as might be supposed, Henry was most anxious to conceal these secret
negotiations with his Catholic Majesty from the Huguenot chiefs whom he
had so recently deserted. "This is all done without the knowledge of
the Duke of Bouillon," said Calvaert, "or at least under a very close
disguise, as he, himself keenly feels and confesses to me." The envoy
of the republic, as well as the leaders of the Protestant party in
France, were resolved if possible to break off these dark and dangerous
intrigues, the nature of which they so shrewdly suspected, and to
substitute for them an open rupture of Henry with the King of Spain,
and a formal declaration of war against him. None of the diplomatists
or political personages engaged in these great affairs, in which the
whole world was so deeply interested, manifested more sagacity and
insight on this occasion than did the Dutch statesmen. We have seen that
even Sir Edward Stafford was deceived up to a very late moment, as to the
rumoured intentions of Henry to enter the Catholic Church. Envoy Edmonds
was now equally and completely in the dark as to the mission of Varenne,
and informed his Government that the only result of it was that the
secret agent to Spain was favoured, through the kindness of Mendoza,
with a distant view of Philip II. with his son and daughter at their
devotions in the chapel of the Escorial. This was the tale generally
recounted and believed after the agent's return from Spain, so that
Varenne was somewhat laughed at as having gone to Spain on a fool's
errand, and as having got nothing from Mendoza but a disavowal of his
former propositions. But the shrewd Calvaert, who had entertained
familiar relations with La Varenne, received from that personage after
his return a very different account of his excursion to the Escorial from
the one generally circulated. "Coming from Monceaus to Paris in his
company," wrote Calvaert in a secret despatch to the States, "I had the
whole story from him. The chief part of his negotiations with Don
Bernardino de Mendoza was that if his Majesty (the French king) would
abandon the Queen of England and your Highnesses (the States of the
Netherlands), there were no conditions that would be refused the king,
including the hand of the Infanta, together with a good recompense for
the kingdom of Navarre. La Varenne maintained that the King of Spain had
caused these negotiations to be entered upon at this time with him in the
certain hope and intention of a definite conclusion, alleging to me many
pertinent reasons, and among others that he, having been lodged at
Madrid, through the adroitness of Don Bernardino, among all the agents of
the League, and hearing all their secrets and negotiations, had never
been discovered, but had always been supposed to be one of the League
himself. He said also that he was well assured that the Infanta in her
heart had an affection for the French king, and notwithstanding any
resolutions that might be taken (to which I referred, meaning the
projects for bestowing her on the house of Austria) that she with her
father's consent or in case of his death would not fail to carry out
this marriage. You may from all this, even out of the proposal for
compensation for the kingdom of Navarre (of which his Majesty also let
out something to me inadvertently); collect the reasons why such feeble
progress is made in so great an occasion as now presents itself for a
declaration of war and an open alliance with your Highnesses. I shall
not fail to watch these events, even in case of the progress of the said
resolutions, notwithstanding the effects of which it is my opinion that
this secret intrigue is not to be abandoned. To this end, besides the
good intelligence which one gets by means of good friends, a continual
and agreeable presentation of oneself to his Majesty, in order to see and
hear everything, is necessary."
Certainly, here were reasons more than sufficient why Henry should be
making but feeble preparations for open war in alliance with England and
the republic against Philip, as such a step was hardly compatible with
the abandonment of England and the republic and the espousal of Philip's
daughter--projects which Henry's commissioner had just been discussing
with Philip's agent at Madrid and the Escorial.
Truly it was well for the republican envoy to watch events as closely as
possible, to make the most of intelligence from his good friends, and to
present himself as frequently and as agreeably as possible to his
Majesty, that he might hear and see everything. There was much to see
and to hear, and it needed adroitness and courage, not to slip or stumble
in such dark ways where the very ground seemed often to be sliding from
beneath the feet.
To avoid the catastrophe of an alliance between Henry, Philip, and the
Pope against Holland and England, it was a pressing necessity for Holland
and England to force Henry into open war against Philip. To this end the
Dutch statesmen were bending all their energies. Meantime Elizabeth
regarded the campaign in Artois and Hainault with little favour.
As he took leave on departing for France, La Varenne had requested
Mendoza to write to King Henry, but the Spaniard excused himself--
although professing the warmest friendship for his Majesty--on the ground
of the impossibility of addressing him correctly. "If I call him here
King of Navarre, I might as well put my head on the block at once," he
observed; "if I call him King of France, my master has not yet recognized
him as such; if I call him anything else, he will himself be offended."
And the vision of Philip in black on his knees, with his children about
him, and a rapier at his side, passed with the contemporary world as the
only phenomenon of this famous secret mission.
But Henry, besides this demonstration towards Spain, lost no time in
despatching a special minister to the republic and to England, who was
instructed to make the most profuse, elaborate, and conciliatory
explanations as to his recent conversion and as to his future intentions.
Never would he make peace, he said, with Spain without the full consent
of the States and of England; the dearest object of his heart in making
his peace with Rome having been to restore peace to his own distracted
realm, to bring all Christians into one brotherhood, and to make a united
attack upon the grand Turk--a vision which the cheerful monarch hardly
intended should ever go beyond the ivory gate of dreams, but which
furnished substance enough for several well-rounded periods in the
orations of De Morlans.
That diplomatist, after making the strongest representations to Queen
Elizabeth as to the faithful friendship of his master, and the necessity
he was under of pecuniary and military assistance, had received generous
promises of aid both in men and money--three thousand men besides the
troops actually serving in Brittany--from that sagacious sovereign,
notwithstanding the vehement language in which she had rebuked her royal
brother's apostasy. He now came for the same purpose to the Hague,
where he made very eloquent harangues to the States-General,
acknowledging that the republic had ever been the most upright, perfect,
and undisguised friend to his master and to France in their darkest days
and deepest affliction; that she had loved the king and kingdom for
themselves, not merely hanging on to their prosperity, but, on the
contrary, doing her best to produce that prosperity by her contributions
in soldiers, ships, and subsidies. "The king," said De Morlans, "is
deeply grieved that he can prove his gratitude only in words for so many
benefits conferred, which are absolutely without example, but he has
commissioned me to declare that if God should ever give him the occasion,
he will prove how highly he places your friendship."
The envoy assured the States that all fears entertained by those of the
reformed religion on account of the conversion of his Majesty were
groundless. Nothing was farther from the king's thoughts than to injure
those noble spirits with whom his soul had lived so long, and whom he so
much loved and honoured. No man knew better than the king did, the
character of those who professed the Religion, their virtue, valour,
resolution, and patience in adversity. Their numbers had increased in
war, their virtues had been purified by affliction, they had never
changed their position, whether battles had been won or lost. Should
ever an attempt be made to take up arms against them within his realms,
and should there be but five hundred of them against ten thousand, the
king, remembering their faithful and ancient services, would leave the
greater number in order to die at the head of his old friends. He was
determined that they should participate in all the honours of the
kingdom, and with regard to a peace with Spain, he would have as much
care for the interests of the United Provinces as for his own. But a
peace was impossible with that monarch, whose object was to maintain his
own realms in peace while he kept France in perpetual revolt against the
king whom God had given her. The King of Spain had trembled at Henry's
cradle, at his youth, at the bloom of his manhood, and knew that he had
inflicted too much injury upon him ever to be on friendly terms with him.
The envoy was instructed to say that his master never expected to be in
amity with one who had ruined his house confiscated his property, and
caused so much misery to France; and he earnestly hoped--without
presuming to dictate--that the States-General would in this critical
emergency manifest their generosity. If the king were not assisted now,
both king and kingdom would perish. If he were assisted, the succour
would bear double fruit.
The sentiments expressed on the part of Henry towards his faithful
subjects of the Religion, the heretic Queen of England, and the stout
Dutch Calvinists who had so long stood by him, were most noble. It was
pity that, at the same moment, he was proposing to espouse the Infanta,
and to publish the Council of Trent.
The reply of the States-General to these propositions of the French envoy
was favourable, and it was agreed that a force of three thousand foot and
five hundred horse should be sent to the assistance of the king.
Moreover, the state-paper drawn up on this occasion was conceived with so
much sagacity and expressed with so much eloquence, as particularly to
charm the English queen when it was communicated to her Majesty. She
protested very loudly and vehemently to Noel de Caron, envoy from the
provinces at London, that this response on the part of his Government to
De Morlans was one of the wisest documents that she had ever seen. "In
all their actions," said she, "the States-General show their sagacity,
and indeed, it is the wisest Government ever known among republics. I
would show you," she added to the gentlemen around her, "the whole of the
paper if it were this moment at hand."
After some delays, it was agreed between the French Government and that
of the United Provinces, that the king should divide his army into three
parts, and renew the military operations against Spain with the
expiration of the truce at the end of the year (1593).
One body, composed of the English contingent, together with three
thousand French horse, three thousand Swiss, and four thousand French
harquebus-men, were to be under his own immediate command, and were to
act against the enemy wherever it should appear to his Majesty most
advantageous. A second, army was to expel the rebels and their foreign
allies from Normandy and reduce Rouen to obedience. A third was to make
a campaign in the provinces of Artois and Hainault, under the Duke of
Bouillon (more commonly called the Viscount Turenne), in conjunction with
the forces to be supplied by the republic. "Any treaty of peace on our
part with the King of Spain," said the States-General, "is our certain
ruin. This is an axiom. That monarch's object is to incorporate into
his own realms not only all the states and possessions of neighbouring
kings, principalities, and powers, but also all Christendom, aye, the
whole world, were it possible. We joyfully concur then in your Majesty's
resolution to carry on the war in Artois and Hainault, and agree to your
suggestion of diversions on our part by sieges and succour by
contingents."
Balagny, meantime, who had so long led an independent existence at
Cambray, now agreed to recognise Henry's authority, in consideration of
sixty-seven thousand crowns yearly pension and the dignity of Marshal of
France.
Towards the end of the year 1594, Buzanval, the regular French envoy at
the Hague, began to insist more warmly than seemed becoming that the
campaign in Artois and Hainault--so often the base of military operations
on the part of Spain against France--should begin. Further achievements
on the part of Maurice after the fall of Groningen were therefore
renounced for that year, and his troops went into garrison and winter-
quarters. The States-General, who had also been sending supplies,
troops, and ships to Brittany to assist the king, now, after soundly
rebuking Buzanval for his intemperate language, entrusted their
contingent for the proposed frontier campaign to Count Philip Nassau,
who accordingly took the field toward the end of the year at the head of
twenty-eight companies of foot and five squadrons of cavalry. He made
his junction with Turenne-Bouillon, but the duke, although provided with
a tremendous proclamation, was but indifferently supplied with troops.
The German levies, long-expected, were slow in moving, and on the whole
it seemed that the operations might have been continued by Maurice with
more effect, according to his original plan, than in this rather
desultory fashion. The late winter campaign on the border was feeble and
a failure.
The bonds of alliance, however, were becoming very close between Henry
and the republic. Despite the change in religion on the part of the
king, and the pangs which it had occasioned in the hearts of leading
Netherlanders, there was still the traditional attraction between France
and the States, which had been so remarkably manifested during the
administration of William the Silent. The republic was more restive than
ever under the imperious and exacting friendship of Elizabeth, and,
feeling more and more its own strength, was making itself more and more
liable to the charge of ingratitude; so constantly hurled in its face by
the queen. And Henry, now that he felt himself really king of France,
was not slow to manifest a similar ingratitude or an equal love of
independence. Both monarch and republic, chafing under the protection of
Elizabeth, were drawn into so close a union as to excite her anger and
jealousy--sentiments which in succeeding years were to become yet more
apparent. And now; while Henry still retained the chivalrous and flowery
phraseology, so sweet to her ears, in his personal communications to the
queen, his ministers were in the habit of using much plainer language.
"Mr. de Sancy said to me," wrote the Netherland minister in France,
Calvaert, "that his Majesty and your Highnesses (the States-General)
must without long delay conclude an alliance offensive and defensive.
In regard to England, which perhaps might look askance at this matter,
he told me it would be invited also by his Majesty into the same
alliance; but if, according to custom, it shilly-shallied, and without
coming to deeds or to succour should put him off with words, he should in
that case proceed with our alliance without England, not doubting that
many other potentates in Italy and Germany would join in it likewise.
He said too, that he, the day before the departure of the English
ambassador, had said these words to him in the presence of his Majesty;
namely, that England had entertained his Majesty sixteen months long with
far-fetched and often-repeated questions and discontents, that one had
submitted to this sort of thing so long as his Majesty was only king of
Mantes, Dieppe, and Louviers, but that his Majesty being now king of
Paris would be no longer a servant of those who should advise him to
suffer it any longer or accept it as good payment; that England must
treat his Majesty according to his quality, and with deeds, not words.
He added that the ambassador had very anxiously made answer to these
words, and had promised that when he got back to England he would so
arrange that his Majesty should be fully satisfied, insisting to the last
on the alliance then proposed."
In Germany, meanwhile, there was much protocolling, and more hard
drinking, at the Diet of Ratisbon. The Protestant princes did little
for their cause against the new designs of Spain and the moribund League,
while the Catholics did less to assist Philip. In truth, the holy Roman
Empire, threatened with a Turkish invasion, had neither power nor
inclination to help the new universal empire of the west into existence.
So the princes and grandees of Germany, while Amurath was knocking at the
imperial gates, busied themselves with banquetting and other diplomatic
work, but sent few reiters either to the east or west.
Philip's envoys were indignant at the apathy displayed towards the great
Catholic cause, and felt humbled at the imbecility exhibited by Spain in
its efforts against the Netherlands and France. San Clemente, who was
attending the Diet at Ratisbon, was shocked at the scenes he witnessed.
"In less than three months," said that temperate Spaniard, "they have
drunk more than five million florins' worth of wine, at a time when the
Turk has invaded the frontiers of Germany; and among those who have done
the most of this consumption of wine, there is not one who is going to
give any assistance on the frontier. In consequence of these disorders
my purse is drained so low, that unless the king helps me I am ruined.
You must tell our master that the reputation of his grandeur and strength
has never been so low as it is now in Germany. The events in France and
those which followed in the Netherlands have thrown such impediments in
the negotiations here, that not only our enemies make sport of Marquis
Havre and myself, but even our friends--who are very few--dare not go
to public feasts, weddings, and dinners, because they are obliged to
apologize for us."
Truly the world-empire was beginning to crumble. "The emperor has been
desiring twenty times," continued the envoy, "to get back to Prague from
the Diet, but the people hold him fast like a steer. As I think over all
that passes, I lose all judgment, for I have no money, nor influence, nor
reputation. Meantime, I see this rump of an empire keeping itself with
difficulty upon its legs. 'Tis full of wrangling and discord about
religion, and yet there is the Turk with two hundred thousand men
besieging a place forty miles from Vienna, which is the last outpost.
God grant it may last!"
Such was the aspect of the Christian world at the close of the year 1594
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