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Title: The Rise of the Dutch Republic, 1574-76
Author: John Lothrop Motley
Release Date: January, 2004 [EBook #4824]
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Edition: 10
Language: English
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MOTLEY'S HISTORY OF THE NETHERLANDS, Project Gutenberg Edition, Volume 24
THE RISE OF THE DUTCH REPUBLIC, 1574-1576
By John Lothrop Motley
1855
1574-1576 [CHAPTER III.]
Latter days of the Blood Council--Informal and insincere
negotiations for peace--Characteristics of the negotiators and of
their diplomatic correspondence--Dr. Junius--Secret conferences
between Dr. Leoninus and Orange--Steadfastness of the Prince--
Changes in the internal government of the northern provinces--
Generosity and increasing power of the municipalities--Incipient
jealousy in regard to Orange rebuked--His offer of resignation
refused by the Estates--His elevation to almost unlimited power--
Renewed mediation of Maximilian--Views and positions of the parties
--Advice of Orange--Opening of negotiations at Breda--Propositions
and counter-propositions--Adroitness of the plenipotentiaries on
both sides--Insincere diplomacy and unsatisfactory results--Union of
Holland and Zealand under the Prince of Orange--Act defining his
powers--Charlotte de Bourbon--Character, fortunes, and fate of Anna
of Saxony--Marriage of Orange with Mademoiselle de Bourbon--
Indignation thereby excited--Horrible tortures inflicted upon
Papists by Sonoy in North Holland--Oudewater and Schoonoven taken by
Hierges--The isles of Zealand--A submarine expedition projected--
Details of the adventure--Its entire success--Death of Chiappin
Vitelli--Deliberations in Holland and Zealand concerning the
renunciation of Philip's authority--Declaration at Delft--Doubts as
to which of the Great Powers the sovereignty should be offered--
Secret international relations--Mission to England--Unsatisfactory
negotiations with Elizabeth--Position of the Grand Commander--Siege
of Zieriekzee--Generosity of Count John--Desperate project of the
Prince--Death and character of Requesens.
The Council of Troubles, or, as it will be for ever denominated
in history, the Council of Blood, still existed, although the Grand
Commander, upon his arrival in the Netherlands, had advised his sovereign
to consent to the immediate abolition of so odious an institution.
Philip accepting the advice of his governor and his cabinet, had
accordingly authorized him by a letter of the 10th of March, 1574,
to take that step if he continued to believe it advisable.
Requesens had made use of this permission to extort money from the
obedient portion of the provinces. An assembly of deputies was held at
Brussels on the 7th of June, 1574, and there was a tedious interchange of
protocols, reports, and remonstrances. The estates, not satisfied with
the extinction of a tribunal which had at last worn itself out by its own
violence, and had become inactive through lack of victims, insisted on
greater concessions. They demanded the departure of the Spanish troops,
the establishment of a council of Netherlanders in Spain for Netherland
affairs, the restoration to offices in the provinces of natives and
natives only; for these drawers of documents thought it possible, at that
epoch, to recover by pedantry what their brethren of Holland and Zealand
were maintaining with the sword. It was not the moment for historical
disquisition, citations from Solomon, nor chopping of logic; yet with
such lucubrations were reams of paper filled, and days and weeks
occupied. The result was what might have been expected. The Grand
Commander obtained but little money; the estates obtained none of their
demands; and the Blood Council remained, as it were, suspended in mid-
air. It continued to transact business at intervals during the
administration of Requesens, and at last, after nine years of existence,
was destroyed by the violent imprisonment of the Council of State at
Brussels. This event, however, belongs to a subsequent page of this
history.
Noircarmes had argued, from the tenor of Saint Aldegonde's letters, that
the Prince would be ready to accept his pardon upon almost any terms.
Noircarmes was now dead, but Saint Aldegonde still remained in prison,
very anxious for his release, and as well disposed as ever to render
services in any secret negotiation. It will be recollected that, at the
capitulation of Middelburg, it had been distinctly stipulated by the
Prince that Colonel Mondragon should at once effect the liberation of
Saint Aldegonde, with certain other prisoners, or himself return into
confinement. He had done neither the one nor the other. The patriots
still languished in prison, some of them being subjected to exceedingly
harsh treatment, but Mondragon, although repeatedly summoned as an
officer and a gentleman, by the Prince, to return to captivity,
had been forbidden by the Grand Commander to redeem his pledge.
Saint Aldegonde was now released from prison upon parole, and despatched
on a secret mission to the Prince and estates. As before, he was
instructed that two points were to be left untouched--the authority
of the King and the question of religion. Nothing could be more
preposterous than to commence a negotiation from which the two important
points were thus carefully eliminated. The King's authority and the
question of religion covered the whole ground upon which the Spaniards
and the Hollanders had been battling for six years, and were destined to
battle for three-quarters of a century longer. Yet, although other
affairs might be discussed, those two points were to be reserved for the
more conclusive arbitration of gunpowder. The result of negotiations
upon such a basis was easily to be foreseen. Breath, time, and paper
were profusely wasted and nothing gained. The Prince assured his friend,
as he had done secret agents previously sent to him, that he was himself
ready to leave the land, if by so doing he could confer upon it the
blessing of peace; but that all hopes of reaching a reasonable
conclusion from the premises established was futile. The envoy treated
also with the estates, and received from them in return an elaborate
report, which was addressed immediately to the King. The style of this
paper was bold and blunt, its substance bitter and indigestible. It
informed Philip what he had heard often enough before, that the Spaniards
must go and the exiles come back, the inquisition be abolished and the
ancient privileges restored, the Roman Catholic religion renounce its
supremacy, and the Reformed religion receive permission to exist
unmolested, before he could call himself master of that little hook
of sand in the North Sea. With this paper, which was entrusted to Saint
Aldegonde, by him to be delivered to the Grand Commander, who was, after
reading it, to forward it to its destination, the negotiator returned to
his prison. Thence he did not emerge again till the course of events
released him, upon the 15th of October, 1574.
This report was far from agreeable to the Governor, and it became the
object of a fresh correspondence between his confidential agent,
Champagny, and the learned and astute Junius de Jonge, representative of
the Prince of Orange and Governor of Yeere. The communication of De
Jonge consisted of a brief note and a long discourse. The note was sharp
and stinging, the discourse elaborate and somewhat pedantic.
Unnecessarily historical and unmercifully extended, it was yet bold,
bitter, and eloquent: The presence of foreigners was proved to have been,
from the beginning of Philip's reign, the curse of the country. Doctor
Sonnius, with his batch of bishops, had sowed the seed of the first
disorder. A prince, ruling in the Netherlands, had no right to turn a
deaf ear to the petitions of his subjects. If he did so, the Hollanders
would tell him, as the old woman had told the Emperor Adrian, that the
potentate who had no time to attend to the interests of his subjects,
had not leisure enough to be a sovereign. While Holland refused to bow
its neck to the Inquisition, the King of Spain dreaded the thunder and
lightning of the Pope. The Hollanders would, with pleasure, emancipate
Philip from his own thraldom, but it was absurd that he, who was himself
a slave to another potentate, should affect unlimited control over a free
people. It was Philip's councillors, not the Hollanders, who were his
real enemies; for it was they who held him in the subjection by which his
power was neutralized and his crown degraded.
It may be supposed that many long pages, conceived in this spirit and
expressed with great vigor, would hardly smooth the way for the more
official negotiations which were soon to take place, yet Doctor Junius
fairly and faithfully represented the sentiment of his nation.
Towards the close of the year, Doctor Elbertus Leoninus, professor of
Louvain, together with Hugo Bonte, ex-pensionary of Middelburg, was
commissioned by the Grand Commander to treat secretly with the Prince.
He was, however, not found very tractable when the commissioners opened
the subject of his own pardon and reconciliation with the King, and he
absolutely refused to treat at all except with the cooperation of the
estates. He, moreover, objected to the use of the word "pardon" on
the ground that he had never done anything requiring his Majesty's
forgiveness. If adversity should visit him, he cared but little for it;
he had lived long enough, he said, and should die with some glory,
regretting the disorders and oppressions which had taken place, but
conscious that it had not been in his power to remedy them. When
reminded by the commissioners of the King's power, he replied that he
knew his Majesty to be very mighty, but that there was a King more
powerful still--even God the Creator, who, as he humbly hoped, was upon
his Side.
At a subsequent interview with Hugo Bonte, the Prince declared it almost
impossible for himself or the estates to hold any formal communication
with the Spanish government, as such communications were not safe. No
trust could be reposed either in safe conducts or hostages. Faith had
been too often broken by the administration. The promise made by the
Duchess of Parma to the nobles, and afterwards violated, the recent
treachery of Mondragon, the return of three exchanged prisoners from the
Hague, who died next day of poison administered before their release, the
frequent attempts upon his own life--all such constantly recurring crimes
made it doubtful, in the opinion of the Prince, whether it would be
possible to find commissioners to treat with his Majesty's government.
All would fear assassination, afterwards to be disavowed by the King and
pardoned by the Pope. After much conversation in this vein, the Prince
gave the Spanish agents warning that he might eventually be obliged to
seek the protection of some foreign power for the provinces. In this
connection he made use of the memorable metaphor, so often repeated
afterwards, that "the country was a beautiful damsel, who certainly did
not lack suitors able and willing to accept her and defend her against
the world." As to the matter of religion, he said he was willing to
leave it to be settled by the estates-general; but doubted whether
anything short of entire liberty of worship would ever satisfy the
people.
Subsequently there were held other conferences, between the Prince and
Doctor Leoninus, with a similar result, all attempts proving fruitless
to induce him to abandon his position upon the subject of religion,
or to accept a pardon on any terms save the departure of the foreign
troops, the assembling of the estates-general, and entire freedom of
religion. Even if he were willing to concede the religious question
himself, he observed that it was idle to hope either from the estates
or people a hand's-breadth of concession upon that point. Leoninus was
subsequently admitted to a secret conferenc with the estates of Holland,
where his representations were firmly met by the same arguments as those
already used by the Prince.
These proceedings on the part of Saint Aldegonde, Champagny, Junius, and
Elbertus Leoninus extended through the whole summer and autumn of 1574,
and were not terminated until January of the following year.
Changes fast becoming necessary in the internal government of the
provinces, were also undertaken during this year. Hitherto the Prince
had exercised his power under the convenient fiction of the King's
authority, systematically conducting the rebellion in the name of his
Majesty, and as his Majesty's stadholder. By this process an immense
power was lodged in his hands; nothing less, indeed, than the supreme
executive and legislative functions of the land; while since the revolt
had become, as it were, perpetual, ample but anomalous functions had been
additionally thrust upon him by the estates and by the general voice of
the people.
The two provinces, even while deprived of Harlem and Amsterdam, now
raised two hundred and ten thousand florins monthly, whereas Alva had
never been able to extract from Holland more than two hundred and
seventy-one thousand florins yearly. They paid all rather than pay a
tenth. In consequence of this liberality, the cities insensibly acquired
a greater influence in the government. The coming contest between the
centrifugal aristocratic principle, represented by these corporations,
and the central popular authority of the stadholder, was already
foreshadowed, but at first the estates were in perfect harmony with the
Prince. They even urged upon him more power than he desired, and
declined functions which he wished them to exercise. On the 7th of
September, 1573, it had been formally proposed by the general council to
confer a regular and unlimited dictatorship upon him, but in the course
of a year from that time, the cities had begun to feel their increasing
importance. Moreover, while growing more ambitious, they became less
liberal.
The Prince, dissatisfied with the conduct of the cities, brought the
whole subject before an assembly of the estates of Holland on the 20th
October, 1574. He stated the inconveniences produced by the anomalous
condition of the government. He complained that the common people had
often fallen into the error that the money raised for public purposes had
been levied for his benefit only, and that they had, therefore, been less
willing to contribute to the taxes. As the only remedy for these evils,
he tendered his resignation of all the powers with which he was clothed,
so that the estates might then take the government, which they could
exercise without conflict or control. For himself, he had never desired
power, except as a means of being useful to his country, and he did not
offer his resignation from unwillingness to stand by the cause, but from
a hearty desire to save it from disputes among its friends. He was
ready, now as ever, to shed the last drop of his blood to maintain the
freedom of the land.
This straightforward language produced an instantaneous effect. The
estates knew that they were dealing with a man whose life was governed
by lofty principles, and they felt that they were in danger of losing him
through their own selfishness and low ambition. They were embarrassed,
for they did not like to, relinquish the authority which they had begun
to relish, nor to accept the resignation of a man who was indispensable.
They felt that to give up William of Orange at that time was to accept
the Spanish yoke for ever. At an assembly held at Delft on the 12th
of November, 1574, they accordingly requested him "to continue in his
blessed government, with the council established near him," and for
this end, they formally offered to him, "under the name of Governor
or Regent, "absolute power, authority, and sovereign command.
In particular, they conferred on him the entire control of all the
ships of war, hitherto reserved to the different cities, together with
the right to dispose of all prizes and all monies raised for the support
of fleets. They gave him also unlimited power over the domains; they
agreed that all magistracies, militia bands, guilds, and communities,
should make solemn oath to contribute taxes and to receive garrisons,
exactly as the Prince, with his council, should ordain; but they made
it a condition that the estates should be convened and consulted upon
requests, impositions, and upon all changes in the governing body.
It was also stipulated that the judges of the supreme court and of the
exchequer, with other high officers, should be appointed by and with the
consent of the estates.
The Prince expressed himself willing to accept the government upon these
terms. He, however, demanded an allowance of forty-five thousand florins
monthly for the army expenses and other current outlays. Here, however,
the estates refused their consent. In a mercantile spirit, unworthy the
occasion and the man with whom they were dealing, they endeavoured to
chaffer where they should have been only too willing to comply, and they
attempted to reduce the reasonable demand of the Prince to thirty
thousand florins. The Prince, who had poured out his own wealth so
lavishly in the cause--who, together with his brothers, particularly the
generous John of Nassau, had contributed all which they could raise by
mortgage, sales of jewellery and furniture, and by extensive loans,
subjecting themselves to constant embarrassment, and almost to penury,
felt himself outraged by the paltriness of this conduct. He expressed
his indignation, and denounced the niggardliness of the estates in the
strongest language, and declared that he would rather leave the country
for ever, with the maintenance of his own honor, than accept the
government upon such disgraceful terms. The estates, disturbed by his
vehemence, and struck with its justice, instantly, and without further
deliberation, consented to his demand. They granted the forty-five
thousand florins monthly, and the Prince assumed the government, thus
remodelled.
During the autumn and early winter of the year 1574, the Emperor
Maximilian had been actively exerting himself to bring about a
pacification of the Netherlands. He was certainly sincere, for an
excellent reason. "The Emperor maintains," said Saint Goard, French
ambassador at Madrid, "that if peace is not made with the Beggars, the
Empire will depart from the house of Austria, and that such is the
determination of the electors." On the other hand, if Philip were not
weary of the war, at any rate his means for carrying it on were
diminishing daily. Requesens could raise no money in the Netherlands;
his secretary wrote to Spain, that the exchequer was at its last gasp,
and the cabinet of Madrid was at its wits' end, and almost incapable of
raising ways and means. The peace party was obtaining the upper hand;
the fierce policy of Alva regarded with increasing disfavor. "The people
here," wrote Saint Goard from Madrid, "are completely desperate, whatever
pains they take to put a good face on the matter. They desire most
earnestly to treat, without losing their character." It seemed,
nevertheless, impossible for Philip to bend his neck. The hope of
wearing the Imperial crown had alone made his bigotry feasible. To less
potent influences it was adamant; and even now, with an impoverished
exchequer, and, after seven years of unsuccessful warfare, his purpose
was not less rigid than at first. "The Hollanders demand liberty of
conscience," said Saint Goard, "to which the King will never consent, or
I am much mistaken."
As for Orange, he was sincerely in favor of peace--but not a dishonorable
peace, in which should be renounced all the objects of the war. He was
far from sanguine on the subject, for he read the signs of the times and
the character of Philip too accurately to believe much more in the
success of the present than in that of the past efforts of Maximilian.
He was pleased that his brother-in-law, Count Schwartzburg, had been
selected as the Emperor's agent in the affair, but expressed his doubts
whether much good would come of the proposed negotiations. Remembering
the many traps which in times past had been set by Philip and his father,
he feared that the present transaction might likewise prove a snare.
"We have not forgotten the words I 'ewig' and 'einig' in the treaty with
Landgrave Philip," he wrote; "at the same time we beg to assure his
Imperial Majesty that we desire nothing more than a good peace, tending
to the glory of God, the service of the King of Spain, and the prosperity
of his subjects."
This was his language to his brother, in a letter which was meant to be
shown to the Emperor. In another, written on the same day, he explained
himself with more clearness, and stated his distrust with more energy.
There were no papists left, except a few ecclesiastics, he said; so much
had the number of the Reformers been augmented, through the singular
grace of God. It was out of the question to suppose, therefore, that a
measure, dooming all who were not Catholics to exile, could be
entertained. None would change their religion, and none would consent,
voluntarily, to abandon for ever their homes, friends, and property.
"Such a peace," he said, "would be poor and pitiable indeed."
These, then, were the sentiments of the party now about to negotiate.
The mediator was anxious for a settlement, because the interests of the
Imperial house required it. The King of Spain was desirous of peace, but
was unwilling to concede a hair. The Prince of Orange was equally
anxious to terminate the war, but was determined not to abandon the
objects for which it had been undertaken. A favorable result, therefore,
seemed hardly possible. A whole people claimed the liberty to stay at
home and practice the Protestant religion, while their King asserted the
right to banish them for ever, or to burn them if they remained. The
parties seemed too far apart to be brought together by the most elastic
compromise. The Prince addressed an earnest appeal to the assembly of
Holland, then in session at Dort, reminding them that, although peace was
desirable, it might be more dangerous than war, and entreating them,
therefore, to conclude no treaty which should be inconsistent with the
privileges of the country and their duty to God.
It was now resolved that all the votes of the assembly should consist of
five: one for the nobles and large cities of Holland, one for the estates
of Zealand, one for the small cities of Holland, one for the cities
Bommel and Buren, and the fifth for William of Orange. The Prince thus
effectually held in his hands three votes: his own, that of the small
cities, which through his means only had been admitted to the assembly,
and thirdly, that of Buren, the capital of his son's earldom.
He thus exercised a controlling influence over the coming deliberations.
The ten commissioners, who were appointed by the estates for the peace
negotiations, were all his friends. Among them were Saint Aldegonde,
Paul Buis, Charles Boisot, and Doctor Junius. The plenipotentiaries of
the Spanish government were Leoninus, the Seigneur de Rassinghem,
Cornelius Suis, and Arnold Sasbout.
The proceedings were opened at Breda upon the 3rd of March, 1575. The
royal commissioners took the initiative, requesting to be informed what
complaints the estates had to make, and offering to remove, if possible,
all grievances which they might be suffering. The states' commissioners
replied that they desired nothing, in the first place, but an answer to
the petition which they had already presented to the King. This was
the paper placed in the hands of Saint Aldegonde during the informal
negotiations of the preceding year. An answer was accordingly given,
but couched in such vague and general language as to be quite without
meaning. The estates then demanded a categorical reply to the two
principal demands in the petition, namely, the departure of the foreign
troops and the assembling of the states-general. They, were asked what
they understood by foreigners and by the assembly of states-general.
They replied that by foreigners they meant those who were not natives,
and particularly the Spaniards. By the estates-general they meant the
same body before which, in 1555, Charles had resigned his sovereignty to
Philip. The royal commissioners made an extremely unsatisfactory answer,
concluding with a request that all cities, fortresses, and castles, then
in the power of the estates, together with all their artillery and
vessels of war, should be delivered to the King. The Roman Catholic
worship, it was also distinctly stated, was to be re-established at once
exclusively throughout the Netherlands; those of the Reformed religion
receiving permission, for that time only, to convert their property into
cash within a certain time, and to depart the country.
Orange and the estates made answer on the 21st March. It could not be
called hard, they said, to require the withdrawal of the Spanish troops,
for this had been granted in 1559, for less imperious reasons.
The estates had, indeed, themselves made use of foreigners, but those
foreigners had never been allowed to participate in the government.
With regard to the assembly of the states-general, that body had always
enjoyed the right of advising with the Sovereign on the condition of the
country, and on general measures of government. Now it was only thought
necessary to summon them, in order that they might give their consent to
the King's "requests." Touching the delivery of cities and citadels,
artillery and ships, the proposition was, pronounced to resemble that
made by the wolves to the sheep, in the fable--that the dogs should be
delivered up, as a preliminary to a lasting peace. It was unreasonable
to request the Hollanders to abandon their religion or their country.
The reproach of heresy was unjust, for they still held to the Catholic
Apostolic Church, wishing only to purify, it of its abuses. Moreover,
it was certainly more cruel to expel a whole population than to dismiss
three or four thousand Spaniards who for seven long years had been eating
their fill at the expense of the provinces. It would be impossible for
the exiles to dispose of their property, for all would, by the proposed
measure, be sellers, while there would be no purchasers.
The royal plenipotentiaries, making answer to this communication upon the
1st of April, signified a willingness that the Spanish soldiers should
depart, if the states would consent to disband their own foreign troops.
They were likewise in favor of assembling the states-general, but could
not permit any change in the religion of the country. His Majesty had
sworn to maintain the true worship at the moment of assuming the
sovereignty. The dissenters might, however, be allowed a period of six
months in which to leave the land, and eight or ten years for the sale of
their property. After the heretics had all departed, his Majesty did not
doubt that trade and manufactures would flourish again, along with the
old religion. As for the Spanish inquisition, there was not, and there
never had been, any intention of establishing it in the Netherlands.
No doubt there was something specious in this paper. It appeared to
contain considerable concessions. The Prince and estates had claimed
the departure of the Spaniards. It was now promised that they should
depart. They had demanded the assembling of the states-general.
It was now promised that they should assemble. They had denounced
the inquisition. It was now averred that the Spanish inquisition
was not to be established.
Nevertheless, the commissioners of the Prince were not deceived by such
artifices. There was no parity between the cases of the Spanish soldiery
and of the troops in service of the estates. To assemble the estates-
general was idle, if they were to be forbidden the settlement of the
great question at issue. With regard to the Spanish inquisition, it
mattered little whether the slaughter-house were called Spanish or
Flemish, or simply the Blood-Council. It was, however, necessary for
the states' commissioners to consider their reply very carefully; for
the royal plenipotentiaries had placed themselves upon specious grounds.
It was not enough to feel that the King's government was paltering with
them; it was likewise necessary for the states' agents to impress this
fact upon the people.
There was a pause in the deliberations. Meantime, Count Schwartzburg,
reluctantly accepting the conviction that the religious question was an
insurmountable obstacle to a peace, left the provinces for Germany. The
last propositions of the government plenipotentiaries had been discussed
in the councils of the various cities, so that the reply of the Prince,
and estates was delayed until the 1st of June. They admitted, in this
communication, that the offer to restore ancient privileges had an
agreeable sound; but regretted that if the whole population were to be
banished, there would be but few to derive advantage from the
restoration. If the King would put an end to religious persecution, he
would find as much loyalty in the provinces as his forefathers had found.
It was out of the question, they said, for the states to disarm and to
deliver up their strong places, before the Spanish soldiery had retired,
and before peace had been established. It was their wish to leave the
question of religion, together with all other disputed matters, to the
decision of the assembly. Were it possible, in the meantime, to devise
any effectual method for restraining hostilities, it would gladly be
embraced.
On the 8th of July, the royal commissioners inquired what guarantee the
states would be willing to give, that the decision of the general
assembly, whatever it might be, should be obeyed. The demand was
answered by another, in which the King's agents were questioned as to
their own guarantees. Hereupon it was stated that his Majesty would give
his word and sign manual, together with the word and signature of the
Emperor into the bargain. In exchange for these promises, the Prince and
estates were expected to give their own oaths and seals, together with a
number of hostages. Over and above this, they were requested to deliver
up the cities of Brill and Enkhuizen, Flushing and Arnemuyde. The
disparity of such guarantees was ridiculous. The royal word, even when
strengthened by the imperial promise, and confirmed by the autographs of
Philip and Maximilian, was not so solid a security, in the opinion of
Netherlanders, as to outweigh four cities in Holland and Zealand, with
all their population and wealth. To give collateral pledges and hostages
upon one side, while the King offered none, was to assign a superiority
to the royal word, over that of the Prince and the estates which there
was no disposition to recognize. Moreover, it was very cogently urged
that to give up the cities was to give as security for the contract,
some of the principal contracting parties.
This closed the negotiations. The provincial plenipotentiaries took
their leave by a paper dated 13th July, 1575, which recapitulated the
main incidents of the conference. They expressed their deep regret that
his Majesty should insist so firmly on the banishment of the Reformers,
for it was unjust to reserve the provinces to the sole use of a small
number of Catholics. They lamented that the proposition which had been
made, to refer the religious question to the estates, had neither been
loyally accepted, nor candidly refused. They inferred, therefore,
that the object of the royal government had, been to amuse the states,
while tine was thus gained for reducing the country into a slavery more
abject than any which had yet existed. On the other hand, the royal
commissioners as solemnly averred that the whole responsibility for the
failure of the negotiations belonged to the, estates.
It was the general opinion in the insurgent provinces that the government
had been insincere from the beginning, and had neither expected nor
desired to conclude a peace. It is probable, however, that Philip was
sincere; so far as it could be called sincerity to be willing to conclude
a peace, if the provinces would abandon the main objects of the war.
With his impoverished exchequer, and ruin threatening his whole empire,
if this mortal combat should be continued many years longer, he could
have no motive for further bloodshed, provided all heretics should
consent to abandon the country. As usual, however, he left his agents in
the dark as to his real intentions. Even Requesens was as much in doubt
as to the King's secret purposes as Margaret of Parma had ever been in
former times.
[Compare the remarks of Groen v. Prinst., Archives, etc., v 259-
262; Bor, viii. 606, 615; Meteren, v. 100; Hoofd, g. 410.--Count
John of Nassau was distrustful and disdainful from the beginning.
Against his brother's loyalty and the straightforward intentions of
the estates, he felt that the whole force of the Macchiavelli system
of policy would be brought to bear with great effect. He felt that
the object of the King's party was to temporize, to confuse, and to
deceive. He did not believe them capable of conceding the real
object in dispute, but he feared lest they might obscure the
judgment of the plain and well meaning people with whom they had to
deal. Alluding to the constant attempts made to poison himself and
his brother, he likens the pretended negotiations to Venetian drugs,
by which eyesight, hearing, feeling, and intellect were destroyed.
Under this pernicious influence, the luckless people would not
perceive the fire burning around them, but would shrink at a
rustling leaf. Not comprehending then the tendency of their own
acts, they would "lay bare their own backs to the rod, and bring
faggots for their own funeral pile."-Archives, etc., v. 131-137.]
Moreover, the Grand Commander and the government had, after all, made
a great mistake in their diplomacy. The estates of Brabant, although
strongly desirous that the Spanish troops should be withdrawn, were
equally stanch for the maintenance of the Catholic religion, and many
of the southern provinces entertained the same sentiments. Had the
Governor, therefore, taken the states' commissioners at their word,
and left the decision of the religious question to the general assembly,
he might perhaps have found the vote in his favor. In this case, it is
certain that the Prince of Orange and his party would have been placed in
a very awkward position.
The internal government of the insurgent provinces had remained upon the
footing which we have seen established in the autumn of 1574, but in the
course of this summer (1575), however, the foundation was laid for the
union of Holland and Zealand, under the authority of Orange. The selfish
principle of municipal aristocracy, which had tended to keep asunder
these various groups of cities, was now repressed by the energy of the
Prince and the strong determination of the people.
In April, 1575, certain articles of union between Holland and Zealand
were proposed, and six commissioners appointed to draw up an ordinance
for the government of the two provinces. This ordinance was accepted in
general assembly of both. It was in twenty articles. It declared that,
during the war the Prince as sovereign, should have absolute power in all
matters concerning the defence of the country. He was to appoint
military officers, high and low, establish and remove garrisons, punish
offenders against the laws of war. He was to regulate the expenditure of
all money voted by the estates. He was to maintain the law, in the
King's name, as Count of Holland, and to appoint all judicial officers
upon nominations by the estates. He was, at the usual times, to appoint
and renew the magistracies of the cities, according to their
constitutions. He was to protect the exercise of the Evangelical
Reformed religion, and to suppress the exercise of the Roman religion,
without permitting, however, that search should be made into the creed of
any person. A deliberative and executive council, by which the jealousy
of the corporations had intended to hamper his government, did not come
into more than nominal existence.
The articles of union having been agreed upon, the Prince, desiring an
unfettered expression of the national will, wished the ordinance to be
laid before the people in their primary assemblies. The estates,
however, were opposed to this democratic proceeding. They represented
that it had been customary to consult; after the city magistracies,
only the captains of companies and the deans of guilds on matters of
government. The Prince, yielding the point, the captains of companies
and deans of guilds accordingly alone united with the aristocratic boards
in ratifying the instrument by which his authority over the two united
provinces was established. On the 4th of June this first union was
solemnized.
Upon the 11th of July, the Prince formally accepted the government.
He, however, made an essential change in a very important clause of the
ordinance. In place of the words, the "Roman religion," he insisted that
the words, "religion at variance with the Gospel," should be substituted
in the article by which he was enjoined to prohibit the exercise of such
religion. This alteration rebuked the bigotry which had already grown
out of the successful resistance to bigotry, and left the door open for a
general religious toleration.
Early in this year the Prince had despatched Saint Aldegonde on a private
mission to the Elector Palatine. During some of his visits to that
potentate he had seen at Heidelberg the Princess Charlotte of Bourbon.
That lady was daughter of the Due de Montpensier, the most ardent of the
Catholic Princes of France, and the one who at the conferences of Bayonne
had been most indignant at the Queen Dowager's hesitation to unite
heartily with the, schemes of Alva and Philip for the extermination of
the Huguenots. His daughter, a woman of beauty, intelligence, and
virtue, forced before the canonical age to take the religious vows, had
been placed in the convent of Joliarrs, of which she had become Abbess.
Always secretly inclined to the Reformed religion, she had fled secretly
from her cloister, in the year of horrors 1572, and had found refuge at
the court of the Elector Palatine, after which step her father refused to
receive her letters, to contribute a farthing to her support, or even to
acknowledge her claims upon him by a single line or message of affection.
Under these circumstances the outcast princess, who had arrived at the
years of maturity, might be considered her own mistress, and she was
neither morally nor legally bound, when her hand was sought in marriage
by the great champion of the Reformation, to ask the consent of a parent
who loathed her religion and denied her existence. The legality of the
divorce from Anne of Saxony had been settled by a full expression of the
ecclesiastical authority which she most respected;
[Acte de, cinq Ministres du St. Evangile par lequel ils declarent le
mariage du Prince d'Orange etre legitime.--Archives, etc., v. 216-
226.]
the facts upon which the divorce had been founded having been proved
beyond peradventure.
Nothing, in truth, could well be more unfortunate in its results than the
famous Saxon marriage, the arrangements for which had occasioned so much
pondering to Philip, and so much diplomatic correspondence on the part of
high personages in Germany, the Netherlands, and Spain. Certainly, it
was of but little consequence to what church the unhappy Princess
belonged, and they must be lightly versed in history or in human nature
who can imagine these nuptials to have exercised any effect upon the
religious or political sentiments of Orange. The Princess was of a
stormy, ill-regulated nature; almost a lunatic from the beginning. The
dislike which succeeded to her fantastic fondness for the Prince, as well
as her general eccentricity, had soon become the talk of all the court at
Brussels. She would pass week after week without emerging from her
chamber, keeping the shutters closed and candles burning, day and night.
She quarrelled violently, with Countess Egmont for precedence, so that
the ludicrous contentions of the two ladies in antechambers and doorways
were the theme and the amusement of society. Her insolence, not only in
private but in public, towards her husband became intolerable: "I could
not do otherwise than bear it with sadness and patience," said the
Prince, with great magnanimity, "hoping that with age would come
improvement." Nevertheless, upon one occasion, at a supper party,
she had used such language in the presence of Count Horn and many other
nobles, "that all wondered that he could endure the abusive terms which
she applied to him."
When the clouds gathered about him, when he had become an exile and a
wanderer, her reproaches and her violence increased. The sacrifice of
their wealth, the mortgages and sales which he effected of his estates,
plate, jewels, and furniture, to raise money for the struggling country,
excited her bitter resentment. She separated herself from him by
degrees, and at last abandoned him altogether. Her temper became violent
to ferocity. She beat her servants with her hands and with clubs; she
threatened the lives of herself, of her attendants, of Count John of
Nassau, with knives and daggers, and indulged in habitual profanity and
blasphemy, uttering frightful curses upon all around. Her original
tendency to intemperance had so much increased, that she was often unable
to stand on her feet. A bottle of wine, holding more than a quart, in
the morning, and another in the evening, together with a pound of sugar,
was her usual allowance. She addressed letters to Alva complaining that
her husband had impoverished himself "in his good-for-nothing Beggar
war," and begging the Duke to furnish her with a little ready money
and with the means of arriving at the possession of her dower.
An illicit connexion with a certain John Rubens, an exiled magistrate of
Antwerp, and father of the celebrated painter, completed the list of her
delinquencies, and justified the marriage of the Prince with Charlotte de
Bourbon. It was therefore determined by the Elector of Saxony and the
Landgrave William to remove her from the custody of the Nassaus. This
took place with infinite difficulty, at the close of the year 1575.
Already, in 1572; Augustus had proposed to the Landgrave that she should
be kept in solitary confinement, and that a minister should preach to her
daily through the grated aperture by which her, food was to be admitted.
The Landgrave remonstrated at so inhuman a proposition, which was,
however, carried into effect. The wretched Princess, now completely a
lunatic, was imprisoned in the electoral palace, in a chamber where the
windows were walled up and a small grating let into the upper part of the
door. Through this wicket came her food, as well as the words of the
holy man appointed to preach daily for her edification.
Two years long, she endured this terrible punishment, and died mad, on
the 18th of December, 1577. On the following day, she was buried in the
electoral tomb at Meissen; a pompous procession of "school children,
clergy, magistrates, nobility, and citizens" conducting her to that rest
of which she could no longer be deprived by the cruelty of man nor her
own violent temperament.
[It can certainly be considered no violation of the sanctity of
archives to make these slender allusions to a tale, the main
features of which have already been published, not only by MM. Groan
v. Prinsterer and Bakhuyzen, in Holland, but by the Saxon Professor
Bottiger, in Germany. It is impossible to understand the character
and career of Orange, and his relations with Germany, without a
complete view of the Saxon marriage. The extracts from the
"geomantic letters" of Elector Augustus, however, given in Bottiger
(Hist. Taschenb. 1836, p. 169-173), with their furious attacks upon
the Prince and upon Charlotte of Bourbon, seem to us too obscene to
be admitted, even in a note to these pages, and in a foreign
language.]
So far, therefore, as the character of Mademoiselle de Bourbon and the
legitimacy of her future offspring were concerned, she received ample
guarantees. For the rest, the Prince, in a simple letter, informed her
that he was already past his prime, having reached his forty-second year,
and that his fortune was encumbered not only with settlements for his,
children by previous marriages, but by debts contracted in the cause of
his oppressed country. A convention of doctors and bishops of France;
summoned by the Duc de Montpensier, afterwards confirmed the opinion that
the conventual vows of the Princess Charlotte had been conformable
neither to the laws of France nor to the canons of the Trent Council. She
was conducted to Brill by Saint Aldegonde, where she was received by her
bridegroom, to whom she was united on the 12th of June. The wedding
festival was held at Dort with much revelry and holiday making, "but
without dancing."
In this connexion, no doubt the Prince consulted his inclination only.
Eminently domestic in his habits, he required the relief of companionship
at home to the exhausting affairs which made up his life abroad. For
years he had never enjoyed social converse, except at long intervals,
with man or woman; it was natural, therefore, that he should contract
this marriage. It was equally natural that he should make many enemies
by so impolitic a match. The Elector Palatine, who was in place of
guardian to the bride, decidedly disapproved, although he was suspected
of favoring the alliance. The Landgrave of Hesse for a time was furious;
the Elector of Saxony absolutely delirious with rage. The Diet of the
Empire was to be held within a few weeks at Frankfort, where it was very
certain that the outraged and influential Elector would make his
appearance, overflowing with anger, and determined to revenge upon the
cause of the Netherland Reformation the injury which he had personally
received. Even the wise, considerate, affectionate brother, John of
Nassau, considered the marriage an act of madness. He did what he could,
by argument and entreaty, to dissuade the Prince from its completion;
although he afterwards voluntarily confessed that the Princess Charlotte
had been deeply calumniated, and was an inestimable treasure to his
brother. The French government made use of the circumstance to justify
itself in a still further alienation from the cause of the Prince than it
had hitherto manifested, but this was rather pretence than reality.
It was not in the nature of things, however, that the Saxon and Hessian
indignation could be easily allayed. The Landgrave was extremely
violent. "Truly, I cannot imagine," he wrote to the Elector of Saxony,
"quo consilio that wiseacre of an Aldegonde, and whosoever else has been
aiding and abetting, have undertaken this affair. Nam si pietatem
respicias, it is to be feared that, considering she is a Frenchwoman, a
nun, and moreover a fugitive nun, about whose chastity there has been
considerable question, the Prince has got out of the frying-pan into the
fire. Si formam it is not to be supposed that it was her beauty which
charmed him, since, without doubt, he must be rather frightened than
delighted, when he looks upon her. Si spem prolis, the Prince has
certainly only too many heirs already, and ought to wish that he had
neither wife nor children. Si amicitiam, it is not to be supposed, while
her father expresses himself in such threatening language with regard to
her, that there will be much cordiality of friendship on his part. Let
them look to it, then, lest it fare with them no better than with the
Admiral, at his Paris wedding; for those gentlemen can hardly forgive
such injuries, sine mercurio et arsenico sublimato."
The Elector of Saxony was frantic with choler, and almost ludicrous in
the vehemence of its expression. Count John was unceasing in his
exhortations to his brother to respect the sensitiveness of these
important personages, and to remember how much good and how much evil it
was in their power to compass, with regard to himself and to the great
cause of the Protestant religion. He reminded him, too, that the divorce
had not been, and would not be considered impregnable as to form, and
that much discomfort and detriment was likely to grow out of the whole
proceeding, for himself and his family. The Prince, however, was
immovable in his resolution, and from the whole tone of his
correspondence and deportment it was obvious that his marriage was one
rather of inclination than of policy. "I can assure you, my brother,"
he wrote to Count John, "that my character has always tended to this--
to care neither for words nor menaces in any matter where I can act with
a clear conscience, and without doing injury to my neighbour. Truly, if
I had paid regard to the threats of princes, I should never have embarked
in so many dangerous affairs, contrary to the will of the King, my
master, in times past, and even to the advice of many of my relatives and
friends."
The evil consequences which had been foreseen were not slow to manifest
themselves. There was much discussion of the Prince's marriage at the
Diet of Frankfort, and there was even a proposition, formally to declare
the Calvinists excluded in Germany from the benefits of the Peace of
Passau. The Archduke Rudolph was soon afterwards elected King of the
Romans and of Bohemia, although hitherto, according to the policy of the
Prince of Orange, and in the expectation of benefit to the cause of the
Reformation in Germany and the Netherlands, there has been a strong
disposition to hold out hopes to Henry the Third, and to excite the fears
of Maximilian.
While these important affairs, public and private, had been occurring
in the south of Holland and in Germany, a very nefarious transaction had
disgraced the cause of the patriot party in the northern quarter.
Diedrich Sonoy, governor of that portion of Holland, a man of great
bravery but of extreme ferocity of character, had discovered an extensive
conspiracy among certain of the inhabitants, in aid of an approaching
Spanish invasion. Bands of land-loupers had been employed, according to
the intimation which he had received or affected to have received, to set
fire to villages and towns in every direction, to set up beacons, and to
conduct a series of signals by which the expeditions about to be
organized were to be furthered in their objects. The Governor,
determined to show that the Duke of Alva could not be more prompt nor
more terrible than himself, improvised, of his own authority, a tribunal
in imitation of the infamous Blood-Council. Fortunately for the
character of the country, Sonoy was not a Hollander, nor was the
jurisdiction of this newly established court allowed to extend beyond
very narrow limits. Eight vagabonds were, however, arrested and doomed
to tortures the most horrible, in order to extort from them confessions
implicating persons of higher position in the land than themselves.
Seven, after a few turns of the pulley and the screw, confessed all which
they were expected to confess, and accused all whom they were requested
to accuse. The eighth was firmer, and refused to testify to the guilt of
certain respectable householders, whose names he had, perhaps, never
heard, and against whom there was no shadow of evidence. He was,
however, reduced by three hours and a half of sharp torture to confess,
entirely according to their orders, so that accusations and evidence were
thus obtained against certain influential gentlemen of the province,
whose only crime was a secret adherence to the Catholic Faith.
The eight wretches who had been induced by promises of unconditional
pardon upon one hand, and by savage torture on the other, to bear this
false witness, were condemned to be burned alive, and on their way to the
stake, they all retracted the statements which had only been extorted
from them by the rack. Nevertheless, the individuals who had been thus
designated, were arrested. Charged with plotting a general conflagration
of the villages and farmhouses, in conjunction with an invasion by
Hierges and other Papist generals, they indignantly protested their
innocence; but two of them, a certain Kopp Corneliszoon, and his son,
Nanning Koppezoon, were selected to undergo the most cruel torture which
had yet been practised in the Netherlands. Sonoy, to his eternal shame,
was disposed to prove that human ingenuity to inflict human misery had
not been exhausted in the chambers of the Blood Council, for it was to be
shown that Reformers were capable of giving a lesson even to inquisitors
in this diabolical science. Kopp, a man advanced in years, was tortured
during a whole day. On the following morning he was again brought to the
rack, but the old man was too weak to endure all the agony which his
tormentors had provided for him. Hardly had he been placed upon the bed
of torture than he calmly expired, to the great indignation of the
tribunal. "The Devil has broken his neck and carried him off to hell,"
cried they ferociously. "Nevertheless, that shall not prevent him from
being hung and quartered." This decree of impotent vengeance was
accordingly executed. The son of Kopp, however, Nanning Koppezoon, was a
man in the full vigor of his years. He bore with perfect fortitude a
series of incredible tortures, after which, with his body singed from
head to heel, and his feet almost entirely flayed, he was left for six
weeks to crawl about his dungeon on his knees. He was then brought back
to the torture-room, and again stretched upon the rack, while a large
earthen vessel, made for the purpose, was placed, inverted, upon his
naked body. A number of rats were introduced under this cover, and hot
coals were heaped upon the vessel, till the rats, rendered furious by the
heat, gnawed into the very bowels of the victim, in their agony to
escape.
[Bor (viii. 628) conscientiously furnishes diagrams of the
machinery by aid of which this devilish cruelty was inflicted. The
rats were sent by the Governor himself.--Vide Letter of the
Commissioners to Sonoy, apud Bor, viii. 640, 641. The whole letter
is a wonderful monument of barbarity. The incredible tortures to
which the poor creatures had been subjected are detailed in a
business-like manner, as though the transactions were quite regular
and laudable, The Commissioners conclude with pious wishes for the
Governor's welfare: "Noble, wise, virtuous, and very discreet sir,"
they say, "we have wished to apprise you of the foregoing, and we
now pray that God Almighty may spare you in a happy, healthy and
long-continued government"--It will be seen, however, that the wise,
virtuous, and very discreet Governor, who thus caused his fellow-
citizens bowels to be gnawed by rats, was not allowed to remain much
longer in his "happy and healthy government"]
The holes thus torn in his bleeding flesh were filled with red-hot coals.
He was afterwards subjected to other tortures too foul to relate; nor was
it till he had endured all this agony, with a fortitude which seemed
supernatural, that he was at last discovered to be human. Scorched;
bitten, dislocated in every joint, sleepless, starving, perishing with
thirst, he was at last crushed into a false confession, by a promise of
absolute forgiveness. He admitted everything which was brought to his
charge, confessing a catalogue of contemplated burnings and beacon
firings of which he had never dreamed, and avowing himself in league with
other desperate Papists, still more dangerous than himself.
Notwithstanding the promises of pardon, Nanning was then condemned to
death. The sentence ordained that his heart should be torn from his
living bosom, and thrown in his face, after which his head was to be
taken off and exposed on the church steeple of his native village. His
body was then to be cut in four, and a quarter fastened upon different
towers of the city of Alkmaar, for it was that city, recently so famous
for its heroic resistance to the Spanish army, which was now sullied by
all this cold-blooded atrocity. When led to execution, the victim
recanted indignantly the confessions forced from him by weakness of body,
and exonerated the persons whom he had falsely accused. A certain
clergyman, named Jurian Epeszoon, endeavored by loud praying to drown his
voice, that the people might not rise with indignation, and the dying
prisoner with his last breath solemnly summoned this unworthy pastor of
Christ Jo meet him within three days before the judgment-seat of God.
It is a remarkable and authentic fact, that the clergyman thus summoned,
went home pensively from the place of execution, sickened immediately and
died upon the appointed day.
Notwithstanding this solemn recantation, the, persons accused were
arrested, and in their turn subjected to torture, but the affair now
reached the ears of Orange. His peremptory orders, with the universal
excitement produced in the neighbourhood, at last checked the course of
the outrage, and the accused persons were remanded to prison, where they
remained till liberated by the Pacification of Ghent. After their
release they commenced legal proceedings against Sonoy, with a view of
establishing their own innocence, and of bringing the inhuman functionary
to justice. The process languished, however, and was finally abandoned,
for the powerful Governor had rendered such eminent service in the cause
of liberty, that it was thought unwise to push him to extremity. It is
no impeachment upon the character of the Prince that these horrible
crimes were not prevented. It was impossible for him to be omnipresent.
Neither is it just to consider the tortures and death thus inflicted upon
innocent men an indelible stain upon the cause of liberty. They were the
crimes of an individual who had been useful, but who, like the Count De
la Marck, had now contaminated his hand with the blood of the guiltless.
The new tribunal never took root, and was abolished as soon as its
initiatory horrors were known.
On the 19th of July, Oudewater, entirely unprepared for such an event,
was besieged by Hierges, but the garrison and the population, although
weak, were brave. The town resisted eighteen days, and on the 7th of
August was carried by assault, after which the usual horrors were fully
practised, after which the garrison was put to the sword, and the
townspeople fared little better. Men, women, and children were murdered
in cold blood, or obliged to purchase their lives by heavy ransoms, while
matrons and maids were sold by auction to the soldiers at two or three
dollars each. Almost every house in the city was burned to the ground,
and these horrible but very customary scenes having been enacted, the
army of Hierges took its way to Schoonhoven. That city, not defending
itself, secured tolerable terms of capitulation, and surrendered on the
24th of August.
The Grand Commander had not yet given up the hope of naval assistance
from Spain, notwithstanding the abrupt termination to the last expedition
which had been organized. It was, however, necessary that a foothold
should be recovered upon the seaboard, before a descent from without
could be met with proper co-operation from the land forces withal; and he
was most anxious, therefore, to effect the reconquest of some portion of
Zealand. The island of Tholen was still Spanish, and had been so since
the memorable expedition of Mondragon to South Beveland. From this
interior portion of the archipelago the Governor now determined to
attempt an expedition against the outer and more important territory.
The three principal islands were Tholen; Duiveland, and Sehouwen. Tholen
was the first which detached itself from the continent. Neat, and
separated from it by a bay two leagues in width, was Duiveland, or the
Isle of Doves. Beyond, and parted by a narrower frith, was Schouwen,
fronting directly upon the ocean, fortified by its strong capital city;
Zieriekzee, and containing other villages of inferior consequence.
Requesens had been long revolving in his mind the means of possessing
himself of this important, island. He had caused to lie constructed, a
numerous armada of boats and light vessels of various dimensions, and he
now came to Tholew to organize the expedition. His prospects were at
first not flattering, for the gulfs and estuaries swarmed with Zealand
vessels, manned by crews celebrated for their skill and audacity.
Traitors, however, from Zealand itself now came forward to teach the
Spanish Commander how to strike at the heart of their own country. These
refugees explained to Requesens that a narrow flat extended under the sea
from Philipsland, a small and uninhabited islet situate close to Tholen,
as far as the shore of Duiveland. Upon this submerged tongue of land the
water, during ebb-tide, was sufficiently shallow to be waded, and it
would therefore be possible for a determined band, under cover of the
night, to make the perilous passage. Once arrived at Duiveland, they
could more easily cross the intervening creek to Schouwen, which was not
so deep and only half as wide, so that a force thus, sent through these
dangerous shallows, might take possession of Duiveland and lay siege to
Zierickzee, in the very teeth of the Zealand fleet, which would be unable
to sail near enough to intercept their passage.
The Commander determined that the enterprise should be attempted.
It was not a novelty, because Mondragon, as we have seen, had already
most brilliantly conducted a very similar expedition. The present was,
however, a much more daring scheme. The other exploit, although
sufficiently hazardous, and entirely, successful, had been a victory
gained over the sea alone. It had been a surprise, and had been effected
without any opposition from human enemies. Here, however, they were to
deal, not only with the ocean and darkness, but with a watchful and
determined foe. The Zealanders were aware that the enterprise was in
contemplation, and their vessels lay about the contiguous waters in
considerable force. Nevertheless, the determination of the Grand
Commander was hailed with enthusiasm by his troops. Having satisfied
himself by personal experiment that the enterprise was possible, and that
therefore his brave soldiers could accomplish it, he decided that the
glory of the achievement should be fairly shared, as before, among the
different nations which served the King.
After completing his preparations, Requesens came to Tholen, at which
rendezvous were assembled three thousand infantry, partly Spaniards,
partly Germans, partly Walloons. Besides these, a picked corps of two
hundred sappers and miners was to accompany the expedition, in order that
no time might be lost in fortifying themselves as soon as they had seized
possession of Schouwen. Four hundred mounted troopers were, moreover,
stationed in the town of Tholen, while the little fleet, which had been
prepared at Antwerp; lay near that city ready to co-operate with the land
force as soon as they, should complete their enterprise. The Grand
Commander now divided the whole force into two parts: One half was to
remain in the boats, under the command of Mondragon; the other half,
accompanied by the two hundred pioneers, were to wade through the sea
from Philipsland to Duiveland and Schouwen. Each soldier of this
detachment was provided with a pair of shoes, two pounds of powder, and
rations for three days in a canvas bag suspended at his neck. The leader
of this expedition was Don Osorio d'Ulloa, an officer distinguished for
his experience and bravery.
On the night selected for the enterprise, that of the 27th September,
the moon was a day old in its fourth quarter, and rose a little before
twelve. It was low water at between four and five in the morning.
The Grand Commander, at the appointed hour of midnight, crossed to
Philipsland, and stood on the shore to watch the setting forth of the
little army. He addressed a short harangue to them, in which he
skillfully struck the chords of Spanish chivalry, and the national love
of glory, and was answered with loud and enthusiastic cheers. Don Osorio
d'Ulloa then stripped and plunged into the sea immediately after the
guides. He was followed by the Spaniards, after whom came the Germans
and then the Walloons. The two hundred sappers and miners came next,
and Don Gabriel Peralta, with his Spanish company; brought up the rear.
It was a wild night. Incessant lightning, alternately revealed and
obscured the progress of the midnight march through the black waters,
as the anxious Commander watched the expedition from the shore, but the
soldiers were quickly swallowed up in the gloom. As they advanced
cautiously, two by two, the daring adventurers found themselves soon
nearly up to their necks in the waves, while so narrow was the submerged
bank along which they were marching, that a misstep to the right or left
was fatal. Luckless individuals repeatedly sank to rise no more.
Meantime, as the sickly light, of the waning moon came forth at intervals
through the stormy clouds the soldiers could plainly perceive the files
of Zealand vessels through which they were to march, and which were
anchored as close to the flat as the water would allow. Some had
recklessly stranded themselves, in their eagerness to interrupt the
passage, of the troops, and the artillery played unceasingly from the
larger vessels. Discharges of musketry came continually from all,
but the fitful lightning rendered the aim difficult and the fire
comparatively harmless while the Spaniards were, moreover, protected,
as to a large part of their bodies, by the water in which they were
immersed.
At times; they halted for breath, or to engage in fierce skirmishes
with their nearest assailants. Standing breast-high in the waves, and
surrounded at intervals by total darkness, they were yet able to pour an
occasional well-directed volley into the hostile ranks. The Zealanders,
however, did, not assail them with fire-arms alone. They transfixed some
with their fatal harpoons; they dragged others from the path with
boathooks; they beat out the brains of others with heavy flails. Many
were the mortal duels thus fought in the darkness, and, as it were, in
the bottom of the sea; many were the deeds of audacity which no eye was
to mark save those by whom they were achieved. Still, in spite of all
impediments and losses, the Spaniards steadily advanced. If other arms
proved less available, they were attached by the fierce taunts and
invectives of their often invisible foes who reviled them as water-dogs,
fetching and carrying for a master who despised them; as mercenaries who
coined their blood for gold, and were employed by tyrants for the basest
uses. If stung by these mocking voices, they turned in the darkness to
chastise their unseen tormentors, they were certain to be trampled upon
by their comrades, and to be pushed from their narrow pathway into the
depths of the sea. Thus many perished.
The night wore on, and the adventurers still fought it out manfully, but
very slowly, the main body of Spaniards, Germans, and Walloons, soon
after daylight, reaching the opposite shore, having sustained
considerable losses, but in perfect order. The pioneers were not so
fortunate. The tide rose over them before they could effect their
passage, and swept nearly every one away. The rearguard, under Peralta,
not surprised, like the pioneers, in the middle of their passage, by the
rising tide, but prevented, before it was too late; from advancing far
beyond the shore from which they had departed were fortunately enabled to
retrace their steps.
Don Osorio, at the head of the successful adventurers, now effected his
landing upon Duiveland. Reposing themselves but for an instant after
this unparalleled march through the water, of more than six hours, they
took a slight refreshment, prayed to the Virgin Mary and to Saint James,
and then prepared to meet their new enemies on land. Ten companies of
French, Scotch, and English auxiliaries lay in Duiveland, under the
command of Charles Van Boisot. Strange to relate, by an inexplicable
accident, or by treason, that general was slain by his own soldiers, at
the moment when the royal troops landed. The panic created by this event
became intense, as the enemy rose suddenly, as it were, out of the depths
of the ocean to attack them. They magnified the numbers of their
assailants, and fled terror-stricken in every direction. Same swam to
the Zealand vessels which lay in the neighbourhood; others took refuge in
the forts which had been constructed on the island; but these were soon
carried by the Spaniards, and the conquest of Duiveland was effected.
The enterprise was not yet completed, but the remainder was less
difficult and not nearly so hazardous, for the creek which separated
Duiveland from Schouwen was much narrower than the estuary which they had
just traversed. It was less than a league in width, but so encumbered by
rushes and briers that, although difficult to wade, it was not navigable
for vessels of any kind. This part of the expedition was accomplished
with equal resolution, so that, after a few hours' delay, the soldiers
stood upon the much-coveted island of Schouwen. Five companies of
states' troops, placed to oppose their landing, fled in the most cowardly
manner at the first discharge of the Spanish muskets, and took refuge
in the city of Zierickzee, which was soon afterwards beleaguered.
The troops has been disembarked upon Duiveland from the armada, which had
made its way to the scene of action, after having received, by signal,
information that the expedition through the water had been successful.
Brouwershaven, on the northern side of Schouwen, was immediately reduced,
but Bommenede resisted till the 25th of October, when it was at last
carried by assault, and delivered over to fire and sword. Of the whole
population and garrison not twenty were left alive. Siege was then laid
to Zierickzee, and Colonel Mondragon was left in charge of the
operations. Requesens himself came to Schouwen to give directions
concerning this important enterprise.
Chiapin Vitelli also came thither in the middle of the winter, and was so
much injured by a fall from his litter, while making the tour of the
island, that he died on shipboard during his return to Antwerp. This
officer had gained his laurels upon more than one occasion, his conduct
in the important action near Mons, in which the Huguenot force under
Genlis was defeated, having been particularly creditable. He was of a
distinguished Umbrian family, and had passed his life in camps, few of
the generals who had accompanied Alva to the Netherlands being better
known or more odious to the inhabitants. He was equally distinguished
for his courage, his cruelty, and his corpulence. The last
characteristic was so remarkable that he was almost monstrous in his
personal appearance. His protuberant stomach was always supported in a
bandage suspended from his neck, yet in spite of this enormous
impediment, he was personally active on the battle-field, and performed
more service, not only as a commander but as a subaltern, than many a
younger and lighter man.
The siege of Zierickzee was protracted till the following June, the city
holding out with firmness. Want of funds caused the operations to be,
conducted with languor, but the same cause prevented the Prince from
accomplishing its relief. Thus the expedition from Philipsland, the most
brilliant military exploit of the whole war, was attended with important
results. The communication between Walcheren and the rest of Zealand was
interrupted; the province cut in two; a foothold on the ocean; for a
brief interval at least, acquired by Spain. The Prince was inexpressibly
chagrined by these circumstances, and felt that the moment had arrived
when all honorable means were to be employed to obtain foreign
assistance. The Hollanders and Zealanders had fought the battles of
freedom alone hitherto, and had fought them well, but poverty was fast
rendering them incapable of sustaining much longer the unequal conflict.
Offers of men, whose wages the states were to furnish, were refused; as
worse than fruitless. Henry of Navarre, who perhaps deemed it possible
to acquire the sovereignty of the provinces by so barren a benefit, was
willing to send two or three thousand men, but not at his own expense.
The proposition was respectfully declined.
The Prince and his little country, were all alone. "Even if we should
not only see ourselves deserted by all the world, but also all the world
against us," he said, "we should not cease to defend ourselves even to
the last man. Knowing the justice of our cause, we repose, entirely in
the mercy of God." He determined, however, once more to have recourse to
the powerful of the earth, being disposed to test the truth of his
celebrated observation, that "there would be no lack of suitors for the
bride that he had to bestow." It was necessary, in short, to look the
great question of formally renouncing Philip directly in the face.
Hitherto the fiction of allegiance had been preserved, and, even by the
enemies of the Prince, it, was admitted: that it had been retained with
no disloyal intent. The time however, had come when it was necessary.
to throw off allegiance, provided another could be found strong enough
and frank enough to accept the authority which Philip had forfeited. The
question was, naturally, between France and England; unless the provinces
could effect their re-admission into the body of the Germanic Empire.
Already in June the Prince had laid the proposition formally before the
states, "whether they should not negotiate with the Empire on the subject
of their admission, with maintenance of their own constitutions," but it
was understood that this plan was not to be carried out, if the
protection of the Empire could be obtained under easier conditions.
Nothing came of the proposition at that time. The nobles and the
deputies of South Holland now voted, in the beginning of the ensuing
month, "that it was their duty to abandon the King, as a tyrant who
sought to oppress and destroy his subjects; and that it behooved them to
seek another protector." This was while the Breda negotiations were
still pending, but when their inevitable result was very visible. There
was still a reluctance at taking the last and decisive step in the
rebellion, so that the semblance of loyalty was still retained; that
ancient scabbard, in which the sword might yet one day be sheathed. The
proposition was not adopted at the diet. A committee of nine was merely
appointed to deliberate with the Prince upon the "means of obtaining
foreign assistance, without accepting foreign authority, or severing
their connexion with his Majesty." The estates were, however, summoned
a few months later, by the Prince, to deliberate on this important matter
at Rotterdam. On the 1st of October he then formally proposed, either to
make terms with their enemy, and that the sooner the better, or else,
once for all, to separate entirely from the King of Spain, and to change
their sovereign, in order, with the assistance and under protection of
another Christian potentate, to maintain the provinces against their
enemies. Orange, moreover, expressed the opinion that upon so important
a subject it was decidedly incumbent upon them all to take the sense of
the city governments. The members for the various municipalities
acquiesced in the propriety of this suggestion, and resolved to consult
their constituents, while the deputies of the nobility also desired to
consult with their whole body. After an adjournment of a few days, the
diet again assembled at Delft, and it was then unanimously resolved by
the nobles and the cities, "that they would forsake the King and seek
foreign assistance; referring the choice to the Prince, who, in regard to
the government, was to take the opinion of the estates."
Thus, the great step was taken, by which two little provinces declared
themselves independent of their ancient master. That declaration,
although taken in the midst of doubt and darkness, was not destined to be
cancelled, and the germ of a new and powerful commonwealth was planted.
So little, however, did these republican fathers foresee their coming
republic, that the resolution to renounce one king was combined with a
proposition to ask for the authority of another. It was not imagined
that those two slender columns, which were all that had yet been raised.
of the future stately peristyle, would be strong enough to stand alone.
The question now arose, to what foreign power application should be made.
But little hope was to be entertained from Germany, a state which existed
only in name, and France was still in a condition of religious and
intestine discord. The attitude of revolt maintained by the Duc
d'Alencon seemed to make it difficult and dangerous to enter into
negotiations with a country where the civil wars had assumed so
complicated a character, that loyal and useful alliance could hardly be
made with any party. The Queen of England, on the other hand; dreaded
the wrath of Philip, by which her perpetual dangers from the side of
Scotland would be aggravated, while she feared equally the extension
of French authority in the Netherlands, by which increase her neighbour
would acquire an overshadowing power. She was also ashamed openly to
abandon the provinces to their fate, for her realm was supposed to be a
bulwark of the Protestant religion. Afraid to affront Philip, afraid to
refuse the suit of the Netherlands, afraid to concede as aggrandizement
to France, what course was open to the English Queen. That which,
politically and personally, she loved the best--a course of barren
coquetry. This the Prince of Orange foresaw; and although not disposed
to leave a stone unturned in his efforts to find assistance for his
country, he on the whole rather inclined for France. He, however, better
than any man, knew how little cause there was for sanguine expectation
from either source.
It was determined, in the name of his Highness and the estates, first to
send a mission to England, but there had already been negotiations this
year of an unpleasant character with that power. At the request of the
Spanish envoy, the foremost Netherland rebels, in number about fifty,
including by name the Prince of Orange, the Counts of Berg and Culemburg,
with Saint Aldegonde, Boisot, Junius, and others, had been formally
forbidden by Queen Elizabeth to enter her realm. The Prince had, in
consequence, sent Aldegonde and Junius on a secret mission to France,
and the Queen; jealous and anxious, had thereupon sent Daniel Rogers
secretly to the Prince. At the same tine she had sent an envoy to the
Grand Commander, counselling, conciliatory measures; and promising to
send a special mission to Spain with the offer of her mediation, but it
was suspected by those most in the confidence of the Spanish government
at Brussels, that there was a great deal of deception in these
proceedings. A truce for six months having now been established between
the Duc d'Alencon and his brother, it was supposed, that an alliance
between France and England, and perhaps between Alencon and Elizabeth,
was on the carpet, and that a kingdom of the Netherlands was to be the
wedding present of the bride to her husband. These fantasies derived
additional color from the fact that, while the Queen was expressing the
most amicable intentions towards Spain, and the greatest jealousy of
France, the English residents at Antwerp and other cities of the
Netherlands, had received private instructions to sell out their property
as fast as possible, and to retire from the country. On the whole, there
was little prospect either of a final answer, or of substantial
assistance from the Queen.
The envoys to England were Advocate Buis and Doctor Francis Maalzon,
nominated by the estates, and Saint Aldegonde, chief of the mission,
appointed by the Prince. They arrived in England at Christmas-tide.
Having represented to the Queen the result of the Breda negotiations,
they stated that the Prince and the estates, in despair of a secure
peace, had addressed themselves to her as an upright protector of the
Faith, and as a princess descended from the blood of Holland. This
allusion to the intermarriage of Edward III. of England with Philippa,
daughter of Count William III. of Hainault and Holland, would not, it was
hoped, be in vain. They furthermore offered to her Majesty, in case she
were willing powerfully to assist the states, the sovereignty over
Holland and Zealand, under certain conditions.
The Queen listened graciously to the envoys, and appointed commissioners
to treat with them on the subject. Meantime, Requesens sent Champagny to
England, to counteract the effect of this embassy of the estates, and to
beg the Queen to give no heed to the prayers of the rebels, to enter into
no negotiations with them, and to expel them at once from her kingdom.
The Queen gravely assured Champagny "that the envoys were no rebels, but
faithful subjects of his Majesty." There was certainly some effrontery
in such a statement, considering the solemn offer which had just been
made by the envoys. If to renounce allegiance to Philip and to propose
the sovereignty to Elizabeth did not constitute rebellion, it would be
difficult to define or to discover rebellion anywhere. The statement was
as honest, however, as the diplomatic grimace with which Champagny had
reminded Elizabeth of the ancient and unbroken friendship which had
always, existed between herself and his Catholic Majesty. The attempt
of Philip to procure her dethronement and assassination but a few years
before was, no doubt, thought too trifling a circumstance to have for a
moment interrupted those harmonious relations. Nothing came of the
negotiations on either side. The Queen coquetted, as was her custom.
She could not accept the offer of the estates; she could not say them
nay. She would not offend Philip; she would not abandon the provinces;
she would therefore negotiate--thus there was an infinite deal of
diplomatic nothing spun and unravelled, but the result was both to
abandon the provinces and to offend Philip.
In the first answer given by her commissioners to the states' envoys, it
was declared, "that her Majesty considered it too expensive to assume the
protection of both provinces." She was willing to protect them in name,
but she should confer the advantage exclusively on Walcheren in reality.
The defence of Holland must be maintained at the expense of the Prince
and the estates.
This was certainly not munificent, and the envoys insisted upon more
ample and liberal terms. The Queen declined, however, committing herself
beyond this niggardly and inadmissible offer. The states were not
willing to exchange the sovereignty over their country for so paltry
a concession. The Queen declared herself indisposed to go further,
at least before consulting parliament. The commissioners waited for
the assembling of parliament. She then refused to lay the matter before
that body, and forbade the Hollanders taking any steps for that purpose.
It was evident that she was disposed to trifle with the provinces, and
had no idea of encountering the open hostility of Philip. The envoys
accordingly begged for their passports. These were granted in April,
1576, with the assurance on the part of her Majesty that "she would think
more of the offer made to her after she had done all in her power to
bring about an arrangement between the provinces and Philip."
After the result of the negotiations of Breda, it is difficult to imagine
what method she was likely to devise for accomplishing such a purpose.
The King was not more disposed than during the preceding summer to grant
liberty of religion, nor were the Hollanders more ready than they had
been before to renounce either their faith or their fatherland. The
envoys, on parting, made a strenuous effort to negotiate a loan, but the
frugal Queen considered the proposition quite inadmissible. She granted
them liberty to purchase arms and ammunition, and to levy a few soldiers
with their own money, and this was accordingly done to a limited extent.
As it was not difficult to hire soldiers or to buy gunpowder anywhere,
in that warlike age, provided the money were ready, the states had hardly
reason to consider themselves under deep obligation for this concession.
Yet this was the whole result of the embassy. Plenty of fine words had,
been bestowed, which might or might not have meaning, according to the
turns taken by coming events. Besides these cheap and empty civilities,
they received permission to defend Holland at their own expense; with the
privilege, of surrendering its sovereignty, if they liked, to Queen
Elizabeth-and this was all.
On the 19th of April, the envoys returned to their country, and laid
before the estates the meagre result of their negotiations. Very soon
afterwards, upon an informal suggestion from Henry III. and the Queen
Mother, that a more favorable result might be expected, if the same
applications were made to the Duc d'Alencon which had been received in
so unsatisfactory a manner by Elizabeth, commissioners were appointed to
France. It proved impossible, however, at that juncture, to proceed with
the negotiations, in consequence of the troubles occasioned by the
attitude of the Duke. The provinces were still, even as they had been
from the beginning, entirely alone.
Requesens was more than ever straitened for funds, wringing, with
increasing difficulty, a slender subsidy, from time to time, out of the
reluctant estates of Brabant, Flanders, and the other obedient provinces.
While he was still at Duiveland, the estates-general sent him a long
remonstrance against the misconduct of the soldiery, in answer to his
demand for supplies. "Oh, these estates! these estates!" cried the
Grand Commander, on receiving such vehement reproaches instead of his
money; "may the Lord deliver me from these estates!" Meantime, the
important siege of Zierickzee continued, and it was evident that the city
must fall. There was no money at the disposal of the Prince. Count
John, who was seriously embarrassed by reason of the great obligations in
money which he, with the rest of his family, had incurred on behalf of
the estates, had recently made application to the Prince for his
influence towards procuring him relief. He had forwarded an account of
the great advances made by himself and his brethren in money, plate,
furniture, and endorsements of various kinds, for which a partial
reimbursement was almost indispensable to save him from serious
difficulties. The Prince, however, unable to procure him any assistance,
had been obliged him once more to entreat him to display the generosity
and the self-denial which the country had never found wanting at his
hands or at those of his kindred. The appeal had not been, in vain, but
the Count was obviously not in a condition to effect anything more at
that moment to relieve the financial distress of the states. The
exchequer was crippled.
[The contributions of Holland and Zealand for war expenses amounted
to one hundred and fifty thousand florins monthly. The pay of a
captain was eighty florins monthly; that of a lieutenant, forty;
that of a corporal, fifteen; that of a drummer, fifer, or Minister,
twelve; that of a common soldier, seven and a half. A captain had
also one hundred and fifty florins each month to distribute among
the most meritorious of his company. Each soldier was likewise
furnished with food; bedding, fire, light, and washing.--Renom de
France MS, vol. ii. c. 46,]
Holland and Zealand were cut in twain by the occupation of Schouwen and
the approaching fall of its capital. Germany, England, France; all
refused to stretch out their hands to save the heroic but exhaustless
little provinces. It was at this moment that a desperate but sublime
resolution took possession of the Prince's mind. There seemed but one
way left to exclude the Spaniards for ever from Holland and Zealand, and
to rescue the inhabitants from impending ruin. The Prince had long
brooded over the scheme, and the hour seemed to have struck for its
fulfilment. His project was to collect all the vessels, of every
description, which could be obtained throughout the Netherlands. The
whole population of the two provinces, men, women, and children, together
with all the moveable property of the country, were then to be embarked
on board this numerous fleet, and to seek a new home beyond the seas.
The windmills were then to be burned, the dykes pierced, the sluices
opened in every direction, and the country restored for ever to the
ocean, from which it had sprung.
It is difficult to say whether the resolution, if Providence had
permitted its fulfilment, would have been, on the whole, better or worse
for humanity and civilization. The ships which would have borne the
heroic Prince and his fortunes might have taken the direction of the
newly-discovered Western hemisphere. A religious colony, planted by a
commercial and liberty-loving race, in a virgin soil, and directed by
patrician but self-denying hands, might have preceded, by half a century,
the colony which a kindred race, impelled by similar motives, and under
somewhat similar circumstances and conditions, was destined to plant upon
the stern shores of New England. Had they directed their course to the
warm and fragrant islands of the East, an independent Christian
commonwealth might have arisen among those prolific regions, superior in
importance to any subsequent colony of Holland, cramped from its birth by
absolute subjection to a far distant metropolis.
The unexpected death of Requesens suddenly dispelled these schemes. The
siege of Zierickzee had occupied much of the Governor's attention, but he
had recently written to his sovereign, that its reduction was now
certain. He had added an urgent request for money, with a sufficient
supply of which he assured Philip that he should be able to bring the war
to an immediate conclusion. While waiting for these supplies, he had,
contrary to all law or reason, made an unsuccessful attempt to conquer
the post of Embden, in Germany. A mutiny had at about the same time,
broken out among his troops in Harlem, and he had furnished the citizens
with arms to defend themselves, giving free permission to use them
against the insurgent troops. By this means the mutiny had been quelled,
but a dangerous precedent established. Anxiety concerning this rebellion
is supposed to have hastened the Grand Commander's death. A violent
fever seized him on the 1st, and terminated his existence on the 5th of
March, in the fifty-first year of his life.
It is not necessary to review elaborately his career, the chief incidents
of which have been sufficiently described. Requesens was a man of high
position by birth and office, but a thoroughly commonplace personage.
His talents either for war or for civil employments were not above
mediocrity. His friends disputed whether he were greater in the field or
in the council, but it is certain that he was great in neither. His
bigotry was equal to that of Alva, but it was impossible to rival the
Duke in cruelty. Moreover, the condition of the country, after seven
years of torture under his predecessor, made it difficult for him, at the
time of his arrival, to imitate the severity which had made the name of
Alva infamous. The Blood Council had been retained throughout his
administration, but its occupation was gone, for want of food for its
ferocity. The obedient provinces had been purged of Protestants; while
crippled, too, by confiscation, they offered no field for further
extortion. From Holland and Zealand, whence Catholicism had been nearly
excluded, the King of Spain was nearly excluded also. The Blood Council
which, if set up in that country, would have executed every living
creature of its population, could only gaze from a distance at those who
would have been its victims. Requesens had been previously distinguished
in two fields of action: the Granada massacres and the carnage of
Lepanto. Upon both occasions he had been the military tutor of Don John
of Austria, by whom he was soon to be succeeded in the government of the
Netherlands. To the imperial bastard had been assigned the pre-eminence,
but it was thought that the Grand Commander had been entitled to a more
than equal share of the glory.
We have seen how much additional reputation was acquired by Requesens
in the provinces. The expedition against Duiveland and Schouwen, was,
on the whole, the most brilliant feat of arms during the war, and its
success reflects an undying lustre on the hardihood and discipline of the
Spanish, German, and Walloon soldiery. As an act of individual audacity
in a bad cause, it has rarely been equalled. It can hardly be said,
however, that the Grand Commander was entitled to any large measure of
praise for the success of the expedition. The plan was laid by Zealand
traitors. It was carried into execution by the devotion of the Spanish,
Walloon, and German troops; while Requesens was only a spectator of the
transaction. His sudden death arrested, for a moment, the ebb-tide in
the affairs of the Netherlands, which was fast leaving the country bare
and desolate, and was followed by a train of unforeseen transactions,
which it is now our duty to describe.
ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS:
As the old woman had told the Emperor Adrian
Beautiful damsel, who certainly did not lack suitors
Breath, time, and paper were profusely wasted and nothing gained
Care neither for words nor menaces in any matter
Distinguished for his courage, his cruelty, and his corpulence
He had never enjoyed social converse, except at long intervals
Human ingenuity to inflict human misery
Peace was desirable, it might be more dangerous than war
Proposition made by the wolves to the sheep, in the fable
Rebuked the bigotry which had already grown
Reformers were capable of giving a lesson even to inquisitors
Result was both to abandon the provinces and to offend Philip
Suppress the exercise of the Roman religion
The more conclusive arbitration of gunpowder
*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE DUTCH REPUBLIC, 1574-76 ***
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