he considered the legitimate practice of the government, to restore the
administration to the State Council, which executive body ought of right
to be appointed by the states-general. In the states-general, as in the
states-particular, a constant care was to be taken towards strengthening
the most popular element, the "community" of each city, the aggregate,
that is to say, of its guild-representatives and its admitted burghers.
This was, in the opinion of the Prince, the true theory of the
government--republican in all but form--under the hereditary protection,
not the despotic authority, of a family, whose rights were now nearly
forfeited. It was a great step in advance that these views should come
to be thus formally announced, not in Holland and Zealand only, but by
the deputies of the states-general, although such a doctrine, to the
proud stomach of Don John, seemed sufficiently repulsive. Not less so
was the cool intimation with which the paper concluded, that if he should
execute his threat of resigning, the country would bear his loss with
fortitude, coupled as was that statement with a declaration that, until
his successor should be appointed, the State Council would consider
itself charged ad interim with the government. In the meantime,
the Governor was requested not to calumniate the estates to foreign
governments, as he had so recently done in his intercepted letter to the
Empress-dowager.
Upon receiving this letter, "Don John," says a faithful old chronicler,
"found that the cranes had invited the frog to dinner." In truth, the
illustrious soldier was never very successful in his efforts, for which
his enemies gave him credit, to piece out the skin of the lion with that
of the fox. He now felt himself exposed and outwitted, while he did not
feel conscious of any very dark design. He answered the letter of the
states by a long communication, dated from Namur Castle, 28th of August.
In style, he was comparatively temperate, but the justification which he
attempted of his past conduct was not very happy. He noticed the three
different points which formed the leading articles of the accusation
brought against him, the matter, namely, of the intercepted letters, of
the intrigues with the German colonels, and the seizure of Namur. He did
not deny the authorship of the letters, but contented himself with a
reference to their date, as if its priority to his installation as
Governor furnished a sufficient palliation of the bad faith which the
letters revealed. As to the despatches of Escovedo, he denied
responsibility for any statements or opinions which they might contain.
As the Secretary, however, was known to be his most confidential friend,
this attempt to shuffle off his own complicity was held to be both lame
and unhandsome. As for the correspondence with the colonels, his defence
was hardly more successful, and rested upon a general recrimination upon
the Prince of Orange. As that personage was agitating and turbulent, it
was not possible, the Governor urged, that he should himself remain
quiet. It was out of his power to execute the treaty and the edict, in
the face of a notorious omission on the part of his adversary to enforce
the one or to publish the other. It comported neither with his dignity
nor his safety to lay down his weapons while the Prince and his adherents
were arming. He should have placed himself "in a very foolish position,"
had he allowed himself unarmed to be dictated to by the armed. In
defence of himself on the third point, the seizure of Namur Castle,
he recounted the various circumstances with which the reader is already
acquainted. He laid particular stress upon the dramatic manner in which
the Vicomte De Gand had drawn his curtains at the dead of night; he
narrated at great length the ominous warning which he had likewise
received from the Duke of Aerschot in Brussels, and concluded with a
circumstantial account of the ambush which he believed to have been laid
for him by Count De Lalain. The letter concluded with a hope for an
arrangement of difficulties, not yet admitted by the Governor to be
insurmountable, and with a request for a formal conference, accompanied
by an exchange of hostages.
While this correspondence was proceeding between Namur and Brussels,
an event was occurring in Antwerp which gave much satisfaction to Orange.
The Spanish Fury, and the recent unsuccessful attempt of Don John to
master the famous citadel, had determined the authorities to take the
counsel which the Prince had so often given in vain, and the fortress
of Antwerp was at length razed to the ground, on the side towards the
city.--It would be more correct to say that it was not the authorities,
but the city itself which rose at last and threw off the saddle by which
it had so long been galled. More than ten thousand persons were
constantly at work, morning, noon, and night, until the demolition was
accomplished. Grave magistrates, great nobles, fair ladies, citizens and
their wives, beggars and their children, all wrought together pell-mell.
All were anxious to have a hand in destroying the nest where so many
murders had been hatched, whence so much desolation had flown. The task
was not a long one for workmen so much in earnest, and the fortress was
soon laid low in the quarter where it could be injurious to the
inhabitants. As the work proceeded, the old statue of Alva was
discovered in a forgotten crypt, where it had lain since it had been
thrown down by the order of Requesens. Amid the destruction of the
fortress, the gigantic phantom of its founder seemed to start suddenly
from the gloom, but the apparition added fresh fuel to the rage of the
people. The image of the execrated Governor was fastened upon with as
much fierceness as if the bronze effigy could feel their blows, or
comprehend their wrath. It was brought forth from its dark hiding-place
into the daylight. Thousands of hands were ready to drag it through the
streets for universal inspection and outrage. A thousand sledge-hammers
were ready to dash it to pieces, with a slight portion, at least, of the
satisfaction with which those who wielded them would have dealt the same
blows upon the head of the tyrant himself. It was soon reduced to a
shapeless mass. Small portions were carried away and preserved for
generations in families as heirlooms of hatred. The bulk was melted
again and reconverted, by a most natural metamorphosis, into the cannon
from which it had originally sprung.
The razing of the Antwerp citadel set an example which was followed in
other places; the castle of Ghent, in particular, being immediately
levelled, amid demonstrations of universal enthusiasm. Meantime, the
correspondence between Don John and the estates at Brussels dragged its
slow length along, while at the same time, two elaborate letters were
addressed to the King, on the 24th of August and the 8th of September, by
the estates-general of the Netherlands. These documents, which were long
and able, gave a vigorous representation of past evils and of the present
complication of disorders under which the commonwealth was laboring.
They asked, as usual, for a royal remedy; and expressed their doubts
whether there could be any sincere reconciliation so long as the present
Governor, whose duplicity and insolence they represented in a very strong
light, should remain in office. Should his Majesty, however, prefer to
continue Don John in the government, they signified their willingness,
in consideration of his natural good qualities, to make the best of the
matter. Should, however, the estrangement between themselves and the
Governor seem irremediable, they begged that another and a legitimate
prince of the blood might be appointed in his place.
ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS:
Country would bear his loss with fortitude
Its humility, seemed sufficiently ironical
Not upon words but upon actions
Perfection of insolence
Was it astonishing that murder was more common than fidelity?