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MOTLEY'S HISTORY OF THE NETHERLANDS, PG EDITION, VOLUME 15.
THE RISE OF THE DUTCH REPUBLIC
By John Lothrop Motley
1855
1568 [CHAPTER II.]
Orange, Count Louis, Hoogstraaten, and others, cited before the
Blood-Council--Charges against them--Letter of Orange in reply--
Position and sentiments of the Prince--Seizure of Count de Buren--
Details of that transaction--Petitions to the Council from Louvain
and other places--Sentence of death against the whole population of
the Netherlands pronounced by the Spanish Inquisition and proclaimed
by Philip--Cruel inventions against heretics--The Wild Beggars--
Preliminary proceedings of the Council against Egmont and Horn--
Interrogatories addressed to them in prison--Articles of accusation
against them--Foreclosure of the cases--Pleas to the jurisdiction--
Efforts by the Countesses Egmont and Horn, by many Knights of the
Fleece, and by the Emperor, in favor of the prisoners--Answers of
Alva and of Philip--Obsequious behavior of Viglius--Difficulties
arising from the Golden Fleece statutes set aside--Particulars of
the charges against Count Horn and of his defence--Articles of
accusation against Egmont--Sketch of his reply--Reflections upon the
two trials--Attitude of Orange--His published 'Justification'--His
secret combinations--His commission to Count Louis--Large sums of
money subscribed by the Nassau family, by Netherland refugees, and
others--Great personal sacrifices made by the Prince--Quadruple
scheme for invading the Netherlands--Defeat of the patriots under
Cocqueville--Defeat of Millers--Invasion of Friesland by Count
Louis--Measures of Alva to oppose him--Command of the royalists
entreated to Aremberg and Meghem--The Duke's plan for the campaign--
Skirmish at Dam--Detention of Meghem--Count Louis at Heiliger--Lee--
Nature of the ground--Advance of Aremberg--Disposition of the
patriot forces--Impatience of the Spanish troops to engage--Battle
of Heiliger-Lee--Defeat and death of Aremberg--Death of Adolphus
Nassau--Effects of the battle--Anger and severe measures of Alva--
Eighteen nobles executed at Brussels--Sentence of death pronounced
upon Egmont and Horn--The Bishop of Ypres sent to Egmont--Fruitless
intercession by the prelate and the Countess--Egmont's last night in
prison--The "grande place" at Brussels--Details concerning the
execution of Egmont and Horn--Observation upon the characters of the
two nobles--Destitute condition of Egmont's family.
Late in October, the Duke of Alva made his triumphant entry into the new
fortress. During his absence, which was to continue during the remainder
of the year, he had ordered the Secretary Courteville and the Councillor
del Rio to superintend the commission, which was then actually engaged in
collecting materials for the prosecutions to be instituted against the
Prince of Orange and the other nobles who had abandoned the country.
Accordingly, soon after his return, on the 19th of January, 1568, the
Prince, his brother Louis of Nassau, his brother-in-law, Count Van den
Berg, the Count Hoogstraaten, the Count Culemburg, and the Baron
Montigny, were summoned in the name of Alva to appear before the Blood-
Council, within thrice fourteen days from the date of the proclamation,
under pain of perpetual banishment with confiscation of their estates.
It is needless to say that these seigniors did not obey the summons.
They knew full well that their obedience would be rewarded only by death.
The charges against the Prince of Orange, which were drawn up in ten
articles, stated, chiefly and briefly, that he had been, and was, the
head and front of the rebellion; that as soon as his Majesty had left the
Netherlands, he had begun his machinations to make himself master of the
country and to expel his sovereign by force, if he should attempt to
return to the provinces; that he had seduced his Majesty's subjects by
false pretences that the Spanish inquisition was about to be introduced;
that he had been the secret encourager and director of Brederode and the
confederated nobles; and that when sent to Antwerp, in the name of the
Regent, to put down the rebellion, he had encouraged heresy and accorded
freedom of religion to the Reformers.
The articles against Hoogstraaten and the other gentlemen mere of similar
tenor. It certainly was not a slender proof of the calm effrontery of
the government thus to see Alva's proclamation charging it as a crime
upon Orange that he had inveigled the lieges into revolt by a false
assertion that the inquisition was about to be established, when letters
from the Duke to Philip, and from Granvelle to Philip, dated upon nearly
the same day, advised the immediate restoration of the inquisition as
soon as an adequate number of executions had paved the way for the
measure. It was also a sufficient indication of a reckless despotism,
that while the Duchess, who had made the memorable Accord with the
Religionists, received a flattering letter of thanks and a farewell
pension of fourteen thousand ducats yearly, those who, by her orders, had
acted upon that treaty as the basis of their negotiations, were summoned
to lay down their heads upon the block.
The Prince replied to this summons by a brief and somewhat contemptuous
plea to the jurisdiction. As a Knight of the Fleece, as a member of the
Germanic Empire, as a sovereign prince in France, as a citizen of the
Netherlands, he rejected the authority of Alva and of his self-
constituted tribunal. His innocence he was willing to establish before
competent courts and righteous judges. As a Knight of the Fleece, he
said he could be tried only by his peers, the brethren of the Order, and,
for that purpose, he could be summoned only by the King as Head of the
Chapter, with the sanction of at least six of his fellow-knights. In
conclusion, he offered to appear before his Imperial Majesty, the
Electors, and other members of the Empire, or before the Knights of the
Golden Fleece. In the latter case, he claimed the right, under the
statutes of that order, to be placed while the trial was pending, not in
a solitary prison, as had been the fate of Egmont and of Horn, but under
the friendly charge and protection of the brethren themselves. The
letter was addressed to the procurator-general, and a duplicate was
forwarded to the Duke.
From the general tenor of the document, it is obvious both that the
Prince was not yet ready to throw down the gauntlet to his sovereign,
nor to proclaim his adhesion to the new religion: Of departing from the
Netherlands in the spring, he had said openly that he was still in
possession of sixty thousand florins yearly, and that he should commence
no hostilities against Philip, so long as he did not disturb him in his
honor or his estates. Far-seeing politician, if man ever were, he knew
the course whither matters were inevitably tending, but he knew how much
strength was derived from putting an adversary irretrievably in the
wrong. He still maintained an attitude of dignified respect towards the
monarch, while he hurled back with defiance the insolent summons of the
viceroy. Moreover, the period had not yet arrived for him to break
publicly with the ancient faith. Statesman, rather than religionist,
at this epoch, he was not disposed to affect a more complete conversion
than the one which he had experienced. He was, in truth, not for a new
doctrine, but for liberty of conscience. His mind was already expanding
beyond any dogmas of the age. The man whom his enemies stigmatized as
atheist and renegade, was really in favor of toleration, and therefore,
the more deeply criminal in the eyes of all religious parties.
Events, personal to himself, were rapidly to place him in a position from
which he might enter the combat with honor.
His character had already been attacked, his property threatened with
confiscation. His closest ties of family were now to be severed by the
hand of the tyrant. His eldest child, the Count de Buren, torn from his
protection, was to be carried into indefinite captivity in a foreign
land. It was a remarkable oversight, for a person of his sagacity, that,
upon his own departure from the provinces, he should leave his son, then
a boy of thirteen years, to pursue his studies at the college of Louvain.
Thus exposed to the power of the government, he was soon seized as a
hostage for the good behavior of the father. Granvelle appears to have
been the first to recommend the step in a secret letter to Philip, but
Alva scarcely needed prompting. Accordingly, upon the 13th of February,
1568, the Duke sent the Seignior de Chassy to Louvain, attended by four
officers and by twelve archers. He was furnished with a letter to the
Count de Buren, in which that young nobleman was requested to place
implicit confidence in the bearer of the despatch, and was informed that
the desire which his Majesty had to see him educated for his service, was
the cause of the communication which the Seignior de Chassy was about to
make.
That gentleman was, moreover, minutely instructed as to his method of
proceeding in this memorable case of kidnapping. He was to present the
letter to the young Count in presence of his tutor. He was to invite him
to Spain in the name of his Majesty. He was to assure him that his
Majesty's commands were solely with a view, to his own good, and that he
was not commissioned to arrest, but only to escort him. He was to allow
the Count to be accompanied only by two valets, two pages, a cook, and a
keeper of accounts. He was, however, to induce his tutor to accompany
him, at least to the Spanish frontier. He was to arrange that the second
day after his arrival at Louvain, the Count should set out for Antwerp,
where he was to lodge with Count Lodron, after which they were to proceed
to Flushing, whence they were to embark for Spain. At that city he was
to deliver the young Prince to the person whom he would find there,
commissioned for that purpose by the Duke. As soon as he had made the
first proposition at Louvain to the Count, he was, with the assistance of
his retinue, to keep the most strict watch over him day and night, but
without allowing the supervision to be perceived.
The plan was carried out admirably, and in strict accordance with the
program. It was fortunate, however, for the kidnappers, that the young
Prince proved favorably disposed to the plan. He accepted the invitation
of his captors with alacrity. He even wrote to thank the governor for
his friendly offices in his behalf. He received with boyish
gratification the festivities with which Lodron enlivened his brief
sojourn at Antwerp, and he set forth without reluctance for that gloomy
and terrible land of Spain, whence so rarely a Flemish traveller had
returned. A changeling, as it were, from his cradle, he seemed
completely transformed by his Spanish tuition, for he was educated and
not sacrificed by Philip. When he returned to the Netherlands, after a
twenty years' residence in Spain, it was difficult to detect in his
gloomy brow, saturnine character, and Jesuistical habits, a trace of the
generous spirit which characterized that race of heroes, the house of
Orange-Nassau.
Philip had expressed some anxiety as to the consequences of this capture
upon the governments of Germany. Alva, however, re-assured his sovereign
upon that point, by reason of the extreme docility of the captive, and
the quiet manner in which the arrest had been conducted. At that
particular juncture, moreover, it would, have been difficult for the
government of the Netherlands to excite surprise any where, except by
an act of clemency. The president and the deputation of professors
from the university of Louvain waited upon Vargas, by whom, as acting
president of the Blood-Council, the arrest had nominally been made, with
a remonstrance that the measure was in gross violation of their statutes
and privileges. That personage, however, with his usual contempt both
for law and Latin, answered brutally, "Non curamus vestros privilegios,"
and with this memorable answer, abruptly closed his interview with the
trembling pedants.
Petitions now poured into the council from all quarters, abject
recantations from terror-stricken municipalities, humble intercessions
in behalf of doomed and imprisoned victims. To a deputation of the
magistracy of Antwerp, who came with a prayer for mercy in behalf of some
of their most distinguished fellow-citizens, then in prison, the Duke
gave a most passionate and ferocious reply. He expressed his wonder that
the citizens of Antwerp, that hotbed of treason, should dare to approach
him in behalf of traitors and heretics. Let them look to it in future,
he continued, or he would hang every man in the whole city, to set an
example to the rest of the country; for his Majesty would rather the
whole land should become an uninhabited wilderness, than that a single
Dissenter should exist within its territory.
Events now marched with rapidity. The monarch seemed disposed literally
to execute the threat of his viceroy. Early in the year, the most
sublime sentence of death was promulgated which has ever been pronounced
since the creation of the world. The Roman tyrant wished that his
enemies' heads were all upon a single neck, that he might strike them off
at a blow; the inquisition assisted Philip to place the heads of all his
Netherland subjects upon a single neck for the same fell purpose. Upon
the 16th February, 1568, a sentence of the Holy Office condemned all the
inhabitants of the Netherlands to death as heretics. From this universal
doom only a few persons, especially named; were excepted. A proclamation
of the King, dated ten days later, confirmed this decree of the
inquisition, and ordered it to be carried into instant execution, without
regard to age, sex, or condition. This is probably the most concise
death-warrant that was ever framed. Three millions of people, men,
women, and children, were sentenced to the scaffold in: three lines; and,
as it was well known that these were not harmless thunders, like some
bulls of the Vatican, but serious and practical measures, which it was
intended should be enforced, the horror which they produced may be easily
imagined. It was hardly the purpose of Government to compel the absolute
completion of the wholesale plan in all its length and breadth, yet in
the horrible times upon which they had fallen, the Netherlanders might be
excused for believing that no measure was too monstrous to be fulfilled.
At any rate, it was certain that when all were condemned, any might at a
moment's warning be carried to the scaffold, and this was precisely the
course adopted by the authorities.
Under this universal decree the industry of the Blood-Council might, now
seem superfluous. Why should not these mock prosecutions be dispensed
with against individuals, now that a common sentence had swallowed the
whole population in one vast grave? Yet it may be supposed that if the
exertions of the commissioners and councillors served no other purpose,
they at least furnished the Government with valuable evidence as to the
relative wealth and other circumstances of the individual victims. The
leading thought of the Government being that persecution, judiciously
managed, might fructify into a golden harvest,--it was still desirable to
persevere in the cause in which already such bloody progress had been
made.
And under this new decree, the executions certainly did not slacken.
Men in the highest and the humblest positions were daily and hourly
dragged to the stake. Alva, in a single letter to Philip, coolly
estimated the number of executions which were to take place immediately
after the expiration of holy week, "at eight hundred heads." Many a
citizen, convicted of a hundred thousand florins and of no other crime,
saw himself suddenly tied to a horse's tail, with his hands fastened
behind him, and so dragged to the gallows. But although wealth was an
unpardonable sin, poverty proved rarely a protection. Reasons sufficient
could always be found for dooming the starveling laborer as well as the
opulent burgher. To avoid the disturbances created in the streets by the
frequent harangues or exhortations addressed to the bystanders by the
victims on their way to the scaffold, a new gag was invented. The tongue
of each prisoner was screwed into an iron ring, and then seared with a
hot iron. The swelling and inflammation which were the immediate result,
prevented the tongue from slipping through the ring, and of course
effectually precluded all possibility of speech.
Although the minds of men were not yet prepared for concentrated revolt
against the tyranny under which they were languishing, it was not
possible to suppress all sentiments of humanity, and to tread out every
spark of natural indignation.
Unfortunately, in the bewilderment and misery of this people, the first
development of a forcible and organized resistance was of a depraved and
malignant character. Extensive bands of marauders and highway robbers
sprang into existence, who called themselves the Wild Beggars, and who,
wearing the mask and the symbols of a revolutionary faction, committed
great excesses in many parts of the country, robbing, plundering, and
murdering. Their principal wrath was exercised against religious houses
and persons. Many monasteries were robbed, many clerical persons maimed
and maltreated. It became a habit to deprive priests of their noses or
ears, and to tie them to the tails of horses. This was the work of
ruffian gangs, whose very existence was engendered out of the social and
moral putrescence to which the country was reduced, and who were willing
to profit by the deep and universal hatred which was felt against
Catholics and monks. An edict thundered forth by Alva, authorizing and
commanding all persons to slay the wild beggars at sight, without trial
or hangman, was of comparatively slight avail. An armed force of
veterans actively scouring the country was more successful, and the
freebooters were, for a time, suppressed.
Meantime the Counts Egmont and Horn had been kept in rigorous confinement
at Ghent. Not a warrant had been read or drawn up for their arrest.
Not a single preliminary investigation, not the shadow of an information
had preceded the long imprisonment of two men so elevated in rank,
so distinguished in the public service. After the expiration of two
months, however, the Duke condescended to commence a mock process against
them. The councillors appointed to this work were Vargas and Del Rio,
assisted by Secretary Praets. These persons visited the Admiral on the
10th, 11th, 12th and 17th of November, and Count Egmont on the 12th,
13th, 14th, and 16th, of the same month; requiring them to respond to a
long, confused, and rambling collection of interrogatories. They were
obliged to render these replies in prison, unassisted by any advocates,
on penalty of being condemned 'in contumaciam'. The questions, awkwardly
drawn up as they seemed, were yet tortuously and cunningly arranged with
a view of entrapping the prisoners into self-contradiction. After this
work had been completed, all the papers by which they intended to justify
their answers were taken away from them. Previously, too, their houses
and those of their secretaries, Bakkerzeel and Alonzo de la Loo, had been
thoroughly ransacked, and every letter and document which could be found
placed in the hands of government. Bakkerzeel, moreover, as already
stated, had been repeatedly placed upon the rack, for the purpose of
extorting confessions which might implicate his master. These
preliminaries and precautionary steps having been taken, the Counts had
again been left to their solitude for two months longer. On the 10th
January, each was furnished with a copy of the declarations or
accusations filed against him by the procurator-general. To these
documents, drawn up respectively in sixty-three, and in ninety articles,
they were required, within five days' time, without the assistance of an
advocate, and without consultation with any human being, to deliver a
written answer, on pain, as before, of being proceeded against and
condemned by default.
This order was obeyed within nearly the prescribed period and here, it
may be said, their own participation in their trial ceased; while the
rest of the proceedings were buried in the deep bosom of the Blood-
Council. After their answers had been delivered, and not till then, the
prisoners were, by an additional mockery, permitted to employ advocates.
These advocates, however, were allowed only occasional interviews with
their clients, and always in the presence of certain persons, especially
deputed for that purpose by the Duke. They were also allowed
commissioners to collect evidence and take depositions, but before the
witnesses were ready, a purposely premature day, 8th of May, was fixed
upon for declaring the case closed, and not a single tittle of their
evidence, personal or documentary, was admitted.--Their advocates
petitioned for an exhibition of the evidence prepared by government, and
were refused. Thus, they were forbidden to use the testimony in their
favor, while that which was to be employed against them was kept secret.
Finally, the proceedings were formally concluded on the 1st of June, and
the papers laid before the Duke. The mass of matter relating to these
two monster processes was declared, three days afterwards to have been
examined--a physical impossibility in itself--and judgment was pronounced
upon the 4th of June. This issue was precipitated by the campaign of
Louis Nassau in Friesland, forming a aeries of important events which it
will be soon our duty to describe. It is previously necessary, however,
to add a few words in elucidation of the two mock trials which have been
thus briefly sketched.
The proceeding had been carried on, from first to last, under protest by
the prisoners, under a threat of contumacy on the part of the government.
Apart from the totally irresponsible and illegal character of the
tribunal before which they were summoned--the Blood-Council being a
private institution of Alva's without pretext or commission--these nobles
acknowledged the jurisdiction of but three courts. As Knights of the
Golden Fleece, both claimed the privilege of that Order to be tried by
its statutes. As a citizen and noble of Brabant, Egmont claimed the
protection of the "Joyeuse Entree," a constitution which had been sworn
to by Philip and his ancestors, and by Philip more amply, than by all his
ancestors. As a member and Count of the Holy Roman Empire, the Admiral
claimed to be tried by his peers, the electors and princes of the realm.
The Countess Egmont, since her husband's arrest, and the confiscation of
his estates before judgment, had been reduced to a life of poverty as
well as agony. With her eleven children, all of tender age, she had
taken refuge in a convent. Frantic with despair, more utterly desolate,
and more deeply wronged than high-born lady had often been before, she
left no stone unturned to save her husband from his fate, or at least to
obtain for him an impartial and competent tribunal. She addressed the
Duke of Alva, the King, the Emperor, her brother the Elector Palatine,
and many leading Knights of the Fleece. The Countess Dowager of Horn,
both whose sons now lay in the jaws of death, occupied herself also with
the most moving appeals to the same high personages. No pains were
spared to make the triple plea to the jurisdiction valid. The leading
Knights of the Fleece, Mansfeld, whose loyalty was unquestioned, and
Hoogstraaten, although himself an outlaw; called upon the King of Spain
to protect the statutes of the illustrious order of which he was the
chief. The estates of Brabant, upon the petition of Sabina, Countess
Egmont, that they would take to heart the privileges of the province,
so that her husband might enjoy that protection of which the meanest
citizen in the land could not be justly deprived, addressed a feeble
and trembling protest to Alva, and enclosed to him the lady's petition.
The Emperor, on behalf of Count Horn, wrote personally to Philip, to
claim for him a trial before the members of the realm.
It was all in vain. The conduct of Philip and his Viceroy coincided in
spirit with the honest brutality of Vargas. "Non curamus vestros
privilegios," summed up the whole of the proceedings. Non curamus
vestros privilegios had been the unanswerable reply to every
constitutional argument which had been made against tyranny since Philip
mounted his father's throne. It was now the only response deemed
necessary to the crowd of petitions in favor of the Counts, whether they
proceeded from sources humble or august. Personally, the King remained
silent as the grave. In writing to the Duke of Alva, he observed that
"the Emperor, the Dukes of Bavaria and Lorraine, the Duchess and the
Duchess-dowager, had written to him many times, and in the most pressing
manner, in favor of the Counts Horn and Egmont." He added, that he had
made no reply to them, nor to other Knights of the Fleece who had
implored him to respect the statutes of the order, and he begged Alva
"to hasten the process as fast as possible." To an earnest autograph
letter, in which the Emperor, on the 2nd of March, 1568, made a last
effort to save the illustrious prisoners, he replied, that "the whole
world would at last approve his conduct, but that, at any rate, he would
not act differently, even if he should risk the loss of the provinces,
and if the sky should fall on his head."
But little heed was paid to the remonstrances in behalf of the imperial
Courts, or the privileges of Brabant. These were but cobweb impediments
which, indeed, had long been brushed away. President Viglius was even
pathetic on the subject of Madame Egmont's petition to the council of
Brabant. It was so bitter, he said, that the Duke was slightly annoyed,
and took it ill that the royal servants in that council should have his
Majesty's interests so little at heart. It seemed indecent in the eyes
of the excellent Frisian, that a wife pleading for her husband, a mother
for her, eleven children, so soon to be fatherless, should indulge in
strong language!
The statutes of the Fleece were obstacles somewhat more serious. As,
however, Alva had come to the Netherlands pledged to accomplish the
destruction of these two nobles, as soon as he should lay his hands upon
them, it was only a question of form, and even that question was, after a
little reflection, unceremoniously put aside.
To the petitions in behalf of the two Counts, therefore, that they should
be placed in the friendly keeping of the Order, and be tried by its
statutes, the Duke replied, peremptorily, that he had undertaken the
cognizance of this affair by commission of his Majesty, as sovereign of
the land, not as head of the Golden Fleece, that he should carry it
through as it had been commenced, and that the Counts should discontinue
presentations of petitions upon this point.
In the embarrassment created by the stringent language of these statutes,
Doctor Viglius found an opportunity to make himself very useful. Alva
had been turning over the laws and regulations of the Order, but could
find no loophole. The President, however, came to his rescue, and
announced it as his legal opinion that the Governor need concern himself
no further on the subject, and that the code of the Fleece offered no
legal impediment to the process. Alva immediately wrote to communicate
this opinion to Philip, adding, with great satisfaction, that he should
immediately make it known to the brethren of the Order, a step which was
the more necessary because Egmont's advocate had been making great
trouble with these privileges, and had been protesting at every step of
the proceedings. In what manner the learned President argued these
troublesome statutes out of the way, has nowhere appeared; but he
completely reinstated himself in favor, and the King wrote to thank him
for his legal exertions.
It was now boldly declared that the statutes of the Fleece did not extend
to such crimes as those with which the prisoner were charged. Alva,
moreover, received an especial patent, ante-dated eight or nine months,
by which Philip empowered him to proceed against all persons implicated
in the troubles, and particularly against Knights of the Golden Fleece.
It is superfluous to observe that these were merely the arbitrary acts of
a despot. It is hardly necessary to criticise such proceedings. The
execution of the nobles had been settled before Alva left Spain. As they
were inhabitants of a constitutional country, it was necessary to stride
over the constitution. As they were Knights of the Fleece, it was
necessary to set aside the statutes of the Order. The Netherland
constitutions seemed so entirely annihilated already, that they could
hardly be considered obstacles; but the Order of the Fleece was an august
little republic of which Philip was the hereditary chief, of which
emperors, kings, and great seigniors were the citizens. Tyranny might
be embarrassed by such subtle and golden filaments as these, even while
it crashed through municipal charters as if they had been reeds and
bulrushes. Nevertheless, the King's course was taken. Although the
thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth chapters of the Order expressly
provided for the trial and punishment of brethren who had been guilty of
rebellion, heresy, or treason; and although the eleventh chapter;
perpetual and immutable, of additions to that constitution by the Emperor
Charles, conferred on the Order exclusive jurisdiction over all crimes
whatever committed by the knights, yet it was coolly proclaimed by Alva,
that the crimes for which the Admiral and Egmont had been arrested, were
beyond the powers of the tribunal.
So much for the plea to the jurisdiction. It is hardly worth while to
look any further into proceedings which were initiated and brought to a
conclusion in the manner already narrated. Nevertheless, as they were
called a process, a single glance at the interior of that mass of
documents can hardly be superfluous.
The declaration against Count Horn; upon which, supported by invisible
witnesses, he was condemned, was in the nature of a narrative. It
consisted in a rehearsal of circumstances, some true and some fictitious,
with five inferences. These five inferences amounted to five crimes--
high treason, rebellion, conspiracy, misprision of treason, and breach of
trust. The proof of these crimes was evolved, in a dim and misty manner,
out of a purposely confused recital. No events, however, were
recapitulated which have not been described in the course of this
history. Setting out with a general statement, that the Admiral, the
Prince of Orange, Count Egmont, and other lords had organized a plot to
expel his Majesty from the Netherlands, and to divide the provinces among
themselves; the declaration afterwards proceeded to particulars. Ten of
its sixty-three articles were occupied with the Cardinal Granvelle, who,
by an absurd affectation, was never directly named, but called "a certain
personage--a principal personage--a grand personage, of his Majesty's
state council." None of the offences committed against him were
forgotten: the 11th of March letter, the fool's-cap, the livery, were
reproduced in the most violent colors, and the cabal against the minister
was quietly assumed to constitute treason against the monarch.
The Admiral, it was further charged, had advised and consented to the
fusion of the finance and privy councils with that of state, a measure
which was clearly treasonable. He had, moreover, held interviews with
the Prince of Orange, with Egmont, and other nobles, at Breda and at
Hoogstraaten, at which meetings the confederacy and the petition had been
engendered. That petition had been the cause of all the evils which had
swept the land. "It had scandalously injured the King, by affirming that
the inquisition was a tyranny to humanity, which was an infamous and
unworthy proposition." The confederacy, with his knowledge and
countenance, had enrolled 30,000 men. He had done nothing, any more than
Orange or Egmont, to prevent the presentation of the petition. In the
consultation at the state-council which ensued, both he and the Prince
were for leaving Brussels at once, while Count Egmont expressed an
intention of going to Aix to drink the waters. Yet Count Egmont's
appearance (proceeded this indictment against another individual)
exhibited not a single sign of sickness. The Admiral had, moreover,
drank the toast of "Vivent leg gueux" on various occasions, at the
Culemberg House banquet, at the private table of the Prince of Orange,
at a supper at the monastery of Saint Bernard's, at a dinner given by
Burgomaster Straalen. He had sanctioned the treaties with the rebels at
Duffel, by which he had clearly rendered himself guilty of high treason.
He had held an interview with Orange, Egmont, and Hoogstraaten, at
Denremonde, for the treasonable purpose of arranging a levy of troops to
prevent his Majesty's entrance into the Netherlands. He had refused to
come to Brussels at the request of the Duchess of Parma, when the rebels
were about to present the petition. He had written to his secretary that
he was thenceforth resolved to serve neither King nor Kaiser. He had
received from one Taffin, with marks of approbation, a paper, stating
that the assembling of the states-general was the only remedy for the
troubles in the land. He had, repeatedly affirmed that the inquisition
and edicts ought to be repealed.
On his arrival at Tournay in August, 1566, the people had cried "Vivent
les gueux;" a proof that he liked the cry. All his transactions at
Tournay, from first to last, had been criminal. He had tolerated
Reformed preaching, he had forbidden Catholics and Protestants to molest
each other, he had omitted to execute heretics, he had allowed the
religionists to erect an edifice for public worship outside the walls.
He had said, at the house of Prince Espinoy, that if the King should come
into the provinces with force, he would oppose him with 15,000 troops.
He had said, if his brother Montigny should be detained in Spain, he
would march to his rescue at the head of 50,000 men whom he had at his
command. He had on various occasions declared that "men should live
according to their consciences"--as if divine and human laws were dead,
and men, like wild beasts, were to follow all their lusts and desires.
Lastly, he had encouraged the rebellion in Valenciennes.
Of all these crimes and misdeeds the procurator declared himself
sufficiently informed, and the aforesaid defendant entirely, commonly,
and publicly defamed.
Wherefore, that officer terminated his declaration by claiming "that the
cause should be concluded summarily, and without figure or form of
process; and that therefore, by his Excellency or his sub-delegated
judges, the aforesaid defendant should be declared to have in diverse
ways committed high treason, should be degraded from his dignities, and
should be condemned to death, with confiscation of all his estates."
The Admiral, thus peremptorily summoned, within five days, without
assistance, without documents, and from the walls of a prison, to answer
to these charges, 'solos ex vinculis causam dicere', undertook his task
with the boldness of innocence. He protested, of course, to the
jurisdiction, and complained of the want of an advocate, not in order to
excuse any weakness in his defence, but only any inelegance in his
statement. He then proceeded flatly to deny some of the facts, to admit
others, and to repel the whole treasonable inference. His answer in all
essential respects was triumphant. Supported by the evidence which, alas
was not collected and published till after his death, it was impregnable.
He denied that he had ever plotted against his King, to whom he had ever
been attached, but admitted that he had desired the removal of Granvelle,
to whom he had always been hostile. He had, however, been an open and
avowed enemy to the Cardinal, and had been engaged in no secret
conspiracy against his character or against his life. He denied that the
livery (for which, however, he was not responsible) had been intended to
ridicule the Cardinal, but asserted that it was intended to afford an
example of economy to an extravagant nobility. He had met Orange and
Egmont at Breda and Hoogstraaten, and had been glad to do so, for he had
been long separated from them. These interviews, however, had been
social, not political, for good cheer and merry-making, not for
conspiracy and treason. He had never had any connection with the
confederacy; he had neither advised nor protected the petition, but, on
the contrary, after hearing of the contemplated movement, had written to
give notice thereof to the Duchess. He was in no manner allied, with
Brederode, but, on the contrary, for various reasons, was not upon
friendly terms with him. He had not entered his house since his return
from Spain. He had not been a party to the dinner at Culemburg House.
Upon that day he had dined with the Prince of Orange, with whom he was
lodging and, after dinner, they had both gone together to visit Mansfeld,
who was confined with an inflamed eye. There they had met Egmont, and
the three had proceeded together to Culemburg House in order to bring
away Hoogstraaten, whom the confederates had compelled to dine with them;
and also to warn the nobles not to commit themselves by extravagant and
suspicious excesses. They had remained in the house but a few minutes,
during which time the company had insisted upon their drinking a single
cup to the toast of "Vivent le roy et les gueux." They had then retired,
taking with them Hoogstraaten, and all thinking that they had rendered a
service to the government by their visit, instead of having made
themselves liable to a charge of treason. As to the cries of "Vivent les
gueux" at the tables of Orange, of the Abbot of Saint Bernard, and at
other places, those words had been uttered by simple, harmless fellows;
and as he considered, the table a place of freedom, he had not felt
himself justified in rebuking the manners of his associates,
particularly, in houses where he was himself but a guest. As for
committing treason at the Duffel meeting, he had not been there at all.
He thanked God that, at that epoch, he had been absent from Brussels, for
had he, as well as Orange and Egmont, been commissioned by the Duchess to
arrange those difficult matters, he should have considered it his duty to
do as they did. He had never thought of levying troops against his
Majesty. The Denremonde meeting had been held, to consult upon four
subjects: the affairs of Tournay; the intercepted letters of the French
ambassador, Alava; the letter of Montigny, in which he warned his brother
of the evil impression which the Netherland matters were making in Spain;
and the affairs of Antwerp, from which city the Prince of Orange found it
necessary at that moment to withdraw.--With regard to his absence from
Brussels, he stated that he had kept away from the Court because he was
ruined. He was deeply in debt, and so complete was his embarrassment,
that he had been unable in Antwerp to raise 1000 crowns upon his
property, even at an interest of one hundred per cent. So far from being
able to levy troops, he was hardly able to pay for his daily bread. With
regard to his transactions at Tournay, he had, throughout them all,
conformed himself to the instructions of Madame de Parma. As to the cry
of "Vivent les gueux," he should not have cared at that moment if the
populace had cried 'Vive Comte Horn', for his thoughts were then occupied
with more substantial matters. He had gone thither under a special
commission from the Duchess, and had acted under instructions daily
received by her own hand. He had, by her orders, effected a temporary
compromise between the two religious parties, on the basis of the Duffel
treaty. He had permitted the public preaching to continue, but had not
introduced it for the first time. He had allowed temples to be built
outside the gates, but it was by express command of Madame, as he could
prove by her letters. She had even reproved him before the council,
because the work had not been accomplished with sufficient despatch.
With regard to his alleged threat, that he would oppose the King's
entrance with 15,000 men, he answered, with astonishing simplicity, that
he did not remember making any such observation, but it was impossible
for a man to retain in his mind all the nonsense which he might
occasionally utter. The honest Admiral thought that his poverty, already
pleaded, was so notorious that the charge was not worthy of a serious
answer. He also treated the observation which he was charged with having
made, relative to his marching to Spain with 50,000 men to rescue
Montigny as "frivolous and ridiculous." He had no power to raise a
hundred men. Moreover he had rejoiced at Montigny's detention, for he
had thought that to be out of the Netherlands was to be out of harm's
way. On the whole, he claimed that in all those transactions of his
which might be considered anti-Catholic, he had been governed entirely by
the instructions of the Regent, and by her Accord with the nobles. That
Accord, as she had repeatedly stated to him, was to be kept sacred until
his Majesty, by advice of the states-general, should otherwise ordain.
Finally, he observed, that law was not his vocation. He was no
pettifogger, but he had endeavored loyally to conform himself to the
broad and general principles of honor, justice, and truth. In a very few
and simple words, he begged his judges to have regard to his deeds, and
to a life of loyal service. If he had erred occasionally in those times
of tumult, his intentions had ever been faithful and honorable.
The charges against Count Egmont were very similar to those against Count
Horn. The answers of both defendants were nearly identical.
Interrogations thus addressed to two different persons, as to
circumstances which had occurred long before, could not have been thus
separately, secretly, but simultaneously answered in language
substantially the same, had not that language been the words of truth.
Egmont was accused generally of plotting with others to expel the King
from the provinces, and to divide the territory among themselves.
Through a long series of ninety articles, he was accused of conspiring
against the character and life of Cardinal Granvelle. He was the
inventor, it was charged, of the fool's-cap livery. He had joined in the
letters to the King, demanding the prelate's removal. He had favored the
fusion of the three councils. He had maintained that the estates-general
ought to be forthwith assembled, that otherwise the debts of his Majesty
and of the country could never be paid, and that the provinces would go
to the French, to the Germans, or to the devil. He had asserted that he
would not be instrumental in burning forty or fifty thousand men, in
order that the inquisition and the edicts might be sustained. He had
declared that the edicts were rigorous. He had advised the Duchess, to
moderate them, and remove the inquisition, saying that these measures,
with a pardon general in addition, were the only means of quieting the
country. He had advised the formation of the confederacy, and promised
to it his protection and favor. He had counselled the presentation of
the petition. He had arranged all these matters, in consultation with
the other nobles, at the interviews at Breda and Hoogstraaten. He had
refused the demand of Madame de Parma, to take arms in her defence. He
had expressed his intention, at a most critical moment, of going to the
baths of Aix for his health, although his personal appearance gave no
indication of any malady whatever. He had countenanced and counselled
the proceedings of the rebel nobles at Saint Trond. He had made an
accord with those of "the religion" at Ghent, Bruges, and other places.
He had advised the Duchess to grant a pardon to those who had taken up
arms. He had maintained, in common with the Prince of Orange, at a
session of the state council, that if Madame should leave Brussels, they
would assemble the states-general of their own authority, and raise a
force of forty thousand men. He had plotted treason, and made
arrangements for the levy of troops at the interview at Denremonde, with
Horn, Hoogstraaten, and the Prince of Orange. He had taken under his
protection on the 20th April, 1566, the confederacy of the rebels; had
promised that they should never be molested, for the future, on account
of the inquisition or the edicts, and that so long as they kept within
the terms of the Petition and the Compromise, he would defend them with
his own person. He had granted liberty of preaching outside the walls in
many cities within his government. He had said repeatedly, that if the
King desired to introduce the inquisition into the Netherlands, he would
sell all his property and remove to another land; thus declaring with how
much contempt and detestation he regarded the said inquisition. He had
winked at all the proceedings of the sectaries. He had permitted the cry
of "Vivent les gueux" at his table. He had assisted at the banquet at
Culemburg House.