld their consent at command of their
satrap. The motive which influenced the leading men was not the interest
of factories or fisheries, but the fear that for the future they might
not be able to dictate the law to their sovereign. The people of that
country, he observed, had still the same character which had been
described by Julius Caesar.
The Duke, however, did not find much sympathy at Madrid. Courtiers and
councillors had long derided his schemes. As for the King, his mind was
occupied with more interesting matters. Philip lived but to enforce what
he chose to consider the will of God. While the duke was fighting this
battle with the Netherland constitutionalists, his master had engaged at
home in a secret but most comprehensive scheme. This was a plot to
assassinate Queen Elizabeth of England, and to liberate Mary Queen of
Scots, who was to be placed on the throne in her stead. This project,
in which was of course involved the reduction of England under the
dominion of the ancient Church, could not but prove attractive to Philip.
It included a conspiracy against a friendly sovereign, immense service to
the Church, and a murder. His passion for intrigue, his love of God, and
his hatred of man, would all be gratified at once. Thus, although the
Moorish revolt within the heart of his kingdom had hardly been
terminated--although his legions and his navies were at that instant
engaged in a contest of no ordinary importance with the Turkish empire--
although the Netherlands, still maintaining their hostility and their
hatred, required the flower of the Spanish army to compel their
submission, he did not hesitate to accept the dark adventure which was
offered to him by ignoble hands.
One Ridolfi, a Florentine, long resident in England, had been sent to
the Netherlands as secret agent of the Duke of Norfolk. Alva read his
character immediately, and denounced him to Philip as a loose, prating
creature, utterly unfit to be entrusted with affairs of importance.
Philip, however, thinking more of the plot than of his fellow-actors,
welcomed the agent of the conspiracy to Madrid, listened to his
disclosures attentively, and, without absolutely committing himself by
direct promises, dismissed him with many expressions of encouragement.
On the 12th of July, 1571, Philip wrote to the Duke of Alva, giving an
account of his interview with Roberto Ridolfi. The envoy, after relating
the sufferings of the Queen of Scotland, had laid before him a plan for
her liberation. If the Spanish monarch were willing to assist the Duke
of Norfolk and his friends, it would be easy to put upon Mary's head the
crown of England. She was then to intermarry with Norfolk. The kingdom
of England was again to acknowledge the authority of Rome, and the
Catholic religion to be everywhere restored. The most favorable
moment for the execution of the plan would be in August or September.
As Queen Elizabeth would at that season quit London for the country,
an opportunity would be easily found for seizing and murdering her.
Pius V., to whom Ridolfi had opened the whole matter, highly approved the
scheme, and warmly urged Philip's cooperation. Poor and ruined as he was
himself; the Pope protested that he was ready to sell his chalices, and
even his own vestments, to provide funds for the cause. Philip had
replied that few words were necessary to persuade him. His desire to
see the enterprize succeed was extreme, notwithstanding the difficulties
by which it was surrounded. He would reflect earnestly upon the subject,
in the hope that God, whose cause it was, would enlighten and assist him.
Thus much he had stated to Ridolfi, but he had informed his council
afterwards that he was determined to carry out the scheme by certain
means of which the Duke would soon be informed. The end proposed was to
kill or to capture Elizabeth, to set at liberty the Queen of Scotland,
and to put upon her head the crown of England. In this enterprize he
instructed the Duke of Alva secretly to assist, without however resorting
to open hostilities in his own name or in that of his sovereign. He
desired to be informed how many Spaniards the Duke could put at the
disposition of the conspirators. They had asked for six thousand
arquebusiers for England, two thousand for Scotland, two thousand for
Ireland. Besides these troops, the Viceroy was directed to provide
immediately four thousand arquebuses and two thousand corslets. For the
expenses of the enterprize Philip would immediately remit two hundred
thousand crowns. Alva was instructed to keep the affair a profound
secret from his councillors. Even Hopper at Madrid knew nothing of the
matter, while the King had only expressed himself in general terms to the
nuncio and to Ridolfi, then already on his way to the Netherlands. The
King concluded his letter by saying, that from what he had now written
with his own hand, the Duke could infer how much he had this affair at
heart. It was unnecessary for him to say more, persuaded as he was that
the Duke would take as profound an interest in it as himself.
Alva perceived all the rashness of the scheme, and felt how impossible
it would be for him to comply with Philip's orders. To send an army from
the Netherlands into England for the purpose of dethroning and killing a
most popular sovereign, and at the same time to preserve the most
amicable relations with the country, was rather a desperate undertaking.
A force of ten thousand Spaniards, under Chiappin Vitelli, and other
favorite officers of the Duke, would hardly prove a trifle to be
overlooked, nor would their operations be susceptible of very friendly
explanations. The Governor therefore, assured Philip that he "highly
applauded his master for his plot. He could not help rendering infinite
thanks to God for having made him vassal to such a Prince." He praised
exceedingly the resolution which his Majesty had taken. After this
preamble, however, he proceeded to pour cold water upon his sovereign's
ardor. He decidedly expressed the opinion that Philip should not proceed
in such an undertaking until at any rate the party of the Duke of Norfolk
had obtained possession of Elizabeth's person. Should the King declare
himself prematurely, he might be sure that the Venetians, breaking off
their alliance with him, would make their peace with the Turk; and that
Elizabeth would, perhaps, conclude that marriage with the Duke of Alencon
which now seemed but a pleasantry. Moreover, he expressed his want of
confidence in the Duke of Norfolk, whom he considered as a poor creature
with but little courage. He also expressed his doubts concerning the
prudence and capacity of Don Gueran de Espes, his Majesty's ambassador at
London.
It was not long before these machinations became known in England. The
Queen of Scots was guarded more closely than ever, the Duke of Norfolk
was arrested; yet Philip, whose share in the conspiracy had remained a
secret, was not discouraged by the absolute explosion of the whole
affair. He still held to an impossible purpose with a tenacity which
resembled fatuity. He avowed that his obligations in the sight of God
were so strict that he was still determined to proceed in the sacred
cause. He remitted, therefore, the promised funds to the Duke of Alva,
and urged him to act with proper secrecy and promptness.
The Viceroy was not a little perplexed by these remarkable instructions.
None but lunatics could continue to conspire, after the conspiracy had
been exposed and the conspirators arrested. Yet this was what his
Catholic Majesty expected of his Governor-General. Alva complained,
not unreasonably, of the contradictory demands to which he was subjected.
He was to cause no rupture with England, yet he was to send succor to an
imprisoned traitor; he was to keep all his operations secret from his
council, yet he was to send all his army out of the country, and to
organize an expensive campaign. He sneered: at the flippancy of Ridolfi,
who imagined that it was the work of a moment to seize the Queen of
England, to liberate the Queen of Scotland, to take possession of the
Tower of London, and to burn the fleet in the Thames. "Were your Majesty
and the Queen of England acting together," he observed, "it would be
impossible to execute the plan proposed by Ridolfi." The chief danger
to be apprehended was from France and Germany. Were those countries not
to interfere, he would undertake to make Philip sovereign of England
before the winter. Their opposition, however, was sufficient to make the
enterprise not only difficult, but impossible. He begged his, master not
to be precipitate in the; most important affair which had been negotiated
by man since Christ came upon earth. Nothing less, he said, than the
existence of the Christian faith was at stake, for, should his Majesty
fail in this undertaking, not one stone of the ancient religion would
be left upon another. He again warned the King of the contemptible
character, of Ridolfi, who had spoken of the affair so freely that it
was a common subject of discussion on the Bourse, at Antwerp, and he
reiterated, in all his letters his distrust of the parties prominently
engaged in the transaction.
Such was the general, tenor of the long despatches exchanged between the
King and the Duke of Alva upon this iniquitous scheme. The Duke showed
himself reluctant throughout the whole affair, although he certainly
never opposed his master's project by any arguments founded upon good
faith, Christian charity, or the sense of honor. To kill the Queen of
England, subvert the laws of her realm, burn her fleets, and butcher her
subjects, while the mask of amity and entire consideration was sedulously
preserved--all these projects were admitted to be strictly meritorious in
themselves, although objections were taken as to the time and mode of
execution.
Alva never positively refused to accept his share in the enterprise, but
he took care not to lift his finger till the catastrophe in England had
made all attempts futile. Philip, on the other hand, never positively
withdrew from the conspiracy, but, after an infinite deal of writing and
intriguing, concluded by leaving the whole affair in the hands of Alva.
The only sufferer for Philip's participation in the plot was the Spanish
envoy at London, Don Gueran de Espes. This gentleman was formally
dismissed by Queen Elizabeth, for having given treacherous and hostile
advice to the Duke of Alva and to Philip; but her Majesty at the same
time expressed the most profound consideration for her brother of Spain.
Towards the close of the same year, however (December, 1571); Alva sent
two other Italian assassins to England, bribed by the promise of vast
rewards, to attempt the life of Elizabeth, quietly, by poison or
otherwise. The envoy, Mondoucet, in apprizing the French monarch of this
scheme, added that the Duke was so ulcerated and annoyed by the discovery
of the previous enterprise, that nothing could exceed his rage. These
ruffians were not destined to success, but the attempts of the Duke upon
the Queen's life were renewed from time to time. Eighteen months later
(August, 1573), two Scotchmen, pensioners of Philip, came from Spain,
with secret orders to consult with Alva. They had accordingly much
negotiation with the Duke and his secretary, Albornoz. They boasted that
they could easily capture Elizabeth, but said that the King's purpose was
to kill her. The plan, wrote Mondoucet, was the same as it had been
before, namely, to murder the Queen of England, and to give her crown to
Mary of Scotland, who would thus be in their power, and whose son was to
be seized, and bestowed in marriage in such a way as to make them
perpetual masters of both kingdoms.
It does not belong to this history to discuss the merits, nor to narrate
the fortunes, of that bickering and fruitless alliance which had been
entered into at this period by Philip with Venice and the Holy See
against the Turk. The revolt of Granada had at last, after a two
years' struggle, been subdued, and the remnants of the romantic race
which had once swayed the Peninsula been swept into slavery. The Moors
had sustained the unequal conflict with a constancy not to have been
expected of so gentle a people. "If a nation meek as lambs could resist
so bravely," said the Prince of Orange, "what ought not to be expected of
a hardy people like the Netherlanders?" Don John of Austria having
concluded a series of somewhat inglorious forays against women, children,
and bed-ridden old men in Andalusia and Granada; had arrived, in August
of this year, at Naples, to take command of the combined fleet in the
Levant. The battle of Lepanto had been fought, but the quarrelsome and
contradictory conduct of the allies had rendered the splendid victory as
barren as the waves: upon which it had been won. It was no less true,
however, that the blunders of the infidels had previously enabled Philip
to extricate himself with better success from the dangers of the Moorish
revolt than might have been his fortune. Had the rebels succeeded in
holding Granada and the mountains of Andalusia, and had they been
supported, as they had a right to expect, by the forces of the Sultan,
a different aspect might have been given to the conflict, and one far
less triumphant for Spain. Had a prince of vigorous ambition and
comprehensive policy governed at that moment the Turkish empire; it would
have cost Philip a serious struggle to maintain himself in his hereditary
dominions. While he was plotting against the life and throne of
Elizabeth, he might have had cause to tremble for his own. Fortunately,
however, for his Catholic Majesty, Selim was satisfied to secure himself
in the possession of the Isle of Venus, with its fruitful vineyards.
"To shed the blood" of Cyprian vines, in which he was so enthusiastic
a connoisseur, was to him a more exhilarating occupation than to pursue,
amid carnage and hardships, the splendid dream of a re-established
Eastern caliphate.
On the 25th Sept. 1571, a commission of Governor-General of the
Netherlands was at last issued to John de la Cerda, Duke of Medina Coeli.
Philip, in compliance with the Duke's repeated requests, and perhaps not
entirely satisfied with the recent course of events in the provinces, had
at last, after great hesitation, consented to Alva's resignation. His
successor; however, was not immediately to take his departure, and in the
meantime the Duke was instructed to persevere in his faithful services.
These services had, for the present, reduced themselves to a perpetual
and not very triumphant altercation with his council, with the estates,
and with the people, on the subject of his abominable tax. He was
entirely alone. They who had stood unflinchingly at his side when the
only business of the administration was to burn heretics, turned their
backs upon him now that he had engaged in this desperate conflict with.
the whole money power of the country. The King was far from cordial in
his support, the councillors much too crafty to retain their hold upon
the wheel, to which they had only attached themselves in its ascent.
Viglius and Berlaymont; Noircarmes and Aerschot, opposed and almost
defied the man they now thought sinking, and kept the King constantly
informed of the vast distress which the financial measures of the Duke
were causing.
Quite, at the close of the year, an elaborate petition from the estates
of Brabant was read before the State Council. It contained a strong
remonstrance against the tenth penny. Its repeal was strongly urged,
upon the ground that its collection would involve the country in
universal ruin. Upon this, Alva burst forth in one of the violent
explosions of rage to which he was subject. The prosperity of the,
Netherlands, he protested, was not dearer to the inhabitants than to
himself. He swore by the cross, and by the most holy of holies,
preserved in the church of Saint Gudule, that had he been but a private
individual, living in Spain, he would, out of the love he bore the
provinces, have rushed to their defence had their safety been endangered.
He felt therefore deeply wounded that malevolent persons should thus
insinuate that he had even wished to injure the country, or to exercise
tyranny over its citizens. The tenth penny, he continued, was necessary
to the defence of the land, and was much preferable to quotas. It was
highly improper that every man in the rabble should know how much was
contributed, because each individual, learning the gross amount, would
imagine that he, had paid it all himself. In conclusion, he observed
that, broken in health and stricken in years as he felt himself, he was
now most anxious to return, and was daily looking with eagerness for the
arrival of the Duke of Medina Coeli.
During the course of this same year, the Prince of Orange had been
continuing his preparations. He had sent his agents to every place where
a hope was held out to him of obtaining support. Money was what he was
naturally most anxious to obtain from individuals; open and warlike
assistance what he demanded from governments. His funds, little by
little, were increasing, owing to the generosity of many obscure persons,
and to the daring exploits of the beggars of the sea. His mission,
however, to the northern courts had failed. His envoys had been received
in Sweden and Denmark with barren courtesy. The Duke of Alva, on the
other hand, never alluded to the Prince but with contempt; knowing not
that the ruined outlaw was slowly undermining the very ground beneath the
monarch's feet; dreaming not that the feeble strokes which he despised
were the opening blows of a century's conflict; foreseeing not that long
before its close the chastised province was to expand into a great
republic, and that the name of the outlaw was to become almost divine.
Granvelle had already recommended that the young Count de Buren should be
endowed with certain lands in Spain, in exchange for his hereditary
estates, in order that the name and fame of the rebel William should be
forever extinguished in the Netherlands. With the same view, a new
sentence against the Prince of Orange was now proposed by the Viceroy.
This was, to execute him solemnly in effigy, to drag his escutcheon
through the streets at the tails of horses, and after having broken it in
pieces, and thus cancelled his armorial bearings, to declare him and his
descendants, ignoble, infamous, and incapable of holding property or
estates. Could a leaf or two of future history have been unrolled to
King, Cardinal, and Governor, they might have found the destined fortune
of the illustrious rebel's house not exactly in accordance with the plan
of summary extinction thus laid down.
Not discouraged, the Prince continued to send his emissaries in every
direction. Diedrich Sonoy, his most trustworthy agent, who had been
chief of the legation to the Northern Courts, was now actively canvassing
the governments and peoples of, Germany with the same object. Several
remarkable papers from the hand of Orange were used upon this service.
A letter, drawn up and signed by his own hand, recited; in brief and
striking language, the history of his campaign in 1568, and of his
subsequent efforts in the sacred cause. It was now necessary, he said,
that others besides himself should partake of his sacrifices. This he
stated plainly and eloquently. The document was in truth a letter asking
arms for liberty. "For although all things," said the Prince, "are in
the hand of God, and although he has created all things out of nought,
yet hath he granted to different men different means, whereby, as with
various instruments, he accomplishes his, almighty purposes. Thereto
hath he endowed some with strength of body, others with worldly wealth,
others with still different gifts, all of which are to be used by their
possessors to His honor and glory, if they wish not to incur the curse
of the unworthy steward, who buried his talent in the earth. . . . .
Now ye may easily see," he continued, "that the Prince cannot carry out
this great work alone, having lost land, people, and goods, and having
already employed in the cause all which had remained to him, besides
incurring heavy obligations in addition."
Similar instructions were given to other agents, and a paper called the
Harangue, drawn up according to his suggestions, was also extensively
circulated. This document is important to all who are interested in his
history and character. He had not before issued a missive so stamped
with the warm, religious impress of the reforming party. Sadly, but
without despondency, the Harangue recalled the misfortunes of the past;
and depicted the gloom of the present. Earnestly, but not fanatically,
it stimulated hope and solicited aid for the future. "Although the
appeals made to the Prince," so ran a part of the document, "be of
diverse natures, and various in their recommendations, yet do they all
tend to the advancement of God's glory, and to the liberation of the
fatherland. This it is which enables him and those who think with him to
endure hunger; thirst, cold, heat, and all the misfortunes which Heaven
may send. . . . . . Our enemies spare neither their money nor their
labor; will ye be colder and duller than your foes? Let, then, each
church congregation set an example to the others. We read that King
Saul, when he would liberate the men of Jabez from the hands of Nahad,
the Ammonite, hewed a yoke of oxen in pieces, and sent them as tokens
over all Israel, saying, 'Ye who will not follow Saul and Samuel, with
them shall be dealt even as with these oxen. And the fear of the Lord
came upon the people, they came forth, and the men of Jabez were
delivered.' Ye have here the same warning, look to it, watch well ye
that despise it, lest the wrath of God, which the men of Israel by their
speedy obedience escaped, descend upon your heads. Ye may say that ye
are banished men. 'Tis true: but thereby are ye not stripped of all
faculty of rendering service; moreover, your assistance is asked for one
who will restore ye to your homes. Ye may say that ye have been robbed of
all your goods; yet many of you have still something remaining, and of
that little ye should contribute, each his mite. Ye say that you have
given much already. 'Tis true, but the enemy is again in the field;
fierce for your subjugation, sustained by the largess of his supporters.
Will ye be less courageous, less generous, than your foes."
These urgent appeals did not remain fruitless. The strength of the
Prince was slowly but steadily increasing. Meantime the abhorrence
with which Alva was universally regarded had nearly reached to frenzy.
In the beginning of the year 1572, Don Francis de Alava, Philip's
ambassador in France, visited Brussels. He had already been enlightened
as to the consequences of the Duke's course by the immense immigration of
Netherland refugees to France, which he had witnessed with his own eyes.
On his journey towards Brussels he had been met near Cambray by
Noircarmes. Even that "cruel animal," as Hoogstraaten had called him,
the butcher of Tournay and Valenciennes, had at last been roused to
alarm, if not to pity, by the sufferings of the country. "The Duke will
never disabuse his mind of this filthy tenth penny," said he to Alava.
He sprang from his chair with great emotion as the ambassador alluded to
the flight of merchants and artisans from the provinces. "Senor Don
Francis," cried he, "there are ten thousand more who are on the point of
leaving the country, if the Governor does not pause in his career. God
grant that no disaster arise beyond human power to remedy."
The ambassador arrived in Brussels, and took up his lodgings in the
palace. Here he found the Duke just recovering from a fit of the gout,
in a state of mind sufficiently savage. He became much excited as Don
Francis began to speak of the emigration, and he assured him that there
was gross deception on the subject. The envoy replied that he could not
be mistaken, for it was a matter which, so to speak, he had touched with
his own fingers, and seen with his own eyes. The Duke, persisting that
Don Francis had been abused and misinformed, turned the conversation to
other topics. Next day the ambassador received visits from Berlaymont
and his son, the Seigneur de Hierges. He was taken aside by each of
them, separately. "Thank God, you have come hither," said they, in
nearly the same words, "that you may fully comprehend the condition of
the provinces, and without delay admonish his Majesty of the impending
danger." All his visitors expressed the same sentiments. Don Frederic
of Toledo furnished the only exception, assuring the envoy that his
father's financial measures were opposed by Noircarmes and others, only
because it deprived them of their occupation and their influence. This
dutiful language, however, was to be expected in one of whom Secretary
Albornoz had written, that he was the greatest comfort to his father, and
the most divine genius ever known. It was unfortunately corroborated by
no other inhabitant of the country.
On the third day, Don Francis went to take his leave. The Duke begged
him to inform his Majesty of the impatience with which he was expecting
the arrival of his successor. He then informed his guest that they had
already begun to collect the tenth penny in Brabant, the most obstinate
of all the provinces. "What do you say to that, Don Francis?" he cried,
with exultation. Alava replied that he thought, none the less, that the
tax would encounter many obstacles, and begged him earnestly to reflect.
He assured him, moreover, that he should, without reserve, express his
opinions fully to the King. The Duke used the same language which Don
Frederic had held, concerning the motives of those who opposed the tax.
"It may be so," said Don Francis, "but at any rate, all have agreed to
sing to the same tune." A little startled, the Duke rejoined, "Do you
doubt that the cities will keep their promises? Depend upon it, I shall
find the means to compel them." "God grant it may be so," said Alava,
"but in my poor judgment you will have need of all your prudence and of
all your authority."
The ambassador did not wait till he could communicate with his sovereign
by word of mouth. He forwarded to Spain an ample account of his
observations and deductions. He painted to Philip in lively colors the
hatred entertained by all men for the Duke. The whole nation, he assured
his Majesty, united in one cry, "Let him begone, let him begone, let him
begone!" As for the imposition of the tenth penny, that, in the opinion
of Don Francis, was utterly impossible. He moreover warned his Majesty
that Alva was busy in forming secret alliances with the Catholic princes
of Europe, which would necessarily lead to defensive leagues among the
Protestants.
While thus, during the earlier part of the year 1572, the Prince of
Orange, discouraged by no defeats, was indefatigable in his exertions to
maintain the cause of liberty, and while at the same time the most stanch
supporters of arbitrary power were unanimous in denouncing to Philip the
insane conduct of his Viceroy, the letters of Alva himself were naturally
full of complaints and expostulations. It was in vain, he said, for him
to look for a confidential councillor, now that matters which he had
wished to be kept so profoundly secret that the very earth should not
hear of them, had been proclaimed aloud above the tiles of every
housetop. Nevertheless, he would be cut into little pieces but his
Majesty should be obeyed, while he remained alive to enforce the royal
commands. There were none who had been ever faithful but Berlaymont,
he said, and even he had been neutral in the affair of the tax. He had
rendered therein neither good nor bad offices, but, as his Majesty was
aware, Berlaymont was entirely ignorant of business, and "knew nothing
more than to be a good fellow." That being the case, he recommended
Hierges, son of the "good fellow," as a proper person to be governor of
Friesland.
The deputations appointed by the different provinces to confer personally
with the King received a reprimand upon their arrival, for having dared
to come to Spain without permission. Farther punishment, however, than
this rebuke was not inflicted. They were assured that the King was
highly displeased with their venturing to bring remonstrances against the
tax, but they were comforted with the assurance that his Majesty would
take the subject of their petition into consideration. Thus, the
expectations of Alva were disappointed, for the tenth penny was not
formally confirmed; and the hopes of the provinces frustrated, because
it was not distinctly disavowed.
Matters had reached another crisis in the provinces. "Had we money now,"
wrote the Prince of Orange, "we should, with the help of God, hope to
effect something. This is a time when, with even small sums, more can be
effected than at other seasons with ampler funds." The citizens were in
open revolt against the tax. In order that the tenth penny should not be
levied upon every sale of goods, the natural but desperate remedy was
adopted--no goods were sold at all.
Not only the wholesale commerce oh the provinces was suspended, but the
minute and indispensable traffic of daily life was entirely at a stand.
The shops were all shut. "The brewers," says a contemporary, "refused to
brew, the bakers to bake, the tapsters to tap." Multitudes, thrown
entirely out of employment, and wholly dependent upon charity, swarmed in
every city. The soldiery, furious for their pay, which Alva had for many
months neglected to furnish, grew daily more insolent; the citizens,
maddened by outrage and hardened by despair, became more and more
obstinate in their resistance; while the Duke, rendered inflexible by
opposition and insane by wrath, regarded the ruin which he had caused
with a malignant spirit which had long ceased to be human. "The disease
is gnawing at our vitals," wrote Viglius; "everybody is suffering for the
want of the necessaries of life. Multitudes are in extreme and hopeless
poverty. My interest in the welfare of the commonwealth," he continued,
"induces me to send these accounts to Spain. For myself, I fear nothing.
Broken by sickness and acute physical suffering, I should leave life
without regret."
The aspect of the capital was that of a city stricken with the plague.
Articles of the most absolute necessity could not be obtained. It was
impossible to buy bread, or meat, or beer. The tyrant, beside himself
with rage at being thus braved in his very lair, privately sent for
Master Carl, the executioner. In order to exhibit an unexpected and
salutary example, he had determined to hang eighteen of the leading
tradesmen of the city in the doors of their own shops, with the least
possible delay and without the slightest form of trial.
Master Carl was ordered, on the very night of his interview with the
Duke, to prepare eighteen strong cords, and eighteen ladders twelve feet
in length. By this simple arrangement, Alva was disposed to make
manifest on the morrow, to the burghers of Brussels, that justice was
thenceforth to be carried to every man's door. He supposed that the
spectacle of a dozen and a half of butchers and bakers suspended in front
of the shops which they had refused to open, would give a more effective
stimulus to trade than any to be expected from argument or proclamation.
The hangman was making ready his cords and ladders; Don Frederic of
Toledo was closeted with President Viglius, who, somewhat against his
will, was aroused at midnight to draw the warrants for these impromptu
executions; Alva was waiting with grim impatience for the dawn upon which
the show was to be exhibited, when an unforeseen event suddenly arrested
the homely tragedy. In the night arrived the intelligence that the town
of Brill had been captured. The Duke, feeling the full gravity of the
situation, postponed the chastisement which he had thus secretly planned
to a more convenient season, in order without an instant's hesitation to
avert the consequences of this new movement on the part of the rebels.
The seizure of Brill was the Deus ex machina which unexpectedly solved
both the inextricable knot of the situation and the hangman's noose.
Allusion has more than once been made to those formidable partisans of
the patriot cause, the marine outlaws. Cheated of half their birthright
by nature, and now driven forth from their narrow isthmus by tyranny, the
exiled Hollanders took to the ocean. Its boundless fields, long arable
to their industry, became fatally fruitful now that oppression was
transforming a peaceful seafaring people into a nation of corsairs.
Driven to outlawry and poverty, no doubt many Netherlanders plunged
into crime. The patriot party had long sine laid aside the respectful
deportment which had provoked the sarcasms of the loyalists. The
beggars of the sea asked their alms through the mouths of their cannon.
Unfortunately, they but too often made their demands upon both friend and
foe. Every ruined merchant, every banished lord, every reckless mariner,
who was willing to lay the commercial world under contribution to repair
his damaged fortunes, could, without much difficulty, be supplied with a
vessel and crew at some northern port, under color of cruising against
the Viceroy's government. Nor was the ostensible motive simply a
pretext. To make war upon Alva was the leading object of all these
freebooters, and they were usually furnished by the Prince of Orange,
in his capacity of sovereign, with letters of marque for that purpose.
The Prince, indeed, did his utmost to control and direct an evil which
had inevitably grown out of the horrors of the time. His Admiral,
William de la Marck, was however, incapable of comprehending the lofty
purposes of his superior. A wild, sanguinary, licentious noble, wearing
his hair and beard unshorn, according to ancient Batavian custom, until
the death of his relative, Egmont, should have been expiated, a worthy
descendant of the Wild Boar of Ardennes, this hirsute and savage corsair
seemed an embodiment of vengeance. He had sworn to wreak upon Alva and
upon popery the deep revenge owed to them by the Netherland nobility, and
in the cruelties afterwards practised by him upon monks and priests, the
Blood Council learned that their example had made at least one ripe
scholar among the rebels. He was lying, at this epoch, with his fleet on
the southern coast of England, from which advantageous position he was
now to be ejected in a summary manner.
The negotiations between the Duke of Alva and Queen Elizabeth had already
assumed an amicable tone, and were fast ripening to an adjustment. It
lay by no means in that sovereign's disposition to involve herself at
this juncture in a war with Philip, and it was urged upon her government
by Alva's commissioners, that the continued countenance afforded by the
English people to the Netherland cruisers must inevitably lead to that
result. In the latter days of March, therefore, a sentence of virtual
excommunication was pronounced against De la Marck and his rovers. A
peremptory order of Elizabeth forbade any of her subjects to supply them
with meat, bread, or beer. The command being strictly complied with,
their farther stay was rendered impossible. Twenty-four vessels
accordingly, of various sizes, commanded by De la Marck, Treslong, Adam
van Harem, Brand, and Other distinguished seamen, set sail from Dover in
the very last days of March. Being almost in a state of starvation,
these adventurers were naturally anxious to supply themselves with food.
They determined to make a sudden foray upon the coasts of North Holland,
and accordingly steered for Enkbuizen, both because it was a rich sea-
port and because it contained many secret partisans of the Prince. On
Palm Sunday they captured two Spanish merchantmen. Soon afterwards,
however, the wind becoming contrary, they were unable to double the
Helder or the Texel, and on Tuesday, the 1st of April, having abandoned
their original intention, they dropped down towards Zealand, and entered
the broad mouth of the river Meuse. Between the town of Brill, upon the
southern lip of this estuary, and Naaslandsluis, about half a league
distant, upon the opposite aide, the squadron suddenly appeared at about
two o'clock of an April afternoon, to the great astonishment of the
inhabitants of both places. It seemed too large a fleet to be a mere
collection of trading vessels, nor did they appear to be Spanish ships.
Peter Koppelstok, a sagacious ferryman, informed the passengers whom he
happened to be conveying across the river, that the strangers were
evidently the water beggars. The dreaded name filled his hearers with
consternation, and they became eager to escape from so perilous a
vicinity. Having duly landed his customers, however, who hastened to
spread the news of the impending invasion, and to prepare for defence or
flight, the stout ferryman, who was secretly favorable to the cause of
liberty, rowed boldly out to inquire the destination and purposes of the
fleet.
The vessel which he first hailed was that commanded by William de Blois,
Seigneur of Treslong. This adventurous noble, whose brother had been
executed by the Duke of Alva in 1568, had himself fought by the side of
Count Louis at Jemmingen, and although covered with wounds, had been one
of the few who escaped alive from that horrible carnage. During the
intervening period he had become one of the most famous rebels on the
ocean, and he had always been well known in Brill, where his father had
been governor for the King. He at once recognized Koppelstok, and
hastened with him on board the Admiral's ship, assuring De la Marck that
the ferryman was exactly the man for their purpose. It was absolutely
necessary that a landing should be effected, for the people were without
the necessaries of life. Captain Martin Brand had visited the ship of
Adam Van Haren, as soon as they had dropped anchor in the Meuse, begging
for food. "I gave him a cheese," said Adam, afterwards relating the
occurrence," and assured him that it was the last article of food to
be found in the ship." The other vessels were equally destitute. Under
the circumstances, it was necessary to attempt a landing. Treslong,
therefore, who was really the hero of this memorable adventure, persuaded
De la Marck to send a message to the city of Brill, demanding its
surrender. This was a bold summons to be made by a handful of men, three
or four hundred at most, who were both metaphorically and literally
beggars. The city of Brill was not populous, but it was well walled and
fortified. It was moreover a most commodious port. Treslong gave his
signet ring to the fisherman, Koppelstok, and ordered him, thus
accredited as an envoy, to carry their summons to the magistracy.
Koppelstok, nothing loath, instantly rowed ashore, pushed through the
crowd of inhabitants, who overwhelmed him with questions, and made his
appearance in the town-house before the assembled magistrates. He
informed them that he had been sent by the Admiral of the fleet and by
Treslong, who was well known to them, to demand that two commissioners
should be sent out on the part of the city to confer with the patriots.
He was bidden, he said, to give assurance that the deputies would be
courteously treated. The only object of those who had sent him was to
free the land from the tenth penny, and to overthrow the tyranny of Alva
and his Spaniards. Hereupon he was asked by the magistrates, how large a
force De la Marck had under his command, To this question the ferryman
carelessly replied, that there might be some five thousand in all. This
enormous falsehood produced its effect upon the magistrates. There was
now no longer any inclination to resist the invader; the only question
discussed being whether to treat with them or to fly. On the whole, it
was decided to do both. With some difficulty, two deputies were found
sufficiently valiant to go forth to negotiate with the beggars, while in
their absence most of the leading burghers and functionaries made their
preparations for flight. The envoys were assured by De la Marck and
Treslong that no injury was intended to the citizens or to private
property, but that the overthrow of Alva's government was to be instantly
accomplished. Two hours were given to the magistrates in which to decide
whether or not they would surrender the town and accept the authority of
De la Marck as Admiral of the Prince of Orange. They employed the two
hours thus granted in making an ignominious escape. Their example was
followed by most of the townspeople. When the invaders, at the
expiration of the specified term, appeared under the walls of the city,
they found a few inhabitants of the lower class gazing at them from
above, but received no official communication from any source.
The whole rebel force was now divided into two parties, one of which
under Treslong made an attack upon the southern gate, while the other
commanded by the Admiral advanced upon the northern. Treslong after a
short struggle succeeded in forcing his entrance, and arrested, in doing
so, the governor of the city, just taking his departure. De la Marck and
his men made a bonfire at the northern gate, and then battered down the
half-burned portal with the end of an old mast. Thus rudely and rapidly
did the Netherland patriots conduct their first successful siege. The
two parties, not more perhaps than two hundred and fifty men in all, met
before sunset in the centre of the city, and the foundation of the Dutch
Republic was laid. The weary spirit of freedom, so long a fugitive over
earth and sea, had at last found a resting-place, which rude and even
ribald hands had prepared.
The panic created by the first appearance of the fleet had been so
extensive that hardly fifty citizens had remained in the town. The rest
had all escaped, with as much property as they could carry away. The
Admiral, in the name, of the Prince of Orange, as lawful stadholder of
Philip, took formal possession of an almost deserted city. No indignity
was offered to the inhabitants of either sex, but as soon, as the
conquerors were fairly established in the best houses of the place,
the inclination to plunder the churches could no longer be restrained.
The altars and images were all destroyed, the rich furniture and gorgeous
vestments appropriated to private use. Adam van Hare appeared on his
vessel's deck attired in a magnificent high mass chasuble. Treslong
thenceforth used no drinking cups in his cabin save the golden chalices
of the sacrament. Unfortunately, their hatred to popery was not confined
to such demonstrations. Thirteen unfortunate monks and priests, who had
been unable to effect their escape, were arrested and thrown into prison,
from whence they were taken a few days later, by order of the ferocious
Admiral, and executed under circumstances of great barbarity.
The news of this important exploit spread with great rapidity. Alva,
surprised at the very moment of venting his rage on the butchers and
grocers of Brussels, deferred this savage design in order to deal with
the new difficulty. He had certainly not expected such a result from
the ready compliance of queen Elizabeth with his request. His rage was
excessive; the triumph of the people, by whom he was cordially detested,
proportionably great. The punsters of Brussels were sure not to let such
an opportunity escape them, for the name of the captured town was
susceptible of a quibble, and the event had taken place upon All Fools'
Day.
"On April's Fool's Day,
Duke Alva's spectacles were stolen away,"
became a popular couplet. The word spectacles, in Flemish, as well as
the name of the suddenly surprised city, being Brill, this allusion to
the Duke's loss and implied purblindness was not destitute of ingenuity.
A caricature, too, was extensively circulated, representing De la Marck
stealing the Duke's spectacles from his nose, while the Governor was
supposed to be uttering his habitual expression whenever any intelligence
of importance was brought to him: 'No es nada, no es nada--'Tis nothing,
'tis nothing.
The Duke, however, lost not an instant in attempting to repair the
disaster. Count Bossu, who had acted as stadholder of Holland and
Zealand, under Alva's authority, since the Prince of Orange had resigned
that office, was ordered at once to recover the conquered sea-port, if
possible.
Hastily gathering a force of some ten companies from the garrison of
Utrecht, some of which very troops had recently and unluckily for
government, been removed from Brill to that city, the Count crossed the
Sluis to the island of Voorn upon Easter day, and sent a summons to the
rebel force to surrender Brill. The patriots being very few in number,
were at first afraid to venture outside the gates to attack the much
superior force of their invaders. A carpenter, however, who belonged to
the city, but had long been a partisan of Orange, dashed into the water
with his axe in his hand, and swimming to the Niewland sluice, hacked it
open with a few vigorous strokes. The sea poured in at once, making the
approach to the city upon the north side impossible: Bossu then led his
Spaniards along the Niewland dyke to the southern gate, where they were
received with a warm discharge of artillery, which completely staggered
them. Meantime Treslong and Robol had, in the most daring manner, rowed
out to the ships which had brought the enemy to the island, cut some
adrift, and set others on fire.
The Spaniards at the southern gate caught sight of their blazing vessels,
saw the sea rapidly rising over the dyke, became panic-struck at being
thus enclosed between fire and water, and dashed off in precipitate
retreat along the slippery causeway and through the slimy and turbid
waters, which were fast threatening to overwhelm them. Many were drowned
or smothered in their flight, but the greater portion of the force
effected their escape in the vessels which still remained within reach.
This danger averted, Admiral de la Marck summoned all the inhabitants,
a large number of whom had returned to the town after the capture had
been fairly established, and required them, as well as all the population
of the island, to take an oath of allegiance to the Prince of Orange as
stadholder for his Majesty.
The Prince had not been extremely satisfied with the enterprise of De la
Marck. He thought-it premature, and doubted whether it would be
practicable to hold the place, as he had not yet completed his
arrangements in Germany, nor assembled the force with which he intended
again to take the field. More than all, perhaps, he had little
confidence in the character of his Admiral. Orange was right in his
estimate of De la Marck. It had not been that rover's design either to
take or to hold the place; and after the descent had been made, the ships
victualled, the churches plundered, the booty secured, and a few monks
murdered, he had given orders for the burning of the town, and for the
departure of the fleet. The urgent solicitations of Treslong, however,
prevailed, with some difficulty, over De la Marck' original intentions.
It is to that bold and intelligent noble, therefore, more than to any
other individual, that the merit of laying this corner-stone of the
Batavian commonwealth belongs. The enterprise itself was an accident,
but the quick eye of Treslong saw the possibility of a permanent
conquest, where his superior dreamed of nothing beyond a piratical foray.
Meantime Bossu, baffled in his attempt upon Brill, took his way towards
Rotterdam. It was important that he should at least secure such other
cities as the recent success of the rebels might cause to waver in their
allegiance. He found the gates of Rotterdam closed. The authorities
refused to comply with his demand to admit a garrison for the King.
Professing perfect loyalty, the inhabitants very naturally refused to
admit a band of sanguinary Spaniards to enforce their obedience.
Compelled to parley, Bossu resorted to a perfidious stratagem. He
requested permission for his troops to pass through the city without
halting. This was granted by the magistrates, on condition that only a
corporal's command should be admitted at a time. To these terms the
Count affixed his hand and seal. With the admission, however, of the
first detachment, a violent onset was made upon the gate by the whole
Spanish force. The townspeople, not suspecting treachery, were not
prepared to make effective resistance. A stout smith, confronting the
invaders at the gate, almost singly, with his sledge-hammer, was stabbed
to the heart by Bossu with his own hand. The soldiers having thus gained
admittance, rushed through the streets, putting every man to death who
offered the slightest resistance. Within a few minutes four hundred
citizens were murdered. The fate of the women, abandoned now to the
outrage of a brutal soldiery, was worse than death. The capture of
Rotterdam is infamous for the same crimes which blacken the record of
every Spanish triumph in the Netherlands.
The important town of Flushing, on the Isle of Walcheren, was first to
vibrate with the patriotic impulse given by the success at Brill. The
Seigneur de Herpt, a warm partisan of Orange, excited the burghers
assembled in the market-place to drive the small remnant of the Spanish
garrison from the city. A little later upon the same day a considerable
reinforcement arrived before the walls. The Duke had determined,
although too late, to complete the fortress which had been commenced long
before to control the possession of this important position at the mouth
of the western Scheld. The troops who were to resume this too long
intermitted work arrived just in time to witness the expulsion of their
comrades. De Herpt easily persuaded the burghers that the die was cast,
and that their only hope lay in a resolute resistance. The people warmly
acquiesced, while a half-drunken, half-wined fellow in the crowd
valiantly proposed, in consideration of a pot of beer, to ascend the
ramparts and to discharge a couple of pieces of artillery at the Spanish
ships. The offer was accepted, and the vagabond merrily mounting the
height, discharged the guns. Strange to relate, the shot thus fired by a
lunatic's hand put the invading ships to flight. A sudden panic seized
the Spaniards, the whole fleet stood away at once in the direction of
Middelburg, and were soon out of sight.
The next day, however, Antony of Bourgoyne, governor under Alva for the
Island of Walcheren, made his appearance in Flushing. Having a high
opinion of his own oratorical powers, he came with the intention of
winning back with his rhetoric a city which the Spaniards had thus far
been unable to recover with their cannon. The great bell was rung, the
whole population assembled in the marketplace, and Antony, from the steps
of the town-house, delivered a long oration, assuring the burghers, among
other asseverations, that the King, who was the best natured prince in
all Christendom, would forget and forgive their offences if they returned
honestly to their duties.
The effect of the Governor's eloquence was much diminished, however, by
the interlocutory remarks, of De Herpt and a group of his adherents.
They reminded the people of the King's good nature, of his readiness to
forget and to forgive, as exemplified by the fate of Horn and Egmont, of
Berghen and Montigny, and by the daily and almost hourly decrees of the
Blood Council. Each well-rounded period of the Governor was greeted with
ironical cheers. The oration was unsuccessful. "Oh, citizens, citizens!"
cried at last the discomfited Antony, "ye know not what ye do. Your
blood be upon your own heads; the responsibility be upon your own hearts
for the fires which are to consume your cities and the desolation which
is to sweep your land!" The orator at this impressive point was
interrupted, and most unceremoniously hustled out of the city. The
government remained in the hands of the patriots.
The party, however, was not so strong in soldiers as in spirit. No
sooner, therefore, had they established their rebellion to Alva as an
incontrovertible fact, than they sent off emissaries to the Prince of
Orange, and to Admiral De la Marek at Brill. Finding that the
inhabitants of Flushing were willing to provide arms and ammunition, De
la Marck readily consented to send a small number of men, bold and
experienced in partisan warfare, of whom he had now collected a larger
number than he could well arm or maintain in his present position.
The detachment, two hundred in number, in three small vessels,
set sail accordingly from Brill for Flushing; and a wild crew they were,
of reckless adventurers under command of the bold Treslong. The
expedition seemed a fierce but whimsical masquerade. Every man in the
little fleet was attired in the gorgeous vestments of the plundered
churches, in gold-embroidered cassocks, glittering mass-garments, or the
more sombre cowls, and robes of Capuchin friars. So sped the early
standard bearers of that ferocious liberty which had sprung from the
fires in which all else for which men cherish their fatherland had been
consumed. So swept that resolute but fantastic band along the placid
estuaries of Zealand, waking the stagnant waters with their wild beggar
songs and cries of vengeance.
That vengeance found soon a distinguished object. Pacheco, the chief
engineer of Alva, who had accompanied the Duke in his march from Italy,
who had since earned a world-wide reputation as the architect of the
Antwerp citadel, had been just despatched in haste to Flushing to
complete the fortress whose construction had been so long delayed.
Too late for his work, too soon for his safety, the ill-fated engineer
had arrived almost at the same moment with Treslong and his crew.
He had stepped on shore, entirely ignorant of all which had transpired,
expecting to be treated with the respect due to the chief commandant of
the place, and to an officer high in the confidence of the Governor-
General. He found himself surrounded by an indignant and threatening
mob. The unfortunate Italian understood not a word of the opprobrious
language addressed to him, but he easily comprehended that the authority
of the Duke was overthrown. Observing De Ryk, a distinguished partisan
officer and privateersman of Amsterdam, whose reputation for bravery and
generosity was known, to him, he approached him, and drawing a seal ring
from his finger, kissed it, and handed it to the rebel chieftain. By
this dumbshow he gave him to understand that he relied upon his honor for
the treatment due to a gentleman. De Ryk understood the appeal, and
would willingly have assured him, at least, a soldier's death, but he was
powerless to do so. He arrested him, that he might be protected from the
fury of the rabble, but Treslong, who now commanded in Flushing, was
especially incensed against the founder of the Antwerp citadel, and felt
a ferocious desire to avenge his brother's murder upon the body of his
destroyer's favourite. Pacheco was condemned to be hanged upon the very
day of his arrival. Having been brought forth from his prison, he begged
hard but not abjectly for his life. He offered a heavy ransom, but his
enemies were greedy for blood, not for money. It was, however, difficult
to find an executioner. The city hangman was absent, and the prejudice
of the country and the age against the vile profession had assuredly not
been diminished during the five horrible years of Alva's administration.
Even a condemned murderer, who lay in the town-gaol, refused to accept
his life in recompence for performing the office. It should never be
said, he observed, that his mother had given birth to a hangman. When
told, however, that the intended victim was a Spanish officer, the
malefactor consented to the task with alacrity, on condition that he
might afterwards kill any man who taunted him with the deed.
Arrived at the foot of the gallows, Pacheco complained bitterly of the
disgraceful death designed for him. He protested loudly that he came of
a house as noble as that of Egmont or Horn, and was entitled to as
honorable an execution as theirs had been. "The sword! the sword!" he
frantically exclaimed, as he struggled with those who guarded him. His
language was not understood, but the names of Egmont and Horn inflamed
still more highly the rage of the rabble, while his cry for the sword was
falsely interpreted by a rude fellow who had happened to possess himself
of Pacheco's rapier, at his capture, and who now paraded himself with it
at the gallows' foot. "Never fear for your sword, Seilor," cried this
ruffian; "your sword is safe enough, and in good hands. Up the ladder
with you, Senor; you have no further use for your sword."
Pacheco, thus outraged, submitted to his fate. He mounted the ladder
with a steady step, and was hanged between two other Spanish officers.
So perished miserably a brave soldier, and one of the most distinguished
engineers of his time; a man whose character and accomplishments had
certainly merited for him a better fate. But while we stigmatize as it
deserves the atrocious conduct of a few Netherland partisans, we should
remember who first unchained the demon of international hatred in this
unhappy land, nor should it ever be forgotten that the great leader
of the revolt, by word, proclamation, example, by entreaties, threats,
and condign punishment, constantly rebuked, and to a certain extent,
restrained the sanguinary spirit by which some of his followers disgraced
the noble cause which they had espoused.
Treslong did not long remain in command at Flushing. An officer, high
in the confidence of the Prince, Jerome van 't Zeraerts, now arrived at
Flushing, with a commission to be Lieutenant-Governor over the whole isle
of Walcheren. He was attended by a small band of French infantry, while
at nearly the same time the garrison was further strengthened by the
arrival of a large number of volunteers from England.
ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS:
Beggars of the sea, as these privateersmen designated themselves
Hair and beard unshorn, according to ancient Batavian custom
Only healthy existence of the French was in a state of war
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