SEPARATION
The year 1567 marks the beginning of civil war in the Low Countries. Up
till then, the nobility and the States General had worked more or less
together, acting as intermediaries between the Government and the
people. The sovereign rights of the king had never been questioned.
Henceforth, the Low Countries were to be divided into two parties,
having their headquarters in the South and in the North. Both aimed at
preserving their national liberties and equally resented foreign
oppression, but, while the people of the Northern provinces decided to
sever all connection with Spain, the people of the South were loath to
part from their national dynasty and were easily conciliated as soon as
the Government adopted a moderate attitude; while the people of the
North adopted Calvinism as their only public religion, the people of
the South remained attached to the Roman Church.
[_NORTH AND SOUTH_]
The story of the sixteenth-century revolution in the Low Countries is
so well known that it is scarcely necessary to recall again here the
details of events. From the point of view of the formation of Belgian
nationality, the revolution has an extraordinary importance, since it
engendered the separation of the Low Countries into two distinct
nationalities, which were later to be known as Belgian and Dutch. Most
English readers who remember their Motley, or any of the less valuable
writings he inspired, are under the impression that if the Belgians did
not adopt the same attitude as the Dutch all through the struggle
against Spain, it was either because they were blinded by their
religious prejudices or because their patriotism did not rise to the
same exalted height. Such an opinion is perfectly plausible, but it
does not sufficiently take into account the intransigent and selfish
attitude adopted by the Northern provinces, the political mistakes
committed by their leader, and the difference between the strategical
position and the economic interests of the revolutionaries in the North
and in the South of the country. It may therefore be useful to examine
the efforts made towards unity during the struggle and the causes of
their failure.
The steps taken by the Calvinist nobles which resulted in the failure
of de Marnix to seize Antwerp (March 13th) and the taking of
Valenciennes by Government troops (March 24th) were followed by a
strong reaction. The placards were again enforced, and a rumour began
to spread that the Duke of Alba was being sent by Philip to the
Netherlands at the head of a strong army. At this news over a hundred
thousand Protestants emigrated to England or to the North.
Many people in Southern Belgium were, however, unable to believe in the
possibility of ruthless repression, and even some of those who had
taken an active part in recent events remained in the country. They did
not know the intentions of the Duke of Alba and the instructions he had
received from his master. "I will try to arrange the affairs of
religion in the Low Countries," wrote Philip at the time, "if possible
without having recourse to force, because this means would imply the
total destruction of the country, but I am determined to use it
nevertheless, if I cannot otherwise arrange everything as I wish."
When, after a fortnight of festivities, the duke suddenly ordered the
arrest of the Counts of Egmont and Horn (September 9th), the people
were taken entirely by surprise. In spite of the protests of Marguerite
and the counsels of moderation of the pope and the Emperor Maximilian,
repression was systematically organized by the Council of Troubles,
soon called the "Council of Blood." Egmont and Horn were executed on
June 5th, and all those who had participated in the agitation of the
Compromise and the Iconoclast movement were arrested. During the three
years which followed, from six to eight thousand people perished. All
resistance was impossible. Only a few bands of Beggars kept to the
woods ("Boschgeuzen") and a few privateers operated in the North Sea
("Zeegeuzen"). Alba repulsed with equal success the attacks of Louis of
Nassau and of the Prince of Orange. "The people are very pleased," he
declared; "there is no people in the world more easy to govern when one
knows how to manage them." The new taxes he raised in 1569 to pay for
the cost of the war rendered his regime still more odious. These taxes
of 1 per cent. on all property, 5 per cent. on the sale of real estate
and 10 per cent. on the sale of all goods, were of course
unconstitutional, and for a long time Brussels and Louvain refused to
pay them. When at last they came into force, in 1571, all trade
stopped and the people opposed passive resistance amid great privations
and sufferings. The situation was at last relieved by the bold coup de
main of the Sea Beggars on the port of La Brielle, in Zeeland. Up till
then, they had sought refuge in the English ports, but in 1572 Queen
Elizabeth closed her ports to them, and the seizure of a naval base in
the Low Countries became imperative. The taking of La Brielle, coming
as it did in the worst time of Spanish oppression, provoked unbounded
enthusiasm. Successively Flushing, Rotterdam, Schiedam, and soon all
Zeeland and Holland, with the exception of a few towns, revolted
against the duke. The Huguenots were no less active in the South, where
La Noue seized Valenciennes and Louis of Nassau Mons (May 25th). Orange
himself advanced victoriously through Gelder towards Brabant. These
successes roused great hopes in the Southern provinces, but were
unhappily marred by the massacre of the monks at Gorcum and other
excesses. They were abruptly stopped by the news of the massacre of St.
Bartholomew, Orange's French allies being obliged to leave his army.
[_PROTESTANT SUCCESSES_]
Holland and Zeeland became henceforth the centre of resistance. These
provinces had not taken an important share in the life of the Low
Countries during the Middle Ages. Their prosperity was of comparatively
recent date and mainly due to their merchant fleet, which brought to
Antwerp wood and corn from the Baltic and wine from Bordeaux. Their
sailors had ventured as far as Madeira and the Azores, and, on being
stopped by Charles V from reaching America by the Southern route, had
endeavoured to find a route to India by the North. From the beginning
of the sixteenth century, Amsterdam had become the great corn market,
Middleburg the centre of the French wine trade, and the shipyards of
Vere, Goes and Arnemuyden were among the most active in Northern
Europe. The influx of capital resulting from trade and shipping was
used to reclaim marshes, to build fresh dikes and to increase
considerably the cultivated area. Nowhere else, according to
Guicciardini, was prosperity so general or did the traveller meet such
"clean and agreeable houses and such smiling and well cared for
country." Economically speaking, the Northern provinces were only
beginning to feel the benefit of the advantages of their position,
already so manifest in Antwerp. They were, so to speak, in a stage of
formation, and far more ready to cut loose the links of tradition with
an obscure past and to throw themselves into some great adventure in
which they might try their strength.
They occupied, besides, a safer situation than the South, controlling
the outlets of three great streams and the adjoining seas, among
low-lying lands which, as a last resort, could be flooded in order to
stop the advance of an enemy or cut off his retreat. This situation
adapted itself remarkably well to a defensive strategy by land and an
aggressive strategy by sea. The small number of inhabitants and the
small forces available rendered any offensive by land against the
Spanish armies extremely dangerous, so that the Southern provinces,
exposed on all sides to invasion, were left to shift for themselves. It
so happened that the Prince of Orange, the principal leader of the
opposition, had, as governor of Holland and Zeeland, acquired a great
popularity in the country, which was considerably increased by his
conversion to Calvinism. He had been made "Stadhouder" of his provinces
and had found great resources in the confiscation of ecclesiastical
property.
The next campaign (1572-73) affords an excellent example of the
strength of Orange's position. He was finally able to compel the duke
to raise the siege of Alkmaar, in spite of his overwhelming superiority
in numbers and of the striking successes which had marked his progress
from Malines to Zutphen, to Naarden and to Harlem. The Spanish retreat,
in October 1573, coincided with a naval defeat off Enkhuizen. Alba,
discouraged, left the Low Countries in December and was replaced by a
Spanish aristocrat, Louis de Zuniga y Requesens.
[_REQUESENS_]
Philip was at last resigned to make some concessions, but remained
adamant with regard to religion. Thanks to the victory won by the
Spaniards at Mook, where Louis of Nassau lost his life, Requesens was
able to grant some of the claims of the States General without losing
prestige. He proclaimed a general amnesty, suppressed the taxes of 10
per cent. and 5 per cent., and induced the Council of Troubles not to
pronounce any more death sentences. He would not, however, dismiss the
Spanish troops, and the North having refused to negotiate, the
Spaniards laid siege to Leyden. In 1575 Maximilian offered his
mediation, and a congress was held at Breda between the representatives
of Philip and of the Prince of Orange. The religious question,
however, proved a stumbling-block, Philip maintaining Catholicism as
the only State religion and the prince asking for a guarantee with
regard to the preservation of liberty of conscience.
After the death of Requesens, on March 15, 1576, the administration was
taken over by the Council of State, including the moderate Catholics,
Mansfeld, Berlaymont and Viglius. They hastened to suppress the Council
of Troubles, but were unable to disband the Spanish army, in spite of
the insistence of the provincial States, owing to the lack of funds for
their arrears of pay. At the beginning of July some Spanish units took
Alost, which became the centre of pillaging expeditions. These excesses
and the increasing danger of the situation brought about a
reconciliation between Orange and the Belgian nobles, and once more the
dream of a common country came within reach of realization. The States
of Brabant proscribed the Spanish soldiers and called the citizens to
arms. The members of the Council of State were arrested and the States
General assembled. In spite of the irregularity of such procedure, all
the provinces sent their representatives with the sole exception of
Luxemburg. Philip was still proclaimed "sovereign lord and natural
prince," but the command of the national troops was given to the
Belgian nobles, and Orange was asked to help in reducing the rebellious
soldiery and in besieging the citadels of Ghent and Antwerp. While the
delegates of the Stadhouder and of the States conferred in Ghent, news
reached them of the terrible excesses committed, on November 4th, by
the Spanish soldiers in Antwerp, during the course of which seven
thousand people lost their lives. These riots are remembered as the
"Spanish Fury."
[_PACIFICATION OF GHENT_]
Deplorable though they were, they would not have been too heavy a price
to pay if national unity could have been maintained. Never did it seem
nearer at hand. With fresh memories of Alba's regime and the wholesale
executions of the Council of Blood, under the direct influence of the
terrible news from Antwerp, the Belgian Catholics were never more ready
to wipe off old grievances, to forget the sacrileges of the
Iconoclasts, the massacre of Gorcum and the persecution of those of
their faith in the North. The Pacification of Ghent was signed on
November 8th. The seventeen provinces allied themselves into a
confederation, promised to render each other mutual help, to expel the
Spanish armies, to suppress the placards and the ordinances of the Duke
of Alba and to proclaim a general amnesty. Liberty of conscience,
however, was only proclaimed in fifteen provinces. Calvinism remained
the only religion permitted in Holland and Zeeland. It is true that the
pre-eminent situation of Catholicism was recognized and that the
Protestants were not allowed any public manifestations outside Holland
and Zeeland, but if we take into account the fact that, all over the
country, the Catholics were far more numerous than their rivals, this
last clause of the Pacification of Ghent shows that the Calvinists were
bent on exacting all the advantages of the situation they had so
heroically conquered and that the moderates of the Southern provinces
still found themselves placed between the hammer of Spanish domination
and the anvil of Calvinist sectarianism.
The Prince of Orange cannot be held entirely responsible for missing
this unique opportunity of concluding with his compatriots a fair and
liberal compact. His correspondence shows that he had hard work to
reconcile his partisans even to such one-sided religious conclusions as
those expressed in the Pacification of Ghent, and that in many
instances he had to resign himself to being led in order to be allowed
to lead.
[_DON JUAN_]
This mistake was bound to bear fruit, when the new Governor, Don Juan
of Austria, a natural son of Charles V who had covered himself with
glory at the battle of Lepanto, reached the country, in November 1576.
Philip, aware that the Netherlands would escape him if he did not make
some sacrifices, had given Don Juan still freer instructions than those
given to Requesens. The religious question only was excluded from
concessions. Besides, the king hoped that the Belgians would be
flattered by the choice of a prince of the blood and would be
captivated by the romantic reputation of this striking representative
of Renaissance nobility. Negotiations between Don Juan and the States
General were rendered difficult by the opposition of the partisans of
Orange and by the want of good faith on the part of the new Governor,
who, while promising to recall the Spanish troops, was discovered
secretly negotiating with them. The first Union of Brussels was,
however, concluded on January 9, 1577. The States promised to obey the
king and to maintain the Catholic religion as the only State religion
all through the country. On the other hand, Don Juan, by the Edict of
Marche, known as "Edit Perpetuel," undertook to convoke the States
General, to recall the Spanish troops and not to persecute the
partisans of the Reform. Orange and his partisans in Holland and
Zeeland naturally refused to ratify such an arrangement, which violated
the articles of the Pacification of Ghent.
Don Juan entered Brussels in May, after dismissing the Spanish troops,
but, in spite of all his efforts, was unable to ingratiate himself in
the eyes of the population. Most of the people had resented the
signature of the Union of Brussels, and when the negotiations with the
Northerners broke off and Don Juan asked for troops to fight them, he
met with a curt refusal. Alarmed by this veiled hostility and
exasperated by his protracted negotiations with Orange, Don Juan shut
himself up in the fortress of Namur and recalled the Spanish troops.
Nothing better could have happened from the point of view of the
patriots, and the differences which had begun to undermine the work of
the Pacification of Ghent, during the last months, were promptly
forgotten. William of Orange made a triumphal entry into Brussels on
September 23rd. He was greeted as the liberator of his country, amid
scenes of unbounded enthusiasm. He was proclaimed "Ruwaert" of Brabant
and his authority did not meet with any further open opposition.
Faithful to his principles, Orange endeavoured to establish liberty of
conscience in the Low Countries. His ideas, however, were only shared
by a few friends whose rather elastic religious principles allowed them
to sacrifice sectarianism to the higher interests of the State. They
did not suit the Catholic aristocracy, who, though strongly opposed to
Spain, remained attached to legitimist principles. They did not suit
Calvinist democrats, who, though in a minority, intended to overwhelm
all opposition. The intellectuals among them propounded the idea of the
"Monarchomaques" that "the prince existed for the people, not the
people for the prince," while the uneducated classes already proclaimed
the principle of modern democracy and universal suffrage and questioned
the right of the States to represent the people. Since August 1577
Brussels had been practically in the hands of the Commune, represented
by a Council of Eighteen. Similar Councils had seized power in some
provincial towns, and at Ghent, where the Calvinists dominated the
Commune, the articles of the Pacification were entirely disregarded,
the churches being plundered and the priests persecuted. Holland and
Zeeland maintained an expectant and somewhat moody attitude. They
resented their leader's concessions to the Catholics and were not
over-enthusiastic towards unification. They felt themselves stronger
than the rest of the country and had largely benefited from the closing
of the Scheldt and the momentary stoppage of Antwerp's trade. They were
loath to sacrifice such advantages for the sake of joining hands with
"Papists and monarchists."
[_POLICY OF ORANGE_]
As the democratic tendencies and Calvinist excesses were more and more
apparent, following the return of Orange to Brussels, the Catholic
aristocracy of the Southern provinces became alarmed. The nobles were
afraid of the attitude adopted by the people concerning their
privileges and of the personal prestige of Orange. They endeavoured to
check his power by inviting foreign princes to take the leadership of
the country. The Duke of Aerschot induced Archduke Matthias, brother of
the Emperor, to come to the Low Countries, but Orange easily countered
this manoeuvre by arresting the duke and opening negotiations with
Matthias, who signed the second Union of Brussels, on December 10,
1577, and guaranteed liberty of conscience. The young archduke was
henceforth a mere figurehead and Orange remained the real ruler of the
country.
To add to the confusion, Don Juan opened an offensive, a few days
later, and easily defeated the national troops which opposed his
progress in Luxemburg, Namur and Hainault, forcing the Government to
take refuge in Antwerp. It became more and more apparent that the
provinces could not rid themselves of the Spaniards without appealing
to foreign help. The Emperor Rudolph being unwilling to support
Matthias, the latter had become practically useless. In spite of
repeated entreaties, Queen Elizabeth would not consent to give military
help. She encouraged the revolution, since it proved a drain on
Philip's resources and an efficient protection from Spanish enterprise
against England, but she would not openly break with Spain. Only France
remained. As early as July 1578, Count de Lalaing endeavoured to repeat
with the Duke of Anjou, Henry III's brother, the manoeuvre of
Aerschot. He sought, at the same time, to deliver the country from
Spain with foreign help and to check the increasing power of Orange and
all he stood for in his eyes. Anjou had no respect for the liberties
and aspirations of the provinces, neither did his rather tepid
religious convictions, as a Catholic prince, stand in his way. He
hoped to obtain the title of sovereign of the Netherlands and thus to
increase his chances of succeeding in his suit for the hand of Queen
Elizabeth.
Once more Orange took for himself the plans propounded by his enemies.
He negotiated with Anjou, who received the title of "Defender of the
Liberties of the Low Countries" in exchange for some military help. Don
Juan was obliged to retreat on Namur, where he died, completely
disheartened, on October 1, 1578, leaving his lieutenant, Alexander
Farnese, Duke of Parma, to continue the struggle.
[_THE MALCONTENTS_]
The situation, during the last months of 1578, had become extremely
intricate. The Spanish troops, commanded by Farnese, held the Southern
provinces as far as the Sambre and the Meuse. Holland and Zeeland
maintained their powerful position in the North, but, between Spanish
and Dutch headquarters, the country was thrown into a state of complete
anarchy, and the power of the Stadhouder, who, from Antwerp, tried
vainly to maintain unity, was more and more disregarded. The Act of
Religious Peace, which he had issued in June and which placed the two
confessions on a footing of equality, though endeavouring to conciliate
everybody, only increased the discontent. Its clauses were entirely
ignored by the Calvinist Republic of Ghent, which pursued its own
ruthless policy under the leadership of Ryhove and terrorized the
Catholics. On the other hand, the Catholic nobles, who commanded some
units of the national army, formed themselves into a new party, the
"Malcontents," and occupied Menin on October 1st. Civil war became
more and more inevitable. Ryhove called the Prince Palatine, John
Casimir, a protege of Queen Elizabeth, to his help, while Anjou,
alarmed by the apparition of this unexpected rival, helped the
Malcontents to reduce the Calvinist Communes in Arras, Lille and
Valenciennes.
William of Orange, who had displayed such extraordinary political
aptitudes during the first years of the revolution, seemed, since his
entry into Brussels, to have disregarded some essential conditions of
success. Though imbued by the principle of national unity, he never
threw himself wholeheartedly into the struggle and never gave the
country the leadership it so badly needed. He first seemed to ignore
the difficulties ahead, owing to the rivalry of religious factions,
and, when these were made clear to him, he did not take any strong
measure to enforce on the people the principle of liberty of conscience
which he so loudly proclaimed. The recurrence of excesses and cruelties
committed by the fanatic leaders of the Communes contributed to create
a widespread impression, among the Catholics, that he was merely paying
lip-service to them, while determined to tolerate any disobedience
among his own followers. His retirement to Antwerp, in close contact
with Holland and Zeeland, but far removed from the Southern provinces,
was also unfavourable to the maintenance of the Union under his
leadership. Finally, the interference in national affairs of such
disreputable adventurers as John Casimir and Anjou diminished, to a
certain degree, the reluctance with which the Catholics envisaged the
possibility of treating with Spain.
[_UNION OF ARRAS_]
On January 6, 1579, Artois, Hainault and Walloon Flanders formed the
"Confederation of Arras," which sanctioned the first Union of
Brussels--that is to say, the maintenance of Catholicism all over the
country; and from that time negotiations began between the Catholic
bourgeoisie and nobility and Farnese. Had Orange proved more active or
Farnese less diplomatic, the Union might still have been maintained
even at the eleventh hour. For nothing but religious passion, and
perhaps, to a certain extent, the fear of mob rule, prompted the
Southern provinces to accept the Spanish offers. The States of Hainault
had declared that they would not undertake anything contrary to the
common cause, but wanted only to preserve their existence, to "maintain
the Pacification of Ghent against an insolent and barbarian tyranny
worse than the Spanish" and "to prevent the extinction of their holy
faith and religion, of the nobility and of all order and state." They
did not abandon any of their old claims against Spain, but they refused
to acknowledge the social and religious transformation which had taken
place in the country since the signature of the Pacification. The
defenders of the new confederation expressed the hope that in all towns
the oppressed Catholics would join hands with them. The Union of Arras
ought to be considered therefore, not as a Walloon, but as a purely
Catholic League. It confirms the first Union of Brussels, including all
its anti-Spanish stipulations concerning the restoration of the old
privileges, the voting of taxes by the States, the defence of the
country by native troops, the maintenance of the Catholic religion in
all the provinces being the only common ground on which Spaniards and
Belgians could meet. It was, nevertheless, a breach of the Pacification
of Ghent, and was destined to link Belgium with Spain for many years to
come. It was also a definite and irretrievable step towards separation.
It has been suggested that the difference of race and languages might
have influenced the fateful decision of the Walloon provinces. Such an
interpretation does not take into account the language situation in the
Low Countries at the time. One seeks vainly for any grievance which the
Southern provinces might have entertained on that ground. French was
used in all the acts of the central Government and in the deliberations
of the States General. Even the Prince of Orange had kept the
Burgundian tradition and considered French as his mother-tongue. He was
surrounded and supported by a great number of French Huguenots and
Walloon Calvinists. Owing to their smaller population the Southern
provinces were rather over-represented in the States General, where the
vote went by province and not by numbers. Besides, we must not overlook
the fact that the confederates represented themselves not as
dissenters, but as the true supporters of the Act of Union, which had
been violated by the Calvinists. They did not show any separatist
tendencies like Holland and Zeeland, but opposed their policy of Union
to the policy of the Prince of Orange. One of their most urgent demands
was that the Prince of the Netherlands should henceforth be of royal
and legitimate blood, in order to restore a national policy, similar to
that followed during the early years of the reigns of Philip the
Handsome and Charles V. All through the troubled period of the last
twenty years, Walloons and Flemings never ceased to emphasize their
will to live together. Their mottoes are, "Viribus unitis"; "Belgium
foederatum"; "Concordia res parvae crescunt"; and almost every speech
and public manifestation insists on the necessity of protecting a
common "patrie" against a common enemy through a common defence. As a
matter of fact, the principle of unity was so popular at the time in
the Southern provinces that the confederates would have made themselves
thoroughly unpopular if they had dared to preach separation, and, on
both sides, it was only by pretending to defend the Union that the
extremists, moved by class hatred and religious passion, succeeded in
destroying it.
The centre of Catholic reaction might have been formed in any other
part of the Southern provinces under similar circumstances. The region
of Armentieres and Valenciennes had been the cradle of the Iconoclast
rebellion, but repression in that quarter was far more effective than
in any other. A great proportion of the Walloon workers who did not
perish under Alba's rule emigrated to England. The Southern cities were
thus considerably depleted of their Calvinist element, and the peasants
and the bourgeois outnumbered them far more than in any other part of
the country. Even under ordinary circumstances the workers of the towns
exercised very little influence on the States of Hainault and
Artois. In Hainault (Valenciennes and Tournai forming special
circumscriptions), Mons remained alone to represent their interests. In
Artois, Arras, St. Omer and Bethune were the only important centres
whose representatives could oppose those of the far more important
agricultural districts. The question of race and language had no more
influence on the attitude of the Walloon provinces than on that of
Holland, Zeeland and Utrecht. Both were determined by economic, social
and religious conditions as well as by their strategic situation.
[_UNION OF UTRECHT_]
The Confederation of Arras was proclaimed on January 6, 1579. On the
23rd the Union of Utrecht was constituted, under the same claim of
defending the Pacification of Ghent. It grouped around Holland and
Zeeland the provinces of Utrecht, Gelder, Friesland, Over-Yssel and
Groningen, together with the most important towns of Flanders and
Brabant: Ghent, Ypres, Bruges, Antwerp, Brussels, etc. They undertook
to act jointly in reference to peace, war, alliances and all external
matters, while retaining their local autonomy. The exercise of religion
remained free, with the exception of Holland and Zeeland, from which
Catholicism was excluded. The Union of Utrecht was the origin of the
Republic of the Seven United Provinces. It was entirely dominated by
the particularist policy of Holland and Zeeland, which, as events
developed more and more in favour of Farnese in the South, took less
and less interest in their Southern confederates. The small forces at
their disposal rendered any offensive towards Flanders and Brabant,
which would have provided the beleaguered cities with food and arms,
very difficult, and the reopening of the Scheldt, which must have taken
place in the event of the integral preservation of the Union of
Utrecht, would have reacted unfavourably on the trade of the Northern
ports.
[_ALEXANDER FARNESE_]
Owing to the defensive attitude of the North, events moved rather
slowly during the following years. After the fall of Maestricht, which
was marked by further massacres of the people by the Spanish soldiery,
Farnese, who had staked all on a policy of conciliation, gradually
dismissed the Spanish troops and organized native units with the help
of the Malcontents. Now that all bonds were severed between the Union
of Utrecht and the crown of Spain, Philip II endeavoured to revenge
himself on his opponent by putting a price on his head (1580). The
apology written by the Prince of Orange in answer to Philip's
accusations, in the shape of a letter addressed to the States General,
is one of the most dignified pleas of such a kind in history. Orange
had no difficulty in showing the sincerity of his motives and his
devotion to the common weal. The reader of this eloquent document will,
however, realize that its author lacked the energy and self-reliance
necessary to deal with the desperate situation in which the country was
placed. In his eagerness to save the Belgian towns and to safeguard
unity, in spite of the unwillingness of Holland and Zeeland to depart
from their expectant attitude, he concluded with the Duke of Anjou, on
September 29th, the treaty of Plessis-lez-Tours, by which, in exchange
for military help, the duke was to receive the title of hereditary
sovereign of the United Provinces, undertook to respect the rights of
the States General and maintain the representatives of the House of
Orange-Nassau as hereditary Stadhouders of Holland, Zeeland and
Utrecht. This last clause was introduced far more to pacify the
Northerners, who strongly objected to these negotiations, than to
further Orange's personal ambition. It shows once more the privileged
situation occupied by the three provinces and their strong
particularist tendencies. The treaty of Plessis-lez-Tours, which was
supposed to save the Union, was destined to give it its death-blow and
to strengthen the alliance between the Southern provinces and Farnese.
By that time, the central Government in Antwerp had become purely
nominal. The Northern provinces had ceased to send their
representatives and the delegates from the South could not claim to
represent the people, who were more and more unfavourable to their
attitude. The States General was only used to register and sanction
Orange's decisions. In spite of some opposition, it finally proclaimed,
on July 26, 1581, the deposition of the king.
Hostilities were at once resumed, Farnese besieging Cambrai and
Tournai, which had not yet joined the Confederation. The first town was
saved by the intervention of the French troops of Anjou, but the second
capitulated on November 3rd. From that time, Farnese endeavoured to
treat his enemies with the greatest clemency. He suppressed severely
all acts of terrorism or pillage and offered honourable conditions to
any city willing to surrender, the Protestants being free to leave the
town after settling their affairs and the local liberties remaining
intact. By these moderate conditions and by the loyalty with which he
kept to them, he gradually earned the respect, if not the sympathy, of
a great number of his former opponents, and his attitude contrasted
favourably with the vagaries of Anjou, whose rule was, after all, the
only alternative offered to the Southern provinces at the time. After a
journey to England, where he received a rebuff from Queen Elizabeth,
Anjou was greeted with great honours at Antwerp (February 19, 1582).
During the year which followed, he grew more and more impatient of the
obstacles placed in his way and the restrictions imposed on his
authority. He finally decided to make a bid for power, and, on the
night of January 16-17, 1583, his soldiers endeavoured to seize the
gates of Antwerp and occupy the public buildings. They were, however,
defeated by the armed citizens, and the duke, entirely discredited, was
obliged to leave the country. This episode is remembered as the "French
Fury."
The last hopes of reconstituting the unity of the Netherlands were
ruined by the murder, on July 10, 1584, at Delft, of the Prince of
Orange, the only statesman who had pursued this aim with some
consistency, in spite of all his mistakes. This action was as criminal
as it was senseless. The prince had failed in his great enterprise of
uniting the Netherlands against Spain, and no efforts on his part could
have restored the situation. Thanks to the Spanish reinforcements the
Confederation had allowed him to receive, Farnese was systematically
blockading and besieging every important Flemish town. Already Dunkirk,
Ypres and Bruges had opened their gates to him and obtained very
favourable conditions. Ghent itself, the stronghold of Calvinism in
Flanders, whose population had distinguished itself by so many
cruelties and excesses and which was considered as the arch-enemy of
the Malcontents, benefited from the same policy when obliged to
surrender, on September 17th. All the old customs were restored, the
town was obliged to pay 200,000 golden ecus, its hostages were
pardoned, and, though the Protestants were not allowed to celebrate
their worship in public, they obtained a delay of two years before
leaving the city.
[_FALL OF ANTWERP_]
At the beginning of 1585 almost every town had been reduced as far as
Malines. Brussels, which had vainly expected some help from the North,
opened its gates to Farnese on March 10th, and the taking of Antwerp,
on August 16th, closed the series of operations which definitely
separated Belgium from Holland and again placed the Southern provinces
under the subjection of Spain. Antwerp had been defended obstinately by
its burgomaster, the Calvinist pamphleteer, Marnix de St. Aldegonde,
who confidently hoped that his Northern allies would create a diversion
and at least prevent the Spanish from cutting off the great port from
the sea. In the case of Antwerp, Holland and Zeeland might have
interfered without so much danger, but Orange was no longer there to
plead for unity and the great port of the Southern provinces was
abandoned to its fate.