confidential envoy from the Regent. The King being fully prepared as to
the manner in which he was to deal with him, received the ambassador with
great cordiality. He informed him in the course of their interviews,
that Granvelle had never attempted to create prejudice against the
nobles, that he was incapable of the malice attributed to him, and that
even were it otherwise, his evil representations against other public
servants would produce no effect. The King furthermore protested that he
had no intention of introducing the Spanish inquisition into the
Netherlands, and that the new bishops were not intended as agents for
such a design, but had been appointed solely with a view of smoothing
religious difficulties in the provinces, and of leading his people back
into the fold of the faithful. He added, that as long ago as his visit
to England for the purpose of espousing Queen Mary, he had entertained
the project of the new episcopates, as the Marquis Berghen, with whom he
had conversed freely upon the subject, could bear witness. With regard
to the connexion of Granvelle with the scheme, he assured Montigny that
the Cardinal had not been previously consulted, but had first learned the
plan after the mission of Sonnius.
Such was the purport of the King's communications to the envoy,
as appears from memoranda in the royal handwriting and from the
correspondence of Margaret of Parma. Philip's exactness in conforming
to his instructions is sufficiently apparent, on comparing his statements
with the letters previously received from the omnipresent Cardinal.
Beyond the limits of those directions the King hardly hazarded a
syllable. He was merely the plenipotentiary of the Cardinal, as Montigny
was of the Regent. So long as Granvelle's power lasted, he was absolute
and infallible. Such, then, was the amount of satisfaction derived from
the mission of Montigny. There was to be no diminution of the religious
persecution, but the people were assured upon royal authority, that the
inquisition, by which they were daily burned and beheaded, could not be
logically denominated the Spanish inquisition. In addition to the
comfort, whatever it might be, which the nation could derive from this
statement, they were also consoled with the information that Granvelle
was not the inventor of the bishoprics. Although he had violently
supported the measure as soon as published, secretly denouncing as
traitors and demagogues, all those who lifted their voices against it,
although he was the originator of the renewed edicts, although he took,
daily, personal pains that this Netherland inquisition, "more pitiless
than the Spanish," should be enforced in its rigor, and although he,
at the last, opposed the slightest mitigation of its horrors, he was
to be represented to the nobles and the people as a man of mild and
unprejudiced character, incapable of injuring even his enemies. "I will
deal with the seigniors most blandly," the Cardinal had written to
Philip, "and will do them pleasure, even if they do not wish it, for the
sake of God and your Majesty." It was in this light, accordingly, that
Philip drew the picture of his favorite minister to the envoy. Montigny,
although somewhat influenced by the King's hypocritical assurances of
the, benignity with which he regarded the Netherlands, was, nevertheless,
not to be deceived by this flattering portraiture of a man whom he knew
so well and detested so cordially as he did Granvelle. Solicited by the
King, at their parting interview, to express his candid opinion as to the
causes of the dissatisfaction in the provinces, Montigny very frankly and
most imprudently gave vent to his private animosity towards the Cardinal.
He spoke of his licentiousness, greediness, ostentation, despotism, and
assured the monarch that nearly all the inhabitants of the Netherlands
entertained the same opinion concerning him. He then dilated upon the
general horror inspired by the inquisition and the great repugnance felt
to the establishment of the new episcopates. These three evils,
Granvelle, the inquisition, and the bishoprics, he maintained were the
real and sufficient causes of the increasing popular discontent. Time
was to reveal whether the open-hearted envoy was to escape punishment for
his frankness, and whether vengeance for these crimes against Granvelle
and Philip were to be left wholly, as the Cardinal had lately suggested,
in the hands of the Lord.
Montigny returned late in December. His report concerning the results of
his mission was made in the state council, and was received with great
indignation. The professions of benevolent intentions on the part of the
sovereign made no impression on the mind of Orange, who was already in
the habit of receiving secret information from Spain with regard to the
intentions of the government. He knew very well that the plot revealed
to him by Henry the Second in the wood of Vincennes was still the royal
program, so far as the Spanish monarch was concerned. Moreover, his
anger was heightened by information received from Montigny that the names
of Orange, Egmont and their adherents, were cited to him as he passed
through France as the avowed defenders of the Huguenots, in politics and
religion. The Prince, who was still a sincere Catholic, while he hated
the persecutions of the inquisition, was furious at the statement.
A violent scene occurred in the council. Orange openly denounced the
report as a new slander of Granvelle, while Margaret defended the
Cardinal and denied the accusation, but at the same time endeavored with
the utmost earnestness to reconcile the conflicting parties.
It had now become certain, however, that the government could no longer
be continued on its present footing. Either Granvelle or the seigniors
must succumb. The Prince of Orange was resolved that the Cardinal should
fall or that he would himself withdraw from all participation in the
affairs of government. In this decision he was sustained by Egmont,
Horn, Montigny, Berghen, and the other leading nobles.
ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS:
Affecting to discredit them
An inspiring and delightful recreation (auto-da-fe)
Arrested on suspicion, tortured till confession
Inquisition of the Netherlands is much more pitiless
Inquisition was not a fit subject for a compromise
Made to swing to and fro over a slow fire
Orator was, however, delighted with his own performance
Philip, who did not often say a great deal in a few words
Scaffold was the sole refuge from the rack
Ten thousand two hundred and twenty individuals were burned
Torquemada's administration (of the inquisition)
Two witnesses sent him to the stake, one witness to the rack