Like the Admiral, Egmont admitted many of the facts, and flatly denied
the rest. He indignantly repelled the possibility of a treasonable
inference from any of, or all, his deeds. He had certainly desired the
removal of Granvelle, for he believed that the King's service would
profit by his recal. He replied, almost in the same terms as the Admiral
had done, to the charge concerning the livery, and asserted that its
principal object had been to set an example of economy. The fool's-cap
and bells had been changed to a bundle of arrows, in consequence of a
certain rumor which became rife in Brussels, and in obedience to an
ordinance of Madame de Parma. As to the assembling of the states-
general, the fusion of the councils, the moderation of the edicts, he had
certainly been in favor of these measures, which he considered to be
wholesome and lawful, not mischievous or treasonable. He had certainly
maintained that the edicts were rigorous, and had advised the Duchess,
under the perilous circumstances of the country, to grant a temporary
modification until the pleasure of his Majesty could be known. With
regard to the Compromise, he had advised all his friends to keep out of
it, and many in consequence had kept out of it. As to the presentation
of the petition, he had given Madame de Parma notice thereof, so soon as
he had heard that such a step was contemplated. He used the same
language as had been employed by Horn, with regard to the interview at
Breda and Hoogstraaten--that they had been meetings of "good cheer" and
good fellowship. He had always been at every moment at the command of
the Duchess, save when he had gone to Flanders and Artois to suppress the
tumults, according to her express orders. He had no connexion with the
meeting of the nobles at Saint Trond. He had gone to Duffel as special
envoy from the Duchess, to treat with certain plenipotentiaries appointed
at the Saint Trond meeting. He had strictly conformed to the letter of
instructions, drawn up by the Duchess, which would be found among his
papers, but he had never promised the nobles his personal aid or
protection. With regard to the Denremonde meeting, he gave almost
exactly the same account as Horn had given. The Prince, the Admiral, and
himself, had conversed between a quarter past eleven and dinner time,
which was twelve o'clock, on various matters, particularly upon the
King's dissatisfaction with recent events in the Netherlands, and upon a
certain letter from the ambassador Alava in Paris to the Duchess of
Parma. He had, however, expressed his opinion to Madame that the letter
was a forgery. He had permitted public preaching in certain cities,
outside the walls, where it had already been established, because this
was in accordance with the treaty which Madame had made at Duffel, which
she had ordered him honorably to maintain. He had certainly winked at
the religious exercises of the Reformers, because he had been expressly
commanded to do so, and because the government at that time was not
provided with troops to suppress the new religion by force. He related
the visit of Horn, Orange, and himself to Culemburg House, at the
memorable banquet, in almost the same words which the Admiral had used.
He had done all in his power to prevent Madame from leaving Brussels,
in which effort he had been successful, and from which much good had
resulted to the country. He had never recommended that a pardon should
be granted to those who had taken up arms, but on the contrary, had
advised their chastisement, as had appeared in his demeanor towards the
rebels at Osterwel, Tournay, and Valenciennes. He had never permitted
the cry of "Vivent les gueux" at his own table, nor encouraged it in his
presence any where else.
Such were the leading features in these memorable cases of what was
called high treason. Trial there was none. The tribunal was
incompetent; the prisoners were without advocates; the government
evidence was concealed; the testimony for the defence was excluded; and
the cause was finally decided before a thousandth part of its merits
could have been placed under the eyes of the judge who gave the sentence.
But it is almost puerile to speak of the matter in the terms usually
applicable to state trials. The case had been settled in Madrid long
before the arrest of the prisoners in Brussels. The sentence, signed by
Philip in blank, had been brought in Alva's portfolio from Spain. The
proceedings were a mockery, and, so far as any effect upon public opinion
was concerned, might as well have been omitted. If the gentlemen had
been shot in the court-yard of Jasse-house, by decree of a drum-head
court-martial, an hour after their arrest, the rights of the provinces
and the sentiments of humanity would not have been outraged more utterly.
Every constitutional and natural right was violated from first to last.
This certainly was not a novelty. Thousands of obscure individuals,
whose relations and friends were not upon thrones and in high places, but
in booths and cellars, and whose fate therefore did not send a shudder of
sympathy throughout Europe, had already been sacrificed by the Blood
tribunal. Still this great case presented a colossal emblem of the
condition in which the Netherlands were now gasping. It was a monumental
exhibition of the truth which thousands had already learned to their
cost, that law and justice were abrogated throughout the land. The
country was simply under martial law--the entire population under
sentence of death. The whole civil power was in Alva's hand; the whole
responsibility in Alva's breast. Neither the most ignoble nor the most
powerful could lift their heads in the sublime desolation which was
sweeping the country. This was now proved beyond peradventure. A
miserable cobbler or weaver might be hurried from his shop to the
scaffold, invoking the 'jus de non evocando' till he was gagged, but the
Emperor would not stoop from his throne, nor electors palatine and
powerful nobles rush to his rescue; but in behalf of these prisoners the
most august hands and voices of Christendom had been lifted up at the
foot of Philip's throne; and their supplications had proved as idle as
the millions of tears and death-cries which had beep shed or uttered in
the lowly places of the land. It was obvious; then, that all
intercession must thereafter be useless. Philip was fanatically
impressed with his mission. His viceroy was possessed by his loyalty as
by a demon. In this way alone, that conduct which can never be palliated
may at least be comprehended. It was Philip's enthusiasm to embody the
wrath of God against heretics. It was Alva's enthusiasm to embody the
wrath of Philip. Narrow-minded, isolated, seeing only that section of
the world which was visible through the loop-hole of the fortress in
which Nature had imprisoned him for life, placing his glory in
unconditional obedience to his superior, questioning nothing, doubting
nothing, fearing nothing, the viceroy accomplished his work of hell with
all the tranquillity of an angel. An iron will, which clove through
every obstacle; adamantine fortitude, which sustained without flinching a
mountain of responsibility sufficient to crush a common nature, were
qualities which, united to, his fanatical obedience, made him a man for
Philip's work such as could not have been found again in the world.
The case, then, was tried before a tribunal which was not only
incompetent, under the laws of the land, but not even a court of justice
in any philosophical or legal sense. Constitutional and municipal law
were not more outraged in its creation, than all national and natural
maxims.
The reader who has followed step by step the career of the two
distinguished victims through the perilous days of Margaret's
administration, is sufficiently aware of the amount of treason with which
they are chargeable. It would be an insult to common sense for us to set
forth, in full, the injustice of their sentence. Both were guiltless
towards the crown; while the hands of one, on the contrary, were deeply
dyed in the blood of the people. This truth was so self-evident, that
even a member of the Blood-Council, Pierre Arsens, president of Artois,
addressed an elaborate memoir to the Duke of Alva, criticising the case
according to the rules of law, and maintaining that Egmont, instead of
deserving punishment, was entitled to a signal reward.
So much for the famous treason of Counts Egmont and Horn, so far as
regards the history of the proceedings and the merits of the case. The
last act of the tragedy was precipitated by occurrences which must be now
narrated.
The Prince of Orange had at last thrown down the gauntlet. Proscribed,
outlawed, with his Netherland property confiscated, and his eldest child
kidnapped, he saw sufficient personal justification for at last stepping
into the lists, the avowed champion of a nation's wrongs. Whether the
revolution was to be successful, or to be disastrously crushed; whether
its result would be to place him upon a throne or a scaffold, not even
he, the deep-revolving and taciturn politician, could possibly foresee.
The Reformation, in which he took both a political and a religious
interest, might prove a sufficient lever in his hands for the overthrow
of Spanish power in the Netherlands. The inquisition might roll back
upon his country and himself, crushing them forever. The chances seemed
with the inquisition. The Spaniards, under the first chieftain in
Europe, were encamped and entrenched in the provinces. The Huguenots had
just made their fatal peace in France, to the prophetic dissatisfaction
of Coligny. The leading men of liberal sentiments in the Netherlands
were captive or in exile. All were embarrassed by the confiscations
which, in anticipation of sentence, had severed the nerves of war. The
country was terror-stricken; paralyzed, motionless, abject, forswearing
its convictions, and imploring only life. At this moment William of
Orange reappeared upon the scene.
He replied to the act of condemnation, which had been pronounced against
him in default, by a published paper, of moderate length and great
eloquence. He had repeatedly offered to place himself, he said, upon
trial before a competent court. As a Knight of the Fleece, as a member
of the Holy Roman Empire, as a sovereign prince, he could acknowledge no
tribunal save the chapters of the knights or of the realm. The Emperor's
personal intercession with Philip had been employed in vain, to obtain
the adjudication of his case by either. It would be both death and
degradation on his part to acknowledge the jurisdiction of the infamous
Council of Blood. He scorned, he said, to plead his cause "before he
knew not what base knaves, not fit to be the valets of his companions and
himself."
He appealed therefore to the judgment of the world. He published not
an elaborate argument, but a condensed and scathing statement of the
outrages which had been practised upon him. He denied that he had been
a party to the Compromise. He denied that he had been concerned in the
Request, although he denounced with scorn the tyranny which could treat
a petition to government as an act of open war against the sovereign.
He spoke of Granvelle with unmeasured wrath. He maintained that his own
continuance in office had been desired by the cardinal, in order that his
personal popularity might protect the odious designs of the government.
The edicts, the inquisition, the persecution, the new bishoprics, had
been the causes of the tumults. He concluded with a burst of indignation
against Philip's conduct toward himself. The monarch had forgotten his
services and those of his valiant ancestors. He had robbed him of honor,
he had robbed him of his son--both dearer to him than life. By thus
doing he had degraded himself more than he had injured him, for he had
broken all his royal oaths and obligations.
The paper was published early in the summer of 1568. At about the same
time, the Count of Hoogstraaten published a similar reply to the act of
condemnation with which he had been visited. He defended himself mainly
upon the ground, that all the crimes of which he stood arraigned had been
committed in obedience to the literal instructions of the Duchess of
Parma, after her accord with the confederates.
The Prince now made the greatest possible exertions to raise funds and
troops. He had many meetings with influential individuals in Germany.
The Protestant princes, particularly the Landgrave of Hesse and the
Elector of Saxony, promised him assistance. He brought all his powers of
eloquence and of diplomacy to make friends for the cause which he had now
boldly espoused. The high-born Demosthenes electrified large assemblies
by his indignant invectives against the Spanish Philip. He excelled even
his royal antagonist in the industrious subtlety with which he began to
form a thousand combinations. Swift, secret, incapable of fatigue, this
powerful and patient intellect sped to and fro, disentangling the
perplexed skein where all had seemed so hopelessly confused, and
gradually unfolding broad schemes of a symmetrical and regenerated
polity. He had high correspondents and higher hopes in England. He was
already secretly or openly in league with half the sovereigns of Germany.
The Huguenots of France looked upon him as their friend, and on Louis of
Nassau as their inevitable chieftain, were Coligny destined to fall. He
was in league with all the exiled and outlawed nobles of the Netherlands.
By his orders recruits were daily enlisted, without sound of drum. He
granted a commission to his brother Louis, one of the most skilful and
audacious soldiers of the age, than whom the revolt could not have found
a more determined partisan, nor the Prince a more faithful lieutenant.
This commission, which was dated Dillenburg, 6th April, 1568, was a
somewhat startling document. It authorized the Count to levy troops and
wage war against Philip, strictly for Philip's good. The fiction of
loyalty certainly never went further. The Prince of Orange made known
to all "to whom those presents should come," that through the affection
which he bore the gracious King, he purposed to expel his Majesty's
forces from the Netherlands. "To show our love for the monarch and his
hereditary provinces," so ran the commission, "to prevent the desolation
hanging over the country by the ferocity of the Spaniards, to maintain
the privileges sworn to by his Majesty and his predecessors, to prevent
the extirpation of all religion by the edicts, and to save the sons and
daughters of the land from abject slavery, we have requested our dearly
beloved brother Louis Nassau to enrol as many troops as he shall think
necessary."
Van der Bergh, Hoogstraaten, and others, provided with similar powers,
were also actively engaged in levying troops; but the right hand of the
revolt was Count Louis, as his illustrious brother was its head and
heart. Two hundred thousand crowns was the sum which the Prince
considered absolutely necessary for organizing the army with which he
contemplated making an entrance into the Netherlands. Half this amount
had been produced by the cities of Antwerp, Amsterdam, Leyden, Harlem,
Middelburg, Flushing, and other towns, as well as by refugee merchants in
England. The other half was subscribed by individuals. The Prince
himself contributed 50,000 florins, Hoogstraaten 30,000, Louis of Nassau
10,000, Culemberg 30,000, Van der Bergh 30,000, the Dowager-countess Horn
10,000, and other persons in less proportion. Count John of Nassau also
pledged his estates to raise a large sum for the cause. The Prince
himself sold all his jewels, plate, tapestry, and other furniture, which
were of almost regal magnificence. Not an enthusiast, but a deliberate,
cautious man, he now staked his all upon the hazard, seemingly so
desperate. The splendor of his station has been sufficiently depicted.
His luxury, his fortune, his family, his life, his children, his honor,
all were now ventured, not with the recklessness of a gambler, but with
the calm conviction of a statesman.
A private and most audacious attempt to secure the person: of Alva and
the possession of Brussels had failed. He was soon, however, called upon
to employ all his energies against the open warfare which was now
commenced.
According to the plan of the Prince, the provinces were to be attacked
simultaneously, in three places, by his lieutenants, while he himself was
waiting in the neighborhood of Cleves, ready for a fourth assault. An
army of Huguenots and refugees was to enter Artois upon the frontier of
France; a second, under Hoogstraaten, was to operate between the Rhine
and the Meuse; while Louis of Nassau was to raise the standard of revolt
in Friesland.
The two first adventures were destined to be signally unsuccessful. A
force under Seigneur de Cocqueville, latest of all, took the field
towards the end of June. It entered the bailiwick of Hesdin in Artois,
was immediately driven across the frontier by the Count de Roeulx, and
cut to pieces at St. Valery by Marechal de Cossis, governor of Picardy.
This action was upon the 18th July. Of the 2500 men who composed the
expedition, scarce 300 escaped. The few Netherlanders who were taken
prisoners were given to the Spanish government, and, of course, hanged.
The force under the Seigneur de Villars was earlier under arms, and the
sooner defeated. This luckless gentleman, who had replaced the Count of
Hoogstraaten, crossed the frontier of Juliers; in the neighborhood of
Maestricht, by the 20th April. His force, infantry and cavalry, amounted
to nearly three thousand men. The object of the enterprise was to, raise
the country; and, if possible, to obtain a foothold by securing an
important city. Roermonde was the first point of attack, but the
attempts, both by stratagem and by force, to secure the town, were
fruitless. The citizens were not ripe for revolt, and refused the army
admittance. While the invaders were, therefore, endeavoring to fire the
gates, they were driven off by the approach of a Spanish force.
The Duke, so soon as the invasion was known to him, had acted with great
promptness. Don Sancho de Lodrono and Don Sancho de Avila, with five
vanderas of Spanish infantry, three companies of cavalry, and about three
hundred pikemen under Count Eberstein, a force amounting in all to about
1600 picked troops, had been at once despatched against Villars. The
rebel chieftain, abandoning his attempt upon Roermonde, advanced towards
Erkelens. Upon the 25th April, between Erkelens and Dalem, the Spaniards
came up with him, and gave him battle. Villars lost all his cavalry and
two vanderas of his infantry in the encounter. With the remainder of his
force, amounting to 1300 men, he effected his retreat in good order to
Dalem. Here he rapidly entrenched himself. At four in the afternoon,
Sancho de Lodrono, at the head of 600 infantry, reached the spot. He was
unable to restrain the impetuosity of his men, although the cavalry under
Avila, prevented by the difficult nature of the narrow path through which
the rebels had retreated, had not yet arrived. The enemy were two to
one, and were fortified; nevertheless, in half an hour the entrenchments
were carried, and almost every man in the patriot army put to the sword.
Villars himself, with a handful of soldiers, escaped into the town, but
was soon afterwards taken prisoner, with all his followers. He sullied
the cause in which he was engaged by a base confession of the designs
formed by the Prince of Orange--a treachery, however, which did not save
him from the scaffold. In the course of this day's work, the Spanish
lost twenty men, and the rebels nearly 200. This portion of the
liberating forces had been thus disastrously defeated on the eve of the
entrance of Count Louis into Friesland.
As early as the 22d April, Alva had been informed, by the lieutenant-
governor of that province, that the beggars were mustering in great force
in the neighborhood of Embden. It was evident that an important
enterprise was about to be attempted. Two days afterwards, Louis of
Nassau entered the provinces, attended by a small body of troops. His
banners blazed with patriotic inscriptions. 'Nunc aut nunquam,
Recuperare aut mori', were the watchwords of his desperate adventure:
"Freedom for fatherland and conscience" was the device which was to draw
thousands to his standard. On the western wolds of Frisia, he surprised
the castle of Wedde, a residence of the absent Aremberg, stadholder of
the province. Thence he advanced to Appingadam, or Dam, on the tide
waters of the Dollart. Here he was met by, his younger brother, the
gallant Adolphus, whose days were so nearly numbered, who brought with
him a small troop of horse. At Wedde, at Dam, and at Slochteren, the
standard was set up. At these three points there daily gathered armed
bodies of troops, voluntary adventurers, peasants with any rustic weapon
which they could find to their hand. Lieutenant-governor Groesbeck wrote
urgently to the Duke, that the beggars were hourly increasing in force;
that the leaders perfectly understood their game; that they kept their
plans a secret, but were fast seducing the heart of the country.
On the 4th May, Louis issued a summons to the magistracy of Groningen,
ordering them to send a deputation to confer with him at Dam. He was
prepared, he said, to show the commission with which he was provided.
He had not entered the country on a mere personal adventure, but had
received orders to raise a sufficient army. By the help of the eternal
God, he was determined, he said, to extirpate the detestable tyranny of
those savage persecutors who had shed so much Christian blood. He was
resolved to lift up the down-trod privileges, and, to protect the
fugitive, terror-stricken Christians and patriarchs of the country.
If the magistrates were disposed to receive him with friendship, it was
well. Otherwise, he should, with regret, feel himself obliged to proceed
against them, as enemies of his Majesty and of the common weal.
As the result of this summons, Louis received a moderate sum of money,
on condition of renouncing for the moment an attack upon the city. With
this temporary supply he was able to retain a larger number of the
adventurers; who were daily swarming around him.
In the mean time Alva was not idle. On the 30th April, he wrote to
Groesbeck, that he must take care not to be taken napping; that he must
keep his eyes well open until the arrival of succor, which was already on
the way. He then immediately ordered Count Aremberg, who had just
returned from France on conclusion of hostilities, to hasten to the seat
of war. Five vanderas of his own regiment; a small body of cavalry, and
Braccamonte's Sardinian legion, making in all a force of nearly 2500 men,
were ordered to follow him with the utmost expedition. Count Meghem,
stadholder of Gueldres, with five vanderas of infantry, three of light
horse, and some artillery, composing a total of about 1500 men, was
directed to co-operate with Aremberg. Upon this point the orders of the
Governor-general were explicit. It seemed impossible that the rabble
rout under Louis Nassau could stand a moment before nearly 4000 picked
and veteran troops, but the Duke was earnest in warning his generals not
to undervalue the enemy.
On the 7th May, Counts Meghem and Aremberg met and conferred at Arnheim,
on their way to Friesland. It was fully agreed between them, after
having heard full reports of the rising in that province, and of the
temper throughout the eastern Netherlands, that it would be rash to
attempt any separate enterprise. On the 11th, Aremberg reached
Vollenhoven, where he was laid up in his bed with the gout. Bodies of
men, while he lay sick, paraded hourly with fife and drum before his
windows, and discharged pistols and arquebuses across the ditch of the
blockhouse where he was quartered. On the 18th, Braccamonte, with his
legion, arrived by water at Harlingen. Not a moment more was lost.
Aremberg, notwithstanding his gout, which still confined him to a litter,
started at once in pursuit of the enemy. Passing through Groningen, he
collected all the troops which could be spared.. He also received six
pieces of artillery. Six cannon, which the lovers of harmony had
baptized with the notes of the gamut, 'ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la', were
placed at his disposal by the authorities, and have acquired historical
celebrity. It was, however, ordained that when those musical pieces
piped, the Spaniards were not to dance. On the 22d, followed by his
whole force, consisting of Braccamonte's legion, his own four vanderas,
and a troop of Germans, he came in sight of the enemy at Dam. Louis of
Nassau sent out a body of arquebusiers, about one thousand strong, from
the city. A sharp skirmish ensued, but the beggars were driven into
their entrenchments, with a loss of twenty or thirty men, and nightfall
terminated the contest.
It was beautiful to see, wrote Aremberg to Alva, how brisk and eager were
the Spaniards, notwithstanding the long march which they had that day
accomplished. Time was soon to show how easily immoderate, valor might
swell into a fault. Meantime, Aremberg quartered his troops in and about
Wittewerum Abbey, close to the little unwalled city of Dam.
On the other hand, Meghem, whose co-operation had been commanded by Alva,
and arranged personally with Aremberg a fortnight before, at Arnheim, had
been delayed in his movements. His troops, who had received no wages for
a long time had mutinied. A small sum of money, however, sent from
Brussels, quelled this untimely insubordination. Meghem then set forth
to effect his junction with his colleague, having assured the Governor-
general that the war would be ended in six days. The beggars had not a
stiver, he said, and must disband or be beaten to pieces as soon as
Aremberg and he had joined forces. Nevertheless he admitted that these
same "master-beggars," as he called them, might prove too many for either
general alone.