holding out with firmness. Want of funds caused the operations to be,
conducted with languor, but the same cause prevented the Prince from
accomplishing its relief. Thus the expedition from Philipsland, the most
brilliant military exploit of the whole war, was attended with important
results. The communication between Walcheren and the rest of Zealand was
interrupted; the province cut in two; a foothold on the ocean; for a
brief interval at least, acquired by Spain. The Prince was inexpressibly
chagrined by these circumstances, and felt that the moment had arrived
when all honorable means were to be employed to obtain foreign
assistance. The Hollanders and Zealanders had fought the battles of
freedom alone hitherto, and had fought them well, but poverty was fast
rendering them incapable of sustaining much longer the unequal conflict.
Offers of men, whose wages the states were to furnish, were refused; as
worse than fruitless. Henry of Navarre, who perhaps deemed it possible
to acquire the sovereignty of the provinces by so barren a benefit, was
willing to send two or three thousand men, but not at his own expense.
The proposition was respectfully declined.
The Prince and his little country, were all alone. "Even if we should
not only see ourselves deserted by all the world, but also all the world
against us," he said, "we should not cease to defend ourselves even to
the last man. Knowing the justice of our cause, we repose, entirely in
the mercy of God." He determined, however, once more to have recourse to
the powerful of the earth, being disposed to test the truth of his
celebrated observation, that "there would be no lack of suitors for the
bride that he had to bestow." It was necessary, in short, to look the
great question of formally renouncing Philip directly in the face.
Hitherto the fiction of allegiance had been preserved, and, even by the
enemies of the Prince, it, was admitted: that it had been retained with
no disloyal intent. The time however, had come when it was necessary.
to throw off allegiance, provided another could be found strong enough
and frank enough to accept the authority which Philip had forfeited. The
question was, naturally, between France and England; unless the provinces
could effect their re-admission into the body of the Germanic Empire.
Already in June the Prince had laid the proposition formally before the
states, "whether they should not negotiate with the Empire on the subject
of their admission, with maintenance of their own constitutions," but it
was understood that this plan was not to be carried out, if the
protection of the Empire could be obtained under easier conditions.
Nothing came of the proposition at that time. The nobles and the
deputies of South Holland now voted, in the beginning of the ensuing
month, "that it was their duty to abandon the King, as a tyrant who
sought to oppress and destroy his subjects; and that it behooved them to
seek another protector." This was while the Breda negotiations were
still pending, but when their inevitable result was very visible. There
was still a reluctance at taking the last and decisive step in the
rebellion, so that the semblance of loyalty was still retained; that
ancient scabbard, in which the sword might yet one day be sheathed. The
proposition was not adopted at the diet. A committee of nine was merely
appointed to deliberate with the Prince upon the "means of obtaining
foreign assistance, without accepting foreign authority, or severing
their connexion with his Majesty." The estates were, however, summoned
a few months later, by the Prince, to deliberate on this important matter
at Rotterdam. On the 1st of October he then formally proposed, either to
make terms with their enemy, and that the sooner the better, or else,
once for all, to separate entirely from the King of Spain, and to change
their sovereign, in order, with the assistance and under protection of
another Christian potentate, to maintain the provinces against their
enemies. Orange, moreover, expressed the opinion that upon so important
a subject it was decidedly incumbent upon them all to take the sense of
the city governments. The members for the various municipalities
acquiesced in the propriety of this suggestion, and resolved to consult
their constituents, while the deputies of the nobility also desired to
consult with their whole body. After an adjournment of a few days, the
diet again assembled at Delft, and it was then unanimously resolved by
the nobles and the cities, "that they would forsake the King and seek
foreign assistance; referring the choice to the Prince, who, in regard to
the government, was to take the opinion of the estates."
Thus, the great step was taken, by which two little provinces declared
themselves independent of their ancient master. That declaration,
although taken in the midst of doubt and darkness, was not destined to be
cancelled, and the germ of a new and powerful commonwealth was planted.
So little, however, did these republican fathers foresee their coming
republic, that the resolution to renounce one king was combined with a
proposition to ask for the authority of another. It was not imagined
that those two slender columns, which were all that had yet been raised.
of the future stately peristyle, would be strong enough to stand alone.
The question now arose, to what foreign power application should be made.
But little hope was to be entertained from Germany, a state which existed
only in name, and France was still in a condition of religious and
intestine discord. The attitude of revolt maintained by the Duc
d'Alencon seemed to make it difficult and dangerous to enter into
negotiations with a country where the civil wars had assumed so
complicated a character, that loyal and useful alliance could hardly be
made with any party. The Queen of England, on the other hand; dreaded
the wrath of Philip, by which her perpetual dangers from the side of
Scotland would be aggravated, while she feared equally the extension
of French authority in the Netherlands, by which increase her neighbour
would acquire an overshadowing power. She was also ashamed openly to
abandon the provinces to their fate, for her realm was supposed to be a
bulwark of the Protestant religion. Afraid to affront Philip, afraid to
refuse the suit of the Netherlands, afraid to concede as aggrandizement
to France, what course was open to the English Queen. That which,
politically and personally, she loved the best--a course of barren
coquetry. This the Prince of Orange foresaw; and although not disposed
to leave a stone unturned in his efforts to find assistance for his
country, he on the whole rather inclined for France. He, however, better
than any man, knew how little cause there was for sanguine expectation
from either source.
It was determined, in the name of his Highness and the estates, first to
send a mission to England, but there had already been negotiations this
year of an unpleasant character with that power. At the request of the
Spanish envoy, the foremost Netherland rebels, in number about fifty,
including by name the Prince of Orange, the Counts of Berg and Culemburg,
with Saint Aldegonde, Boisot, Junius, and others, had been formally
forbidden by Queen Elizabeth to enter her realm. The Prince had, in
consequence, sent Aldegonde and Junius on a secret mission to France,
and the Queen; jealous and anxious, had thereupon sent Daniel Rogers
secretly to the Prince. At the same tine she had sent an envoy to the
Grand Commander, counselling, conciliatory measures; and promising to
send a special mission to Spain with the offer of her mediation, but it
was suspected by those most in the confidence of the Spanish government
at Brussels, that there was a great deal of deception in these
proceedings. A truce for six months having now been established between
the Duc d'Alencon and his brother, it was supposed, that an alliance
between France and England, and perhaps between Alencon and Elizabeth,
was on the carpet, and that a kingdom of the Netherlands was to be the
wedding present of the bride to her husband. These fantasies derived
additional color from the fact that, while the Queen was expressing the
most amicable intentions towards Spain, and the greatest jealousy of
France, the English residents at Antwerp and other cities of the
Netherlands, had received private instructions to sell out their property
as fast as possible, and to retire from the country. On the whole, there
was little prospect either of a final answer, or of substantial
assistance from the Queen.
The envoys to England were Advocate Buis and Doctor Francis Maalzon,
nominated by the estates, and Saint Aldegonde, chief of the mission,
appointed by the Prince. They arrived in England at Christmas-tide.
Having represented to the Queen the result of the Breda negotiations,
they stated that the Prince and the estates, in despair of a secure
peace, had addressed themselves to her as an upright protector of the
Faith, and as a princess descended from the blood of Holland. This
allusion to the intermarriage of Edward III. of England with Philippa,
daughter of Count William III. of Hainault and Holland, would not, it was
hoped, be in vain. They furthermore offered to her Majesty, in case she
were willing powerfully to assist the states, the sovereignty over
Holland and Zealand, under certain conditions.
The Queen listened graciously to the envoys, and appointed commissioners
to treat with them on the subject. Meantime, Requesens sent Champagny to
England, to counteract the effect of this embassy of the estates, and to
beg the Queen to give no heed to the prayers of the rebels, to enter into
no negotiations with them, and to expel them at once from her kingdom.
The Queen gravely assured Champagny "that the envoys were no rebels, but
faithful subjects of his Majesty." There was certainly some effrontery
in such a statement, considering the solemn offer which had just been
made by the envoys. If to renounce allegiance to Philip and to propose
the sovereignty to Elizabeth did not constitute rebellion, it would be
difficult to define or to discover rebellion anywhere. The statement was
as honest, however, as the diplomatic grimace with which Champagny had
reminded Elizabeth of the ancient and unbroken friendship which had
always, existed between herself and his Catholic Majesty. The attempt
of Philip to procure her dethronement and assassination but a few years
before was, no doubt, thought too trifling a circumstance to have for a
moment interrupted those harmonious relations. Nothing came of the
negotiations on either side. The Queen coquetted, as was her custom.
She could not accept the offer of the estates; she could not say them
nay. She would not offend Philip; she would not abandon the provinces;
she would therefore negotiate--thus there was an infinite deal of
diplomatic nothing spun and unravelled, but the result was both to
abandon the provinces and to offend Philip.
In the first answer given by her commissioners to the states' envoys, it
was declared, "that her Majesty considered it too expensive to assume the
protection of both provinces." She was willing to protect them in name,
but she should confer the advantage exclusively on Walcheren in reality.
The defence of Holland must be maintained at the expense of the Prince
and the estates.
This was certainly not munificent, and the envoys insisted upon more
ample and liberal terms. The Queen declined, however, committing herself
beyond this niggardly and inadmissible offer. The states were not
willing to exchange the sovereignty over their country for so paltry
a concession. The Queen declared herself indisposed to go further,
at least before consulting parliament. The commissioners waited for
the assembling of parliament. She then refused to lay the matter before
that body, and forbade the Hollanders taking any steps for that purpose.
It was evident that she was disposed to trifle with the provinces, and
had no idea of encountering the open hostility of Philip. The envoys
accordingly begged for their passports. These were granted in April,
1576, with the assurance on the part of her Majesty that "she would think
more of the offer made to her after she had done all in her power to
bring about an arrangement between the provinces and Philip."
After the result of the negotiations of Breda, it is difficult to imagine
what method she was likely to devise for accomplishing such a purpose.
The King was not more disposed than during the preceding summer to grant
liberty of religion, nor were the Hollanders more ready than they had
been before to renounce either their faith or their fatherland. The
envoys, on parting, made a strenuous effort to negotiate a loan, but the
frugal Queen considered the proposition quite inadmissible. She granted
them liberty to purchase arms and ammunition, and to levy a few soldiers
with their own money, and this was accordingly done to a limited extent.
As it was not difficult to hire soldiers or to buy gunpowder anywhere,
in that warlike age, provided the money were ready, the states had hardly
reason to consider themselves under deep obligation for this concession.
Yet this was the whole result of the embassy. Plenty of fine words had,
been bestowed, which might or might not have meaning, according to the
turns taken by coming events. Besides these cheap and empty civilities,
they received permission to defend Holland at their own expense; with the
privilege, of surrendering its sovereignty, if they liked, to Queen
Elizabeth-and this was all.
On the 19th of April, the envoys returned to their country, and laid
before the estates the meagre result of their negotiations. Very soon
afterwards, upon an informal suggestion from Henry III. and the Queen
Mother, that a more favorable result might be expected, if the same
applications were made to the Duc d'Alencon which had been received in
so unsatisfactory a manner by Elizabeth, commissioners were appointed to
France. It proved impossible, however, at that juncture, to proceed with
the negotiations, in consequence of the troubles occasioned by the
attitude of the Duke. The provinces were still, even as they had been
from the beginning, entirely alone.
Requesens was more than ever straitened for funds, wringing, with
increasing difficulty, a slender subsidy, from time to time, out of the
reluctant estates of Brabant, Flanders, and the other obedient provinces.
While he was still at Duiveland, the estates-general sent him a long
remonstrance against the misconduct of the soldiery, in answer to his
demand for supplies. "Oh, these estates! these estates!" cried the
Grand Commander, on receiving such vehement reproaches instead of his
money; "may the Lord deliver me from these estates!" Meantime, the
important siege of Zierickzee continued, and it was evident that the city
must fall. There was no money at the disposal of the Prince. Count
John, who was seriously embarrassed by reason of the great obligations in
money which he, with the rest of his family, had incurred on behalf of
the estates, had recently made application to the Prince for his
influence towards procuring him relief. He had forwarded an account of
the great advances made by himself and his brethren in money, plate,
furniture, and endorsements of various kinds, for which a partial
reimbursement was almost indispensable to save him from serious
difficulties. The Prince, however, unable to procure him any assistance,
had been obliged him once more to entreat him to display the generosity
and the self-denial which the country had never found wanting at his
hands or at those of his kindred. The appeal had not been, in vain, but
the Count was obviously not in a condition to effect anything more at
that moment to relieve the financial distress of the states. The
exchequer was crippled.
[The contributions of Holland and Zealand for war expenses amounted
to one hundred and fifty thousand florins monthly. The pay of a
captain was eighty florins monthly; that of a lieutenant, forty;
that of a corporal, fifteen; that of a drummer, fifer, or Minister,
twelve; that of a common soldier, seven and a half. A captain had
also one hundred and fifty florins each month to distribute among
the most meritorious of his company. Each soldier was likewise
furnished with food; bedding, fire, light, and washing.--Renom de
France MS, vol. ii. c. 46,]
Holland and Zealand were cut in twain by the occupation of Schouwen and
the approaching fall of its capital. Germany, England, France; all
refused to stretch out their hands to save the heroic but exhaustless
little provinces. It was at this moment that a desperate but sublime
resolution took possession of the Prince's mind. There seemed but one
way left to exclude the Spaniards for ever from Holland and Zealand, and
to rescue the inhabitants from impending ruin. The Prince had long
brooded over the scheme, and the hour seemed to have struck for its
fulfilment. His project was to collect all the vessels, of every
description, which could be obtained throughout the Netherlands. The
whole population of the two provinces, men, women, and children, together
with all the moveable property of the country, were then to be embarked
on board this numerous fleet, and to seek a new home beyond the seas.
The windmills were then to be burned, the dykes pierced, the sluices
opened in every direction, and the country restored for ever to the
ocean, from which it had sprung.
It is difficult to say whether the resolution, if Providence had
permitted its fulfilment, would have been, on the whole, better or worse
for humanity and civilization. The ships which would have borne the
heroic Prince and his fortunes might have taken the direction of the
newly-discovered Western hemisphere. A religious colony, planted by a
commercial and liberty-loving race, in a virgin soil, and directed by
patrician but self-denying hands, might have preceded, by half a century,
the colony which a kindred race, impelled by similar motives, and under
somewhat similar circumstances and conditions, was destined to plant upon
the stern shores of New England. Had they directed their course to the
warm and fragrant islands of the East, an independent Christian
commonwealth might have arisen among those prolific regions, superior in
importance to any subsequent colony of Holland, cramped from its birth by
absolute subjection to a far distant metropolis.
The unexpected death of Requesens suddenly dispelled these schemes. The
siege of Zierickzee had occupied much of the Governor's attention, but he
had recently written to his sovereign, that its reduction was now
certain. He had added an urgent request for money, with a sufficient
supply of which he assured Philip that he should be able to bring the war
to an immediate conclusion. While waiting for these supplies, he had,
contrary to all law or reason, made an unsuccessful attempt to conquer
the post of Embden, in Germany. A mutiny had at about the same time,
broken out among his troops in Harlem, and he had furnished the citizens
with arms to defend themselves, giving free permission to use them
against the insurgent troops. By this means the mutiny had been quelled,
but a dangerous precedent established. Anxiety concerning this rebellion
is supposed to have hastened the Grand Commander's death. A violent
fever seized him on the 1st, and terminated his existence on the 5th of
March, in the fifty-first year of his life.
It is not necessary to review elaborately his career, the chief incidents
of which have been sufficiently described. Requesens was a man of high
position by birth and office, but a thoroughly commonplace personage.
His talents either for war or for civil employments were not above
mediocrity. His friends disputed whether he were greater in the field or
in the council, but it is certain that he was great in neither. His
bigotry was equal to that of Alva, but it was impossible to rival the
Duke in cruelty. Moreover, the condition of the country, after seven
years of torture under his predecessor, made it difficult for him, at the
time of his arrival, to imitate the severity which had made the name of
Alva infamous. The Blood Council had been retained throughout his
administration, but its occupation was gone, for want of food for its
ferocity. The obedient provinces had been purged of Protestants; while
crippled, too, by confiscation, they offered no field for further
extortion. From Holland and Zealand, whence Catholicism had been nearly
excluded, the King of Spain was nearly excluded also. The Blood Council
which, if set up in that country, would have executed every living
creature of its population, could only gaze from a distance at those who
would have been its victims. Requesens had been previously distinguished
in two fields of action: the Granada massacres and the carnage of
Lepanto. Upon both occasions he had been the military tutor of Don John
of Austria, by whom he was soon to be succeeded in the government of the
Netherlands. To the imperial bastard had been assigned the pre-eminence,
but it was thought that the Grand Commander had been entitled to a more
than equal share of the glory.
We have seen how much additional reputation was acquired by Requesens
in the provinces. The expedition against Duiveland and Schouwen, was,
on the whole, the most brilliant feat of arms during the war, and its
success reflects an undying lustre on the hardihood and discipline of the
Spanish, German, and Walloon soldiery. As an act of individual audacity
in a bad cause, it has rarely been equalled. It can hardly be said,
however, that the Grand Commander was entitled to any large measure of
praise for the success of the expedition. The plan was laid by Zealand
traitors. It was carried into execution by the devotion of the Spanish,
Walloon, and German troops; while Requesens was only a spectator of the
transaction. His sudden death arrested, for a moment, the ebb-tide in
the affairs of the Netherlands, which was fast leaving the country bare
and desolate, and was followed by a train of unforeseen transactions,
which it is now our duty to describe.
ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS:
As the old woman had told the Emperor Adrian
Beautiful damsel, who certainly did not lack suitors
Breath, time, and paper were profusely wasted and nothing gained
Care neither for words nor menaces in any matter
Distinguished for his courage, his cruelty, and his corpulence
He had never enjoyed social converse, except at long intervals
Human ingenuity to inflict human misery
Peace was desirable, it might be more dangerous than war
Proposition made by the wolves to the sheep, in the fable
Rebuked the bigotry which had already grown
Reformers were capable of giving a lesson even to inquisitors
Result was both to abandon the provinces and to offend Philip
Suppress the exercise of the Roman religion
The more conclusive arbitration of gunpowder