implicit obedience had created an impassable gulf between Philip and
himself--resolved to meet his destiny in sullen retirement. Not an
entirely disinterested man, perhaps, but an honest one, as the world
went, mediocre in mind, but brave, generous, and direct of purpose,
goaded by the shafts of calumny, hunted down by the whole pack which
fawned upon power as it grew more powerful, he now retreated to his
"desert," as he called his ruined home at Weert, where he stood at bay,
growling defiance at the Regent, at Philip, at all the world.
Thus were the two prominent personages upon whose co-operation Orange
had hitherto endeavored to rely, entirely separated from him. The
confederacy of nobles, too, was dissolved, having accomplished little,
notwithstanding all its noisy demonstrations, and having lost all credit
with the people by the formal cessation of the Compromise in consequence
of the Accord of August. As a body, they had justified the sarcasm of
Hubert Languet, that "the confederated nobles had ruined their country by
their folly and incapacity." They had profaned a holy cause by indecent
orgies, compromised it by seditious demonstrations, abandoned it when
most in need of assistance. Bakkerzeel had distinguished himself by
hanging sectaries in Flanders. "Golden Fleece" de Hammes, after creating
great scandal in and about Antwerp, since the Accord, had ended by
accepting an artillery commission in the Emperor's army, together with
three hundred crowns for convoy from Duchess Margaret. Culemburg was
serving the cause of religious freedom by defacing the churches within
his ancestral domains, pulling down statues, dining in chapels and giving
the holy wafer to his parrot. Nothing could be more stupid than these
acts of irreverence, by which Catholics were offended and honest patriots
disgusted. Nothing could be more opposed to the sentiments of Orange,
whose first principle was abstinence by all denominations of Christians
from mutual insults. At the same time, it is somewhat revolting to
observe the indignation with which such offences were regarded by men of
the most abandoned character. Thus, Armenteros, whose name was
synonymous with government swindling, who had been rolling up money year
after year, by peculations, auctioneering of high posts in church and
state, bribes, and all kinds of picking and stealing, could not contain
his horror as he referred to wafers eaten by parrots, or "toasted on
forks" by renegade priests; and poured out his emotions on the subject
into the faithful bosom of Antonio Perez, the man with whose
debaucheries, political villanies, and deliberate murders all
Europe was to ring.
No doubt there were many individuals in the confederacy for whom it was
reserved to render honorable service in the national cause. The names of
Louis Nassau, Mamix of St. Aldegonde, Bernard de Merode, were to be
written in golden letters in their country's rolls; but at this moment
they were impatient, inconsiderate, out of the control of Orange. Louis
was anxious for the King to come from Spain with his army, and for "the
bear dance to begin." Brederode, noisy, bawling, and absurd as ever,
was bringing ridicule upon the national cause by his buffoonery, and
endangering the whole people by his inadequate yet rebellious exertions.
What course was the Prince of Orange to adopt? He could find no one
to comprehend his views. He felt certain at the close of the year that
the purpose of the government was fixed. He made no secret of his
determination never to lend himself as an instrument for the contemplated
subjugation of the people. He had repeatedly resigned all his offices.
He was now determined that the resignation once for all should be
accepted. If he used dissimulation, it was because Philip's deception
permitted no man to be frank. If the sovereign constantly disavowed
all hostile purposes against his people, and manifested extreme affection
for the men whom he had already doomed to the scaffold, how could the
Prince openly denounce him? It was his duty to save his country and his
friends from impending ruin. He preserved, therefore, an attitude of
watchfulness. Philip, in the depth of his cabinet, was under a constant
inspection by the sleepless Prince. The sovereign assured his sister
that her apprehensions about their correspondence was groundless. He
always locked up his papers, and took the key with him. Nevertheless,
the key was taken out of his pocket and the papers read. Orange was
accustomed to observe, that men of leisure might occupy themselves with
philosophical pursuits and with the secrets of nature, but that it was
his business to study the hearts of kings. He knew the man and the woman
with whom he had to deal. We have seen enough of the policy secretly
pursued by Philip and Margaret to appreciate the accuracy with which the
Prince, groping as it were in the dark, had judged the whole situation.
Had his friends taken his warnings, they might have lived to render
services against tyranny. Had he imitated their example of false
loyalty, there would have been one additional victim, more illustrious
than all the rest, and a whole country hopelessly enslaved.
It is by keeping these considerations in view, that we can explain his
connection with such a man as Brederode. The enterprises of that noble,
of Tholouse, and others, and the resistance of Valenciennes, could hardly
have been prevented even by the opposition of the Prince. But why should
he take the field against men who, however rashly or ineffectually, were
endeavoring to oppose tyranny, when he knew himself already proscribed
and doomed by the tyrant? Such loyalty he left to Egmont. Till late in
the autumn, he had still believed in the possibility of convoking the
states-general, and of making preparations in Germany to enforce their
decrees.
The confederates and sectaries had boasted that they could easily raise
an army of sixty thousand men within the provinces,--that twelve hundred
thousand florins monthly would be furnished by the rich merchants of
Antwerp, and that it was ridiculous to suppose that the German
mercenaries enrolled by the Duchess in Saxony, Hesse, and other
Protestant countries, would ever render serious assistance against the
adherents of the reformed religion. Without placing much confidence in
such exaggerated statements, the Prince might well be justified in
believing himself strong enough, if backed by the confederacy, by Egmont,
and by his own boundless influence, both at Antwerp and in his own
government, to sustain the constituted authorities of the nation even
against a Spanish army, and to interpose with legitimate and irresistible
strength between the insane tyrant and the country which he was preparing
to crush. It was the opinion of the best informed Catholics that, if
Egmont should declare for the confederacy, he could take the field with
sixty thousand men, and make himself master of the whole country at a
blow. In conjunction with Orange, the moral and physical force would
have been invincible.
It was therefore not Orange alone, but the Catholics and Protestants
alike, the whole population of the country, and the Duchess Regent
herself, who desired the convocation of the estates. Notwithstanding
Philip's deliberate but secret determination never to assemble that body,
although the hope was ever to be held out that they should be convened,
Margaret had been most importunate that her brother should permit the
measure. "There was less danger," she felt herself compelled to say,
"in assembling than in not assembling the States; it was better to
preserve the Catholic religion for a part of the country, than to lose it
altogether." "The more it was delayed," she said, "the more ruinous and
desperate became the public affairs. If the measure were postponed much
longer, all Flanders, half Brabant, the whole of Holland, Zeland,
Gueldrea, Tournay, Lille, Mechlin, would be lost forever, without a
chance of ever restoring the ancient religion." The country, in short,
was "without faith, King, or law," and nothing worse could be apprehended
from any deliberation of the states-general. These being the opinions of
the Duchess, and according to her statement those of nearly all the good
Catholics in the country, it could hardly seem astonishing or treasonable
that the Prince should also be in favor of the measure.
As the Duchess grew stronger, however, and as the people, aghast at the
fate of Tournay and Valenciennes, began to lose courage, she saw less
reason for assembling the states. Orange, on the other hand, completely
deserted by Egmont and Horn, and having little confidence in the
characters of the ex-confederates, remained comparatively quiescent but
watchful.
At the close of the year, an important pamphlet from his hand was
circulated, in which his views as to the necessity of allowing some
degree of religious freedom were urged upon the royal government with his
usual sagacity of thought, moderation of language, and modesty in tone.
The man who had held the most important civil and military offices in the
country almost from boyhood, and who was looked up to by friend and foe
as the most important personage in the three millions of its inhabitants,
apologized for his "presumption" in coming forward publicly with his
advice. "I would not," he said, "in matters of such importance, affect
to be wiser or to make greater pretensions than my age or experience
warrants, yet seeing affairs in such perplexity, I will rather incur the
risk of being charged with forwardness than neglect that which I consider
my duty."
This, then, was the attitude of the principal personages in the
Netherlands, and the situation of affairs at the end of the eventful year
1566, the last year of peace which the men then living or their children
were to know. The government, weak at the commencement, was strong at
the close. The confederacy was broken and scattered. The Request, the
beggar banquets, the public preaching, the image-breaking, the Accord of
August, had been followed by reaction. Tournay had accepted its
garrison. Egmont, completely obedient to the crown, was compelling all
the cities of Flanders and Artois to receive soldiers sufficient to
maintain implicit obedience, and to extinguish all heretical
demonstrations, so that the Regent was at comparative leisure to effect
the reduction of Valenciennes.
This ancient city, in the province of Hainault, and on the frontier of
France, had been founded by the Emperor Valentinian, from whom it had
derived its name. Originally established by him as a city of refuge, it
had received the privilege of affording an asylum to debtors, to outlaws,
and even to murderers. This ancient right had been continued, under
certain modifications, even till the period with which we are now
occupied. Never, however, according to the government, had the right of
asylum, even in the wildest times, been so abused by the city before.
What were debtors, robbers, murderers, compared to heretics? yet these
worst enemies of their race swarmed in the rebellious city, practising
even now the foulest rites of Calvin, and obeying those most pestilential
of all preachers, Guido de Bray, and Peregrine de la Grange. The place
was the hot-bed of heresy and sedition, and it seemed to be agreed, as by
common accord, that the last struggle for what was called the new
religion, should take place beneath its walls.
Pleasantly situated in a fertile valley, provided with very strong
fortifications and very deep moats, Valenciennes, with the Scheld flowing
through its centre, and furnishing the means of laying the circumjacent
meadows under water, was considered in those days almost impregnable.
The city was summoned, almost at the same time as Tournay, to accept a
garrison. This demand of government was met by a peremptory refusal.
Noircarmes, towards the middle of December, ordered the magistrates to
send a deputation to confer with him at Conde. Pensionary Outreman
accordingly repaired to that neighboring city, accompanied by some of his
colleagues. This committee was not unfavorable to the demands of
government. The magistracies of the cities, generally, were far from
rebellious; but in the case of Valenciennes the real power at that moment
was with the Calvinist consistory, and the ministers. The deputies,
after their return from Conde, summoned the leading members of the
reformed religion, together with the preachers. It was urged that it was
their duty forthwith to use their influence in favor of the demand made
by the government upon the city.
"May I grow mute as a fish!" answered de la Grange, stoutly, "may the
tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, before I persuade my people to
accept a garrison of cruel mercenaries, by whom their rights of
conscience are to be trampled upon!"
Councillor Outreman reasoned with the fiery minister, that if he and his
colleague were afraid of their own lives, ample provision should be made
with government for their departure under safe conduct. La Grange
replied that he had no fears for himself, that the Lord would protect
those who preached and those who believed in his holy word, but that He
would not forgive them should they now bend their necks to His enemies.
It was soon very obvious that no arrangement could be made. The
magistrates could exert no authority, the preachers were all-powerful;
and the citizens, said a Catholic inhabitant of Valenciennes, "allowed
themselves to be led by their ministers like oxen." Upon the 17th
December, 1566, a proclamation was accordingly issued by the Duchess
Regent, declaring the city in a state of siege, and all its inhabitants
rebels. The crimes for which this penalty was denounced, were
elaborately set forth in the edict. Preaching according to the reformed
religion had been permitted in two or three churches, the sacrament
according to the Calvinistic manner had been publicly administered,
together with a renunciation by the communicants of their adhesion to
the Catholic Church, and now a rebellious refusal to receive the garrison
sent to them by the Duchess had been added to the list of their
iniquities. For offences like these the Regent deemed it her duty to
forbid all inhabitants of any city, village, or province of the
Netherlands holding communication with Valenciennes, buying or selling
with its inhabitants, or furnishing them with provisions; on pain of
being considered accomplices in their rebellion, and as such of being
executed with the halter.
The city was now invested by Noircarmes with all the troops which could
be spared. The confederates gave promises of assistance to the
beleaguered citizens, Orange privately encouraged them to holdout in
their legitimate refusal. Brederode and others busied themselves with
hostile demonstrations which were destined to remain barren; but in the
mean time the inhabitants had nothing to rely upon save their own stout
hearts and arms.
At first, the siege was sustained with a light heart. Frequent sallies
were made, smart skirmishes were ventured, in which the Huguenots, on the
testimony of a most bitter Catholic contemporary, conducted themselves
with the bravery of veteran troops, and as if they had done nothing all
their lives but fight; forays were made upon the monasteries of the
neighborhood for the purpose of procuring supplies, and the broken
statues of the dismantled churches were used to build a bridge across
an arm of the river, which was called in derision the Bridge of Idols.
Noircarmes and the six officers under him, who were thought to be
conducting their operations with languor, were christened the Seven
Sleepers. Gigantic spectacles, three feet in circumference, were planted
derisively upon the ramparts, in order that the artillery, which it was
said that the papists of Arras were sending, might be seen, as soon as it
should arrive. Councillor Outreman, who had left the city before the
siege, came into it again, on commission from Noircarmes. He was
received with contempt, his proposals on behalf of the government were
answered with outcries of fury; he was pelted with stones, and was very
glad to make his escape alive. The pulpits thundered with the valiant
deeds of Joshua, Judas Maccabeus, and other bible heroes. The miracles
wrought in their behalf served to encourage the enthusiasm of the people,
while the movements making at various points in the neighborhood
encouraged a hope of a general rising throughout the country.
Those hopes were destined to disappointment. There were large
assemblages made, to be sure, at two points. Nearly three thousand
sectaries had been collected at Lannoy under Pierre Comaille, who, having
been a locksmith and afterwards a Calvinist preacher, was now disposed to
try his fortune as a general. His band was, however, disorderly.
Rustics armed with pitchforks, young students and old soldiers out of
employment, furnished with rusty matchlocks, pikes and halberds, composed
his force. A company similar in character, and already amounting to some
twelve hundred in number, was collecting at Waterlots. It was hoped that
an imposing array would soon be assembled, and that the two bands.
making a junction, would then march to the relief of Valenciennes. It
was boasted that in a very short time, thirty thousand men would be in
the field. There was even a fear of some such result felt by the
Catholics.
ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS:
1566, the last year of peace
Dissenters were as bigoted as the orthodox
If he had little, he could live upon little
Incur the risk of being charged with forwardness than neglect
Not to let the grass grow under their feet