which lasted seven or eight hours. In that interview the enterprises of
the Count, "which," said Schomberg, "are assuredly grand and beautiful,"
were thoroughly discussed, and a series of conditions, drawn up partly in
the hand of one, partly in that of the other negotiator; definitely
agreed upon. These conditions were on the basis of a protectorate over
Holland and Zealand for the King of France, with sovereignty over the
other places to be acquired in the Netherlands. They were in strict
accordance with the articles furnished by the Prince of Orange. Liberty
of worship for those of both religions, sacred preservation of municipal
charters, and stipulation of certain annual subsidies on the part of
France, in case his Majesty should not take the field, were the principal
features.
Ten days later, Schomberg wrote to his master that the Count was willing
to use all the influence of his family to procure for Anjou the crown of
Poland, while Louis, having thus completed his negotiations with the
agent, addressed a long and earnest letter to the royal principal. This
remarkable despatch was stamped throughout with the impress of the
writer's frank and fearless character. "Thus diddest thou" has rarely
been addressed to anointed monarch in such unequivocal tones: The letter
painted the favorable position in which the king had been placed
previously to the fatal summer of 1572. The Queen of England was then
most amicably disposed towards him, and inclined to a yet closer
connexion with his family. The German princes were desirous to elect
him King of the Romans, a dignity for which his grandfather had so
fruitlessly contended. The Netherlanders, driven to despair by the
tyranny of their own sovereign, were eager to throw themselves into his
arms. All this had been owing to his edict of religious pacification.
How changed the picture now! Who now did reverence to a King so criminal
and so fallen? "Your Majesty to-day," said Louis, earnestly and plainly,
"is near to ruin. The State, crumbling on every side and almost
abandoned, is a prey to any one who wishes to seize upon it; the more
so, because your Majesty, having, by the late excess and by the wars
previously made, endeavoured to force men's consciences, is now so
destitute, not only of nobility and soldiery but of that which
constitutes the strongest column of the throne, the love and good wishes
of the lieges, that your Majesty resembles an ancient building propped
up, day after, day, with piles, but which it will be impossible long to
prevent from falling to the earth." Certainly, here were wholesome
truths told in straightforward style.
The Count proceeded to remind the King of the joy which the "Spaniard,
his mortal enemy," had conceived from the desolation of his affairs,
being assured that he should, by the troubles in France, be enabled to
accomplish his own purposes without striking a blow. This, he observed,
had been the secret of the courtesy with which the writer himself had
been treated by the Duke of Alva at the surrender of Mons. Louis assured
the King, in continuation, that if he persevered in these oppressive
courses towards his subjects of the new religion, there was no hope for
him, and that his two brothers would, to no purpose, take their departure
for England, and, for Poland, leaving him with a difficult and dangerous
war upon his hands. So long as he maintained a hostile attitude towards
the Protestants in his own kingdom, his fair words would produce no
effect elsewhere. "We are beginning to be vexed," said the Count, "with
the manner of negotiation practised by France. Men do not proceed
roundly to business there, but angle with their dissimulation as with a
hook."
He bluntly reminded the King of the deceit which he had practised towards
the Admiral--a sufficient reason why no reliance could in future be
placed upon his word. Signal vengeance on those concerned in the
attempted assassination of that great man had been promised, in the royal
letters to the Prince of Orange, just before St. Bartholomew. "Two days
afterwards," said Louis, "your Majesty took that vengeance, but in rather
ill fashion." It was certain that the King was surrounded by men who
desired to work his ruin, and who, for their own purposes, would cause
him to bathe still deeper than he had done before in the blood of his
subjects. This ruin his Majesty could still avert; by making peace in
his kingdom, and by ceasing to torment his poor subjects of the
religion.
In conclusion, the Count, with a few simple but eloquent phrases,
alluded to the impossibility of chaining men's thoughts. The soul,
being immortal, was beyond the reach of kings. Conscience was not to be
conquered, nor the religious spirit imprisoned. This had been discovered
by the Emperor Charles, who had taken all the cities and great personages
of Germany captive, but who had nevertheless been unable to take religion
captive. "That is a sentiment," said Louis, "deeply rooted in the hearts
of men, which is not to be plucked out by force of arms. Let your
majesty, therefore not be deceived by the flattery of those who, like bad
physicians, keep their patients in ignorance of their disease, whence
comes their ruin."
It would be impossible, without insight into these private and most
important transactions, to penetrate the heart of the mystery which
enwrapped at this period the relations of the great powers with each
other. Enough has been seen to silence for ever the plea, often entered
in behalf of religious tyranny, that the tyrant acts in obedience to a
sincere conviction of duty; that, in performing his deeds of darkness,
he believes himself to be accomplishing the will of Heaven. Here we have
seen Philip, offering to restore the Prince of Orange, and to establish
freedom of religion in the Netherlands, if by such promises he can lay
hold of the Imperial diadem. Here also we have Charles IX. and his
mother--their hands reeking with the heretic-blood of St. Bartholomew--
making formal engagements with heretics to protect heresy everywhere,
if by such pledges the crown of the Jagellons and the hand of Elizabeth
can be secured.
While Louis was thus busily engaged in Germany, Orange was usually
established at Delft. He felt the want of his brother daily, for the
solitude of the Prince, in the midst of such fiery trials, amounted
almost to desolation. Not often have circumstances invested an
individual with so much responsibility and so little power. He was
regarded as the protector and father of the country, but from his own
brains and his own resources he was to furnish himself with the means of
fulfilling those high functions. He was anxious thoroughly to discharge
the duties of a dictatorship without grasping any more of its power than
was indispensable to his purpose. But he was alone on that little
isthmus, in single combat with the great Spanish monarchy. It was to him
that all eyes turned, during the infinite horrors of the Harlem sieges
and in the more prosperous leaguer of Alkmaar. What he could do he did.
He devised every possible means to succor Harlem, and was only restrained
from going personally to its rescue by the tears of the whole population
of Holland. By his decision and the spirit which he diffused through the
country, the people were lifted to a pitch of heroism by which Alkmaar
was saved. Yet, during all this harassing period, he had no one to lean
upon but himself. "Our affairs are in pretty good; condition in Holland
and Zealand," he wrote, "if I only had some aid. 'Tis impossible for me
to support alone so many labors, and the weight of such great affairs as
come upon me hourly--financial, military, political. I have no one to
help me, not a single man, wherefore I leave you to suppose in what
trouble I find myself."
For it was not alone the battles and sieges which furnished him with
occupation and filled him with anxiety. Alone, he directed in secret the
politics of the country, and, powerless and outlawed though he seemed,
was in daily correspondence not only with the estates of Holland and
Zealand, whose deliberations he guided, but with the principal
governments of Europe. The estates of the Netherlands, moreover, had
been formally assembled by Alva in September, at Brussels, to devise ways
and means for continuing the struggle. It seemed to the Prince a good
opportunity to make an appeal to the patriotism of the whole country.
He furnished the province of Holland, accordingly, with the outlines of
an address which was forthwith despatched in their own and his name, to
the general assembly of the Netherlands. The document was a nervous and
rapid review of the course of late events in the provinces, with a cogent
statement of the reasons which should influence them all to unite in the
common cause against the common enemy. It referred to the old affection
and true-heartedness with which they had formerly regarded each other,
and to the certainty that the inquisition would be for ever established
in the land, upon the ruins of all their ancient institutions, unless
they now united to overthrow it for ever. It demanded of the people,
thus assembled through their representatives, how they could endure the
tyranny, murders, and extortions of the Duke of Alva. The princes of
Flanders, Burgundy, Brabant, or Holland, had never made war or peace,
coined money, or exacted a stiver from the people without the consent of
the estates. How could the nation now consent to the daily impositions
which were practised? Had Amsterdam and Middelburg remained true; had
those important cities not allowed themselves to be seduced from the
cause of freedom, the northern provinces would have been impregnable.
"'Tis only by the Netherlands that the Netherlands are crushed," said the
appeal. "Whence has the Duke of Alva the power of which he boasts, but
from yourselves--from Netherland cities? Whence his ships, supplies,
money, weapons, soldiers? From the Netherland people. Why has poor
Netherland thus become degenerate and bastard? Whither has fled the
noble spirit of our brave forefathers, that never brooked the tyranny of
foreign nations, nor suffered a stranger even to hold office within our
borders? If the little province of Holland can thus hold at bay the
power of Spain, what could not all the Netherlands--Brabant, Flanders,
Friesland, and the rest united accomplish?" In conclusion, the estates-
general were earnestly adjured to come forward like brothers in blood,
and join hands with Holland, that together they might rescue the
fatherland and restore its ancient prosperity and bloom.
At almost the same time the Prince drew up and put in circulation one of
the most vigorous and impassioned productions which ever came from his
pen. It was entitled, an "Epistle, in form of supplication, to his royal
Majesty of Spain, from the Prince of Orange and the estates of Holland
and Zealand." The document produced a profound impression throughout
Christendom. It was a loyal appeal to the monarch's loyalty--a demand
that the land-privileges should be restored, and the Duke of Alva
removed. It contained a startling picture of his atrocities and the
nation's misery, and, with a few energetic strokes, demolished the
pretence that these sorrows had been caused by the people's guilt. In
this connexion the Prince alluded to those acts of condemnation which the
Governor-General had promulgated under the name of pardons, and treated
with scorn the hypothesis that any crimes had been committed for Alva to
forgive. "We take God and your Majesty to witness," said the epistle,
"that if we have done such misdeeds as are charged in the pardon, we
neither desire nor deserve the pardon. Like the most abject creatures
which crawl the earth, we will be content to atone for our misdeeds with
our lives. We will not murmur, O merciful King, if we be seized one
after another, and torn limb from limb, if it can be proved that we have
committed the crimes of which we have been accused."
After having thus set forth the tyranny of the government and the
innocence of the people, the Prince, in his own name and that of the
estates, announced the determination at which they had arrived. "The
tyrant," he continued, "would rather stain every river and brook with our
blood, and hang our bodies upon every tree in the country, than not feed
to the full his vengeance, and steep himself to the lips in our misery.
Therefore we have taken up arms against the Duke of Alva and his
adherents, to free ourselves, our wives and children, from his blood-
thirsty hands. If he prove too strong nor us, we will rather die an
honorable death and leave a praiseworthy fame, than bend our necks, and
reduce our dear fatherland to such slavery. Herein are all our cities
pledged to each other to stand every siege, to dare the utmost, to endure
every possible misery, yea, rather to set fire to all our homes, and be
consumed with them into ashes together, than ever submit to the decrees
of this cruel tyrant."
These were brave words, and destined to be bravely fulfilled, as the life
and death of the writer and the records of his country proved, from
generation unto generation. If we seek for the mainspring of the energy
which thus sustained the Prince in the unequal conflict to which he had
devoted his life, we shall find it in the one pervading principle of his
nature--confidence in God. He was the champion of the political rights
of his country, but before all he was the defender of its religion.
Liberty of conscience for his people was his first object. To establish
Luther's axiom, that thoughts are toll-free, was his determination. The
Peace of Passau, and far more than the Peace of Passau, was the goal for
which he was striving. Freedom of worship for all denominations,
toleration for all forms of faith, this was the great good in his
philosophy. For himself, he had now become a member of the Calvinist,
or Reformed Church, having delayed for a time his public adhesion to
this communion, in order not to give offence to the Lutherans and to
the Emperor. He was never a dogmatist, however, and he sought in
Christianity for that which unites rather than for that which separates
Christians. In the course of October he publicly joined the church at
Dort.
The happy termination of the siege of Alkmaar was followed, three
days afterwards, by another signal success on the part of the patriots.
Count Bossu, who had constructed or collected a considerable fleet
at Amsterdam, had, early in October, sailed into the Zuyder Zee,
notwithstanding the sunken wrecks and other obstructions by which the
patriots had endeavored to render the passage of the Y impracticable.
The patriots of North Holland had, however, not been idle, and a fleet
of five-and-twenty vessels, under Admiral Dirkzoon, was soon cruising in
the same waters. A few skirmishes took place, but Bossu's ships, which
were larger, and provided with heavier cannon, were apparently not
inclined for the close quarters which the patriots sought. The Spanish
Admiral, Hollander as he was, knew the mettle of his countrymen in a
close encounter at sea, and preferred to trust to the calibre of his
cannon. On the 11th October, however, the whole patriot fleet, favored
by a strong easterly, breeze, bore down upon the Spanish armada, which,
numbering now thirty sail of all denominations, was lying off and on in
the neighbourhood of Horn and Enkhuyzen. After a short and general
engagement, nearly all the Spanish fleet retired with precipitation,
closely pursued by most of the patriot Dutch vessels. Five of the King's
ships were eventually taken, the rest effected their escape. Only the
Admiral remained, who scorned to yield, although his forces had thus
basely deserted him. His ship, the "Inquisition,"--for such was her
insolent appellation, was far the largest and best manned of both the
fleets. Most of the enemy had gone in pursuit of the fugitives, but
four vessels of inferior size had attacked the "Inquisition" at the
commencement of the action. Of these, one had soon been silenced, while
the other three had grappled themselves inextricably to her sides and
prow. The four drifted together, before wind and tide, a severe and
savage action going on incessantly, during which the navigation of the
ships was entirely abandoned. No scientific gunnery, no military or
naval tactics were displayed or required in such a conflict. It was a
life-and-death combat, such as always occurred when Spaniard and
Netherlander met, whether on land or water. Bossu and his men, armed in
bullet-proof coats of mail, stood with shield and sword on the deck of
the "Inquisition," ready to repel all attempts to board. The Hollander,
as usual, attacked with pitch hoops, boiling oil, and molten lead.
Repeatedly they effected their entrance to the Admiral's ship, and as
often they were repulsed and slain in heaps, or hurled into the sea.
The battle began at three in the afternoon, and continued without
intermission through the whole night. The vessels, drifting together,
struck on the shoal called the Nek, near Wydeness. In the heat of the
action the occurrence was hardly heeded. In the morning twilight, John
Haring, of Horn, the hero who had kept one thousand soldiers at bay upon
the Diemer dyke, clambered on board the "Inquisition" and hauled her
colors down. The gallant but premature achievement cost him his life.
He was shot through the body and died on the deck of the ship, which was
not quite ready to strike her flag. In the course of the forenoon,
however, it became obvious to Bossu that further resistance was idle.
The ships were aground near a hostile coast, his own fleet was hopelessly
dispersed, three quarters of his crew were dead or disabled, while the
vessels with which he was engaged were constantly recruited by boats from
the shore, which brought fresh men and ammunition, and removed their
killed and wounded. At eleven o'clock, Admiral Bossu surrendered, and
with three hundred prisoners was carried into Holland. Bossu was himself
imprisoned at Horn, in which city he was received, on his arrival, with
great demonstrations of popular hatred. The massacre of Rotterdam, due
to his cruelty and treachery, had not yet been forgotten or forgiven.
This victory, following so hard upon the triumph at Alkmaar, was
as gratifying to the patriots as it was galling to Alva. As his
administration drew to a close, it was marked by disaster and disgrace on
land and sea. The brilliant exploits by which he had struck terror into
the heart of the Netherlanders, at Jemmingen and in Brabant, had been
effaced by the valor of a handful of Hollanders, without discipline or
experience. To the patriots, the opportune capture of so considerable
a personage as the Admiral and Governor of the northern province was of
great advantage. Such of the hostages from Harlem as had not yet been
executed, now escaped with their lives. Moreover, Saint Aldegonde,
the eloquent patriot and confidential friend of Orange, who was taken
prisoner a few weeks later, in an action at Maeslands-luis, was preserved
from inevitable destruction by the same cause. The Prince hastened to
assure the Duke of Alva that the same measure would be dealt to Bossu as
should be meted to Saint Aldegonde. It was, therefore, impossible for
the Governor-General to execute his prisoner, and he was obliged to
submit to the vexation of seeing a leading rebel and heretic in his
power, whom he dared not strike. Both the distinguished prisoners
eventually regained their liberty.
The Duke was, doubtless, lower sunk in the estimation of all classes than
he had ever been before, during his long and generally successful life.
The reverses sustained by his army, the belief that his master had grown
cold towards him, the certainty that his career in the Netherlands was
closing without a satisfactory result, the natural weariness produced
upon men's minds by the contemplation of so monotonous and unmitigated a
tyranny during so many years, all contributed to diminish his reputation.
He felt himself odious alike to princes and to plebeians. With his
cabinet councillors he had long been upon unsatisfactory terms.
President Tisnacq had died early, in the summer, and Viglius, much
against his will, had been induced, provisionally, to supply his place.
But there was now hardly a pretence of friendship between the learned
Frisian and the Governor. Each cordially detested the other. Alva was
weary of Flemish and Frisian advisers, however subservient, and was
anxious to fill the whole council with Spaniards of the Vargas stamp.
He had forced Viglius once more into office, only that, by a little
delay, he might expel him and every Netherlander at the same moment.
"Till this ancient set of dogmatizers be removed," he wrote to Philip,
"with Viglius, their chief, who teaches them all their lessons, nothing
will go right. 'Tis of no use adding one or two Spaniards to fill
vacancies; that is only pouring a flask of good wine into a hogshead
of vinegar; it changes to vinegar likewise. Your Majesty will soon be
able to reorganize the council at a blow; so that Italians or Spaniards,
as you choose, may entirely govern the country."
Such being his private sentiments with regard to his confidential
advisers, it may be supposed that his intercourse with his council during
the year was not like to be amicable. Moreover, he had kept himself, for
the most part, at a distance from the seat of government. During the
military operations in Holland, his head-quarters had been at Amsterdam.
Here, as the year drew to its close, he had become as unpopular as in
Brussels. The time-serving and unpatriotic burghers, who, at the
beginning of the spring, set up his bust in their houses, and would give
large sums for his picture in little, now broke his images and tore his
portraits from their walls, for it was evident that the power of his name
was gone, both with prince and people. Yet, certainly, those fierce
demonstrations which had formerly surrounded his person with such an
atmosphere of terror had not slackened or become less frequent than
heretofore. He continued to prove that he could be barbarous, both
on a grand and a minute scale. Even as in preceding years, he could
ordain wholesale massacres with a breath, and superintend in person the
executions of individuals. This was illustrated, among other instances,
by the cruel fate of Uitenhoove. That unfortunate nobleman, who had been
taken prisoner in the course of the summer, was accused of having been
engaged in the capture of Brill, and was, therefore, condemned by the
Duke to be roasted to death before a slow fire. He was accordingly
fastened by a chain, a few feet in length, to a stake, around which the
fagots were lighted. Here he was kept in slow torture for a long time,
insulted by the gibes of the laughing Spaniards who surrounded him--until
the executioner and his assistants, more humane than their superior,
despatched the victim with their spears--a mitigation of punishment which
was ill received by Alva. The Governor had, however, no reason to remain
longer in Amsterdam. Harlem had fallen; Alkmaar was relieved; and
Leyden--destined in its second siege to furnish so signal a chapter to
the history of the war--was beleaguered, it was true, but, because known
to be imperfectly supplied, was to be reduced by blockade rather than by
active operations. Don Francis Valdez was accordingly left in command of
the siege, which, however, after no memorable occurrences, was raised,
as will soon be related.
The Duke had contracted in Amsterdam an enormous amount of debt,
both public and private. He accordingly, early in November, caused a
proclamation to be made throughout the city by sound of trumpet, that all
persons having demands upon him were to present their claims, in person,
upon a specified day. During the night preceding the day so appointed,
the Duke and his train very noiselessly took their departure, without
notice or beat of drum. By this masterly generalship his unhappy
creditors were foiled upon the very eve of their anticipated triumph;
the heavy accounts which had been contracted on the faith of the King
and the Governor, remained for the most part unpaid, and many opulent and
respectable families were reduced to beggary. Such was the consequence
of the unlimited confidence which they had reposed in the honor of their
tyrant.