destruction, replied, in a tone of indignant innocence, more likely to
aggravate than to allay suspicion. "Finding," said Stanley, "that you
already threaten, I have gone so far as to scan the terms of my
commission, which I doubt not to execute, according to his Excellency's
meaning and mine honour. First, I assure you that I have maintained
justice, and that severely; else hardly would the soldiers have been
contented with bread and bare cheese."
He acknowledged possessing himself of the keys of the town, but defended
it on the ground of necessity; and of the character of the people, "who
thrust out the Spaniards and Almaynes, and afterwards never would obey
the Prince and States." "I would be," he said, "the sorriest man that
lives, if by my negligence the place should be lost. Therefore I thought
good to seize the great tower and ports. If I meant evil, I needed no
keys, for here is force enough."
With much effrontery, he then affected to rely for evidence of his
courteous and equitable conduct towards the citizens, upon the very
magistrates who had been petitioning the States-General, the state-
council, and the English Queen, against his violence:
"For my courtesy and humanity," he said, "I refer me unto the magistrates
themselves. But I think they sent rhetoricians, who could, allege of
little grief, and speak pitiful, and truly I find your ears have been as
pitiful in so timorously condemning me. I assure you that her Majesty
hath not a better servant than I nor a more faithful in these parts.
This I will prove with my flesh and blood. Although I know there be
divers flying reports spread by my enemies, which are come to my ears, I
doubt not my virtue and truth will prove them calumniators and men of
little. So, good Mr. Wilkes, I pray you, consider gravely, give ear
discreetly, and advertise into England soundly. For me, I have been and
am your friend, and glad to hear any admonition from one so wise as
yourself."
He then alluded ironically to the "good favour and money" with which he
had been so contented of late, that if Mr. Wilkes would discharge him of
his promise to Lord Leicester, he would take his leave with all his
heart. Captain, officers, and soldiers, had been living on half a pound
of cheese a day. For himself, he had received but one hundred and twenty
pounds in five months, and was living at three pounds by the day. "This
my wealth will not long hold out," he observed, "but yet I will never
fail of my promise to his Excellency, whatsoever I endure. It is for her
Majesty's service and for the love I bear to him."
He bitterly complained of the unwillingness of the country-people to
furnish vivers, waggons, and other necessaries, for the fort before
Zutphen. "Had it not been," he said, "for the travail extraordinary of
myself, and patience of my brother, Yorke, that fort would have been in
danger. But, according to his desire and forethought, I furnished that
place with cavalry and infantry; for I know the troops there be
marvellous weak."
In reply, Wilkes stated that the complaints had been made "by no
rhetorician," but by letter from the magistrates themselves (on whom he
relied so confidently) to the state-council. The councillor added,
rather tartly, that since his honest words of defence and of warning,
had been "taken in so scoffing a manner," Sir William might be sure of
not being troubled with any more of his letters.
But, a day or two before thus addressing him, he had already enclosed to
Leicester very important letters addressed by the council of Gelderland
to Count Moeurs, stadholder of the Province, and by him forwarded to the
state-council. For there were now very grave rumours concerning the
fidelity of "that patient and foreseeing brother York," whom Stanley had
been so generously strengthening in Fort Zutphen. The lieutenant of
York, a certain Mr. Zouch, had been seen within the city of Zutphen, in
close conference with Colonel Tassis, Spanish governor of the place.
Moreover there had been a very frequent exchange of courtesies--by which
the horrors of war seemed to be much mitigated--between York on the
outside and Tassis within. The English commander sent baskets of
venison, wild fowl, and other game, which were rare in the market of a
besieged town. The Spanish governor responded with baskets of excellent
wine and barrels of beer. A very pleasant state of feeling, perhaps, to
contemplate--as an advance in civilization over the not very distant days
of the Haarlem and Leyden sieges, when barrels of prisoners' heads, cut
off, a dozen or two at a time, were the social amenities usually
exchanged between Spaniards and Dutchmen--but somewhat suspicious to
those who had grown grey in this horrible warfare.
The Irish kernes too, were allowed to come to mass within the city, and
were received there with as much fraternity by, the Catholic soldiers of
Tassis as the want of any common dialect would allow--a proceeding which
seemed better perhaps for the salvation of their souls, than--for the
advancement of the siege.
The state-council had written concerning these rumours to Roland York,
but the patient man had replied in a manner which Wilkes characterized as
"unfit to have been given to such as were the executors of the Earl of
Leicester's authority." The councillor implored the governor-general
accordingly to send some speedy direction in this matter, as well to
Roland York as to Sir William Stanley; for he explicitly and earnestly
warned him, that those personages would pay no heed to the remonstrances
of the state-council.
Thus again and again was Leicester--on whose head rested, by his own
deliberate act, the whole responsibility--forewarned that some great
mischief was impending. There was time enough even then--for it was but
the 16th December--to place full powers in the hands of the state-
council, of Norris, or of Hohenlo, and secretly and swiftly to secure the
suspected persons, and avert the danger. Leicester did nothing. How
could he acknowledge his error? How could he manifest confidence in the
detested Norris? How appeal to the violent and deeply incensed Hohenlo?
Three weeks more rolled by, and the much-enduring Roland York was still
in confidential correspondence with Leicester and Walsingham, although
his social intercourse with the Spanish governor of Zutphen continued to
be upon the most liberal and agreeable footing. He was not quite
satisfied with the general, aspect of the Queen's cause in the
Netherlands, and wrote to the Secretary of State in a tone of
despondency, and mild expostulation. Walsingham would have been less
edified by these communications, had he been aware that York, upon first
entering Leicester's service, had immediately opened a correspondence
with the Duke of Parma, and had secretly given him to understand that his
object was to serve the cause of Spain. This was indeed the fact, as the
Duke informed the King, "but then he is such a scatter-brained, reckless
dare-devil," said Parma, "that I hardly expected much of him." Thus the
astute Sir Francis had been outwitted, by the adventurous Roland, who
was perhaps destined also to surpass the anticipations of the Spanish
commander-in-chief.
Meantime York informed his English patrons, on the 7th January, that
matters were not proceeding so smoothly in the political world as he
could wish. He had found "many cross and indirect proceedings," and so,
according to Lord Leicester's desire, he sent him a "discourse" on the
subject, which he begged Sir Francis to "peruse, add to, or take away
from," and then to inclose to the Earl. He hoped he should be forgiven
if the style of the production was not quite satisfactory; for, said he,
"the place where I am doth too much torment my memory, to call every
point to my remembrance."
It must, in truth, have been somewhat a hard task upon his memory, to
keep freshly in mind every detail of the parallel correspondence which he
was carrying on with the Spanish and with the English government. Even a
cool head like Roland's might be forgiven for being occasionally puzzled.
"So if there be anything hard to be understood," he observed to
Walsingham, "advertise me, and I will make it plainer." Nothing could be
more ingenuous. He confessed, however, to being out of pocket. "Please
your honour," said he, "I have taken great pains to make a bad place
something, and it has cost me all the money I had, and here I can receive
nothing but discontentment. I dare not write you all lest you should
think it impossible," he added--and it is quite probable that even
Walsingham would have been astonished, had Roland written all. The game
playing by York and Stanley was not one to which English gentlemen were
much addicted.
"I trust the bearer, Edward Stanley; a discreet, brave gentleman," he
said, "with details." And the remark proves that the gallant youth who
had captured this very Fort Zutphen in, so brilliant a manner was not
privy to the designs of his brother and of York; for the object of the
"discourse" was to deceive the English government.
"I humbly beseech that you will send for me home," concluded Roland,
"for true as I humbled my mind to please her Majesty, your honour, and
the dead, now am I content to humble myself lower to please myself, for
now, since his, Excellency's departure, there is no form of proceeding
neither honourably nor honestly."
Three other weeks passed over, weeks of anxiety and dread throughout the
republic. Suspicion grew darker than ever, not only as to York and
Stanley, but as to all the English commanders, as to the whole English
nation. An Anjou plot, a general massacre, was expected by many, yet
there were no definite grounds for such dark anticipations. In vain had
painstaking, truth-telling Wilkes summoned Stanley to his duty, and
called on Leicester, time after time, to interfere. In vain did Sir John
Norris, Sir John Conway, the members of the state-council, and all others
who should have had authority, do their utmost to avert a catastrophe.
Their hands were all tied by the fatal letter of the 24th November. Most
anxiously did all implore the Earl of Leicester to return. Never was a
more dangerous moment than this for a country to be left to its fate.
Scarcely ever in history was there a more striking exemplification of the
need of a man--of an individual--who should embody the powers and wishes,
and concentrate in one brain and arm, the whole energy, of a
commonwealth. But there was no such man, for the republic had lost its
chief when Orange died. There was much wisdom and patriotism now.
Olden-Barneveld was competent, and so was Buys, to direct the councils of
the republic, and there were few better soldiers than Norris and Hohenlo
to lead her armies against Spain. But the supreme authority had been
confided to Leicester. He had not perhaps proved himself extraordinarily
qualified for his post, but he was the governor-in-chief, and his
departure, without resigning his powers, left the commonwealth headless,
at a moment when singleness of action was vitally important.
At last, very late in January, one Hugh Overing, a haberdasher from
Ludgate Hill, was caught at Rotterdam, on his way to Ireland, with a
bundle of letters from Sir William Stanley, and was sent, as a suspicious
character, to the state-council at the Hague. On the same day, another
Englishman, a small youth, "well-favoured," rejoicing in a "very little
red beard, and in very ragged clothes," unknown by name; but ascertained
to be in the service of Roland York and to have been the bearer of
letters to Brussels, also passed through Rotterdam. By connivance of the
innkeeper, one Joyce, also an Englishman, he succeeded in making his
escape. The information contained in the letters thus intercepted was
important, but it came too late, even if then the state-council could
have acted without giving mortal offence to Elizabeth and to Leicester.
On the evening of 28th January (N. S.), Sir William Stanley entertained
the magistrates of Deventer at a splendid banquet. There was free
conversation at table concerning the idle suspicions which had been rife
in the Provinces as to his good intentions and the censures which had
been cast upon him for the repressive measures which he had thought
necessary to adopt for the security of the city. He took that occasion
to assure his guests that the Queen of England had not a more loyal
subject than himself, nor the Netherlands a more devoted friend. The
company expressed themselves fully restored to confidence in his
character and purposes, and the burgomasters, having exchanged pledges of
faith and friendship with the commandant in flowing goblets, went home
comfortably to bed, highly pleased with their noble entertainer and with
themselves.
Very late that same night, Stanley placed three hundred of his wild Irish
in the Noorenberg tower, a large white structure which commanded the
Zutphen gate, and sent bodies of chosen troops to surprise all the
burgher-guards at their respective stations. Strong pickets of cavalry
were also placed in all the principal thoroughfares of the city. At
three o'clock in the following morning he told his officers that he was
about to leave Deventer for a few hours, in order to bring in some
reinforcements for which he had sent, as he had felt much anxiety for
some time past as to the disposition of the burghers. His officers,
honest Englishmen, suspecting no evil and having confidence in their
chief, saw nothing strange in this proceeding, and Sir William rode
deliberately out of Zutphen. After he had been absent an hour or two,
the clatter of hoofs and the tramp of infantry was heard without, and
presently the commandant returned, followed by a thousand musketeers and
three or four hundred troopers. It was still pitch dark; but, dimly
lighted by torches, small detachments of the fresh troops picked their
way through the black narrow streets, while the main body poured at once
upon the Brink, or great square. Here, quietly and swiftly, they were
marshalled into order, the cavalry, pikemen, and musketeers, lining all
sides of the place, and a chosen band--among whom stood Sir William
Stanley, on foot, and an officer of high rank on horseback--occupying the
central space immediately in front of the town-house.
The drums then beat, and proclamation went forth through the city that
all burghers, without any distinction--municipal guards and all--were to
repair forthwith to the city-hall, and deposit their arms. As the
inhabitants arose from their slumbers, and sallied forth into the streets
to inquire the cause of the disturbance, they soon discovered that they
had, in some mysterious manner, been entrapped. Wild Irishmen, with
uncouth garb, threatening gesture, and unintelligible jargon, stood
gibbering at every corner, instead of the comfortable Flemish faces of
the familiar burgher-guard. The chief burgomaster, sleeping heavily
after Sir William's hospitable banquet, aroused himself at last, and sent
a militia-captain to inquire the cause of the unseasonable drum-beat and
monstrous proclamation. Day was breaking as the trusty captain made his
way to the scene of action. The wan light of a cold, drizzly January
morning showed him the wide, stately square--with its leafless lime-trees
and its tall many storied, gable-ended houses rising dim and spectral
through the mist-filled to overflowing with troops, whose uniforms and
banners resembled nothing that he remembered in Dutch and English
regiments. Fires were lighted at various corners, kettles were boiling,
and camp-followers and sutlers were crouching over them, half perished
with cold--for it had been raining dismally all night--while burghers,
with wives and children, startled from their dreams by the sudden
reveillee, stood gaping about, with perplexed faces and despairing
gestures. As he approached the town-house--one of those magnificent,
many-towered, highly-decorated, municipal palaces of the Netherlands--he
found troops all around it; troops guarding the main entrance, troops on
the great external staircase leading to the front balcony, and officers,
in yellow jerkin and black bandoleer, grouped in the balcony itself.
The Flemish captain stood bewildered, when suddenly the familiar form of
Stanley detached itself from the central group and advanced towards him.
Taking him by the hand with much urbanity, Sir William led the militia-
man through two or three ranks of soldiers, and presented him to the
strange officer on horseback
"Colonel Tassis," said he, "I recommend to you a very particular friend
of mine. Let me bespeak your best offices in his behalf."
"Ah God!" cried the honest burgher, "Tassis! Tassis! Then are we
indeed most miserably betrayed."
Even the Spanish colonel who was of Flemish origin, was affected by the
despair of the Netherlander.
"Let those look to the matter of treachery whom it concerns," said he;
"my business here is to serve the King, my master."
"Render unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's, and unto God the
things which are God's," said Stanley, with piety.
The burgher-captain was then assured that no harm was intended to the
city, but that it now belonged to his most Catholic Majesty of Spain--
Colonel Stanley, to whom its custody had been entrusted, having freely
and deliberately restored it to its lawful owner. He was then bid to go
and fetch the burgomasters and magistrates.
Presently they appeared--a dismal group, weeping and woe-begone--the same
board of strict Calvinists forcibly placed in office but three months
before by Leicester, through the agency of this very Stanley, who had so
summarily ejected their popish predecessors, and who only the night
before had so handsomely feasted themselves. They came forward, the
tears running down their cheeks, crying indeed so piteously that even
Stanley began to weep bitterly himself. "I have not done this," he
sobbed, "for power or pelf. Not the hope of reward, but the love of God
hath moved me."
Presently some of the ex-magistrates made their appearance, and a party
of leading citizens went into a private house with Tassis and Stanley to
hear statements and explanations--as if any satisfactory ones were
possible.
Sir William, still in a melancholy tone, began to make a speech, through
an interpreter, and again to protest that he had not been influenced by
love of lucre. But as he stammered and grew incoherent as he approached
the point, Tassis suddenly interrupted the conference. "Let us look
after our soldiers," said he, "for they have been marching in the foul
weather half the night." So the Spanish troops, who had been, standing
patiently to be rained upon after their long march, until the burghers
had all deposited their arms in the city-hall, were now billeted on the
townspeople. Tassis gave peremptory orders that no injury should be
offered to persons or property on pain of death; and, by way of wholesome
example, hung several Hibernians the same day who had been detected in
plundering the inhabitants.
The citizens were, as usual in such cases, offered the choice between
embracing the Catholic religion or going into exile, a certain interval
being allowed them to wind up their affairs. They were also required to
furnish Stanley and his regiment full pay for the whole period of their
service since coming to the Provinces, and to Tassis three months' wages
for his Spaniards in advance. Stanley offered his troops the privilege
of remaining with him in the service of Spain, or of taking their
departure unmolested. The Irish troops were quite willing to continue
under their old chieftain, particularly as it was intimated to them that
there was an immediate prospect of a brisk campaign in their native
island against the tyrant Elizabeth, under the liberating banners of
Philip. And certainly, in an age where religion constituted country,
these fervent Catholics could scarcely be censured for taking arms
against the sovereign who persecuted their religion and themselves.
These honest barbarians had broken no oath, violated no trust, had
never pretended sympathy with freedom; or affection for their Queen.
They had fought fiercely under the chief who led them into battle--they
had robbed and plundered voraciously as opportunity served, and had been
occasionally hanged for their exploits; but Deventer and Fort Zutphen had
not been confided to their keeping; and it was a pleasant thought to
them, that approaching invasion of Ireland. "I will ruin the whole
country from Holland to Friesland," said Stanley to Captain Newton, "and
then I will play such a game in Ireland as the Queen has never seen the
like all the days of her life."
Newton had already been solicited by Roland York to take service under
Parma, and had indignantly declined. Sir Edmund Carey and his men, four
hundred in all, refused, to a man, to take part in the monstrous treason,
and were allowed to leave the city. This was the case with all the
English officers. Stanley and York were the only gentlemen who on this
occasion sullied the honour of England.
Captain Henchman, who had been taken prisoner in a skirmish a few days
before the surrender of Deventer, was now brought to that city, and
earnestly entreated by Tassis and by Stanley to seize this opportunity
of entering the service of Spain.
"You shall have great advancement and preferment," said Tassis. "His
Catholic Majesty has got ready very many ships for Ireland, and Sir
William Stanley is to be general of the expedition."
"And you shall choose your own preferment," said Stanley, "for I know you
to be a brave man."
"I would rather," replied Henchman, "serve my prince in loyalty as a
beggar, than to be known and reported a rich traitor, with breach of
conscience."
"Continue so," replied Stanley, unabashed; "for this is the very
principle of my own enlargement: for, before, I served the devil,
and now I am serving God."
The offers and the arguments of the Spaniard and the renegade were
powerless with the blunt captain, and notwithstanding "divers other
traitorous alledgements by Sir William for his most vile facts," as
Henchman expressed it, that officer remained in poverty and captivity
until such time as he could be exchanged.
Stanley subsequently attempted in various ways to defend his character.
He had a commission from Leicester, he said, to serve whom he chose--as
if the governor-general had contemplated his serving Philip II. with that
commission; he had a passport to go whither he liked--as if his passport
entitled him to take the city of Deventer along with him; he owed no
allegiance to the States; he was discharged from his promise to the Earl;
he was his own master; he wanted neither money nor preferment; he had
been compelled by his conscience and his duty to God to restore the city
to its lawful master, and so on, and so on.
But whether he owed the States allegiance or not, it is certain that he
had accepted their money to relieve himself and his troops eight days
before his treason. That Leicester had discharged him from his promises
to such an extent as to justify his surrendering a town committed to his
honour for safe keeping, certainly deserved no answer; that his duty to
conscience required him to restore the city argued a somewhat tardy
awakening of that monitor in the breast of the man who three months
before had wrested the place with the armed hand from men suspected of
Catholic inclinations; that his first motive however was not the mere
love of money, was doubtless true. Attachment to his religion, a desire
to atone for his sins against it, the insidious temptings of his evil
spirit, York, who was the chief organizer of the conspiracy, and the
prospect of gratifying a wild and wicked ambition--these were the springs
that moved him. Sums--varying from L30,000 to a pension of 1500
pistolets a year--were mentioned, as the stipulated price of his treason,
by Norris, Wilkes, Conway, and others; but the Duke of Parma, in
narrating the whole affair in a private letter to the King, explicitly
stated that he had found Stanley "singularly disinterested."
"The colonel was only actuated by religious motives," he said, "asking
for no reward, except that be might serve in his Majesty's army
thenceforth--and this is worthy to be noted."