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HISTORY OF THE UNITED NETHERLANDS
From the Death of William the Silent to the Twelve Year's Truce--1609
By John Lothrop Motley
MOTLEY'S HISTORY OF THE NETHERLANDS, Project Gutenberg Edition, Volume 40
History United Netherlands, 1585
CHAPTER V., Part 2.
Position of Alexander and his Army--La Motte attempts in vain
Ostend--Patriots gain Liefkenshoek--Projects of Gianibelli--Alarm on
the Bridge--The Fire Ships--The Explosion--Its Results--Death of the
Viscount of Ghent--Perpetual Anxiety of Farnese--Impoverished State
of the Spaniards--Intended Attack of the Kowenstyn--Second Attack of
the Kowenstyn--A Landing effected--A sharp Combat--The Dyke pierced
--Rally of the Spaniards--Parma comes to the Rescue--Fierce Struggle
on the Dyke--The Spaniards successful--Premature Triumph at Antwerp
--Defeat of the Patriots--The Ship War's End--Despair of the Citizens
Notwithstanding these triumphs, Parma was much inconvenienced by not
possessing the sea-coast of Flanders. Ostend was a perpetual stumbling-
block to him. He therefore assented, with pleasure to a proposition made
by La Motte, one of the most experienced and courageous of the Walloon
royalist, commanders, to attempt the place by surprise. And La Motte; at
the first blow; was more than half successful.
On the night of the 29th March, (1585) with two thousand foot and twelve
hundred cavalry, he carried the whole of the old port of Ostend. Leaving
a Walloon officer, in whom he had confidence, to guard the position
already gained, he went back in person for reinforcements. During his
advance, the same ill luck attended his enterprise which had blasted
Hohenlo's achievement at Bois-le-Duc. The soldiers he left behind him
deserted their posts for the sake of rifling the town. The officer in
command, instead of keeping them to their duty, joined in the chase. The
citizens roused themselves, attacked their invaders, killed many of them,
and put the rest to flight. When La Motte returned; he found the panic
general. His whole force, including the fresh soldiers just brought to
the rescue, were beside themselves with fear. He killed several with his
own hand, but the troops were not to be rallied. His quick triumph was
changed into an absolute defeat.
Parma, furious at the ignominious result of a plan from which so much had
been expected, ordered the Walloon captain, from whose delinquency so
much disaster had resulted, to be forthwith hanged. "Such villainy,"
said he, "must never go unpunished."
It was impossible for the Prince to send a second expedition to attempt
the reduction of Ostend, for the patriots were at last arousing
themselves to the necessity of exertion. It was very obvious--now that
the bridge had been built, and the Kowenstyn fortified--that one or the
other was to be destroyed, or Antwerp abandoned to its fate.
The patriots had been sleeping, as it were, all the winter, hugging the
delusive dream of French sovereignty and French assistance. No language
can exaggerate the deadly effects from the slow poison of that
negotiation. At any rate, the negotiation was now concluded. The dream
was dispelled. Antwerp must now fall, or a decisive blow must be struck
by the patriots themselves, and a telling blow had been secretly and
maturely meditated. Certain preparatory steps were however necessary.
The fort of Liefkenshoek, "darling's corner," was a most important post.
The patriots had never ceased to regret that precious possession, lost,
as we have seen, in so tragical a manner on the very day of Orange's
death. Fort Lillo, exactly opposite, on the Brabant shore of the
Scheldt, had always been securely held by them; and was their strongest
position. Were both places in their power, the navigation of the river,
at least as far as the bridge, would be comparatively secure.
A sudden dash was made upon Liefkenshoek. A number of armed vessels
sailed up from Zeeland, under command of Justinus de Nassau. They were
assisted from Fort Lillo by a detachment headed by Count Hohenlo. These
two officers were desirous of retrieving the reputation which they had
lost at Bois-le-Duc. They were successful, and the "darling" fort was
carried at a blow. After a brief cannonade, the patriots made a breach,
effected a landing, and sprang over the ramparts. The Walloons and
Spaniards fled in dismay; many of them were killed in the fort, and along
the dykes; others were hurled into the Scheldt. The victors followed up
their success by reducing, with equal impetuosity, the fort of Saint
Anthony, situate in the neighbourhood farther down the river. They thus
gained entire command of all the high ground, which remained in that
quarter above the inundation, and was called the Doel.
The dyke, on which Liefkenshoek stood, led up the river towards Kalloo,
distant less than a league. There were Parma's head-quarters and the
famous bridge. But at Fort Saint Mary; where the Flemish head of that
bridge rested, the dyke was broken. Upon that broken end the commanders
of the expedition against Liefkenshoek were ordered to throw up an
entrenchment, without loss of a moment, so soon as they should have
gained the fortresses which they were ordered first to assault. Sainte
Aldegonde had given urgent written directions to this effect. From a
redoubt situated thus, in the very face of Saint Mary's, that position,
the palisade-work, the whole bridge, might be battered with all the
artillery that could be brought from Zeeland.
But Parma was beforehand with them. Notwithstanding his rage and
mortification that Spanish soldiers should have ignominiously lost the
important fortress which Richebourg had conquered so brilliantly nine
months before, he was not the man to spend time in unavailing regrets.
His quick eye instantly, detected the flaw which might soon be fatal.
In the very same night of the loss of Liefkenshoek, he sent as strong a
party as could be spared, with plenty of sappers and miners, in flat-
bottomed boats across from Kalloo. As the morning dawned, an improvised
fortress, with the Spanish flag waving above its bulwarks, stood on the
broken end of the dyke. That done, he ordered one of the two captains
who had commanded in Liefkenshoek and Saint Anthony to be beheaded on the
same dyke. The other was dismissed with ignominy. Ostend was, of
course, given up; "but it was not a small matter," said Parma, "to
fortify ourselves that very night upon the ruptured place, and so prevent
the rebels from doing it, which would have been very mal-a-propos."
Nevertheless, the rebels had achieved a considerable success; and now or
never the telling blow, long meditated, was to be struck.
There lived in Antwerp a subtle Mantuan, Gianibelli by name, who had
married and been long settled in the city. He had made himself busy with
various schemes for victualling the place. He had especially urged upon
the authorities, at an early period of the siege, the propriety of making
large purchases of corn and storing it in magazines at a time when
famine-price had by no means been reached. But the leading men had then
their heads full of a great ship, or floating castle, which they were
building, and which they had pompously named the 'War's End,' 'Fin de la
Guerre.' We shall hear something of this phenomenon at a later period.
Meanwhile, Gianibelli, who knew something of shipbuilding, as he did of
most other useful matters, ridiculed the design, which was likely to
cost, in itself before completion, as much money as would keep the city
in bread for a third of a year.
Gianibelli was no patriot. He was purely a man of science and of great
acquirements, who was looked upon by the ignorant populace alternately as
a dreamer and a wizard. He was as indifferent to the cause of freedom as
of despotism, but he had a great love for chemistry. He was also a
profound mechanician, second to no man of his age in theoretic and
practical engineering.
He had gone from Italy to Spain that he might offer his services to
Philip, and give him the benefit of many original and ingenious
inventions. Forced to dance attendance, day after day, among sneering
courtiers and insolent placemen, and to submit to the criticism of
practical sages and philosophers of routine, while, he was constantly
denied an opportunity of explaining his projects, the quick-tempered
Italian had gone away at last, indignant. He had then vowed revenge upon
the dulness by which his genius had been slighted, and had sworn that the
next time the Spaniards heard the name of the man whom they had dared to
deride, they should hear it with tears.
He now laid before the senate of Antwerp a plan for some vessels likely
to prove more effective than the gigantic 'War's End,' which he had
prophesied would prove a failure. With these he pledged himself to
destroy the bridge. He demanded three ships which he had selected from
the city fleet; the 'Orange,' the 'Post,' and the 'Golden Lion,'
measuring, respectively, one hundred and fifty, three hundred and fifty,
and five hundred tons. Besides these, he wished sixty flat-bottomed
scows, which he proposed to send down the river, partially submerged,
disposed in the shape of a half moon, with innumerable anchors and
grapnel's thrusting themselves out of the water at every point. This
machine was intended to operate against the raft.
Ignorance and incredulity did their work, as usual, and Gianbelli's
request was refused. As a quarter-measure, nevertheless, he was allowed
to take two smaller vessels of seventy and eighty tons. The Italian was
disgusted with parsimony upon so momentous an occasion, but he at the
same time determined, even with these slender materials, to give an
exhibition of his power.
Not all his the glory, however, of the ingenious project. Associated
with him were two skilful artizans of Antwerp; a clockmaker named Bory,
and a mechanician named Timmerman--but Gianibelli was the chief and
superintendent of the whole daring enterprise.
He gave to his two ships the cheerful names of the 'Fortune' and the
'Hope,' and set himself energetically to justify their titles by their
efficiency. They were to be marine volcanos, which, drifting down the
river with tide, were to deal destruction where the Spaniards themselves
most secure.
In the hold of each vessel, along the whole length, was laid down a solid
flooring of brick and mortar, one foot thick and five feet wide. Upon
this was built a chamber of marble mason-work, forty feet long, three and
a half feet broad, as many high, and with side-walks [walls? D.W.] five
feet in thickness.
This was the crater. It was filled with seven thousand of gunpowder, of
a kind superior to anything known, and prepared by Gianibelli himself.
It was covered with a roof, six feet in thickness, formed of blue
tombstones, placed edgewise. Over this crater, rose a hollow cone, or
pyramid, made of heavy marble slabs, and filled with mill-stones, cannon
balls, blocks of marble, chain-shot, iron hooks, plough-coulters, and
every dangerous missile that could be imagined. The spaces between the
mine and the sides of each ship were likewise filled with paving stones,
iron-bound stakes, harpoons, and other projectiles. The whole fabric was
then covered by a smooth light flooring of planks and brick-work, upon
which was a pile of wood: This was to be lighted at the proper time, in
order that the two vessels might present the appearance of simple fire-
ships, intended only to excite a conflagration of the bridge. On the
'Fortune' a slow match, very carefully prepared, communicated with the
submerged mine, which was to explode at a nicely-calculated moment. The
eruption of the other floating volcano was to be regulated by an
ingenious piece of clock-work, by which, at the appointed time, fire,
struck from a flint, was to inflame the hidden mass of gunpowder below.
In addition to these two infernal machines, or "hell-burners," as they
were called, a fleet of thirty-two smaller vessels was prepared. Covered
with tar, turpentine, rosin, and filled with inflammable and combustible
materials, these barks were to be sent from Antwerp down the river in
detachments of eight every half hour with the ebb tide. The object was
to clear the way, if possible, of the raft, and to occupy the attention
of the Spaniards, until the 'Fortune' and the `Hope' should come down
upon the bridge.
The 5th April, (1885) being the day following that on which the
successful assault upon Liefkenshoek and Saint Anthony had taken place,
was fixed for the descent of the fire-ships. So soon as it should be
dark, the thirty-two lesser burning-vessels, under the direction of
Admiral Jacob Jacobzoon, were to be sent forth from the neighborhood of
the 'Boor's Sconce'--a fort close to the city walls--in accordance with
the Italian's plan. "Run-a-way Jacob," however, or "Koppen Loppen," had
earned no new laurels which could throw into the shade that opprobrious
appellation. He was not one of Holland's naval heroes, but, on the
whole, a very incompetent officer; exactly the man to damage the best
concerted scheme which the genius of others could invent. Accordingly,
Koppen-Loppen began with a grave mistake. Instead of allowing the
precursory fire-ships to drift down the stream, at the regular intervals
agreed upon, he despatched them all rapidly, and helter skelter, one
after another, as fast as they could be set forth on their career. Not
long afterwards, he sent the two "hellburners," the 'Fortune' and the
'Hope,' directly in their wake. Thus the whole fiery fleet had set
forth, almost at once, upon its fatal voyage.
It was known to Parma that preparations for an attack were making at
Antwerp, but as to the nature of the danger he was necessarily in the
dark. He was anticipating an invasion by a fleet from the city in
combination with a squadron of Zeelanders coming up from below. So soon
as the first vessels, therefore, with their trains not yet lighted, were
discovered bearing down from the city, he was confirmed in his
conjecture. His drama and trumpets instantly called to arms, and the
whole body of his troops was mustered upon the bridge; the palisades, and
in the nearest forts. Thus the preparations to avoid or to contend with
the danger, were leading the Spaniards into the very jaws of destruction.
Alexander, after crossing and recrossing the river, giving minute
directions for repelling the expected assault, finally stationed himself
in the block-house at the point of junction, on the Flemish aide, between
the palisade and the bridge of boats. He was surrounded by a group of
superior officers, among whom Richebourg, Billy, Gaetano, Cessis, and the
Englishman Sir Rowland Yorke, were conspicuous.
It was a dark, mild evening of early spring. As the fleet of vessels
dropped slowly down the river, they suddenly became luminous, each ship
flaming out of the darkness, a phantom of living fire. The very waves of
the Scheldt seemed glowing with the conflagration, while its banks were
lighted up with a preternatural glare. It was a wild, pompous,
theatrical spectacle. The array of soldiers on both aides the river,
along the dykes and upon the bridge, with banners waving, and spear and
cuirass glancing in the lurid light; the demon fleet, guided by no human
hand, wrapped in flames, and flitting through the darkness, with
irregular movement; but portentous aspect, at the caprice of wind and
tide; the death-like silence of expectation, which had succeeded the
sound of trumpet and the shouts of the soldiers; and the weird glow which
had supplanted the darkness-all combined with the sense of imminent and
mysterious danger to excite and oppress the imagination.
Presently, the Spaniards, as they gazed from the bridge, began to take
heart again. One after another, many of the lesser vessels drifted
blindly against the raft, where they entangled themselves among the hooks
and gigantic spearheads, and burned slowly out without causing any
extensive conflagration. Others grounded on the banks of the river,
before reaching their destination. Some sank in the stream.
Last of all came the two infernal ships, swaying unsteadily with the
current; the pilots of course, as they neared the bridge, having
noiselessly effected their escape in the skiffs. The slight fire upon
the deck scarcely illuminated the dark phantom-like hulls. Both were
carried by the current clear of the raft, which, by a great error of
judgment, as it now appeared, on the part of the builders, had only been
made to protect the floating portion of the bridge. The 'Fortune' came
first, staggering inside the raft, and then lurching clumsily against
the dyke, and grounding near Kalloo, without touching the bridge. There
was a moment's pause of expectation. At last the slow match upon the
deck burned out, and there was a faint and partial explosion, by which
little or no damage was produced.
Parma instantly called for volunteers to board the mysterious vessel.
The desperate expedition was headed by the bold Roland York, a Londoner,
of whom one day there was more to be heard in Netherland history. The
party sprang into the deserted and now harmless volcano, extinguishing
the slight fires that were smouldering on the deck, and thrusting spears
and long poles into the hidden recesses of the hold. There was, however,
little time to pursue these perilous investigations, and the party soon
made their escape to the bridge.
The troops of Parma, crowding on the palisade, and looking over the
parapets, now began to greet the exhibition with peals of derisive
laughter. It was but child's play, they thought, to threaten a Spanish
army, and a general like Alexander Farnese, with such paltry fire-works
as these. Nevertheless all eyes were anxiously fixed upon the remaining
fire-ship, or "hell-burner," the 'Hope,' which had now drifted very near
the place of its destination. Tearing her way between the raft and the
shore, she struck heavily against the bridge on the Kalloo side, close to
the block-house at the commencement of the floating portion of the
bridge. A thin wreath of smoke was seen curling over a slight and
smouldering fire upon her deck.
Marquis Richebourg, standing on the bridge, laughed loudly at the
apparently impotent conclusion of the whole adventure. It was his last
laugh on earth. A number of soldiers, at Parma's summons, instantly
sprang on board this second mysterious vessel, and occupied themselves,
as the party on board the 'Fortune' had done, in extinguishing, the
flames, and in endeavoring to ascertain the nature of the machine.
Richebourg boldly directed from the bridge their hazardous experiments.
At the same moment a certain ensign De Vega, who stood near the Prince of
Parma, close to the block-house, approached him with vehement entreaties
that he should retire. Alexander refused to stir from the spot, being
anxious to learn the result of these investigations. Vega, moved by some
instinctive and irresistible apprehension, fell upon his knees, and
plucking the General earnestly by the cloak, implored him with such
passionate words and gestures to leave the place, that the Prince
reluctantly yielded.
It was not a moment too soon. The clockwork had been better adjusted
than the slow match in the 'Fortune.' Scarcely had Alexander reached the
entrance of Saint Mary's Fort, at the end of the bridge, when a horrible
explosion was heard. The 'Hope' disappeared, together with the men who
had boarded her, and the block-house, against which she had struck, with
all its garrison, while a large portion of the bridge, with all the
troops stationed upon it, had vanished into air. It was the work of a
single instant. The Scheldt yawned to its lowest depth, and then cast
its waters across the dykes, deep into the forts, and far over the land.
The earth shook as with the throb of a volcano. A wild glare lighted up
the scene for one moment, and was then succeeded by pitchy darkness.
Houses were toppled down miles away, and not a living thing, even in
remote places, could keep its feet. The air was filled with a rain of
plough-shares, grave-stones, and marble balls, intermixed with the heads,
limbs, and bodies, of what had been human beings. Slabs of granite,
vomited by the flaming ship, were found afterwards at a league's
distance, and buried deep in the earth. A thousand soldiers were
destroyed in a second of time; many of them being torn to shreds, beyond
even the semblance of humanity.
Richebourg disappeared, and was not found until several days later, when
his body was discovered; doubled around an iron chain, which hung from
one of the bridge-boats in the centre of the river. The veteran Robles,
Seigneur de Billy, a Portuguese officer of eminent service and high
military rank, was also destroyed. Months afterwards, his body was
discovered adhering to the timber-work of the bridge, upon the ultimate
removal of that structure, and was only recognized by a peculiar gold
chain which he habitually wore. Parma himself was thrown to the ground,
stunned by a blow on the shoulder from a flying stake. The page, who was
behind him, carrying his helmet, fell dead without a wound, killed by the
concussion of the air.
Several strange and less tragical incidents occurred. The Viscomte de
Bruxelles was blown out of a boat on the Flemish side, and descended safe
and, sound into another in the centre of the stream. Captain Tucci, clad
in complete armour, was whirled out of a fort, shot perpendicularly into
the air, and then fell back into the river. Being of a cool temperament,
a good swimmer, and very pious, he skilfully divested himself of cuirass
and helmet, recommended himself to the Blessed Virgin, and swam safely
ashore. Another young officer of Parma's body-guard, Francois de Liege
by name, standing on the Kalloo end of the bridge, rose like a feather
into the clouds, and, flying quite across the river, alighted on the
opposite bank with no further harm than a contused shoulder. He imagined
himself (he said afterwards) to have been changed into a cannon-ball, as
he rushed through the pitchy atmosphere, propelled by a blast of
irresistible fury.
[The chief authorities used in the foregoing account of this famous
enterprise are those already cited on a previous page, viz.: the MS.
Letters of the Prince of Parma in the Archives of Simancas; Bor, ii.
596, 597; Strada, H. 334 seq.; Meteren, xii. 223; Hoofd Vervolgh,
91; Baudartii Polemographia, ii. 24-27; Bentivoglio, etc., I have
not thought it necessary to cite them step by step; for all the
accounts, with some inevitable and unimportant discrepancies, agree
with each other. The most copious details are to be found in Strada
and in Bor.]
It had been agreed that Admiral Jacobzoon should, immediately after the
explosion of the fire-ships, send an eight-oared barge to ascertain the
amount of damage. If a breach had been effected, and a passage up to the
city opened, he was to fire a rocket. At this signal, the fleet
stationed at Lillo, carrying a heavy armament, laden with provisions
enough to relieve Antwerp from all anxiety, and ready to sail on the
instant, was at once to force its way up the river.
The deed was done. A breach, two hundred feet in width was made. Had
the most skilful pilot in Zeeland held the helm of the 'Hope,' with a
choice crew obedient to his orders, he could not have guided her more
carefully than she had been directed by wind and tide. Avoiding the raft
which lay in her way, she had, as it were, with the intelligence of a
living creature, fulfilled the wishes of the daring genius that had
created her; and laid herself alongside the bridge, exactly at the most
telling point. She had then destroyed herself, precisely at the right
moment. All the effects, and more than all, that had been predicted by
the Mantuan wizard had come to pass. The famous bridge was cleft through
and through, and a thousand picked men--Parma's very "daintiest"--were
blown out of existence. The Governor-General himself was lying stark and
stiff upon the bridge which he said should be his triumphal monument or
his tomb. His most distinguished officers were dead, and all the
survivors were dumb and blind with astonishment at the unheard of,
convulsion. The passage was open for the fleet, and the fleet, lay below
with sails spread, and oars in the rowlocks, only waiting for the signal
to bear up at once to the scene of action, to smite out of existence all
that remained of the splendid structure, and to carry relief and triumph
into Antwerp.
Not a soul slept in the city. The explosion had shook its walls, and
thousands of people thronged the streets, their hearts beating high with
expectation. It was a moment of exquisite triumph. The 'Hope,' word of
happy augury, had not been relied upon in vain, and Parma's seven months
of patient labour had been annihilated in a moment. Sainte Aldegonde and
Gianibelli stood in the 'Boors' Sconce' on the edge of the river. They
had felt and heard the explosion, and they were now straining their eyes
through the darkness to mark the flight of the welcome rocket.
That rocket never rose. And it is enough, even after the lapse of three
centuries, to cause a pang in every heart that beats for human liberty to
think of the bitter disappointment which crushed these great and
legitimate hopes. The cause lay in the incompetency and cowardice of the
man who had been so unfortunately entrusted with a share in a noble
enterprise.
Admiral Jacobzoon, paralyzed by the explosion, which announced his own
triumph, sent off the barge, but did not wait for its return. The
boatmen, too, appalled by the sights and sounds which they had witnessed,
and by the murky darkness which encompassed them, did not venture near
the scene of action, but, after rowing for a short interval hither and
thither, came back with the lying report that nothing had been
accomplished, and that the bridge remained unbroken. Sainte Aldegonde
and Gianibelli were beside themselves with rage, as they surmised the
imbecility of the Admiral, and devoted him in their hearts to the
gallows, which he certainly deserved. The wrath of the keen Italian may
be conceived, now that his ingenious and entirely successful scheme was
thus rendered fruitless by the blunders of the incompetent Fleming.
On the other side, there was a man whom no danger could appall.
Alexander had been thought dead, and the dismay among his followers
was universal. He was known to have been standing an instant before the
explosion on the very block-house where the 'Hope' had struck. After the
first terrible moments had passed, his soldiers found their general
lying, as if in a trance, on the threshold of St. Mary's Fort, his drawn
sword in his hand, with Cessis embracing his knees, and Gaetano extended
at his side, stunned with a blow upon the head.
Recovering from his swoon, Parma was the first to spring to his feet.
Sword in hand, he rushed at once upon the bridge to mark the extent of
the disaster. The admirable structure, the result of so much patient and
intelligent energy, was fearfully shattered; the bridge, the river, and
the shore, strewed with the mangled bodies of his soldiers. He expected,
as a matter of certainty, that the fleet from below would instantly force
its passage, destroy, the remainder of his troops-stunned as they were
with the sudden catastrophe complete the demolition of the bridge, and
then make its way to Antwerp, with ample reinforcements and supplies.
And Alexander saw that the expedition would be successful. Momently
expecting the attack, he maintained his courage and semblance of
cheerfulness, with despair in his heart.
His winter's work seemed annihilated, and it was probable that he should
be obliged to raise the siege. Nevertheless, he passed in person from
rank to rank, from post to post, seeing that the wounded were provided
for, encouraging those that remained unhurt, and endeavouring to infuse a
portion of his own courage into the survivors of his panic-stricken army.
Nor was he entirely unsuccessful, as the night wore on and the expected
assault was still delayed. Without further loss of time, he employed his
men to collect the drifting boats, timber, and spar-work, and to make a
hasty and temporary restoration--in semblance at least--of the ruined
portion of his bridge. And thus he employed himself steadily all the
night, although expecting every instant to hear the first broadside of
the Zeeland cannon. When morning broke, and it became obvious that the
patriots were unable or unwilling to follow up their own success, the
Governor-General felt as secure as ever. He at once set about the
thorough repairs of his great work, and--before he could be again
molested--had made good the damage which it had sustained.
It was not till three days afterwards that the truth was known in
Antwerp. Hohenlo then sent down a messenger, who swam, under the bridge,
ascertained the exact state of affairs, and returned, when it was too
late, with the first intelligence of the triumph which had been won and
lost. The disappointment and mortification were almost intolerable. And
thus had. Run-a-way Jacob, 'Koppen Loppen,' blasted the hopes of so many
wiser and braver spirits than his own.
The loss to Parma and to the royalist cause in Marquis Richebourg, was
very great. The death of De Billy, who was a faithful, experienced, and
courageous general, was also much lamented. "The misfortune from their
death," said Parma, "is not to be exaggerated. Each was ever ready to do
his duty in your Majesty's service, and to save me much fatigue in all my
various affairs. Nevertheless," continued the Prince, with great piety,
"we give the Lord thanks for all, and take as a favour everything which
comes from His hand."
Alexander had indeed reason to deplore the loss of Robert de Melun,
Viscount of Ghent, Marquis of Roubaix and Richebourg. He was a most
valuable officer. His wealth was great. It had been recently largely
increased by the confiscation of his elder brother's estates for his
benefit, a measure which at Parma's intercession had been accorded by the
King. That brother was the patriotic Prince of Espinoy, whom we have
recently seen heading the legation of the States to France. And
Richebourg was grateful to Alexander, for besides these fraternal spoils,
he had received two marquisates through his great patron, in addition to
the highest military offices. Insolent, overbearing, truculent to all
the world, to Parma he was ever docile, affectionate, watchful,
obsequious. A man who knew not fatigue, nor fear, nor remorse, nor
natural affection, who could patiently superintend all the details of a
great military work, or manage a vast political intrigue by alternations
of browbeating and bribery, or lead a forlorn hope, or murder a prisoner
in cold blood, or leap into the blazing crater of what seemed a marine
volcano, the Marquis of Richebourg had ever made himself most actively
and unscrupulously useful to his master. Especially had he rendered
invaluable services in the reduction, of the Walloon Provinces, and in
the bridging of the Scheldt, the two crowning triumphs of Alexander's
life. He had now passed from the scene where he had played so energetic
and dazzling a part, and lay doubled round an iron cable beneath the
current of the restless river.
And in this eventful night, Parma, as always, had been true to himself
and to his sovereign. "We expected," said he, "that the rebels would
instantly attack us on all sides after the explosion. But all remained
so astonished by the unheard-of accident, that very few understood what
was going on. It seemed better that I--notwithstanding the risk of
letting myself be seen--should encourage the people not to run away.
I did so, and remedied matters a little but not so much as that--if the
enemy had then attacked us--we should not have been in the very greatest
risk and peril. I did not fail to do what I am obliged to do, and always
hope to do; but I say no more of what passed, or what was done by myself,
because it does not become me to speak of these things."
Notwithstanding this discomfiture, the patriots kept up heart, and
were incessantly making demonstrations against Parma's works. Their
proceedings against the bridge, although energetic enough to keep the
Spanish commander in a state of perpetual anxiety, were never so
efficient however as on the memorable occasion when the Mantuan engineer
and the Dutch watchmaker had exhausted all their ingenuity.
Nevertheless, the rebel barks swarmed all over the submerged territory,
now threatening this post, and now that, and effecting their retreat at
pleasure; for nearly the whole of Parma's little armada was stationed at
the two extremities of his bridge. Many fire-ships were sent down from
time to time, but Alexander had organized a systematic patrol of a few
sentry-boats, armed with scythes and hooks, which rowed up and down in
front of the rafts, and protected them against invasion.
Some little effect was occasionally produced, but there was on the whole
more anxiety excited than damage actually inflicted. The perturbation of
spirit among the Spaniards when any of these 'demon fine-ships,' as they
called them, appeared bearing down upon their bridge, was excessive. It
could not be forgotten, that the `Hope' had sent into space a thousand of
the best soldiers of the little army within one moment of time.
Such rapid proceedings had naturally left an uneasy impression on the
minds of the survivors. The fatigue of watching was enormous. Hardly an
officer or soldier among the besieging forces knew what it was to sleep.
There was a perpetual exchanging of signals and beacon-fires and rockets
among the patriots--not a day or night, when a concerted attack by the
Antwerpers from above, and the Hollanders from below, with gun-boats and
fire-ships, and floating mines, and other devil's enginry, was not
expected.
"We are always upon the alert," wrote Parma, "with arms in our hands.
Every one must mount guard, myself as well as the rest, almost every
night, and the better part of every day."
He was quite aware that something was ever in preparation; and the
nameless, almost sickening apprehension which existed among his stout-
hearted veterans, was a proof that the Mantuan's genius--notwithstanding
the disappointment as to the great result--had not been exercised
entirely in vain. The image of the Antwerp devil-ships imprinted itself
indelibly upon the Spanish mind, as of something preternatural, with
which human valour could only contend at a disadvantage; and a day was
not very far distant--one of the memorable days of the world's history,
big with the fate of England, Spain, Holland, and all Christendom--when
the sight of a half-dozen blazing vessels, and the cry of "the Antwerp
fireships," was to decide the issue of a most momentous enterprise. The
blow struck by the obscure Italian against Antwerp bridge, although
ineffective then, was to be most sensibly felt after a few years had
passed, upon a wider field.
Meantime the uneasiness and the watchfulness in the biesieging army were
very exhausting. "They are never idle in the city," wrote Parma. "They
are perpetually proving their obstinacy and pertinacity by their
industrious genius and the machines which they devise. Every day we are
expecting some new invention. On our side we endeavour to counteract
their efforts by every human means in our power. Nevertheless, I confess
that our merely human intellect is not competent to penetrate the designs
of their diabolical genius. Certainly, most wonderful and extraordinary
things have been exhibited, such as the oldest soldiers here have never
before witnessed."
Moreover, Alexander saw himself growing weaker and weaker. His force
had dwindled to a mere phantom of an army. His soldiers, ill-fed, half-
clothed, unpaid, were fearfully overworked. He was obliged to
concentrate all the troops at his disposal around Antwerp. Diversions
against Ostend, operations in Friesland and Gelderland, although most
desirable, had thus been rendered quite impossible.
"I have recalled my cavalry and infantry from Ostend," he wrote, "and Don
Juan de Manrique has fortunately arrived in Stabroek with a thousand good
German folk. The commissary-general of the cavalry has come in, too,
with a good lot of the troops that had been encamped in the open country.
Nevertheless, we remain wretchedly weak--quite insufficient to attempt
what ought to be done. If the enemy were more in force, or if the French
wished to make trouble, your Majesty would see how important it had been
to provide in time against such contingencies. And although our
neighbours, crestfallen, and rushing upon their own destruction, leave us
in quiet, we are not without plenty of work. It would be of inestimable
advantage to make diversions in Gelderland and Friesland, because, in
that case, the Hollanders, seeing the enemy so near their own borders,
would be obliged to withdraw their assistance from Antwerp. 'Tis pity to
see how few Spaniards your Majesty has left, and how diminished is our
army. Now, also, is the time to expect sickness, and this affair of
Antwerp is obviously stretching out into large proportions. Unless soon
reinforced, we must inevitably go to destruction. I implore your Majesty
to ponder the matter well, and not to defer the remedy."
His Majesty was sure to ponder the matter well, if that had been all.
Philip was good at pondering; but it was equally certain that the remedy
would be deferred. Meantime Alexander and his starving but heroic little
army were left to fight their battles as they could.
His complaints were incessant, most reasonable, but unavailing. With all
the forces he could muster, by withdrawing from the neighbourhood of
Ghent, Brussels, Vilvoorde, and from all the garrisons, every man that
could be spared, he had not strength enough to guard his own posts. To
attempt to win back the important forts recently captured by the rebels
on the Doel, was quite out of the question. The pictures he painted of
his army were indeed most dismal.
The Spaniards were so reduced by sickness that it was pitiful to see
them. The Italians were not in much better condition, nor the Germans.
"As for the Walloons," said he, "they are deserting, as they always do.
In truth, one of my principal dangers is that the French civil wars are
now tempting my soldiers across the frontier; the country there is so
much richer, and offers so much more for the plundering."
During the few weeks which immediately followed them famous descent of
the 'Hope' and the 'Fortune,' there had accordingly been made a variety
of less elaborate, but apparently mischievous, efforts against the
bridge. On the whole, however, the object was rather to deceive and
amuse the royalists, by keeping their attention fixed in that quarter,
while a great attack was, in reality, preparing against the Kowenstyn.
That strong barrier, as repeatedly stated, was even a more formidable
obstacle than the bridge to the communication between the beleagured city
and their allies upon the outside. Its capture and demolition, even at
this late period, would open the navigation to all the fleets of Zeeland.
In the undertaking of the 5th of April all had been accomplished that
human ingenuity could devise; yet the triumph had been snatched away even
at the very moment when it was complete. A determined and vigorous
effort was soon to be made upon the Kowenstyn, in the very face of Parma;
for it now seemed obvious that the true crisis was to come upon that
fatal dyke. The great bulwark was three miles long. It reached from
Stabroek in Brabant, near which village Mansfeld's troops were encamped,
across the inundated country, up to the line of the Scheldt. Thence,
along the river-dyke, and across the bridge to Kalloo and Beveren, where
Parma's forces lay, was a continuous fortified road some three leagues in
length; so that the two divisions of the besieging army, lying four
leagues apart, were all connected by this important line.
Could the Kowenstyn be pierced, the water, now divided by that great
bulwark into two vast lakes, would flow together in one continuous sea.
Moreover the Scheldt, it was thought, would, in that case, return to its
own cannel through Brabant, deserting its present bed, and thus leaving
the famous bridge high and dry. A wide sheet of navigable water would
then roll between Antwerp and the Zeeland coasts, and Parma's bridge, the
result of seven months' labour, would become as useless as a child's
broken toy.
Alexander had thoroughly comprehended the necessity of maintaining the
Kowenstyn. All that it was possible to do with the meagre forces at his
disposal, he had done. He had fringed both its margins, along its whole
length, with a breastwork of closely-driven stakes. He had strengthened
the whole body of the dyke with timber-work and piles. Upon its river-
end, just at the junction with the great Scheldt dyke, a strong fortress,
called the Holy Cross, had been constructed, which was under the special
command of Mondragon. Besides this, three other forts had been built, at
intervals of about a mile, upon the dyke. The one nearest to Mondragon
was placed at the Kowenstyn manor-house, and was called Saint James.
This was entrusted to Camillo Bourbon del Monte, an Italian officer, who
boasted the blood royal of France in his veins, and was disposed on all
occasions to vindicate that proud pedigree by his deeds. The next fort
was Saint George's, sometimes called the Black Sconce. It had been built
by La Motte, but it was now in command of the Spanish officer, Benites.
The third was entitled the Fort of the Palisades, because it had been
necessary to support it by a stockade-work in the water, there being
absolutely not earth enough to hold the structure. It was placed in the
charge of Captain Gamboa. These little castles had been created, as it
were, out of water and upon water, and under a hot fire from the enemy's
forts and fleets, which gave the pioneers no repose.
"'Twas very hard work," said Parma, "our soldiers are so exposed during
their labour, the rebels playing upon them perpetually from their musket-
proof vessels. They fill the submerged land with their boats, skimming
everywhere as they like, while we have none at all. We have been obliged
to build these three forts with neither material nor space; making land
enough for the foundation by bringing thither bundles of hurdles and of
earth. The fatigue and anxiety are incredible. Not a man can sleep at
night; not an officer nor soldier but is perpetually mounting guard. But
they are animated to their hard work by seeing that I share in it, like
one of themselves. We have now got the dyke into good order, so far as
to be able to give them a warm reception, whenever they choose to come."
Quite at the farther or land end of the Kowenstyn, was another fort,
called the Stabroek, which commanded and raked the whole dyke, and was in
the neighbourhood of Mansfeld's head-quarters.
Placed as were these little citadels upon a slender, and--at brief
distance--invisible thread of land, with the dark waters rolling around
them far and near, they presented an insubstantial dream-like aspect,
seeming rather like castles floating between air and ocean than actual
fortifications--a deceptive mirage rather than reality. There was
nothing imaginary, however, in the work which they were to perform.
A series of attacks, some serious, others fictitious, had been made, from
time to time, upon both bridge and dyke; but Alexander was unable to
inspire his soldiers with his own watchfulness. Upon the 7th of May a
more determined attempt was made upon the Kowenstyn, by the fleet from
Lillo. Hohenlo and Colonel Ysselstein conducted the enterprise. The
sentinels at the point selected--having recently been so often threatened
by an enemy, who most frequently made a rapid retreat, as to have grown
weary and indifferent-were surprised, at dawn of day, and put to the
sword. "If the truth must be told," said Parma, "the sentries were sound
asleep." Five hundred Zeelanders, with a strong party of sappers and
miners, fairly established themselves upon the dyke, between St.
George's and Fort Palisade. The attack, although spirited at its
commencement, was doomed to be unsuccessful. A co-operation, agreed upon
by the fleet from Antwerp, failed through a misunderstanding. Sainte
Aldegonde had stationed certain members of the munition-chamber in the
cathedral tower, with orders to discharge three rockets, when they should
perceive a beacon-fire which he should light in Fort Tholouse. The
watchmen mistook an accidental camp-fire in the neighbourhood for the
preconcerted signal, and sent up the rockets. Hohenlo understanding,
accordingly, that the expedition was on the point of starting from
Antwerp, hastened to perform his portion of the work, and sailed up from
Lillo. He did his duty faithfully and well, and established himself upon
the dyke, but found himself alone and without sufficient force to
maintain his position. The Antwerp fleet never sailed. It was even
whispered that the delinquency was rather intended than accidental; the
Antwerpers being supposed desirous to ascertain the result of Hohenlo's
attempt before coming forth to share his fate. Such was the opinion
expressed by Farnese in his letters to Philip, but it seems probable
that he was mistaken. Whatever the cause, however, the fact of the
Zeelanders' discomfiture was certain. The St. George battery and that of
the Palisade were opened at once upon them, the balls came plunging among
the sappers and miners before they had time to throw up many spade-fulls
of earth, and the whole party were soon dead or driven from the dyke.
The survivors effected their retreat as they best could, leaving four of
their ships behind them and three or four hundred men.
"Forty rebels lay dead on the dyke," said Parma, "and one hundred and
fifty more, at least, were drowned. The enemy confess a much larger loss
than the number I state, but I am not a friend of giving details larger
than my ascertained facts; nor do I know how many were killed in the
boats."
This enterprise was but a prelude, however, to the great undertaking
which had now been thoroughly matured. Upon the 26th May, another and
most determined attack was to be made upon the Kowenstyn, by the
Antwerpers and Hollanders acting in concert. This time, it was to be
hoped, there would be no misconception of signals. "It was a
determination," said Parma, "so daring and desperate that there was no
substantial reason why we should believe they would carry it out; but
they were at last solemnly resolved to die or to effect their purpose."
Two hundred ships in all had been got ready, part of them under Hohenlo
and Justinus de Nassau, to sail up from Zeeland; the others to advance
from Antwerp under Sainte Aldegonde. Their destination was the Kowenstyn
Dyke. Some of the vessels were laden with provisions, others with
gabions, hurdles, branches, sacks of sand and of wool, and with other
materials for the rapid throwing up of fortifications.
It was two o'clock, half an hour before the chill dawn of a May morning,
Sunday, the 26th of the month. The pale sight of a waning moon was
faintly perceptible in the sky. Suddenly the sentinels upon the
Kowenstyn--this time not asleep--descried, as they looked towards Lillo,
four fiery apparitions gliding towards them across the waves. The alarm
was given, and soon afterwards the Spaniards began to muster, somewhat
reluctantly, upon the dyke, filled as they always were with the
mysterious dread which those demon-vessels never failed to inspire.