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MOTLEY'S HISTORY OF THE NETHERLANDS, PG EDITION, VOLUME 18.
THE RISE OF THE DUTCH REPUBLIC
By John Lothrop Motley
1855
1570 [CHAPTER VI.]
Orange and Count Louis in France--Peace with the Huguenots--
Coligny's memoir, presented by request to Charles IX., on the
subject of invading the Netherlands--Secret correspondence of Orange
organized by Paul Buys--Privateering commissions issued by the
Prince--Regulations prescribed by him for the fleets thus created--
Impoverished condition of the Prince--His fortitude--His personal
sacrifices and privations--His generosity--Renewed contest between
the Duke and the Estates on the subject of the tenth and twentieth
pence--Violent disputes in the council--Firm opposition of Viglius--
Edict commanding the immediate collection of the tax--Popular
tumults--Viglius denounced by Alva--The Duke's fierce complaints to
the King--Secret schemes of Philip against Queen Elizabeth of
England--The Ridolphi plot to murder Elizabeth countenanced by
Philip and Pius V.--The King's orders to Alva to further the plan--
The Duke's remonstrances--Explosion of the plot--Obstinacy of
Philip--Renewed complaints of Alva as to the imprudent service
required of him--Other attempts of Philip to murder Elizabeth--Don
John of Austria in the Levant----Battle of Lepanto--Slothfulness of
Selim--Appointment of Medina Celi--Incessant wrangling in Brussels
upon the tax--Persevering efforts of Orange--Contempt of Alva for
the Prince--Proposed sentence of ignominy against his name--Sonoy's
mission to Germany--Remarkable papers issued by the Prince--The
"harangue"--Intense hatred for Alva entertained by the highest as
well as lower orders--Visit of Francis de Alva to Brussels--His
unfavourable report to the King--Querulous language of the Duke--
Deputation to Spain--Universal revolt against the tax--Ferocity of
Alva--Execution of eighteen tradesmen secretly ordered--Interrupted
by the capture of Brill--Beggars of the sea--The younger Wild Boar
of Ardennes--Reconciliation between the English government and that
of Alva--The Netherland privateersmen ordered out of English ports--
De la Marck's fleet before Brill--The town summoned to surrender--
Commissioners sent out to the fleet--Flight of the magistrates and
townspeople--Capture of the place--Indignation of Alva--Popular
exultation in Brussels--Puns and Caricatures--Bossu ordered to
recover the town of Brill--His defeat--His perfidious entrance into
Rotterdam--Massacre in that city--Flushing revolutionized--
Unsuccessful attempt of Governor de Bourgogne to recal the citizens
to their obedience--Expedition under Treslong from Brill to assist
the town of Flushing--Murder of Paccheco by the Patriots--Zeraerts
appointed Governor of Walcheren by Orange.
While such had been the domestic events of the Netherlands during the
years 1569 and 1570, the Prince of Orange, although again a wanderer, had
never allowed himself to despair. During this whole period, the darkest
hour for himself and for his country, he was ever watchful. After
disbanding his troops at Strasburg, and after making the best
arrangements possible under the circumstances for the eventual payment of
their wages, he had joined the army which the Duke of Deux Ponts had been
raising in Germany to assist the cause of the Huguenots in France. The
Prince having been forced to acknowledge that, for the moment, all open
efforts in the Netherlands were likely to be fruitless, instinctively
turned his eyes towards the more favorable aspect of the Reformation in
France. It was inevitable that, while he was thus thrown for the time
out of his legitimate employment, he should be led to the battles of
freedom in a neighbouring land. The Duke of Deux Ponts, who felt his own
military skill hardly adequate to the task which he had assumed, was
glad, as it were, to put himself and his army under the orders of Orange.
Meantime the battle of Jamac had been fought; the Prince of Condo,
covered with wounds, and exclaiming that it was sweet to die for Christ
and country, had fallen from his saddle; the whole Huguenot army had been
routed by the royal forces under the nominal command of Anjou, and the
body of Conde, tied to the back of a she ass, had been paraded through
the streets of Jarnap in derision.
Affairs had already grown almost as black for the cause of freedom in
France as in the provinces. Shortly afterwards William of Orange, with a
band of twelve hundred horsemen, joined the banners of Coligny. His two
brothers accompanied him. Henry, the stripling, had left the university
to follow the fortunes of the Prince. The indomitable Louis, after seven
thousand of his army had been slain, had swum naked across the Ems,
exclaiming "that his courage, thank God, was as fresh and lively as
ever," and had lost not a moment in renewing his hostile schemes against
the Spanish government. In the meantime he had joined the Huguenots in
France. The battle of Moncontour had succeeded, Count Peter Mansfeld,
with five thousand troops sent by Alva, fighting on the side of the
royalists, and Louis Nassau on that of the Huguenots, atoning by the
steadiness and skill with which he covered the retreat, for his
intemperate courage, which had precipitated the action, and perhaps been
the main cause of Coligny's overthrow. The Prince of Orange, who had
been peremptorily called to the Netherlands in the beginning of the
autumn, was not present at the battle. Disguised as a peasant, with but
five attendants, and at great peril, he had crossed the enemy's lines,
traversed France, and arrived in Germany before the winter. Count Louis
remained with the Huguenots. So necessary did he seem to their cause,
and so dear had he become to their armies, that during the severe illness
of Coligny in the course of the following summer all eyes were turned
upon him as the inevitable successor of that great man, the only
remaining pillar of freedom in France.
Coligny recovered. The deadly peace between the Huguenots and the Court
succeeded. The Admiral, despite his sagacity and his suspicions,
embarked with his whole party upon that smooth and treacherous current
which led to the horrible catastrophe of Saint Bartholomew. To occupy
his attention, a formal engagement was made by the government to send
succor to the Netherlands. The Admiral was to lead the auxiliaries which
were to be despatched across the frontier to overthrow the tyrannical
government of Alva. Long and anxious were the colloquies held between
Coligny and the Royalists. The monarch requested a detailed opinion, in
writing, from the Admiral, on the most advisable plan for invading the
Netherlands. The result was the preparation of the celebrated memoir,
under Coligny's directions, by young De Mornay, Seigneur de Plessis.
The document was certainly not a paper of the highest order. It did not
appeal to the loftier instincts which kings or common mortals might be
supposed to possess. It summoned the monarch to the contest in the
Netherlands that the ancient injuries committed by Spain might be
avenged. It invoked the ghost of Isabella of France, foully murdered, as
it was thought, by Philip. It held out the prospect of re-annexing the
fair provinces, wrested from the King's ancestors by former Spanish
sovereigns. It painted the hazardous position of Philip; with the
Moorish revolt gnawing at the entrails of his kingdom, with the Turkish
war consuming its extremities, with the canker of rebellion corroding
the very heart of the Netherlands. It recalled, with exultation, the
melancholy fact that the only natural and healthy existence of the
French was in a state of war--that France, if not occupied with foreign
campaigns, could not be prevented from plunging its sword into its own
vitals.
It indulged in refreshing reminiscences of those halcyon days, not long
gone by, when France, enjoying perfect tranquillity within its own
borders, was calmly and regularly carrying on its long wars beyond the
frontier.
In spite of this savage spirit, which modern documents, if they did not
scorn, would, at least have shrouded, the paper was nevertheless a
sagacious one; but the request for the memoir, and the many interviews on
the subject of the invasion, were only intended to deceive. They were
but the curtain which concealed the preparations for the dark tragedy
which was about to be enacted. Equally deceived, and more sanguine than
ever, Louis Nassau during this period was indefatigable in his attempts
to gain friends for his cause. He had repeated audiences of the King,
to whose court he had come in disguise. He made a strong and warm
impression upon Elizabeth's envoy at the French Court, Walsingham. It is
probable that in the Count's impetuosity to carry his point, he allowed
more plausibility to be given to certain projects for subdividing the
Netherlands than his brother would ever have sanctioned. The Prince was
a total stranger to these inchoate schemes. His work was to set his
country free, and to destroy the tyranny which had grown colossal. That
employment was sufficient for a lifetime, and there is no proof to be
found that a paltry and personal self-interest had even the lowest place
among his motives.
Meantime, in the autumn of 1569, Orange had again reached Germany.
Paul Buys, Pensionary of Leyden, had kept him constantly informed of
the state of affairs in the provinces. Through his means an extensive
correspondence was organized and maintained with leading persons in every
part of the Netherlands. The conventional terms by which different
matters and persons of importance were designated in these letters were
familiarly known to all friends of the cause, not only in the provinces,
but in France, England, Germany, and particularly in the great commercial
cities. The Prince, for example, was always designated as Martin
Willemzoon, the Duke of Alva as Master Powels van Alblas, the Queen of
England as Henry Philipzoon, the King of Denmark as Peter Peterson. The
twelve signs of the zodiac were used instead of the twelve months, and a
great variety of similar substitutions were adopted. Before his visit to
France, Orange had, moreover, issued commissions, in his capacity of
sovereign, to various seafaring persons, who were empowered to cruise
against Spanish commerce.
The "beggars of the sea," as these privateersmen designated themselves,
soon acquired as terrible a name as the wild beggars, or the forest
beggars; but the Prince, having had many conversations with Admiral
Coligny on the important benefits to be derived from the system, had
faithfully set himself to effect a reformation of its abuses after his
return from France. The Seigneur de Dolhain, who, like many other
refugee nobles, had acquired much distinction in this roving corsair
life, had for a season acted as Admiral for the Prince. He had, however,
resolutely declined to render any accounts of his various expeditions,
and was now deprived of his command in consequence. Gillain de Fiennes,
Seigneur de Lumbres, was appointed to succeed him. At the same time
strict orders were issued by Orange, forbidding all hostile measures
against the Emperor or any of the princes of the empire, against Sweden,
Denmark, England, or against any potentates who were protectors of the
true Christian religion. The Duke of Alva and his adherents were
designated as the only lawful antagonists. The Prince, moreover, gave
minute instructions as to the discipline to be observed in his fleet.
The articles of war were to be strictly enforced. Each commander was to
maintain a minister on board his ship, who was to preach God's word, and
to preserve Christian piety among the crew. No one was to exercise any
command in the fleet save native Netherlanders, unless thereto expressly
commissioned by the Prince of Orange. All prizes were to be divided and
distributed by a prescribed rule. No persons were to be received on
board, either as sailors or soldiers, save "folk of goad name and fame."
No man who had ever been punished of justice was to be admitted. Such
were the principal features in the organization of that infant navy
which, in course of this and the following centuries, was to achieve so
many triumphs, and to which a powerful and adventurous mercantile marine
had already led the way. "Of their ships," said Cardinal Bentivoglio,
"the Hollanders make houses, of their houses schools. Here they are
born, here educated, here they learn their profession. Their sailors,
flying from one pale to the other, practising their art wherever the sun
displays itself to mortals, become so skilful that they can scarcely be
equalled, certainly not surpassed; by any nation in the civilized world."
The Prince, however, on his return from France, had never been in so
forlorn a condition. "Orange is plainly perishing," said one of the
friends of the cause. Not only had he no funds to organize new levies,
but he was daily exposed to the most clamorously-urged claims, growing
out of the army which be had been recently obliged to disband. It had
been originally reported in the Netherlands that he had fallen in the
battle of Moncontour. "If he have really been taken off," wrote Viglius,
hardly daring to credit the great news, "we shall all of us have less
cause to tremble." After his actual return, however, lean and beggared,
with neither money nor credit, a mere threatening shadow without
substance or power, he seemed to justify the sarcasm of Granvelle.
"Vana sine viribus ira," quoted the Cardinal, and of a verity it seemed
that not a man was likely to stir in Germany in his behalf, now that so
deep a gloom had descended upon his cause. The obscure and the oppressed
throughout the provinces and Germany still freely contributed out of
their weakness and their poverty, and taxed themselves beyond their means
to assist enterprizes for the relief of the Netherlands. The great ones
of the earth, however, those on whom the Prince had relied; those to whom
he had given his heart; dukes, princes, and electors, in this fatal
change of his fortunes fell away like water.
Still his spirit was unbroken. His letters showed a perfect appreciation
of his situation, and of that to which his country was reduced; but they
never exhibited a trace of weakness or despair. A modest, but lofty
courage; a pious, but unaffected resignation, breathed through--every
document, public or private, which fell from his pen during this epoch.
He wrote to his brother John that he was quite willing to go, to
Frankfort, in order to give himself up as a hostage to his troops for the
payment of their arrears. At the same time he begged his brother to move
heaven and earth to raise at least one hundred thousand thalers. If he
could only furnish them with a month's pay, the soldiers would perhaps be
for a time contented. He gave directions also concerning the disposition
of what remained of his plate and furniture, the greater part of it
having been already sold and expended in the cause. He thought it would,
on the whole, be better to have the remainder sold, piece by piece, at
the fair. More money would be raised by that course than by a more
wholesale arrangement.
He was now obliged to attend personally to the most minute matters of
domestic economy. The man who been the mate of emperors, who was himself
a sovereign, had lived his life long in pomp and luxury, surrounded by
countless nobles, pages, men-at-arms, and menials, now calmly accepted
the position of an outlaw and an exile. He cheerfully fulfilled tasks
which had formerly devolved upon his grooms and valets. There was an
almost pathetic simplicity in the homely details of an existence which,
for the moment, had become so obscure and so desperate. "Send by the
bearer," he wrote, "the little hackney given me by the Admiral; send also
my two pair of trunk hose; one pair is at the tailor's to be mended, the
other, pair you will please order to be taken from the things which I
wore lately at Dillenburg. They lie on the table with my accoutrements.
If the little hackney be not in condition, please send the grey horse
with the cropped ears and tail."
He was always mindful, however, not only of the great cause to which he
had devoted himself, but of the wants experienced by individuals who had
done him service. He never forgot his friends. In the depth of his own
misery he remembered favors received from humble persons. "Send a little
cup, worth at least a hundred florins, to Hartmann Wolf," he wrote to his
brother; "you can take as much silver out of the coffer, in which there
is still some of my chapel service remaining."--"You will observe that
Affenstein is wanting a horse," he wrote on another occasion; "please
look him out one, and send it to me with the price. I will send you the
money. Since he has shown himself so willing in the cause, one ought to
do something for him."
The contest between the Duke and the estates, on the subject of the tenth
and twentieth penny had been for a season adjusted. The two years' term,
however, during which it had been arranged that the tax should be
commuted, was to expire in the autumn of 1571. Early therefore in this
year the disputes were renewed with greater acrimony than ever. The
estates felt satisfied that the King was less eager than the Viceroy.
Viglius was satisfied that the power of Alva was upon the wane. While
the King was not likely openly to rebuke his recent measures, it seemed
not improbable that the Governor's reiterated requests to be recalled
might be granted. Fortified by these considerations, the President,
who had so long been the supple tool of the tyrant, suddenly assumed
the character of a popular tribune. The wranglings, the contradictions,
the vituperations, the threatenings, now became incessant in the council.
The Duke found that he had exulted prematurely, when he announced to the
King the triumphant establishment, in perpetuity, of the lucrative tax.
So far from all the estates having given their consent, as he had
maintained, and as he had written to Philip, it now appeared that not
one of those bodies considered itself bound beyond its quota for the two
years. This was formally stated in the council by Berlaymont and other
members. The wrath of the Duke blazed forth at this announcement. He
berated Berlaymont for maintaining, or for allowing it to be maintained,
that the consent of the orders had ever been doubtful. He protested that
they had as unequivocally agreed to the perpetual imposition of the tag
as he to its commutation during two years. He declared, however, that he
was sick of quotas. The tax should now be collected forthwith, and
Treasurer Schetz was ordered to take his measures accordingly.
At a conference on the 29th May, the Duke asked Viglius for his opinion.
The President made a long reply, taking the ground that the consent of
the orders had been only conditional, and appealing to such members of
the finance council as were present to confirm his assertion. It was
confirmed by all. The Duke, in a passion, swore that those who dared
maintain such a statement should be chastised. Viglius replied that it
had always been the custom for councillors to declare their opinion,
and that they had never before been threatened with such consequences.
If such, however, were his Excellency's sentiments, councillors had
better stay at home, hold their tongues, and so avoid chastisement.
The Duke, controlling himself a little, apologized for this allusion to
chastisement, a menace which he disclaimed having intended with reference
to councillors whom he had always commended to the King, and of whom his
Majesty had so high an opinion. At a subsequent meeting the Duke took
Viglius aside, and assured him that he was quite of his own way of
thinking. For certain reasons, however, he expressed himself as
unwilling that the rest of the council should be aware of the change
in his views. He wished, he said, to dissemble. The astute President,
for a moment, could not imagine the Governor's drift. He afterwards
perceived that the object of this little piece of deception had been to
close his mouth. The Duke obviously conjectured that the President,
lulled into security, by this secret assurance, would be silent; that the
other councillors, believing the President to have adopted the Governor's
views, would alter their opinions; and that the opposition of the
estates, thus losing its support in the council, would likewise very soon
be abandoned. The President, however, was not to be entrapped by this
falsehood. He resolutely maintained his hostility to the tax, depending
for his security on the royal opinion, the popular feeling, and the
judgment of his colleagues.
The daily meetings of the board were almost entirely occupied by this
single subject. Although since the arrival of Alva the Council of Blood
had usurped nearly all the functions of the state and finance-councils,
yet there now seemed a disposition on the part of Alva to seek the
countenance, even while he spurned the authority, of other functionaries.
He found, however, neither sympathy nor obedience. The President stoutly
told him that he was endeavouring to swim against the stream, that the
tax was offensive to the people, and that the voice of the people was the
voice of God. On the last day of July, however, the Duke issued an
edict, by which summary collection of the tenth and twentieth pence was
ordered. The whole country was immediately in uproar. The estates of
every province, the assemblies of every city, met and remonstrated. The
merchants suspended all business, the petty dealers shut up their shops.
The people congregated together in masses, vowing resistance to the
illegal and cruel impost. Not a farthing was collected. The "seven
stiver people", spies of government, who for that paltry daily stipend
were employed to listen for treason in every tavern, in every huckster's
booth, in every alley of every city, were now quite unable to report all
the curses which were hourly heard uttered against the tyranny of the
Viceroy. Evidently, his power was declining. The councillors resisted
him, the common people almost defied him. A mercer to whom he was
indebted for thirty thousand florins' worth of goods, refused to open
his shop, lest the tax should be collected on his merchandize. The Duke
confiscated his debt, as the mercer had foreseen, but this being a
pecuniary sacrifice, seemed preferable to acquiescence in a measure so
vague and so boundless that it might easily absorb the whole property of
the country.
No man saluted the governor as he passed through the streets. Hardly an
attempt was made by the people to disguise their abhorrence of his
person: Alva, on his side, gave daily exhibitions of ungovernable fury.
At a council held on 25th September, 1571, he stated that the King had
ordered the immediate enforcement of the edict. Viglius observed that
there were many objections to its form. He also stoutly denied that the
estates had ever given their consent. Alva fiercely asked the President
if he had not himself once maintained that the consent had been granted!
Viglius replied that he had never made such an assertion. He had
mentioned the conditions and the implied promises on the part of
government, by which a partial consent had been extorted. He never could
have said that the consent had been accorded, for he had never believed
that it could be obtained. He had not proceeded far in his argument when
he was interrupted by the Duke--"But you said so, you said so, you said
so," cried the exasperated Governor, in a towering passion, repeating
many times this flat contradiction to the President's statements.
Viglius firmly stood his ground. Alva loudly denounced him for the
little respect he had manifested for his authority. He had hitherto done
the President good offices, he said, with his Majesty, but certainly
should not feel justified in concealing his recent and very unhandsome
conduct.
Viglius replied that he had always reverently cherished the Governor,
and had endeavoured to merit his favor by diligent obsequiousness.
He was bound by his oath, however; to utter in council that which
comported with his own sentiments and his Majesty's interests. He had
done this heretofore in presence of Emperors, Kings, Queens, and Regents,
and they had not taken offence. He did not, at this hour, tremble for
his grey head, and hoped his Majesty would grant him a hearing before
condemnation. The firm attitude of the President increased the
irritation of the Viceroy. Observing that he knew the proper means
of enforcing his authority he dismissed the meeting.
Immediately afterwards, he received the visits of his son, Don Frederic
of Vargas, and other familiars. To these he recounted the scene which
had taken place, raving the while so ferociously against Viglius as to
induce the supposition that something serious was intended against him.
The report flew from mouth to mouth. The affair became the town talk,
so that, in the words of the President, it was soon discussed by every
barber and old woman in Brussels. His friends became alarmed for his
safety, while, at the same time, the citizens rejoiced that their cause
had found so powerful an advocate. Nothing, however, came of these
threats and these explosions. On the contrary, shortly afterwards the
Duke gave orders that the tenth penny should be remitted upon four great
articles-corn, meat, wine, and beer. It was also not to be levied upon
raw materials used in manufactures. Certainly, these were very important
concessions. Still the constitutional objections remained. Alva could
not be made to understand why the alcabala, which was raised without
difficulty in the little town of Alva, should encounter such fierce
opposition in the Netherlands. The estates, he informed the King, made
a great deal of trouble. They withheld their consent at command of their
satrap. The motive which influenced the leading men was not the interest
of factories or fisheries, but the fear that for the future they might
not be able to dictate the law to their sovereign. The people of that
country, he observed, had still the same character which had been
described by Julius Caesar.
The Duke, however, did not find much sympathy at Madrid. Courtiers and
councillors had long derided his schemes. As for the King, his mind was
occupied with more interesting matters. Philip lived but to enforce what
he chose to consider the will of God. While the duke was fighting this
battle with the Netherland constitutionalists, his master had engaged at
home in a secret but most comprehensive scheme. This was a plot to
assassinate Queen Elizabeth of England, and to liberate Mary Queen of
Scots, who was to be placed on the throne in her stead. This project,
in which was of course involved the reduction of England under the
dominion of the ancient Church, could not but prove attractive to Philip.
It included a conspiracy against a friendly sovereign, immense service to
the Church, and a murder. His passion for intrigue, his love of God, and
his hatred of man, would all be gratified at once. Thus, although the
Moorish revolt within the heart of his kingdom had hardly been
terminated--although his legions and his navies were at that instant
engaged in a contest of no ordinary importance with the Turkish empire--
although the Netherlands, still maintaining their hostility and their
hatred, required the flower of the Spanish army to compel their
submission, he did not hesitate to accept the dark adventure which was
offered to him by ignoble hands.
One Ridolfi, a Florentine, long resident in England, had been sent to
the Netherlands as secret agent of the Duke of Norfolk. Alva read his
character immediately, and denounced him to Philip as a loose, prating
creature, utterly unfit to be entrusted with affairs of importance.
Philip, however, thinking more of the plot than of his fellow-actors,
welcomed the agent of the conspiracy to Madrid, listened to his
disclosures attentively, and, without absolutely committing himself by
direct promises, dismissed him with many expressions of encouragement.
On the 12th of July, 1571, Philip wrote to the Duke of Alva, giving an
account of his interview with Roberto Ridolfi. The envoy, after relating
the sufferings of the Queen of Scotland, had laid before him a plan for
her liberation. If the Spanish monarch were willing to assist the Duke
of Norfolk and his friends, it would be easy to put upon Mary's head the
crown of England. She was then to intermarry with Norfolk. The kingdom
of England was again to acknowledge the authority of Rome, and the
Catholic religion to be everywhere restored. The most favorable
moment for the execution of the plan would be in August or September.
As Queen Elizabeth would at that season quit London for the country,
an opportunity would be easily found for seizing and murdering her.
Pius V., to whom Ridolfi had opened the whole matter, highly approved the
scheme, and warmly urged Philip's cooperation. Poor and ruined as he was
himself; the Pope protested that he was ready to sell his chalices, and
even his own vestments, to provide funds for the cause. Philip had
replied that few words were necessary to persuade him. His desire to
see the enterprize succeed was extreme, notwithstanding the difficulties
by which it was surrounded. He would reflect earnestly upon the subject,
in the hope that God, whose cause it was, would enlighten and assist him.
Thus much he had stated to Ridolfi, but he had informed his council
afterwards that he was determined to carry out the scheme by certain
means of which the Duke would soon be informed. The end proposed was to
kill or to capture Elizabeth, to set at liberty the Queen of Scotland,
and to put upon her head the crown of England. In this enterprize he
instructed the Duke of Alva secretly to assist, without however resorting
to open hostilities in his own name or in that of his sovereign. He
desired to be informed how many Spaniards the Duke could put at the
disposition of the conspirators. They had asked for six thousand
arquebusiers for England, two thousand for Scotland, two thousand for
Ireland. Besides these troops, the Viceroy was directed to provide
immediately four thousand arquebuses and two thousand corslets. For the
expenses of the enterprize Philip would immediately remit two hundred
thousand crowns. Alva was instructed to keep the affair a profound
secret from his councillors. Even Hopper at Madrid knew nothing of the
matter, while the King had only expressed himself in general terms to the
nuncio and to Ridolfi, then already on his way to the Netherlands. The
King concluded his letter by saying, that from what he had now written
with his own hand, the Duke could infer how much he had this affair at
heart. It was unnecessary for him to say more, persuaded as he was that
the Duke would take as profound an interest in it as himself.
Alva perceived all the rashness of the scheme, and felt how impossible
it would be for him to comply with Philip's orders. To send an army from
the Netherlands into England for the purpose of dethroning and killing a
most popular sovereign, and at the same time to preserve the most
amicable relations with the country, was rather a desperate undertaking.
A force of ten thousand Spaniards, under Chiappin Vitelli, and other
favorite officers of the Duke, would hardly prove a trifle to be
overlooked, nor would their operations be susceptible of very friendly
explanations. The Governor therefore, assured Philip that he "highly
applauded his master for his plot. He could not help rendering infinite
thanks to God for having made him vassal to such a Prince." He praised
exceedingly the resolution which his Majesty had taken. After this
preamble, however, he proceeded to pour cold water upon his sovereign's
ardor. He decidedly expressed the opinion that Philip should not proceed
in such an undertaking until at any rate the party of the Duke of Norfolk
had obtained possession of Elizabeth's person. Should the King declare
himself prematurely, he might be sure that the Venetians, breaking off
their alliance with him, would make their peace with the Turk; and that
Elizabeth would, perhaps, conclude that marriage with the Duke of Alencon
which now seemed but a pleasantry. Moreover, he expressed his want of
confidence in the Duke of Norfolk, whom he considered as a poor creature
with but little courage. He also expressed his doubts concerning the
prudence and capacity of Don Gueran de Espes, his Majesty's ambassador at
London.
It was not long before these machinations became known in England. The
Queen of Scots was guarded more closely than ever, the Duke of Norfolk
was arrested; yet Philip, whose share in the conspiracy had remained a
secret, was not discouraged by the absolute explosion of the whole
affair. He still held to an impossible purpose with a tenacity which
resembled fatuity. He avowed that his obligations in the sight of God
were so strict that he was still determined to proceed in the sacred
cause. He remitted, therefore, the promised funds to the Duke of Alva,
and urged him to act with proper secrecy and promptness.
The Viceroy was not a little perplexed by these remarkable instructions.
None but lunatics could continue to conspire, after the conspiracy had
been exposed and the conspirators arrested. Yet this was what his
Catholic Majesty expected of his Governor-General. Alva complained,
not unreasonably, of the contradictory demands to which he was subjected.
He was to cause no rupture with England, yet he was to send succor to an
imprisoned traitor; he was to keep all his operations secret from his
council, yet he was to send all his army out of the country, and to
organize an expensive campaign. He sneered: at the flippancy of Ridolfi,
who imagined that it was the work of a moment to seize the Queen of
England, to liberate the Queen of Scotland, to take possession of the
Tower of London, and to burn the fleet in the Thames. "Were your Majesty
and the Queen of England acting together," he observed, "it would be
impossible to execute the plan proposed by Ridolfi." The chief danger
to be apprehended was from France and Germany. Were those countries not
to interfere, he would undertake to make Philip sovereign of England
before the winter. Their opposition, however, was sufficient to make the
enterprise not only difficult, but impossible. He begged his, master not
to be precipitate in the; most important affair which had been negotiated
by man since Christ came upon earth. Nothing less, he said, than the
existence of the Christian faith was at stake, for, should his Majesty
fail in this undertaking, not one stone of the ancient religion would
be left upon another. He again warned the King of the contemptible
character, of Ridolfi, who had spoken of the affair so freely that it
was a common subject of discussion on the Bourse, at Antwerp, and he
reiterated, in all his letters his distrust of the parties prominently
engaged in the transaction.
Such was the general, tenor of the long despatches exchanged between the
King and the Duke of Alva upon this iniquitous scheme. The Duke showed
himself reluctant throughout the whole affair, although he certainly
never opposed his master's project by any arguments founded upon good
faith, Christian charity, or the sense of honor. To kill the Queen of
England, subvert the laws of her realm, burn her fleets, and butcher her
subjects, while the mask of amity and entire consideration was sedulously
preserved--all these projects were admitted to be strictly meritorious in
themselves, although objections were taken as to the time and mode of
execution.
Alva never positively refused to accept his share in the enterprise, but
he took care not to lift his finger till the catastrophe in England had
made all attempts futile. Philip, on the other hand, never positively
withdrew from the conspiracy, but, after an infinite deal of writing and
intriguing, concluded by leaving the whole affair in the hands of Alva.
The only sufferer for Philip's participation in the plot was the Spanish
envoy at London, Don Gueran de Espes. This gentleman was formally
dismissed by Queen Elizabeth, for having given treacherous and hostile
advice to the Duke of Alva and to Philip; but her Majesty at the same
time expressed the most profound consideration for her brother of Spain.
Towards the close of the same year, however (December, 1571); Alva sent
two other Italian assassins to England, bribed by the promise of vast
rewards, to attempt the life of Elizabeth, quietly, by poison or
otherwise. The envoy, Mondoucet, in apprizing the French monarch of this
scheme, added that the Duke was so ulcerated and annoyed by the discovery
of the previous enterprise, that nothing could exceed his rage. These
ruffians were not destined to success, but the attempts of the Duke upon
the Queen's life were renewed from time to time. Eighteen months later
(August, 1573), two Scotchmen, pensioners of Philip, came from Spain,
with secret orders to consult with Alva. They had accordingly much
negotiation with the Duke and his secretary, Albornoz. They boasted that
they could easily capture Elizabeth, but said that the King's purpose was
to kill her. The plan, wrote Mondoucet, was the same as it had been
before, namely, to murder the Queen of England, and to give her crown to
Mary of Scotland, who would thus be in their power, and whose son was to
be seized, and bestowed in marriage in such a way as to make them
perpetual masters of both kingdoms.
It does not belong to this history to discuss the merits, nor to narrate
the fortunes, of that bickering and fruitless alliance which had been
entered into at this period by Philip with Venice and the Holy See
against the Turk. The revolt of Granada had at last, after a two
years' struggle, been subdued, and the remnants of the romantic race
which had once swayed the Peninsula been swept into slavery. The Moors
had sustained the unequal conflict with a constancy not to have been
expected of so gentle a people. "If a nation meek as lambs could resist
so bravely," said the Prince of Orange, "what ought not to be expected of
a hardy people like the Netherlanders?" Don John of Austria having
concluded a series of somewhat inglorious forays against women, children,
and bed-ridden old men in Andalusia and Granada; had arrived, in August
of this year, at Naples, to take command of the combined fleet in the
Levant. The battle of Lepanto had been fought, but the quarrelsome and
contradictory conduct of the allies had rendered the splendid victory as
barren as the waves: upon which it had been won. It was no less true,
however, that the blunders of the infidels had previously enabled Philip
to extricate himself with better success from the dangers of the Moorish
revolt than might have been his fortune. Had the rebels succeeded in
holding Granada and the mountains of Andalusia, and had they been
supported, as they had a right to expect, by the forces of the Sultan,
a different aspect might have been given to the conflict, and one far
less triumphant for Spain. Had a prince of vigorous ambition and
comprehensive policy governed at that moment the Turkish empire; it would
have cost Philip a serious struggle to maintain himself in his hereditary
dominions. While he was plotting against the life and throne of
Elizabeth, he might have had cause to tremble for his own. Fortunately,
however, for his Catholic Majesty, Selim was satisfied to secure himself
in the possession of the Isle of Venus, with its fruitful vineyards.
"To shed the blood" of Cyprian vines, in which he was so enthusiastic
a connoisseur, was to him a more exhilarating occupation than to pursue,
amid carnage and hardships, the splendid dream of a re-established
Eastern caliphate.
On the 25th Sept. 1571, a commission of Governor-General of the
Netherlands was at last issued to John de la Cerda, Duke of Medina Coeli.
Philip, in compliance with the Duke's repeated requests, and perhaps not
entirely satisfied with the recent course of events in the provinces, had
at last, after great hesitation, consented to Alva's resignation. His
successor; however, was not immediately to take his departure, and in the
meantime the Duke was instructed to persevere in his faithful services.
These services had, for the present, reduced themselves to a perpetual
and not very triumphant altercation with his council, with the estates,
and with the people, on the subject of his abominable tax. He was
entirely alone. They who had stood unflinchingly at his side when the
only business of the administration was to burn heretics, turned their
backs upon him now that he had engaged in this desperate conflict with.
the whole money power of the country. The King was far from cordial in
his support, the councillors much too crafty to retain their hold upon
the wheel, to which they had only attached themselves in its ascent.
Viglius and Berlaymont; Noircarmes and Aerschot, opposed and almost
defied the man they now thought sinking, and kept the King constantly
informed of the vast distress which the financial measures of the Duke
were causing.
Quite, at the close of the year, an elaborate petition from the estates
of Brabant was read before the State Council. It contained a strong
remonstrance against the tenth penny. Its repeal was strongly urged,
upon the ground that its collection would involve the country in
universal ruin. Upon this, Alva burst forth in one of the violent
explosions of rage to which he was subject. The prosperity of the,
Netherlands, he protested, was not dearer to the inhabitants than to
himself. He swore by the cross, and by the most holy of holies,
preserved in the church of Saint Gudule, that had he been but a private
individual, living in Spain, he would, out of the love he bore the
provinces, have rushed to their defence had their safety been endangered.
He felt therefore deeply wounded that malevolent persons should thus
insinuate that he had even wished to injure the country, or to exercise
tyranny over its citizens. The tenth penny, he continued, was necessary
to the defence of the land, and was much preferable to quotas. It was
highly improper that every man in the rabble should know how much was
contributed, because each individual, learning the gross amount, would
imagine that he, had paid it all himself. In conclusion, he observed
that, broken in health and stricken in years as he felt himself, he was
now most anxious to return, and was daily looking with eagerness for the
arrival of the Duke of Medina Coeli.
During the course of this same year, the Prince of Orange had been
continuing his preparations. He had sent his agents to every place where
a hope was held out to him of obtaining support. Money was what he was
naturally most anxious to obtain from individuals; open and warlike
assistance what he demanded from governments. His funds, little by
little, were increasing, owing to the generosity of many obscure persons,
and to the daring exploits of the beggars of the sea. His mission,
however, to the northern courts had failed. His envoys had been received
in Sweden and Denmark with barren courtesy. The Duke of Alva, on the
other hand, never alluded to the Prince but with contempt; knowing not
that the ruined outlaw was slowly undermining the very ground beneath the
monarch's feet; dreaming not that the feeble strokes which he despised
were the opening blows of a century's conflict; foreseeing not that long
before its close the chastised province was to expand into a great
republic, and that the name of the outlaw was to become almost divine.
Granvelle had already recommended that the young Count de Buren should be
endowed with certain lands in Spain, in exchange for his hereditary
estates, in order that the name and fame of the rebel William should be
forever extinguished in the Netherlands. With the same view, a new
sentence against the Prince of Orange was now proposed by the Viceroy.
This was, to execute him solemnly in effigy, to drag his escutcheon
through the streets at the tails of horses, and after having broken it in
pieces, and thus cancelled his armorial bearings, to declare him and his
descendants, ignoble, infamous, and incapable of holding property or
estates. Could a leaf or two of future history have been unrolled to
King, Cardinal, and Governor, they might have found the destined fortune
of the illustrious rebel's house not exactly in accordance with the plan
of summary extinction thus laid down.
Not discouraged, the Prince continued to send his emissaries in every
direction. Diedrich Sonoy, his most trustworthy agent, who had been
chief of the legation to the Northern Courts, was now actively canvassing
the governments and peoples of, Germany with the same object. Several
remarkable papers from the hand of Orange were used upon this service.
A letter, drawn up and signed by his own hand, recited; in brief and
striking language, the history of his campaign in 1568, and of his
subsequent efforts in the sacred cause. It was now necessary, he said,
that others besides himself should partake of his sacrifices. This he
stated plainly and eloquently. The document was in truth a letter asking
arms for liberty. "For although all things," said the Prince, "are in
the hand of God, and although he has created all things out of nought,
yet hath he granted to different men different means, whereby, as with
various instruments, he accomplishes his, almighty purposes. Thereto
hath he endowed some with strength of body, others with worldly wealth,
others with still different gifts, all of which are to be used by their
possessors to His honor and glory, if they wish not to incur the curse
of the unworthy steward, who buried his talent in the earth. . . . .
Now ye may easily see," he continued, "that the Prince cannot carry out
this great work alone, having lost land, people, and goods, and having
already employed in the cause all which had remained to him, besides
incurring heavy obligations in addition."