[Illustration: THE DUKE OF ALVA DEPOSES MARGARET OF PARMA]

HOLLAND

THE HISTORY OF THE NETHERLANDS

BY THOMAS COLLEY GRATTAN

WITH A SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTER OF RECENT EVENTS BY JULIAN HAWTHORNE

CONTENTS

CHAPTER I

FROM THE INVASION OF THE NETHERLANDS BY THE ROMANS TO THE INVASIONBY THE SALIAN FRANKS

B. C. 50--A. D. 250

Extent of the Kingdom--Description of the People--Ancient Stateof the Low Countries--Of the High Grounds--Contrasted with thepresent Aspect of the Country--Expedition of Julius Cæsar--TheBelgæ--The Menapians--Batavians--Distinguished among the Auxiliariesof Rome--Decrease of national Feeling in Part of the Country--Steady Patriotism of the Frisons and Menapians--Commencement ofCivilization--Early Formation of the Dikes--Degeneracy of thosewho became united to the Romans--Invasion of the Netherlandsby the Salian Franks. 

CHAPTER II

FROM THE SETTLEMENT OF THE FRANKS TO THE SUBJUGATION OF FRIESLANDBY THE FRENCH

A. D. 250--800

Character of the Franks--The Saxon Tribes--Destruction of theSalians by a Saxon Tribe--Julian the Apostate--Victories of Clovisin Gaul--Contrast between the Low Countries and the Provinces ofFrance--State of Friesland--Charles Martell--Friesland convertedto Christianity--Finally subdued by France. 

CHAPTER III

FROM THE CONQUEST OF FRIESLAND TO THE FORMATION OF HOLLAND

A. D. 800--1000

Commencement of the Feudal System in the Highlands--Flourishing Stateof the Low Countries--Counts of the Empire--Formation of the Gildenor Trades--Establishment of popular Privileges in Friesland--Inwhat they consisted--Growth of Ecclesiastical Power--Baldwin ofFlanders--Created Count--Appearance of the Normans--They ravage theNetherlands--Their Destruction, and final Disappearance--Divisionof the Empire into Higher and Lower Lorraine--Establishment ofthe Counts of Lorraine and Hainault--Increasing Power of theBishops of Liege and Utrecht--Their Jealousy of the Counts; whoresist their Encroachments. 

CHAPTER IV

FROM THE FORMATION OF HOLLAND TO THE DEATH OF LOUIS DE MALE

A. D. 1018--1384

Origin of Holland--Its first Count--Aggrandizement of Flanders--Itsgrowing Commerce--Fisheries--Manufactures--Formation of the Countyof Guelders, and of Brabant--State of Friesland--State of theProvinces--The Crusades--Their good Effects on the State of theNetherlands--Decline of the Feudal Power, and Growth of the Influenceof the Towns--Great Prosperity of the Country--The Flemings takeup Arms against the French--Drive them out of Bruges, and defeatthem in the Battle of Courtrai--Popular Success in Brabant--ItsConfederation with Flanders--Rebellion of Bruges against theCount, and of Ghent under James d' Artaveldt--His Alliance withEngland--His Power, and Death--Independence of Flanders--Battleof Roosbeke--Philip the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, obtains theSovereignty of Flanders. 

CHAPTER V

FROM THE SUCCESSION OF PHILIP THE BOLD TO THE COUNTY OF FLANDERSTO THE DEATH OF PHILIP THE FAIR

A. D. 1384--1506

Philip succeeds to the Inheritance of Brabant--Makes War on Englandas a French Prince, Flanders remaining neuter--Power of the Housesof Burgundy and Bavaria, and Decline of Public Liberty--Union ofHolland, Hainault, and Brabant--Jacqueline, Countess of Holland andHainault--Flies from the Tyranny of her Husband, John of Brabant, and takes Refuge in England--Murder of John the Fearless, Duke ofBurgundy--Accession of his Son, Philip the Good--His Policy--Espousesthe Cause of John of Brabant against Jacqueline--Deprives herof Hainault, Holland, and Zealand--Continues his Persecution, and despoils her of her last Possession and Titles--She marriesa Gentleman of Zealand, and Dies--Peace or Arras--Dominions ofthe House of Burgundy equal to the present Extent of the Kingdomof the Netherlands--Rebellion of Ghent--Affairs of Holland andZealand--Charles the Rash--His Conduct in Holland--Succeeds hisFather--Effects of Philip's Reign on the Manners of the People--Louis XI. --Death of Charles, and Succession of Mary--Factionsamong her Subjects--Marries Maximilian of Austria--Battle ofGuinegate--Death of Mary--Maximilian unpopular--Imprisoned byhis Subjects--Released--Invades the Netherlands--Succeeds tothe Imperial Throne by the Death of his Father--Philip the Fairproclaimed Duke and Count--His wise Administration--Affairs ofFriesland--Of Guelders--Charles of Egmont--Death of Philip theFair. 

CHAPTER VI

FROM THE GOVERNMENT OF MARGARET OF AUSTRIA TO THE ABDICATION OFTHE EMPEROR CHARLES V

A. D. 1506--1555

Margaret of Austria invested with the Sovereignty--Her Characterand Government--Charles, Son of Philip the Fair, created Duke ofBrabant and Count of Flanders and Holland--The Reformation--MartinLuther--Persecution of the Reformers--Battle of Pavia--Cession ofUtrecht to Charles V. --Peace of Cambray--The Anabaptists' Seditionat Ghent--Expedition against Tunis and Algiers--Charles becomespossessed of Friesland and Guelders--His increasing Severityagainst the Protestants--His Abdication and Death--Review--Progressof Civilization. 

CHAPTER VII

FROM THE ACCESSION OF PHILIP II. OF SPAIN TO THE ESTABLISHMENTOF THE INQUISITION IN THE NETHERLANDS

A. D. 1555--1566

Accession of Philip II. --His Character and Government--His Warswith France, and with the Pope--Peace with the Pope--Battle of St. Quentin--Battle of Gravelines--Peace of Câteau-Cambresis--Deathof Mary of England--Philip's Despotism--Establishes a ProvisionalGovernment--Convenes the States--General at Ghent--His MinisterGranvelle--Goes to Zealand--Embarks for Spain--Prosperity revives--Effects of the Provisional Government--Marguerite of Palma--Character of Granvelle--Viglius de Berlaimont--Departure of thespanish Troops--Clergy--Bishops--National Discontent--Granvelleappointed Cardinal--Edict against Heresy--Popular Indignation--Reformation--State of Brabant--Confederacy against Granvelle--Prince of Orange--Counts Egmont and Horn join the Prince againstGranvelle--Granvelle recalled--Council of Trent--Its Decreesreceived with Reprobation--Decrees against Reformers--Philip'sBigotry--Establishment of the Inquisition--Popular Resistance. 

CHAPTER VIII

COMMENCEMENT OF THE REVOLUTION

A. D. 1566

Commencement of the Revolution--Defence of the Prince ofOrange--Confederacy of the Nobles--Louis of Nassau--DeBrederode--Philip de St. Aldegonde--Assembly of the Council ofState--Confederates enter Brussels--Take the Title of _Gueux_--QuitBrussels, and disperse in the Provinces--Measures of Government--Growing Power of the Confederates--Progress of the Reformation--Field Preaching--Herman Stricker--Boldness of the Protestants--Peter Dathen--Ambrose Ville--Situation of Antwerp--The Princerepairs to it, and saves it--Meeting of the Confederates at St. Trond---The Prince of Orange and Count Egmont treat with them--Tyranny of Philip and Moderation of the Spanish Council--ImageBreakers--Destruction of the Cathedral, of Antwerp--Terror ofGovernment--Firmness of Viglius--Arbitration between the Courtand the People--Concessions made by Government--Restoration ofTranquillity. 

CHAPTER IX

TO THE ADMINISTRATION OF REQUESENS

A. D. 1566--1573

Philip's Vindictiveness and Hypocrisy--Progress ofProtestantism--Gradual Dissolution of the Conspiracy--Artificesof Philip and the Court to disunite the Protestants--Firmness ofthe Prince of Orange--Conference at Termonde--Egmont abandonsthe Patriot Cause--Fatal Effects of his Conduct--Commencementof Hostilities--Siege of Valenciennes--Protestant Synod atAntwerp--Haughty Conduct of the Government--Royalists Repulsedat Bois-le-duc--Battle of Osterweel, and Defeat of thePatriots--Antwerp again saved by the Firmness and Prudence ofthe Prince of Orange--Capitulation of Valenciennes--Success ofthe Royalists--Death of De Brederode--New Oath of Allegiance;Refused by the Prince of Orange and others--The Prince resolveson voluntary Banishment, and departs for Germany--His Example isfollowed by the Lords--Extensive Emigration--Arrival of the Duke ofOrleans--Egmont's Humiliation--Alva's Powers--Arrest of Egmont andothers---Alva's first Acts of Tyranny--Council of Blood--Recall ofthe Government--Alva's Character--He summons the Prince of Orange, who is tried by Contumacy--Horrors committed by Alva--Desolate Stateof the Country--Trial and Execution of Egmont and Horn--The Princeof Orange raises an Army in Germany, and opens his first Campaignin the Netherlands--Battle of Heiligerlee--Death of Adolphus ofNassau--Battle of Jemminghem--Success and skilful Conduct ofAlva--Dispersion of the Prince of Orange's Army--Growth of the navalPower of the Patriots--Inundation in Holland and Friesland--Alvareproached by Philip--Duke of Medina-Celi appointed Governor--Isattacked, and his fleet destroyed by the Patriots--Demands hisRecall--Policy of the English Queen, Elizabeth--The Dutch takeBrille--General Revolt in Holland and Zealand--New Expedition ofthe Prince of Orange--Siege of Mons--Success of the Prince--Siegeof Haarlem--Of Alkmaer--Removal of Alva--Don Luis Zanega y Requesensappointed Governor-General. 

CHAPTER X

TO THE PACIFICATION OF GHENT

A. D. 1573--1576

Character of Requesens--His conciliating Conduct--Renews theWar against the States--Siege of Middleburg--Generosity of thePrince of Orange--Naval Victory--State of Flanders--Count Louis ofNassau--Battle of Mookerheyde--Counts Louis and Henry slain--Mutinyof the Spanish Troops--Siege of Leyden--Negotiations for Peace atBreda--The Spaniards take Zuriczee--Requesens dies--The Governmentdevolves on the Council of State--Miserable State of the Country, and Despair of the Patriots--Spanish Mutineers--The States-Generalare convoked, and the Council arrested by the Grand Bailiff ofBrabant--The Spanish Mutineers sack and capture Maestricht, andafterward Antwerp--The States-General assemble at Ghent and assumethe Government--The Pacification of Ghent. 

CHAPTER XI

TO THE RENUNCIATION OF THE SOVEREIGNTY OF SPAIN AND THE DECLARATIONOF INDEPENDENCE

A. D. 1576--1580

Don John of Austria, Governor-General, arrives in theNetherlands--His Character and Conduct--The States send an Envoyto Elizabeth of England--She advances them a Loan of Money--TheUnion of Brussels--The Treaty of Marche-en-Famenne, called thePerpetual Edict--The impetuous Conduct of Don John excites thepublic Suspicion--He seizes on the Citadel of Namur--The Princeof Orange is named Protector of Brabant--The People destroy theCitadels of Antwerp and other Towns--The Duke of Arschot is namedGovernor of Flanders--He invites the Archduke Mathias to acceptthe Government of the Netherlands--Wise Conduct of the Prince ofOrange--Ryhove and Hembyse possess themselves of supreme Power atGhent--The Prince of Orange goes there and establishes Order--TheArchduke Mathias is installed--The Prince of Parma arrives inthe Netherlands, and gains the Battle of Gemblours--Confusionof the States-General--The Duke of Alencon comes to theirAssistance--Dissensions among the Patriot Chiefs--Death of DonJohn of Austria--Suspicions of his having been Poisoned by Order ofPhilip II. --The Prince of Parma is declared Governor-General--TheUnion of Utrecht--The Prince of Parma takes the Field--The Congressof Cologne rendered fruitless by the Obstinacy of Philip--TheStates-General assemble at Antwerp, and issue a Declaration ofNational Independence--The Sovereignty of the Netherlands grantedto the Duke of Alencon. 

CHAPTER XII

TO THE MURDER OF THE PRINCE OF ORANGE

A. D. 1580--1584

Proscription of the Prince of Orange--His celebrated Apology--Philipproposes sending back the Duchess of Parma as Stadtholderess--Herson refuses to act jointly with her, and is left in the exerciseof his Power--The Siege of Cambray undertaken by the Prince ofParma, and gallantly defended by the Princess of Epinoi--TheDuke of Alencon created Duke of Anjou--Repairs to England, inhopes of marrying Queen Elizabeth--He returns to the Netherlandsunsuccessful, and is inaugurated at Antwerp--The Prince of Orangedesperately wounded by an Assassin--Details on John Jaureguayand his Accomplices--The People suspect the French of the Crime--Rapid Recovery of the Prince, who soon resumes his accustomedActivity--Violent Conduct of the Duke of Anjou, who treacherouslyattempts to seize on Antwerp--He is defeated by the Townspeople--His Disgrace and Death--Ungenerous Suspicions of the People againstthe Prince of Orange, who leaves Flanders in Disgust--Treacheryof the Prince of Chimay and others--Treason of Hembyse--He isexecuted at Ghent--The States resolve to confer the Sovereigntyon the Prince of Orange--He is murdered at Delft--Parallel betweenhim and the Admiral Coligny--Execution of Balthazar Gerard, hisAssassin--Complicity of the Prince of Parma. 

CHAPTER XIII

TO THE DEATH OF ALEXANDER, PRINCE OF PARMA

A. D. 1584--1592

Effects of William's Death on the History of his Country--FirmConduct of the United Provinces--They reject the Overtures ofthe Prince of Parma--He reduces the whole of Flanders--DeplorableSituation of the Country--Vigorous Measures of the NorthernStates--Antwerp besieged--Operations of the Siege--Immense Exertionsof the Besiegers--The Infernal Machine--Battle on the Dike ofCouvestien--Surrender of Antwerp--Extravagant Joy of Philip II. --TheUnited Provinces solicit the Aid of France and England--Elizabethsends them a supply of Troops under the Earl of Leicester--He returnsto England--Treachery of some English and Scotch Officers--PrinceMaurice commences his Career--The Spanish Armada--Justin of Nassaublocks up the Prince of Parma in the Flemish Ports--Ruin of theArmada--Philip's Mock Piety on hearing the News--Leicesterdies--Exploits and Death of Martin Schenck--Breda surprised--TheDuke of Parma leads his Army into France--His famous Retreat--HisDeath and Character. 

CHAPTER XIV

TO THE INDEPENDENCE OF BELGIUM AND THE DEATH OF PHILLIP II. 

A. D. 1592--1599

Count Mansfield named Governor-General--State of Flanders andBrabant--The Archduke Ernest named Governor-General--Attemptsagainst the Life of Prince Maurice--He takes Groningen--Death ofthe Archduke Ernest--Count Fuentes named Governor-General--He takesCambray and other Towns--Is soon replaced by the Archduke Albertof Austria--His high Reputation--He opens his first Campaign inthe Netherlands--His Successes--Prince Maurice gains the Battleof Turnhout--Peace of Vervins--Philip yields the Sovereignty ofthe Netherlands to Albert and Isabella--A new Plot against theLife of Prince Maurice--Albert sets out for Spain, and receivesthe News of Philip's Death--Albert arrives in Spain, and solemnizeshis Marriage with the Infanta Isabella--Review of the State ofthe Netherlands. 

CHAPTER XV

TO THE CAMPAIGN OF PRINCE MAURICE AND SPINOLA

A. D. 1599--1604

Cardinal Andrew of Austria Governor--Francisco Mendoza, Admiralof Aragon, invades the neutral States of Germany--His atrociousConduct--Prince Maurice takes the Field--His masterlyMovements--Sybilla of Cleves raises an Army, which is, quicklydestroyed--Great Exertions of the States-General--Naval Expeditionunder Vander Goes--Its complete Failure--Critical Situation of theUnited Provinces--Arrival of the Archduke in Brussels--Successof Prince Maurice--His Expedition into Flanders--Energy of theArchduke--Heroism of Isabella--Progress of Albert's Army--Itsfirst Success--Firmness of Maurice--The Battle of Nieuport--TotalDefeat of the Royalists--Consequences of the Victory--PrinceMaurice returns to Holland--Negotiations for Peace--Siege ofOstend--Death of Elizabeth of England--United Provinces sendAmbassadors to James I. --Successful Negotiations of Barneveldtand the Duke of Sully in London--Peace between England andSpain--Brilliant Campaign between Spinola and Prince Maurice--Battleof Roeroord--Naval Transactions--Progress of Dutch Influence inIndia--Establishment of the East India Company. 

CHAPTER XVI

TO THE SYNOD OF DORT AND THE EXECUTION OF BARNEVELDT

A. D. 1600--1619

Spinola proposes to invade the United Provinces--Successfullyopposed by Prince Maurice--The Dutch defeated at Sea--DesperateConduct of Admiral Klagoon--Great naval Victory of the Dutch, and Death of their Admiral Heemskirk--Overtures of the Archdukesfor Peace--How received in Holland--Prudent Conduct ofBarneveldt--Negotiations opened at The Hague--John de Neyen, Ambassador for the Archdukes--Armistice for Eight Months--Neyenattempts to bribe D'Aarsens, the Greffier of the States-General--HisConduct disclaimed by Verreiken, Counsellor to the Archdukes--GreatPrejudices in Holland against King James I. And the English, and Partiality toward France--Rupture of the Negotiations--Theyare renewed--Truce for Twelve Years signed at Antwerp--Givesgreat Satisfaction in the Netherlands--Important Attitude ofthe United Provinces--Conduct of the Belgian Provinces--Disputesrelative to Cleves and Juviers--Prince Maurice and Spinola removetheir Armies into the contested states--Intestine Troubles inthe United Provinces--Assassination of Henry IV. Of France--HisCharacter--Change in Prince Maurice's Character and Conduct--Heis strenuously opposed by Barneveldt--Religious Disputes--KingJames enters the Lists of Controversy--Barneveldt and Mauricetake Opposite sides--The cautionary Towns released from thePossession of England--Consequences of this Event--Calumniesagainst Barneveldt--Ambitious Designs of Prince Maurice--He isbaffled by Barneveldt--The Republic assists its Allies with Moneyand Ships--Its great naval Power--Outrages of some Dutch Sailors inIreland--Unresented by King James--His Anger at the manufacturingProsperity of the United Provinces--Excesses of the Gomarists--TheMagistrates call out the National Militia--Violent Conduct ofPrince Maurice--Uncompromising Steadiness of Barneveldt--Calumniesagainst him--Maurice succeeds to the Title of Prince of Orange, and Acts with increasing Violence--Arrest of Barneveldt and hisFriends--Synod of Dort--Its Consequences--Trial, Condemnation, and Execution of Barneveldt--Grotius and Hoogerbeets sentencedto perpetual Imprisonmemt--Ledenburg commits Suicide. 

CHAPTER XVII

TO THE DEATH OF PRINCE MAURICE

A. D. 1619--1625

The Parties Of Arminianism quite subdued--Emigrations--Grotiusresolves to attempt an Escape from Prison--Succeeds in hisAttempt--He repairs to Paris, and publishes his "Apology"--Expirationof the Twelve Years' Truce--Death of Philip III. And of the ArchdukeAlbert--War in Germany--Campaign between Prince Maurice andSpinola--Conspiracy against the Life of Prince Maurice--ItsFailure--Fifteen of the Conspirators executed--Great Unpopularityof Maurice--Death of Maurice. 

CHAPTER XVIII

TO THE TREATY OF MUNSTER

A. D. 1625--1648

Frederick Henry succeeds his Brother--Charles I. King of England--Warbetween France and England--Victories of Admiral Hein--BrilliantSuccess of Frederick Henry--Fruitless Enterprise in Flanders--Deathof the Archduchess Isabella--Confederacy in Brabant--Its Failure, and Arrest of the Nobles--Ferdinand, Prince-Cardinal, Governor-General--Treaty between France and Holland--Battle ofAvein--Naval Affairs--Battle of the Downs--Van Tromp--Negotiationsfor the Marriage of Prince William with the Princess Mary ofEngland--Death of the Prince-Cardinal--Don Francisco de MelloGovernor-General--Battle of Rocroy--Gallantry of PrinceWilliam--Death of Cardinal Richelieu and of Louis XIII. --EnglishPolitics--Affairs of Germany--Negotiations for Peace--FinancialEmbarrassment of the Republic--The Republic negotiates withSpain--Last Exploits of Frederick Henry--His Death, andCharacter--William II. Stadtholder--Peace of Munster--Resentmentof Louis XIII. --Peace of Westphalia--Review of the Progress ofArt, Science, and Manners--Literature-- Painting--Engraving--Sculpture--Architecture--Finance--Population--CommercialCompanies--Manners. 

CHAPTER XIX

FROM THE PEACE OF MUNSTER TO THE PEACE OF NIMEGUEN

A. D. 1648--1678

State of the Republic after the Peace of Munster--State ofEngland--William II. Stadtholder--His ambitious Designs and ViolentConduct--Attempts to seize on Amsterdam--His Death--DifferentSensations caused by his Death--The Prerogatives of the Stadtholderassumed by the People--Naval War with England--English Act ofNavigation--Irish Hostilities--Death of Tromp--A Peace withEngland--Disturbed State of the Republic--War with Denmark--Peaceconcluded--Charles II. Restored to the English Throne--DeclaresWar against Holland--Naval Actions--Charles endeavors to excite allEurope against the Dutch--His Failure--Renewed Hostilities--De Ruyterdefeated--Peace of Breda--Invasion of Flanders by Louis XIV. --Heoverruns Brabant and Flanders--Triple League, 1668--PerfidiousConduct of Charles II. --He declares War against Holland, etc. , as does Louis XIV. --Unprepared State of United Provinces--WilliamIII. Prince of Orange--Appointed Captain-General and HighAdmiral--Battle of Solebay--The French Invade the Republic--TheStates-General implore Peace--Terms demanded by Louis XIV. Andby Charles II. --Desperation of the Dutch--The Prince of Orangeproclaimed Stadtholder--Massacre of the De Witts--Fine Conduct ofthe Prince of Orange--He takes the Field--Is reinforced by Spain, the Emperor, and Brandenburg--Louis XIV. Forced to abandon hisConquests--Naval Actions with the English--A Peace, 1674--MilitaryAffairs--Battle of Senef--Death of De Ruyter--Congress for Peaceat Nimeguen--Battle of Mont Cassel--Marriage of the Prince ofOrange--Peace of Nimeguen. 

CHAPTER XX

FROM THE PEACE OF NIMEGUEN TO THE PEACE OF UTRECHT

A. D. 1678--1713

State of Europe subsequently to the Peace of Nimeguen--ArrogantConduct of Louis XIV. --Truce for Twenty Years--Death of CharlesII. Of England--League of Augsburg--The Conduct of William--Heinvades England--James II. Deposed--William III. Proclaimed King ofEngland--King William puts himself at the Head of the Confederacyagainst Louis XIV. , and enters on the War--Military Operations--Peaceof Ryswyk--Death of Charles II. Of Spain--War of Succession--Deathof William III. --His Character--Duke of Marlborough--PrinceEugene--Successes of the Earl of Peterborough in Spain andPortugal--Louis XIV. Solicits Peace--Conferences for Peace--Peaceof Utrecht--Treaty of the Barrier. 

CHAPTER XXI

FROM THE PEACE OF UTRECHT TO THE INCORPORATION OF BELGIUM WITHTHE FRENCH REPUBLIC

A. D. 1713--1794

Quadruple Alliance--General Peace of Europe--Wise Conduct of theRepublic--Great Danger from the bad State of the Dikes--Deathof the Emperor Charles VI. --Maria Theresa Empress--Her heroicConduct--Battle of Dettingen--Louis XV. Invades theNetherlands--Conferences for Peace at Breda--Battle ofFontenoy--William IV. Stadtholder and Captain-General--Peace ofAix-la-Chapelle--Death of the Stadtholder, who is succeeded by hisSon William V. --War of Seven Years--State of the Republic--WilliamV. Stadtholder--Dismemberment of Poland--Joseph II. Emperor--Hisattempted Reforms in Religion--War with England--Sea-Fight onthe Doggerbank--Peace with England, 1784--Progress of PublicOpinion in Europe, in Belgium, and Holland--Violent Oppositionto the Stadtholder--Arrest of the Princess of Orange--Invasionof Holland by the Prussian Army--Agitation in Belgium--VanderNoot--Prince Albert of Saxe-Teschen and the Archduchess MariaTheresa joint Governors-General--Succeeded by CountMurray--Riots--Meetings of the Provisional States--GeneralInsurrection--Vonckists--Vander Mersch--Takes the Command ofthe Insurgents--His Skilful Conduct--He gains the Battle ofTurnhout--Takes Possession of Flanders--Confederation of theBelgian Provinces--Death of Joseph II. --Leopold Emperor--Arrestof Vander Mersch--Arrogance of the States-General of Belgium--TheAustrians overrun the Country--Convention at The Hague--Deathof Leopold--Battle of Jemmappes--General Dumouriez--Conquest ofBelgium by the French--Recovered by the Austrians--The ArchdukeCharles Governor-General--War in the Netherlands--Duke of York--TheEmperor Francis--The Battle of Fleurus--Incorporation of Belgiumwith the French Republic--Peace of Leoben--Treaty of Campo-Formio. 

CHAPTER XXII

FROM THE INVASION OF HOLLAND BY THE FRENCH TO THE RETURN OF THEPRINCE OF ORANGE

A. D. 1794--1818

Pichegru invades Holland--Winter Campaign--The Duke of York vainlyresists the French Army--Abdication of the Stadtholder--BatavianRepublic--War with England--Unfortunate Situation of Holland--NavalFight--English Expedition to the Helder--Napoleon Bonaparte--LouisBonaparte named King of Holland--His popular Conduct--He abdicatesthe Throne--Annexation of Holland to the French Empire--Ruinousto the Prosperity of the Republic--The people desire the Returnof the Prince of Orange--Confederacy to effect this Purpose--TheAllied Armies advance toward Holland--The Nation rises to throwoff the Yoke of France--Count Styrum and his Associates leadon that Movement, and proclaim the Prince of Orange, who landsfrom England--His first Proclamation--His second Proclamation. 

CHAPTER XXIII

FROM THE INSTALLATION OF WILLIAM I. AS PRINCE-SOVEREIGN OF THENETHERLANDS TO THE BATTLE OF WATERLOO

A. D. 1813--1815

Rapid Organization of Holland--The Constitution formed--Accepted bythe People--Objections made to it by some Individuals--Inaugurationof the Prince-Sovereign--Belgium is occupied by the Allies--Treatyof Paris--Treaty of London--Formation of the Kingdom of theNetherlands--Basis of the Government--Relative Character andSituation of Holland and Belgium--The Prince-Sovereign of Hollandarrives in Belgium as Governor-General--The fundamental Law--Reportof the Commissioners by whom it was framed--Public Feeling inHolland, and in Belgium--The Emperor Napoleon invades France, and Belgium--The Prince of Orange takes the Field--The Duke ofWellington--Prince Blucher--Battle of Ligny--Battle of QuatreBras--Battle of Waterloo--Anecdote of the Prince of Orange, whois wounded--Inauguration of the King. 

SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTER (A. D. 1810--1899). 

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

HOLLAND

 The Duke of Alva Deposes Margaret of Parma. 

 Storming the Barricades at Brussels During the Revolution of 1848. 

 William the Silent of Orange. 

 A Holland Beauty. 

CHAPTER I

FROM THE INVASION OF THE NETHERLANDS BY THE ROMANS TO THE INVASIONBY THE SALIAN FRANKS

B. C. 50--A. D. 200

The Netherlands form a kingdom of moderate extent, situated onthe borders of the ocean, opposite to the southeast coast ofEngland, and stretching from the frontiers of France to thoseof Hanover. The country is principally composed of low and humidgrounds, presenting a vast plain, irrigated by the waters fromall those neighboring states which are traversed by the Rhine, the Meuse, and the Scheldt. This plain, gradually rising towardits eastern and southern extremities, blends on the one handwith Prussia, and on the other with France. Having, therefore, no natural or strongly marked limits on those sides, the extentof the kingdom could only be determined by convention; and it mustbe at all times subject to the arbitrary and varying influenceof European policy. Its greatest length, from north to south, isabout two hundred and twenty English miles; and its breadth, from east to west, is nearly one hundred and forty. 

Two distinct kinds of men inhabit this kingdom. The one occupyingthe valleys of the Meuse and the Scheldt, and the high groundsbordering on France, speak a dialect of the language of thatcountry, and evidently belong to the Gallic race. They are calledWalloons, and are distinguished from the others by many peculiarqualities. Their most prominent characteristic is a propensityfor war, and their principal source of subsistence the workingof their mines. They form nearly one-fourth of the population ofthe whole kingdom, or about one million three hundred thousandpersons. All the rest of the nation speak Low German, in itsmodifications of Dutch and Flemish; and they offer the distinctivecharacteristics of the Saxon race--talents for agriculture, navigation, and commerce; perseverance rather than vivacity;and more courage than taste for the profession of arms. Theyare subdivided into Flemings--those who were the last to submitto the House of Austria; and Dutch--those who formed the republicof the United Provinces. But there is no difference between thesetwo subdivisions, except such as has been produced by politicaland religious institutions. The physical aspect of the peopleis the same; and the soil, equally law and moist, is at oncefertilized and menaced by the waters. 

The history of this last-mentioned portion of the nation iscompletely linked to that of the soil which they occupy. In remotetimes, when the inhabitants of this plain were few and uncivilized, the country formed but one immense morass, of which the chiefpart was incessantly inundated and made sterile by the waters ofthe sea. Pliny the naturalist, who visited the northern coasts, has left us a picture of their state in his days. "There, " sayshe, "the ocean pours in its flood twice every day, and producesa perpetual uncertainty whether the country may be considered asa part of the continent or of the sea. The wretched inhabitantstake refuge on the sand-hills, or in little huts, which theyconstruct on the summits of lofty stakes, whose elevation isconformable to that of the highest tides. When the sea rises, they appear like navigators; when it retires, they seem as thoughthey had been shipwrecked. They subsist on the fish left by therefluent waters, and which they catch in nets formed of rushesor seaweed. Neither tree nor shrub is visible on these shores. The drink of the people is rain-water, which they preserve withgreat care; their fuel, a sort of turf, which they gather andform with the hand. And yet these unfortunate beings dare tocomplain against their fate, when they fall under the power andare incorporated with the empire of Rome!"

The picture of poverty and suffering which this passage presentsis heightened when joined to a description of the country. Thecoasts consisted only of sand-banks or slime, alternately overflowedor left imperfectly dry. A little further inland, trees wereto be found, but on a soil so marshy that an inundation or atempest threw down whole forests, such as are still at timesdiscovered at either eight or ten feet depth below the surface. The sea had no limits; the rivers no beds nor banks; the earthno solidity; for according to an author of the third centuryof our era, there was not, in the whole of too immense plain, a spot of ground that did not yield under the footsteps ofman. --Eumenius. 

It was not the same in the southern parts, which form at presentthe Walloon country. These high grounds suffered much less fromthe ravages of the waters. The ancient forest of the Ardennes, extending from the Rhine to the Scheldt, sheltered a numerous thoughsavage population, which in all things resembled the Germans, fromwhom they derived their descent. The chase and the occupations ofrude agriculture sufficed for the wants of a race less poor andless patient, but more unsteady and ambitious, than the fishermenof the low lands. Thus it is that history presents us with atribe of warriors and conquerors on the southern frontier ofthe country; while the scattered inhabitants of the remainingparts seemed to have fixed there without a contest, and to havetraced out for themselves, by necessity and habit, an existencewhich any other people must have considered insupportable. 

This difference in the nature of the soil and in the fate of theinhabitants appears more striking when we consider the presentsituation of the country. The high grounds, formerly so preferable, are now the least valuable part of the kingdom, even as regardstheir agriculture; while the ancient marshes have been changedby human industry into rich and fertile tracts, the best partsof which are precisely those conquered from the grasp of theocean. In order to form an idea of the solitude and desolationwhich once reigned where we now see the most richly cultivatedfields, the most thriving villages, and the wealthiest townsof the continent, the imagination must go back to times whichhave not left one monument of antiquity and scarcely a vestigeof fact. 

The history of the Netherlands is, then, essentially that ofa patient and industrious population struggling against everyobstacle which nature could oppose to its well-being; and, inthis contest, man triumphed most completely over the elementsin those places where they offered the greatest resistance. Thisextraordinary result was due to the hardy stamp of characterimprinted by suffering and danger on those who had the ocean fortheir foe; to the nature of their country, which presented nolure for conquest; and, finally, to the toleration, the justice, and the liberty nourished among men left to themselves, and whofound resources in their social state which rendered change neitheran object of their wants nor wishes. 

About half a century before the Christian era, the obscuritywhich enveloped the north of Europe began to disperse; and theexpedition of Julius Cæsar gave to the civilized world the firstnotions of the Netherlands, Germany, and England. Cæsar, afterhaving subjugated the chief part of Gaul, turned his arms againstthe warlike tribes of the Ardennes, who refused to accept hisalliance or implore his protection. They were called Belgæ bythe Romans; and at once pronounced the least civilized and thebravest of the Gauls. Cæsar there found several ignorant and poorbut intrepid clans of warriors, who marched fiercely to encounterhim; and, notwithstanding their inferiority in numbers, in weapons, and in tactics, they nearly destroyed the disciplined armies ofRome. They were, however, defeated, and their country ravagedby the invaders, who found less success when they attacked thenatives of the low grounds. The Menapians, a people who occupiedthe present provinces of Flanders and Antwerp, though less numerousthan those whom the Romans had last vanquished, arrested theirprogress both by open fight and by that petty and harassingcontest--that warfare of the people rather than of the soldiery--sowell adapted to the nature of the country. The Roman legionsretreated for the first time, and were contented to occupy thehigher parts, which now form the Walloon provinces. 

But the policy of Cæsar made greater progress than his arms. Hehad rather defeated than subdued those who had dared the contest. He consolidated his victories without new battles; he offered peaceto his enemies, in proposing to them alliance; and he requiredtheir aid, as friends, to carry on new wars in other lands. Hethus attracted toward him, and ranged under his banners, not onlythose people situated to the west of the Rhine and the Meuse, but several other nations more to the north, whose territory hehad never seen; and particularly the Batavians--a valiant tribe, stated by various ancient authors, and particularly by Tacitus, as a fraction of the Catti, who occupied the space comprisedbetween these rivers. The young men of these warlike people, dazzledby the splendor of the Roman armies, felt proud and happy inbeing allowed to identify themselves with them. Cæsar encouragedthis disposition, and even went so far on some occasions as todeprive the Roman cavalry of their horses, on which he mountedthose new allies, who managed them better than their Italianriders. He had no reason to repent these measures; almost allhis subsequent victories, and particularly that of Pharsalia, being decided by the valor of the auxiliaries he obtained fromthe Low Countries. 

These auxiliaries were chiefly drawn from Hainault, Luxemburg, and the country of the Batavians, and they formed the best cavalryof the Roman armies, as well as their choicest light infantryforce. The Batavians also signalized themselves on many occasions, by the skill with which they swam across several great riverswithout breaking their squadrons ranks. They were amply rewardedfor their military services and hazardous exploits, and were treatedlike stanch and valuable allies. But this unequal connection ofa mighty empire with a few petty states must have been fatal tothe liberty of the weaker party. Its first effect was to destroyall feeling of nationality in a great portion of the population. The young adventurer of this part of the Low Countries, aftertwenty years of service under the imperial eagles, returned tohis native wilds a Roman. The generals of the empire piercedthe forests of the Ardennes with causeways, and founded townsin the heart of the country. The result of such innovations wasa total amalgamation of the Romans and their new allies; andlittle by little the national character of the latter becameentirely obliterated. But to trace now the precise history ofthis gradual change would be as impossible as it will be oneday to follow the progress of civilization in the woods of NorthAmerica. 

But it must be remarked that this metamorphosis affected onlythe inhabitants of the high grounds, and the Batavians (who werein their origin Germans) properly so called. The scanty populationof the rest of the country, endowed with that fidelity to theirancient customs which characterizes the Saxon race, showed notendency to mix with foreigner, rarely figured in their ranks, and seemed to revolt from the southern refinement which was solittle in harmony with their manners and ways of life. It isastonishing, at the first view, that those beings, whose wholeexistence was a contest against famine or the waves, should showless inclination than their happier neighbors to receive fromRome an abundant recompense for their services. But the greatertheir difficulty to find subsistence in their native land, thestronger seemed their attachment; like that of the Switzer tohis barren rocks, or of the mariner to the frail and hazardoushome that bears him afloat on the ocean. This race of patriotswas divided into two separate peoples. Those to the north ofthe Rhine were the Frisons; those to the west of the Meuse, theMenapians, already mentioned. 

The Frisons differed little from those early inhabitants of thecoast, who, perched on their high-built huts, fed on fish anddrank the water of the clouds. Slow and successive improvementstaught them to cultivate the beans which grew wild among themarshes, and to tend and feed a small and degenerate breed ofhorned cattle. But if these first steps toward civilization wereslow, they were also sure; and they were made by a race of menwho could never retrograde in a career once begun. 

The Menapians, equally repugnant to foreign impressions, made, ontheir part, a more rapid progress. They were already a maritimepeople, and carried on a considerable commerce with England. Itappears that they exported thither salt, the art of manufacturingwhich was well known to them; and they brought back in returnmarl, a most important commodity for the improvement of theirland. They also understood the preparation of salting meat, witha perfection that made it in high repute even in Italy; and, finally, we are told by Ptolemy that they had established a colonyon the eastern coast of Ireland, not far from Dublin. 

The two classes of what forms at present the population of theNetherlands thus followed careers widely different, during thelong period of the Roman power in these parts of Europe. Whilethose of the high lands and the Batavians distinguished themselvesby a long-continued course of military service or servitude, thoseof the plains improved by degrees their social condition, and fittedthemselves for a place in civilized Europe. The former receivedfrom Rome great marks of favor in exchange for their freedom. The latter, rejecting the honors and distinctions lavished ontheir neighbors, secured their national independence, by trustingto their industry alone for all the advantages they graduallyacquired. 

Were the means of protecting themselves and their country fromthe inundations of the sea known and practiced by these ancientinhabitants of the coast? or did they occupy only those elevatedpoints of land which stood out like islands in the middle of thefloods? These questions are among the most important presentedby their history; since it was the victorious struggle of managainst the ocean that fixed the extent and form of the country. It appears almost certain that in the time of Cæsar they did notlabor at the construction of dikes, but that they began to beraised during the obscurity of the following century; for theremains of ancient towns are even now discovered in places atpresent overflowed by the sea. These ruins often bring to lighttraces of Roman construction, and Latin inscriptions in honorof the Menapian divinities. It is, then, certain that they hadlearned to imitate those who ruled in the neighboring countries: aresult by no means surprising; for even England, the mart of theircommerce, and the nation with which they had the most constantintercourse, was at that period occupied by the Romans. But thenature of their country repulsed so effectually every attempt atforeign domination that the conquerors of the world left themunmolested, and established arsenals and formed communicationswith Great Britain only at Boulogne and in the island of theBatavians near Leyden. 

This isolation formed in itself a powerful and perfect barrierbetween the inhabitants of the plain and those of the high grounds. The first held firm to their primitive customs and their ancientlanguage; the second finished by speaking Latin, and borrowingall the manners and usages of Italy. The moral effect of thiscontrast was that the people, once so famous for their bravery, lost, with their liberty, their energy and their courage. One ofthe Batavian chieftains, named Civilis, formed an exception tothis degeneracy, and, about the year 70 of our era, bravely tookup arms for the expulsion of the Romans. He effected prodigies ofvalor and perseverance, and boldly met and defeated the enemyboth by land and sea. Reverses followed his first success, and hefinally concluded an honorable treaty, by which his countrymenonce more became the allies of Rome. But after this expiring effortof valor, the Batavians, even though chosen from all nations forthe bodyguards of the Roman emperors, became rapidly degenerate;and when Tacitus wrote, ninety years after Christ, they werealready looked on as less brave than the Frisons and the otherpeoples beyond the Rhine. A century and a half later saw themconfounded with the Gauls; and the barbarian conquerors saidthat "they were not a nation, but merely a _prey_. "

Reduced into a Roman province, the southern portion of theNetherlands was at this period called Belgic Gaul; and the nameof Belgium, preserved to our days, has until lately been appliedto distinguish that part of the country situated to the south ofthe Rhine and the Meuse, or nearly that which formed the AustrianNetherlands. 

During the establishment of the Roman power in the north of Europe, observation was not much excited toward the rapid effects of thisdegeneracy, compared with the fast-growing vigor of the people ofthe low lands. The fact of the Frisons having, on one occasion, near the year 47 of our era, beaten a whole army of Romans, hadconfirmed their character for intrepidity. But the long stagnationproduced in these remote countries by the colossal weight ofthe empire was broken, about the year 250, by an irruption ofGermans or Salian Franks, who, passing the Rhine and the Meuse, established themselves in the vicinity of the Menapians, nearAntwerp, Breda and Bois-le-duc. All the nations that had beensubjugated by the Roman power appear to have taken arms on thisoccasion and opposed the intruders. But the Menapians unitedthemselves with these newcomers, and aided them to meet the shockof the imperial armies. Carausius, originally a Menapian pilot, but promoted to the command of a Roman fleet, made common causewith his fellow-citizens, and proclaimed himself emperor of GreatBritain, where the naval superiority of the Menapians left himno fear of a competitor. In recompense of the assistance givenhim by the Franks, he crossed the sea again from his new empire, to aid them in their war with the Batavians, the allies of Rome;and having seized on their islands, and massacred nearly the wholeof its inhabitants, he there established his faithful friends theSalians. Constantius and his son Constantine the Great vainlystrove, even after the death of the brave Carausius, to regainpossession of the country; but they were forced to leave thenew inhabitants in quiet possession of their conquest. 

CHAPTER II

FROM THE SETTLEMENT OF THE FRANKS TO THE SUBJUGATION OF FRIESLAND

A. D. 250--800

From this epoch we must trace the progress of a totally new anddistinct population in the Netherlands. The Batavians beingannihilated, almost without resistance, the low countries containedonly the free people of the German race. But these people did notcompletely sympathize together so as to form one consolidatednation. The Salians, and the other petty tribes of Franks, theirallies, were essentially warlike, and appeared precisely the sameas the original inhabitants of the high grounds. The Menapiansand the Frisons, on the contrary, lost nothing of their spiritof commerce and industry. The result of this diversity was aseparation between the Franks and the Menapians. While the latter, under the name of Armoricans, joined themselves more closelywith the people who bordered the Channel, the Frisons associatedthemselves with the tribes settled on the limits of the GermanOcean, and formed with them a connection celebrated under thetitle of the Saxon League. Thus was formed on all points a unionbetween the maritime races against the inland inhabitants; andtheir mutual antipathy became more and more developed as thedecline of the Roman empire ended the former struggle betweenliberty and conquest. 

The Netherlands now became the earliest theatre of an entirelynew movement, the consequences of which were destined to affectthe whole world. This country was occupied toward the sea bya people wholly maritime, excepting the narrow space betweenthe Rhine and the Vahal, of which the Salian Franks had becomepossessed. The nature of this marshy soil, in comparison with thesands of Westphalia, Guelders, and North Brabant, was not morestrikingly contrasted than was the character of their population. The Franks, who had been for a while under the Roman sway, showeda compound of the violence of savage life and the corruptionof civilized society. They were covetous and treacherous, butmade excellent soldiers; and at this epoch, which intervenedbetween the power of imperial Rome and that of Germany, the Frankmight be morally considered as a borderer on the frontiers of theMiddle Ages. The Saxon (and this name comprehends all the tribesof the coast from the Rhine as far north as Denmark), uniting inhimself the distinctive qualities of German and navigator, wasmoderate and sincere, but implacable in his rage. Neither ofthese two races of men was excelled in point of courage; butthe number of Franks who still entered into the service of theempire diminished the real force of this nation, and naturallytended to disunite it. Therefore, in the subsequent shock ofpeople against people, the Saxons invariably gained the finaladvantage. 

They had no doubt often measured their strength in the most remotetimes, since the Franks were but the descendants of the ancienttribes of Sicambers and others, against whom the Batavians hadoffered their assistance to Cæsar. Under Augustus, the inhabitantsof the coast had in the same way joined themselves with Drusus, to oppose these their old enemies. It was also after having beenexpelled by the Frisons from Guelders that the Salians had passedthe Rhine and the Meuse; but, in the fourth century, the twopeoples, recovering their strength, the struggle recommenced, never to terminate--at least between the direct descendants ofeach. It is believed that it was the Varni, a race of Saxonsnearly connected with those of England (and coming, like them, from the coast of Denmark), who on this occasion struck the decisiveblow on the side of the Saxons. Embarking on board a numerousfleet, they made a descent in the ancient isle of the Batavians, at that time inhabited by the Salians, whom they completelydestroyed. Julian the Apostate, who was then with a numerousarmy pursuing his career of early glory in these countries, interfered for the purpose of preventing the expulsion, or atleast the utter destruction, of the vanquished; but his effortswere unavailing. The Salians appear to have figured no more inthis part of the Low Countries. 

The defeat of the Salians by a Saxon tribe is a fact on which nodoubt rests. The name of the victors is, however, questionable. The Varni having remained settled near the mouths of the Rhinetill near the year 500, there is strong, probability that theywere the people alluded to. But names and histories, which may onthis point appear of such little importance, acquire considerableinterest when we reflect that these Salians, driven from theirsettlement, became the conquerors of France; that those Saxonswho forced them on their career of conquest were destined tobecome the masters of England; and that these two petty tribes, who battled so long for a corner of marshy earth, carried withthem their reciprocal antipathy while involuntarily decidingthe destiny of Europe. 

The defeat of the Franks was fatal to those peoples who had becomeincorporated with the Romans; for it was from them that the exiledwanderers, still fierce in their ruin, and with arms in their hands, demanded lands and herds; all, in short, which they themselves hadlost. From the middle of the fourth century to the end of thefifth, there was a succession of invasions in this spirit, whichalways ended by the subjugation of a part of the country; and whichwas completed about the year 490, by Clovis making himself masterof almost the whole of Gaul. Under this new empire not a vestigeof the ancient nations of the Ardennes was left. The civilizedpopulation either perished or was reduced to slavery, and allthe high grounds were added to the previous conquests of theSalians. 

But the maritime population, when once possessed of the wholecoast, did not seek to make the slightest progress toward theinterior. The element of their enterprise and the object of theirambition was the ocean; and when this hardy and intrepid racebecame too numerous for their narrow limits, expeditions andcolonies beyond the sea carried off their redundant population. The Saxon warriors established themselves near the mouths of theLoire; others, conducted by Hengist and Horsa, settled in GreatBritain. It will always remain problematical from what pointof the coast these adventurers departed; but many circumstancestend to give weight to the opinion which pronounces those oldSaxons to have started from the Netherlands. 

Paganism not being yet banished from these countries, the obscuritywhich would have enveloped them is in some degree dispelled by therecitals of the monks who went among them to preach Christianity. We see in those records, and by the text of some of their earlylaws, that this maritime people were more industrious, prosperous, and happy, than those of France. The men were handsome and richlyclothed; and the land well cultivated, and abounding in fruits, milk, and honey. The Saxon merchants carried their trade farinto the southern countries. In the meantime, the parts of theNetherlands which belonged to France resembled a desert. Themonasteries which were there founded were established, accordingto the words of their charters, amid immense solitudes; and theFrench nobles only came into Brabant for the sport of bear-huntingin its interminable forests. Thus, while the inhabitants of thelow lands, as far back as the light of history penetrates, appearin a continual state of improvement, those of the high grounds, after frequent vicissitudes, seem to sink into utter degeneracyand subjugation. The latter wished to denaturalize themselves, and become as though they were foreigners even on their nativesoil; the former remained firm and faithful to their countryand to each other. 

But the growth of French power menaced utter ruin to this interestingrace. Clovis had succeeded about the year 485 of our era, indestroying the last remnants of Roman domination in Gaul. Thesuccessors of these conquerors soon extended their empire from thePyrenees to the Rhine. They had continual contests with the freepopulation of the Low Countries, and their nearest neighbors. In thecommencement of the seventh century, the French king, Clotaire II. , exterminated the chief part of the Saxons of Hanover and Westphalia;and the historians of those barbarous times unanimously relatethat he caused to be beheaded every inhabitant of the vanquishedtribes who exceeded the height of his sword. The Saxon name wasthus nearly extinguished in those countries; and the remnant ofthese various peoples adopted that of Frisons (Friesen), eitherbecause they became really incorporated with that nation, ormerely that they recognized it for the most powerful of theirtribes. Friesland, to speak in the language of that age, extendedthen from the Scheldt to the Weser, and formed a considerablestate. But the ascendency of France was every year becoming moremarked; and King Dagobert extended the limits of her power evenas far as Utrecht. The descendants of the Menapians, known atthat epoch by the different names of Menapians, Flemings, andToxandirans, fell one after another directly or indirectly underthe empire of the Merovingian princes; and the noblest familywhich existed among the French--that which subsequently took thename of Carlovingians--comprised in its dominions nearly thewhole of the southern and western parts of the Netherlands. 

Between this family, whose chief was called duke of the FrontierMarshes (_Dux_Brabantioe_), and the free tribes, united underthe common name of Frisons, the same struggle was maintained asthat which formerly existed between the Salians and the Saxons. Toward the year 700, the French monarchy was torn by anarchy, and, under "the lazy kings, " lost much of its concentrated power;but every dukedom formed an independent sovereignty, and of allthose that of Brabant was the most redoubtable. Neverthelessthe Frisons, under their king, Radbod, assumed for a moment thesuperiority; and Utrecht, where the French had establishedChristianity, fell again into the power of the pagans. CharlesMartell, at that time young, and but commencing his splendidcareer, was defeated by the hostile king in the forest of theArdennes; and though, in subsequent conquests, he took an amplerevenge, Radbod still remained a powerful opponent. It is relatedof this fierce monarch that he was converted by a Christianmissionary; but, at the moment in which he put his foot in thewater for the ceremony of baptism, he suddenly asked the priestwhere all his old Frison companions in arms had gone after theirdeath? "To hell, " replied the priest. "Well, then, " said Radbod, drawing back his foot from the water, "I would rather go to hellwith them, than to paradise with you and your fellow foreigners!"and he refused to receive the rite of baptism, and remained apagan. 

After the death of Radbod, in 719, Charles Martell, now becomeduke of the Franks, mayor of the palace, or by whatever other ofhis several titles he may be distinguished, finally triumphed overthe long-resisting Frisons. He labored to establish Christianityamong them; but they did not understand the French language, andthe lot of converting them was consequently reserved for theEnglish. St. Willebrod was the first missionary who met withany success, about the latter end of the seventh century; butit was not till toward the year 750 that this great mission wasfinally accomplished by St. Boniface, archbishop of Mayence, and the apostle of Germany. Yet the progress of Christianity, and the establishment of a foreign sway, still met the partialresistance which a conquered but not enervated people are alwayscapable of opposing to their masters. St. Boniface fell a victimto this stubborn spirit. He perished a martyr to his zeal, butperhaps a victim as well to the violent measures of his colleagues, in Friesland, the very province which to this day preserves thename. 

The last avenger of Friesland liberty and of the national idolswas the illustrious Witikind, to whom the chronicles of his countrygive the title of first azing, or judge. This intrepid chieftainis considered as a compatriot, not only by the historians ofFriesland, but by those of Saxony; both, it would appear, havingequal claims to the honor; for the union between the two peopleswas constantly strengthened by intermarriages between the noblestfamilies of each. As long as Witikind remained a pagan and afreeman, some doubt existed as to the final fate of Friesland;but when by his conversion he became only a noble of the courtof Charlemagne, the slavery of his country was consummated. 

CHAPTER III

FROM THE CONQUEST OF FRIESLAND TO THE FORMATION OF HOLLAND

A. D. 800--1000

Even at this advanced epoch of foreign domination, there remainedas great a difference as ever between the people of the highgrounds and the inhabitants of the plain. The latter were, likethe rest, incorporated with the great monarchy; but they preservedthe remembrance of former independence, and even retained theirancient names. In Flanders, Menapians and Flemings were stillfound, and in the country of Antwerp the Toxandrians were notextinct. All the rest of the coast was still called Friesland. Butin the high grounds the names of the old inhabitants were lost. Nations were designated by the names of their rivers, forests, ortowns. They were classified as accessories to inanimate things;and having no monuments which reminded them of their origin, they became as it were without recollections or associations;and degenerated, as may be almost said, into a people withoutancestry. 

The physical state of the country had greatly changed from thetimes of Cæsar to those of Charlemagne. Many parts of the forestof the Ardennes had been cut down or cleared away. Civilizationhad only appeared for a while among these woods, to perish likea delicate plant in an ungenial clime; but it seemed to havesucked the very sap from the soil, and to have left the peopleno remains of the vigor of man in his savage state, nor of thedesperate courage of the warriors of Germany. A race of serfs nowcultivated the domains of haughty lords and imperious priests. The clergy had immense possessions in this country; an act ofthe following century recognizes fourteen thousand families ofvassals as belonging to the single abbey of Nivelle. Tournay andTongres, both Episcopal cities, were by that title somewhat lessoppressed than the other ancient towns founded by the Romans; butthey appear to have possessed only a poor and degraded population. 

The low lands, on the other hand, announced a striking commencementof improvement and prosperity. The marshes and fens, which hadarrested and repulsed the progress of imperial Rome, had disappearedin every part of the interior. The Meuse and the Scheldt no longerjoined at their outlets, to desolate the neighboring lands; whetherthis change was produced by the labors of man, or merely by theaccumulation of sand deposited by either stream and forming barriersto both. The towns of Courtraig, Bruges, Ghent, Antwerp, Berg-op-Zoom, and Thiel, had already a flourishing trade. Thelast-mentioned town contained in the following century fifty-fivechurches; a fact from which, in the absence of other evidence, the extent of the population may be conjectured. The formation ofdikes for the protection of lands formerly submerged was alreadywell understood, and regulated by uniform custom. The plainsthus reconquered from the waters were distributed in portions, according to their labor, by those who reclaimed them, exceptthe parts reserved for the chieftain, the church, and the poor. This vital necessity for the construction of dikes had given tothe Frison and Flemish population a particular habit of union, goodwill, and reciprocal justice, because it was necessary to makecommon cause in this great work for their mutual preservation. In all other points, the detail of the laws and manners of thisunited people presents a picture similar to that of the Saxons ofEngland, with the sole exception that the people of the Netherlandswere milder than the Saxon race properly so called--their longhabit of laborious industry exercising its happy influence onthe martial spirit original to both. The manufacturing arts werealso somewhat more advanced in this part of the continent than inGreat Britain. The Frisons, for example, were the only peoplewho could succeed in making the costly mantles in use among thewealthy Franks. 

The government of Charlemagne admitted but one form, borrowedfrom that of the empire in the period of its decline--a mixtureof the spiritual and temporal powers, exercised in the first placeby the emperor, and at second-hand by the counts and bishops. Thecounts in those times were not the heads of noble families, asthey afterward became, but officers of the government, removableat will, and possessing no hereditary rights. Their incomes didnot arise from salaries paid in money, but consisted of lands, of which they had the revenues during the continuance of theirauthority. These lands being situated in the limits of theiradministration, each regarded them as his property only for thetime being, and considered himself as a tenant at will. Howunfavorable such a system was to culture and improvement may bewell imagined. The force of possession was, however, frequentlyopposed to the seigniorial rights of the crown; and thus, thoughall civil dignity and the revenues attached to it were but personaland reclaimable at will, still many dignitaries, taking advantageof the barbarous state of the country in which their isolatedcantons were placed, sought by every possible means to rendertheir power and prerogatives inalienable and real. The forceof the monarchical government, which consists mainly in itscentralization, was necessarily weakened by the interventionof local obstacles, before it could pass from the heart of theempire to its limits. Thus it was only by perpetually interposinghis personal efforts, and flying, as it were, from one end to theother of his dominions, that Charlemagne succeeded in preservinghis authority. As for the people, without any sort of guaranteeagainst the despotism of the government, they were utterly atthe mercy of the nobles or of the sovereign. But this state ofservitude was quite incompatible with the union of social powersnecessary to a population that had to struggle against the tyrannyof the ocean. To repulse its attacks with successful vigor, aspirit of complete concert was absolutely required; and the nationbeing thus united, and consequently strong, the efforts of foreigntyrants were shattered by its resistance, as the waves of thesea that broke against the dikes by which it was defied. 

From the time of Charlemagne, the people of the ancient Menapia, now become a prosperous commonwealth, formed political associationsto raise a barrier against the despotic violence of the Franks. These associations were called Gilden, and in the Latin of thetimes Gildonia. They comprised, besides their covenants for mutualprotection, an obligation which bound every member to give succorto any other, in cases of illness, conflagration, or shipwreck. But the growing force of these social compacts alarmed thequick-sighted despotism of Charlemagne, and they were, consequently, prohibited both by him and his successors. To give a notion ofthe importance of this prohibition to the whole of Europe, it isonly necessary to state that the most ancient corporations (allwhich had preceded and engendered the most valuable municipalrights) were nothing more than gilden. Thus, to draw an examplefrom Great Britain, the corporative charter of Berwick stillbears the title of Charta Gildoniæ. But the ban of the sovereignswas without efficacy, when opposed to the popular will. The gildenstood their ground, and within a century after the death ofCharlemagne, all Flanders was covered with corporate towns. 

This popular opposition took, however, another form in the northernparts of the country, which still bore the common name of Friesland;for there it was not merely local but national. The Frisons succeededin obtaining the sanction of the monarch to consecrate, as itwere, those rights which were established under the ancient formsof government. The fact is undoubted; but the means which theyemployed are uncertain. It appears most probable that this greatprivilege was the price of their military services; for they helda high place in the victorious armies of Charlemagne; and Turpin, the old French romancer, alluding to the popular traditions ofhis time, represents the warriors of Friesland as endowed withthe most heroic valor. 

These rights, which the Frisons secured, according to their ownstatements, from Charlemagne, but most undoubtedly from someone or other of the earliest emperors, consisted, first, in thefreedom of every order of citizens; secondly, in the right ofproperty--a right which admitted no authority of the sovereignto violate by confiscation, except in cases of downright treason;thirdly, in the privilege of trial by none but native judges, andaccording to their national usages; fourthly, in a very narrowlimitation of the military services which they owed to the king;fifthly, in the hereditary title to feudal property, in directline, on payment of certain dues or rents. These five principalarticles sufficed to render Friesland, in its political aspect, totally different from the other portions of the monarchy. Theirprivileges secured, their property inviolable, their duties limited, the Frisons were altogether free from the servitude which weigheddown France. It will soon be seen that these special advantagesproduced a government nearly analogous to that which Magna Chartawas the means of founding at a later period in England. 

The successors of Charlemagne chiefly signalized their authorityby lavishing donations of all kinds on the church. By such meansthe ecclesiastical power became greater and greater, and, in thosecountries under the sway of France, was quite as arbitrary andenormous as that of the nobility. The bishops of Utrecht, Liege, and Tournay, became, in the course of time, the chief personageson that line of the frontier. They had the great advantage overthe counts, of not being subjected to capricious or tyrannicalremovals. They therefore, even in civil affairs, played a moreconsiderable part than the latter; and began to render themselvesmore and more independent in their episcopal cities, which weresoon to become so many principalities. The counts, on their parts, used their best exertions to wear out, if they had not the strengthto break, the chains which bound them to the footstool of themonarch. They were not all now dependent on the same sovereign;for the empire of Charlemagne was divided among his successors:France, properly so called, was bounded by the Scheldt; the countryto the eastward of that river, that is to say, nearly the wholeof the Netherlands, belonged to Lorraine and Germany. 

In the state of things, it happened that in the year 864, Judith, daughter of Charles the Bald, king of France, having survivedher husband Ethelwolf, king of England, became attached to apowerful Flemish chieftain called Baldwin. It is not quite certainwhether he was count, forester, marquis, or protector of thefrontiers; but he certainly enjoyed, no matter under what title, considerable authority in the country; since the pope on oneoccasion wrote to Charles the Bald to beware of offending him, lest he should join the Normans, and open to them an entranceinto France. He carried off Judith to his possessions in Flanders. The king, her father, after many ineffectual threats, was forcedto consent to their union; and confirmed to Baldwin, with thetitle of count, the hereditary government of all the countrybetween the Scheldt and the Somme, a river of Picardy. This wasthe commencement of the celebrated county of Flanders; and thisBaldwin is designated in history by the surname of Bras-de-fer(iron-handed), to which his courage had justly entitled him. 

The Belgian historians are also desirous of placing about thisepoch the first counts of Hainault, and even of Holland. Butthough it may be true that the chief families of each canton soughtthen, as at all times, to shake off the yoke, the epoch of theirindependence can only be fixed at the later period at which theyobtained or enforced the privilege of not being deprived of theirtitles and their feudal estates. The counts of the high grounds, and those of Friesland, enjoyed at the utmost but a fortuitousprivilege of continuance in their rank. Several foreigners hadgained a footing and an authority in the country; among othersWickmand, from whom descended the chatelains of Ghent; and thecounts of Holland, and Heriold, a Norman prince who had beenbanished from his own country. This name of Normans, hardly knownbefore the time of Charlemagne, soon became too celebrated. Itdesignated the pagan inhabitants of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, who, driven by rapacity and want, infested the neighboring seas. The asylum allowed in the dominions of the emperors to some ofthose exiled outlaws, and the imprudent provocations given by theselatter to their adventurous countrymen, attracted various bandsof Norman pirates to the shores of Guelders; and from desultorydescents upon the coast, they soon came to inundate the interiorof the country. Flanders alone successfully resisted them duringthe life of Baldwin Bras-de-fer; but after the death of this bravechieftain there was not a province of the whole country thatwas not ravaged by these invaders. Their multiplied expeditionsthrew back the Netherlands at least two centuries, if, indeed, any calculation of the kind may be fairly formed respecting therelative state of population and improvement on the imperfectdata that are left us. Several cantons became deserted. The chiefcities were reduced to heaps of ruins. The German emperors vainlyinterposed for the relief of their unfortunate vassals. Finally, an agreement was entered into, in the year 882, with Godfrey theking or leader of the Normans, by which a peace was purchasedon condition of paying him a large subsidy, and ceding to him thegovernment of Friesland. But, in about two years from this period, the fierce barbarian began to complain that the country he hadthus gained did not produce grapes, and the present inspirationof his rapacity seemed to be the blooming vineyards of France. The emperor Charles the Fat, anticipating the consequence of arupture with Godfrey, enticed him to an interview, in which hecaused him to be assassinated. His followers, attacked on all pointsby the people of Friesland, perished almost to a man; and theirdestruction was completed, in 891, by Arnoul the Germanic. Fromthat period, the scourge of Norman depredation became graduallyless felt. They now made but short and desultory attempts on thecoast; and their last expedition appears to have taken placeabout the year 1000, when they threatened, but did not succeedin seizing on, the city of Utrecht. 

It is remarkable that, although for the space of one hundred andfifty years the Netherlands were continually the scene of invasionand devastation by these northern barbarians, the political stateof the country underwent no important changes. The emperors ofGermany were sovereigns of the whole country, with the exception ofFlanders. These portions of the empire were still called Lorraine, as well as all which they possessed of what is now called France, and which was that part forming the appanage of Lothaire and of theLotheringian kings. The great difficulty of maintaining subordinationamong the numerous chieftains of this country caused it, in 958, to be divided into two governments, which were called Higher andLower Lorraine. The latter portion comprised nearly the wholeof the Netherlands, which thus became governed by a lieutenant ofthe emperors. Godfrey count of Ardenne was the first who filledthis place; and he soon felt all the perils of the situation. Theother counts saw, with a jealous eye, their equal now promotedinto a superior. Two of the most powerful, Lambert and Reginald, were brothers. They made common cause against the new duke; andafter a desperate struggle, which did not cease till the year985, they gained a species of imperfect independence--Lambertbecoming the root from which sprang the counts of Louvain, andReginald that of the counts of Hainault. 

The emperor Othon II. , who upheld the authority of his lieutenant, Godfrey, became convinced that the imperial power was too weakto resist singly the opposition of the nobles of the country. He had therefore transferred, about the year 980, the title ofduke to a young prince of the royal house of France; and we thussee the duchy of Lower Lorraine governed, in the name of theemperor, by the last two shoots of the branch of Charlemagne, the dukes Charles and Othon of France, son and grandson of Louisd'Outremer. The first was a gallant prince: he may be looked onas the founder of the greatness of Brussels, where he fixed hisresidence. After several years of tranquil government, the deathof his brother called him to the throne of France; and from thattime he bravely contended for the crown of his ancestors, againstthe usurpation of Hugues Capet, whom he frequently defeated inbattle; but he was at length treacherously surprised and putto death in 990. Othon, his son, did not signalize his name norjustify his descent by any memorable action; and in him ingloriouslyperished the name of the Carlovingians. 

The death of Othon set the emperor and the great vassals oncemore in opposition. The German monarch insisted on naming somecreature of his own to the dignity of duke; but Lambert II. , count of Louvain, and Robert, count of Namur, having married thesisters of Othon, respectively claimed the right of inheritanceto his title. Baldwin of the comely beard, count of Flanders, joined himself to their league, hoping to extend his power tothe eastward of the Scheldt. And, in fact, the emperor, as theonly means of disuniting his two powerful vassals, felt himselfobliged to cede Valenciennes and the islands of Zealand to Baldwin. The imperial power thus lost ground at every struggle. 

Amid the confusion of these events, a power well calculated torival or even supplant that of the fierce counts was growingup. Many circumstances were combined to extend and consolidatethe episcopal sway. It is true that the bishops of Tournay had notemporal authority since the period of their city being ruined bythe Normans. But those of Liege and Utrecht, and more particularlythe latter, had accumulated immense possessions; and their powerbeing inalienable, they had nothing to fear from the capricesof sovereign favor, which so often ruined the families of thearistocracy. Those bishops, who were warriors and huntsmen ratherthan ecclesiastics, possessed, however, in addition to the lanceand the sword, the terrible artillery of excommunication andanathema, which they thundered forth without mercy against everylaic opponent; and when they had, by conquest or treachery, acquirednew dominions and additional store of wealth, they could notportion it among their children, like the nobles, but it devolvedto their successors, who thus became more and more powerful, and gained by degrees an authority almost royal, like that ofthe ecclesiastical elector of Germany. 

Whenever the emperor warred against his lay vassals, he was sureof assistance from the bishops, because they were at all timesjealous of the power of the counts, and had much less to gainfrom an alliance with them than with the imperial despots onwhose donations they throve, and who repaid their efforts by newprivileges and extended possessions. So that when the monarch, at length, lost the superiority in his contests with the counts, little was wanting to make his authority be merged altogether inthe overgrown power of these churchmen. Nevertheless, a firsteffort of the bishop of Liege to seize on the rights of the countof Louvain in 1013 met with a signal defeat, in a battle whichtook place at the little village of Stongarde. And five yearslater, the count of the Friesland marshes (_comes_Frisonum__Morsatenorum_) gave a still more severe lesson to the bishopof Utrecht. This last merits a more particular mention from thenature of the quarrel and the importance of its results. 

CHAPTER IV

FROM THE FORMATION OF HOLLAND TO THE DEATH OF LOUIS DE MALE

A. D. 1018--1384

The district in which Dordrecht is situated, and the groundsin its environs which are at present submerged, formed in thosetimes an island just raised above the waters, and which was calledHolland or Holtland (which means _wooded_ land, or, according tosome, _hollow_ land). The formation of this island, or rather itsrecovery from the waters, being only of recent date, the right toits possession was more disputable than that of long-establishedcountries. All the bishops and abbots whose states bordered theRhine and the Meuse had, being equally covetous and grasping, and mutually resolved to pounce on the prey, made it their commonproperty. A certain Count Thierry, descended from the countsof Ghent, governed about this period the western extremity ofFriesland--the country which now forms the province of Holland;and with much difficulty maintained his power against the Frisons, by whom his right was not acknowledged. Beaten out of his ownterritories by these refractory insurgents, he sought refuge inthe ecclesiastical island, where he intrenched himself, and foundeda town which is believed to have been the origin of Dordrecht. 

This Count Thierry, like all the feudal lords, took advantageof his position to establish and levy certain duties on all thevessels which sailed past his territory, dispossessing in themeantime some vassals of the church, and beating, as we havestated, the bishop of Utrecht himself. Complaints and appealswithout number were laid at the foot of the imperial throne. Godfrey of Eenham, whom the emperor had created duke of LowerLorraine, was commanded to call the whole country to arms. Thebishop of Liege, though actually dying, put himself at the headof the expedition, to revenge his brother prelate, and punishthe audacious spoiler of the church property. But Thierry andhis fierce Frisons took Godfrey prisoner, and cut his army inpieces. The victor had the good sense and moderation to sparehis prisoners, and set them free without ransom. He receivedin return an imperial amnesty; and from that period the countof Holland and his posterity formed a barrier against which theecclesiastical power and the remains of the imperial supremacycontinually struggled, to be only shattered in each new assault. John Egmont, an old chronicler, says that the counts of Hollandwere "a sword in the flanks of the bishops of Utrecht. "

As the partial independence of the great vassals became consolidated, the monarchs were proportionally anxious to prevent its perpetuationin the same families. In pursuance of this system, Godfrey of Eenhamobtained the preference over the Counts Lambert and Robert; andFrederick of Luxemburg was named duke of Lower Lorraine in 1046, instead of a second Godfrey, who was nephew and expectant heir tothe first. But this Godfrey, upheld by Baldwin of Flanders, forcedthe emperor to concede to him the inheritance of the dukedom. Baldwin secured for his share the country of Alost and Waas, and thecitadel of Ghent; and he also succeeded in obtaining in marriagefor his son the Countess Richilde, heiress of Hainault and Namur. Thus was Flanders incessantly gaining new aggrandizement, whilethe duchy of Lorraine was crumbling away on every side. 

In the year 1066 this state of Flanders, even then flourishingand powerful, furnished assistance, both in men and ships, toWilliam the Bastard of Normandy, for the conquest of England. William was son-in-law to Count Baldwin, and recompensed theassistance of his wife's father by an annual payment of threehundred silver marks. It was Mathilda, the Flemish princess andwife of the conqueror, who worked with her own hands the celebratedtapestry of Bayeux, on which is embroidered the whole historyof the conquest, and which is the most curious monument of thestate of the arts in that age. 

Flanders acquired a positive and considerable superiority over allthe other parts of the Netherlands, from the first establishmentof its counts or earls. The descendants of Baldwin Bras-de-fer, after having valiantly repulsed the Normans toward the end ofthe ninth century, showed themselves worthy of ruling over anindustrious and energetic people. They had built towns, cut downand cleared away forests, and reclaimed inundated lands: aboveall things, they had understood and guarded against the dangerof parcelling out their states at every succeeding generation;and the county of Flanders passed entire into the hands of thefirst-born of the family. The stability produced by this stateof things had allowed the people to prosper. The Normans nowvisited the coasts, not as enemies, but as merchants; and Brugesbecame the mart of the booty acquired by these bold pirates inEngland and on the high seas. The fisheries had begun to acquirean importance sufficient to establish the herring as one of thechief aliments of the population. Maritime commerce had made suchstrides that Spain and Portugal were well known to both sailorsand traders, and the voyage from Flanders to Lisbon was estimatedat fifteen days' sail. Woollen stuffs formed the principal wealthof the country; but salt, corn, and jewelry were also importantbranches of traffic; while the youth of Flanders were so famous fortheir excellence in all martial pursuits that foreign sovereignswere at all times desirous of obtaining bodies of troops fromthis nation. 

The greatest part of Flanders was attached, as has been seen, tothe king of France, and not to Lorraine; but the dependence waslittle more than nominal. In 1071 the king of France attemptedto exercise his authority over the country, by naming to thegovernment the same Countess Richilde who had received Hainaultand Namur for her dower, and who was left a widow, with sonsstill in their minority. The people assembled in the principaltowns, and protested against this intervention of the Frenchmonarch. But we must remark that it was only the population ofthe low lands (whose sturdy ancestors had ever resisted foreigndomination) that now took part in this opposition. The vassalswhich the counts of Flanders possessed in the Gallic provinces(the high grounds), and in general all the nobility, pronouncedstrongly for submission to France; for the principles of politicalfreedom had not yet been fixed in the minds of the inhabitants ofthose parts of the country. But the lowlanders joined togetherunder Robert, surnamed the Frison, brother of the deceased count;and they so completely defeated the French, the nobles and theirunworthy associates of the high ground, that they despoiled theusurping Countess Richilde of even her hereditary possessions. In this war perished the celebrated Norman, William Fitz-Osborn, who had flown to the succor of the defeated countess, of whomhe was enamored. 

Robert the Frison, not satisfied with having beaten the king ofFrance and the bishop of Liege, reinstated in 1076 the grandsonof Thierry of Holland in the possessions which had been forcedfrom him by the duke of Lower Lorraine, in the name of the emperorand the bishop of Utrecht; so that it was this valiant chieftain, who, above all others, is entitled to the praise of havingsuccessfully opposed the system of foreign domination on allthe principal points of the country. Four years later, Othon ofNassau was the first to unite in one county the various cantons ofGuelders. Finally, in 1086, Henry of Louvain, the direct descendantof Lambert, joined to his title that of count of Brabant; andfrom this period the country was partitioned pretty nearly asit was destined to remain for several centuries. 

In the midst of this gradual organization of the various counties, history for some time loses sight of those Frisons, the maritimepeople of the north, who took little part in the civil wars oftwo centuries. But still there was no portion of Europe whichat that time offered a finer picture of social improvement thanthese damp and unhealthy coasts. The name of Frisons extendedfrom the Weser to the westward of the Zuyder Zee, but not quiteto the Rhine; and it became usual to consider no longer as Frisonsthe subjects of the counts of Holland, whom we may now beginto distinguish as Hollanders or Dutch. The Frison race alonerefused to recognize the sovereign counts. They boasted of beingself-governed; owning no allegiance but to the emperor, and regardingthe counts of his nomination as so many officers charged to requireobedience to the laws of the country, but themselves obligedin all things to respect them. But the counts of Holland, thebishops of Utrecht, and several German lords, dignified fromtime to time with the title of counts of Friesland, insistedthat it carried with it a personal authority superior to thatof the sovereign they represented. The descendants of the CountThierry, a race of men remarkably warlike, were the most violentin this assumption of power. Defeat after defeat, however, punishedtheir obstinacy; and numbers of those princes met death on thepikes of their Frison opponents. The latter had no regular leaders;but at the approach of the enemy the inhabitants of each cantonflew to arms, like the members of a single family; and all thefeudal forces brought against them failed to subdue this popularmilitia. 

The frequent result of these collisions was the refusal of theFrisons to recognize any authority whatever but that of the nationaljudges. Each canton was governed according to its own laws. Ifa difficulty arose, the deputies of the nation met together onthe borders of the Ems, in a place called "the Trees of Upstal"(_Upstall-boomen_), where three old oaks stood in the middle ofan immense plain. In this primitive council-place chieftainswere chosen, who, on swearing to maintain the laws and opposethe common enemy, were invested with a limited and temporaryauthority. 

It does not appear that Friesland possessed any large towns, withthe exception of Staveren. In this respect the Frisons resembledthose ancient Germans who had a horror of shutting themselves upwithin walls. They lived in a way completely patriarchal; dwellingin isolated cabins, and with habits of the utmost frugality. Weread in one of their old histories that a whole convent ofBenedictines was terrified at the voracity of a German sculptorwho was repairing their chapel. They implored him to look elsewherefor his food; for that he and his sons consumed enough to exhaustthe whole stock of the monastery. 

In no part of Europe was the good sense of the people so effectivelyopposed to the unreasonable practices of Catholicism in those days. The Frisons successfully resisted the payment of tithes; and as apunishment (if the monks are to be believed) the sea inflictedupon them repeated inundations. They forced their priests tomarry, saying that the man who had no wife necessarily soughtfor the wife of another. They acknowledged no ecclesiasticaldecree, if secular judges, double the number of the priests, didnot bear a part in it. Thus the spirit of liberty burst forthin all their proceedings, and they were justified in callingthemselves _Vri-Vriesen_, Free-Frisons. 

No nation is more interested than England in the examination ofall that concerns this remote corner of Europe, so resolute inits opposition to both civil and religious tyranny; for it wasthere that those Saxon institutions and principles were firstdeveloped without constraint, while the time of their establishmentin England was still distant. Restrained by our narrow limits, we can merely indicate this curious state of things; nor maywe enter on many mysteries of social government which the mostlearned find a difficulty in solving. What were the rights ofthe nobles in their connection with these freemen? What ties ofreciprocal interest bound the different cantons to each other?What were the privileges of the towns?--These are the minutebut important points of detail which are overshadowed by thegrand and imposing figure of the national independence. But infact the emperors themselves, in these distant times, had littleknowledge of this province, and spoke of it vaguely, and as itwere at random, in their diplomas, the chief monuments of thehistory of the Middle Ages. The counts of Holland and the apostolicnuncios addressed their acts and rescripts indiscriminately tothe nobles, clergy, magistrates, judges, consuls, or commons ofFriesland. Sometimes appeared in those documents the vague andimposing title of "the great Frison, " applied to some popularleader. All this confusion tends to prove, on the authority of thehistorians of the epoch, and the charters so carefully collectedby the learned, that this question, now so impossible to solve, was even then not rightly understood--what were really thosefierce and redoubtable Frisons in their popular and politicalrelations? The fact is, that liberty was a matter so difficultto be comprehended by the writers of those times that Froissartgave as his opinion, about the year 1380, that the Frisons werea most unreasonable race, for not recognizing the authority andpower of the great lords. 

The eleventh century had been for the Netherlands (with the exceptionof Friesland and Flanders) an epoch of organization; and had nearlyfixed the political existence of the provinces, which were so longconfounded in the vast possessions of the empire. It is thereforeimportant to ascertain under what influence and on what basisthese provinces became consolidated at that period. Holland andZealand, animated by the spirit which we may fairly distinguishunder the mingled title of Saxon and maritime, countries scarcelyaccessible, and with a vigorous population, possessed, in thedescendants of Thierry I. , a race of national chieftains whodid not attempt despotic rule over so unconquerable a people. InBrabant, the maritime towns of Berg-op-Zoom and Antwerp formed, inthe Flemish style, so many republics, small but not insignificant;while the southern parts of the province were under the sway ofa nobility who crushed, trampled on, or sold their vassals attheir pleasure or caprice. The bishopric of Liege offered alsothe same contrast; the domains of the nobility being governedwith the utmost harshness, while those prince-prelates lavished ontheir plebeian vassals privileges which might have been supposedthe fruits of generosity, were it not clear that the object wasto create an opposition in the lower orders against the turbulentaristocracy, whom they found it impossible to manage single-handed. The wars of these bishops against the petty nobles, who made theircastles so many receptacles of robbers and plunder, were thus thefoundation of public liberty. And it appears tolerably certainthat the Paladins of Ariosto were in reality nothing more thanthose brigand chieftains of the Ardennes, whose ruined residencespreserve to this day the names which the poet borrowed from theold romance writers. But in all the rest of the Netherlands, excepting the provinces already mentioned, no form of governmentexisted, but that fierce feudality which reduced the people intoserfs, and turned the social state of man into a cheerless wasteof bondage. 

It was then that the Crusades, with wild and stirring fanaticism, agitated, in the common impulse given to all Europe, even thoselittle states which seemed to slumber in their isolated independence. Nowhere did the voice of Peter the Hermit find a more sympathizingecho than in these lands, still desolated by so many intestinestruggles. Godfrey of Bouillon, duke of Lower Lorraine, took thelead in this chivalric and religious frenzy. With him set outthe counts of Hainault and Flanders; the latter of whom receivedfrom the English crusaders the honorable appellation of FitzSt. George. But although the valor of all these princes wasconspicuous, from the foundation of the kingdom of Jerusalem byGodfrey of Bouillon in 1098, until that of the Latin empire ofConstantinople by Baldwin of Flanders in 1203, still the simplegentlemen and peasants of Friesland did not less distinguishthemselves. They were, on all occasions, the first to mount thebreach or lead the charge; and the pope's nuncio found himselfforced to prohibit the very women of Friesland from embarkingfor the Holy Land--so anxious were they to share the perils andglory of their husbands and brothers in combating the Saracens. 

The outlet given by the crusaders to the overboiling ardor ofthese warlike countries was a source of infinite advantage totheir internal economy; under the rapid progress of civilization, the population increased and the fields were cultivated. Thenobility, reduced to moderation by the enfeebling consequencesof extensive foreign wars, became comparatively impotent in theirattempted efforts against domestic freedom. Those of Flanders andBrabant, also, were almost decimated in the terrible battle ofBouvines, fought between the Emperor Othon and Philip Augustus, king of France. On no occasion, however, had this reduced butnot degenerate nobility shown more heroic valor. The Flemishknights, disdaining to mount their horses or form their ranks forthe repulse of the French cavalry, composed of common persons, contemptuously received their shock on foot and in the disorderof individual resistance. The brave Buridan of Ypres led hiscomrades to the fight, with the chivalric war-cry, "Let eachnow think of her he loves!" But the issue of this battle wasruinous to the Belgians, in consequence of the bad generalshipof the emperor, who had divided his army into small portions, which were defeated in detail. 

While the nobility thus declined, the towns began rapidly todevelop the elements of popular force. In 1120, a Flemish knightwho might descend so far as to marry a woman of the plebeianranks incurred the penalty of degradation and servitude. In 1220, scarcely a serf was to be found in all Flanders. The Countess Janehad enfranchised all those belonging to her as early as 1222. In 1300, the chiefs of the gilden, or trades, were more powerfulthan the nobles. These dates and these facts must suffice to markthe epoch at which the great mass of the nation arose from thewretchedness in which it was plunged by the Norman invasion, andacquired sufficient strength and freedom to form a real politicalforce. But it is remarkable that the same results took place inall the counties or dukedoms of the Lowlands precisely at thesame period. In fact, if we start from the year 1200 on thisinteresting inquiry, we shall see the commons attacking, in thefirst place, the petty feudal lords, and next the counts and thedukes themselves, often as justice was denied them. In 1257, the peasants of Holland and the burghers of Utrecht proclaimedfreedom and equality, drove out the bishop and the nobles, andbegan a memorable struggle which lasted full two hundred years. In 1260, the townspeople of Flanders appealed to the king ofFrance against the decrees of their count, who ended the quarrelby the loss of his county. In 1303, Mechlin and Louvain, the chieftowns of Brabant, expelled the patrician families. A coincidencelike this cannot be attributed to trifling or partial causes, such as the misconduct of a single count, or other local evil;but to a great general movement in the popular mind, the progressof agriculture and industry in the whole country, superinducingan increase of wealth and intelligence, which, when unrestrainedby the influence of a corrupt government, must naturally leadto the liberty and the happiness of a people. 

The weaving of woollen and linen cloths was one of the chiefsources of this growing prosperity. A prodigious quantity ofcloth and linen was manufactured in all parts of the Netherlands. The maritime prosperity acquired an equal increase by the carryingtrade, both in imports and exports. Whole fleets of Dutch andFlemish merchant ships repaired regularly to the coasts of Spainand Languedoc. Flanders was already become the great market forEngland and all the north of Europe. The great increase of populationforced all parts of the country into cultivation; so much so, that lands were in those times sold at a high price, which areto-day left waste from imputed sterility. 

Legislation naturally followed the movements of those positiveand material interests. The earliest of the towns, after theinvasion of the Normans, were in some degree but places of refuge. It was soon however, established that the regular inhabitantsof these bulwarks of the country should not be subjected to anyservitude beyond their care and defence; but the citizen whomight absent himself for a longer period than forty days wasconsidered a deserter and deprived of his rights. It was aboutthe year 1100 that the commons began to possess the privilege ofregulating their internal affairs; they appointed their judgesand magistrates, and attached to their authority the old custom ofordering all the citizens to assemble or march when the summonsof the feudal lord sounded the signal for their assemblage orservice. By this means each municipal magistracy had the disposalof a force far superior to those of the nobles, for the populationof the towns exceeded both in number and discipline the vassals ofthe seigniorial lands. And these trained bands of the towns madewar in a way very different from that hitherto practiced; for thechivalry of the country, making the trade of arms a profession forlife, the feuds of the chieftains produced hereditary struggles, almost always slow, and mutually disastrous. But the townsmen, forced to tear themselves from every association of home andits manifold endearments, advanced boldly to the object of thecontest; never shrinking from the dangers of war, from fear ofthat still greater to be found in a prolonged struggle. It is thisthat it may be remarked, during the memorable conflicts of thethirteenth century, that when even the bravest of the knightsadvised their counts or dukes to grant or demand a truce, thecitizen militia never knew but one cry--"To the charge!"

Evidence was soon given of the importance of this new nation, when it became forced to take up arms against enemies still moreredoubtable than the counts. In 1301, the Flemings, who had abandonedtheir own sovereign to attach themselves to Philip the Fair, kingof France, began to repent of their newly-formed allegiance, and to be weary of the master they had chosen. Two citizens ofBruges, Peter de Koning, a draper, and John Breydel, a butcher, put themselves at the head of their fellow-townsmen, and completelydislodged the French troops who garrisoned it. The following yearthe militia of Bruges and the immediate neighborhood sustainedalone, at the battle of Courtrai, the shock of one of the finestarmies that France ever sent into the field. Victory soon declaredfor the gallant men of Bruges; upward of three thousand of theFrench chivalry, besides common soldiers, were left dead on thefield. In 1304, after a long contested battle, the Flemings forcedthe king of France to release their count, whom he had held prisoner. "I believe it rains Flemings!" said Philip, astonished to see themcrowd on him from all sides of the field. But this multitudeof warriors, always ready to meet the foe, were provided forthe most part by the towns. In the seigniorial system a villagehardly furnished more than four or five men, and these only onimportant occasions; but in that of the towns every citizen wasenrolled as a soldier to defend the country at all times. 

The same system established in Brabant forced the duke of thatprovince to sanction and guarantee the popular privileges, andthe superiority of the people over the nobility. Such was theresult of the famous contract concluded in 1312 at Cortenbergh, by which the duke created a legislative and judicial assembly tomeet every twenty-one days for the, provincial business; and toconsist of fourteen deputies, of whom only four were to be nobles, and ten were chosen from the people. The duke was bound by thisact to hold himself in obedience to the legislative decisionsof the council, and renounced all right of levying arbitrarytaxes or duties on the state. Thus were the local privilegesof the people by degrees secured and ratified; but the varioustowns, making common cause for general liberty, became strictlyunited together, and progressively extended their influence andpower. The confederation between Flanders and Brabant was soonconsolidated. The burghers of Bruges, who had taken the lead inthe grand national union, and had been the foremost to expelthe foreign force, took umbrage in 1323 at an arbitrary measureof their count, Louis (called of Cressy by posthumous nomination, from his having been killed at that celebrated fight), by whichhe ceded to the count of Namur, his great-uncle, the port ofEcluse, and authorized him to levy duties there in the style ofthe feudal lords of the high country. It was but the affair ofa day to the intrepid citizens to attack the fortress of Ecluse, carry it by assault, and take prisoner the old count of Namur. They destroyed in a short time almost all the strong castles ofthe nobles throughout the province; and having been joined byall the towns of western Flanders, they finally made prisonersof Count Louis himself, with almost the whole of the nobility, who had taken refuge with him in the town of Courtrai. But Ghent, actuated by the jealousy which at all times existed between it andBruges, stood aloof at this crisis. The latter town was obligedto come to a compromise with the count, who soon afterward, on anew quarrel breaking out, and supported by the king of France, almost annihilated his sturdy opponents at the battle of Cassel, where the Flemish infantry, commanded by Nicholas Zannekin andothers, were literally cut to pieces by the French knights andmen-at-arms. 

This check proved the absolute necessity of union among the rivalcities. Ten years after the battle of Cassel, Ghent set the exampleof general opposition; this example was promptly followed, andthe chief towns flew to arms. The celebrated James d'Artaveldt, commonly called the brewer of Ghent, put himself at the head ofthis formidable insurrection. He was a man of a distinguishedfamily, who had himself enrolled among the guild of brewers, toentitle him to occupy a place in the corporation of Ghent, whichhe soon succeeded in managing and leading at his pleasure. Thetyranny of the count, and the French party which supported him, became so intolerable to Artaveldt, that he resolved to assailthem at all hazards, unappalled by the fate of his father-in-law, Sohier de Courtrai, who lost his head for a similar attempt, and notwithstanding the hitherto devoted fidelity of his nativecity to the count. One only object seemed insurmountable. TheFlemings had sworn allegiance to the crown of France; and theyrevolted at the idea of perjury, even from an extorted oath. But to overcome their scruples, Artaveldt proposed to acknowledgethe claim of Edward III. Of England to the French crown. TheFlemings readily acceded to this arrangement; quickly overwhelmedCount Louis of Cressy and his French partisans; and then joined, with an army of sixty thousand men, the English monarch, who hadlanded at Antwerp. These numerous auxiliaries rendered Edward'sarmy irresistible; and soon afterward the French and Englishfleets, both of formidable power, but the latter of inferiorforce, met near Sluys, and engaged in a battle meant to be decisiveof the war: victory remained doubtful during an entire day offighting, until a Flemish squadron, hastening to the aid of theEnglish, fixed the fate of the combat by the utter defeat ofthe enemy. 

A truce between the two kings did not deprive Artaveldt of hiswell-earned authority. He was invested with the title of ruward, or conservator of the peace, of Flanders, and governed the wholeprovince with almost sovereign sway. It was said that King Edwardused familiarly to call him "his dear gossip"; and it is certainthat there was not a feudal lord of the time whose power wasnot eclipsed by this leader of the people. One of the principalmotives which cemented the attachment of the Flemings to Artaveldtwas the advantage obtained through his influence with Edward forfacilitating the trade with England, whence they procured thechief supply of wool for their manufactories. Edward promisedthem seventy thousand sacks as the reward of their alliance. Butthough greatly influenced by the stimulus of general interest, the Flemings loved their domestic liberty better than Englishwool; and when they found that their ruward degenerated from afirm patriot into the partisan of a foreign prince, they becamedisgusted with him altogether; and he perished in 1345, in atumult raised against him by those by whom he had been so latelyidolized. The Flemings held firm, nevertheless, in their alliancewith England, only regulating the connection by a steady principleof national independence. 

Edward knew well how to conciliate and manage these faithfuland important auxiliaries during all his continental wars. AFlemish army covered the siege of Calais in 1348; and, underthe command of Giles de Rypergherste, a mere weaver of Ghent, they beat the dauphin of France in a pitched battle. But Calaisonce taken, and a truce concluded, the English king abandonedhis allies. These, left wholly to their own resources, forcedthe French and the heir of their count, young Louis de Male, to recognize their right to self-government according to theirancient privileges, and of not being forced to give aid to Francein any war against England. Flanders may therefore be pronouncedas forming, at this epoch, both in right and fact, a trulyindependent principality. 

But such struggles as these left a deep and immovable sentimentof hatred in the minds of the vanquished. Louis de Male longedfor the re-establishment and extension of his authority; andhad the art to gain over to his views not only all the nobles, but many of the most influential guilds or trades. Ghent, whichlong resisted his attempts, was at length reduced by famine; andthe count projected the ruin, or at least the total subjection, of this turbulent town. A son of Artaveldt started forth at thisjuncture, when the popular cause seemed lost, and joining withhis fellow-citizens, John Lyons and Peter du Bois, he led seventhousand resolute burghers against forty thousand feudal vassals. He completely defeated the count, and took the town of Bruges, where Louis de Male only obtained safety by hiding himself underthe bed of an old woman who gave him shelter. Thus once morefeudality was defeated in a fresh struggle with civic freedom. 

The consequences of this event were immense. They reached to thevery heart of France, where the people bore in great discontentthe feudal yoke; and Froissart declares that the success of thepeople of Gheut had nearly overthrown the superiority of thenobility over the people in France. But the king, Charles VI. , excited by his uncle, Philip the Bold, duke of Burgundy, took armsin support of the defeated count, and marched with a powerful armyagainst the rebellious burghers. Though defeated in four successivecombats, in the latter of which, that of Roosbeke, Artaveldtwas killed, the Flemings would not submit to their imperiouscount, who used every persuasion with Charles to continue hisassistance for the punishment of these refractory subjects. Butthe duke of Burgundy was aware that a too great perseverance wouldend, either in driving the people to despair and the possibledefeat of the French, or the entire conquest of the country andits junction to the crown of France. He, being son-in-law toLouis de Male, and consequently aspiring to the inheritance ofFlanders, saw with a keen glance the advantage of a presentcompromise. On the death of Louis, who is stated to have beenmurdered by Philip's brother, the duke of Berri, be concludeda peace with the rebel burghers, and entered at once upon thesovereignty of the country. 

CHAPTER V

FROM THE SUCCESSION OF PHILIP THE BOLD TO THE COUNTY OF FLANDERS, TO THE DEATH OF PHILIP THE FAIR

A. D. 1384--1506

Thus the house of Burgundy, which soon after became so formidableand celebrated, obtained this vast accession to its power. Thevarious changes which had taken place in the neighboring provincesduring the continuance of these civil wars had altered the stateof Flanders altogether. John d'Avesnes, count of Hainault, havingalso succeeded in 1299 to the county of Holland, the two provinces, though separated by Flanders and Brabant, remained from thattime under the government of the same chief, who soon becamemore powerful than the bishops of Utrecht, or even than theirformidable rivals the Frisons. 

During the wars which desolated these opposing territories, inconsequence of the perpetual conflicts for superiority, the powerof the various towns insensibly became at least as great as thatof the nobles to whom they were constantly opposed. The commercialinterests of Holland, also, were considerably advanced by theinflux of Flemish merchants forced to seek refuge there from theconvulsions which agitated their province. Every day confirmedand increased the privileges of the people of Brabant; while atLiege the inhabitants gradually began to gain the upper hand, and to shake off the former subjection to their sovereign bishops. 

Although Philip of Burgundy became count of Flanders, by thedeath of his father-in-law, in the year 1384, it was not tillthe following year that he concluded a peace with the peopleof Ghent, and entered into quiet possession of the province. In the same year the duchess of Brabant, the last descendantof the duke of that province, died, leaving no nearer relativethan the duchess of Burgundy; so that Philip obtained in rightof his wife this new and important accession to his dominions. But the consequent increase of the sovereign's power was not, as is often the case, injurious to the liberties or happinessof the people. Philip continued to govern in the interest of thecountry, which he had the good sense to consider as identifiedwith his own. He augmented the privileges of the towns, andnegotiated for the return into Flanders of those merchants whohad emigrated to Germany and Holland during the continuance ofthe civil wars. He thus by degrees accustomed his new subjects, so proud of their rights, to submit to his authority; and hispeaceable reign was only disturbed by the fatal issue of theexpedition of his son, John the Fearless, count of Nevers, againstthe Turks. This young prince, filled with ambition and temerity, was offered the command of the force sent by Charles III. Of Franceto the assistance of Sigismund of Hungary in his war againstBajazet. Followed by a numerous body of nobles, he entered onthe contest, and was defeated and taken prisoner by the Turksat the battle of Nicopolis. His army was totally destroyed, andhimself only restored to liberty on the payment of an immenseransom. 

John the Fearless succeeded in 1404 to the inheritance of allhis father's dominions, with the exception of Brabant, of whichhis younger brother, Anthony of Burgundy, became duke. John, whoseambitious and ferocious character became every day more stronglydeveloped, now aspired to the government of France during theinsanity of his cousin Charles VI. He occupied himself littlewith the affairs of the Netherlands, from which he only desiredto draw supplies of men. But the Flemings, taking no interest inhis personal views or private projects, and equally indifferentto the rivalry of England and France, which now began so fearfullyto affect the latter kingdom, forced their ambitious count todeclare their province a neutral country; so that the Englishmerchants were admitted as usual to trade in all the ports ofFlanders, and the Flemings equally well received in England, while the duke made open war against Great Britain in his qualityof a prince of France and sovereign of Burgundy. This is probablythe earliest well-established instance of such a distinctionbetween the prince and the people. 

Anthony, duke of Brabant, the brother of Philip, was not so closelyrestricted in his authority and wishes. He led all the noblesof the province to take part in the quarrels of France; and hesuffered the penalty of his rashness in meeting his death inthe battle of Agincourt. But the duchy suffered nothing by thisevent, for the militia of the country had not followed theirduke and his nobles to the war; and a national council was nowestablished, consisting of eleven persons, two of whom wereecclesiastics, three barons, two knights, and four commoners. This council, formed on principles so fairly popular, conductedthe public affairs with great wisdom during the minority of theyoung duke. Each province seems thus to have governed itselfupon principles of republican independence. The sovereigns couldnot at discretion, or by the want of it, play the bloody gameof war for their mere amusement; and the emperor putting in hisclaim at this epoch to his ancient rights of sovereignty overBrabant, as an imperial fief, the council and the people treatedthe demand with derision. 

The spirit of constitutional liberty and legal equality whichnow animated the various provinces is strongly marked in thehistory of the time by two striking and characteristic incidents. At the death of Philip the Bold, his widow deposited on his tombher purse, and the keys which she carried at her girdle in tokenof marriage; and by this humiliating ceremony she renounced herrights to a succession overloaded with her husband's debts. Inthe same year (1404) the widow of Albert, count of Holland andHainault, finding herself in similar circumstances, required ofthe bailiff of Holland and the judges of his court permission tomake a like renunciation. The claim was granted; and, to fulfilthe requisite ceremony, she walked at the head of the funeralprocession, carrying in her hand a blade of straw, which sheplaced on the coffin. We thus find that in such cases the reigningfamilies were held liable to follow the common usages of thecountry. From such instances there required but little progressin the principle of equality to reach the republican contempt forrank which made the citizens of Bruges in the following centuryarrest their count for his private debts. 

The spirit of independence had reached the same point at Liege. The families of the counts of Holland and Hainault, which were atthis time distinguished by the name of Bavaria, because they wereonly descended from the ancient counts of Netherland extraction inthe female line, had sufficient influence to obtain the nominationto the bishopric for a prince who was at the period in his infancy. John of Bavaria--for so he was called, and to his name was afterwardadded the epithet of "the Pitiless"--on reaching his majority, did not think it necessary to cause himself to be consecrated apriest, but governed as a lay sovereign. The indignant citizensof Liege expelled him, and chose another bishop. But the Housesof Burgundy and Bavaria, closely allied by intermarriages, madecommon cause in his quarrel; and John, duke of Burgundy, andWilliam IV. , count of Holland and Hainault, brother of the bishop, replaced by force this cruel and unworthy prelate. 

This union of the government over all the provinces in two familiesso closely connected rendered the preponderance of the rulerstoo strong for that balance hitherto kept steady by the popularforce. The former could on each new quarrel join together, andemploy against any particular town their whole united resources;whereas the latter could only act by isolated efforts for themaintenance of their separate rights. Such was the cause of aconsiderable decline in public liberty during the fifteenth century. It is true that John the Fearless gave almost his whole attentionto his French political intrigues, and to the fierce quarrelswhich he maintained with the House of Orleans. But his nephew, John, duke of Brabant, having married, in 1416, his cousinJacqueline, daughter and heiress of William IV. , count of Hollandand Hainault, this branch of the House of Burgundy seemed to getthe start of the elder in its progressive influence over theprovinces of the Netherlands. The dukes of Guelders, who hadchanged their title of counts for one of superior rank, acquiredno accession of power proportioned to their new dignity. Thebishops of Utrecht became by degrees weaker; private dissensionsenfeebled Friesland; Luxemburg was a poor, unimportant dukedom;but Holland, Hainault, and Brabant formed the very heart of theNetherlands; while the elder branch of the same family, underwhom they were united, possessed Flanders, Artois, and the twoBurgundies. To complete the prosperity and power of this latterbranch, it was soon destined to inherit the entire dominionsof the other. 

A fact the consequences of which were so important for the entireof Europe merits considerable attention; but it is most difficultto explain at once concisely and clearly the series of accidents, manoeuvres, tricks, and crimes by which it was accomplished. Itmust first be remarked that this John of Brabant, become thehusband of his cousin Jacqueline, countess of Holland and Hainault, possessed neither the moral nor physical qualities suited tomate with the most lovely, intrepid, and talented woman of hertimes; nor the vigor and firmness required for the maintenanceof an increased, and for those days a considerable, dominion. Jacqueline thoroughly despised her insignificant husband; firstin secret, and subsequently by those open avowals forced fromher by his revolting combination of weakness, cowardice, andtyranny. He tamely allowed the province of Holland to be invadedby the same ungrateful bishop of Liege, John the Pitiless, whomhis wife's father and his own uncle had re-established in hisjustly forfeited authority. But John of Brabant revenged himselffor his wife's contempt by a series of domestic persecutions soodious that the states of Brabant interfered for her protection. Finding it, however, impossible to remain in a perpetual contestwith a husband whom she hated and despised, she fled from Brussels, where he held his ducal court, and took refuge in England, underthe protection of Henry V. , at that time in the plenitude ofhis fame and power. 

England at this epoch enjoyed the proudest station in Europeanaffairs. John the Fearless, after having caused the murder ofhis rival, the duke of Orleans, was himself assassinated on thebridge of Montereau by the followers of the dauphin of France, andin his presence. Philip, duke of Burgundy, the son and successorof John, had formed a close alliance with Henry V. , to revengehis father's murder; and soon after the death of the king hemarried his sister, and thus united himself still more nearly tothe celebrated John, duke of Bedford, brother of Henry, and regentof France, in the name of his infant nephew, Henry VI. But besidesthe share on which he reckoned in the spoils of France, Philipalso looked with a covetous eye on the inheritance of Jacqueline, his cousin. As soon as he had learned that this princess, sowell received in England, was taking measures for having hermarriage annulled, to enable her to espouse the duke of Gloucester, also the brother of Henry V. , and subsequently known by theappellation of "the good duke Humphrey, " he was tormented by adouble anxiety. He, in the first place, dreaded that Jacquelinemight have children by her projected marriage with Gloucester (acircumstance neither likely nor even possible, in the opinion ofsome historians, to result from her union with John of Brabant:Hume, vol. Iii. , p. 133), and thus deprive him of his right ofsuccession to her states; and in the next, he was jealous ofthe possible domination of England in the Netherlands as wellas in France. He therefore soon became self-absolved from allhis vows of revenge in the cause of his murdered father, andlabored solely for the object of his personal aggrandizement. To break his connection with Bedford; to treat secretly withthe dauphin, his father's assassin, or at least the witness andwarrant for his assassination; and to shuffle from party to partyas occasion required, were movements of no difficulty to Philip, surnamed "the Good. " He openly espoused the cause of his infamousrelative, John of Brabant; sent a powerful army into Hainault, which Gloucester vainly strove to defend in right of his affiancedwife; and next seized on Holland and Zealand, where he met witha long but ineffectual resistance on the part of the courageouswoman he so mercilessly oppressed. Jacqueline, deprived of theassistance of her stanch but ruined friends, [1] and abandonedby Gloucester (who, on the refusal of Pope Martin V. To sanctionher divorce, had married another woman, and but feebly aidedthe efforts of the former to maintain her rights), was now lefta widow by the death of John of Brabant. But Philip, without ashadow of justice, pursued his designs against her dominions, and finally despoiled her of her last possessions, and even ofthe title of countess, which she forfeited by her marriage withVrank Van Borselen, a gentleman of Zealand, contrary to a compactto which Philip's tyranny had forced her to consent. After a careerthe most checkered and romantic which is recorded in history, thebeautiful and hitherto unfortunate Jacqueline found repose andhappiness in the tranquillity of private life, and her deathin 1436, at the age of thirty-six, removed all restraint fromPhilip's thirst for aggrandizement, in the indulgence of whichhe drowned his remorse. As if fortune had conspired for the rapidconsolidation of his greatness, the death of Philip, count ofSt. Pol, who had succeeded his brother John in the dukedom ofBrabant, gave him the sovereignty of that extensive province;and his dominions soon extended to the very limits of Picardy, by the Peace of Arras, concluded with the dauphin, now becomeCharles VII. , and by his finally contracting a strict alliancewith France. 

[Footnote 1: We must not omit to notice the existence of twofactions, which, for near two centuries, divided and agitatedthe whole population of Holland and Zealand. One bore the titleof _Hoeks_ (fishing-hooks); the other was called _Kaabel-jauws_(cod-fish). The origin of these burlesque denominations was adispute between two parties at a feast, as to whether the cod-fishtook the hook or the hook the cod-fish? This apparently frivolousdispute was made the pretext for a serious quarrel; and the partisansof the nobles and those of the towns ranged themselves at eitherside, and assumed different badges of distinction. The _Hoeks_, partisans of the towns, wore red caps; the _Kaabeljauws_ woregray ones. In Jacqueline's quarrel with Philip of Burgundy, shewas supported by the former; and it was not till the year 1492that the extinction of that popular and turbulent faction strucka final blow to the dissensions of both. ]

Philip of Burgundy, thus become sovereign of dominions at once soextensive and compact, had the precaution and address to obtainfrom the emperor a formal renunciation of his existing, thoughalmost nominal, rights as lord paramount. He next purchased thetitle of the duchess of Luxemburg to that duchy; and thus thestates of the House of Burgundy gained an extent about equal tothat of the existing kingdom of the Netherlands. For although onthe north and east they did not include Friesland, the bishopricof Utrecht, Guelders, or the province of Liege, still on the southand west they comprised French Flanders, the Boulonnais, Artois, and a part of Picardy, besides Burgundy. But it has been alreadyseen how limited an authority was possessed by the rulers of themaritime provinces. Flanders in particular, the most populousand wealthy, strictly preserved its republican institutions. Ghent and Bruges were the two great towns of the province, andeach maintained its individual authority over its respectiveterritory, with great indifference to the will or the wishes ofthe sovereign duke. Philip, however, had the policy to dividemost effectually these rival towns. After having fallen intothe hands of the people of Bruges, whom he made a vain attemptto surprise, and who massacred numbers of his followers beforehis eyes, he forced them to submission by the assistance of thecitizens of Ghent, who sanctioned the banishment of the chiefmen of the vanquished town. But some years later Ghent was inits turn oppressed and punished for having resisted the paymentof some new tax. It found no support from the rest of Flanders. Nevertheless this powerful city singly maintained the war forthe space of two years; but the intrepid burghers finally yieldedto the veterans of the duke, formed to victory in the Frenchwars. The principal privileges of Ghent were on this occasionrevoked and annulled. 

During these transactions the province of Holland, which enjoyeda degree of liberty almost equal to Flanders, had declared waragainst the Hanseatic towns on its own proper authority. Supportedby Zealand, which formed a distinct country, but was strictly unitedto it by a common interest, Holland equipped a fleet against thepirates which infested their coasts and assailed their commerce, and soon forced them to submission. Philip in the meantime contrivedto manage the conflicting elements of his power with great subtlety. Notwithstanding his ambitious and despotic character, he conductedhimself so cautiously that his people by common consent confirmedhis title of "the Good, " which was somewhat inappropriately givento him at the very epoch when he appeared to deserve it least. Ageand exhaustion may be adduced among the causes of the tolerationwhich signalized his latter years; and if he was the usurper ofsome parts of his dominions, he cannot be pronounced a tyrantover any. 

Philip had an only son, born and reared in the midst of thatostentatious greatness which he looked on as his own by divineright; whereas his father remembered that it had chiefly becomehis by fortuitous acquirement, and much of it by means not likelyto look well in the sight of Heaven. This son was Charles, count ofCharolois, afterward celebrated under the name of Charles the Rash. He gave, even in the lifetime of his father, a striking specimenof despotism to the people of Holland. Appointed stadtholder ofthat province in 1457, he appropriated to himself several importantsuccessions; forced the inhabitants to labor in the formation ofdikes for the security of the property thus acquired; and, in aword, conducted himself as an absolute master. Soon afterward hebroke out into open opposition to his father, who had complained ofthis undutiful and impetuous son to the states of the provinces, venting his grief in lamentations instead of punishing his people'swrongs. But his private rage burst forth one day in a manner asfurious as his public expressions were tame. He went so far asto draw his sword on Charles and pursue him through his palace;and a disgusting yet instructive spectacle it was, to see thisfather and son in mutual and disgraceful discord, like two birdsof prey quarrelling in the same eyry; the old count outrageousto find he was no longer undisputed sovereign, and the youngone in feeling that he had not yet become so. But Philip wasdeclining daily. Yet even when dying he preserved his naturalhaughtiness and energy; and being provoked by the insubordinationof the people of Liege, he had himself carried to the scene oftheir punishment. The refractory town of Dinant, on the Meuse, was utterly destroyed by the two counts, and six hundred of thecitizens drowned in the river, and in cold blood. The followingyear Philip expired, leaving to Charles his long-wished-forinheritance. 

The reign of Philip had produced a revolution in Belgian manners;for his example and the great increase of wealth had introducedhabits of luxury hitherto quite unknown. He had also brought intofashion romantic notions of military honor, love, and chivalry;which, while they certainly softened the character of the nobility, contained nevertheless a certain mixture of frivolity andextravagance. The celebrated order of the Golden Fleece, whichwas introduced by Philip, was less an institution based on groundsof rational magnificence than a puerile emblem of his passionfor Isabella of Portugal, his third wife. The verses of acontemporary poet induced him to make a vow for the conquestof Constantinople from the Turks. He certainly never attemptedto execute this senseless crusade; but he did not omit so fairan opportunity for levying new taxes on his people. And it isundoubted that the splendor of his court and the immorality ofhis example were no slight sources of corruption to the countrieswhich he governed. 

In this respect, at least, a totally different kind of governmentwas looked for on the part of his son and successor, who was bynature and habit a mere soldier. Charles began his career byseizing on all the money and jewels left by his father; he nextdismissed the crowd of useless functionaries who had fed upon, under the pretence of managing, the treasures of the state. Butthis salutary and sweeping reform was only effected to enable thesovereign to pursue uncontrolled the most fatal of all passions, that of war. Nothing can better paint the true character of thishaughty and impetuous prince than his crest (a branch of holly), and his motto, "Who touches it, pricks himself. " Charles hadconceived a furious and not ill-founded hatred for his base yetformidable neighbor and rival, Louis XI. Of France. The latterhad succeeded in obtaining from Philip the restitution of sometowns in Picardy; cause sufficient to excite the resentment ofhis inflammable successor, who, during his father's lifetime, took open part with some of the vassals of France in a temporarystruggle against the throne. Louis, who had been worsted in acombat where both he and Charles bore a part, was not behindhandin his hatred. But inasmuch as one was haughty, audacious, andintemperate, the other was cunning, cool, and treacherous. Charleswas the proudest, most daring, and most unmanageable prince thatever made the sword the type and the guarantee of greatness;Louis the most subtle, dissimulating, and treacherous king thatever wove in his closet a tissue of hollow diplomacy and badfaith in government. The struggle between these sovereigns wasunequal only in respect to this difference of character; forFrance, subdivided as it still was, and exhausted by the warswith England, was not comparable, either as regarded men, money, or the other resources of the state, to the compact and prosperousdominions of Burgundy. 

Charles showed some symptoms of good sense and greatness of mind, soon after his accession to power, that gave a false coloring tohis disposition, and encouraged illusory hopes as to his futurecareer. Scarcely was he proclaimed count of Flanders at Ghent, when the populace, surrounding his hotel, absolutely insistedon and extorted his consent to the restitution of their ancientprivileges. Furious as Charles was at this bold proof ofinsubordination, he did not revenge it; and he treated with equalindulgence the city of Mechlin, which had expelled its governorand razed the citadel. The people of Liege, having revolted againsttheir bishop, Louis of Bourbon, who was closely connected withthe House of Burgundy, were defeated by the duke in 1467, buthe treated them with clemency; and immediately after this event, in February, 1468, he concluded with Edward IV. Of England analliance, offensive and defensive, against France. 

The real motive of this alliance was rivalry and hatred againstLouis. The ostensible pretext was this monarch's having made waragainst the duke of Brittany, Charles's old ally in the shortcontest in which he, while yet but count, had measured his strengthwith his rival after he became king. The present union betweenEngland and Burgundy was too powerful not to alarm Louis; hedemanded an explanatory conference with Charles, and the townof Peronne in Picardy was fixed on for their meeting. Louis, willing to imitate the boldness of his rival, who had formerlycome to meet him in the very midst of his army, now came to therendezvous almost alone. But he was severely mortified and nearpaying a greater penalty than fright for this hazardous conduct. The duke, having received intelligence of a new revolt at Liegeexcited by some of the agents of France, instantly made Louisprisoner, in defiance of every law of honor or fair dealing. Theexcess of his rage and hatred might have carried him to a moredisgraceful extremity, had not Louis, by force of bribery, gainedover some of his most influential counsellors, who succeeded inappeasing his rage. He contented himself with humiliating, whenhe was disposed to punish. He forced his captive to accompany himto Liege, and witness the ruin of this unfortunate town, whichhe delivered over to plunder; and having given this lesson toLouis, he set him at liberty. 

From this period there was a marked and material change in theconduct of Charles. He had been previously moved by sentimentsof chivalry and notions of greatness. But sullied by his act ofpublic treachery and violence toward the monarch who had, atleast in seeming, manifested unlimited confidence in his honor, a secret sense of shame embittered his feelings and soured histemper. He became so insupportable to those around him that hewas abandoned by several of his best officers, and even by hisnatural brother, Baldwin of Burgundy, who passed over to the sideof Louis. Charles was at this time embarrassed by the expenseof entertaining and maintaining Edward IV. And numerous Englishexiles, who were forced to take refuge in the Netherlands bythe successes of the earl of Warwick, who had replaced HenryVI. On the throne. Charles at the same time held out to severalprinces in Europe hopes of bestowing on them in marriage hisonly daughter and heiress Mary, while he privately assured hisfriends, if his courtiers and ministers may be so called, "thathe never meant to have a son-in-law until he was disposed tomake himself a monk. " In a word, he was no longer guided by anyprinciple but that of fierce and brutal selfishness. 

In this mood he soon became tired of the service of his noblesand of the national militia, who only maintained toward him aforced and modified obedience founded on the usages and rightsof their several provinces; and he took into his pay all sortsof adventurers and vagabonds who were willing to submit to him astheir absolute master. When the taxes necessary for the supportand pay of these bands of mercenaries caused the people to murmur, Charles laughed at their complaints, and severely punished someof the most refractory. He then entered France at the head ofhis army, to assist the duke of Brittany; but at the moment whennothing seemed to oppose the most extensive views of his ambitionhe lost by his hot-brained caprice every advantage within hiseasy reach: he chose to sit down before Beauvais; and thus madeof this town, which lay in his road, a complete stumbling-blockon his path of conquest. 

The time he lost before its walls caused the defeat and ruinof his unsupported, or as might be said his abandoned, ally, who made the best terms he could with Louis; and thus Charles'spresumption and obstinacy paralyzed all the efforts of his courageand power. But he soon afterward acquired the duchy of Gueldersfrom the old Duke Arnoul, who had been temporarily despoiled ofit by his son Adolphus. It was almost a hereditary consequence inthis family that the children should revolt and rebel against theirparents. Adolphus had the effrontery to found his justificationon the argument that his father having reigned forty-four years, he was fully entitled to his share--a fine practical authorityfor greedy and expectant heirs. The old father replied to thisreasoning by offering to meet his son in single combat. Charlescut short the affair by making Adolphus prisoner and seizingon the disputed territory; for which he, however, paid Arnoulthe sum of two hundred and twenty thousand florins. 

After this acquisition Charles conceived and had much at heartthe design of becoming king, the first time that the Netherlandswere considered sufficiently important and consolidated to entitletheir possessor to that title. To lead to this object he offeredto the emperor of Germany the hand of his daughter Mary for hisson Maximilian. The emperor acceded to this proposition, andrepaired to the city of Treves to meet Charles and countenancehis coronation. But the insolence and selfishness of the latterput an end to the project. He humiliated the emperor, who was ofa niggardly and mean-spirited disposition, by appearing with atrain so numerous and sumptuous as totally to eclipse the imperialretinue; and deeply offended him by wishing to postpone the marriage, from his jealousy of creating for himself a rival in a son-in-lawwho might embitter his old age as he had done that of his ownfather. The mortified emperor quitted the place in high dudgeon, and the projected kingdom was doomed to a delay of some centuries. 

Charles, urged on by the double motive of thirst for aggrandizementand vexation at his late failure, attempted, under pretext ofsome internal dissensions, to gain possession of Cologne andits territory, which belonged to the empire; and at the sametime planned the invasion of France, in concert with hisbrother-in-law Edward IV. , who had recovered possession of England. But the town of Nuys, in the archbishopric of Cologne, occupiedhim a full year before its walls. The emperor, who came to itssuccor, actually besieged the besiegers in their camp; and thedispute was terminated by leaving it to the arbitration of thepope's legate, and placing the contested town in his keeping. This half triumph gained by Charles saved Louis wholly fromdestruction. Edward, who had landed in France with a numerousforce, seeing no appearance of his Burgundian allies, made peacewith Louis; and Charles, who arrived in all haste, but not tillafter the treaty was signed, upbraided and abused the Englishking, and turned a warm friend into an inveterate enemy. 

Louis, whose crooked policy had so far succeeded on all occasions, now seemed to favor Charles's plans of aggrandizement, and torecognize his pretended right to Lorraine, which legitimatelybelonged to the empire, and the invasion of which by Charles wouldbe sure to set him at variance with the whole of Germany. Theinfatuated duke, blind to the ruin to which he was thus hurrying, abandoned to Louis, in return for this insidious support, theconstable of St. Pol; a nobleman who had long maintained hisindependence in Picardy, where he had large possessions, andwho was fitted to be a valuable friend or formidable enemy toeither. Charles now marched against, and soon overcame, Lorraine. Thence he turned his army against the Swiss, who were alliesto the conquered province, but who sent the most submissivedissuasions to the invader. They begged for peace, assuring Charlesthat their romantic but sterile mountains were not altogetherworth the bridles of his splendidly equipped cavalry. But themore they humbled themselves, the higher was his haughtinessraised. It appeared that he had at this period conceived theproject of uniting in one common conquest the ancient dominionsof Lothaire I. , who had possessed the whole of the countriestraversed by the Rhine, the Rhone, and the Po; and he even spokeof passing the Alps, like Hannibal, for the invasion of Italy. 

Switzerland was, by moral analogy as well as physical fact, therock against which these extravagant projects were shattered. The army of Charles, which engaged the hardy mountaineers inthe gorges of the Alps near the town of Granson, were literallycrushed to atoms by the stones and fragments of granite detachedfrom the heights and hurled down upon their heads. Charles, afterthis defeat, returned to the charge six weeks later, having ralliedhis army and drawn reinforcements from Burgundy. But Louis haddespatched a body of cavalry to the Swiss--a force in which theywere before deficient; and thus augmented, their army amountedto thirty-four thousand men. They took up a position, skilfullychosen, on the borders of the Lake of Morat, where they wereattacked by Charles at the head of sixty thousand soldiers ofall ranks. The result was the total defeat of the latter, withthe loss of ten thousand killed, whose bones, gathered into animmense heap, and bleaching in the winds, remained for abovethree centuries; a terrible monument of rashness and injusticeon the one hand, and of patriotism and valor on the other. 

Charles was now plunged into a state of profound melancholy;but he soon burst from this gloomy mood into one of renewedfierceness and fatal desperation. Nine months after the battleof Morat he re-entered Lorraine, at the head of an army, notcomposed of his faithful militia of the Netherlands, but of thosemercenaries in whom it was madness to place trust. The reinforcementsmeant to be despatched to him by those provinces were kept backby the artifices of the count of Campo Basso, an Italian whocommanded his cavalry, and who only gained his confidence baselyto betray it. Rene, duke of Lorraine, at the head of the confederateforces, offered battle to Charles under the walls of Nancy; andthe night before the combat Campo Basso went over to the enemywith the troops under his command. Still Charles had the wayopen for retreat. Fresh troops from Burgundy and Flanders wereon their march to join him; but he would not be dissuaded fromhis resolution to fight, and he resolved to try his fortune oncemore with his dispirited and shattered army. On this occasion thefate of Charles was decided, and the fortune of Louis triumphant. The rash and ill-fated duke lost both the battle and his life. His body, mutilated with wounds, was found the next day, andburied with great pomp in the town of Nancy, by the orders ofthe generous victor, the duke of Lorraine. 

Thus perished the last prince of the powerful House of Burgundy. Charles left to his only daughter, then eighteen years of age, the inheritance of his extensive dominions, and with them that ofthe hatred and jealousy which he had so largely excited. Externalspoliation immediately commenced, and internal disunion quicklyfollowed. Louis XI. Seized on Burgundy and a part of Artois, asfiefs devolving to the crown in default of male issue. Severalof the provinces refused to pay the new subsidies commanded inthe name of Mary; Flanders alone showing a disposition to upholdthe rights of the young princess. The states were assembled atGhent, and ambassadors sent to the king of France in the hopesof obtaining peace on reasonable terms. Louis, true to his systemof subtle perfidy, placed before one of those ambassadors, theburgomaster of Ghent, a letter from the inexperienced princess, which proved her intention to govern by the counsel of her father'sancient ministers rather than by that of the deputies of thenation. This was enough to decide the indignant Flemings to renderthemselves at once masters of the government and get rid of theministers whom they hated. Two Burgundian nobles, Hugonet andImbercourt, were arrested, accused of treason, and beheaded underthe very eyes of their agonized and outraged mistress, who threwherself before the frenzied multitude, vainly imploring mercyfor these innocent men. The people having thus completely gainedthe upper hand over the Burgundian influence, Mary was sovereignof the Netherlands but in name. 

It would have now been easy for Louis XI. To have obtained forthe dauphin, his son, the hand of this hitherto unfortunate butinteresting princess; but he thought himself sufficiently strongand cunning to gain possession of her states without such analliance. Mary, however, thus in some measure disdained, if notactually rejected, by Louis, soon after married her first-intendedhusband, Maximilian of Austria, son of the emperor FrederickIII. ; a prince so absolutely destitute, in consequence of hisfather's parsimony, that she was obliged to borrow money fromthe towns of Flanders to defray the expenses of his suite. Nevertheless he seemed equally acceptable to his bride and to hisnew subjects. They not only supplied all his wants, but enabledhim to maintain the war against Louis XI. , whom they defeated atthe battle of Guinegate in Picardy, and forced to make peace onmore favorable terms than they had hoped for. But these wealthyprovinces were not more zealous for the national defence than benton the maintenance of their local privileges, which Maximilianlittle understood, and sympathized with less. He was bred in theschool of absolute despotism; and his duchess having met witha too early death by a fall from her horse in the year 1484, hecould not even succeed in obtaining the nomination of guardian tohis own children without passing through a year of civil war. Hispower being almost nominal in the northern provinces, he vainlyattempted to suppress the violence of the factions of Hoeks andKaabeljauws. In Flanders his authority was openly resisted. Theturbulent towns of that country, and particularly Bruges, takingumbrage at a government half German, half Burgundian, and altogetherhateful to the people, rose up against Maximilian, seized onhis person, imprisoned him in a house which still exists, andput to death his most faithful followers. But the fury of Ghentand other places becoming still more outrageous, Maximilian askedas a favor from his rebel subjects of Bruges to be guarded whilea prisoner by them alone. He was then king of the Romans, andall Europe became interested in his fate. The pope addresseda brief to the town of Bruges, demanding his deliverance. Butthe burghers were as inflexible as factious; and they at lengthreleased him, but not until they had concluded with him and theassembled states a treaty which most amply secured the enjoymentof their privileges and the pardon of their rebellion. 

But these kind of compacts were never observed by the princes ofthose days beyond the actual period of their capacity to violatethem. The emperor having entered the Netherlands at the head offorty thousand men, Maximilian, so supported, soon showed hiscontempt for the obligations he had sworn to, and had recourseto force for the extension of his authority. The valor of theFlemings and the military talents of their leader, Philip ofCleves, thwarted all his projects, and a new compromise was enteredinto. Flanders paid a large subsidy, and held fast her rights. The German troops were sent into Holland, and employed for theextinction of the Hoeks; who, as they formed by far the weakerfaction, were now soon destroyed. That province, which had been solong distracted by its intestine feuds, and which had consequentlyplayed but an insignificant part in the transactions of theNetherlands, now resumed its place; and acquired thenceforth newhonor, till it at length came to figure in all the importanceof historical distinction. 

The situation of the Netherlands was now extremely precariousand difficult to manage, during the unstable sway of a governmentso weak as Maximilian's. But he having succeeded his father on theimperial throne in 1493, and his son Philip having been proclaimedthe following year duke and count of the various provinces atthe age of sixteen, a more pleasing prospect was offered to thepeople. Philip, young, handsome, and descended by his motherfrom the ancient sovereigns of the country, was joyfully hailedby all the towns. He did not belie the hopes so enthusiasticallyexpressed. He had the good sense to renounce all pretensions toFriesland, the fertile source of many preceding quarrels andsacrifices. He re-established the ancient commercial relations withEngland, to which country Maximilian had given mortal-offence bysustaining the imposture of Perkin Warbeck. Philip also consultedthe states-general on his projects of a double alliance betweenhimself and his sister with the son and daughter of Ferdinand, king of Aragon, and Isabella, queen of Castile; and from this wiseprecaution the project soon became one of national partiality insteadof private or personal interest. In this manner complete harmonywas established between the young prince and the inhabitants ofthe Netherlands. All the ills produced by civil war disappearedwith immense rapidity in Flanders and Brabant, as soon as peacewas thus consolidated. Even Holland, though it had particularlyfelt the scourge of these dissensions, and suffered severelyfrom repeated inundations, began to recover. Yet for all this, Philip can be scarcely called a good prince: his merits werenegative rather than real. But that sufficed for the nation;which found in the nullity of its sovereign no obstacle to theresumption of that prosperous career which had been checked bythe despotism of the House of Burgundy, and the attempts ofMaximilian to continue the same system. 

The reign of Philip, unfortunately a short one was renderedremarkable by two intestine quarrels; one in Friesland, the otherin Guelders. The Frisons, who had been so isolated from the moreimportant affairs of Europe that they were in a manner lost sightof by history for several centuries, had nevertheless their fullshare of domestic disputes; too long, too multifarious, and toominute, to allow us to give more than this brief notice of theirexistence. But finally, about the period of Philip's accession, eastern Friesland had chosen for its count a gentleman of thecountry surnamed Edzart, who fixed the headquarters of his militarygovernment at Embden. The sight of such an elevation in an individualwhose pretensions he thought far inferior to his own induced Albertof Saxony, who had well served Maximilian against the refractoryFlemings, to demand as his reward the title of stadtholder orhereditary governor of Friesland. But it was far easier for theemperor to accede to this request than for his favorite to putthe grant into effect. The Frisons, true to their old character, held firm to their privileges, and fought for their maintenancewith heroic courage. Albert, furious at this resistance, had thehorrid barbarity to cause to be impaled the chief burghers of thetown of Leuwaarden, which he had taken by assault. But he himselfdied in the year 1500, without succeeding in his projects of anambition unjust in its principle and atrocious in its practice. 

The war of Guelders was of a totally different nature. In thiscase it was not a question of popular resistance to a tyrannicalnomination, but of patriotic fidelity to the reigning family. Adolphus, the duke who had dethroned his father, had died inFlanders, leaving a son who had been brought up almost a captiveas long as Maximilian governed the states of his inheritance. This young man, called Charles of Egmont, and who is honored inthe history of his country under the title of the Achilles ofGuelders, fell into the hands of the French during the combatin which he made his first essay in arms. The town of Gueldersunanimously joined to pay his ransom; and as soon as he was atliberty they one and all proclaimed him duke. The emperor Philipand the Germanic diet in vain protested against this measure, and declared Charles a usurper. The spirit of justice and ofliberty spoke more loudly than the thunders of their ban; and thepeople resolved to support to the last this scion of an ancientrace, glorious in much of its conduct, though often criminal inmany of its members. Charles of Egmont found faithful friendsin his devoted subjects; and he maintained his rights, sometimeswith, sometimes without, the assistance of France--making up forhis want of numbers by energy and enterprise. We cannot follow thiswarlike prince in the long series of adventures which consolidatedhis power; nor stop to depict his daring adherents on land, whocaused the whole of Holland to tremble at their deeds; nor hispirates--the chief of whom, Long Peter, called himself king ofthe Zuyder Zee. But amid all the consequent troubles of such astruggle, it is marvellous to find Charles of Egmont upholdinghis country in a state of high prosperity, and leaving it at hisdeath almost as rich as Holland itself. 

The incapacity of Philip the Fair doubtless contributed to causehim the loss of this portion of his dominions. This prince, afterhis first acts of moderation and good sense, was remarkable onlyas being the father of Charles V. The remainder of his life wasworn out in undignified pleasures; and he died almost suddenly, in the year 1506, at Burgos in Castile, whither he had repairedto pay a visit to his brother-in-law, the king of Spain. 

CHAPTER VI

FROM THE GOVERNMENT OF MARGARET OF AUSTRIA TO THE ABDICATION OFTHE EMPEROR CHARLES V. 

A. D. 1506--1555

Philip being dead, and his wife, Joanna of Spain, having becomemad from grief at his loss, after nearly losing her senses fromjealousy during his life, the regency of the Netherlands revertedto Maximilian, who immediately named his daughter Margaretstadtholderess of the country. This princess, scarcely twenty-sevenyears of age, had been, like the celebrated Jacqueline of Bavaria, already three times married, and was now again a widow. Her firsthusband, Charles VIII. Of France, had broken from his contractof marriage before its consummation; her second, the Infanteof Spain, died immediately after their union; and her third, the duke of Savoy, left her again a widow after three years ofwedded life. She was a woman of talent and courage; both provedby the couplet she composed for her own epitaph, at the verymoment of a dangerous accident which happened during her journeyinto Spain to join her second affianced spouse. 

 "Ci-git Margot la genre demoiselle, Qui eut deux maris, et si mourut pucelle. "

 "Here gentle Margot quietly is laid, Who had two husbands, and yet died a maid. "

She was received with the greatest joy by the people of theNetherlands; and she governed them as peaceably as circumstancesallowed. Supported by England, she firmly maintained her authorityagainst the threats of France; and she carried on in person allthe negotiations between Louis XII. , Maximilian, the pope JuliusII. , and Ferdinand of Aragon, for the famous League of Venice. These negotiations took place in 1508, at Cambray; where Margaret, if we are to credit an expression to that effect in one of herletters, was more than once on the point of having seriousdifferences with the cardinal of Amboise, minister of Louis XII. But, besides her attention to the interests of her father onthis important occasion, she also succeeded in repressing therising pretensions of Charles of Egmont; and, assisted by theinterference of the king of France, she obliged him to give upsome places in Holland which he illegally held. 

From this period the alliance between England and Spain raisedthe commerce and manufactures of the southern provinces of theNetherlands to a high degree of prosperity, while the northernparts of the country were still kept down by their variousdissensions. Holland was at war with the Hanseatic towns. TheFrisons continued to struggle for freedom against the heirs ofAlbert of Saxony. Utrecht was at variance with its bishop, andfinally recognized Charles of Egmont as its protector. Theconsequence of all these causes was that the south took the startin a course of prosperity, which was, however, soon to becomecommon to the whole nation. 

A new rupture with France, in 1513, united Maximilian, Margaret, and Henry VIII. Of England, in one common cause. An English andBelgian army, in which Maximilian figured as a spectator (takingcare to be paid by England), marched for the destruction ofTherouenne, and defeated and dispersed the French at the battleof Spurs. But Louis XII. Soon persuaded Henry to make a separatepeace; and the unconquerable duke of Guelders made Margaret andthe emperor pay the penalty of their success against France. Hepursued his victories in Friesland, and forced the country torecognize him as stadtholder of Groningen, its chief town; whilethe duke of Saxony at length renounced to another his unjust claimon a territory which engulfed both his armies and his treasure. 

About the same epoch (1515), young Charles, son of Philip theFair, having just attained his fifteenth year, was inauguratedduke of Brabant and count of Flanders and Holland, having purchasedthe presumed right of Saxony to the sovereignty of Friesland. Inthe following year he was recognized as prince of Castile, inright of his mother, who associated him with herself in the royalpower--a step which soon left her merely the title of queen. Charlesprocured the nomination of bishop of Utrecht for Philip, bastardof Burgundy, which made that province completely dependent onhim. But this event was also one of general and lasting importanceon another account. This Philip of Burgundy was deeply affectedby the doctrines of the Reformation, which had burst forth inGermany. He held in abhorrence the superstitious observancesof the Romish Church, and set his face against the celibacy ofthe clergy. His example soon influenced his whole diocese, andthe new notions on points of religion became rapidly popular. It was chiefly, however, in Friesland that the people embracedthe opinions of Luther, which were quite conformable to many ofthe local customs of which we have already spoken. The celebratedEdzard, count of eastern Friesland, openly adopted the Reformation. While Erasmus of Rotterdam, without actually pronouncing himselfa disciple of Lutheranism, effected more than all its advocatesto throw the abuses of Catholicism into discredit. 

We may here remark that, during the government of the House ofBurgundy, the clergy of the Netherlands had fallen into considerabledisrepute. Intrigue and court favor alone had the disposal ofthe benefices; while the career of commerce was open to theenterprise of every spirited and independent competitor. TheReformation, therefore, in the first instance found but a slightobstacle in the opposition of a slavish and ignorant clergy, and its progress was all at once prodigious. The refusal of thedignity of emperor by Frederick "the Wise, " duke of Saxony, towhom it was offered by the electors, was also an event highlyfavorable to the new opinions; for Francis I. Of France, andCharles, already king of Spain and sovereign of the Netherlands, both claiming the succession to the empire, a sort of interregnumdeprived the disputed dominions of a chief who might lay the heavyhand of power on the new-springing doctrines of Protestantism. Atlength the intrigues of Charles, and his pretensions as grandsonof Maximilian, having caused him to be chosen emperor, a desperaterivalry resulted between him and the French king, which for awhile absorbed his whole attention and occupied all his power. 

From the earliest appearance of the Reformation, the young sovereignof so many states, having to establish his authority at the twoextremities of Europe, could not efficiently occupy himself inresisting the doctrines which, despite their dishonoring epithetof heresy, were doomed so soon to become orthodox for a greatpart of the Continent. While Charles vigorously put down therevolted Spaniards, Luther gained new proselytes in Germany; sothat the very greatness of the sovereignty was the cause of hisimpotency; and while Charles's extent of dominion thus fosteredthe growing Reformation, his sense of honor proved the safeguardof its apostle. The intrepid Luther, boldly venturing to appearand plead its cause before the representative power of Germanyassembled at the Diet of Worms, was protected by the guaranteeof the emperor; unlike the celebrated and unfortunate John Huss;who fell a victim to his own confidence and the bad faith ofSigismund, in the year 1415. 

Charles was nevertheless a zealous and rigid Catholic; and in theLow Countries, where his authority was undisputed, he proscribedthe heretics, and even violated the privileges of the countryby appointing functionaries for the express purpose of theirpursuit and punishment. This imprudent stretch of power fostereda rising spirit of opposition; for, though entertaining the bestdisposition to their young prince, the people deeply felt andloudly complained of the government; and thus the germs of amighty revolution gradually began to be developed. 

Charles V. And Francis I. Had been rivals for dignity and power, and they now became implacable personal enemies. Young, ambitious, and sanguine, they could not, without reciprocal resentment, pursuein the same field objects essential to both. Charles, by a shortbut timely visit to England in 1520, had the address to gain overto his cause and secure for his purpose the powerful interestof Cardinal Wolsey, and to make a most favorable impression onHenry VIII. ; and thus strengthened, he entered on the struggleagainst his less wily enemy with infinite advantage. War wasdeclared on frivolous pretexts in 1521. The French sustained itfor some time with great valor; but Francis being obstinatelybent on the conquest of the Milanais, his reverses secured thetriumph of his rival, and he fell into the hands of the imperialtroops at the battle of Pavia in 1525. Charles's dominions in theNetherlands suffered severely from the naval operations duringthe war; for the French cruisers having, on repeated occasions, taken, pillaged, and almost destroyed the principal resourcesof the herring fishery, Holland and Zealand felt considerabledistress, which was still further augmented by the famine whichdesolated these provinces in 1524. 

While such calamities afflicted the northern portion of theNetherlands, Flanders and Brabant continued to flourish, in spiteof temporary embarrassments. The bishop of Utrecht having died, his successor found himself engaged in a hopeless quarrel with hisnew diocese, already more than half converted to Protestantism;and to gain a triumph over these enemies, even by the sacrificeof his dignity, he ceded to the emperor in 1527 the whole ofhis temporal power. The duke of Guelders, who then occupied thecity of Utrecht, redoubled his hostility at this intelligence;and after having ravaged the neighboring country, he did not laydown his arms till the subsequent year, having first procuredan honorable and advantageous peace. One year more saw the termof this long-continued state of warfare by the Peace of Cambray, between Charles and Francis, which was signed on the 5th of August, 1529. 

This peace once concluded, the industry and perseverance of theinhabitants of the Netherlands repaired in a short time the evilscaused by so many wars, excited by the ambition of princes, butin scarcely any instance for the interest of the country. Little, however, was wanting to endanger this tranquillity, and to excitethe people against each other on the score of religious dissension. The sect of Anabaptists, whose wild opinions were subversive ofall principles of social order and every sentiment of naturaldecency, had its birth in Germany, and found many proselytes inthe Netherlands. John Bokelszoon, a tailor of Leyden, one ofthe number, caused himself to be proclaimed king of Jerusalem;and making himself master of the town of Munster, sent out hisdisciples to preach in the neighboring countries. Mary, sisterof Charles V. , and queen-dowager of Hungary, the stadtholderessof the Netherlands, proposed a crusade against this fanatic; whichwas, however, totally discountenanced by the states. Encouragedby impunity, whole troops of these infuriate sectarians, fromthe very extremities of Hainault, put themselves into motionfor Munster; and notwithstanding the colds of February, theymarched along, quite naked, according to the system of theirsect. The frenzy of these fanatics being increased by persecution, they projected attempts against several towns, and particularlyagainst Amsterdam. They were easily defeated, and massacred withoutmercy; and it was only by multiplied and horrible executionsthat their numbers were at length diminished. John Bokelszoonheld out at Munster, which was besieged by the bishop and theneighboring princes. This profligate fanatic, who had marriedno less than seventeen women, had gained considerable influenceover the insensate multitude; but he was at length taken andimprisoned in an iron cage--an event which undeceived the greaternumber of those whom he had persuaded of his superhuman powers. 

The prosperity of the southern provinces proceeded rapidly anduninterruptedly, in consequence of the great and valuable trafficof the merchants of Flanders and Brabant, who exchanged theirgoods of native manufacture for the riches drawn from America andIndia by the Spaniards and Portuguese. Antwerp had succeeded toBruges as the general mart of commerce, and was the most opulenttown of the north of Europe. The expenses, estimated at one hundredand thirty thousand golden crowns, which this city voluntarilyincurred, to do honor to the visit of Philip, son of CharlesV. , are cited as a proof of its wealth. The value of the woolannually imported for manufacture into the Low Countries fromEngland and Spain was calculated at four million pieces of gold. Their herring fishery was unrivalled; for even the Scotch, onwhose coasts these fish were taken, did not attempt a competitionwith the Zealanders. But the chief seat of prosperity was thesouth. Flanders alone was taxed for one-third of the generalburdens of the state. Brabant paid only one-seventh less thanFlanders. So that these two rich provinces contributed thirteenout of twenty-one parts of the general contribution; and allthe rest combined but eight. A search for further or minuterproofs of the comparative state of the various divisions of thecountry would be superfluous. 

The perpetual quarrels of Charles V. With Francis I. And Charlesof Guelders led, as may be supposed, to a repeated state ofexhaustion, which forced the princes to pause, till the peoplerecovered strength and resources for each fresh encounter. Charlesrarely appeared in the Netherlands; fixing his residence chiefly inSpain, and leaving to his sister the regulation of those distantprovinces. One of his occasional visits was for the purpose ofinflicting a terrible example upon them. The people of Ghent, suspecting an improper or improvident application of the fundsthey had furnished for a new campaign, offered themselves tomarch against the French, instead of being forced to pay theirquota of some further subsidy. The government having rejectedthis proposal, a sedition was the result, at the moment whenCharles and Francis already negotiated one of their temporaryreconciliations. On this occasion, Charles formed the daringresolution of crossing the kingdom of France, to promptly takeinto his own hands the settlement of this affair--trusting tothe generosity of his scarcely reconciled enemy not to abuse theconfidence with which he risked himself in his power. Ghent, takenby surprise, did not dare to oppose the entrance of the emperor, when he appeared before the walls; and the city was punishedwith extreme severity. Twenty-seven leaders of the sedition werebeheaded; the principal privileges of the city were withdrawn, and a citadel built to hold it in check for the future. Charlesmet with neither opposition nor complaint. The province had soprospered under his sway, and was so flattered by the greatness ofthe sovereign, who was born in the town he so severely punished, that his acts of despotic harshness were borne without a murmur. Butin the north the people did not view his measures so complacently;and a wide separation in interests and opinions became manifestin the different divisions of the nation. 

Yet the Dutch and the Zealanders signalized themselves beyond allhis other subjects on the occasion of two expeditions which Charlesundertook against Tunis and Algiers. The two northern provincesfurnished a greater number of ships than the united quotas ofall the rest of his states. But though Charles's gratitude didnot lead him to do anything in return as peculiarly favorableto these provinces, he obtained for them, nevertheless, a greatadvantage in making himself master of Friesland and Guelders onthe death of Charles of Egmont. His acquisition of the latter, which took place in 1543, put an end to the domestic wars ofthe northern provinces. From that period they might fairly lookfor a futurity of union and peace; and thus the latter years ofCharles promised better for his country than his early ones, though he obtained less success in his new wars with France, which were not, however, signalized by any grand event on eitherside. 

Toward the end of his career, Charles redoubled his severitiesagainst the Protestants, and even introduced a modified speciesof inquisition into the Netherlands, but with little effect towardthe suppression of the reformed doctrines. The misunderstandingsbetween his only son Philip and Mary of England, whom he hadinduced him to marry, and the unamiable disposition of this youngprince, tormented him almost as much as he was humiliated by thevictories of Henry II. Of France, the successor of Francis I. , and the successful dissimulation of Maurice, elector of Saxony, by whom he was completely outwitted, deceived, and defeated. Impelled by these motives, and others, perhaps, which are andmust ever remain unknown, Charles at length decided on abdicatingthe whole of his immense possessions. He chose the city of Brusselsas the scene of the solemnity, and the day fixed for it was the25th of October, 1555. It took place accordingly, in the presenceof the king of Bohemia, the duke of Savoy, the dowager queensof France and Hungary, the duchess of Lorraine, and an immenseassemblage of nobility from various countries. Charles resignedthe empire to his brother Ferdinand, already king of the Romans;and all the rest of his dominions to his son. Soon after theceremony, Charles embarked from Zealand on his voyage to Spain. He retired to the monastery of St. Justus, near the town ofPlacentia, in Estremadura. He entered this retreat in February, 1556, and died there on the 21st of September, 1558, in thefifty-ninth year of his age. The last six months of his existence, contrasted with the daring vigor of his former life, formed amelancholy picture of timidity and superstition. 

The whole of the provinces of the Netherlands being now for thefirst time united under one sovereign, such a junction marksthe limits of a second epoch in their history. It would be apresumptuous and vain attempt to trace, in a compass so confinedas ours, the various changes in manners and customs which arosein these countries during a period of one thousand years. Theextended and profound remarks of many celebrated writers on thestate of Europe from the decline of the Roman power to the epochat which we are now arrived must be referred to, to judge ofthe gradual progress of civilization through the gloom of thedark ages, till the dawn of enlightenment which led to the grandsystem of European politics commenced during the reign of CharlesV. The amazing increase of commerce was, above all otherconsiderations, the cause of the growth of liberty in theNetherlands. The Reformation opened the minds of men to thatintellectual freedom without which political enfranchisement isa worthless privilege. The invention of printing opened a thousandchannels to the flow of erudition and talent, and sent them outfrom the reservoirs of individual possession to fertilize thewhole domain of human nature. War, which seems to be an instinctof man, and which particular instances of heroism often raise tothe dignity of a passion, was reduced to a science, and madesubservient to those great principles of policy in which societybegan to perceive its only chance of durable good. Manufacturesattained a state of high perfection, and went on progressivelywith the growth of wealth and luxury. The opulence of the townsof Brabant and Flanders was without any previous example in thestate of Europe. A merchant of Bruges took upon himself alonethe security for the ransom of John the Fearless, taken at thebattle of Nicopolis, amounting to two hundred thousand ducats. A provost of Valenciennes repaired to Paris at one of the greatfairs periodically held there, and purchased on his own accountevery article that was for sale. At a repast given by one of thecounts of Flanders to the Flemish magistrates the seats theyoccupied were unfurnished with cushions. Those proud burghersfolded their sumptuous cloaks and sat on them. After the feastthey were retiring without retaining these important and costlyarticles of dress; and on a courtier reminding them of theirapparent neglect, the burgomaster of Bruges replied, "We Flemingsare not in the habit of carrying away the cushions after dinner!"The meetings of the different towns for the sports of archery weresignalized by the most splendid display of dress and decoration. The archers were habited in silk, damask, and the finest linen, and carried chains of gold of great weight and value. Luxurywas at its height among women. The queen of Philip the Fair ofFrance, on a visit to Bruges, exclaimed, with astonishment notunmixed with envy, "I thought myself the only queen here; butI see six hundred others who appear more so than I. "

The court of Phillip the Good seemed to carry magnificence andsplendor to their greatest possible height. The dresses of bothmen and women at this chivalric epoch were of almost incredibleexpense. Velvet, satin, gold, and precious stones seemed theordinary materials for the dress of either sex; while the veryhousings of the horses sparkled with brilliants and cost immensesums. This absurd extravagance was carried so far that CharlesV. Found himself forced at length to proclaim sumptuary lawsfor its repression. 

The style of the banquets given on grand occasions was regulatedon a scale of almost puerile splendor. The Banquet of Vows givenat Lille, in the year 1453, and so called from the obligationsentered into by some of the nobles to accompany Philip in a newcrusade against the infidels, showed a succession of costlyfooleries, most amusing in the detail given by an eye-witness(Olivier de la Marche), the minutest of the chroniclers, butunluckily too long to find a place in our pages. 

Such excessive luxury naturally led to great corruption of mannersand the commission of terrible crimes. During the reign of Philip deMale, there were committed in the city of Ghent and its outskirts, inless than a year, above fourteen hundred murders in gambling-housesand other resorts of debauchery. As early as the tenth century, the petty sovereigns established on the ruins of the empire ofCharlemagne began the independent coining of money; and the variousprovinces were during the rest of this epoch inundated with a mostembarrassing variety of gold, silver, and copper. Even in ages ofcomparative darkness, literature made feeble efforts to burstthrough the entangled weeds of superstition, ignorance, and war. In the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, history was greatlycultivated; and Froissart, Monstrelet, Olivier de la Marche, andPhilip de Comines, gave to their chronicles and memoirs a charmof style since their days almost unrivalled. Poetry began to befollowed with success in the Netherlands, in the Dutch, Flemish, and French languages; and even before the institution of theFloral Games in France, Belgium possessed its chambers of rhetoric(_rederykkamers_) which labored to keep alive the sacred flameof poetry with more zeal than success. In the fourteenth andfifteenth centuries, these societies were established in almostevery burgh of Flanders and Brabant; the principal towns possessingseveral at once. 

The arts in their several branches made considerable progressin the Netherlands during this epoch. Architecture was greatlycultivated in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries; most ofthe cathedrals and town houses being constructed in that age. Their vastness, solidity, and beauty of design and execution, make them still speaking monuments of the stern magnificenceand finished taste of the times. The patronage of Philip theGood, Charles the Rash, and Margaret of Austria, brought musicinto fashion, and led to its cultivation in a remarkable degree. The first musicians of France were drawn from Flanders; and otherprofessors from that country acquired great celebrity in Italyfor their scientific improvements in their delightful art. 

Painting, which had languished before the fifteenth century, sprung at once into a new existence from the invention of John VanEyck, known better by the name of John of Bruges. His accidentaldiscovery of the art of painting in oil quickly spread over Europe, and served to perpetuate to all time the records of the geniuswhich has bequeathed its vivid impressions to the world. Paintingon glass, polishing diamonds, the Carillon, lace, and tapestry, were among the inventions which owed their birth to the Netherlandsin these ages, when the faculties of mankind sought so many newchannels for mechanical development. The discovery of a new worldby Columbus and other eminent navigators gave a fresh and powerfulimpulse to European talent, by affording an immense reservoir forits reward. The town of Antwerp was, during the reign of CharlesV. , the outlet for the industry of Europe, and the receptaclefor the productions of all the nations of the earth. Its portwas so often crowded with vessels that each successive fleetwas obliged to wait long in the Scheldt before it could obtainadmission for the discharge of its cargoes. The university ofLouvain, that great nursery of science, was founded in 1425, andserved greatly to the spread of knowledge, although it degeneratedinto the hotbed of those fierce disputes which stamped on theologythe degradation of bigotry, and drew down odium on a study that, if purely practiced, ought only to inspire veneration. 

Charles V. Was the first to establish a solid plan of government, instead of the constant fluctuations in the management of justice, police, and finance. He caused the edicts of the various sovereigns, and the municipal usages, to be embodied into a system of laws; andthus gave stability and method to the enjoyment of the prosperityin which he left his dominions. 

CHAPTER VII

FROM THE ACCESSION OF PHILIP II. OF SPAIN TO THE ESTABLISHMENTOF THE INQUISITION IN THE NETHERLANDS

A. D. 1555--1566

It has been shown that the Netherlands were never in a moreflourishing state than at the accession of Philip II. The externalrelations of the country presented an aspect of prosperity andpeace. England was closely allied to it by Queen Mary's marriagewith Philip; France, fatigued with war, had just concluded with ita five years truce; Germany, paralyzed by religious dissensions, exhausted itself in domestic quarrels; the other states weretoo distant or too weak to inspire any uneasiness; and nothingappeared wanting for the public weal. Nevertheless there wassomething dangerous and alarming in the situation of the LowCountries; but the danger consisted wholly in the connectionbetween the monarch and the people, and the alarm was not soundedtill the mischief was beyond remedy. 

From the time that Charles V. Was called to reign over Spain, he may be said to have been virtually lost to the country ofhis birth. He was no longer a mere duke of Brabant or Limberg, a count of Flanders or Holland; he was also king of Castile, Aragon, Leon, and Navarre, of Naples, and of Sicily. These variouskingdoms had interests evidently opposed to those of the LowCountries, and forms of government far different. It was scarcelyto be doubted that the absolute monarch of so many peoples wouldlook with a jealous eye on the institutions of those provinceswhich placed limits to his power; and the natural consequence wasthat he who was a legitimate king in the south soon degeneratedinto a usurping master in the north. 

But during the reign of Charles the danger was in some measurelessened, or at least concealed from public view, by the apparentfacility with which he submitted to and observed the laws andcustoms of his native country. With Philip, the case was fardifferent, and the results too obvious. Uninformed on the Belgiancharacter, despising the state of manners, and ignorant of thelanguage, no sympathy attached him to the people. He broughtwith him to the throne all the hostile prejudices of a foreigner, without one of the kindly or considerate feelings of a compatriot. 

Spain, where this young prince had hitherto passed his life, wasin some degree excluded from European civilization. A contest ofseven centuries between the Mohammedan tribes and the descendantsof the Visigoths, cruel, like all civil wars, and, like all thoseof religion, not merely a contest of rulers, but essentially ofthe people, had given to the manners and feelings of this unhappycountry a deep stamp of barbarity. The ferocity of militarychieftains had become the basis of the government and laws. TheChristian kings had adopted the perfidious and bloody system ofthe despotic sultans they replaced. Magnificence and tyranny, power and cruelty, wisdom and dissimulation, respect and fear, were inseparably associated in the minds of a people so governed. They comprehended nothing in religion but a God armed withomnipotence and vengeance, or in politics but a king as terribleas the deity he represented. 

Philip, bred in this school of slavish superstition, taught that hewas the despot for whom it was formed, familiar with the degradingtactics of eastern tyranny, was at once the most contemptibleand unfortunate of men. Isolated from his kind, and wishing toappear superior to those beyond whom his station had placed him, he was insensible to the affections which soften and ennoblehuman nature. He was perpetually filled with one idea--that ofhis greatness; he had but one ambition--that of command; butone enjoyment--that of exciting fear. Victim to this revoltingselfishness, his heart was never free from care; and the bittermelancholy of his character seemed to nourish a desire of evil-doing, which irritated suffering often produces in man. Deceit and bloodwere his greatest, if not his only, delights. The religious zealwhich he affected, or felt, showed itself but in acts of cruelty;and the fanatic bigotry which inspired him formed the strongestcontrast to the divine spirit of Christianity. 

Nature had endowed this ferocious being with wonderful penetrationand unusual self-command; the first revealing to him the viewsof others, and the latter giving him the surest means ofcounteracting them, by enabling him to control himself. Althoughignorant, he had a prodigious instinct of cunning. He wantedcourage, but its place was supplied by the harsh obstinacy ofwounded pride. All the corruptions of intrigue were familiarto him; yet he often failed in his most deep-laid designs, atthe very moment of their apparent success, by the recoil of thebad faith and treachery with which his plans were overcharged. 

Such was the man who now began that terrible reign which menacedutter ruin to the national prosperity of the Netherlands. Hisfather had already sapped its foundations, by encouraging foreignmanners and ideas among the nobility, and dazzling them with thehope of the honors and wealth which he had at his disposal abroad. His severe edicts against heresy had also begun to accustom thenation to religious discords and hatred. Philip soon enlargedon what Charles had commenced, and he unmercifully sacrificedthe well-being of a people to the worst objects of his selfishambition. 

Philip had only once visited the Netherlands before his accessionto sovereign power. Being at that time twenty-two years of age, hisopinions were formed and his prejudices deeply rooted. Everythingthat he observed on this visit was calculated to revolt both. Thefrank cordiality of the people appeared too familiar. The expressionof popular rights sounded like the voice of rebellion. Even themagnificence displayed in his honor offended his jealous vanity. From that moment he seems to have conceived an implacable aversionto the country, in which alone, of all his vast possessions, hecould not display the power or inspire the terror of despotism. 

The sovereign's dislike was fully equalled by the disgust of hissubjects. His haughty severity and vexatious etiquette revoltedtheir pride as well as their plain dealing; and the moral qualitiesof their new sovereign were considered with loathing. The commercialand political connection between the Netherlands and Spain hadgiven the two people ample opportunities for mutual acquaintance. The dark, vindictive dispositions of the latter inspired a deepantipathy in those whom civilization had softened and libertyrendered frank and generous; and the new sovereign seemed toembody all that was repulsive and odious in the nation of whichhe was the type. Yet Philip did not at first act in a way tomake himself more particularly hated. He rather, by an apparentconsideration for a few points of political interest and individualprivilege, and particularly by the revocation of some of the edictsagainst heretics, removed the suspicions his earlier conducthad excited; and his intended victims did not perceive that thedespot sought to lull them to sleep, in the hopes of making theman easier prey. 

Philip knew well that force alone was insufficient to reducesuch a people to slavery. He succeeded in persuading the statesto grant him considerable subsidies, some of which were to be paidby instalments during a period of nine years. That was gaininga great step toward his designs, as it superseded the necessityof a yearly application to the three orders, the guardians ofthe public liberty. At the same time he sent secret agents toRome, to obtain the approbation of the pope to his insidiousbut most effective plan for placing the whole of the clergy independence upon the crown. He also kept up the army of Spaniardsand Germans which his father had formed on the frontiers of France;and although he did not remove from their employments thefunctionaries already in place, he took care to make no newappointments to office among the natives of the Netherlands. 

In the midst of these cunning preparations for tyranny, Philipwas suddenly attacked in two quarters at once; by Henry II. OfFrance, and by Pope Paul IV. A prince less obstinate than Philipwould in such circumstances have renounced, or at least postponed, his designs against the liberties of so important a part of hisdominions, as those to which he was obliged to have recoursefor aid in support of this double war. But he seemed to makeevery foreign consideration subservient to the object of domesticaggression which he had so much at heart. 

He, however, promptly met the threatened dangers from abroad. Heturned his first attention toward his contest with the pope; andhe extricated himself from it with an adroitness that proved thewhole force and cunning of his character. Having first publiclyobtained the opinion of several doctors of theology, that hewas justified in taking arms against the pontiff (a point onwhich there was really no doubt), he prosecuted the war withthe utmost vigor, by the means of the afterward notorious dukeof Alva, at that time viceroy of his Italian dominions. Paul soonyielded to superior skill and force, and demanded terms of peace, which were granted with a readiness and seeming liberality thatastonished no one more than the defeated pontiff. But Philip'smoderation to his enemy was far outdone by his perfidy to hisallies. He confirmed Alva's consent to the confiscation of thedomains of the noble Romans who had espoused his cause; and thusgained a stanch and powerful supporter to all his future projectsin the religious authority of the successor of St. Peter. 

His conduct in the conclusion of the war with France was notless base. His army, under the command of Philibert Emmanuel, duke of Savoy, consisting of Belgians, Germans, and Spaniards, with a considerable body of English, sent by Mary to the assistanceof her husband, penetrated into Picardy, and gained a completevictory over the French forces. The honor of this brilliant affair, which took place near St. Quintin, was almost wholly due to thecount d'Egmont, a Belgian noble, who commanded the light cavalry;but the king, unwilling to let anyone man enjoy the glory ofthe day, piously pretended that he owed the entire obligationto St. Lawrence, on whose festival the battle was fought. Hisgratitude or hypocrisy found a fitting monument in the celebratedconvent and palace of the Escurial, which he absurdly caused tobe built in the form of a gridiron, the instrument of the saint'smartyrdom. When the news of the victory reached Charles V. In hisretreat, the old warrior inquired if Philip was in Paris? butthe cautious victor had no notion of such prompt manoeuvring; norwould he risk against foreign enemies the exhaustion of forcesdestined for the enslavement of his people. 

The French in some measure retrieved their late disgrace by thecapture of Calais, the only town remaining to England of all itsFrench conquests, and which, consequently, had deeply interestedthe national glory of each people. In the early part of the year1558, one of the generals of Henry II. Made an irruption intowestern Flanders; but the gallant count of Egmont once more provedhis valor and skill by attacking and totally defeating the invadersnear the town of Gravelines. 

A general peace was concluded in April, 1559, which bore thename of Câteau-Cambresis, from that of the place where it wasnegotiated. Philip secured for himself various advantages in thetreaty; but he sacrificed the interests of England, by consentingto the retention of Calais by the French king--a cession deeplyhumiliating to the national pride of his allies; and, if generalopinion be correct, a proximate cause of his consort's death. Thealliance of France and the support of Rome, the important resultsof the two wars now brought to a close, were counterbalancedby the well-known hostility of Elizabeth, who had succeeded tothe throne of England; and this latter consideration was anadditional motive with Philip to push forward the design ofconsolidating his despotism in the Low Countries. 

To lead his already deceived subjects the more surely into thesnare, he announced his intended departure on a short visit toSpain; and created for the period of his absence a provisionalgovernment, chiefly composed of the leading men among the Belgiannobility. He flattered himself that the states, dazzled by theillustrious illusion thus prepared, would cheerfully grant tothis provisional government the right of levying taxes duringthe temporary absence of the sovereign. He also reckoned on theinfluence of the clergy in the national assembly, to procure therevival of the edicts against heresy, which he had gained themerit of suspending. These, with many minor details of profoundduplicity, formed the principal features of a plan, which, ifsuccessful, would have reduced the Netherlands to the wretchedstate of colonial dependence by which Naples and Sicily wereheld in the tenure of Spain. 

As soon as the states had consented to place the whole powers ofgovernment in the hands of the new administration for the periodof the king's absence, the royal hypocrite believed his schemesecure, and flattered himself he had established an instrument ofdurable despotism. The composition of this new government wasa masterpiece of political machinery. It consisted of severalcouncils, in which the most distinguished citizens were entitledto a place, in sufficient numbers to deceive the people with ashow of representation, but not enough to command a majority, which was sure on any important question to rest with the titledcreatures of the court. The edicts against heresy, soon adopted, gave to the clergy an almost unlimited power over the lives andfortunes of the people. But almost all the dignitaries of thechurch being men of great respectability and moderation, chosenby the body of the inferior clergy, these extraordinary powersexcited little alarm. Philip's project was suddenly to replacethese virtuous ecclesiastics by others of his own choice, assoon as the states broke up from their annual meeting; and forthis intention he had procured the secret consent and authorityof the court of Rome. 

In support of these combinations, the Belgian troops were completelybroken up and scattered in small bodies over the country. Thewhole of this force, so redoubtable to the fears of despotism, consisted of only three thousand cavalry. It was now dividedinto fourteen companies (or squadrons in the modern phraseology), under the command of as many independent chiefs, so as to leavelittle chance of any principle of union reigning among them. Butthe German and Spanish troops in Philip's pay were cantoned on thefrontiers, ready to stifle any incipient effort in opposition tohis plans. In addition to these imposing means for their execution, he had secured a still more secret and more powerful support: asecret article in the treaty of Câteau-Cambresis obliged theking of France to assist him with the whole armies of Franceagainst his Belgian subjects, should they prove refractory. Thusthe late war, of which the Netherlands had borne all the weight, and earned all the glory, only brought about the junction of thedefeated enemy with their own king for the extinction of theirnational independence. 

To complete the execution of this system of perfidy, Philip convenedan assembly of all the states at Ghent, in the month of July, 1559. This meeting of the representatives of the three ordersof the state offered no apparent obstacle to Philip's views. Theclergy, alarmed at the progress of the new doctrines, gatheredmore closely round the government of which they required thesupport. The nobles had lost much of their ancient attachmentto liberty; and had become, in various ways, dependent on theroyal favor. Many of the first families were then represented bymen possessed rather of courage and candor than of foresight andsagacity. That of Nassau, the most distinguished of all, seemedthe least interested in the national cause. A great part of itspossessions were in Germany and France, where it had recentlyacquired the sovereign principality of Orange. It was only fromthe third order--that of the commons--that Philip had to expectany opposition. Already, during the war, it had shown somediscontent, and had insisted on the nomination of commissionersto control the accounts and the disbursements of the subsidies. But it seemed improbable that among this class of men any wouldbe found capable of penetrating the manifold combinations ofthe king, and disconcerting his designs. 

Anthony Perrenotte de Granvelle, bishop of Arras, who was consideredas Philip's favorite counsellor, but who was in reality no morethan his docile agent, was commissioned to address the assemblyin the name of his master, who spoke only Spanish. His orationwas one of cautious deception, and contained the most flatteringassurances of Philip's attachment to the people of the Netherlands. It excused the king for not having nominated his only son, DonCarlos, to reign over them in his name; alleging, as a proofof his royal affection, that he preferred giving them asstadtholderess a Belgian princess, Madame Marguerite, duchessof Parma, the natural daughter of Charles V. By a young lady, a native of Audenarde. Fair promises and fine words were thuslavished in profusion to gain the confidence of the deputies. 

But notwithstanding all the talent, the caution, and the mysteryof Philip and his minister, there was among the nobles one manwho saw through all. This individual, endowed with many of thehighest attributes of political genius, and pre-eminently withjudgment, the most important of all, entered fearlessly intothe contest against tyranny--despising every personal sacrificefor the country's good. Without making himself suspiciouslyprominent, he privately warned some members of the states ofthe coming danger. Those in whom he confided did not betray thetrust. They spread among the other deputies the alarm, and pointedout the danger to which they had been so judiciously awakened. The consequence was a reply to Philip's demand; in vague andgeneral terms, without binding the nation by any pledge; and aunanimous entreaty that he would diminish the taxes, withdrawthe foreign troops, and intrust no official employments to anybut natives of the country. The object of this last request wasthe removal of Granvelle, who was born in Franche-Comte. 

Philip was utterly astounded at all this. In the first momentof his vexation he imprudently cried out, "Would ye, then, alsobereave _me_ of my place; I, who am a Spaniard?" But he soonrecovered his self-command, and resumed his usual mask; expressedhis regret at not having sooner learned the wishes of the states;promised to remove the foreign troops within three months; andset off for Zealand, with assumed composure, but filled withthe fury of a discovered traitor and a humiliated despot. 

A fleet under the command of Count Horn, the admiral of the UnitedProvinces, waited at Flessingue to form his escort to Spain. Atthe very moment of his departure, William of Nassau, prince ofOrange and governor of Zealand, waited on him to pay his officialrespects. The king, taking him apart from the other attendantnobles, recommended him to hasten the execution of several gentlemenand wealthy citizens attached to the newly introduced religiousopinions. Then, quite suddenly, whether in the random impulse ofsuppressed rage, or that his piercing glance discovered William'ssecret feelings in his countenance, he accused him with havingbeen the means of thwarting his designs. "Sire, " replied Nassau, "it was the work of the national states. "--"No!" cried Philip, grasping him furiously by the arm; "it was not done by the states, but by you, and you alone!"--Schiller. The words of Philip were:"_No, _no_los_estados_; _ma_vos, _vos, _vos!_" Vos thus used inSpanish is a term of contempt, equivalent to _toi_ in French. 

This glorious accusation was not repelled. He who had saved hiscountry in unmasking the designs of its tyrant admitted by hissilence his title to the hatred of the one and the gratitudeof the other. On the 20th of August, Philip embarked and setsail; turning his back forever on the country which offered thefirst check to his despotism; and, after a perilous voyage, hearrived in that which permitted a free indulgence to his ferociousand sanguinary career. 

For some time after Philip's departure, the Netherlands continuedto enjoy considerable prosperity. From the period of the Peaceof Câteau-Cambresis, commerce and navigation had acquired newand increasing activity. The fisheries, but particularly that ofherrings, became daily more important; that one alone occupyingtwo thousand boats. While Holland, Zealand and Friesland made thisprogress in their peculiar branches of industry, the southernprovinces were not less active or successful. Spain and the coloniesoffered such a mart for the objects of their manufacture thatin a single year they received from Flanders fifty large shipsfilled with articles of household furniture and utensils. Theexportation of woollen goods amounted to enormous sums. Brugesalone sold annually to the amount of four million florins ofstuffs of Spanish, and as much of English, wool; and the leastvalue of the florin then was quadruple its present worth. Thecommerce with England, though less important than that with Spain, was calculated yearly at twenty-four million florins, which waschiefly clear profit to the Netherlands, as their exportationsconsisted almost entirely of objects of their own manufacture. Their commercial relations with France, Germany, Italy, Portugal, and the Levant, were daily increasing. Antwerp was the centre ofthis prodigious trade. Several sovereigns, among others Elizabethof England, had recognized agents in that city, equivalent toconsuls of the present times; and loans of immense amount werefrequently negotiated by them with wealthy merchants, who furnishedthem, not in negotiable bills or for unredeemable debentures, but in solid gold, and on a simple acknowledgment. 

Flanders and Brabant were still the richest and most flourishingportions of the state. Some municipal fêtes given about this timeafford a notion of their opulence. On one of these occasionsthe town of Mechlin sent a deputation to Antwerp, consistingof three hundred and twenty-six horsemen dressed in velvet andsatin with gold and silver ornaments; while those of Brusselsconsisted of three hundred and forty, as splendidly equipped, andaccompanied by seven huge triumphal chariots and seventy-eightcarriages of various constructions--a prodigious number for thosedays. 

But the splendor and prosperity which thus sprung out of thenational industry and independence, and which a wise or a generoussovereign would have promoted, or at least have established on apermanent basis, was destined speedily to sink beneath the bigotedfury of Philip II. The new government which he had establishedwas most ingeniously adapted to produce every imaginable evilto the state. The king, hundreds of leagues distant, could nothimself issue an order but with a lapse of time ruinous to anyobject of pressing importance. The stadtholderess, who representedhim, having but a nominal authority, was forced to follow herinstructions, and liable to have all her acts reversed; besideswhich, she had the king's orders to consult her private councilon all affairs whatever, and the council of state on any matterof paramount importance. These two councils, however, containedthe elements of a serious opposition to the royal projects, inthe persons of the patriot nobles sprinkled among Philip's devotedcreatures. Thus the influence of the crown was often thwarted, ifnot actually balanced; and the proposals which emanated from itfrequently opposed by the stadtholderess herself. She, althougha woman of masculine appearance and habits, [2] was possessedof no strength of mind. Her prevailing sentiment seemed to bedread of the king; yet she was at times influenced by a senseof justice, and by the remonstrances of the well-judging membersof her councils. But these were not all the difficulties thatclogged the machinery of the state. After the king, the government, and the councils, had deliberated on any measure, its executionrested with the provincial governors or stadtholders, or themagistrates of the towns. Almost everyone of these, being stronglyattached to the laws and customs of the nation, hesitated, orrefused to obey the orders conveyed to them, when those ordersappeared illegal. Some, however, yielded to the authority ofthe government; so it often happened that an edict, which in onedistrict was carried into full effect, was in others deferred, rejected, or violated, in a way productive of great confusionin the public affairs. 

[Footnote 2: Strada. ]

Philip was conscious that he had himself to blame for the consequentdisorder. In nominating the members of the two councils, he hadoverreached himself in his plan for silently sapping the libertythat was so obnoxious to his designs. But to neutralize the influenceof the restive members, he had left Granvelle the first placein the administration. This man, an immoral ecclesiastic, aneloquent orator, a supple courtier, and a profound politician, bloated with pride, envy, insolence, and vanity, was the realhead of the government. [3] Next to him among the royalist partywas Viglius, president of the privy council, an erudite schoolman, attached less to the broad principles of justice than to the letterof the laws, and thus carrying pedantry into the very councils ofthe state. Next in order came the count de Berlaimont, head ofthe financial department--a stern and intolerant satellite of thecourt, and a furious enemy to those national institutions whichoperated as checks upon fraud. These three individuals formedthe stadtholderess's privy council. The remaining creatures ofthe king were mere subaltern agents. 

[Footnote 3: Strada, a royalist, a Jesuit, and therefore a fairwitness on this point, uses the following words in portraying thecharacter of this odious minister: _Animum_avidum_invidumque, _ac__simultates_inter_principem_et_populos_occulti_foventum_. ]

A government so composed could scarcely fail to excite discontentand create danger to the public weal. The first proof of incapacitywas elicited by the measures required for the departure of theSpanish troops. The period fixed by the king had already expired, and these obnoxious foreigners were still in the country, livingin part on pillage, and each day committing some new excess. Complaints were carried in successive gradation from the governmentto the council, and from the council to the king. The Spaniardswere removed to Zealand; but instead of being embarked at any ofits ports, they were detained there on various pretexts. Money, ships, or, on necessity, a wind, was professed to be still wantingfor their final removal, by those who found excuses for delay inevery element of nature or subterfuge of art. In the meantimethose ferocious soldiers ravaged a part of the country. The simplenatives at length declared they would open the sluices of theirdikes; preferring to be swallowed by the waters rather than remainexposed to the cruelty and rapacity of those Spaniards. Stillthe embarkation was postponed; until the king, requiring histroops in Spain for some domestic project, they took theirlong-desired departure in the beginning of the year 1561. 

The public discontent at this just cause was soon, however, overwhelmed by one infinitely more important and lasting. TheBelgian clergy had hitherto formed a free and powerful order inthe state, governed and represented by four bishops, chosen bythe chapters of the towns or elected by the monks of the principalabbeys. These bishops, possessing an independent territorialrevenue, and not directly subject to the influence of the crown, had interests and feelings in common with the nation. But Philiphad prepared, and the pope had sanctioned, the new system ofecclesiastical organization before alluded to, and the provisionalgovernment now put it into execution. Instead of four bishops, itwas intended to appoint eighteen, their nomination being vestedin the king. By a wily system of trickery, the subserviency ofthe abbeys was also aimed at. The new prelates, on a pretendedprinciple of economy, were endowed with the title of abbots ofthe chief monasteries of their respective dioceses. Thus notonly would they enjoy the immense wealth of these establishments, but the political rights of the abbots whom they were to succeed;and the whole of the ecclesiastical order become graduallyrepresented (after the death of the then living abbots) by thecreatures of the crown. 

The consequences of this vital blow to the integrity of the nationalinstitutions were evident; and the indignation of both clergyand laity was universal. Every legal means of opposition wasresorted to, but the people were without leaders; the stateswere not in session. While the authority of the pope and the kingcombined, the reverence excited by the very name of religion, andthe address and perseverance of the government, formed too powerfula combination, and triumphed over the national discontents whichhad not yet been formed into resistance. The new bishops wereappointed; Granvelle securing for himself the archiepiscopalsee of Mechlin, with the title of primate of the Low Countries. At the same time Paul IV. Put the crowning point to the capitalof his ambition, by presenting him with a cardinal's hat. 

The new bishops were to a man most violent, intolerant, and itmay be conscientious, opponents to the wide-spreading doctrinesof reform. The execution of the edicts against heresy was confidedto them. The provincial governors and inferior magistrates werecommanded to aid them with a strong arm; and the most unjust andfrightful persecution immediately commenced. But still some ofthese governors and magistrates, considering themselves not onlythe officers of the prince, but the protectors of the people, and the defenders of the laws rather than of the faith, did notblindly conform to those harsh and illegal commands. The Princeof Orange, stadtholder of Holland, Zealand, and Utrecht, andthe count of Egmont, governor of Flanders and Artois, permittedno persecutions in those five provinces. But in various placesthe very people, even when influenced by their superiors, openlyopposed it. Catholics as well as Protestants were indignant atthe atrocious spectacles of cruelty presented on all sides. Thepublic peace was endangered by isolated acts of resistance, andfears of a general insurrection soon became universal. 

The apparent temporizing or seeming uncertainty of the championsof the new doctrines formed the great obstacle to the reformation, and tended to prolong the dreadful struggle which was now onlycommencing in the Low Countries. It was a matter of great difficultyto convince the people that popery was absurd, and at the same timeto set limits to the absurdity. Had the change been from blindbelief to total infidelity, it would (as in a modern instance)have been much easier, though less lasting. Men might, in a timeof such excitement, have been persuaded that _all_ religionproductive of abuses such as then abounded was a farce, and thatcommon sense called for its abolition. But when the boundariesof belief became a question; when the world was told it ought toreject some doctrines, and retain others which seemed as difficultof comprehension; when one tenet was pronounced idolatry, andto doubt another declared damnation--the world either explodedor recoiled: it went too far or it shrank back; plunged intoatheism, or relapsed into popery. It was thus the reformationwas checked in the first instance. Its supporters were thestrong-minded and intelligent; and they never, and least of allin those days, formed the mass. Superstition and bigotry hadenervated the intellects of the majority; and the high resolveof those with whom the great work commenced was mixed with aseverity that materially retarded its progress. For though personalinterests, as with Henry VIII. Of England, and rigid enthusiasm, as with Calvin, strengthened the infant reformation; the firstled to violence which irritated many, the second to austeritywhich disgusted them; and it was soon discovered that the changewas almost confined to forms of practice, and that the essentialsof abuse were likely to be carefully preserved. All these, andother arguments, artfully modified to distract the people, wereurged by the new bishops in the Netherlands, and by those whomthey employed to arrest the progress of reform. 

Among the various causes of the general confusion, the situationof Brabant gave to that province a peculiar share of suffering. Brussels, its capital, being the seat of government, had noparticular chief magistrate, like the other provinces. The executivepower was therefore wholly confided to the municipal authoritiesand the territorial proprietors. But these, though generallypatriotic in their views, were divided into a multiplicity ofdifferent opinions. Rivalry and resentment produced a total wantof union, ended in anarchy, and prepared the way for civil war. William of Nassau penetrated the cause, and proposed the remedyin moving for the appointment of a provincial governor. Thisproposition terrified Granvelle, who saw, as clearly as did hissagacious opponent in the council, that the nomination of a specialprotector between the people and the government would have paralyzedall his efforts for hurrying on the discord and resistance whichwere meant to be the plausible excuses for the introduction ofarbitrary power. He therefore energetically dissented from theproposed measure, and William immediately desisted from his demand. But he at the same time claimed, in the name of the whole country, the convocation of the states-general. This assembly alone wascompetent to decide what was just, legal, and obligatory foreach province and every town. Governors, magistrates, and simplecitizens, would thus have some rule for their common conduct;and the government would be at least endowed with the dignityof uniformity and steadiness. The ministers endeavored to evadea demand which they were at first unwilling openly to refuse. But the firm demeanor and persuasive eloquence of the Princeof Orange carried before them all who were not actually boughtby the crown; and Granvelle found himself at length forced toavow that an express order from the king forbade the convocationof the states, on any pretext, during his absence. 

The veil was thus rent asunder which had in some measure concealedthe deformity of Philip's despotism. The result was a powerfulconfederacy, among all who held it odious, for the overthrow ofGranvelle, to whom they chose to attribute the king's conduct; thusbringing into practical result the sound principle of ministerialresponsibility, without which, except in some peculiar case oflocal urgency or political crisis, the name of constitutionalgovernment is but a mockery. Many of the royalist nobles unitedfor the national cause; and even the stadtholderess joined herefforts to theirs, for an object which would relieve her fromthe tyranny which none felt more than she did. Those who composedthis confederacy against the minister were actuated by a greatvariety of motives. The duchess of Parma hated him, as a domesticspy robbing her of all real authority; the royalist nobles, asan insolent upstart at every instant mortifying their pride. The counts Egmont and Horn, with nobler sentiments, opposed himas the author of their country's growing misfortunes. But it isdoubtful if any of the confederates except the Prince of Orangeclearly saw that they were putting themselves in direct and personalopposition to the king himself. William alone, clear-sightedin politics and profound in his views, knew, in thus devotinghimself to the public cause, the adversary with whom he enteredthe lists. 

This great man, for whom the national traditions still preservethe sacred title of "father" (Vader-Willem), and who was in truthnot merely the parent but the political creator of the country, was at this period in his thirtieth year. He already joined thevigor of manhood to the wisdom of age. Brought up under the eyeof Charles V. , whose sagacity soon discovered his precocioustalents, he was admitted to the councils of the emperor at atime of life which was little advanced beyond mere boyhood. Healone was chosen by this powerful sovereign to be present atthe audiences which he gave to foreign ambassadors, which provesthat in early youth he well deserved by his discretion the surnameof "the taciturn. " It was on the arm of William, then twentyyears of age, and already named by him to the command of theBelgian troops, that this powerful monarch leaned for support onthe memorable day of his abdication; and he immediately afterwardemployed him on the important mission of bearing the imperialcrown to his brother Ferdinand, in whose favor he had resignedit. William's grateful attachment to Charles did not blind himto the demerits of Philip. He repaired to France, as one of thehostages on the part of the latter monarch for the fulfilmentof the peace of Câteau-Cambresis; and he then learned from thelips of Henry II. , who soon conceived a high esteem for him, the measures reciprocally agreed on by the two sovereigns forthe oppression of their subjects. From that moment his mind wasmade up on the character of Philip, and on the part which hehad himself to perform; and he never felt a doubt on the firstpoint, nor swerved from the latter. 

But even before his patriotism was openly displayed, Philip hadtaken a dislike to one in whom his shrewdness quickly discoveredan intellect of which he was jealous. He could not actually removeWilliam from all interference with public affairs; but he refusedhim the government of Flanders, and opposed, in secret, his projectedmarriage with a princess of the House of Lorraine, which wascalculated to bring him a considerable accession of fortune, and consequently of influence. It may be therefore said thatWilliam, in his subsequent conduct, was urged by motives of personalenmity against Philip. Be it so. We do not seek to raise himabove the common feelings of humanity; and we should risk thesinking him below them, if we supposed him insensible to thenatural effects of just resentment. 

The secret impulses of conduct can never be known beyond theindividual's own breast; but actions must, however questionable, be taken as the tests of motives. In all those of William'sillustrious career we can detect none that might be supposed tospring from vulgar or base feelings. If his hostility to Philipwas indeed increased by private dislike, he has at least set anexample of unparalleled dignity in his method of revenge; but incalmly considering and weighing, without deciding on the question, we see nothing that should deprive William of an unsullied titleto pure and perfect patriotism. The injuries done to him by Philipat this period were not of a nature to excite any violent hatred. Enough of public wrong was inflicted to arouse the patriot, butnot of private ill to inflame the man. Neither was William ofa vindictive disposition. He was never known to turn the knifeof an assassin against his royal rival, even when the blade hiredby the latter glanced from him reeking with his blood. And thoughWilliam's enmity may have been kept alive or strengthened by theprovocations he received, it is certain that, if a foe to theking, he was, as long as it was possible, the faithful counsellorof the crown. He spared no pains to impress on the monarch whohated him the real means for preventing the coming evils; andhad not a revolution been absolutely inevitable, it is he whowould have prevented it. 

Such was the chief of the patriot party, chosen by the silentelection of general opinion, and by that involuntary homage togenius which leads individuals in the train of those master-mindswho take the lead in public affairs. Counts Egmont and Horn, and some others, largely shared with him the popular favor. Themultitude could not for some time distinguish the uncertain andcapricious opposition of an offended courtier from the determinedresistance of a great man. William was still comparatively young;he had lived long out of the country; and it was little by littlethat his eminent public virtues were developed and understood. 

The great object of immediate good was the removal of CardinalGranvelle. William boldly put himself at the head of the confederacy. He wrote to the king, conjointly with Counts Egmont and Horn, faithfully portraying the state of affairs. The duchess of Parmabacked this remonstrance with a strenuous request for Granvelle'sdismission. Philip's reply to the three noblemen was a mere tissueof duplicity to obtain delay, accompanied by an invitation toCount Egmont to repair to Madrid, to hear his sentiments at largeby word of mouth. His only answer to the stadtholderess was apositive recommendation to use every possible means to disuniteand breed ill-will among the three confederate lords. It wasdifficult to deprive William of the confidence of his friends, and impossible to deceive him. He saw the trap prepared by theroyal intrigues, restrained Egmont for a while from the fatalstep he was but too well inclined to take, and persuaded him andHorn to renew with him their firm but respectful representations;at the same time begging permission to resign their variousemployments, and simultaneously ceasing to appear at the courtof the stadtholderess. 

In the meantime every possible indignity was offered to the cardinalby private pique and public satire. Several lords, followingCount Egmont's example, had a kind of capuchon or fool's-capembroidered on the liveries of their varlets; and it was generallyknown that this was meant as a practical parody on the cardinal'shat. The crowd laughed heartily at this stupid pleasantry; andthe coarse satire of the times may be judged by a caricature, which was forwarded to the cardinal's own hands, representing himin the act of hatching a nest full of eggs, from which a crowdof bishops escaped, while overhead was the devil _in_propriâ__personâ_, with the following scroll: "This is my well-belovedson--listen to him!"

Philip, thus driven before the popular voice, found himself forcedto the choice of throwing off the mask at once, or of sacrificingGranvelle. An invincible inclination for manoeuvring and deceitdecided him on the latter measure; and the cardinal, recalledbut not disgraced, quitted the Netherlands on the 10th of March, 1564. The secret instructions to the stadtholderess remainedunrevoked; the president Viglius succeeded to the post whichGranvelle had occupied; and it was clear that the projects ofthe king had suffered no change. 

Nevertheless some good resulted from the departure of the unpopularminister. The public fermentation subsided; the patriot lordsreappeared at court; and the Prince of Orange acquired an increasinginfluence in the council and over the stadtholderess, who by hisadvice adopted a conciliatory line of conduct--a fallacious butstill a temporary hope for the nation. But the calm was of shortduration. Scarcely was this moderation evinced by the government, when Philip, obstinate in his designs, and outrageous in hisresentment, sent an order to have the edicts against heresy putinto most rigorous execution, and to proclaim throughout theseventeen provinces the furious decree of the Council of Trent. 

The revolting cruelty and illegality of the first edicts werealready admitted. As to the decrees of this memorable council, they were only adapted for countries in submission to an absolutedespotism. They were received in the Netherlands with generalreprobation. Even the new bishops loudly denounced them as unjustinnovations; and thus Philip found zealous opponents in those onwhom he had reckoned as his most servile tools. The stadtholderesswas not the less urged to implicit obedience to the orders of theking by Viglius and De Berlaimont, who took upon themselves analmost menacing tone. The duchess assembled a council of state, and asked its advice as to her proceedings. The Prince of Orangeat once boldly proposed disobedience to measures fraught withdanger to the monarchy and ruin to the nation. The council couldnot resist his appeal to their best feelings. His proposal thatfresh remonstrances should be addressed to the king met withalmost general support. The president Viglius, who had spokenin the opening of the council in favor of the king's orders, wasoverwhelmed by William's reasoning, and demanded time to preparehis reply. His agitation during the debate, and his despair ofcarrying the measures against the patriot party, brought on inthe night an attack of apoplexy. 

It was resolved to despatch a special envoy to Spain, to explainto Philip the views of the council, and to lay before him a planproposed by the Prince of Orange for forming a junction betweenthe two councils and that of finance, and forming them into onebody. The object of this measure was at once to give greaterunion and power to the provisional government, to create a centraladministration in the Netherlands, and to remove from some obscureand avaricious financiers the exclusive management of the nationalresources. The Count of Egmont, chosen by the council for thisimportant mission, set out for Madrid in the month of February, 1565. Philip received him with profound hypocrisy; loaded himwith the most flattering promises; sent him back in the utmostelation: and when the credulous count returned to Brussels, hefound that the written orders, of which he was the bearer, werein direct variance with every word which the king had uttered. 

These orders were chiefly concerning the reiterated subject ofthe persecution to be inflexibly pursued against the religiousreformers. Not satisfied with the hitherto established forms ofpunishment, Philip now expressly commanded that the more revoltingmeans decreed by his father in the rigor of his early zeal, suchas burning, living burial, and the like, should be adopted; andhe somewhat more obscurely directed that the victims should be nolonger publicly immolated, but secretly destroyed. He endeavored, by this vague phraseology, to avoid the actual utterance of the word"inquisition"; but he thus virtually established that atrocioustribunal, with attributes still more terrific than even in Spain;for there the condemned had at least the consolation of dyingin open day, and of displaying the fortitude which is rarelyproof against the horror of a private execution. Philip had thusconsummated his treason against the principles of justice and thepractices of jurisprudence, which had heretofore characterizedthe country; and against the most vital of those privileges whichhe had solemnly sworn to maintain. 

His design of establishing this horrible tribunal, so impiouslynamed "holy" by its founders, had been long suspected by thepeople of the Netherlands. The expression of those fears hadreached him more than once. He as often replied by assurancesthat he had formed no such project, and particularly to Countd'Egmont during his recent visit to Madrid. But at that very timehe assembled a conclave of his creatures, doctors of theology, of whom he formally demanded an opinion as to whether he couldconscientiously tolerate two sorts of religion in the Netherlands. The doctors, hoping to please him, replied, that "he might, forthe avoidance of a greater evil. " Philip trembled with rage, and exclaimed, with a threatening tone, "I ask not if I _can_, but if I _ought_. " The theologians read in this question thenature of the expected reply; and it was amply conformable tohis wish. He immediately threw himself on his knees before acrucifix, and raising his hands toward heaven, put up a prayerfor strength in his resolution to pursue as deadly enemies allwho viewed that effigy with feelings different from his own. Ifthis were not really a sacrilegious farce, it must be that theblaspheming bigot believed the Deity to be a monster of crueltylike himself. 

Even Viglius was terrified by the nature of Philip's commands;and the patriot lords once more withdrew from all share in thegovernment, leaving to the duchess of Parma and her ministers thewhole responsibility of the new measures. They were at length putinto actual and vigorous execution in the beginning of the year1566. The inquisitors of the faith, with their familiars, stalkedabroad boldly in the devoted provinces, carrying persecutionand death in their train. Numerous but partial insurrectionsopposed these odious intruders. Every district and town becamethe scene of frightful executions or tumultuous resistance. Theconverts to the new doctrines multiplied, as usual, under theeffects of persecution. "There was nowhere to be seen, " says acontemporary author, "the meanest mechanic who did not find aweapon to strike down the murderers of his compatriots. " Holland, Zealand and Utrecht alone escaped from those fast accumulatinghorrors. William of Nassau was there. 

CHAPTER VIII

COMMENCEMENT OF THE REVOLUTION

A. D. 1566

The stadtholderess and her ministers now began to tremble. Philip'sfavorite counsellors advised him to yield to the popular despair;but nothing could change his determination to pursue his bloodygame to the last chance. He had foreseen the impossibility ofreducing the country to slavery as long as it maintained itstranquillity, and that union which forms in itself the elementsand the cement of strength. It was from deep calculation thathe had excited the troubles, and now kept them alive. He knewthat the structure of illegal power could only be raised on theruins of public rights and national happiness; and the materialsof desolation found sympathy in his congenial mind. 

And now in reality began the awful revolution of the Netherlandsagainst their tyrant. In a few years this so lately flourishingand happy nation presented a frightful picture; and in the midstof European peace, prosperity, and civilization, the wickednessof one prince drew down on the country he misgoverned more evilsthan it had suffered for centuries from the worst effects ofits foreign foes. 

William of Nassau has been accused of having at length urgedon the stadtholderess to promulgate the final edicts and theresolutions of the Council of Trent, and then retiring from thecouncil of state. This line of conduct may be safely admitted andfairly defended by his admirers. He had seen the uselessness ofremonstrance against the intentions of the king. Every possiblemeans had been tried, without effect, to soften his pitilessheart to the sufferings of the country. At length the momentcame when the people had reached that pitch of despair which isthe great force of the oppressed, and William felt that theirstrength was now equal to the contest he had long foreseen. Itis therefore absurd to accuse him of artifice in the exercise ofthat wisdom which rarely failed him on any important crisis. Achange of circumstances gives a new name to actions and motives;and it would be hard to blame William of Nassau for the only pointin which he bore the least resemblance to Philip of Spain--thatdepth of penetration, which the latter turned to every base andthe former to every noble purpose. 

Up to the present moment the Prince of Orange and the CountsEgmont and Horn, with their partisans and friends, had sincerelydesired the public peace, and acted in the common interest ofthe king and the people. But all the nobles had not acted withthe same constitutional moderation. Many of those, disappointedon personal accounts, others professing the new doctrines, andthe rest variously affected by manifold motives, formed a bodyof violent and sometimes of imprudent malcontents. The marriageof Alexander, prince of Parma, son of the stadtholderess, whichwas at this time celebrated at Brussels, brought together animmense number of these dissatisfied nobles, who became thus drawninto closer connection, and whose national candor was more thanusually brought out in the confidential intercourse of society. Politics and patriotism were the common subjects of conversationin the various convivial meetings that took place. Two Germannobles, Counts Holle and Schwarzemberg, at that period in theNetherlands, loudly proclaimed the favorable disposition of theprinces of the empire toward the Belgians. It was supposed eventhus early that negotiations had been opened with several ofthose sovereigns. In short, nothing seemed wanting but a leader, to give consistency and weight to the confederacy which was asyet but in embryo. This was doubly furnished in the persons ofLouis of Nassau and Henry de Brederode. The former, brother ofthe Prince of Orange, was possessed of many of those brilliantqualities which mark men as worthy of distinction in times ofperil. Educated at Geneva, he was passionately attached to thereformed religion, and identified in his hatred the CatholicChurch and the tyranny of Spain. Brave and impetuous, he was, to his elder brother, but as an adventurous partisan comparedwith a sagacious general. He loved William as well as he didtheir common cause, and his life was devoted to both. 

Henry de Brederode, lord of Vienen and marquis of Utrecht, wasdescended from the ancient counts of Holland. This illustriousorigin, which in his own eyes formed a high claim to distinction, had not procured him any of those employments or dignities whichhe considered his due. He was presumptuous and rash, and rathera fluent speaker than an eloquent orator. Louis of Nassau wasthoroughly inspired by the justice of the cause he espoused; DeBrederode espoused it for the glory of becoming its champion. Thefirst only wished for action; the latter longed for distinction. Butneither the enthusiasm of Nassau, nor the vanity of De Brederode, was allied with those superior attributes required to form ahero. 

The confederation acquired its perfect organization in the monthof February, 1566, on the tenth of which month its celebratedmanifesto was signed by its numerous adherents. The first nameaffixed to this document was that of Philip de Marnix, lord ofSt. Aldegonde, from whose pen it emanated; a man of great talentsboth as soldier and writer. Numbers of the nobility followed himon this muster-roll of patriotism, and many of the most zealousroyalists were among them. This remarkable proclamation of generalfeeling consisted chiefly in a powerful reprehension of the illegalestablishment of the Inquisition in the Low Countries, and asolemn obligation on the members of the confederacy to unitein the common cause against this detested nuisance. Men of allranks and classes offered their signatures, and several Catholicpriests among the rest. The Prince of Orange, and the CountsEgmont, Horn, and Meghem, declined becoming actual parties tothis bold measure; and when the question was debated as to themost appropriate way of presenting an address to the stadtholderessthese noblemen advised the mildest and most respectful demeanoron the part of the purposed deputation. 

At the first intelligence of these proceedings, the duchess ofParma, absorbed by terror, had no resource but to assemble hastilysuch members of the council of state as were at Brussels; and sheentreated, by the most pressing letters, the Prince of Orangeand Count Horn to resume their places at this council. But threecourses of conduct seemed applicable to the emergency: to take uparms; to grant the demands of the confederates; or to temporizeand to amuse them with a feint of moderation, until the ordersof the king might be obtained from Spain. It was not, however, till after a lapse of four months that the council finally metto deliberate on these important questions; and during this longinterval at such a crisis the confederates gained constant accessionsto their numbers, and completely consolidated their plans. Theopinions in the council were greatly divided as to the mode oftreatment toward those whom one party considered as patriotsacting in their constitutional rights, and the other as rebelsin open revolt against the king. The Prince of Orange and DeBerlaimont were the principal leaders and chief speakers on eitherside. But the reasonings of the former, backed by the urgency ofevents, carried the majority of the suffrages; and a promisedredress of grievances was agreed on beforehand as the anticipatedanswer to the coming demands. 

Even while the council of state held its sittings, the report wasspread through Brussels that the confederates were approaching. And at length they did enter the city, to the amount of somehundreds of the representatives of the first families in thecountry. On the following day, the 5th of April, 1566, they walkedin solemn procession to the palace. Their demeanor was highlyimposing, from their mingled air of forbearance and determination. All Brussels thronged out to gaze and sympathize with thisextraordinary spectacle of men whose resolute step showed theywere no common suppliants, but whose modest bearing had noneof the seditious air of faction. The stadtholderess receivedthe distinguished petitioners with courtesy, listened to theirdetail of grievances, and returned a moderate, conciliatory, but evasive answer. 

The confederation, which owed its birth to, and was cradled insocial enjoyments, was consolidated in the midst of a feast. The day following this first deputation to the stadtholderess, De Brederode gave a grand repast to his associates in the Hotelde Culembourg. Three hundred guests were present. Inflamed byjoy and hope, their spirits rose high under the influence ofwine, and temperance gave way to temerity. In the midst of theircarousing, some of the members remarked that when the stadtholderessreceived the written petition, Count Berlaimont observed to herthat "she had nothing to fear from such a band of beggars"(_tas_de_GUEUX_). The fact was that many of the confederateswere, from individual extravagance and mismanagement, reduced tosuch a state of poverty as to justify in some sort the sarcasm. The chiefs of the company being at that very moment debating onthe name which they should choose for this patriotic league, the title of Gueux was instantly proposed, and adopted withacclamation. The reproach it was originally intended to conveybecame neutralized, as its general application to men of allranks and fortunes concealed its effect as a stigma on many towhom it might be seriously applied. Neither were examples wantingof the most absurd and apparently dishonoring nicknames beingelsewhere adopted by powerful political parties. "Long live theGueux!" was the toast given and tumultuously drunk by thismad-brained company; and Brederode, setting no bounds to theboisterous excitement which followed, procured immediately, andslung across his shoulders, a wallet such as was worn by pilgrimsand beggars; drank to the health of all present, in a wooden cupor porringer; and loudly swore that he was ready to sacrificehis fortune and life for the common cause. Each man passed roundthe bowl, which he first put to his lips, repeated the oath, and thus pledged himself to the compact. The wallet next wentthe rounds of the whole assembly, and was finally hung upon anail driven into the wall for the purpose; and gazed on withsuch enthusiasm as the emblems of political or religious faith, however worthless or absurd, never fail to inspire in the mindsof enthusiasts. 

The tumult caused by this ceremony, so ridiculous in itself, butso sublime in its results, attracted to the spot the Prince ofOrange and Counts Egmont and Horn, whose presence is universallyattributed by the historians to accident, but which was probablythat kind of chance that leads medical practitioners in our daysto the field where a duel is fought. They entered; and Brederode, who did the honors of the mansion, forced them to be seated, andto join in the festivity. The following was Egmont's account oftheir conduct: "We drank a single glass of wine each, to shoutsof 'Long live the king! Long live the Gueux!' It was the firsttime I had heard the confederacy so named, and I avow that itdispleased me; but the times were so critical that people wereobliged to tolerate many things contrary to their inclinations, andI believed myself on this occasion to act with perfect innocence. "The appearance of three such distinguished personages heightenedthe general excitement; and the most important assemblage thathad for centuries met together in the Netherlands mingled thediscussion of affairs of state with all the burlesque extravaganceof a debauch. But this frantic scene did not finish the affair. Whatthey resolved on while drunk, they prepared to perform when sober. Rallying signs and watchwords were adopted and soon displayed. Itwas thought that nothing better suited the occasion than theimmediate adoption of the costume as well as the title of beggary. In a very few days the city streets were filled with men in graycloaks, fashioned on the model of those used by mendicants andpilgrims. Each confederate caused this uniform to be worn by everymember of his family, and replaced with it the livery of hisservants. Several fastened to their girdles or their sword-hiltssmall wooden drinking-cups, clasp-knives, and other symbols of thebegging fraternity; while all soon wore on their breasts a medalof gold or silver, representing on one side the effigy of Philip, with the words, "Faithful to the king"; and on the reverse, twohands clasped, with the motto, "Jusqu' à la besace" (Even tothe wallet). From this origin arose the application of the wordGueux, in its political sense, as common to all the inhabitantsof the Netherlands who embraced the cause of the Reformation andtook up arms against their tyrant. Having presented two subsequentremonstrances to the stadtholderess, and obtained some consolingpromises of moderation, the chief confederates quitted Brussels, leaving several directors to sustain their cause in the capital;while they themselves spread into the various provinces, excitingthe people to join the legal and constitutional resistance withwhich they were resolved to oppose the march of bigotry anddespotism. 

A new form of edict was now decided on by the stadtholderessand her council; and after various insidious and illegal butsuccessful tricks, the consent of several of the provinces wasobtained to the adoption of measures that, under a guise ofcomparative moderation, were little less abominable than thosecommanded by the king. These were formally signed by the council, and despatched to Spain to receive Philip's sanction, and thusacquire the force of law. The embassy to Madrid was confided tothe marquis of Bergen and the baron de Montigny; the latter ofwhom was brother to Count Horn, and had formerly been employedon a like mission. Montigny appears to have had some qualms ofapprehension in undertaking this new office. His good genius seemedfor a while to stand between him and the fate which awaited him. An accident which happened to his colleague allowed an excusefor retarding his journey. But the stadtholderess urged him away:he set out, and reached his destination; not to defend the causeof his country at the foot of the throne, but to perish a victimto his patriotism. 

The situation of the patriot lords was at this crisis peculiarlyembarrassing. The conduct of the confederates was so essentiallytantamount to open rebellion, that the Prince of Orange and hisfriends found it almost impossible to preserve a neutrality betweenthe court and the people. All their wishes urged them to join atonce in the public cause; but they were restrained by a lingeringsense of loyalty to the king, whose employments they still held, and whose confidence they were, therefore, nominally supposedto share. They seemed reduced to the necessity of coming to anexplanation, and, perhaps, a premature rupture with the government;of joining in the harsh measures it was likely to adopt againstthose with whose proceedings they sympathized; or, as a lastalternative, to withdraw, as they had done before, wholly from allinterference in public affairs. Still their presence in the councilof state was, even though their influence had greatly decreased, of vast service to the patriots, in checking the hostility of thecourt; and the confederates, on the other hand, were restrainedfrom acts of open violence, by fear of the disapprobation ofthese their best and most powerful friends. Be their individualmotives of reasoning what they might, they at length adoptedthe alternative above alluded to, and resigned their places. Count Horn retired to his estates; Count Egmont repaired toAix-la-Chapelle, under the pretext of being ordered thither byhis physicians; the Prince of Orange remained for a while atBrussels. 

In the meanwhile, the confederation gained ground every day. Itsmeasures had totally changed the face of affairs in all partsof the nation. The general discontent now acquired stability, and consequent importance. The chief merchants of many of thetowns enrolled themselves in the patriot band. Many active andardent minds, hitherto withheld by the doubtful construction ofthe association, now freely entered into it when it took theform of union and respectability. Energy, if not excess, seemedlegitimatized. The vanity of the leaders was flattered by theconsequence they acquired; and weak minds gladly embraced anoccasion of mixing with those whose importance gave both protectionand concealment to their insignificance. 

An occasion so favorable for the rapid promulgation of the newdoctrines was promptly taken advantage of by the French Huguenotsand their Protestant brethren of Germany. The disciples of reformpoured from all quarters into the Low Countries, and made prodigiousprogress, with all the energy of proselytes, and too often withthe fury of fanatics. The three principal sects into which thereformers were divided, were those of the Anabaptists, theCalvinists, and the Lutherans. The first and least numerous werechiefly established in Friesland. The second were spread overthe eastern provinces. Their doctrines being already admittedinto some kingdoms of the north, they were protected by the mostpowerful princes of the empire. The third, and by far the mostnumerous and wealthy, abounded in the southern provinces, andparticularly in Flanders. They were supported by the zealousefforts of French, Swiss, and German ministers; and their dogmaswere nearly the same with those of the established religion ofEngland. The city of Antwerp was the central point of union forthe three sects; but the only principle they held in common wastheir hatred against popery, the Inquisition, and Spain. 

The stadtholderess had now issued orders to the chief magistratesto proceed with moderation against the heretics; orders which wereobeyed in their most ample latitude by those to whose sympathiesthey were so congenial. Until then, the Protestants were satisfiedto meet by stealth at night; but under this negative protectionof the authorities they now boldly assembled in public. Field-preachings commenced in Flanders; and the minister whofirst set this example was Herman Stricker, a converted monk, anative of Overyssel, a powerful speaker, and a bold enthusiast. He soon drew together an audience of seven thousand persons. Afurious magistrate rushed among this crowd, and hoped to dispersethem sword in hand; but he was soon struck down, mortally wounded, with a shower of stones. Irritated and emboldened by this rashattempt, the Protestants assembled in still greater numbers nearAlost; but on this occasion they appeared with poniards, guns, andhalberds. They intrenched themselves under the protection of wagonsand all sorts of obstacles to a sudden attack; placed outposts andvidettes; and thus took the field in the doubly dangerous aspect offanaticism and war. Similar assemblies soon spread over the wholeof Flanders, inflamed by the exhortations of Stricker and anotherpreacher, called Peter Dathen, of Poperingue. It was calculatedthat fifteen thousand men attended at some of these preachings;while a third apostle of Calvinism, Ambrose Ville, a Frenchman, successfully excited the inhabitants of Tournay, Valenciennes, and Antwerp, to form a common league for the promulgation oftheir faith. The sudden appearance of De Brederode at the latterplace decided their plan, and gave the courage to fix on a dayfor its execution. An immense assemblage simultaneously quittedthe three cities at a pre-concerted time; and when they unitedtheir forces at the appointed rendezvous, the preachings, exhortations, and psalm-singing commenced, under the auspices ofseveral Huguenot and German ministers, and continued for severaldays in all the zealous extravagance which may be well imaginedto characterize such a scene. 

The citizens of Antwerp were terrified for the safety of the place, and courier after courier was despatched to the stadtholderess atBrussels to implore her presence. The duchess, not daring totake such a step without the authority of the king, sent CountMeghem as her representative, with proposals to the magistratesto call out the garrison. The populace soon understood the objectof this messenger; and assailing him with a violent outcry, forcedhim to fly from the city. Then the Calvinists petitioned themagistrates for permission to openly exercise their religion, and for the grant of a temple in which to celebrate its rites. The magistrates in this conjuncture renewed their application tothe stadtholderess, and entreated her to send the Prince of Orange, as the only person capable of saving the city from destruction. The duchess was forced to adopt this bitter alternative; and theprince, after repeated refusals to mix again in public affairs, yielded, at length, less to the supplications of the stadtholderessthan to his own wishes to do another service to the cause of hiscountry. At half a league from the city he was met by De Brederode, with an immense concourse of people of all sects and opinions, who hailed him as a protector from the tyranny of the king, anda savior from the dangers of their own excess. Nothing couldexceed the wisdom, the firmness, and the benevolence, with whichhe managed all conflicting interests, and preserved tranquillityamid a chaos of opposing prejudices and passions. 

From the first establishment of the field-preachings thestadtholderess had implored the confederate lords to aid her forthe re-establishment of order. De Brederode seized this excuse forconvoking a general meeting of the associates which consequentlytook place at the town of St. Trond, in the district of Liege. Full two thousand of the members appeared on the summons. Thelanguage held in this assembly was much stronger and less equivocalthan that formerly used. The delay in the arrival of the king'sanswer presaged ill as to his intentions; while the rapid growthof the public power seemed to mark the present as the time forsuccessfully demanding all that the people required. Several ofthe Catholic members, still royalists at heart, were shockedto hear a total liberty of conscience spoken of as one of theprivileges sought for. The young count of Mansfield, among others, withdrew immediately from the confederation; and thus the firststone seemed to be removed from this imperfectly constructededifice. 

The Prince of Orange and Count Egmont were applied to, and appointedby the stadtholderess, with full powers to treat with theconfederates. Twelve of the latter, among whom were Louis ofNassau, De Brederode, and De Culembourg, met them by appointmentat Duffle, a village not far from Mechlin. The result of theconference was a respectful but firm address to the stadtholderess, repelling her accusations of having entered into foreign treaties;declaring their readiness to march against the French troops shouldthey set foot in the country; and claiming, with the utmost forceof reasoning, the convocation of the states-general. This wasreplied to by an entreaty that they would still wait patiently fortwenty-four days, in hopes of an answer from the king; and she sentthe marquess of Bergen in all speed to Madrid, to support Montignyin his efforts to obtain some prompt decision from Philip. Theking, who was then at Segovia, assembled his council, consistingof the duke of Alva and eight other grandees. The two deputiesfrom the Netherlands attended at the deliberations, which wereheld for several successive days; but the king was never present. The whole state of affairs being debated with what appears a calmand dispassionate view, considering the hostile prejudices of thiscouncil, it was decided to advise the king to adopt generally amore moderate line of conduct in the Netherlands, and to abolishthe inquisition; at the same time prohibiting under the mostawful threats all confederation assemblage, or public preachings, under any pretext whatever. 

The king's first care on, receiving this advice was to order, inall the principal towns of Spain and the Netherlands, prayer andprocessions to implore the divine approbation on the resolutionswhich he had formed. He appeared then in person at the council ofstate, and issued a decree, by which he refused his consent tothe convocation of the states-general, and bound himself to takeseveral German regiments into his pay. He ordered the duchessof Parma, by a private letter, to immediately cause to be raisedthree thousand cavalry and ten thousand foot, and he remitted toher for this purpose three hundred thousand florins in gold. Henext wrote with his own hand to several of his partisans in thevarious towns, encouraging them in their fidelity to his purpose, and promising them his support. He rejected the adoption of themoderation recommended to him; but he consented to the abolitionof the inquisition in its most odious sense, re-establishingthat modified species of ecclesiastical tyranny which had beenintroduced into the Netherlands by Charles V. The people of thatdevoted country were thus successful in obtaining one importantconcession from the king, and in meeting unexpected considerationfrom this Spanish council. Whether these measures had been calculatedwith a view to their failure, it is not now easy to determine;at all events they came too late. When Philip's letters reachedBrussels, the iconoclasts or image-breakers were abroad. 

It requires no profound research to comprehend the impulse whichleads a horde of fanatics to the most monstrous excesses. Thatthe deeds of the iconoclasts arose from the spontaneous outburstof mere vulgar fury, admits of no doubt. The aspersion whichwould trace those deeds to the meeting of St. Trond, and fixthe infamy on the body of nobility there assembled, is scarcelyworthy of refutation. The very lowest of the people were theactors as well as the authors of the outrages, which were atonce shocking to every friend of liberty, and injurious to thatsacred cause. Artois and western Flanders were the scenes of thefirst exploits of the iconoclasts. A band of peasants, intermixedwith beggars and various other vagabonds, to the amount of aboutthree hundred, urged by fanaticism and those baser passions whichanimate every lawless body of men, armed with hatchets, clubs, andhammers, forced open the doors of some of the village churchesin the neighborhood of St. Omer, and tore down and destroyed notonly the images and relics of saints, but those very ornamentswhich Christians of all sects hold sacred, and essential to themost simple rites of religion. 

The cities of Ypres, Lille, and other places of importance, weresoon subject to similar visitations; and the whole of Flanderswas in a few days ravaged by furious multitudes, whose franticenergy spread terror and destruction on their route. Antwerp wasprotected for a while by the presence of the Prince of Orange;but an order from the stadtholderess having obliged him to repairto Brussels, a few nights after his departure the celebratedcathedral shared the fate of many a minor temple, and was utterlypillaged. The blind fury of the spoilers was not confined tothe mere effigies which they considered the types of idolatry, nor even to the pictures, the vases, the sixty-six altars, andtheir richly wrought accessories; but it was equally fatal to thesplendid organ, which was considered the finest at that time inexistence. The rapidity and the order with which this torch-lightscene was acted, without a single accident among the numerousdoers, has excited the wonder of almost all its early historians. One of them does not hesitate to ascribe the "miracle" to theabsolute agency of demons. For three days and nights these revoltingscenes were acted, and every church in the city shared the fateof the cathedral, which next to St. Peter's at Rome was the mostmagnificent in Christendom. 

Ghent, Tournay, Valenciennes, Mechlin, and other cities, were nextthe theatres of similar excesses; and in an incredibly short spaceof time above four hundred churches were pillaged in Flanders andBrabant. Zealand, Utrecht, and others of the northern provinces, suffered more or less; Friesland, Guelders, and Holland aloneescaped, and even the latter but in partial instances. 

These terrible scenes extinguished every hope of reconciliationwith the king. An inveterate and interminable hatred was nowestablished between him and the people; for the whole nationwas identified with deeds which were in reality only shared bythe most base, and were loathsome to all who were enlightened. It was in vain that the patriot nobles might hope or strive toexclupate themselves; they were sure to be held criminal eitherin fact or by implication. No show of loyalty, no efforts torestore order, no personal sacrifice, could save them from thehatred or screen them from the vengeance of Philip. 

The affright of the stadtholderess during the short reign ofanarchy and terror was without bounds. She strove to make herescape from Brussels, and was restrained from so doing only bythe joint solicitations of Viglius and the various knights ofthe order of the golden Fleece, consisting of the first amongthe nobles of all parties. But, in fact, a species of violencewas used to restrain her from this most fatal step; for Vigliusgave orders that the gates of the city should be shut, and egressrefused to anyone belonging to the court. The somewhat less terrifiedduchess now named Count Mansfield governor of the town, reinforcedthe garrison, ordered arms to be distributed to all her adherents, and then called a council to deliberate on the measures to beadopted. A compromise with the confederates and the reformerswas unanimously agreed to. The Prince of Orange and Counts Egmontand Horn were once more appointed to this arduous arbitrationbetween the court and the people. Necessity now extorted almostevery concession which had been so long denied to justice andprudence. The confederates were declared absolved from allresponsibility relative to their proceedings. The suppression ofthe Inquisition, the abolition of the edicts against heresy, anda permission for the preachings, were simultaneously published. 

The confederates on their side undertook to remain faithful tothe service of the king, to do their best for the establishmentof order, and to punish the iconoclasts. A regular treaty tothis effect was drawn up and executed by the respectiveplenipotentiaries, and formally approved by the stadtholderess, who affixed her sign-manual to the instrument. She only consentedto this measure after a long struggle, and with tears in hereyes; and it was with a trembling hand that she wrote an accountof these transactions to the king. 

Soon after this the several governors repaired to their respectiveprovinces, and their efforts for the re-establishment of tranquillitywere attended with various degrees of success. Several of theringleaders in the late excesses were executed; and this severitywas not confined to the partisans of the Catholic Church. ThePrince of Orange and Count Egmont, with others of the patriotlords, set the example of this just severity. John Casambrot, lord of Beckerzeel, Egmont's secretary, and a leading memberof the confederation, put himself at the head of some othersof the associated gentlemen, fell upon a refractory band oficonoclasts near Gramont, in Flanders, and took thirty prisoners, of whom he ordered twenty-eight to be hanged on the spot. 

CHAPTER IX

TO THE ADMINISTRATION OF REQUESENS

A. D. 1566--1573

All the services just related in the common cause of the countryand the king produced no effect on the vindictive spirit of thelatter. Neither the lapse of time, the proofs of repentance, northe fulfilment of their duty, could efface the hatred excitedby a conscientious opposition to even one design of despotism. 

Philip was ill at Segovia when he received accounts of the excessesof the image-breakers, and of the convention concluded with theheretics. Despatches from the stadtholderess, with private advicefrom Viglius, Egmont, Mansfield, Meghem, De Berlaimont, and others, gave him ample information as to the real state of things, and theythus strove to palliate their having acceded to the convention. Theemperor even wrote to his royal nephew, imploring him to treat hiswayward subjects with moderation, and offered his mediation betweenthem. Philip, though severely suffering, gave great attention tothe details of this correspondence, which he minutely examined, and laid before his council of state, with notes and observationstaken by himself. But he took special care to send to them onlysuch parts as he chose them to be well informed upon; his naturaldistrust not suffering him to have any confidential communicationwith men. 

Again the Spanish council appears to have interfered betweenthe people of the Netherlands and the enmity of the monarch;and the offered mediation of the emperor was recommended to hisacceptance, to avoid the appearance of a forced concession tothe popular will. Philip was also strongly urged to repair tothe scene of the disturbances; and a main question of debate was, whether he should march at the head of an army or confide himselfto the loyalty and good faith of his Belgian subjects. But theindolence or the pride of Philip was too strong to admit of histaking so vigorous a measure; and all these consultations endedin two letters to the stadtholderess. In the first he declaredhis firm intention to visit the Netherlands in person; refusedto convoke the states-general; passed in silence the treatiesconcluded with the Protestants and the confederates; and finishedby a declaration that he would throw himself wholly on the fidelityof the country. In his second letter, meant for the stadtholderessalone, he authorized her to assemble the states-general if publicopinion became too powerful for resistance, but on no accountto let it transpire that he had under any circumstances givenhis consent. 

During these deliberations in Spain, the Protestants in theNetherlands amply availed themselves of the privileges they hadgained. They erected numerous wooden churches with incredibleactivity. Young and old, noble and plebeian, of these energeticmen, assisted in the manual labors of these occupations; and thewomen freely applied the produce of their ornaments and jewelsto forward the pious work. But the furious outrages of theiconoclasts had done infinite mischief to both political andreligious freedom; many of the Catholics, and particularly thepriests, gradually withdrew themselves from the confederacy, which thus lost some of its most firm supporters. And, on theother hand, the severity with which some of its members pursuedthe guilty offended and alarmed the body of the people, who couldnot distinguish the shades of difference between the love ofliberty and the practice of licentiousness. 

The stadtholderess and her satellites adroitly took advantage ofthis state of things to sow dissension among the patriots. Autographletters from Philip to the principal lords were distributed amongthem with such artful and mysterious precautions as to throw therest into perplexity, and give each suspicions of the other'sfidelity. The report of the immediate arrival of Philip had alsoconsiderable effect over the less resolute or more selfish; andthe confederation was dissolving rapidly under the operationsof intrigue, self-interest, and fear. Even the Count of Egmontwas not proof against the subtle seductions of the wily monarch, whose severe yet flattering letters half frightened and halfsoothed him into a relapse of royalism. But with the Prince ofOrange Philip had no chance of success. It is unquestionablethat, be his means of acquiring information what they might, he did succeed in procuring minute intelligence of all that wasgoing on in the king's most secret council. He had from time totime procured copies of the stadtholderess's despatches; butthe document which threw the most important light upon the realintentions of Philip was a confidential epistle to the stadtholderessfrom D'Alava, the Spanish minister at Paris, in which he spoke interms too clear to admit any doubt as to the terrible examplewhich the king was resolved to make among the patriot lords. Bergen and Montigny confirmed this by the accounts they senthome from Madrid of the alteration in the manner with which theywere treated by Philip and his courtiers; and the Prince of Orangewas more firmly decided in his opinions of the coming vengeanceof the tyrant. 

William summoned his brother Louis, the Counts Egmont, Horn, and Hoogstraeten, to a secret conference at Termonde; and hethere submitted to them this letter of Alava's, with others whichhe had received from Spain, confirmatory of his worst fears. Louis of Nassau voted for open and instant rebellion; Williamrecommended a cautious observance of the projects of government, not doubting but a fair pretext would be soon given to justify themost vigorous overt acts of revolt; but Egmont at once struck adeath-blow to the energetic project of one brother, and the cautiousamendment of the other, by declaring his present resolution todevote himself wholly to the service of the king, and on noinducement whatever to risk the perils of rebellion. He expressedhis perfect reliance on the justice and the goodness of Philipwhen once he should see the determined loyalty of those whom hehad hitherto had so much reason to suspect; and he extorted theothers to follow his example. The two brothers and Count Hornimplored him in their turn to abandon this blind reliance onthe tyrant; but in vain. His new and unlooked-for profession offaith completely paralyzed their plans. He possessed too largelythe confidence of both the soldiery and the people to make itpossible to attempt any serious measure of resistance in whichhe would not take a part. The meeting broke up without coming toany decision. All those who bore a part in it were expected atBrussels to attend the council of state; Egmont alone repairedthither. The stadtholderess questioned him on the object of theconference at Termonde: he only replied by an indignant glance, at the same time presenting a copy of Alava's letter. 

The stadtholderess now applied her whole efforts to destroy theunion among the patriot lords. She, in the meantime, orderedlevies of troops to the amount of some thousands, the commandof which was given to the nobles on whose attachment she couldreckon. The most vigorous measures were adopted. Noircarmes, governor of Hainault, appeared before Valenciennes, which, beingin the power of the Calvinists, had assumed a most determinedattitude of resistance. He vainly summoned the place to submission, and to admit a royalist garrison; and on receiving an obstinaterefusal, he commenced the siege in form. An undisciplined rabbleof between three thousand and four thousand Gueux, under thedirection of John de Soreas, gathered together in the neighborhoodof Lille and Tournay, with a show of attacking these places. Butthe governor of the former town dispersed one party of them; andNoircarmes surprised and almost destroyed the main body--theirleader falling in the action. These were the first encountersof the civil war, which raged without cessation for upward offorty years in these devoted countries, and which is universallyallowed to be the most remarkable that ever desolated any isolatedportion of Europe. The space which we have already given to thecauses which produced this memorable revolution, now actuallycommenced, will not allow us to do more than rapidly sketch thefierce events that succeeded each other with frightful rapidity. 

While Valenciennes prepared for a vigorous resistance, a generalsynod of the Protestants was held at Antwerp, and De Brederodeundertook an attempt to see the stadtholderess, and lay beforeher the complaints of this body; but she refused to admit him intothe capital. He then addressed to her a remonstrance in writing, in which he reproached her with her violation of the treaties;on the faith of which the confederates had dispersed, and themajority of the Protestants laid down their arms. He imploredher to revoke the new proclamations, by which she prohibited themfrom the free exercise of their religion; and, above all things, he insisted on the abandonment of the siege of Valenciennes, andthe disbanding of the new levies. The stadtholderess's replywas one of haughty reproach and defiance. The gauntlet was nowthrown down; no possible hope of reconciliation remained; and thewhole country flew to arms. A sudden attempt on the part of theroyalists, under Count Meghem, against Bois-le-duc, was repulsedby eight hundred men, commanded by an officer named Bomberg, inthe immediate service of De Brederode, who had fortified himselfin his garrison town of Vienen. 

The Prince of Orange maintained at Antwerp an attitude of extremefirmness and caution. His time for action had not yet arrived;but his advice and protection were of infinite importance onmany occasions. John de Marnix, lord of Toulouse, brother ofPhilip de St. Aldegonde, took possession of Osterweel on theScheldt, a quarter of a league from Antwerp, and fortified himselfin a strong position. But he was impetuously attacked by theCount de Lannoy with a considerable force, and perished, aftera desperate defence, with full one thousand of his followers. Three hundred who laid down their arms were immediately afterthe action butchered in cold blood. Antwerp was on this occasionsaved from the excesses of its divided and furious citizens, and preserved from the horrors of pillage, by the calmness andintrepidity of the Prince of Orange. Valenciennes at lengthcapitulated to the royalists, disheartened by the defeat anddeath of De Marnix, and terrified by a bombardment of thirty-sixhours. The governor, two preachers, and about forty of the citizenswere hanged by the victors, and the reformed religion prohibited. Noircarmes promptly followed up his success. Maestricht, Turnhout, and Bois-le-duc submitted at his approach; and the insurgentswere soon driven from all the provinces, Holland alone excepted. Brederode fled to Germany, where he died the following year. 

The stadtholderess showed, in her success, no small proofs ofdecision. She and her counsellors, acting under orders from theking, were resolved on embarrassing to the utmost the patriot lords;and a new oath of allegiance, to be proposed to every functionaryof the state, was considered as a certain means for attainingthis object without the violence of an unmerited dismissal. Theterms of this oath were strongly opposed to every principle ofpatriotism and toleration. Count Mansfield was the first of thenobles who took it. The duke of Arschot, Counts Meghem, Berlaimont, and Egmont followed his example. The counts of Horn, Hoogstraeten, De Brederode, and others, refused on various pretexts. Everyartifice and persuasion was tried to induce the Prince of Orangeto subscribe to this new test; but his resolution had been forsome time formed. He saw that every chance of constitutionalresistance to tyranny was for the present at an end. The timefor petitioning was gone by. The confederation was dissolved. Aroyalist army was in the field; the Duke of Alva was notoriouslyapproaching at the head of another, more numerous. It was worse thanuseless to conclude a hollow convention with the stadtholderessof mock loyalty on his part and mock confidence on hers. Manyother important considerations convinced William that his onlyhonorable, safe, and wise course was to exile himself from theNetherlands altogether, until more propitious circumstances allowedof his acting openly, boldly, and with effect. 

Before he put this plan of voluntary banishment into execution, he and Egmont had a parting interview at the village of Willebroek, between Antwerp and Brussels. Count Mansfield, and Berti, secretaryto the stadtholderess, were present at this memorable meeting. The details of what passed were reported to the confederatesby one of their party, who contrived to conceal himself in thechimney of the chamber. Nothing could exceed the energetic warmthwith which the two illustrious friends reciprocally endeavoredto turn each other from their respective line of conduct; butin vain. Egmont's fatal confidence in the king was not to beshaken; nor was Nassau's penetrating mind to be deceived by theromantic delusion which led away his friend. They separated withmost affectionate expressions; and Nassau was even moved to tears. His parting words were to the following effect: "Confide, then, since it must be so, in the gratitude of the king; but a painfulpresentiment (God grant it may prove a false one!) tells me thatyou will serve the Spaniards as the bridge by which they willenter the country, and which they will destroy as soon as theyhave passed over it!"

On the 11th of April, a few days after this conference, the Princeof Orange set out for Germany, with his three brothers and hiswhole family, with the exception of his eldest son Philip William, count de Beuren, whom he left behind a student in the Universityof Louvain. He believed that the privileges of the college andthe franchises of Brabant would prove a sufficient protection tothe youth; and this appears the only instance in which William'svigilant prudence was deceived. The departure of the prince seemedto remove all hope of protection or support from the unfortunateProtestants, now left the prey of their implacable tyrant. Theconfederation of the nobles was completely broken up. The countsof Hoogstraeten, Bergen, and Culembourg followed the example ofthe Prince of Orange, and escaped to Germany; and, the greaternumber of those who remained behind took the new oath of allegiance, and became reconciled to the government. 

This total dispersion of the confederacy brought all the townsof Holland into obedience to the king. But the emigration whichimmediately commenced threatened the country with ruin. Englandand Germany swarmed with Dutch and Belgian refugees; and all theefforts of the stadtholderess could not restrain the thousandsthat took to flight. She was not more successful in her attempts toinfluence the measures of the king. She implored him, in repeatedletters, to abandon his design of sending a foreign army intothe country, which she represented as being now quite reducedto submission and tranquillity. She added that the mere reportof this royal invasion (so to call it) had already deprived theNetherlands of many thousands of its best inhabitants; and thatthe appearance of the troops would change it into a desert. Thesearguments, meant to dissuade, were the very means of encouragingPhilip in his design. He conceived his project to be now ripefor the complete suppression of freedom; and Alva soon beganhis march. 

On the 5th of May, 1567, this celebrated captain, whose reputationwas so quickly destined to sink into the notoriety of an executioner, began his memorable march; and on the 22d of August he, withhis two natural sons, and his veteran army consisting of aboutfifteen thousand men, arrived at the walls of Brussels. Thediscipline observed on this march was a terrible forewarning tothe people of the Netherlands of the influence of the general andthe obedience of the troops. They had little chance of resistanceagainst such soldiers so commanded. 

Several of the Belgian nobility went forward to meet Alva, torender him the accustomed honors, and endeavor thus early togain his good graces. Among them was the infatuated Egmont, whomade a present to Alva of two superb horses, which the latterreceived with a disdainful air of condescension. Alva's firstcare was the distribution of his troops--several thousands ofwhom were placed in Antwerp, Ghent, and other important towns, and the remainder reserved under his own immediate orders atBrussels. His approach was celebrated by universal terror; andhis arrival was thoroughly humiliating to the duchess of Parma. He immediately produced his commission as commander-in-chiefof the royal armies in the Netherlands; but he next showed heranother, which confided to him powers infinitely more extendedthan any Marguerite herself had enjoyed, and which proved to herthat the almost sovereign power over the country was virtuallyvested in him. 

Alva first turned his attention to the seizure of those patriotlords whose pertinacious infatuation left them within his reach. He summoned a meeting of all the members of the council of stateand the knights of the order of the Golden Fleece, to deliberateon matters of great importance. Counts Egmont and Horn attended, among many others; and at the conclusion of the council theywere both arrested (some historians assert by the hands of Alvaand his eldest son), as was also Van Straeten, burgomaster ofAntwerp, and Casambrot, Egmont's secretary. The young count ofMansfield appeared for a moment at this meeting; but, warned byhis father of the fate intended him, as an original member ofthe confederation, he had time to fly. The count of Hoogstraetenwas happily detained by illness, and thus escaped the fate ofhis friends. Egmont and Horn were transferred to the citadelof Ghent, under an escort of three thousand Spanish soldiers. Several other persons of the first families were arrested; andthose who had originally been taken in arms were executed withoutdelay. 

[Illustration: STORMING THE BARRICADES AT BRUSSELS DURING THEREVOLUTION OF 1848. ]

The next measures of the new governor were the reestablishment ofthe Inquisition, the promulgation of the decrees of the Councilof Trent, the revocation of the duchess of Parma's edicts, andthe royal refusal to recognize the terms of her treaties withthe Protestants. He immediately established a special tribunal, composed of twelve members, with full powers to inquire intoand pronounce judgment on every circumstance connected with thelate troubles. He named himself president of this council, andappointed a Spaniard, named Vargas, as vice-president--a wretchof the most diabolical cruelty. Several others of the judgeswere also Spaniards, in direct infraction of the fundamentallaws of the country. This council, immortalized by its infamy, was named by the new governor (for so Alva was in fact, thoughnot yet in name), the Council of Troubles. By the people it wassoon designed the Council of Blood. In its atrocious proceedingsno respect was paid to titles, contracts, or privileges, howeversacred. Its judgments were without appeal. Every subject of thestate was amenable to its summons; clergy and laity, the firstindividuals of the country, as well as the most wretched outcastsof society. Its decrees were passed with disgusting rapidityand contempt of form. Contumacy was punished with exile andconfiscation. Those who, strong in innocence, dared to bravea trial were lost without resource. The accused were forced toits bar without previous warning. Many a wealthy citizen wasdragged to trial four leagues' distance, tied to a horse's tail. The number of victims was appalling. On one occasion, the townof Valenciennes alone saw fifty-five of its citizens fall bythe hands of the executioner. Hanging, beheading, quartering andburning were the every-day spectacles. The enormous confiscationsonly added to the thirst for gold and blood by which Alva and hissatellites were parched. History offers no example of parallelhorrors; for while party vengeance on other occasions has led toscenes of fury and terror, they arose, in this instance, fromthe vilest cupidity and the most cold-blooded cruelty. 

After three months of such atrocity, Alva, fatigued rather thansatiated with butchery, resigned his hateful functions whollyinto the hands of Vargas, who was chiefly aided by the membersDelrio and Dela Torre. Even at this remote period we cannot repressthe indignation excited by the mention of those monsters, andit is impossible not to feel satisfaction in fixing upon theirnames the brand of historic execration. One of these wretches, called Hesselts, used at length to sleep during the mock trialsof the already doomed victims; and as often as he was rousedup by his colleagues, he used to cry out mechanically, "To thegibbet! to the gibbet!" so familiar was his tongue with the soundsof condemnation. 

The despair of the people may be imagined from the fact that, until the end of the year 1567, their only consolation was theprospect of the king's arrival! He never dreamed of coming. Eventhe delight of feasting in horrors like these could not conquerhis indolence. The good duchess of Parma--for so she was incomparison with her successor--was not long left to oppose thefeeble barrier of her prayers between Alva and his victims. Shedemanded her dismissal from the nominal dignity, which was nowbut a title of disgrace. Philip granted it readily, accompaniedby a hypocritical letter, a present of thirty thousand crowns, and the promise of an annual pension of twenty thousand more. She left Brussels in the month of April, 1568, raised to a highplace in the esteem and gratitude of the people, less by anyactual claims from her own conduct than by its fortuitous contrastwith the infamy of her successor. She retired to Italy, and diedat Naples in the month of February, 1586. 

Ferdinand Alvarez de Toledo, duke of Alva, was of a distinguishedfamily in Spain, and even boasted of his descent from one of theMoorish monarchs who had reigned in the insignificant kingdom ofToledo. When he assumed the chief command in the Netherlands, hewas sixty years of age; having grown old and obdurate in pride, ferocity, and avarice. His deeds must stand instead of a moredetailed portrait, which, to be thoroughly striking, should betraced with a pen dipped in blood. He was a fierce and cleversoldier, brought up in the school of Charles V. , and trainedto his profession in the wars of that monarch in Germany, andsubsequently in that of Philip II. Against France. In additionto the horrors acted by the Council of Blood, Alva committed manydeeds of collateral but minor tyranny; among others, he issueda decree forbidding, under severe penalties, any inhabitant ofthe country to marry without his express permission. His furiousedicts against emigration were attempted to be enforced in vain. Elizabeth of England opened all the ports of her kingdom to theFlemish refugees, who carried with them those abundant stores ofmanufacturing knowledge which she wisely knew to be the elementsof national wealth. 

Alva soon summoned the Prince of Orange, his brothers, and allthe confederate lords, to appear before the council and answerto the charge of high treason. The prince gave a prompt andcontemptuous answer, denying the authority of Alva and his council, and acknowledging for his judges only the emperor, whose vassalhe was, or the king of Spain in person, as president of the orderof the Golden Fleece. The other lords made replies nearly similar. The trials of each were, therefore, proceeded on, by contumacy;confiscation of property being an object almost as dear to thetyrant viceroy as the death of his victims. Judgments were promptlypronounced against those present or absent, alive or dead. Witnessthe case of the unfortunate marquess of Bergues, who had previouslyexpired at Madrid, as was universally believed, by poison; and hisequally ill-fated colleague in the embassy, the Baron Montigny, was for a while imprisoned at Segovia, where he was soon aftersecretly beheaded, on the base pretext of former disaffection. 

The departure of the duchess of Parma having left Alva undisputedas well as unlimited authority, he proceeded rapidly in his terriblecareer. The count of Beuren was seized at Louvain, and sent prisonerto Madrid; and wherever it was possible to lay hands on a suspectedpatriot, the occasion was not neglected. It would be a revoltingtask to enter into a minute detail of all the horrors committed, and impossible to record the names of the victims who so quicklyfell before Alva's insatiate cruelty. The people were driven tofrenzy. Bands of wretches fled to the woods and marshes; whence, half famished and perishing for want, they revenged themselves withpillage and murder. Pirates infested and ravaged the coast; andthus, from both sea and land, the whole extent of the Netherlandswas devoted to carnage and ruin. The chronicles of Brabant andHolland, chiefly written in Flemish by contemporary authors, abound in thrilling details of the horrors of this generaldesolation, with long lists of those who perished. Suffice itto say, that, on the recorded boast of Alva himself, he causedeighteen thousand inhabitants of the Low Countries to perish bythe hands of the executioner, during his less than six years'sovereignty in the Netherlands. 

The most important of these tragical scenes was now soon to beacted. The Counts Egmont and Horn, having submitted to some previousinterrogatories by Vargas and others, were removed from Ghent toBrussels, on the 3d of June, under a strong escort. The followingday they passed through the mockery of a trial before the Councilof Blood; and on the 5th they were both beheaded in the greatsquare of Brussels, in the presence of Alva, who gloated on thespectacle from a balcony that commanded the execution. The same dayVan Straeten, and Casambrot shared the fate of their illustriousfriends, in the castle of Vilvorde; with many others whose namesonly find a place in the local chronicles of the times. Egmontand Horn met their fate with the firmness expected from theirwell-proved courage. 

These judicial murders excited in the Netherlands an agitationwithout bounds. It was no longer hatred or aversion that filledmen's minds, but fury and despair. The outbursting of a generalrevolt was hourly watched for. The foreign powers, without exception, expressed their disapproval of these executions. The emperorMaximilian II. , and all the Catholic princes, condemned them. The former sent his brother expressly to the king of Spain, towarn him that without a cessation of his cruelties he could notrestrain a general declaration from the members of the empire, which would, in all likelihood, deprive him of every acre ofland in the Netherlands. The princes of the Protestant statesheld no terms in the expression of their disgust and resentment;and everything seemed now ripe, both at home and abroad, to favorthe enterprise on which the Prince of Orange was determined torisk his fortune and his life. But his principal resources wereto be found in his genius and courage, and in the heroic devotionpartaken by his whole family in the cause of their country. Hisbrother, Count John, advanced him a considerable sum of money;the Flemings and Hollanders, in England and elsewhere, subscribedlargely; the prince himself, after raising loans in every possibleway on his private means, sold his jewels, his plate, and eventhe furniture of his houses, and threw the amount into the commonfund. 

Two remarkable events took place this year in Spain, and addedto the general odium entertained against Philip's characterthroughout Europe. The first was the death of his son Don Carlos, whose sad story is too well known in connection with the annalsof his country to require a place here; the other was the deathof the queen. Universal opinion assigned poison as the cause;and Charles IX. Of France, her brother, who loved her with greattenderness, seems to have joined in this belief. Astonishmentand horror filled all minds on the double denouement of thisromantic tragedy; and the enemies of the tyrant reaped all theadvantages it was so well adapted to produce them. 

The Prince of Orange, having raised a considerable force in Germany, now entered on the war with all the well-directed energy by whichhe was characterized. The queen of England, the French Huguenots, and the Protestant princes of Germany, all lent him their aidin money or in men; and he opened his first campaign with greatadvantage. He formed his army into four several corps, intendingto enter the country on as many different points, and by a suddenirruption on that most vulnerable to rouse at once the hopes andthe co-operation of the people. His brothers Louis and Adolphus, at the head of one of these divisions, penetrated into Friesland, and there commenced the contest. The count of Aremberg, governorof this province, assisted by the Spanish troops under Gonsalvode Bracamonte, quickly opposed the invaders. They met on the 24thof May near the abbey of Heiligerlee, which gave its name tothe battle; and after a short contest the royalists were defeatedwith great loss. The count of Aremberg and Adolphus of Nassauencountered in single combat, and fell by each other's hands. The victory was dearly purchased by the loss of this gallantprince, the first of his illustrious family who have on so manyoccasions, down to these very days, freely shed their blood for thefreedom and happiness of the country which may be so emphaticallycalled their own. 

Alva immediately hastened to the scene of this first action, andsoon forced Count Louis to another at a place called Jemminghem, near the town of Embden, on the 21st of July. Their forces werenearly equal, about fourteen thousand on either side; but all theadvantage of discipline and skill was in favor of Alva; and theconsequence was, the total rout of the patriots with a considerableloss in killed and the whole of the cannon and baggage. The entireprovince of Friesland was thus again reduced to obedience, andAlva hastened back to Brabant to make head against the Princeof Orange. The latter had now under his command an army oftwenty-eight thousand men--an imposing force in point of numbers, being double that which his rival was able to muster. He soonmade himself master of the towns of Tongres and St. Trond, andthe whole province of Liege was in his power. He advanced boldlyagainst Alva, and for several months did all that manoeuvringcould do to force him to a battle. But the wily veteran knewhis trade too well; he felt sure that in time the prince's forcewould disperse for want of pay and supplies; and he managed hisresources so ably that with little risk and scarcely any losshe finally succeeded in his object. In the month of October theprince found himself forced to disband his large but undisciplinedforce; and he retired into France to recruit his funds and consideron the best measures for some future enterprise. 

The insolent triumph of Alva knew no bounds. The rest of theyear was consumed in new executions. The hotel of Culembourg, the early cradle of De Brederode's confederacy, was razed to theground, and a pillar erected on the spot commemorative of thedeed; while Alva, resolved to erect a monument of his success aswell as of his hate, had his own statue in brass, formed of thecannons taken at Jemminghem, set up in the citadel of Antwerp, with various symbols of power and an inscription of inflatedpride. 

The following year was ushered in by a demand of unwonted andextravagant rapacity; the establishment of two taxes on property, personal and real, to the amount of the hundredth penny (or denier)on each kind; and at every transfer or sale ten per cent on personaland five per cent for real property. The states-general, of whomthis demand was made, were unanimous in their opposition, as wellas the ministers; but particularly De Berlaimont and Viglius. Alva was so irritated that he even menaced the venerable presidentof the council, but could not succeed in intimidating him. Heobstinately persisted in his design for a considerable period;resisting arguments and prayers, and even the more likely meanstried for softening his cupidity, by furnishing him with sumsfrom other sources equivalent to those which the new taxes werecalculated to produce. To his repeated threats against Vigliusthe latter replied, that "he was convinced the king would notcondemn him unheard; but that at any rate his gray hairs savedhim from any ignoble fear of death. "

A deputation was sent from the states-general to Philip explainingthe impossibility of persevering in the attempted taxes, whichwere incompatible with every principle of commercial liberty. But Alva would not abandon his design till he had forced everyprovince into resistance, and the king himself commanded him todesist. The events of this and the following year, 1570, maybe shortly summed up; none of any striking interest or eventualimportance having occurred. The sufferings of the country wereincreasing from day to day under the intolerable tyranny whichbore it down. The patriots attempted nothing on land; but theirnaval force began from this time to acquire that consistencyand power which was so soon to render it the chief means ofresistance and the great source of wealth. The privateers orcorsairs, which began to swarm from every port in Holland andZealand, and which found refuge in all those of England, sulliedmany gallant exploits by instances of culpable excess; so muchso that the Prince of Orange was forced to withdraw the commandwhich he had delegated to the lord of Dolhain, and to replacehim by Gislain de Fiennes: for already several of the exilednobles and ruined merchants of Antwerp and Amsterdam had joinedthese bold adventurers; and purchased or built, with the remnantof their fortunes, many vessels, in which they carried on a mostproductive warfare against Spanish commerce through the wholeextent of the English Channel, from the mouth of the Embs tothe harbor of La Rochelle. 

One of those frightful inundations to which the northern provinceswere so constantly exposed occurred this year, carrying awaythe dikes, and destroying lives and properly to a considerableamount. In Friesland alone twenty thousand men were victims to thiscalamity. But no suffering could affect the inflexible sternness ofthe duke of Alva; and to such excess did he carry his persecutionthat Philip himself began to be discontented, and thought hisrepresentative was overstepping the bounds of delegated tyranny. He even reproached him sharply in some of his despatches. Thegovernor replied in the same strain; and such was the effect ofthis correspondence that Philip resolved to remove him from hiscommand. But the king's marriage with Anne of Austria, daughterof the emperor Maximilian, obliged him to defer his intentionsfor a while; and he at length named John de la Cerda, duke ofMedina-Celi, for Alva's successor. Upward of a year, however, elapsed before this new governor was finally appointed; and hemade his appearance on the coast of Flanders with a considerablefleet, on the 11th of May, 1572. He was afforded on this veryday a specimen of the sort of people he came to contend with;for his fleet was suddenly attacked by that of the patriots, and many of his vessels burned and taken before his eyes, withtheir rich cargoes and considerable treasures intended for theservice of the state. 

The duke of Medina-Celi proceeded rapidly to Brussels, wherehe was ceremoniously received by Alva, who, however, refusedto resign the government, under the pretext that the term ofhis appointment had not expired, and that he was resolved firstto completely suppress all symptoms of revolt in the northernprovinces. He succeeded in effectually disgusting La Cerda, whoalmost immediately demanded and obtained his own recall to Spain. Alva, left once more in undisputed possession of his power, turnedit with increased vigor into new channels of oppression. He was soonagain employed in efforts to effect the levying of his favoritetaxes; and such was the resolution of the tradesmen of Brussels, that, sooner than submit, they almost universally closed theirshops altogether. Alva, furious at this measure, caused sixty ofthe citizens to be seized, and ordered them to be hanged oppositetheir own doors. The gibbets were actually erected, when, on thevery morning of the day fixed for the executions, he receiveddespatches that wholly disconcerted him and stopped their completion. 

To avoid an open rupture with Spain, the queen of England hadjust at this time interdicted the Dutch and Flemish privateersfrom taking shelter in her ports. William de la Marck, count ofLunoy, had now the chief command of this adventurous force. Hewas distinguished by an inveterate hatred against the Spaniards, and had made a wild and romantic vow never to cut his hair orbeard till he had avenged the murders of Egmont and Horn. He wasimpetuous and terrible in all his actions, and bore the surnameof "the wild boar of the Ardennes. " Driven out of the harbors ofEngland, he resolved on some desperate enterprise; and on the1st of April he succeeded in surprising the little town of Brille, in the island of Voorn, situate between Zealand and Holland. Thisinsignificant place acquired great celebrity from this event, which may be considered the first successful step toward theestablishment of liberty and the republic. 

Alva was confounded by the news of this exploit, but with hisusual activity he immediately turned his whole attention towardthe point of greatest danger. His embarrassment, however, becameevery day more considerable. Lunoy's success was the signal of ageneral revolt. In a few days every town in Holland and Zealanddeclared for liberty, with the exception of Amsterdam and Middleburg, where the Spanish garrisons were too strong for the people toattempt their expulsion. 

The Prince of Orange, who had been ou the watch for a favorablemoment, now entered Brabant at the head of twenty thousand men, composed of French, German, and English, and made himself masterof several important places; while his indefatigable brotherLouis, with a minor force, suddenly appeared in Hainault, and, joined by a large body of French Huguenots under De Genlis, heseized on Mons, the capital of the province, on the 25th of May. 

Alva turned first toward the recovery of this important place, and gave the command of the siege to his son Frederic of Toledo, who was assisted by the counsels of Noircarmes and Vitelli; butLouis of Nassau held out for upward of three months, and onlysurrendered on an honorable capitulation in the month of September;his French allies having been first entirely defeated, and theirbrave leader De Genlis taken prisoner. The Prince of Orange hadin the meantime secured possession of Louvain, Ruremonde, Mechlin, and other towns, carried Termonde and Oudenarde by assault, andmade demonstrations which seemed to court Alva once more to trythe fortune of the campaign in a pitched battle. But such werenot William's real intentions, nor did the cautious tactics ofhis able opponent allow him to provoke such a risk. He, however, ordered his son Frederic to march with all his force into Holland, and he soon undertook the siege of Haerlem. By the time that Monsfell again into the power of the Spaniards, sixty-five townsand their territories, chiefly in the northern provinces, hadthrown off the yoke. The single port of Flessingue containedone hundred and fifty patriot vessels, well armed and equipped;and from that epoch may be dated the rapid growth of the firstnaval power in Europe, with the single exception of Great Britain. 

It is here worthy of remark, that all the horrors of which thepeople of Flanders were the victims, and in their full proportion, had not the effect of exciting them to revolt; but they rose upwith fury against the payment of the new taxes. They sacrificedeverything sooner than pay these unjust exactions--_Omnia_dabant_, _ne_decimam_darant_. The next important event in these warswas the siege of Haerlem, before which place the Spaniards werearrested in their progress for seven months, and which they atlength succeeded in taking with a loss of ten thousand men. 

The details of this memorable siege are calculated to arouseevery feeling of pity for the heroic defenders, and of execrationagainst the cruel assailants. A widow, named Kenau Hasselaer, gained a niche in history by her remarkable valor at the head ofa battalion of three hundred of her townswomen, who bore a partin all the labors and perils of the siege. After the surrender, and in pursuance of Alva's common system, his ferocious son causedthe governor and the other chief officers to be beheaded; andupward of two thousand of the worn-out garrison and burgherswere either put to the sword, or tied two and two and drownedin the lake which gives its name to the town. Tergoes in SouthBeveland, Mechlin, Naerden, and other towns, were about the sameperiod the scenes of gallant actions, and of subsequent crueltiesof the most revolting nature as soon as they fell into the powerof the Spaniards. Strada, with all his bigotry to the Spanishcause, admits that these excesses were atrocious crimes ratherthan just punishments: _non_poena, _sed_flagitium_. Horrors likethese were sure to force reprisals on the part of the maddenedpatriots. De la Marck carried on his daring exploits with a crueltywhich excited the indignation of the Prince of Orange, by whomhe was removed from his command. The contest was for a whileprosecuted with a decrease of vigor proportioned to the seriouslosses on both sides; money and the munitions of war began tofail; and though the Spaniards succeeded in taking The Hague, they were repulsed before Alkmaer with great loss, and theirfleet was almost entirely destroyed in a naval combat on theZuyder Zee. The count Bossu, their admiral, was taken in thisfight, with about three hundred of his best sailors. 

Holland was now from one end to the other the theatre of themost shocking events. While the people performed deeds of thegreatest heroism, the perfidy and cruelty of the Spaniards hadno bounds. The patriots saw more danger in submission than inresistance; each town, which was in succession subdued, enduredthe last extremities of suffering before it yielded, and victorywas frequently the consequence of despair. This unlooked-forturn in affairs decided the king to remove Alva, whose barbarousand rapacious conduct was now objected to even by Philip, whenit produced results disastrous to his cause. Don Luis Zanega yRequesens, commander of the order of Malta, was named to thegovernment of the Netherlands. He arrived at Brussels on the17th of November, 1573; and on the 18th of that following month, the monster whom he succeeded set out for Spain, loaded with thebooty to which he had waded through oceans of blood, and withthe curses of the country, which, however, owed its subsequentfreedom to the impulse given by his intolerable cruelty. He repairedto Spain; and after various fluctuations of favor and disgraceat the hands of his congenial master, he died in his bed, atLisbon, in 1582, at the advanced age of seventy-four years. 

CHAPTER X

TO THE PACIFICATION OF GHENT

A. D. 1573--1576

The character of Requesens was not more opposed to that of hispredecessor, than were the instructions given to him for hisgovernment. He was an honest, well-meaning, and moderate man, and the king of Spain hoped that by his influence and a totalchange of measures he might succeed in recalling the Netherlandsto obedience. But, happily for the country, this change was adoptedtoo late for success; and the weakness of the new governmentcompleted the glorious results which the ferocity of the formerhad prepared. 

Requesens performed all that depended on him, to gain the confidenceof the people. He caused Alva's statue to be removed; and hopedto efface the memory of the tyrant by dissolving the Council ofBlood and abandoning the obnoxious taxes which their inventorhad suspended rather than abolished. A general amnesty was alsopromulgated against the revolted provinces; they received itwith contempt and defiance. Nothing then was left to Requesensbut to renew the war; and this he found to be a matter of noeasy execution. The finances were in a state of the greatestconfusion; and the Spanish troops were in many places seditious, in some openly mutinous, Alva having left large arrears of paydue to almost all, notwithstanding the immense amount of hispillage and extortion. Middleburg, which had long sustained asiege against all the efforts of the patriots, was now nearlyreduced by famine, notwithstanding the gallant efforts of itsgovernor, Mondragon. Requesens turned his immediate attentionto the relief of this important place; and he soon assembled, at Antwerp and Berg-op-Zoom, a fleet of sixty vessels for thatpurpose. But Louis Boisot, admiral of Zealand, promptly repairedto attack this force; and after a severe action he totally defeatedit, and killed De Glimes, one of its admirals, under the eyes ofRequesens himself, who, accompanied by his suite, stood duringthe whole affair on the dike of Schakerloo. This action took placethe 29th of January, 1574; and, on the 19th of February following, Middleburg surrendered, after a resistance of two years. The Princeof Orange granted such conditions as were due to the bravery ofthe governor; and thus set an example of generosity and honorwhich greatly changed the complexion of the war. All Zealand wasnow free; and the intrepid Admiral Boisot gained another victoryon the 30th of May--destroying several of the Spanish vessels, andtaking some others, with their Admiral Von Haemstede. Frequentnaval enterprises were also undertaken against the frontiers ofFlanders; and while the naval forces thus harassed the enemy onevery vulnerable point, the unfortunate provinces of the interiorwere ravaged by the mutinous and revolted Spaniards, and by thenative brigands, who pillaged both royalists and patriots withatrocious impartiality. 

To these manifold evils was now added one more terrible, in theappearance of the plague, which broke out at Ghent in the monthof October, and devastated a great part of the Netherlands; not, however, with that violence with which it rages in more southernclimates. 

Requesens, overwhelmed by difficulties, yet exerted himself tothe utmost to put the best face on the affairs of government. His chief care was to appease the mutinous soldiery: he evencaused his plate to be melted, and freely gave the produce towardthe payment of their arrears. The patriots, well informed of thisstate of things, labored to turn it to their best advantage. Theyopened the campaign in the province of Guelders, where Louis ofNassau, with his younger brother Henry, and the prince Palatine, son of the elector Frederick III. , appeared at the head of eleventhousand men; the Prince of Orange prepared to join him with anequal number; but Requesens promptly despatched Sanchez d'Avilato prevent this junction. The Spanish commander quickly passedthe Meuse near Nimeguen; and on the 14th of April he forced CountLouis to a battle, on the great plain called Mookerheyde, closeto the village of Mook. The royalists attacked with their usualvalor; and, after two hours of hard fighting, the confederateswere totally defeated. The three gallant princes were among theslain, and their bodies were never afterward discovered. It hasbeen stated, on doubtful authority, that Louis of Nassau, afterhaving lain some time among the heaps of dead, dragged himselfto the side of the river Meuse, and while washing his woundswas inhumanly murdered by some straggling peasants, to whom hewas unknown. The unfortunate fate of this enterprising princewas a severe blow to the patriot cause, and a cruel afflictionto the Prince of Orange. He had now already lost three brothersin the war; and remained alone, to revenge their fate and sustainthe cause for which they had perished. 

D'Avila soon found his victory to be as fruitless as it wasbrilliant. The ruffian troops, by whom it was gained, becameimmediately self-disbanded; threw off all authority; hastenedto possess themselves of Antwerp; and threatened to proceed tothe most horrible extremities if their pay was longer withheld. The citizens succeeded with difficulty in appeasing them, bythe sacrifice of some money in part payment of their claims. Requesens took advantage of their temporary calm, and despatchedthem promptly to take part in the siege of Leyden. 

This siege formed another of those numerous instances which becameso memorable from the mixture of heroism and horror. Jean Vanderdoes, known in literature by the name of Dousa, and celebrated for hisLatin poems, commanded the place. Valdez, who conducted the siege, urged Dousa to surrender; when the latter replied, in the name ofthe inhabitants, "that when provisions failed them, they woulddevour their left hands, reserving the right to defend theirliberty. " A party of the inhabitants, driven to disobedience andrevolt by the excess of misery to which they were shortly reduced, attempted to force the burgomaster, Vanderwerf, to supply them withbread, or yield up the place. But he sternly made the celebratedanswer, which, cannot be remembered without shuddering--"Bread Ihave none; but if my death can afford you relief, tear my bodyin pieces, and let those who are most hungry devour it!"

But in this extremity relief at last was afforded by the decisivemeasures of the Prince of Orange, who ordered all the neighboringdikes to be opened and the sluices raised, thus sweeping away thebesiegers on the waves of the ocean: the inhabitants of Leydenwere apprised of this intention by means of letters intrustedto the safe carriage of pigeons trained for the purpose. Theinundation was no sooner effected than hundreds of flat-bottomedboats brought abundance of supplies to the half-famished town;while a violent storm carried the sea across the country fortwenty leagues around, and destroyed the Spanish camp, with aboveone thousand soldiers, who were overtaken by the flood. Thisdeliverance took place on the 3d of October, on which day itis still annually celebrated by the descendants of the gratefulcitizens. 

It was now for the first time that Spain would consent to listento advice or mediation, which had for its object the terminationof this frightful war. The emperor Maximilian II. Renewed atthis epoch his efforts with Philip; and under such favorableauspices conferences commenced at Breda, where the countsSwartzenberg and Hohenloe, brothers-in-law of the Prince of Orange, met, on the part of the emperor, the deputies from the king ofSpain and the patriots; and hopes of a complete pacificationwere generally entertained. But three months of deliberationproved their fallacy. The patriots demanded toleration for thereformed religion. The king's deputies obstinately refused it. The congress was therefore broken up; and both oppressors andoppressed resumed their arms with increased vigor and tenfolddesperation. 

Requesens had long fixed his eyes on Zealand as the scene of anexpedition by which he hoped to repair the failure before Leyden;and he caused an attempt to be made on the town of Zuriczee, inthe island of Scauwen, which merits record as one of the boldestand most original enterprises of the war. 

The little islands of Zealand are separated from each other bynarrow branches of the sea, which are fordable at low water;and it was by such a passage, two leagues in breadth, and tillthen untried, that the Spanish detachment of one thousand sevenhundred and fifty men, under Ulloa and other veteran captains, advanced to their exploit in the midst of dangers greatly increasedby a night of total darkness. Each man carried round his necktwo pounds of gunpowder, with a sufficient supply of biscuitfor two days; and holding their swords and muskets high overtheir heads, they boldly waded forward, three abreast, in someplaces up to their shoulders in water. The alarm was soon given;and a shower of balls was poured upon the gallant band, fromupward of forty boats which the Zealanders sent rapidly towardthe spot. The only light afforded to either party was from theflashes of their guns; and while the adventurers advanced withundaunted firmness, their equally daring assailants, jumpingfrom their boats into the water, attacked them with oars andhooked handspikes, by which many of the Spaniards were destroyed. The rearguard, in this extremity, cut off from their companions, was obliged to retreat; but the rest, after a considerable loss, at length reached the land, and thus gained possession of theisland, on the night of the 28th of September, 1575. 

Requesens quickly afterward repaired to the scene of this gallantexploit, and commenced the siege of Zuriczee, which he did notlive to see completed. After having passed the winter monthsin preparation for the success of this object which he had somuch at heart, he was recalled to Brussels by accounts of newmutinies in the Spanish cavalry; and the very evening beforehe reached the city he was attacked by a violent fever, whichcarried him off five days afterward, on the 5th of March, 1516. 

The suddenness of Requesen's illness had not allowed time foreven the nomination of a successor, to which he was authorized byletters patent from the king. It is believed that his intentionwas to appoint Count Mansfield to the command of the army, and DeBerlaimont to the administration of civil affairs. The government, however, now devolved entirely into the hands of the council ofstate, which was at that period composed of nine members. Theprincipal of these was Philip de Croi, duke of Arschot; the otherleading members were Viglius, Counts Mansfield and Berlaimont; andthe council was degraded by numbering, among the rest, Debrisand De Roda, two of the notorious Spaniards who had formed partof the Council of Blood. 

The king resolved to leave the authority in the hands of thisincongruous mixture, until the arrival of Don John of Austria, his natural brother, whom he had already named to the office ofgovernor-general. But in the interval the government assumed anaspect of unprecedented disorder; and widespread anarchy embracedthe whole country. The royal troops openly revolted, and foughtagainst each other like deadly enemies. The nobles, divided intheir views, arrogated to themselves in different places thetitles and powers of command. Public faith and private probityseemed alike destroyed. Pillage, violence and ferocity were thecommonplace characteristics of the times. 

Circumstances like these may be well supposed to have revivedthe hopes of the Prince of Orange, who quickly saw amid thischaos the elements of order, strength, and liberty. Such hadbeen his previous affliction at the harrowing events which hewitnessed and despaired of being able to relieve, that he hadproposed to the patriots of Holland and Zealand to destroy thedikes, submerge the whole country, and abandon to the waves thesoil which refused security to freedom. But Providence destinedhim to be the savior, instead of the destroyer, of his country. Thechief motive of this excessive desperation had been the apparentdesertion by Queen Elizabeth of the cause which she had hithertoso mainly assisted. Offended at the capture of some English shipsby the Dutch, who asserted that they carried supplies for theSpaniards, she withdrew from them her protection; but by timelysubmission they appeased her wrath; and it is thought by somehistorians that even thus early the Prince of Orange proposed toplace the revolted provinces wholly under her protection. This, however, she for the time refused; but she strongly solicitedPhilip's mercy for these unfortunate countries, through the Spanishambassador at her court. 

In the meantime the council of state at Brussels seemed disposedto follow up as far as possible the plans of Requesens. The siegeof Zuriczee was continued; but speedy dissensions among the membersof the government rendered their authority contemptible, if notutterly extinct, in the eyes of the people. The exhaustion ofthe treasury deprived them of all power to put an end to themutinous excesses of the Spanish troops, and the latter carriedtheir licentiousness to the utmost bounds. Zuriczee, admitted toa surrender, and saved from pillage by the payment of a largesum, was lost to the royalists within three months, from thewant of discipline in its garrison; and the towns and burghsof Brabant suffered as much from the excesses of their nominalprotectors as could have been inflicted by the enemy. The mutineersat length, to the number of some thousands, attacked and carriedby force the town of Alost, at equal distances between Brussels, Ghent, and Antwerp, imprisoned the chief citizens, and leviedcontributions on all the country round. It was then that thecouncil of state found itself forced to proclaim them rebels, traitors, and enemies to the king and the country, and calledon all loyal subjects to pursue and exterminate them whereverthey were found in arms. 

This proscription of the Spanish mutineers was followed by theconvocation of the states-general, and the government thus hopedto maintain some show of union and some chance of authority. But a new scene of intestine violence completed the picture ofexecutive inefficiency. On the 4th of September, the grand bailiffof Brabant, as lieutenant of the Baron de Hesse, governor ofBrussels, entered the council chamber by force, and arrested allthe members present, on suspicion of treacherously maintainingintelligence with the Spaniards. Counts Mansfield and Berlaimontwere imprisoned, with some others. Viglius escaped this indignityby being absent froth indisposition. This bold measure was hailedby the people with unusual joy, as the signal for that totalchange in the government which they reckoned on as the preludeto complete freedom. 

The states-general were all at this time assembled, with theexception of those of Flanders, who joined the others with butlittle delay. The general reprobation against the Spaniards procureda second decree of proscription; and their desperate conductjustified the utmost violence with which they might be pursued. They still held the citadels of Ghent and Antwerp, as well asMaestricht, which they had seized on, sacked, and pillaged withall the fury which a barbarous enemy inflicts on a town carriedby assault. On the 3d of November, the other body of mutineers, in possession of Alost, marched to the support of their fellowbrigands in the citadel of Antwerp; and both, simultaneouslyattacking this magnificent city, became masters of it in allpoints, in spite of a vigorous resistance on the part of thecitizens. They then began a scene of rapine and destructionunequalled in the annals of these desperate wars. More than fivehundred private mansions and the splendid town-house were deliveredto the flames: seven thousand citizens perished by the sword orin the waters of the Scheldt. For three days the carnage andthe pillage went on with unheard-of fury; and the most opulenttown in Europe was thus reduced to ruin and desolation by a fewthousand frantic ruffians. The loss was valued at above two milliongolden crowns. Vargas and Romero were the principal leaders ofthis infernal exploit; and De Roda gained a new title to hisimmortality of shame by standing forth as its apologist. 

The states-general, assembled at Ghent, were solemnly opened onthe 14th of September. Being apprehensive of a sudden attack fromthe Spanish troops in the citadel, they proposed a negotiation, and demanded a protecting force from the Prince of Orange, whoimmediately entered into a treaty with their envoy, and sent totheir assistance eight companies of infantry and seventeen piecesof cannon, under the command of the English colonel, Temple. In the midst of this turmoil and apparent insecurity, thestates-general proceeded in their great work, and assumed thereins of government in the name of the king. They allowed thecouncil of state still nominally to exist, but they restrictedits powers far within those it had hitherto exercised; and thegovernment, thus absolutely assuming the form of a republic, issued manifestoes in justification of its conduct, and demandedsuccor from all the foreign powers. To complete the union betweenthe various provinces, it was resolved to resume the negotiationscommenced the preceding year at Breda; and the 10th of Octoberwas fixed for this new congress to be held in the town-houseof Ghent. 

On the day appointed, the congress opened its sittings; and rapidlyarriving at the termination of its important object, the celebratedtreaty known by the title of "The Pacification of Ghent" waspublished on the 8th of November, to the sound of bells and trumpets;while the ceremony was rendered still more imposing by the thunderof the artillery which battered the walls of the besieged citadel. It was even intended to have delivered a general assault against theplace at the moment of the proclamation; but the mutineers demandeda capitulation and finally surrendered three days afterward. Itwas the wife of the famous Mondragon who commanded the placein her husband's absence; and by her heroism gave a new proofof the capability of the sex to surpass the limits which natureseems to have fixed for their conduct. 

The Pacification contained twenty-five articles. Among others, it was agreed:

That a full amnesty should be passed for all offences whatsoever. 

That the estates of Brabant, Flanders, Hainault, Artois, andothers, on the one part; the Prince of Orange, and the states ofHolland and Zealand and their associates, on the other; promisedto maintain good faith, peace, and friendship, firm and inviolable;to mutually assist each other, at all times, in council and action;and to employ life and fortune, above all things, to expel fromthe country the Spanish soldiers and other foreigners. 

That no one should be allowed to injure or insult, by word ordeed, the exercise of the Catholic religion, on pain of beingtreated as a disturber of the public peace. 

That the edicts against heresy and the proclamations of the dukeof Alva should be suspended. 

That all confiscations, sentences, and judgments rendered since1566 should be annulled. 

That the inscriptions, monuments, and trophies erected by theduke of Alva should be demolished. 

Such were the general conditions of the treaty; the remainingarticles chiefly concerned individual interests. The promulgationof this great charter of union, which was considered as thefundamental law of the country, was hailed in all parts of theNetherlands with extravagant demonstrations of joy. 

CHAPTER XI

TO THE RENUNCIATION OF THE SOVEREIGNTY OF SPAIN AND THE DECLARATIONOF INDEPENDENCE

A. D. 1576--1580

On the very day of the sack of Antwerp, Don John of Austria arrivedat Luxemburg. This ominous commencement of his viceregal reignwas not belied by the events which followed; and the hero ofLepanto, the victor of the Turks, the idol of Christendom, wasdestined to have his reputation and well-won laurels tarnished inthe service of the insidious despotism to which he now became aninstrument. Don John was a natural son of Charles V. , and to finetalents and a good disposition united the advantages of hereditarycourage and a liberal education. He was born at Ratisbon on the24th of February, 1543. His reputed mother was a young lady ofthat place named Barbara Blomberg; but one historian states thatthe real parent was of a condition too elevated to have her rankbetrayed; and that, to conceal the mystery, Barbara Blomberg hadvoluntarily assumed the distinction, or the dishonor, accordingto the different constructions put upon the case. The prince, having passed through France, disguised, for greater secrecy orin a youthful frolic, as a negro valet to Prince Octavo Gonzaga, entered on the limits of his new government, and immediatelywrote to the council of state in the most condescending terms toannounce his arrival. 

Nothing could present a less promising aspect to the prince thanthe country at the head of which he was now placed. He found allits provinces, with the sole exception of Luxemburg, in the anarchyattendant on a ten years' civil war, and apparently resolved ona total breach of their allegiance to Spain. He found his best, indeed his only, course to be that of moderation and management;and it is most probable that at the outset his intentions werereally honorable and candid. 

The states-general were not less embarrassed than the prince. His sudden arrival threw them into great perplexity, which wasincreased by the conciliatory tone of his letter. They had nowremoved from Ghent to Brussels; and first sending deputies topay the honors of a ceremonious welcome to Don John, they wroteto the Prince of Orange, then in Holland, for his advice in thisdifficult conjuncture. The prince replied by a memorial ofconsiderable length, dated Middleburg, the 30th of November, inwhich he gave them the most wise and prudent advice; the substanceof which was to receive any propositions coming from the wilyand perfidious Philip with the utmost suspicion, and to refuseall negotiation with his deputy, if the immediate withdrawal ofthe foreign troops was not at once conceded, and the acceptanceof the Pacification guaranteed in its most ample extent. 

This advice was implicitly followed; the states in the meantimetaking the precaution of assembling a large body of troops atWavre, between Brussels and Namur, the command of which was givento the count of Lalain. A still more important measure was thedespatch of an envoy to England, to implore the assistance ofElizabeth. She acted on this occasion with frankness and intrepidity;giving a distinguished reception to the envoy, De Sweveghem, andadvancing a loan of one hundred thousand pounds sterling, oncondition that the states made no treaty without her knowledgeor participation. 

To secure still more closely the federal union that now bound thedifferent provinces, a new compact was concluded by the deputieson the 9th of January, 1577, known by the title of The Union ofBrussels, and signed by the prelates, ecclesiastics, lords, gentlemen, magistrates, and others, representing the estates ofthe Netherlands. A copy of this act of union was transmitted toDon John, to enable him thoroughly to understand the present stateof feeling among those with whom he was now about to negotiate. He maintained a general tone of great moderation throughout theconference which immediately took place; and after some monthsof cautious parleying, in the latter part of which the candorof the prince seemed doubtful, and which the native historiansdo not hesitate to stigmatize as merely assumed, a treaty wassigned at Marche-en-Famenne, a place between Namur and Luxemburg, in which every point insisted on by the states was, to the surpriseand delight of the nation, fully consented to and guaranteed. This important document is called The Perpetual Edict, bearsdate the 12th of February, 1577, and contains nineteen articles. They were all based on the acceptance of the Pacification; butone expressly stipulated that the count of Beuren should be setat liberty as soon as the Prince of Orange, his father, had onhis part ratified the treaty. 

Don John made his solemn entry into Brussels on the 1st of May, and assumed the functions of his limited authority. The conditionsof the treaty were promptly and regularly fulfilled. The citadelsoccupied by the Spanish soldiers were given up to the Flemish andWalloon troops; and the departure of these ferocious foreignerstook place at once. The large sums required to facilitate thismeasure made it necessary to submit for a while to the presenceof the German mercenaries. But Don John's conduct soon destroyedthe temporary delusion which had deceived the country. Whetherhis projects were hitherto only concealed, or that they werenow for the first time excited by the disappointment of thosehopes of authority held out to him by Philip, and which hispredecessors had shared, it is certain that he very early displayedhis ambition, and very imprudently attempted to put it in force. He at once demanded from the council of state the command ofthe troops and the disposal of the revenues. The answer was asimple reference to the Pacification of Ghent; and the prince'srejoinder was an apparent submission, and the immediate despatchof letters in cipher to the king, demanding a supply of troopssufficient to restore his ruined authority. These letters wereintercepted by the king of Navarre, afterward Henry IV. Of France, who immediately transmitted them to the Prince of Orange, hisold friend and fellow-soldier. 

Public opinion, to the suspicions of which Don John had beenfrom the first obnoxious, was now unanimous in attributing todesign all that was unconstitutional and unfair. His impetuouscharacter could no longer submit to the restraint of dissimulation, and he resolved to take some bold and decided measure. A veryfavorable opportunity was presented in the arrival of the queenof Navarre, Marguerite of Valois, at Namur, on her way to Spa. The prince, numerously attended, hastened to the former townunder pretence of paying his respects to the queen. As soon asshe left the place, he repaired to the glacis of the town, as iffor the mere enjoyment of a walk, admired the external appearanceof the citadel, and expressed a desire to be admitted inside. The young count of Berlaimont, in the absence of his father, the governor of the place, and an accomplice in the plot withDon John, freely admitted him. The prince immediately drew fortha pistol, and exclaimed that "that was the first moment of hisgovernment"; took possession of the place with his immediateguard, and instantly formed them into a devoted garrison. 

The Prince of Orange immediately made public the interceptedletters; and, at the solicitation of the states-general, repairedto Brussels; into which city he made a truly triumphant entry onthe 23d of September, and was immediately nominated governor, protector or _ruward_ of Brabant--a dignity which had falleninto disuse, but was revived on this occasion, and which waslittle inferior in power to that of the dictators of Rome. Hisauthority, now almost unlimited, extended over every provinceof the Netherlands, except Namur and Luxemburg, both of whichacknowledged Don John. 

The first care of the liberated nation was to demolish the variouscitadels rendered celebrated and odious by the excesses of theSpaniards. This was done with an enthusiastic industry in whichevery age and sex bore a part, and which promised well for liberty. Among the ruins of that of Antwerp the statue of the duke ofAlva was discovered; dragged through the filthiest streets ofthe town; and, with all the indignity so well merited by theoriginal, it was finally broken into a thousand pieces. 

The country, in conferring such extensive powers on the Princeof Orange, had certainly gone too far, not for his desert, butfor its own tranquillity. It was impossible that such an elevationshould not excite the discontent and awaken the enmity of thehaughty aristocracy of Flanders and Brabant; and particularlyof the House of Croi, the ancient rivals of that of Nassau. Thethen representative of that family seemed the person most suitedto counterbalance William's excessive power. The duke of Arschotwas therefore named governor of Flanders; and he immediately puthimself at the head of a confederacy of the Catholic party, whichquickly decided to offer the chief government of the country, still in the name of Philip, to the archduke Mathias, brother ofthe emperor Rodolf II. , and cousin-german to Philip of Spain, ayouth but nineteen years of age. A Flemish gentleman named Maelstedwas intrusted with the proposal. Mathias joyously consented;and, quitting Vienna with the greatest secrecy, he arrived atMaestricht, without any previous announcement, and expected onlyby the party that had invited him, at the end of October, 1577. 

The Prince of Orange, instead of showing the least symptom ofdissatisfaction at this underhand proceeding aimed at his personalauthority, announced his perfect approval of the nomination, andwas the foremost in recommending measures for the honor of thearchduke and the security of the country. He drew up the basis ofa treaty for Mathias's acceptance, on terms which guaranteed to thecouncil of state and the states-general the virtual sovereignty, and left to the young prince little beyond the fine title whichhad dazzled his boyish vanity. The Prince of Orange was appointedhis lieutenant, in all the branches of the administration, civil, military, or financial; and the duke of Arschot, who had hopedto obtain an entire domination over the puppet he had broughtupon the stage, saw himself totally foiled in his project, andleft without a chance or a pretext for the least increase tohis influence. 

But a still greater disappointment attended this ambitious noblemanin the very stronghold of his power. The Flemings, driven bypersecution to a state of fury almost unnatural, had, in theirantipathy to Spain, adopted a hatred against Catholicism, which hadits source only in political frenzy, while the converts imagined itto arise from reason and conviction. Two men had taken advantageof this state of the public mind and gained over it an unboundedascendency. They were Francis de Kethulle, lord of Ryhove, andJohn Hembyse, who each seemed formed to realize the beau-idealof a factious demagogue. They had acquired supreme power overthe people of Ghent, and had at their command a body of twentythousand resolute and well-armed supporters. The duke of Arschotvainly attempted to oppose his authority to that of these men;and he on one occasion imprudently exclaimed that "he would havethem hanged, even though they were protected by the Prince ofOrange himself. " The same night Ryhove summoned the leaders ofhis bands; and quickly assembling a considerable force, theyrepaired to the duke's hotel, made him prisoner, and, withoutallowing him time to dress, carried him away in triumph. At thesame time the bishops of Bruges and Ypres, the high bailiffs ofGhent and Courtrai, the governor of Oudenarde, and other importantmagistrates, were arrested--accused of complicity with the duke, but of what particular offence the lawless demagogues did notdeign to specify. The two tribunes immediately divided the wholehonors and authority of administration; Ryhove as military, andHembyse as civil, chief. 

The latter of these legislators completely changed the formsof the government; he revived the ancient privileges destroyedby Charles V. , and took all preliminary measures for forcing thevarious provinces to join with the city of Ghent in forming afederative republic. The states-general and the Prince of Orangewere alarmed, lest these troubles might lead to a renewal ofthe anarchy from the effects of which the country had but justobtained breathing-time. Ryhove consented, at the remonstranceof the Prince of Orange, to release the duke of Arschot; butWilliam was obliged to repair to Ghent in person, in the hopeof establishing order. He arrived on the 29th of December, andentered on a strict inquiry with his usual calmness and decision. He could not succeed in obtaining the liberty of the other prisoners, though he pleaded for them strongly. Having severely reprimandedthe factious leaders, and pointed out the dangers of their illegalcourse, he returned to Brussels, leaving the factious city in atemporary tranquillity which his firmness and discretion couldalone have obtained. 

The archduke Mathias, having visited Antwerp, and acceded toall the conditions required of him, made his public entry intoBrussels on the 18th of January, 1578, and was installed in hisdignity of governor-general amid the usual fetes and rejoicings. Don John of Austria was at the same time declared an enemy tothe country, with a public order to quit it without delay; anda prohibition was issued against any inhabitant acknowledginghis forfeited authority. 

War was now once more openly declared; some fruitless negotiationshaving afforded a fair pretext for hostilities. The rapid appearanceof a numerous army under the orders of Don John gave strength tothe suspicions of his former dissimulation. It was currentlybelieved that large bodies of the Spanish troops had remainedconcealed in the forests of Luxemburg and Lorraine; while severalregiments, which had remained in France in the service of theLeague, immediately re-entered the Netherlands. Alexander Farnese, prince of Parma, son of the former stadtholderess, came to the aidof his uncle, Don John, at the head of a large force of Italians;and these several reinforcements, with the German auxiliariesstill in the country, composed an army of twenty thousand men. The army of the states-general was still larger; but far inferiorin point of discipline. It was commanded by Antoine de Goignies, a gentleman of Hainault, and an old soldier of the school ofCharles V. 

After a sharp affair at the village of Riminants, in which theroyalists had the worst, the two armies met at Gemblours, on the31st of January, 1578; and the prince of Parma gained a completevictory, almost with his cavalry only, taking De Goignies prisoner, with the whole of his artillery and baggage. The account of hisvictory is almost miraculous. The royalists, if we are to credittheir most minute but not impartial historian, had only one thousandtwo hundred men engaged; by whom six thousand were put to thesword, with the loss of but twelve men and little more than anhour's labor. 

The news of this battle threw the states into the utmostconsternation. Brussels being considered insecure, the archdukeMathias and his council retired to Antwerp; but the victors didnot feel their forces sufficient to justify an attack upon thecapital. They, however, took Louvain, Tirlemont, and several othertowns; but these conquests were of little import in comparison withthe loss of Amsterdam, which declared openly and unanimously forthe patriot cause. The states-general recovered their courage, andprepared for a new contest. They sent deputies to the diet of Worms, to ask succor from the princes of the empire. The count palatineJohn Casimir repaired to their assistance with a considerableforce of Germans and English, all equipped and paid by QueenElizabeth. The duke of Alençon, brother of Henry III. Of France, hovered on the frontiers of Hainault with a respectable army;and the cause of liberty seemed not quite desperate. 

But all the various chiefs had separate interests and oppositeviews; while the fanatic violence of the people of Ghent sappedthe foundations of the pacification to which the town had givenits name. The Walloon provinces, deep-rooted in their attachmentto religious bigotry, which they loved still better than politicalfreedom, gradually withdrew from the common cause; and without yetopenly becoming reconciled with Spain, they adopted a neutralitywhich was tantamount to it. Don John was, however, deprived ofall chance of reaping any advantage from these unfortunatedissensions. He was suddenly taken ill in his camp at Bougy;and died, after a fortnight's suffering, on the 1st of October, 1578, in the thirty-third year of his age. 

This unlooked-for close to a career which had been so brilliant, and to a life from which so much was yet to be expected, makesus pause to consider for a moment the different opinions of histimes and of history on the fate of a personage so remarkable. The contemporary Flemish memoirs say that he died of the plague;those of Spain call his disorder the purple fever. The examinationof his corpse caused an almost general belief that he was poisoned. "He lost his life, " says one author, "with great suspicion ofpoison. " "Acabo su vida, con gran sospecho de veneno. "--Herrera. Another speaks of the suspicious state of his intestines, butwithout any direct opinion. An English historian states the factof his being poisoned, without any reserve. Flemish writers donot hesitate to attribute his murder to the jealousy of PhilipII. , who, they assert, had discovered a secret treaty of marriageabout to be concluded between Don John and Elizabeth of England, securing them the joint sovereignty of the Netherlands. An Italianhistorian of credit asserts that this ambitious design was attributedto the prince; and admits that his death was not considered ashaving arisen from natural causes. "E quindi nacque l'opinionedispersa allora, ch'egli mancasse di morte aiutata più tostoche naturale. "--Bentivoglio. It was also believed that Escovedo, his confidential secretary, being immediately called back toSpain, was secretly assassinated by Antonio Perez, Philip'scelebrated minister, and by the special orders of the king. Timehas, however, covered the affair with impenetrable mystery; andthe death of Don John was of little importance to the affairsof the country he governed so briefly and so ingloriously, ifit be not that it added another motive to the natural hatredfor his assumed murderer. 

The prince of Parma, who now succeeded, by virtue of Don John'stestament, to the post of governor-general in the name of theking, remained intrenched in his camp. He expected much fromthe disunion of his various opponents; and what he foresaw veryquickly happened. The duke of Alençon disbanded his troops andretired to France; and the prince Palatine, following his example, withdrew to Germany, having first made an unsuccessful attempt toengage the queen of England as a principal in the confederacy. Inthis perplexity, the Prince of Orange saw that the real hope forsafety was in uniting still more closely the northern provincesof the union; for he discovered the fallacy of reckoning on thecordial and persevering fidelity of the Walloons. He thereforeconvoked a new assembly at Utrecht; and the deputies of Holland, Guelders, Zealand, Utrecht, and Groningen, signed, on the 29thof January, 1579, the famous act called the Union of Utrecht, the real basis or fundamental pact of the republic of the UnitedProvinces. It makes no formal renunciation of allegiance to Spain, but this is virtually done by the omission of the king's name. The twenty-six articles of this act consolidate the indissolubleconnection of the United Provinces; each preserving its separatefranchises, and following its own good pleasure on the subjectof religion. The towns of Ghent, Antwerp, Bruges, and Ypres, soon after acceded to and joined the union. 

The prince of Parma now assumed the offensive, and marched againstMaestricht with his whole army. He took the place in the monthof June, 1579, after a gallant resistance, and delivered it tosack and massacre for three entire days. About the same timeMechlin and Bois-le-duc returned to their obedience to the king. Hembyse having renewed his attempts against the public peace atGhent, the Prince of Orange repaired to that place, re-establishedorder, frightened the inveterate demagogue into secret flight, and Flanders was once more restored to tranquillity. 

An attempt was made this year at a reconciliation between theking and the states. The emperor Rodolf II. And Pope Gregory XIII. Offered their mediation; and on the 5th of April a congress assembledat Cologne, where a number of the most celebrated diplomatists inEurope were collected. But it was early seen that no settlementwould result from the apparently reciprocal wish for peace. Onepoint--that of religion, the main, and indeed the only one indebate--was now maintained by Philip's ambassador in the sameunchristian spirit as if torrents of blood and millions of treasurehad never been sacrificed in the cause. Philip was inflexible inhis resolution never to concede the exercise of the reformedworship; and after nearly a year of fruitless consultation, andthe expenditure of immense sums of money, the congress separatedon the 17th of November, without having effected anything. Therewere several other articles intended for discussion, had themain one been adjusted, on which Philip was fully as determinedto make no concession; but his obstinacy was not put to thesenew tests. 

The time had now arrived for the execution of the great and decisivestep for independence, the means of effecting which had been solong the object of exertion and calculation on the part of thePrince of Orange. He now resolved to assemble the states of theUnited Provinces, solemnly abjure the dominion of Spain, and deposeKing Philip from the sovereignty he had so justly forfeited. Muchhas been written both for and against this measure, which involvedevery argument of natural rights and municipal privilege. Thenatural rights of man may seem to comprise only those which heenjoys in a state of nature; but he carries several of thosewith him into society, which is based upon the very principle oftheir preservation. The great precedent which so many subsequentrevolutions have acknowledged and confirmed is that which we nowrecord. The states-general assembled at Antwerp early in theyear 1580; and, in spite of all the opposition of the Catholicdeputies, the authority of Spain was revoked forever, and theUnited Provinces declared a free and independent state. At thesame time was debated the important question as to whether theprotection of the new state should be offered to England or toFrance. Opinions were divided on this point; but that of the Princeof Orange being in favor of the latter country, from many motivesof sound policy, it was decided to offer the sovereignty to theduke of Alençon. The archduke Mathias, who was present at thedeliberations, was treated with little ceremony; but he obtainedthe promise of a pension when the finances were in a situation toafford it. The definite proposal to be made to the duke of Alençonwas not agreed upon for some months afterward; and it was in themonth of August following that St. Aldegonde and other deputieswaited on the duke at the chateau of Plessis-le-Tours, when heaccepted the offered sovereignty on the proposed conditions, which set narrow bounds to his authority, and gave ample securityto the United Provinces. The articles were formally signed on the29th day of September; and the duke not only promised quicklyto lead a numerous army to the Netherlands, but he obtained aletter from his brother, Henry III. , dated December 26th, bywhich the king pledged himself to give further aid, as soon ashe might succeed in quieting his own disturbed and unfortunatecountry. The states-general, assembled at Delft, ratified thetreaty on the 30th of December; and the year which was about toopen seemed to promise the consolidation of freedom and internalpeace. 

CHAPTER XII

TO THE MURDER OF THE PRINCE OF ORANGE

A. D. 1580--1584

Philip might be well excused the utmost violence of resentment onthis occasion, had it been bounded by fair and honorable effortsfor the maintenance of his authority. But every general principleseemed lost in the base inveteracy of private hatred. The ruinof the Prince of Orange was his main object, and his industryand ingenuity were taxed to the utmost to procure his murder. Existing documents prove that he first wished to accomplish thisin such a way as that the responsibility and odium of the actmight rest on the prince of Parma; but the mind of the princewas at that period too magnanimous to allow of a participationin the crime. The correspondence on the subject is preservedin the archives, and the date of Philip's first letter (30thof November, 1579) proves that even before the final disavowalof his authority by the United Provinces he had harbored hisdiabolical design. The prince remonstrated, but with no effect. It even appears that Philip's anxiety would not admit of thedelay necessary for the prince's reply. The infamous edict ofproscription against William bears date the 15th of March; andthe most pressing letters commanded the prince of Parma to makeit public. It was not, however, till the 15th of June that hesent forth the fatal ban. 

This edict, under Philip's own signature, is a tissue of invectiveand virulence. The illustrious object of its abuse is accused ofhaving engaged the heretics to profane the churches and break theimages; of having persecuted and massacred the Catholic priests; ofhypocrisy, tyranny, and perjury; and, as the height of atrocity, of having introduced liberty of conscience into his country! Forthese causes, and many others, the king declares him "proscribedand banished as a public pest"; and it is permitted to all personsto assail him "in his fortune, person, and life, as an enemyto human nature. " Philip also, "for the recompense of virtueand the punishment of crime, " promises to whoever will deliverup William of Nassau, dead or alive, "in lands or money, at hischoice, the sum of twenty-five thousand golden crowns; to granta free pardon to such person for all former offences of what kindsoever, and to invest him with letters patent of nobility. "

In reply to this brutal document of human depravity, Williampublished all over Europe his famous "Apology, " of which it isenough to say that language could not produce a more splendidrefutation of every charge or a more terrible recrimination againstthe guilty tyrant. It was attributed to the pen of Peter de Villiers, a Protestant minister. It is universally pronounced one of thenoblest monuments of history. William, from the hour of hisproscription, became at once the equal in worldly station, ashe had ever been the superior in moral worth, of his royalcalumniator. He took his place as a prince of an imperial family, not less ancient or illustrious than that of the House of Austria;and he stood forward at the supreme tribunal of public feelingand opinion as the accuser of a king who disgraced his lineageand his throne. 

By a separate article in the treaty with the states, the dukeof Alençon secured to William the sovereignty of Holland andZealand, as well as the lordship of Friesland, with his titleof stadtholder, retaining to the duke his claim on the prince'sfaith and homage. The exact nature of William's authority wasfinally ratified on the 24th of July, 1581; on which day he tookthe prescribed oath, and entered on the exercise of his well-earnedrights. 

Philip now formed the design of sending back the duchess of Parmato resume her former situation as stadtholderess, and exercisethe authority conjointly with her son. But the latter positivelydeclined this proposal of divided power; and he, consequently, was left alone to its entire exercise. Military affairs madebut slow progress this year. The most remarkable event was thecapture of La Noue, a native of Bretagne, one of the bravest, andcertainly the cleverest, officers in the service of the states, into which he had passed after having given important aid tothe Huguenots of France. He was considered so important a prizethat Philip refused all proposals for his exchange, and detainedhim in the castle of Limburg for five years. 

The siege of Cambray was now undertaken by the prince of Parmain person; while the duke of Alençon, at the head of a large armyand the flower of the French nobility, advanced to its relief, andsoon forced his rival to raise the siege. The new sovereign of theNetherlands entered the town, and was received with tumultuous joyby the half-starved citizens and garrison. The prince of Parma soughtan equivalent for this check in the attack of Tournay, which heimmediately afterward invested. The town was but feebly garrisoned;but the Protestant inhabitants prepared for a desperate defence, under the exciting example of the princess of Epinoi, wife of thegovernor, who was himself absent. This remarkable woman furnishesanother proof of the female heroism which abounded in these wars. Though wounded in the arm, she fought in the breach sword in hand, braving peril and death. And when at length it was impossible tohold out longer, she obtained an honorable capitulation, andmarched out, on the 29th of November, on horseback, at the headof the garrison, with an air of triumph rather than of defeat. 

The duke of Alençon, now created duke of Anjou, by which titlewe shall hereafter distinguish him, had repaired to England, in hopes of completing his project of marriage with Elizabeth. After three months of almost confident expectation, the virginqueen, at this time fifty years of age, with a caprice not quitejustifiable, broke all her former engagements; and, happily forherself and her country, declined the marriage. Anjou burst outinto all the violence of his turbulent temper, and set sail forthe Netherlands. Elizabeth made all the reparation in her power, by the honors paid him on his dismissal. She accompanied him asfar as Canterbury, and sent him away under the convoy of the earlof Leicester, her chief favorite; and with a brilliant suite and afleet of fifteen sail. Anjou was received at Antwerp with equaldistinction; and was inaugurated there on the 19th of Februaryas duke of Brabant, Lothier, Limburg, and Guelders, with manyother titles, of which he soon proved himself unworthy. Whenthe Prince of Orange, at the ceremony, placed the ducal mantleon his shoulders, Anjou said to him, "Fasten it so well, prince, that they cannot take it off again!"

During the rejoicings which followed this inauspicious ceremony, Philip's proscription against the Prince of Orange put forth itsfirst fruits. The latter gave a grand dinner in the chateau ofAntwerp, which he occupied, on the 18th of March, the birthdayof the duke of Anjou; and, as he was quitting the dining-room, on his way to his private chamber, a young man stepped forwardand offered a pretended petition, William being at all times ofeasy access for such an object. While he read the paper, thetreacherous suppliant discharged a pistol at his head: the ballstruck him under the left ear, and passed out at the right cheek. As he tottered and fell, the assassin drew a poniard to add suicideto the crime, but he was instantly put to death by the attendantguards. The young Count Maurice, William's second son, examinedthe murderer's body; and the papers found on him, and subsequentinquiries, told fully who and what he was. His name was JohnJaureguay, his age twenty-three years; he was a native of Biscay, and clerk to a Spanish merchant of Antwerp, called Gaspar Anastro. This man had instigated him to the crime; having received a promisesigned by King Philip, engaging to give him twenty-eight thousandducats and other advantages, if he would undertake to assassinatethe Prince of Orange. The inducements held out by Anastro to hissimple dupe, were backed strongly by the persuasions of AntonyTimmerman, a Dominican monk; and by Venero, Anastro's cashier, whohad from fear declined becoming himself the murderer. Jaureguayhad duly heard mass, and received the sacrament, before executinghis attempt; and in his pockets were found a catechism of theJesuits, with tablets filled with prayers in the Spanish language;one in particular being addressed to the Angel Gabriel, imploringhis intercession with God and the Virgin, to aid him in theconsummation of his object. Other accompanying absurdities seemto pronounce this miserable wretch to be as much an instrumentin the hands of others as the weapon of his crime was in his own. Timmerman and Venero made a full avowal of their criminality, andsuffered death in the usual barbarous manner of the times. TheJesuits, some years afterward, solemnly gathered the remains ofthese three pretended martyrs, and exposed them as holy relicsfor public veneration. Anastro effected his escape. 

The alarm and indignation of the people of Antwerp knew no bounds. Their suspicions at first fell on the duke of Anjou and the Frenchparty; but the truth was soon discovered; and the rapid recoveryof the Prince of Orange from his desperate wound set everythingonce more to rights. But a premature report of his death flewrapidly abroad; and he had anticipated proofs of his importancein the eyes of all Europe, in the frantic delight of the base, and the deep affliction of the good. Within three months, Williamwas able to accompany the duke of Anjou in his visits to Ghent, Bruges, and the other chief towns of Flanders; in each of which theceremony of inauguration was repeated. Several military exploitsnow took place, and various towns fell into the hands of theopposing parties; changing masters with a rapidity, as well as aprevious endurance of suffering, that must have carried confusionand change on the contending principles of allegiance into thehearts and heads of the harassed inhabitants. 

The duke of Anjou, intemperate, inconstant, and unprincipled, saw that his authority was but the shadow of power, compared tothe deep-fixed practices of despotism which governed the othernations of Europe. The French officers, who formed his suite andpossessed all his confidence, had no difficulty in raising hisdiscontent into treason against the people with whom he had madea solemn compact. The result of their councils was a deep-laidplot against Flemish liberty; and its execution was ere-longattempted. He sent secret orders to the governors of Dunkirk, Bruges, Termonde, and other towns, to seize on and hold themin his name; reserving for himself the infamy of the enterpriseagainst Antwerp. To prepare for its execution, he caused hisnumerous army of French and Swiss to approach the city; and theywere encamped in the neighborhood, at a place called Borgerhout. 

On the 17th of January, 1583, the duke dined somewhat earlierthan usual, under the pretext of proceeding afterward to reviewhis army in their camp. He set out at noon, accompanied by hisguard of two hundred horse; and when he reached the seconddrawbridge, one of his officers gave the preconcerted signalfor an attack on the Flemish guard, by pretending that he hadfallen and broken his leg. The duke called out to his followers, "Courage, courage! the town is ours!" The guard at the gate wasall soon despatched; and the French troops, which waited outsideto the number of three thousand, rushed quickly in, furiouslyshouting the war-cry, "Town taken! town taken! kill! kill!" Theastonished but intrepid citizens, recovering from their confusion, instantly flew to arms. All differences in religion or politicswere forgotten in the common danger to their freedom. Catholicsand Protestants, men and women, rushed alike to the conflict. The ancient spirit of Flanders seemed to animate all. Workmen, armed with the instruments of their various trades, started fromtheir shops and flung themselves upon the enemy. A baker sprangfrom the cellar where he was kneading his dough, and with hisoven shovel struck a French dragoon to the ground. Those whohad firearms, after expending their bullets, took from theirpouches and pockets pieces of money, which they bent betweentheir teeth, and used for charging their arquebuses. The Frenchwere driven successively from the streets and ramparts, and thecannons planted on the latter were immediately turned againstthe reinforcements which attempted to enter the town. The Frenchwere everywhere beaten; the duke of Anjou saved himself by flight, and reached Termonde, after the perilous necessity of passingthrough a large tract of inundated country. His loss in thisbase enterprise amounted to one thousand five hundred; whilethat of the citizens did not exceed eighty men. The attemptssimultaneously made on the other towns succeeded at Dunkirk andTermonde; but all the others failed. 

The character of the Prince of Orange never appeared so thoroughlygreat as at this crisis. With wisdom and magnanimity rarely equalledand never surpassed, he threw himself and his authority betweenthe indignation of the country and the guilt of Anjou; saving theformer from excess, and the latter from execration. The disgracedand discomfited duke proffered to the states excuses as mean asthey were hypocritical; and his brother, the king of France, senta special envoy to intercede for him. But it was the influence ofWilliam that screened the culprit from public reprobation andruin, and regained for him the place and power which he mighteasily have secured for himself, had he not prized the welfareof his country far above all objects of private advantage. A newtreaty was negotiated, confirming Anjou in his former station, with renewed security against any future treachery on his part. Hein the meantime retired to France, to let the public indignationsubside; but before he could assume sufficient confidence again toface the country he had so basely injured his worthless existencewas suddenly terminated, some thought by poison--the common solutionof all such doubtful questions in those days--in the month of Junein the following year. He expired in his twenty-ninth year. 

A disgusting proof of public ingratitude and want of judgmentwas previously furnished by the conduct of the people of Antwerpagainst him who had been so often their deliverer from such variousdangers. Unable to comprehend the greatness of his mind, theyopenly accused the Prince of Orange of having joined with theFrench for their subjugation, and of having concealed a bodyof that detested nation in the citadel. The populace rushed tothe place, and having minutely examined it, were convinced oftheir own absurdity and the prince's innocence. He scorned todemand their punishment for such an outrageous calumny; but he wasnot the less afflicted at it. He took the resolution of quittingFlanders, as it turned out, forever; and he retired into Zealand, where he was better known and consequently better trusted. 

In the midst of the consequent confusion in the former of theseprovinces, the prince of Parma, with indefatigable vigor, madehimself master of town after town; and turned his particularattention to the creation of a naval force, which was greatlyfavored by the possession of Dunkirk, Nieuport, and Gravelines. Native treachery was not idle in this time of tumult and confusion. The count of Renneberg, governor of Friesland and Groningen, had set the basest example, and gone over to the Spaniards. Theprince of Chimay, son of the duke of Arschot, and governor ofBruges, yielded to the persuasions of his father, and gave upthe place to the prince of Parma. Hembyse also, amply confirmingthe bad opinion in which the Prince of Orange always held him, returned to Ghent, where he regained a great portion of his formerinfluence, and immediately commenced a correspondence with theprince of Parma, offering to deliver up both Ghent and Termonde. An attempt was consequently made by the Spaniards to surprisethe former town; but the citizens were prepared for this, havingintercepted some of the letters of Hembyse; and the traitor wasseized, tried, condemned, and executed on the 4th of August, 1584. He was upward of seventy years of age. Ryhove, his celebratedcolleague, died in Holland some years later. 

But the fate of so insignificant a person as Hembyse passed almostunnoticed, in the agitation caused by an event which shortlypreceded his death. 

From the moment of their abandonment by the duke of Anjou, theUnited Provinces considered themselves independent; and althoughthey consented to renew his authority over the country at large, at the solicitation of the Prince of Orange, they were resolvedto confirm the influence of the latter over their particularinterests, which they were now sensible could acquire stabilityonly by that means. The death of Anjou left them without a sovereign;and they did not hesitate in the choice which they were now calledupon to make. On whom, indeed, could they fix but William ofNassau, without the utmost injustice to him, and the deepestinjury to themselves? To whom could they turn, in preference tohim who had given consistency to the early explosion of theirdespair; to him who first gave the country political existence, then nursed it into freedom, and now beheld it in the vigor andprime of independence? He had seen the necessity, but certainlyoverrated the value, of foreign support, to enable the new stateto cope with the tremendous tyranny from which it had broken. He had tried successively Germany, England and France. From thefirst and the last of these powers he had received two governors, to whom he cheerfully resigned the title. The incapacity of both, and the treachery of the latter, proved to the states that theironly chance for safety was in the consolidation of William'sauthority; and they contemplated the noblest reward which a gratefulnation could bestow on a glorious liberator. And is it to bebelieved that he who for twenty years had sacrificed his repose, lavished his fortune, and risked his life, for the public cause, now aimed at absolute dominion, or coveted a despotism whichall his actions prove him to have abhorred? Defeated bigotryhas put forward such vapid accusations. He has been also heldresponsible for the early cruelties which, it is notorious, heused every means to avert, and frequently punished. But whilethese revolting acts can only be viewed in the light of reprisalsagainst the bloodiest persecution that ever existed, by exasperatedmen driven to vengeance by a bad example, not one single act ofcruelty or bad faith has ever been made good against William, who may be safely pronounced one of the wisest and best men thathistory has held up as examples to the species. 

The authority of one author has been produced to prove that, during the lifetime of his brother Louis, offers were made tohim by France of the sovereignty of the northern provinces, oncondition of the southern being joined to the French crown. Thathe ever accepted those offers is without proof; that he neveracted on them is certain. But he might have been justified inpurchasing freedom for those states which had so well earnedit, at the price even of a qualified independence under anotherpower, to the exclusion of those which had never heartily struggledagainst Spain. The best evidence, however, of William's real viewsis to be found in the Capitulation, as it is called; that is tosay, the act which was on the point of being executed between himand the states, when a base fanatic, instigated by a bloody tyrant, put a period to his splendid career. This capitulation exists atfull length, but was never formally executed. Its conditionsare founded on the same principles, and conceived in nearly thesame terms, as those accepted by the duke of Anjou; and the wholecompact is one of the most thoroughly liberal that history hason record. The prince repaired to Delft for the ceremony of hisinauguration, the price of his long labors; but there, insteadof anticipated dignity, he met the sudden stroke of death. 

On the 10th of July, as he left his dining-room, and while heplaced his foot on the first step of the great stair leading tothe upper apartments of his house, a man named Balthazar Gerard(who, like the former assassin, waited for him at the moment ofconvivial relaxation), discharged a pistol at his body. Threeballs entered it. He fell into the arms of an attendant, andcried out faintly, in the French language, "God pity me! I amsadly wounded--God have mercy on my soul, and on this unfortunatenation!" His sister, the countess of Swartzenberg, who now hastenedto his side, asked him in German if he did not recommend hissoul to God? He answered, "Yes, " in the same language, but witha feeble voice. He was carried into the dining-room, where heimmediately expired. His sister closed his eyes; his wife, too, was on the spot--Louisa, daughter of the illustrious Coligny, and widow of the gallant count of Teligny, both of whom were alsomurdered almost in her sight, in the frightful massacre of St. Bartholomew. We may not enter on a description of the afflictingscene which followed; but the mind is pleased in picturing thebold solemnity with which Prince Maurice, then eighteen yearsof age, swore--not vengeance or hatred against his father'smurderers--but that he would faithfully and religiously followthe glorious example he had given him. 

Whoever would really enjoy the spirit of historical details shouldnever omit an opportunity of seeing places rendered memorable byassociations connected with the deeds, and especially with thedeath, of great men; the spot, for instance, where William wasassassinated at Delft; the old staircase he was just on the pointof ascending; the narrow pass between that and the dining-hallwhence he came out, of scarcely sufficient extent for the murdererto held forth his arm and his pistol, two and a half feet long. This weapon, and its fellow, are both preserved in the museumof The Hague, together with two of the fatal bullets, and thevery clothes which the victim wore. The leathern doublet, piercedby the balls and burned by the powder, lies beside the otherparts of the dress, the simple gravity of which, in fashion andcolor, irresistibly brings the wise, great man before us, andadds a hundred-fold to the interest excited by a recital of hismurder. 

There is but one important feature in the character of Williamwhich we have hitherto left untouched, but which the circumstancesof his death seemed to sanctify, and point out for record in thesame page with it. We mean his religious opinions; and we shalldespatch a subject which is, in regard to all men, so delicate, indeed so sacred, in a few words. He was born a Lutheran. Whenhe arrived, a boy, at the court of Charles V. , he was initiatedinto the Catholic creed, in which he was thenceforward broughtup. Afterward, when he could think for himself and choose hisprofession of faith, he embraced the doctrine of Calvin. Hiswhole public conduct seems to prove that he viewed sectarianprinciples chiefly in the light of political instruments; andthat, himself a conscientious Christian, in the broad sense ofthe term, he was deeply imbued with the spirit of universaltoleration, and considered the various shades of belief assubservient to the one grand principle of civil and religiousliberty, for which he had long devoted and at length laid downhis life. His assassin was taken alive, and four days afterwardexecuted with terrible circumstances of cruelty, which he boreas a martyr might have borne them. He was a native of Burgundy, and had for some months lingered near his victim, and insinuatedhimself into his confidence by a feigned attachment to liberty, and an apparent zeal for the reformed faith. He was neverthelessa bigoted Catholic and, by his own confession, he had communicatedhis design to, and received encouragement to its execution from, more than one minister of the sect to which he belonged. But hisavowal criminated a more important accomplice, and one whosecharacter stands so high in history that it behooves us to examinethoroughly the truth of the accusation, and the nature of thecollateral proofs by which it is supported. Most writers on thisquestion have leaned to the side which all would wish to adopt, for the honor of human nature and the integrity of a celebratedname. But an original letter exists in the archives of Brussels, from the prince of Parma himself to Philip of Spain, in which headmits that Balthazar Gerard had communicated to him his intentionof murdering the Prince of Orange some months before the deed wasdone; and he mixes phrases of compassion for "the poor man" (themurderer) and of praise for the act; which, if the document bereally authentic, sinks Alexander of Parma as low as the wretchwith whom he sympathized. 

CHAPTER XIII

TO THE DEATH OF ALEXANDER, PRINCE OF PARMA

A. D. 1584--1592

The death of William of Nassau not only closes the scene of hisindividual career, but throws a deep gloom over the history of arevolution that was sealed by so great a sacrifice. The animationof the story seems suspended. Its events lose for a time theirexcitement. The last act of the political drama is performed. Thegreat hero of the tragedy is no more. The other most memorableactors have one by one passed away. A whole generation has fallenin the contest; and it is with exhausted interest, and feelingsless intense, that we resume the details of war and blood, whichseem no longer sanctified by the grander movements of heroism. The stirring impulse of slavery breaking its chains yields tothe colder inspiration of independence maintaining its rights. The men we have now to depict were born free; and the deeds theydid were those of stern resolve rather than of frantic despair. The present picture may be as instructive as the last, but it isless thrilling. Passion gives place to reason; and that whichwore the air of fierce romance is superseded by what bears thestamp of calm reality. 

The consternation caused by the news of William's death soonyielded to the firmness natural to a people inured to sufferingand calamity. The United Provinces rejected at once the overturesmade by the prince of Parma to induce them to obedience. Theyseemed proud to show that their fate did not depend on that ofone man. He therefore turned his attention to the most effectivemeans of obtaining results by force which he found it impossibleto secure by persuasion. He proceeded vigorously to the reductionof the chief towns of Flanders, the conquest of which would givehim possession of the entire province, no army now remainingto oppose him in the field. He soon obliged Ypres and Termondeto surrender; and Ghent, forced by famine, at length yielded onreasonable terms. The most severe was the utter abolition ofthe reformed religion; by which a large portion of the populationwas driven to the alternative of exile; and they passed overin crowds to Holland and Zealand, not half of the inhabitantsremaining behind. Mechlin, and finally Brussels, worn out bya fruitless resistance, followed the example of the rest; andthus, within a year after the death of William of Nassau, thepower of Spain was again established in the whole province ofFlanders, and the others which comprise what is in modern daysgenerally denominated Belgium. 

But these domestic victories of the prince of Parma were barrenin any of those results which humanity would love to see in thetrain of conquest. The reconciled provinces presented the mostdeplorable spectacle. The chief towns were almost depopulated. Theinhabitants had in a great measure fallen victims to war, pestilenceand famine. Little inducement existed to replace by marriage theravages caused by death, for few men wished to propagate a racewhich divine wrath seemed to have marked for persecution. Thethousands of villages which had covered the face of the countrywere absolutely abandoned to the wolves, which had so rapidlyincreased that they attacked not merely cattle and children, but grown-up persons. The dogs, driven abroad by hunger, hadbecome as ferocious as other beasts of prey, and joined in largepacks to hunt down brutes and men. Neither fields, nor woods, norroads, were now to be distinguished by any visible limits. Allwas an entangled mass of trees, weeds, and grass. The prices ofthe necessaries of life were so high that people of rank, afterselling everything to buy bread, were obliged to have recourseto open beggary in the streets of the great towns. 

From this frightful picture, and the numerous details whichimagination may readily supply, we gladly turn to the contrastafforded by the northern states. Those we have just describedhave a feeble hold upon our sympathies; we cannot pronounce theirsufferings to be unmerited. The want of firmness or enlightenment, which preferred such an existence to the risk of entire destruction, only heightens the glory of the people whose unyielding energyand courage gained them so proud a place among the independentnations of Europe. 

The murder of William seemed to carry to the United Provincesconviction of the weakness as well as the atrocity of Spain;and the indecent joy excited among the royalists added to theircourage. An immediate council was created, composed of eighteenmembers, at the head of which was unanimously placed Prince Mauriceof Nassau (who even then gave striking indications of talent andprudence); his elder brother, the count of Beuren, now Princeof Orange, being still kept captive in Spain. Count Hohenloewas appointed lieutenant-general; and several other measureswere promptly adopted to consolidate the power of the infantrepublic. The whole of its forces amounted but to five thousandfive hundred men. The prince of Parma had eighty thousand athis command. With such means of carrying on his conquests, hesat down regularly before Antwerp, and commenced the operationsof one of the most celebrated among the many memorable sieges ofthose times. He completely surrounded the city with troops; placinga large portion of his army on the left bank of the Scheldt, theother on the right; and causing to be attacked at the same timethe two strong forts of Liefkinshoek and Lillo. Repulsed on thelatter important point, his only hope of gaining the command ofthe navigation of the river, on which the success of the siegedepended, was by throwing a bridge across the stream. Neitherits great rapidity, nor its immense width, nor the want of woodand workmen, could deter him from this vast undertaking. He wasassisted, if not guided, in all his projects on the occasion, byBarroccio, a celebrated Italian engineer sent to him by Philip;and the merit of all that was done ought fairly to be, at least, divided between the general and the engineer. If enterprise andperseverance belonged to the first, science and skill were theportion of the latter. They first caused two strong forts tobe erected at opposite sides of the river; and adding to theirresources by every possible means, they threw forward a pieron each side of, and far into, the stream. The stakes, drivenfirmly into the bed of the river and cemented with masses ofearth and stones, were at a proper height covered with planksand defended by parapets. These estoccades, as they were called, reduced the river to half its original breadth; and the cannon withwhich they were mounted rendered the passage extremely dangerousto hostile vessels. But to fill up this strait a considerablenumber of boats were fastened together by chain-hooks and anchors;and being manned and armed with cannon, they were moored in theinterval between the estoccades. During these operations, a canalwas cut between the Moer and Calloo; by which means a communicationwas formed with Ghent, which insured a supply of ammunition andprovisions. The works of the bridge, which was two thousand fourhundred feet in length, were constructed with such strength andsolidity that they braved the winds, the floods, and the iceof the whole winter. 

The people of Antwerp at first laughed to scorn the whole ofthese stupendous preparations; but when they found that the bridgeresisted the natural elements, by which they doubted not it wouldhave been destroyed, they began to tremble in the anticipationof famine; yet they vigorously prepared for their defence, andrejected the overtures made by the prince of Parma even at thisadvanced stage of his proceedings. Ninety-seven pieces of cannonnow defended the bridge; besides which thirty large barges ateach side of the river guarded its extremities; and forty shipsof war formed a fleet of protection, constantly ready to meet anyattack from the besieged. They, seeing the Scheldt thus reallyclosed up, and all communication with Zealand impossible, felttheir whole safety to depend on the destruction of the bridge. Thestates of Zealand now sent forward an expedition, which, joinedwith some ships from Lillo, gave new courage to the besieged;and everything was prepared for their great attempt. An Italianengineer named Giambelli was at this time in Antwerp, and byhis talents had long protracted the defence. He has the chiefmerit of being the inventor of those terrible fire-ships whichgained the title of "infernal machines"; and with some of theseformidable instruments and the Zealand fleet, the long-projectedattack was at length made. 

Early on the night of the 4th of April, the prince of Parma andhis army were amazed by the spectacle of three huge masses offlame floating down the river, accompanied by numerous lesserappearances of a similar kind, and bearing directly against theprodigious barrier, which had cost months of labor to him andhis troops, and immense sums of money to the state. The wholesurface of the Scheldt presented one sheet of fire; the countryall round was as visible as at noon; the flags, the arms of thesoldiers, and every object on the bridge, in the fleet, or theforts, stood out clearly to view; and the pitchy darkness ofthe sky gave increased effect to the marked distinctness of all. Astonishment was soon succeeded by consternation, when one of thethree machines burst with a terrific noise before they reachedtheir intended mark, but time enough to offer a sample of theirnature. The prince of Parma, with numerous officers and soldiersrushed to the bridge, to witness the effects of this explosion;and just then a second and still larger fire-ship, having burstthrough the flying bridge of boats, struck against one of theestoccades. Alexander, unmindful of danger, used every exertionof his authority to stimulate the sailors in their attempts toclear away the monstrous machine which threatened destruction toall within its reach. Happily for him, an ensign who was near, forgetting in his general's peril all rules of discipline andforms of ceremony, actually forced him from the estoccade. He hadnot put his foot on the river bank when the machine blew up. Theeffects were such as really baffle description. The bridge was burstthrough; the estoccade was shattered almost to atoms, and, with allthat it supported--men, cannon, and the huge machinery employedin the various works--dispersed in the air. The cruel marquisof Roubais, many other officers, and eight hundred soldiers, perished in all varieties of death--by flood, or flame, or thehorrid wounds from the missiles with which the terrible machinewas overcharged. Fragments of bodies and limbs were flung farand wide; and many gallant soldiers were destroyed, without avestige of the human form being left to prove that they had everexisted. The river, forced from its bed at either side, rushedinto the forts and drowned numbers of their garrisons; whilethe ground far beyond shook as in an earthquake. The prince wasstruck down by a beam, and lay for some time senseless, togetherwith two generals, Delvasto and Gajitani, both more seriouslywounded than he; and many of the soldiers were burned and mutilatedin the most frightful manner. Alexander soon recovered; and byhis presence of mind, humanity, and resolution, he endeavoredwith incredible quickness to repair the mischief, and raised theconfidence of his army as high as ever. Had the Zealand fleetcome in time to the spot, the whole plan might have been crownedwith success; but by some want of concert, or accidental delay, it did not appear; and consequently the beleaguered town receivedno relief. 

One last resource was left to the besieged; that which had formerlybeen resorted to at Leyden, and by which the place was saved. To enable them to inundate the immense plain which stretchedbetween Lillo and Strabrock up to the walls of Antwerp, it wasnecessary to cut through the dike which defended it against theirruptions of the eastern Scheldt. This plain was traversed bya high and wide counter-dike, called the dike of Couvestien; andAlexander, knowing its importance, had early taken possessionof and strongly defended it by several forts. Two attacks weremade by the garrison of Antwerp on this important construction;the latter of which led to one of the most desperate encountersof the war. The prince, seeing that on the results of this daydepended the whole consequences of his labors, fought with avalor that even he had never before displayed, and he was finallyvictorious. The confederates were forced to abandon the attack, leaving three thousand dead upon the dike or at its base; andthe Spaniards lost full eight hundred men. 

One more fruitless attempt was made to destroy the bridge andraise the siege, by means of an enormous vessel bearing thepresumptuous title of The End of the War. But this floating citadelran aground, without producing any effect; and the gallant governorof Antwerp, the celebrated Philip de Saint Aldegonde, was forcedto capitulate on the 16th of August, after a siege of fourteenmonths. The reduction of Antwerp was considered a miracle ofperseverance and courage. The prince of Parma was elevated byhis success to the highest pinnacle of renown; and Philip, onreceiving the news, displayed a burst of joy such as rarely variedhis cold and gloomy reserve. 

Even while the fate of Antwerp was undecided, the United Provinces, seeing that they were still too weak to resist alone the undividedforce of the Spanish monarchy, had opened negotiations with Franceand England at once, in the hope of gaining one or the other foran ally and protector. Henry III. Gave a most honorable receptionto the ambassadors sent to his court, and was evidently disposedto accept their offers, had not the distracted state of his owncountry, still torn by civil war, quite disabled him from anyeffective co-operation. The deputies sent to England were alsowell received. Elizabeth listened to the proposals of the states, sent them an ambassador in return, and held out the most flatteringhopes of succor. But her cautious policy would not suffer herto accept the sovereignty; and she declared that she would innowise interfere with the negotiations, which might end in itsbeing accepted by the king of France. She gave prompt evidenceof her sincerity by an advance of considerable sums of money, and by sending to Holland a body of six thousand troops, underthe command of her favorite, Robert Dudley, earl of Leicester; andas security for the repayment of her loan, the towns of Flushingand Brille, and the castle of Rammekins, were given up to her. 

The earl of Leicester was accompanied by a splendid retinue ofnoblemen, and a select troop of five hundred followers. He wasreceived at Flushing by the governor, Sir Philip Sidney, hisnephew, the model of manners and conduct for the young men ofhis day. But Leicester possessed neither courage nor capacityequal to the trust reposed in him; and his arbitrary and indolentconduct soon disgusted the people whom he was sent to assist. They had, in the first impulse of their gratitude, given himthe title of governor and captain-general of the provinces, inthe hope of flattering Elizabeth. But this had a far contraryeffect: she was equally displeased with the states and withLeicester; and it was with difficulty that, after many humblesubmissions, they were able to appease her. 

To form a counterpoise to the power so lavishly conferred onLeicester, Prince Maurice was, according to the wise advice ofOlden Barnevelt, raised to the dignity of stadtholder, captain-general, and admiral of Holland and Zealand. This isthe first instance of these states taking on themselves thenomination to the dignity of stadtholder, for even William hasheld his commission from Philip, or in his name; but Friesland, Groningen, and Guelders had already appointed their local governors, under the same title, by the authority of the states-general, the archduke Mathias, or even of the provincial states. Hollandhad now also at the head of its civil government a citizen fullof talent and probity, who was thus able to contend with theinsidious designs of Leicester against the liberty he nominallycame to protect. This was Barnevelt, who was promoted from hisoffice of pensionary of Rotterdam to that of Holland, and whoaccepted the dignity only on condition of being free to resignit if any accommodation of differences should take place withSpain. 

Alexander of Parma had, by the death of his mother, in February, 1586, exchanged his title of prince for the superior one of dukeof Parma, and soon resumed his enterprises with his usual energyand success; various operations took place, in which the Englishon every opportunity distinguished themselves; particularly inan action near the town of Grave, in Brabant; and in the takingof Axel by escalade, under the orders of Sir Philip Sidney. Amore important affair occurred near Zutphen, at a place calledWarnsfeld, both of which towns have given names to the action. Onthis occasion the veteran Spaniards, under the marquis of Guasto, were warmly attacked and completely defeated by the English;but the victory was dearly purchased by the death of Sir PhilipSidney, who was mortally wounded in the thigh, and expired afew days afterward, at the early age of thirty-two years. Inaddition to the valor, talent, and conduct, which had united toestablish his fame, he displayed, on this last opportunity ofhis short career, an instance of humanity that sheds a new lustreon even a character like his. Stretched on the battlefield, in allthe agony of his wound, and parched with thirst, his afflictedfollowers brought him some water, procured with difficulty at adistance, and during the heat of the fight. But Sidney, seeing asoldier lying near, mangled like himself, and apparently expiring, refused the water, saying, "Give it to that poor man; his sufferingsare greater than mine. "

Leicester's conduct was now become quite intolerable to the states. His incapacity and presumption were every day more evident andmore revolting. He seemed to consider himself in a province whollyreduced to English authority, and paid no sort of attention to thevery opposite character of the people. An eminent Dutch authoraccounts for this, in terms which may make an Englishman of this agenot a little proud of the contrast which his character presents towhat it was then considered. "The Englishman, " says Grotius, "obeyslike a slave, and governs like a tyrant; while the Belgian knowshow to serve and to command with equal moderation. " The dislikebetween Leicester and those he insulted and misgoverned soon becamemutual. He retired to the town of Utrecht; and pushed his injuriousconduct to such an extent that he became an object of utter hatredto the provinces. All the friendly feelings toward England weregradually changed into suspicion and dislike. Conferences tookplace at The Hague between Leicester and the states, in whichBarnevelt overwhelmed his contemptible shuffling by the force ofirresistible eloquence and well-deserved reproaches; and afternew acts of treachery, still more odious than his former, thisunworthy favorite at last set out for England, to lay an accountof his government at the feet of the queen. 

The growing hatred against England was fomented by the true patriots, who aimed at the liberty of their country; and may be excused, fromthe various instances of treachery displayed, not only by thecommander-in-chief, but by several of his inferiors in command. Astrong fort, near Zutphen, under the government of Roland York, thetown of Deventer, under that of William Starily, and subsequentlyGuelders, under a Scotchman named Pallot, were delivered up tothe Spaniards by these men; and about the same time the Englishcavalry committed some excesses in Guelders and Holland, whichadded to the prevalent prejudice against the nation in general. Thisenmity was no longer to be concealed. The partisans of Leicesterwere, one by one, under plausible pretexts, removed from thecouncil of state; and Elizabeth having required from Hollandthe exportation into England of a large quantity of rye, it wasfirmly but respectfully refused, as inconsistent with the wantsof the provinces. 

Prince Maurice, from the caprice and jealousy of Leicester, nowunited in himself the whole power of command, and commenced thatbrilliant course of conduct which consolidated the independenceof his country and elevated him to the first rank of militaryglory. His early efforts were turned to the suppression of thepartiality which in some places existed for English domination;and he never allowed himself to be deceived by the hopes of peaceheld out by the emperor and the kings of Denmark and Poland. Withoutrefusing their mediation, he labored incessantly to organizeevery possible means for maintaining the war. His efforts wereconsiderably favored by the measures of Philip for the supportof the league formed by the House of Guise against Henry III. AndHenry IV. Of France; but still more by the formidable enterprisewhich the Spanish monarch was now preparing against England. 

Irritated and mortified by the assistance which Elizabeth hadgiven to the revolted provinces, Philip resolved to employ hiswhole power in attempting the conquest of England itself; hopingafterward to effect with ease the subjugation of the Netherlands. He caused to be built, in almost every port of Spain and Portugal, galleons, carricks, and other ships of war of the largest dimensions;and at the same time gave orders to the duke of Parma to assemblein the harbors of Flanders as many vessels as he could collecttogether. 

The Spanish fleet, consisting of more than one hundred and fortyships of the line, and manned by twenty thousand sailors, assembledat Lisbon under the orders of the duke of Medina Sidonia; whilethe duke of Parma, uniting his forces, held himself ready on thecoast of Flanders, with an army of thirty thousand men and fourhundred transports. This prodigious force obtained, in Spain, the ostentatious title of the Invincible Armada. Its destinationwas for a while attempted to be concealed, under pretext thatit was meant for India, or for the annihilation of the UnitedProvinces; but the mystery was soon discovered. At the end ofMay, the principal fleet sailed from the port of Lisbon; andbeing reinforced off Corunna by a considerable squadron, thewhole armament steered its course, for the shores of England. 

The details of the progress and the failure of this celebratedattempt are so thoroughly the province of English history that theywould be in this place superfluous. But it must not be forgottenthat the glory of the proud result was amply shared by the newrepublic, whose existence depended on it. While Howard and Drakeheld the British fleet in readiness to oppose the Spanish Armada, that of Holland, consisting of but twenty-five ships, under thecommand of Justin of Nassau, prepared to take a part in the conflict. This gallant though illegitimate scion of the illustrious house, whose name he upheld on many occasions, proved himself on thepresent worthy of such a father as William, and such a brother asMaurice. While the duke of Medina Sidonia, ascending the Channelas far as Dunkirk, there expected the junction of the duke ofParma with his important reinforcement, Justin of Nassau, by aconstant activity, and a display of intrepid talent, contrivedto block up the whole expected force in the ports of Flandersfrom Lillo to Dunkirk. The duke of Parma found it impossibleto force a passage on any one point; and was doomed to themortification of knowing that the attempt was frustrated, and thewhole force of Spain frittered away, discomfited, and disgraced, from the want of a co-operation, which he could not, however, reproach himself for having withheld. The issue of the memorableexpedition, which cost Spain years of preparation, thousandsof men, and millions or treasure, was received in the countrywhich sent it forth with consternation and rage. Philip alonepossessed or affected an apathy which he covered with a veilof mock devotion that few were deceived by. At the news of thedisaster, he fell on his knees, and rendering thanks for thatgracious dispensation of Providence, expressed his joy that thecalamity was not greater. 

The people, the priests, and the commanders of the expeditionwere not so easily appeased, or so clever as their hypocriticalmaster in concealing their mortification. The priests accountedfor this triumph of heresy as a punishment on Spain for sufferingthe existence of the infidel Moors in some parts of the country. The defeated admirals threw the whole blame on the duke of Parma. He, on his part, sent an ample remonstrance to the king; andPhilip declared that he was satisfied with the conduct of hisnephew. Leicester died four days after the final defeat anddispersion of the Armada. 

The war in the Netherlands had been necessarily suffered to languish, while every eye was fixed on the progress of the Armada, fromformation to defeat. But new efforts were soon made by the dukeof Parma to repair the time he had lost, and soothe, by hissuccesses, the disappointed pride of Spain. Several officers nowcame into notice, remarkable for deeds of great gallantry andskill. None among those was so distinguished as Martin Schenck, a soldier of fortune, a man of ferocious activity, who beganhis career in the service of tyranny, and ended it by chancein that of independence. He changed sides several times, but, no matter who he fought for, he did his duty well, from thatunconquerable principle of pugnacity which seemed to make hissword a part of himself. 

Schenck had lately, for the last time, gone over to the sideof the states, and had caused a fort to be built in the isleof Betewe--that possessed of old by the Batavians--which wascalled by his name, and was considered the key to the passageof the Rhine. From this stronghold he constantly harassed thearchbishop of Cologne, and had as his latest exploit surprised andtaken the strong town of Bonn. While the duke of Parma took promptmeasures for the relief of the prelate, making himself master inthe meantime of some places of strength, the indefatigable Schenckresolved to make an attempt on the important town of Nimeguen. Hewith great caution embarked a chosen body of troops on the Wahal, and arrived under the walls of Nimeguen at sunrise on the morningchosen for the attack. His enterprise seemed almost crowned withsuccess; when the inhabitants, recovering from their fright, precipitated themselves from the town; forced the assailants toretreat to their boats; and, carrying the combat into thoseovercharged and fragile vessels, upset several, and among othersthat which contained Schenck himself, who, covered with wounds, and fighting to the last gasp, was drowned with the greater partof his followers. His body, when recovered, was treated withthe utmost indignity, quartered, and hung in portions over thedifferent gates of the city. 

The following year was distinguished by another daring attempt onthe part of the Hollanders, but followed by a different result. A captain named Haranguer concerted with one Adrien Vandenberga plan for the surprise of Breda, on the possession of whichPrince Maurice had set a great value. The associates contrivedto conceal in a boat laden with turf (which formed the principalfuel of the inhabitants of that part of the country), and ofwhich Vandenberg was master, eighty determined soldiers, andsucceeded in arriving close to the city without any suspicionbeing excited. One of the soldiers, named Matthew Helt, beingsuddenly afflicted with a violent cough, implored his comradesto put him to death, to avoid the risk of a discovery. But acorporal of the city guard having inspected the cargo withunsuspecting carelessness, the immolation of the brave soldierbecame unnecessary, and the boat was dragged into the basin bythe assistance of some of the very garrison who were so soon tofall victims to the stratagem. At midnight the concealed soldiersquitted their hiding-places, leaped on shore, killed the sentinels, and easily became masters of the citadel. Prince Maurice, followingclose with his army, soon forced the town to submit, and put itinto so good a state of defence that Count Mansfield, who wassent to retake it, was obliged to retreat after useless effortsto fulfil his mission. 

The duke of Parma, whose constitution was severely injured bythe constant fatigues of war and the anxieties attending on thelate transactions, had snatched a short interval for the purposeof recruiting his health at the waters of Spa. While at that placehe received urgent orders from Philip to abandon for a while allhis proceedings in the Netherlands, and to hasten into Francewith his whole disposable force, to assist the army of the League. The battle of Yvri (in which the son of the unfortunate CountEgmont met his death while fighting in the service of his father'sroyal murderer) had raised the prospects and hopes of Henry IV. To a high pitch; and Paris, which he closely besieged, was onthe point of yielding to his arms. The duke of Parma received hisuncle's orders with great repugnance; and lamented the necessityof leaving the field of his former exploits open to the enterpriseand talents of Prince Maurice. He nevertheless obeyed; and leavingCount Mansfield at the head of the government, he conducted histroops against the royal opponent, who alone seemed fully worthyof coping with him. 

The attention of all Europe was now fixed on the exciting spectacleof a contest between these two greatest captains of the age. Theglory of success, the fruit of consummate skill, was gained byAlexander; who, by an admirable manoeuvre, got possession ofthe town of Lagny-sur-Seine, under the very eyes of Henry andhis whole army, and thus acquired the means of providing Pariswith everything requisite for its defence. The French monarch sawall his projects baffled, and his hopes frustrated; while hisantagonist, having fully completed his object, drew off his armythrough Champagne, and made a fine retreat through an enemy'scountry, harassed at every step, but with scarcely any loss. 

But while this expedition added greatly to the renown of thegeneral, it considerably injured the cause of Spain in the LowCountries. Prince Maurice, taking prompt advantage of the absenceof his great rival, had made himself master of several fortresses;and some Spanish regiments having mutinied against the commandersleft behind by the duke of Parma, others, encouraged by the impunitythey enjoyed, were ready on the slightest pretext to follow theirexample. Maurice did not lose a single opportunity of profiting bycircumstances so favorable; and even after the return of Alexanderhe seized on Zutphen, Deventer, and Nimeguen, despite all theefforts of the Spanish army. The duke of Parma, daily breakingdown under the progress of disease, and agitated by these reverses, repaired again to Spa, taking at once every possible means forthe recruitment of his army and the recovery of his health, onwhich its discipline and the chances of success now so evidentlydepended. 

But all his plans were again frustrated by a renewal of Philip'speremptory orders to march once more into France, to uphold thefailing cause of the League against the intrepidity and talentof Henry IV. At this juncture the emperor Rodolf again offeredhis mediation between Spain and the United Provinces. But itwas not likely that the confederated States, at the very momentwhen their cause began to triumph, and their commerce was everyday becoming more and more flourishing, would consent to makeany compromise with the tyranny they were at length in a fairway of crushing. 

The duke of Parma again appeared in France in the beginning ofthe year 1592; and, having formed his communications with thearmy of the League, marched to the relief of the city of Rouen, at that period pressed to the last extremity by the Huguenotforces. After some sharp skirmishes--and one in particular, inwhich Henry IV. Suffered his valor to lead him into a too rashexposure of his own and his army's safety--a series of manoeuvrestook place, which displayed the talents of the rival generals inthe most brilliant aspect. Alexander at length succeeded in raisingthe siege of Rouen, and made himself master of Condebec, whichcommanded the navigation of the Seine. Henry, taking advantageof what appeared an irreparable fault on the part of the duke, invested his army in the hazardous position he had chosen; butwhile believing that he had the whole of his enemies in his power, he found that Alexander had passed the Seine with his entireforce--raising his military renown to the utmost possible heightby a retreat which it was deemed utterly impossible to effect. 

On his return to the Netherlands, the duke found himself againunder the necessity of repairing to Spa, in search of some relieffrom the suffering which was considerably increased by the effectsof a wound received in this last campaign. In spite of his shatteredconstitution, he maintained to the latest moment the most activeendeavors for the reorganization of his army; and he was preparingfor a new expedition into France, when, fortunately for the goodcause in both countries, he was surprised by death on the 3dof December, 1592, at the abbey of St. Vaast, near Arras, atthe age of forty-seven years. As it was hard to imagine thatPhilip would suffer anyone who had excited his jealousy to diea natural death, that of the duke of Parma was attributed toslow poison. 

Alexander of Parma was certainly one of the most remarkable, and, it may be added, one of the greatest, characters of his day. Mosthistorians have upheld him even higher perhaps than he shouldbe placed on the scale; asserting that he can be reproached withvery few of the vices of the age in which he lived. Others considerthis judgment too favorable, and accuse him of participationin all the crimes of Philip, whom he served so zealously. Hishaving excited the jealousy of the tyrant, or even had he beenput to death by his orders, would little influence the question;for Philip was quite capable of ingratitude or murder, to eitheran accomplice or an opponent of his baseness. But even allowingthat Alexander's fine qualities were sullied by his complicityin these odious measures, we must still in justice admit thatthey were too much in the spirit of the times, and particularlyof the school in which he was trained; and while we lament thathis political or private faults place him on so low a level, wemust rank him as one of the very first masters in the art ofwar in his own or any other age. 

CHAPTER XIV

TO THE INDEPENDENCE OF BELGIUM AND THE DEATH OF PHILIP II. 

A. D. 1592--1599

The duke of Parma had chosen the count of Mansfield for hissuccessor, and the nomination was approved by the king. He enteredon his government under most disheartening circumstances. The rapidconquests of Prince Maurice in Brabant and Flanders were scarcelyless mortifying than the total disorganization into which thosetwo provinces had fallen. They were ravaged by bands of robberscalled Picaroons, whose audacity reached such a height that theyopposed in large bodies the forces sent for their suppressionby the government. They on one occasion killed the provost ofFlanders, and burned his lieutenant in a hollow tree; and onanother they mutilated a whole troop of the national militia, and their commander, with circumstances of most revolting cruelty. 

The authority of governor-general, though not the title, was nowfully shared by the count of Fuentes, who was sent to Brussels bythe king of Spain; and the ill effects of this double viceroyaltywas soon seen, in the brilliant progress of Prince Maurice, andthe continual reverses sustained by the royalist armies. The king, still bent on projects of bigotry, sacrificed without scruple menand treasure for the overthrow of Henry IV. And the success ofthe League. The affairs of the Netherlands seemed now a secondaryobject; and he drew largely on his forces in that country forreinforcements to the ranks of his tottering allies. A finalblow was, however, struck against the hopes of intolerance inFrance, and to the existence of the League, by the conversionof Henry IV. To the Catholic religion; he deeming theologicaldisputes, which put the happiness of a whole kingdom in jeopardy, as quite subordinate to the public good. 

Such was the prosperity of the United Provinces, that they hadbeen enabled to send a large supply, both of money and men, to theaid of Henry, their constant and generous ally. And notwithstandingthis, their armies and fleets, so far from suffering diminution, were augmented day by day. Philip, resolved to summon up allhis energy for the revival of the war against the republic, nowappointed the archduke Ernest, brother of the emperor Rodolf, to the post which the disunion of Mansfield and Fuentes renderedas embarrassing as it had become inglorious. This prince, ofa gentle and conciliatory character, was received at Brusselswith great magnificence and general joy; his presence revivingthe deep-felt hopes of peace entertained by the suffering people. Such were also the cordial wishes of the prince; but more thanone design, formed at this period against the life of PrinceMaurice, frustrated every expectation of the kind. A priest ofthe province of Namur, named Michael Renichon, disguised as asoldier, was the new instrument meant to strike another blowat the greatness of the House of Nassau, in the person of itsgallant representative, Prince Maurice; as also in that of hisbrother, Frederic Henry, then ten years of age. On the confessionof the intended assassin, he was employed by Count Berlaimont tomurder the two princes. Renichon happily mismanaged the affair, and betrayed his intention. He was arrested at Breda, conductedto The Hague, and there tried and executed on the 3d of June, 1594. This miserable wretch accused the archduke Ernest of havingcountenanced his attempt; but nothing whatever tends to criminate, while every probability acquits, that prince of such a participation. 

In this same year a soldier named Peter Dufour embarked in alike atrocious plot. He, too, was seized and executed beforehe could carry it into effect; and to his dying hour persistedin accusing the archduke of being his instigator. But neitherthe judges who tried, nor the best historians who record, hisintended crime, gave any belief to this accusation. The mild andhonorable disposition of the prince held a sufficient guaranteeagainst its likelihood; and it is not less pleasing to be ablefully to join in the prevalent opinion, than to mark a spiritof candor and impartiality break forth through the mass of badand violent passions which crowd the records of that age. 

But all the esteem inspired by the personal character of Ernestcould not overcome the repugnance of the United Provinces totrust to the apparent sincerity of the tyrant in whose name hemade his overtures for peace. They were all respectfully andfirmly rejected; and Prince Maurice, in the meantime, with hisusual activity, passed the Meuse and the Rhine, and investedand quickly took the town of Groningen, by which he consummatedthe establishment of the republic, and secured its rank amongthe principal powers of Europe. 

The archduke Ernest, finding all his efforts for peace frustrated, and all hopes of gaining his object by hostility to be vain, becamea prey to disappointment and regret, and died, from the effectsof a slow fever, on the 21st of February, 1595; leaving to thecount of Fuentes the honors and anxieties of the government, subject to the ratification of the king. This nobleman beganthe exercise of his temporary functions by an irruption intoFrance, at the head of a small army; war having been declaredagainst Spain by Henry IV. , who, on his side, had despatched theAdmiral de Villars to attack Philip's possessions in Hainaultand Artois. This gallant officer lost a battle and his life inthe contest; and Fuentes, encouraged by the victory, took somefrontier towns, and laid siege to Cambray, the great object ofhis plans. The citizens, who detested their governor, the marquisof Bologni, who had for some time assumed an independent tyrannyover them, gave up the place to the besiegers; and the citadelsurrendered some days later. After this exploit Fuentes returnedto Brussels, where, notwithstanding his success, he was extremelyunpopular. He had placed a part of his forces under the commandof Mondragon, one of the oldest and cleverest officers in theservice of Spain. Some trifling affairs took place in Brabant; butthe arrival of the archduke Albert, whom the king had appointedto succeed his brother Ernest in the office of governor-general, deprived Fuentes of any further opportunity of signalizing histalents for supreme command. Albert arrived at Brussels on the11th of February, 1596, accompanied by the Prince of Orange, who, when count of Beuren, had been carried off from the universityof Louvain, twenty-eight years previously, and held captive inSpain during the whole of that period. 

The archduke Albert, fifth son of the emperor Maximilian II. , andbrother of Rodolf, stood high in the opinion of Philip, his uncle, and merited his reputation for talents, bravery, and prudence. Hehad been early made archbishop of Toledo, and afterward cardinal;but his profession was not that of these nominal dignities. He wasa warrior and politician of considerable capacity; and had forsome years faithfully served the king, as viceroy of Portugal. ButPhilip meant him for the more independent situation of sovereignof the Netherlands, and at the same time destined him to be thehusband of his daughter Isabella. He now sent him, in the capacityof governor-general, to prepare the way for the important change;at once to gain the good graces of the people, and soothe, bythis removal from Philip's too close neighborhood, the jealousyof his son, the hereditary prince of Spain. Albert brought withhim to Brussels a small reinforcement for the army, with a largesupply of money, more wanting at this conjuncture than men. Hehighly praised the conduct of Fuentes in the operations justfinished; and resolved to continue the war on the same plan, butwith forces much superior. 

He opened his first campaign early; and, by a display of clevermanoeuvring, which threatened an attempt to force the French toraise the siege of La Fere, in the heart of Picardy, he concealedhis real design--the capture of Calais; and he succeeded in itscompletion almost before it was suspected. The Spanish and Walloontroops, led on by Rone, a distinguished officer, carried thefirst defences: after nine days of siege the place was forced tosurrender; and in a few more the citadel followed the example. The archduke soon after took the towns of Ardres and Hulst; and byprudently avoiding a battle, to which he was constantly provoked byHenry IV. , who commanded the French army in person, he establishedhis character for military talent of no ordinary degree. 

He at the same time made overtures of reconciliation to the UnitedProvinces, and hoped that the return of the Prince of Orangewould be a means of effecting so desirable a purpose. But theDutch were not to be deceived by the apparent sincerity of Spanishnegotiation. They even doubted the sentiments of the Prince ofOrange, whose attachments and principles bad been formed in sohated a school; and nothing passed between them and him but mutualcivilities. They clearly evinced their disapprobation of hisintended visit to Holland; and he consequently fixed his residencein Brussels, passing his life in an inglorious neutrality. 

A naval expedition formed in this year by the English and Dutchagainst Cadiz, commanded by the earl of Essex, and Counts Louisand William of Nassau, cousins of Prince Maurice, was crownedwith brilliant success, and somewhat consoled the provinces forthe contemporary exploits of the archduke. But the followingyear opened with an affair which at once proved his unceasingactivity, and added largely to the reputation of his rival, PrinceMaurice. The former had detached the count of Varas, with aboutsix thousand men, for the purpose of invading the province ofHolland; but Maurice, with equal energy and superior talent, followed big movements, came up with him near Turnhout, on the24th of January, 1597; and after a sharp action, of which theDutch cavalry bore the whole brunt, Varas was killed, and histroops defeated with considerable loss. 

This action may be taken as a fair sample of the difficulty withwhich any estimate can be formed of the relative losses on suchoccasions. The Dutch historians state the loss of the royalists, in killed, at upward of two thousand. Meteren, a good authority, says the peasants buried two thousand two hundred and fifty;while Bentivoglio, an Italian writer in the interest of Spain, makes the number exactly half that amount. Grotius says thatthe loss of the Dutch was four men killed. Bentivoglio statesit at one hundred. But, at either computation, it is clear thatthe affair was a brilliant one on the part of Prince Maurice. 

This was in its consequences a most disastrous affair to thearchduke. His army was disorganized, and his finances exhausted;while the confidence of the states in their troops and theirgeneral was considerably raised. But the taking of Amiens byPortocarrero, one of the most enterprising of the Spanish captains, gave a new turn to the failing fortunes of Albert. This gallantofficer, whose greatness of mind, according to some historians, was much disproportioned to the smallness of his person, gainedpossession of that important town by a well-conducted stratagem, and maintained his conquest valiantly till he was killed in itsdefence. Henry IV. Made prodigious efforts to recover the place, the chief bulwark on that side of France; and having forcedMontenegro, the worthy successor of Portocarrero, to capitulate, granted him and his garrison most honorable conditions. Henry, having secured Amiens against any new attack, returned to Parisand made a triumphal entry into the city. 

During this year Prince Maurice took a number of towns in rapidsuccession; and the states, according to their custom, causedvarious medals, in gold, silver, and copper, to be struck, tocommemorate the victories which had signalized their arms. 

Philip II. , feeling himself approaching the termination of hislong and agitating career, now wholly occupied himself innegotiations for peace with France. Henry IV. Desired it asanxiously. The pope, Clement VIII. , encouraged by his exhortationsthis mutual inclination. The king of Poland sent ambassadors toThe Hague and to London, to induce the states and Queen Elizabethto become parties in a general pacification. These overturesled to no conclusion; but the conferences between France andSpain went on with apparent cordiality and great promptitude, and a peace was concluded between these powers at Vervins, onthe 2d of May, 1598. 

Shortly after the publication of this treaty, another importantact was made known to the world, by which Philip ceded to Albertand Isabella, on their being formally affianced--a ceremony whichnow took place--the sovereignty of Burgundy and the Netherlands. This act bears date the 6th of May, and was proclaimed with allthe solemnity due to so important a transaction. It containedthirteen articles; and was based on the misfortunes which theabsence of the sovereign had hitherto caused to the Low Countries. The Catholic religion was declared that of the state, in its fullintegrity. The provinces were guaranteed against dismemberment. The archdukes, by which title the joint sovereigns were designatedwithout any distinction of sex, were secured in the possession, with right of succession to their children; and a provision wasadded, that in default of posterity their possessions shouldrevert to the Spanish crown. The infanta Isabella soon sent herprocuration to the archduke, her affianced husband, giving himfull power and authority to take possession of the ceded dominionsin her name as in his own; and Albert was inaugurated with greatpomp at Brussels, on the 22d of August. Having put everything inorder for the regulation of the government during his absence, heset out for Spain for the purpose of accomplishing his spousals, and bringing back his bride to the chief seat of their joint power. But before his departure he wrote to the various states of therepublic, and to Prince Maurice himself, strongly recommendingsubmission and reconciliation. These letters received no answer;a new plot against the life of Prince Maurice, by a wretchedindividual named Peter Pann, having aroused the indignation ofthe country, and determined it to treat with suspicion and contemptevery insidious proposition from the tyranny it defied. 

Albert placed his uncle, the cardinal Andrew of Austria, at thehead of the temporary government, and set out on his journey;taking the little town of Halle in his route, and placing atthe altar of the Virgin, who is there held in particular honor, his cardinal's hat as a token of his veneration. He had not mademuch progress when he received accounts of the demise of PhilipII. , who died, after long suffering, and with great resignation, on the 13th of September, 1598, at the age of seventy-two. Albertwas several months on his journey through Germany; and theceremonials of his union with the infanta did not take placetill the 18th of April, 1599, when it was finally solemnized inthe city of Valencia in Spain. 

This transaction, by which the Netherlands were positively erectedinto a separate sovereignty, seems naturally to make the limitsof another epoch in their history. It completely decided thedivision between the northern and southern provinces, which, although it had virtually taken place long previous to this period, could scarcely be considered as formally consummated until now. Here then we shall pause anew, and take a rapid review of thesocial state of the Netherlands during the last half century, which was beyond all doubt the most important period of theirhistory, from the earliest times till the present. 

It has been seen that when Charles V. Resigned his throne andthe possession of his vast dominions to his son, arts, commerce, and manufactures had risen to a state of considerable perfectionthroughout the Netherlands. The revolution, of which we have tracedthe rise and progress, naturally produced to those provinceswhich relapsed into slavery a most lamentable change in everybranch of industry, and struck a blow at the general prosperity, the effects of which are felt to this very day. Arts, science, and literature were sure to be checked and withered in the blazeof civil war; and we have now to mark the retrograde movementsof most of those charms and advantages of civilized life, inwhich Flanders and the other southern states were so rich. 

The rapid spread of enlightenment on religious subjects soonconverted the manufactories and workshops of Flanders into somany conventicles of reform; and the clear-sighted artisans fledin thousands from the tyranny of Alva into England, Germany, andHolland--those happier countries, where the government adopted andwent hand in hand with the progress of rational belief. Commercefollowed the fate of manufactures. The foreign merchants oneby one abandoned the theatre of bigotry and persecution; andeven Antwerp, which had succeeded Bruges as the great mart ofEuropean traffic, was ruined by the horrible excesses of theSpanish soldiery, and never recovered from the shock. Its trade, its wealth, and its prosperity, were gradually transferred toAmsterdam, Rotterdam, and the towns of Holland and Zealand; andthe growth of Dutch commerce attained its proud maturity in theestablishment of the India Company in 1596, the effects of whichwe shall have hereafter more particularly to dwell on. 

The exciting and romantic enterprises of the Portuguese and Spanishnavigators in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries roused allthe ardor of other nations for those distant adventures; and thepeople of the Netherlands were early influenced by the generalspirit of Europe. If they were not the discoverers of new worlds, they were certainly the first to make the name of European respectedand venerated by the natives. 

Animated by the ardor which springs from the spirit of freedomand the enthusiasm of success, the United Provinces labored forthe discovery of new outlets for their commerce and navigation. The government encouraged the speculations of individuals, whichpromised fresh and fertile sources of revenue, so necessary forthe maintenance of the war. Until the year 1581 the merchants ofHolland and Zealand were satisfied to find the productions ofIndia at Lisbon, which was the mart of that branch of trade eversince the Portuguese discovered the passage by the Cape of GoodHope. But Philip II. , having conquered Portugal, excluded the UnitedProvinces from the ports of that country; and their enterprisingmariners were from that period driven to those efforts whichrapidly led to private fortune and general prosperity. The Englishhad opened the way in this career; and the states-general havingoffered a large reward for the discovery of a northwest passage, frequent and most adventurous voyages took place. Houtman, LeMaire, Heemskirk, Ryp, and others, became celebrated for theirenterprise, and some for their perilous and interesting adventures. 

The United Provinces were soon without any rival on the seas. In Europe alone they had one thousand two hundred merchant shipsin activity, and upward of seventy thousand sailors constantlyemployed. They built annually two thousand vessels. In the year1598, eighty ships sailed from their ports for the Indies orAmerica. They carried on, besides, an extensive trade on the coastof Guinea, whence they brought large quantities of gold-dust;and found, in short, in all quarters of the globe the reward oftheir skill, industry, and courage. 

The spirit of conquest soon became grafted on the habits of trade. Expedition succeeded to expedition. Failure taught wisdom tothose who did not want bravery. The random efforts of individualswere succeeded by organized plans, under associations wellconstituted and wealthy; and these soon gave birth to those easternand western companies before alluded to. The disputes betweenthe English and the Hanseatic towns were carefully observed bythe Dutch, and turned to their own advantage. The Englishmanufacturers, who quickly began to flourish, from the influxof Flemish workmen under the encouragement of Elizabeth, formedcompanies in the Netherlands, and sent their cloths into thosevery towns of Germany which formerly possessed the exclusiveprivilege of their manufacture. These towns naturally feltdissatisfied, and their complaints were encouraged by the kingof Spain. The English adventurers received orders to quit theempire; and, invited by the states-general, many of them fixedtheir residence in Middleburg, which became the most celebratedwoollen market in Europe. 

The establishment of the Jews in the towns of the republic formsa remarkable epoch in the annals of trade. This people, so outragedby the loathsome bigotry which Christians have not blushed tocall religion, so far from being depressed by the generalpersecution, seemed to find it a fresh stimulus to the exertionof their industry. To escape death in Spain and Portugal theytook refuge in Holland, where toleration encouraged and justprinciples of state maintained them. They were at first takenfor Catholics, and subjected to suspicion; but when their realfaith was understood they were no longer molested. 

Astronomy and geography, two sciences so closely allied with andso essential to navigation, flourished now throughout Europe. Ortilius of Antwerp, and Gerard Mercator of Rupelmonde, were twoof the greatest geographers of the sixteenth century; and thereform in the calendar at the end of that period gave stabilityto the calculations of time, which had previously suffered allthe inconvenient fluctuations attendant on the old style. 

Literature had assumed during the revolution in the Netherlandsthe almost exclusive and repulsive aspect of controversial learning. The university of Douay, installed in 1562 as a new screen againstthe piercing light of reform, quickly became the stronghold ofintolerance. That of Leyden, established by the efforts of thePrince of Orange, soon after the famous siege of that town in1574, was on a less exclusive plan--its professors being in thefirst instance drawn from Germany. Many Flemish historians succeededin this century to the ancient and uncultivated chroniclers ofpreceding times; the civil wars drawing forth many writers, whorecorded what they witnessed, but often in a spirit of partisanshipand want of candor, which seriously embarrasses him who desiresto learn the truth on both sides of an important question. Poetrydeclined and drooped in the times of tumult and suffering; and thechambers of rhetoric, to which its cultivation had been chieflydue, gradually lost their influence, and finally ceased to exist. 

In fixing our attention on the republic of the United Provincesduring the epoch now completed, we feel the desire, and lament theimpossibility, of entering on the details of government in that mostremarkable state. For these we must refer to what appears to us thebest authority for clear and ample information on the prerogativeof the stadtholder, the constitution of the states-general, theprivileges of the tribunals and local assemblies, and other pointsof moment concerning the principles of the Belgic confederation. [4]

[Footnote 4: See Cerisier, Hist. Gen. Des Prov. Unies. ]

CHAPTER XV

TO THE CAMPAIGN OF PRINCE MAURICE AND SPINOLA

A. D. 1599--1604

Previous to his departure for Spain, the archduke Albert hadplaced the government of the provinces which acknowledged hisdomination in the hands of his uncle, the cardinal Andrew ofAustria, leaving in command of the army Francisco Mendoza, admiralof Aragon. The troops at his disposal amounted to twenty-twothousand fighting men--a formidable force, and enough to justifythe serious apprehensions of the republic. Albert, whose financeswere exhausted by payments made to the numerous Spanish and Italianmutineers, had left orders with Mendoza to secure some place onthe Rhine, which might open a passage for free quarters in theenemy's country. But this unprincipled officer forced his wayinto the neutral districts of Cleves and Westphalia; and with abody of executioners ready to hang up all who might resist, andof priests to prepare them for death, he carried such terror onhis march that no opposition was ventured. The atrocious crueltiesof Mendoza and his troops baffle all description: on one occasionthey murdered, in cold blood, the count of Walkenstein, whosurrendered his castle on the express condition of his freedom;and they committed every possible excess that may be imaginedof ferocious soldiery encouraged by a base commander. 

Prince Maurice soon put into motion, to oppose this army of brigands, his small disposable force of about seven thousand men. With these, however, and a succession of masterly manoeuvres, he contrived topreserve the republic from invasion, and to paralyze and almostdestroy an army three times superior in numbers to his own. Thehorrors committed by the Spaniards, in the midst of peace, andwithout the slightest provocation, could not fail to excite theutmost indignation in a nation so fond of liberty and so proudas Germany. The duchy of Cleves felt particularly aggrieved; andSybilla, the sister of the duke, a real heroine in a gloriouscause, so worked on the excited passions of the people by hereloquence and her tears that she persuaded all the orders ofthe state to unite against the odious enemy. Some troops weresuddenly raised; and a league was formed between several princesof the empire to revenge the common cause. The count de la Lippewas chosen general of their united forces; and the choice couldnot have fallen on one more certainly incapable or more probablytreacherous. 

The German army, with their usual want of activity, did not openthe campaign till the month of June. It consisted of fourteenthousand men; and never was an army so badly conducted. Withoutmoney, artillery, provisions, or discipline, it was at any momentready to break up and abandon its incompetent general; and onthe very first encounter with the enemy, and after a loss ofa couple of hundred men, it became self-disbanded; and, flyingin every direction, not a single man could be rallied to clearaway this disgrace. 

The states-general, cruelly disappointed at this result of measuresfrom which they had looked for so important a diversion in theirfavor, now resolved on a vigorous exertion of their own energies, and determined to undertake a naval expedition of a magnitudegreater than any they had hitherto attempted. The force of publicopinion was at this period more powerful than it had ever yet beenin the United Provinces; for a great number of the inhabitants, who, during the life of Philip II. , conscientiously believed thatthey could not lawfully abjure the authority once recognized andsworn to, became now liberated from those respectable, althoughabsurd, scruples; and the death of one unfeeling despot gavethousands of new citizens to the state. 

A fleet of seventy-three vessels, carrying eight thousand men, was soon equipped, under the order of Admiral Vander Goes; and, after a series of attempts on the coasts of Spain, Portugal, Africa, and the Canary Isles, this expedition, from which themost splendid results were expected, was shattered, dispersed, and reduced to nothing by a succession of unheard-of mishaps. 

To these disappointments were now added domestic dissensions inthe republic, in consequence of the new taxes absolutely necessaryfor the exigencies of the state. The conduct of Queen Elizabethgreatly added to the general embarrassment: she called for thepayment of her former loans; insisted on the recall of the Englishtroops, and declared her resolution to make peace with Spain. Several German princes promised aid in men and money, but neverfurnished either; and in this most critical juncture, Henry IV. Was the only foreign sovereign who did not abandon the republic. He sent them one thousand Swiss troops, whom he had in his pay;allowed them to levy three thousand more in France; and gavethem a loan of two hundred thousand crowns--a very convenientsupply in their exhausted state. 

The archdukes Albert and Isabella arrived in the Netherlands inSeptember, and made their entrance into Brussels with unexampledmagnificence. They soon found themselves in a situation quite ascritical as was that of the United Provinces, and both partiesdisplayed immense energy to remedy their mutual embarrassments. The winter was extremely rigorous; so much so as to allow ofmilitary operations being undertaken on the ice. Prince Maurice sooncommenced a Christmas campaign by taking the town of Wachtendenck;and he followed up his success by obtaining possession of theimportant forts of Crevecoeur and St. Andrew, in the island ofBommel. A most dangerous mutiny at the same time broke out inthe army of the archdukes; and Albert seemed left without troopsor money at the very beginning of his sovereignty. 

But these successes of Prince Maurice were only the prelude toan expedition of infinitely more moment, arranged with the utmostsecrecy, and executed with an energy scarcely to be looked for fromthe situation of the states. This was nothing less than an invasionpoured into the very heart of Flanders, thus putting the archdukeson the defence of their own most vital possessions, and changingcompletely the whole character of the war. The whole disposabletroops of the republic, amounting to about seventeen thousandmen, were secretly assembled in the island of Walcheren, in themonth of June; and setting sail for Flanders, they disembarkednear Ghent, and arrived on the 20th of that month under the wallsof Bruges. Some previous negotiations with that town had ledthe prince to expect that it would have opened its gates at hisapproach. In this he was, however, disappointed; and after takingpossession of some forts in the neighborhood, he continued hismarch to Nieuport, which place he invested on the 1st of July. 

At the news of this invasion the archdukes, though taken by surprise, displayed a promptness and decision that proved them worthy ofthe sovereignty which seemed at stake. With incredible activitythey mustered, in a few days, an army of twelve thousand men, which they passed in review near Ghent. On this occasion Isabella, proving her title to a place among those heroic women with whomthe age abounded, rode through the royalist ranks, and haranguedthem in a style of inspiring eloquence that inflamed their courageand secured their fidelity. Albert, seizing the moment of thisexcitement, put himself at their head, and marched to seek theenemy, leaving his intrepid wife at Bruges, the nearest town tothe scene of the action he was resolved on. He gained possessionof all the forts taken and garrisoned by Maurice a few days before;and pushing forward with his apparently irresistible troops, hecame up on the morning of the 2d of July with a large body ofthose of the states, consisting of about three thousand men, sentforward under the command of Count Ernest of Nassau to reconnoitreand judge of the extent of this most unexpected movement: forPrince Maurice was, in his turn, completely surprised; and notmerely by one of those manoeuvres of war by which the best generalsare sometimes deceived, but by an exertion of political vigor andcapacity of which history offers few more striking examples. Sucha circumstance, however, served only to draw forth a fresh displayof those uncommon talents which in so many various accidents ofwar had placed Maurice on the highest rank for military talent. The detachment under Count Ernest of Nassau was chiefly composedof Scottish infantry; and this small force stood firmly opposedto the impetuous attack of the whole royalist army--thus givingtime to the main body under the prince to take up a position, andform in order of battle. Count Ernest was at length driven back, with the loss of eight hundred men killed, almost all Scottish;and being cut off from the rest of the army, was forced to takerefuge in Ostend, which town was in possession of the troopsof the states. 

The army of Albert now marched on, flushed with this first successand confident of final victory. Prince Maurice received themwith the courage of a gallant soldier and the precaution of aconsummate general. He had caused the fleet of ships of war andtransports, which had sailed along the coast from Zealand, andlanded supplies of ammunition and provisions, to retire far fromthe share, so as to leave to his army no chance of escape but invictory. The commissioners from the states, who always accompaniedthe prince as a council of observation rather than of war, hadretired to Ostend in great consternation, to wait the issue ofthe battle which now seemed inevitable. A scene of deep feelingand heroism was the next episode of this memorable day, and throwsthe charm of natural affection over those circumstances in whichglory too seldom leaves a place for the softer emotions of theheart. When the patriot army was in its position, and firmlywaiting the advance of the foe, Prince Maurice turned to hisbrother, Frederick Henry, then sixteen years of age, and severalyoung noblemen, English, French, and German, who like him attendedon the great captain to learn the art of war: he pointed outin a few words the perilous situation in which he was placed;declared his resolution to conquer or perish on the battlefield, and recommended the boyish band to retire to Ostend, and waitfor some less desperate occasion to share his renown or revengehis fall. Frederick Henry spurned the affectionate suggestion, and swore to stand by his brother to the last; and all his youngcompanions adopted the same generous resolution. 

The army of the states was placed in order of battle, about aleague in front of Nieuport, in the sand hills with which theneighborhood abounds, its left wing resting on the seashore. Itslosses of the morning, and of the garrisons left in the fortsnear Bruges, reduced it to an almost exact equality with that ofthe archduke. Each of these armies was composed of that varietyof troops which made them respectively an epitome of the variousnations of Europe. The patriot force contained Dutch, English, French, German, and Swiss, under the orders of Count Louis ofNassau, Sir Francis and Sir Horace Vere, brothers and Englishofficers of great celebrity, with other distinguished captains. The archduke mustered Spaniards, Italians, Walloons, and Irish inhis ranks, led on by Mendoza, La Berlotta, and their fellow-veterans. Both armies were in the highest state of discipline, trained towar by long service, and enthusiastic in the several causes whichthey served; the two highest principles of enthusiasm urging themon--religious fanaticism on the one hand, and the love of freedomon the other. The rival generals rode along their respectivelines, addressed a few brief sentences of encouragement to theirmen, and presently the bloody contest began. 

It was three o'clock in the afternoon when the archduke commencedthe attack. His advanced guard, commanded by Mendoza and composedof those former mutineers who now resolved to atone for theirmisconduct, marched across the sand-hills with desperate resolution. They soon came into contact with the English contingent under FrancisVere, who was desperately wounded in the shock. The assault wasalmost irresistible. The English, borne down by numbers, wereforced to give way; but the main body pressed on to their support. Horace Vere stepped forward to supply his brother's place. Notan inch of ground more was gained or lost; the firing ceased, and pikes and swords crossed each other in the resolute conflictof man to man. The action became general along the whole line. The two commanders-in-chief were at all points. Nothing couldexceed their mutual display of skill and courage. At length theSpanish cavalry, broken by the well-directed fire of the patriotartillery, fell back on their infantry and threw it into confusion. The archduke at the same instant was wounded by a lance in thecheek, unhorsed, and forced to quit the field. The report ofhis death, and the sight of his war-steed galloping alone acrossthe field, spread alarm through the royalist ranks. Prince Mauricesaw and seized on the critical moment. He who had so patientlymaintained his position for three hours of desperate conflictnow knew the crisis for a prompt and general advance. He gavethe word and led on to the charge, and the victory was at oncehis own. 

The defeat of the royalist army was complete. The whole of theartillery, baggage, standards, and ammunition, fell into thepossession of the conquerors. Night coming on saved those whofled, and the nature of the ground prevented the cavalry fromconsummating the destruction of the whole. As far as the conflictingaccounts of the various historians may be compared and calculatedon, the royalists had three thousand killed, and among them severalofficers of rank; while the patriot army, including those who fellin the morning action, lost something more than half the number. The archduke, furnished with a fresh horse, gained Bruges in safety;but he only waited there long enough to join his heroic wife, with whom he proceeded rapidly to Ghent, and thence to Brussels. Mendoza was wounded and taken prisoner, and with difficulty savedby Prince Maurice from the fury of the German auxiliaries. 

The moral effect produced by this victory on the vanquishersand vanquished, and on the state of public opinion throughoutEurope, was immense; but its immediate consequences were incrediblytrifling. Not one result in a military point of view followedan event which appeared almost decisive of the war. Nieuportwas again invested three days after the battle; but a strongreinforcement entering the place saved it from all danger, andMaurice found himself forced for want of supplies to abandon thescene of his greatest exploit. He returned to Holland, welcomedby the acclamations of his grateful country, and exciting thejealousy and hatred of all who envied his glory or feared hispower. Among the sincere and conscientious republicans who sawdanger to the public liberty in the growing influence of a successfulsoldier, placed at the head of affairs and endeared to the peopleby every hereditary and personal claim, was Olden Barneveldt, the pensionary; and from this period may be traced the growthof the mutual antipathy which led to the sacrifice of the mostvirtuous statesman of Holland, and the eternal disgrace of itshitherto heroic chief. 

The states of the Catholic provinces assembled at Brussels nowgave the archdukes to understand that nothing but peace couldsatisfy their wishes or save the country from exhaustion andruin. Albert saw the reasonableness of their remonstrances, andattempted to carry the great object into effect. The states-generallistened to his proposals. Commissioners were appointed on bothsides to treat of terms. They met at Berg-op-Zoom; but theirconferences were broken up almost as soon as commenced. The Spanishdeputies insisted on the submission of the republic to its ancientmasters. Such a proposal was worse than insulting; it proved theinveterate insincerity of those with whom it originated, andwho knew it could not be entertained for a moment. Preparationsfor hostilities were therefore commenced on both sides, and thewhole of the winter was thus employed. 

Early in the spring Prince Maurice opened the campaign at thehead of sixteen thousand men, chiefly composed of English andFrench, who seemed throughout the contest to forget their nationalanimosities, and to know no rivalry but that of emulation in thecause of liberty. The town of Rhinberg soon fell into the handsof the prince. His next attempt was against Bois-le-duc; and thesiege of this place was signalized by an event that flavored of thechivalric contests now going out of fashion. A Norman gentleman ofthe name of Breaute, in the service of Prince Maurice, challengedthe royalist garrison to meet him and twenty of his comradesin arms under the walls of the place. The cartel was acceptedby a Fleming named Abramzoom, but better known by the epithetLeckerbeetje (savory bit), who, with twenty more, met Breauteand his friends. The combat was desperate. The Flemish championwas killed at the first shock by his Norman challenger; but thelatter falling into the hands of the enemy, they treacherouslyand cruelly put him to death, in violation of the strict conditionsof the fight. Prince Maurice was forced to raise the siege ofBois-le-duc, and turn his attention in another direction. 

The archduke Albert had now resolved to invest Ostend, a placeof great importance to the United Provinces, but little worth toeither party in comparison with the dreadful waste of treasureand human life which was the consequence of its memorable siege. Sir Francis Vere commanded in the place at the period of its finalinvestment; but governors, garrisons, and besieging forces, wererenewed and replaced with a rapidity which gives one of the mostfrightful instances of the ravages of war. The siege of Ostend lastedupward of three years. It became a school for the young nobilityof all Europe, who repaired to either one or the other party tolearn the principles and the practice of attack and defence. Everything that the art of strategy could devise was resorted to oneither side. The slaughter in the various assaults, sorties, andbombardments was enormous. Squadrons at sea gave a double interestto the land operations; and the celebrated brothers Frederickand Ambrose Spinola founded their reputation on these opposingelements. Frederick was killed in one of the naval combats withthe Dutch galleys, and the fame of reducing Ostend was reservedfor Ambrose. This afterward celebrated general had undertakenthe command at the earnest entreaties of the archduke and theking of Spain, and by the firmness and vigor of his measureshe revived the courage of the worn-out assailants of the place. Redoubled attacks and multiplied mines at length reduced the townto a mere mass of ruin, and scarcely left its still undauntedgarrison sufficient footing on which to prolong their desperatedefence. Ostend at length surrendered, on the 22d of September, 1604, and the victors marched in over its crumbled walls andshattered batteries. Scarcely a vestige of the place remainedbeyond those terrible evidences of destruction. Its ditches, filled up with the rubbish of ramparts, bastions, and redoubts, left no distinct line of separation between the operations ofits attack and its defence. It resembled rather a vast sepulchrethan a ruined town, a mountain of earth and rubbish, without asingle house in which the wretched remnant of the inhabitantscould hide their heads--a monument of desolation on which victorymight have sat and wept. 

During the progress of this memorable siege Queen Elizabeth ofEngland had died, after a long and, it must be pronounced, aglorious reign; though the glory belongs rather to the nationthan to the monarch, whose memory is marked with indelible stainsof private cruelty, as in the cases of Essex and Mary Queen ofScots, and of public wrongs, as in that of her whole system oftyranny in Ireland. With respect to the United Provinces she wasa harsh protectress and a capricious ally. She in turns advisedthem to remain faithful to the old impurities of religion and totheir intolerable king; refused to incorporate them with herown states; and then used her best efforts for subjecting them toher sway. She seemed to take pleasure in the uncertainty to whichshe reduced them, by constant demands for payment of her loans, and threats of making peace with Spain. Thus the states-generalwere not much affected by the news of her death; and so rejoicedwere they at the accession of James I. To the throne of Englandthat all the bells of Holland rang out merry peals; bonfireswere set blazing all over the country; a letter of congratulationwas despatched to the new monarch; and it was speedily followedby a solemn embassy composed of Prince Frederick Henry, the grandpensionary De Barneveldt, and others of the first dignitaries ofthe republic. These ambassadors were grievously disappointed atthe reception given to them by James, who treated them as littlebetter than rebels to their lawful king. But this first dispositionto contempt and insult was soon overcome by the united talentsof Barneveldt and the great duke of Sully, who were at the sameperiod ambassadors from France at the English court. The resultof the negotiations was an agreement between those two powers totake the republic under their protection, and use their bestefforts for obtaining the recognition of its independence bySpain. 

The states-general considered themselves amply recompensed forthe loss of Ostend by the taking of Ecluse, Rhinberg, and Grave, all of which had in the interval surrendered to Prince Maurice;but they were seriously alarmed on finding themselves abandonedby King James, who concluded a separate peace with Philip III. Of Spain in the month of August this year. 

This event gives rise to a question very important to the honorof James, and consequently to England itself, as the acts ofthe absolute monarchs of those days must be considered as thoseof the nations which submitted to such a form of government. Historians of great authority have asserted that it appearedthat, by a secret agreement, the king had expressly reserved thepower of sending assistance to Holland. Others deny the existenceof this secret article; and lean heavily on the reputation ofJames for his conduct in the transaction. It must be considereda very doubtful point, and is to be judged rather by subsequentevents than by any direct testimony. 

The two monarchs stipulated in the treaty that "neither was togive support of any kind to the revolted subjects of the other. "It is nevertheless true that James did not withdraw his troopsfrom the service of the states; but he authorized the Spaniardsto levy soldiers in England. The United Provinces were at onceafflicted and indignant at this equivocal conduct. Their firstimpulse was to deprive the English of the liberty of navigatingthe Scheldt. They even arrested the progress of several of theirmerchant-ships. But soon after, gratified at finding that Jamesreceived their deputy with the title of ambassador, they resolvedto dissimulate their resentment. 

Prince Maurice and Spinola now took the field with their respectivearmies; and a rapid series of operations placing them in directcontact, displayed their talents in the most striking pointsof view. The first steps on the part of the prince were a newinvasion of Flanders, and an attempt on Antwerp, which he hopedto carry before the Spanish army could arrive to its succor. But the promptitude and sagacity of Spinola defeated this plan, which Maurice was obliged to abandon after some loss; while theroyalist general resolved to signalize himself by some importantmovement, and, ere his design was suspected, he had penetratedinto the province of Overyssel, and thus retorted his rival'sfavorite measure of carrying the war into the enemy's country. Several towns were rapidly reduced; but Maurice flew toward thethreatened provinces, and by his active measures forced Spinolato fall back on the Rhine and take up a position near Roeroord, where he was impetuously attacked by the Dutch army. But thecavalry having followed up too slowly the orders of Maurice, his hope of surprising the royalists was frustrated; and theSpanish forces, gaining time by this hesitation, soon changedthe fortune of the day. The Dutch cavalry shamefully took toflight, despite the gallant endeavors of both Maurice and hisbrother Frederick Henry; and at this juncture a large reinforcementof Spaniards arrived under the command of Velasco. Maurice nowbrought forward some companies of English and French infantryunder Horatio Vere and D'Omerville, also a distinguished officer. The battle was again fiercely renewed; and the Spaniards nowgave way, and had been completely defeated, had not Spinola putin practice an old and generally successful stratagem. He causedalmost all the drums of his army to beat in one direction, soas to give the impression that a still larger reinforcement wasapproaching. Maurice, apprehensive that the former panic mightfind a parallel in a fresh one, prudently ordered a retreat, whichhe was able to effect in good order, in preference to risking thetotal disorganization of his troops. The loss on each side wasnearly the same; but the glory of this hard-fought day remainedon the side of Spinola, who proved himself a worthy successor ofthe great duke of Parma, and an antagonist with whom Mauricemight contend without dishonor. 

The naval transactions of this year restored the balance whichSpinola's successes had begun to turn in favor of the royalistcause. A squadron of ships, commanded by Hautain, admiral ofZealand, attacked a superior force of Spanish vessels close toDover, and defeated them with considerable loss. But the victorywas sullied by an act of great barbarity. All the soldiers foundon board the captured ships were tied two and two and mercilesslyflung into the sea. Some contrived to extricate themselves, andgained the shore by swimming; others were picked up by the Englishboats, whose crews witnessed the scene and hastened to theirrelief. The generous British seamen could not remain neuter insuch a moment, nor repress their indignation against those whomthey had hitherto so long considered as friends. The Dutch vesselspursuing those of Spain which fled into Dover harbor, were firedon by the cannon of the castle and forced to give up the chase. The English loudly complained that the Dutch had on this occasionviolated their territory; and this transaction laid the foundationof the quarrel which subsequently broke out between England andthe republic, and which the jealousies of rival merchants ineither state unceasingly fomented. In this year also the Dutchsucceeded in capturing the chief of the Dunkirk privateers, whichhad so long annoyed their trade; and they cruelly ordered sixtyof the prisoners to be put to death. But the people, more humanethan the authorities, rescued them from the executioners andset them free. 

But these domestic instances of success and inhumanity were triflingin comparison with the splendid train of distant events, accompaniedby a course of wholesale benevolence, that redeemed the traitsof petty guilt. The maritime enterprises of Holland, forced bythe imprudent policy of Spain to seek a wider career than in thenarrow seas of Europe, were day by day extended in the Indies. To ruin if possible their increasing trade, Philip III. Sentout the admiral Hurtado, with a fleet of eight galleons andthirty-two galleys. The Dutch squadron of five vessels, commandedby Wolfert Hermanszoon, attacked them off the coast of Malabar, and his temerity was crowned with great success. He took twoof their vessels, and completely drove the remainder from theIndian seas. He then concluded a treaty with the natives of theisle of Banda, by which he promised to support them against theSpaniards and Portuguese, on condition that they were to give hisfellow-countrymen the exclusive privilege of purchasing the spicesof the island. This treaty was the foundation of the influencewhich the Dutch so soon succeeded in forming in the East Indies;and they established it by a candid, mild, and tolerant conduct, strongly contrasted with the pride and bigotry which had signalizedevery act of the Portuguese and Spaniards. 

The prodigious success of the Indian trade occasioned numeroussocieties to be formed all through the republic. But by theirgreat number they became at length injurious to each other. Thespirit of speculation was pushed too far; and the merchants, whopaid enormous prices for India goods, found themselves forcedto sell in Europe at a loss. Many of those societies were tooweak, in military force as well as in capital, to resist thearmed competition of the Spaniards, and to support themselvesin their disputes with the native princes. At length thestates-general resolved to unite the whole of these scatteredpartnerships into one grand company, which was soon organizedon a solid basis that led ere long to incredible wealth at homeand a rapid succession of conquests in the East. 

CHAPTER XVI

TO THE SYNOD AT DORT AND THE EXECUTION OF BARNEVELDT

A. D. 1606--1619

The states-general now resolved to confine their military operationsto a war merely defensive. Spinola had, by his conduct during thelate campaign, completely revived the spirits of the Spanishtroops, and excited at least the caution of the Dutch. He nowthreatened the United Provinces with invasion; and he exerted hisutmost efforts to raise the supplies necessary for the executionof his plan. He not only exhausted the resources of the kingof Spain and the archduke, but obtained money on his privateaccount from all those usurers who were tempted by his confidentanticipations of conquest. He soon equipped two armies of abouttwelve thousand men each. At the head of one of those he tookthe field; the other, commanded by the count of Bucquoi, wasdestined to join him in the neighborhood of Utrecht; and he wasthen resolved to push forward with the whole united force intothe very heart of the republic. 

Prince Maurice in the meantime concentrated his army, amountingto twelve thousand men, and prepared to make head against hisformidable opponents. By a succession of the most prudent manoeuvreshe contrived to keep Spinola in check, disconcerted all his projects, and forced him to content himself with the capture of two orthree towns--a comparatively insignificant conquest. Desiringto wipe away the disgrace of this discomfiture, and to riskeverything for the accomplishment of his grand design, Spinolaused every method to provoke the prince to a battle, even though aserious mutiny among his troops, and the impossibility of forming ajunction with Bucquoi, had reduced his force below that of Maurice;but the latter, to the surprise of all who expected a decisiveblow, retreated from before the Italian general--abandoning thetown of Groll, which immediately fell into Spinola's power, andgiving rise to manifold conjectures and infinite discontent atconduct so little in unison with his wonted enterprise and skill. Even Henry IV. Acknowledged it did not answer the expectation hehad formed from Maurice's splendid talents for war. The factseems to be that the prince, much as he valued victory, dreadedpeace more; and that he was resolved to avoid a decisive blow, which, in putting an end to the contest, would at the same timehave decreased the individual influence in the state which hisambition now urged him to augment by every possible means. 

The Dutch naval expeditions this year were not more brilliant thanthose on land. Admiral Hautain, with twenty ships, was surprisedoff Cape St. Vincent by the Spanish fleet. The formidable appearanceof their galleons inspired on this occasion a perfect panic amongthe Dutch sailors. They hoisted their sails and fled, with theexception of one ship, commanded by Vice-Admiral Klaazoon, whosedesperate conduct saved the national honor. Having held out untilhis vessel was quite unmanageable, and almost his whole crewkilled or wounded, he prevailed on the rest to agree to theresolution he had formed, knelt down on the deck, and putting upa brief prayer for pardon for the act, thrust a light into thepowder-magazine, and was instantly blown up with his companions. Only two men were snatched from the sea by the Spaniards; andeven these, dreadfully burned and mangled, died in the utteranceof curses on the enemy. 

This disastrous occurrence was soon, however, forgotten in therejoicings for a brilliant victory gained the following year byHeemskirk, so celebrated for his voyage to Nova Zembla, and byhis conduct in the East. He set sail from the ports of Hollandin the month of March, determined to signalize himself by somegreat exploit, now necessary to redeem the disgrace which hadbegun to sully the reputation of the Dutch navy. He soon gotintelligence that the Spanish fleet lay at anchor in the bayof Gibraltar, and he speedily prepared to offer them battle. Before the combat began he held a council of war, and addressedthe officers in an energetic speech, in which he displayed theimperative call on their valor to conquer or die in the approachingconflict. He led on to the action in his own ship; and, to theastonishment of both fleets, he bore right down against the enormousgalleon in which the flag of the Spanish admiral-in-chief washoisted. D'Avila could scarcely believe the evidence of his eyesat this audacity: he at first burst into laughter at the notion;but as Heemskirk approached, he cut his cables and attemptedto escape under the shelter of the town. The heroic Dutchmanpursued him through the whole of the Spanish fleet, and soonforced him to action. At the second broadside Heemskirk had hisleft leg carried off by a cannon-ball, and he almost instantlydied, exhorting his crew to seek for consolation in the defeatof the enemy. Verhoef, the captain of the ship, concealed theadmiral's death; and the whole fleet continued the action witha valor worthy the spirit in which it was commenced. The victorywas soon decided: four of the Spanish galleons were sunk or burned, the remainder fled; and the citizens of Cadiz trembled with theapprehension of sack and pillage. But the death of Heemskirk, when made known to the surviving victors, seemed completely toparalyze them. They attempted nothing further; but sailing backto Holland with the body of their lamented chief, thus paid agreater tribute to his importance than was to be found in themausoleum erected to his memory in the city of Amsterdam. 

[Illustration: WILLIAM THE SILENT OF ORANGE. ]

The news of this battle reaching Brussels before it was knownin Holland, contributed not a little to quicken the anxiety ofthe archdukes for peace. The king of Spain, worn out by the warwhich drained his treasury, had for some time ardently desired it. The Portuguese made loud complaints of the ruin that threatenedtheir trade and their East Indian colonies. The Spanish ministerswere fatigued with the apparently interminable contest whichbaffled all their calculations. Spinola, even, in the midst ofhis brilliant career, found himself so overwhelmed with debtsand so oppressed by the reproaches of the numerous creditorswho were ruined by his default of payment, that he joined in thegeneral demand for repose. In the month of May, 1607, proposalswere made by the archdukes, in compliance with the general desire;and their two plenipotentiaries, Van Wittenhorst and Gevaerts, repaired to The Hague. 

Public opinion in the United Provinces was divided on this importantquestion. An instinctive hatred against the Spaniards, and longhabits of warfare, influenced the great mass of the people toconsider any overture for peace as some wily artifice aimed attheir religion and liberty. War seemed to open inexhaustiblesources of wealth; while peace seemed to threaten the extinctionof the courage which was now as much a habit as war appeared tobe a want. This reasoning was particularly convincing to PrinceMaurice, whose fame, with a large portion of his authority andrevenues, depended on the continuance of hostilities: it wasalso strongly relished and supported in Zealand generally, andin the chief towns, which dreaded the rivalry of Antwerp. Butthose who bore the burden of the war saw the subject under adifferent aspect. They feared that the present state of thingswould lead to their conquest by the enemy, or to the ruin oftheir liberty by the growing power of Maurice. They hoped thatpeace would consolidate the republic and cause the reductionof the debt, which now amounted to twenty-six million florins. At the head of the party who so reasoned was De Barneveldt; andhis name is a guarantee with posterity for the wisdom of theopinion. 

To allow the violent opposition to subside, and to prevent anyexplosion of party feuds, the prudent Barneveldt suggested amere suspension of arms, during which the permanent interestsof both states might be calmly discussed. He even undertook toobtain Maurice's consent to the armistice. The prince listenedto his arguments, and was apparently convinced by them. He, atany rate, sanctioned the proposal; but he afterward complainedthat Barneveldt had deceived him, in representing the negotiationas a feint for the purpose of persuading the kings of France andEngland to give greater aid to the republic. It is more thanlikely that Maurice reckoned on the improbability of Spain'sconsenting to the terms of the proposed treaty; and, on thatchance, withdrew an opposition which could scarcely be ascribedto any but motives of personal ambition. It is, however, certainthat his discontent at this transaction, either with himselfor Barneveldt, laid the foundation of that bitter enmity whichproved fatal to the life of the latter, and covered his own name, otherwise glorious, with undying reproach. 

The United Provinces positively refused to admit even thecommencement of a negotiation without the absolute recognitionof their independence by the archdukes. A new ambassador wasaccordingly chosen on the part of these sovereigns, and empoweredto concede this important admission. This person attractedconsiderable attention, from his well-known qualities as an ablediplomatist. He was a monk of the order of St. Francis, namedJohn de Neyen, a native of Antwerp, and a person as well versedin court intrigue as in the studies of the cloister. He, in thefirst instance, repaired secretly to The Hague; and had severalprivate interviews with Prince Maurice and Barneveldt, before hewas regularly introduced to the states-general in his officialcharacter. Two different journeys were undertaken by this agentbetween The Hague and Brussels, before he could succeed in obtaininga perfect understanding as to the specific views of the archdukes. The suspicions of the states-general seem fully justified bythe dubious tone of the various communications, which avoidedthe direct admission of the required preliminary as to theindependence of the United Provinces. It was at length concludedin explicit terms; and a suspension of arms for eight monthswas the immediate consequence. 

But the negotiation for peace was on the point of being completelybroken, in consequence of the conduct of Neyen, who justifiedevery doubt of his sincerity by an attempt to corrupt Aarsensthe greffier of the states-general, or at least to influencehis conduct in the progress of the treaty. Neyen presented him, in the name of the archdukes, and as a token of his esteem, witha diamond of great value and a bond for fifty thousand crowns. Aarsens accepted these presents with the approbation of PrinceMaurice, to whom he had confided the circumstance, and who was nodoubt delighted at what promised a rupture to the negotiations. Verreiken, a councillor of state, who assisted Neyen in hisdiplomatic labors, was formally summoned before the assembledstates-general, and there Barneveldt handed to him the diamondand the bond; and at the same time read him a lecture of truerepublican severity on the subject. Verreiken was overwhelmedby the violent attack: he denied the authority of Neyen for themeasure he had taken; and remarked, "that it was not surprisingthat monks, naturally interested and avaricious, judged othersby themselves. " This repudiation of Neyen's suspicious conductseems to have satisfied the stern resentment of Barneveldt; andthe party which so earnestly labored for peace. In spite of allthe opposition of Maurice and his partisans, the negotiationwent on. 

In the month of January, 1608, the various ambassadors were assembledat The Hague. Spinola was the chief of the plenipotentiariesappointed by the king of Spain; and Jeannin, president of theparliament of Dijon, a man of rare endowments, represented France. Prince Maurice, accompanied by his brother Frederick Henry, thevarious counts of Nassau his cousins, and a numerous escort, advanced some distance to meet Spinola, conveyed him to The Haguein his own carriage, and lavished on him all the attentionsreciprocally due between two such renowned captains during thesuspension of their rivalry. The president Richardst was, withNeyen and Verreiken, ambassador from the archdukes; but Barneveldtand Jeannin appear to have played the chief parts in the importanttransaction which now filled all Europe with anxiety. Every statewas more or less concerned in the result; and the three greatmonarchies of England, France, and Spain, had all a vital interestat stake. The conferences were therefore frequent; and the debatesassumed a great variety of aspects, which long kept the civilizedworld in suspense. 

King James was extremely jealous of the more prominent part takenby the French ambassadors, and of the sub-altern considerationheld by his own envoys, Winwood and Spencer, in consequence ofthe disfavor in which he himself was held by the Dutch people. It appears evident that, whether deservedly or the contrary, England was at this period unpopular in the United Provinces, while France was looked up to with the greatest enthusiasm. Thisis not surprising, when we compare the characters of Henry IV. And James I. , bearing in mind how much of national reputationat the time depended on the personal conduct of kings; and howpolitical situations influence, if they do not create, the virtuesand vices of a people. Independent of the suspicions of his beingaltogether unfavorable to the declaration required by the UnitedProvinces from Spain, to which James's conduct had given rise, hehad established some exactions which greatly embarrassed theirfishing expeditions on the coasts of England. 

The main points for discussion, and on which depended the decisionfor peace or war, were those which concerned religion; and thedemand, on the part of Spain, that the United Provinces shouldrenounce all claims to the navigation of the Indian seas. Philiprequired for the Catholics of the United Provinces the free exerciseof their religion; this was opposed by the states-general: andthe archduke Albert, seeing the impossibility of carrying thatpoint, despatched his confessor, Fra Inigo de Briznella, to Spain. This Dominican was furnished with the written opinion of severaltheologians, that the king might conscientiously slur over thearticle of religion; and he was the more successful with Philip, asthe duke of Lerma, his prime minister, was resolved to accomplishthe peace at any price. The conferences at The Hague were thereforenot interrupted on this question; but they went on slowly, monthsbeing consumed in discussions on articles of trifling importance. They were, however, resumed in the month of August with greatervigor. It was announced that the king of Spain abandoned thequestion respecting religion; but that it was in the certaintythat his moderation would be recompensed by ample concessionson that of the Indian trade, on which he was inexorable. Thisarticle became the rock on which the whole negotiation eventuallysplit. The court of Spain on the one hand, and the states-generalon the other, inflexibly maintained their opposing claims. Itwas in vain that the ambassadors turned and twisted the subjectwith all the subtleties of diplomacy. Every possible expedient wasused to shake the determination of the Dutch. But the influenceof the East India Company, the islands of Zealand, and the cityof Amsterdam, prevailed over all. Reports of the avowal on thepart of the king of Spain, that he would never renounce his titleto the sovereignty of the United Provinces, unless they abandonedthe Indian navigation and granted the free exercise of religion, threw the whole diplomatic corps into confusion; and, on the25th of August, the states-general announced to the marquis ofSpinola and the other ambassadors that the congress was dissolved, and that all hopes of peace were abandoned. 

Nothing seemed now likely to prevent the immediate renewal ofhostilities, when the ambassadors of France and England proposedthe mediation of their respective masters for the conclusion ofa truce for several years. The king of Spain and the archdukeswere well satisfied to obtain even this temporary cessation ofthe war; but Prince Maurice and a portion of the Provincesstrenuously opposed the proposition. The French and Englishambassadors, however, in concert with Barneveldt, who steadilymaintained his influence, labored incessantly to overcome thosedifficulties; and finally succeeded in overpowering all oppositionto the truce. A new congress was agreed on, to assemble at Antwerpfor the consideration of the conditions; and the states-generalagreed to remove from The Hague to Berg-or-Zoom, to be more withinreach, and ready to co-operate in the negotiation. 

But, before matters assumed this favorable turn, discussions anddisputes had intervened on several occasions to render fruitlessevery effort of those who so incessantly labored for the great causesof humanity and the general good. On one occasion, Barneveldt, disgusted with the opposition of Prince Maurice and his partisans, had actually resigned his employments; but brought back by thesolicitations of the states-general, and reconciled to Maurice bythe intervention of Jeannin, the negotiations for the truce wereresumed; and, under the auspices of the ambassadors, they werehappily terminated. After two years' delay, this long-wished-fortruce was concluded, and signed on the 9th of April, 1609, tocontinue for the space of twelve years. 

This celebrated treaty contained thirty-two articles; and itsfulfilment on either side was guaranteed by the kings of Franceand England. Notwithstanding the time taken up in previousdiscussions, the treaty is one of the most vague and unspecificstate papers that exists. The archdukes, in their own names andin that of the king of Spain, declared the United Provinces tobe free and independent states, on which they renounced all claimwhatever. By the third article each party was to hold respectivelythe places which they possessed at the commencement of the armistice. The fourth and fifth articles grant to the republic, but in aphraseology obscure and even doubtful, the right of navigationand free trade to the Indies. The eighth contains all that regardsthe exercise of religion; and the remaining clauses are whollyrelative to points of internal trade, custom-house regulations, and matters of private interest. 

Ephemeral and temporary as this peace appeared, it was receivedwith almost universal demonstrations of joy by the population ofthe Netherlands in their two grand divisions. Everyone seemedto turn toward the enjoyment of tranquillity with the animatedcomposure of tired laborers looking forward to a day of rest andsunshine. This truce brought a calm of comparative happiness uponthe country, which an almost unremitting tempest had desolated fornearly half a century; and, after so long a series of calamity, all the national advantages of social life seemed about to settleon the land. The attitude which the United Provinces assumed atthis period was indeed a proud one. They were not now compelledto look abroad and solicit other states to become their masters. They had forced their old tyrants to acknowledge their independence;to come and ask for peace on their own ground; and to treat withthem on terms of no doubtful equality. They had already becomeso flourishing, so powerful, and so envied, that they who hadso lately excited but compassion from the neighboring stateswere now regarded with such jealousy as rivals, unequivocallyequal, may justly inspire in each other. 

The ten southern provinces, now confirmed under the sovereignty ofthe House of Austria, and from this period generally distinguishedby the name of Belgium, immediately began, like the northern divisionof the country, to labor for the great object of repairing thedreadful sufferings caused by their long and cruel war. Theirsuccess was considerable. Albert and Isabella, their sovereigns, joined, to considerable probity of character and talents forgovernment, a fund of humanity which led them to unceasing acts ofbenevolence. The whole of their dominions quickly began to recoverfrom the ravages of war. Agriculture and the minor operations oftrade resumed all their wonted activity. But the manufacturesof Flanders were no more; and the grander exercise of commerceseemed finally removed to Amsterdam and the other chief townsof Holland. 

This tranquil course of prosperity in the Belgian provinces wasonly once interrupted during the whole continuance of the twelveyears' truce, and that was in the year following its commencement. The death of the duke of Cleves and Juliers, in this year, gaverise to serious disputes for the succession to his states, whichwas claimed by several of the princes of Germany. The electorof Brandenburg and the duke of Neuburg were seconded both byFrance and the United Provinces; and a joint army of both nations, commanded by Prince Maurice and the marshal de la Chatre, wasmarched into the county of Cleves. After taking possession of thetown of Juliers, the allies retired, leaving the two princes abovementioned in a partnership possession of the disputed states. Butthis joint sovereignty did not satisfy the ambition of either, and serious divisions arose between them, each endeavoring tostrengthen himself by foreign alliances. The archdukes Albertand Isabella were drawn into the quarrel; and they despatchedSpinola at the head of twenty thousand men to support the dukeof Neuburg, whose pretensions they countenanced. Prince Maurice, with a Dutch army, advanced on the other hand to uphold the claimsof the elector of Brandenburg. Both generals took possession ofseveral towns; and this double expedition offered the singularspectacle of two opposing armies, acting in different interests, making conquests, and dividing an important inheritance, withoutthe occurrence of one act of hostility to each other. But theinterference of the court of Madrid had nearly been the causeof a new rupture. The greatest alarm was excited in the Belgicprovinces; and nothing but the prudence of the archdukes andthe forbearance of the states-general could have succeeded inaverting the threatened evil. 

With the exception of this bloodless mimicry of war, the UnitedProvinces presented for the space of twelve years a long-continuedpicture of peace, as the term is generally received; but a peaceso disfigured by intestine troubles, and so stained by actionsof despotic cruelty, that the period which should have been thatof its greatest happiness becomes but an example of its worstdisgrace. 

The assassination of Henry IV. , in the year 1609, was a new instanceof the bigoted atrocity which reigned paramount in Europe at thetime; and while robbing France of one of its best monarchs, itdeprived the United Provinces of their truest and most powerfulfriend. Henry has, from his own days to the present, found aready eulogy in all who value kings in proportion as they aredistinguished by heroism, without ceasing to evince the feelingsof humanity. Henry seems to have gone as far as man can go, tocombine wisdom, dignity and courage with all those endearingqualities of private life which alone give men a prominent holdupon the sympathies of their kind. We acknowledge his errors, his faults, his follies, only to love him the better. We admirehis valor and generosity, without being shocked by cruelty ordisgusted by profusion. We look on his greatness without envy;and in tracing his whole career we seem to walk hand in handbeside a dear companion, rather than to follow the footsteps ofa mighty monarch. 

But the death of this powerful supporter of their efforts forfreedom, and the chief guarantee for its continuance, was a triflingcalamity to the United Provinces, in comparison with the rapidfall from the true point of glory so painfully exhibited in theconduct of their own domestic champion. It had been well forPrince Maurice of Nassau that the last shot fired by the defeatedSpaniards in the battle of Nieuport had struck him dead in themoment of his greatest victory and on the summit of his fame. From that celebrated day he had performed no deed of war thatcould raise his reputation as a soldier, and all his acts asstadtholder were calculated to sink him below the level of civilvirtue and just government. His two campaigns against Spinolahad redounded more to the credit of his rival than to his own;and his whole conduct during the negotiation for the truce tooplainly betrayed the unworthy nature of his ambition, founded ondespotic principles. It was his misfortune to have been completelythrown out of the career for which he had been designed by natureand education. War was his element. By his genius, he improvedit as a science: by his valor, he was one of those who raisedit from the degradation of a trade to the dignity of a passion. But when removed from the camp to the council room, he became allat once a common man. His frankness degenerated into roughness;his decision into despotism; his courage into cruelty. He gave anew proof of the melancholy fact that circumstances may transformthe most apparent qualities of virtue into those opposite vicesbetween which human wisdom is baffled when it attempts to drawa decided and invariable line. 

Opposed to Maurice in almost every one of his acts, was, as wehave already seen, Barneveldt, one of the truest patriots of anytime or country; and, with the exception of William the Great, prince of Orange, the most eminent citizen to whom the affairsof the Netherlands have given celebrity. A hundred pens havelabored to do honor to this truly virtuous man. His greatnesshas found a record in every act of his life; and his death, likethat of William, though differently accomplished, was equallya martyrdom for the liberties of his country. We cannot enterminutely into the train of circumstances which for several yearsbrought Maurice and Barneveldt into perpetual concussion witheach other. Long after the completion of the truce, which thelatter so mainly aided in accomplishing, every minor point in thedomestic affairs of the republic seemed merged in the conflictbetween the stadtholder and the pensionary. Without attemptingto specify these, we may say, generally, that almost every oneredounded to the disgrace of the prince and the honor of thepatriot. But the main question of agitation was the fierce disputewhich soon broke out between two professors of theology of theuniversity of Leyden, Francis Gomar and James Arminius. We donot regret on this occasion that our confined limits spare us thetask of recording in detail controversies on points of speculativedoctrine far beyond the reach of the human understanding, andtherefore presumptuous, and the decision of which cannot be regardedas of vital importance by those who justly estimate the grandprinciples of Christianity. The whole strength of the intellectswhich had long been engaged in the conflict for national andreligious liberty, was now directed to metaphysical theology, and wasted upon interminable disputes about predestination andgrace. Barneveldt enrolled himself among the partisans of Arminius;Maurice became a Gomarist. 

It was, however, scarcely to be wondered at that a country sorecently delivered from slavery both in church and state shouldrun into wild excesses of intolerance, before sectarian principleswere thoroughly understood and definitively fixed. Persecutionsof various kinds were indulged in against Papists, Anabaptists, Socinians, and all the shades of doctrine into which Christianityhad split. Every minister who, in the milder spirit of Lutheranism, strove to moderate the rage of Calvinistic enthusiasm, was openlydenounced by its partisans; and one, named Gaspard Koolhaas, was actually excommunicated by a synod, and denounced in plainterms to the devil. Arminius had been appointed professor atLeyden in 1603, for the mildness of his doctrines, which werejoined to most affable manners, a happy temper, and a purityof conduct which no calumny could successfully traduce. 

His colleague Gomar, a native of Bruges, learned, violent, andrigid in sectarian points, soon became jealous of the more popularprofessor's influence. A furious attack on the latter was answeredby recrimination; and the whole battery of theological authoritieswas reciprocally discharged by one or other of the disputants. The states-general interfered between them: they were summoned toappear before the council of state; and grave politicians listenedfor hours to the dispute. Arminius obtained the advantage, by theapparent reasonableness of his creed, and the gentleness andmoderation of his conduct. He was meek, while Gomar was furious;and many of the listeners declared that they would rather diewith the charity of the former than in the faith of the latter. A second hearing was allowed them before the states of Holland. Again Arminius took the lead; and the controversy went onunceasingly, till this amiable man, worn out by his exertionsand the presentiment of the evil which these disputes wereengendering for his country, expired in his forty-ninth year, piously persisting in his opinions. 

The Gomarists now loudly called for a national synod, to regulatethe points of faith. The Arminians remonstrated on various grounds, and thus acquired the name of Remonstrants, by which they weresoon generally distinguished. The most deplorable contests ensued. Serious riots occurred in several of the towns of Holland; andJames I. Of England could not resist the temptation of enteringthe polemical lists, as a champion of orthodoxy and a decidedGomarist. His hostility was chiefly directed against Vorstius, the successor and disciple of Arminius. He pretty stronglyrecommended to the states-general to have him burned for heresy. His inveterate intolerance knew no bounds; and it completed themelancholy picture of absurdity which the whole affair presentsto reasonable minds. 

In this dispute, which occupied and agitated all, it was impossiblethat Barneveldt should not choose the congenial temperance andtoleration of Arminius. Maurice, with probably no distinct convictionor much interest in the abstract differences on either side, joinedthe Gomarists. His motives were purely temporal; for the partyhe espoused was now decidedly as much political as religious. King James rewarded him by conferring on him the ribbon of theOrder of the Garter, vacant by the death of Henry IV. Of France. The ceremony of investment was performed with great pomp by theEnglish ambassador at The Hague; and James and Maurice enteredfrom that time into a closer and more uninterrupted correspondencethan before. 

During the long continuance of the theological disputes, theUnited Provinces had nevertheless made rapid strides towardcommercial greatness; and the year 1616 witnessed the completionof an affair which was considered the consolidation of theirindependence. This important matter was the recovery of the townsof Brille and Flessingue, and the fort of Rammekins, which hadbeen placed in the hands of the English as security for the loangranted to the republic by Queen Elizabeth. The whole merit ofthe transaction was due to the perseverance and address, ofBarneveldt acting on the weakness and the embarrassments of KingJames. Religious contention did not so fully occupy Barneveldtbut that he kept a constant eye on political concerns. He waswell informed on all that passed in the English court; he knewthe wants of James, and was aware of his efforts to bring aboutthe marriage of his son with the infanta of Spain. The dangerof such an alliance was evident to the penetrating Barneveldt, who saw in perspective the probability of the wily Spaniardsobtaining from the English monarch possession of the strong placesin question. He therefore resolved on obtaining their recovery; andhis great care was to get them back with a considerable abatementof the enormous debt for which they stood pledged, and which nowamounted to eight million florins. 

Barneveldt commenced his operations by sounding the needy monarchthrough the medium of Noel Caron, the ambassador from thestates-general; and he next managed so as that James himselfshould offer to give up the towns, thereby allowing a fair pretextto the states for claiming a diminution of the debt. The Englishgarrisons were unpaid and their complaints brought down a strongremonstrance from James, and excuses from the states, foundedon the poverty of their financial resources. The negotiationrapidly went on, in the same spirit of avidity on the part ofthe king, and of good management on that of his debtors. It wasfinally agreed that the states should pay in full of the demandtwo million seven hundred and twenty-eight thousand florins (abouttwo hundred and fifty thousand pounds sterling), being aboutone-third of the debt. Prince Maurice repaired to the cautionarytowns in the month of June, and received them at the hands ofthe English governors; the garrisons at the same time enteringinto the service of the republic. 

The accomplishment of this measure afforded the highest satisfactionto the United Provinces. It caused infinite discontent in England;and James, with the common injustice of men who make a bad bargain(even though its conditions be of their own seeking and suited totheir own convenience), turned his own self-dissatisfaction intobitter hatred against him whose watchful integrity had successfullylabored for his country's good. Barneveldt's leaning toward Franceand the Arminians filled the measure of James's unworthy enmity. Its effects were soon apparent, on the arrival at The Hague ofCarleton, who succeeded Winwood as James's ambassador. The haughtypretensions of this diplomatist, whose attention seemed turned totheological disputes rather than politics, gave great disgust;and he contributed not a little to the persecution which led tothe tragical end of Barneveldt's valuable life. 

While this indefatigable patriot was busy in relieving his countryfrom its dependence on England, his enemies accused him of thewish to reduce it once more to Spanish tyranny. Francis Aarsens, son to him who proved himself so incorruptible when attemptedto be bribed by Neyen, was one of the foremost of the factionwho now labored for the downfall of the pensionary. He was aman of infinite dissimulation; versed in all the intrigues ofcourts; and so deep in all their tortuous tactics that CardinalRichelieu, well qualified to prize that species of talent, declaredthat he knew only three great political geniuses, of whom FrancisAarsens was one. 

Prince Maurice now almost openly avowed his pretensions to absolutesovereignty: he knew that his success wholly depended on theconsent of Barneveldt. To seduce him to favor his designs he hadrecourse to the dowager princess of Orange, his mother-in-law, whose gentle character and exemplary conduct had procured heruniversal esteem and the influence naturally attendant on it. Maurice took care to make her understand that her interest inhis object was not trifling. Long time attached to Gertrude vanMechlen, his favorite mistress, who had borne him several children, he now announced his positive resolution to remain unmarried;so that his brother Frederick Henry, the dowager's only son, would be sure to succeed to the sovereignty he aimed at. Theprincess, not insensible to this appeal, followed the instructionsof Maurice, and broached the affair to Barneveldt; but he wasinexorable. He clearly explained to her the perilous career onwhich the prince proposed to enter; he showed how great, howindependent, how almost absolute, he might continue, withoutshocking the principles of republicanism by grasping at an emptydignity, which could not virtually increase his authority, andwould most probably convulse the state to its foundation andlead to his own ruin. The princess, convinced by his reasoning, repaired to Maurice; but instead of finding him as ready a convertas she herself had been, she received as cold an answer as wascompatible with a passionate temper, wounded pride, and disappointedambition. The princess and Barneveldt recounted the whole affairto Maurier, the French ambassador; and his son has transmittedit to posterity. 

We cannot follow the misguided prince in all the winding waysof intrigue and subterfuge through which he labored to reach hisobject. Religion, the holiest of sentiments, and Christianity, the most sacred of its forms, were perpetually degraded by beingmade the pretexts for that unworthy object. He was for a whilediverted from its direct pursuit by the preparation made to affordassistance to some of the allies of the republic. Fifty thousandflorins a month were granted to the duke of Savoy, who was atwar with Spain; and seven thousand men, with nearly forty ships, were despatched to the aid of the republic of Venice, in itscontest with Ferdinand, archduke of Gratz, who was afterwardelected emperor. The honorary empire of the seas seems at thistime to have been successfully claimed by the United Provinces. They paid back with interest the haughty conduct with which theyhad been long treated by the English; and they refused to paythe fishery duties to which the inhabitants of Great Britainwere subject. The Dutch sailors had even the temerity, underpretext of pursuing pirates, to violate the British territory. They set fire to the town of Crookhaven, in Ireland, and massacredseveral of the inhabitants. King James, immersed in theologicalstudies, appears to have passed slightly over this outrage. Morewas to have been expected from his usual attention to the affairsof Ireland; his management of which ill-fated country is thebest feature of his political character, and ought, to Irishfeelings at least, to be considered to redeem its many errors. But he took fire at the news that the states had prohibited theimportation of cloth dyed and dressed in England. It requiredthe best exertion of Barneveldt's talents to pacify him; andit was not easy to effect this through the jaundiced medium ofthe ambassador Carleton. But it was unanswerably argued by thepensionary that the manufacture of cloth was one of those ancientand natural sources of wealth which England had ravished from theNetherlands, and which the latter was justified in recovering byevery effort consistent with national honor and fair principlesof government. 

The influence of Prince Maurice had gained complete success forthe Calvinist party, in its various titles of Gomarists, non-remonstrants, etc. The audacity and violence of these ferocioussectarians knew no bounds. Outrages, too many to enumerate, becamecommon through the country; and Arminianism was on all sides assailedand persecuted. Barneveldt frequently appealed to Maurice withouteffect; and all the efforts of the former to obtain justice bymeans of the civil authorities were paralyzed by the inaction inwhich the prince retained the military force. In this juncture, the magistrates of various towns, spurred on by Barneveldt, calledout the national militia, termed Waardegelders, which possessedthe right of arming at its own expense for the protection of thepublic peace. Schism upon schism was the consequence, and thewhole country was reduced to that state of anarchy so favorableto the designs of an ambitious soldier already in the enjoymentof almost absolute power. Maurice possessed all the hardihood andvigor suited to such an occasion. At the head of two companiesof infantry, and accompanied by his brother Frederick Henry, hesuddenly set out at night from The Hague; arrived at the Brille;and in defiance of the remonstrances of the magistrates, andin violation of the rights of the town, he placed his devotedgarrison in that important place. To justify this measure, reportswere spread that Barneveldt intended to deliver it up to theSpaniards; and the ignorant, insensate, and ungrateful peopleswallowed the calumny. 

This and such minor efforts were, however, all subservient to theone grand object of utterly destroying, by a public proscription, the whole of the patriot party, now identified with Arminianism. A national synod was loudly clamored for by the Gomarists; and inspite of all opposition on constitutional grounds, it was finallyproclaimed. Uitenbogaard, the enlightened pastor and friend ofMaurice, who on all occasions labored for the general good, nowmoderated, as much as possible, the violence of either party; buthe could not persuade Barneveldt to render himself, by compliance, a tacit accomplice with a measure that he conceived fraught withviolence to the public privileges. He had an inflexible enemyin Carleton, the English ambassador. His interference carriedthe question; and it was at his suggestion that Dordrecht, orDort, was chosen for the assembling of the synod. Du Maurier, the French ambassador, acted on all occasions as a mediator; butto obtain influence at such a time it was necessary to becomea partisan. Several towns--Leyden, Gouda, Rotterdam, and someothers--made a last effort for their liberties, and formed afruitless confederation. 

Barneveldt solicited the acceptance of his resignation of allhis offices. The states-general implored him not to abandon thecountry at such a critical moment: he consequently maintainedhis post. Libels the most vindictive and atrocious were publishedand circulated against him; and at last, forced from his silenceby these multiplied calumnies, he put forward his "Apology, "addressed to the States of Holland. 

This dignified vindication only produced new outrages; Maurice, now become Prince of Orange by the death of his elder brotherwithout children, employed his whole authority to carry his object, and crush Barneveldt. At the head of his troops he seized ontowns, displaced magistrates, trampled under foot all the ancientprivileges of the citizens, and openly announced his intention tooverthrow the federative constitution. His bold conduct completelyterrified the states-general. They thanked him; they consented todisband the militia; formally invited foreign powers to favorand protect the synod about to be held at Dort. The return ofCarleton from England, where he had gone to receive the morepositive promises of support from King James, was only wanting, to decide Maurice to take the final step; and no sooner did theambassador arrive at The Hague than Barneveldt and his most ablefriends, Grotius, Hoogerbeets, and Ledenberg, were arrested inthe name of the states-general. 

The country was taken by surprise; no resistance was offered. The concluding scenes of the tragedy were hurried on; violencewas succeeded by violence, against public feeling and publicjustice. Maurice became completely absolute in everything butin name. The supplications of ambassadors, the protests ofindividuals, the arguments of statesmen, were alike unavailingto stop the torrent of despotism and injustice. The synod ofDort was opened on the 13th of November, 1618. Theology wasmystified; religion disgraced; Christianity outraged. And afterone hundred and fifty-two sittings, during six months' displayof ferocity and fraud, the solemn mockery was closed on the 9thof May, 1619, by the declaration of its president, that "itsmiraculous labors had made hell tremble. "

Proscriptions, banishments, and death were the natural consequencesof this synod. The divisions which it had professed to extinguishwere rendered a thousand times more violent than before. Itsdecrees did incalculable ill to the cause they were meant topromote. The Anglican Church was the first to reject the canonsof Dort with horror and contempt. The Protestants of France andGermany, and even Geneva, the nurse and guardian of Calvinism, were shocked and disgusted, and unanimously softened down therigor of their respective creeds. But the moral effects of thismemorable conclave were too remote to prevent the sacrifice whichalmost immediately followed the celebration of its rites. A trialby twenty-four prejudiced enemies, by courtesy called judges, which in its progress and its result throws judicial dignity intoscorn, ended in the condemnation of Barneveldt and his fellowpatriots, for treason against the liberties they had vainly laboredto save. Barneveldt died on the scaffold by the hands of theexecutioner on the 13th of May, 1619, in the seventy-second yearof his age. Grotius and Hoogerbeets were sentenced to perpetualimprisonment. Ledenberg committed suicide in his cell, soonerthan brave the tortures which he anticipated at the hands ofhis enemies. 

Many more pages than we are able to afford sentences might bedevoted to the details of these iniquitous proceedings, and anaccount of their awful consummation. The pious heroism of Barneveldtwas never excelled by any martyr to the most holy cause. He appealedto Maurice against the unjust sentence which condemned him to death;but he scorned to beg his life. He met his fate with such temperatecourage as was to be expected from the dignified energy of hislife. His last words were worthy a philosopher whose thoughts, even in his latest moments, were superior to mere personal hopeor fear, and turned to the deep mysteries of his being. "O God!"cried De Barneveldt, "what then is man?" as he bent his head tothe sword that severed it from his body, and sent the inquiringspirit to learn the great mystery for which it longed. 

CHAPTER XVII

TO THE DEATH OF PRINCE MAURICE

A. D. 1619--1625

The princess-dowager of Orange, and Du Maurier, the Frenchambassador, had vainly implored mercy for the innocent victim atthe hands of the inexorable stadtholder. Maurice refused to seehis mother-in-law: he left the ambassador's appeal unanswered. This is enough for the rigid justice of history that cannot beblinded by partiality, but hands over to shame, at the closeof their career, even those whom she nursed in the very cradleof heroism. But an accusation has become current, more fatalto the fame of Prince Maurice, because it strikes at the rootof his claims to feeling, which could not be impugned by a mereperseverance in severity that might have sprung from mistakenviews. It is asserted, but only as general belief, that he witnessedthe execution of Barneveldt. The little window of an octagonaltower, overlooking the square of the Binnenhof at The Hague, where the tragedy was acted, is still shown as the spot fromwhich the prince gazed on the scene. Almost concealed from viewamong the clustering buildings of the place, it is well adaptedto give weight to the tradition; but it may not, perhaps, evennow be too late to raise a generous incredulity as to an assertionof which no eye-witness attestation is recorded, and which mighthave been the invention of malignity. There are many statementsof history which it is immaterial to substantiate or disprove. Splendid fictions of public virtue have often produced theirgood if once received as fact; but, when private character isat stake, every conscientious writer or reader will cherish his"historic doubts, " when he reflects on the facility with whichcalumny is sent abroad, the avidity with which it is received, and the careless ease with which men credit what it costs littleto invent and propagate, but requires an age of trouble and analmost impossible conjunction of opportunities effectually torefute. 

Grotius and Hoogerbeets were confined in the castle of Louvestein. Moersbergen, a leading patriot of Utrecht, De Haan, pensionaryof Haarlem, and Uitenbogaard, the chosen confidant of Maurice, but the friend of Barneveldt, were next accused and sentencedto imprisonment or banishment. And thus Arminianism, deprived ofits chiefs, was for the time completely stifled. The Remonstrants, thrown into utter despair, looked to emigration as their lastresource. Gustavus Adolphus, king of Sweden, and Frederick, dukeof Holstein, offered them shelter and protection in their respectivestates. Several availed themselves of these offers; but thestates-general, alarmed at the progress of self-expatriation, moderated their rigor, and thus checked the desolating evil. Several of the imprisoned Arminians had the good fortune to eludethe vigilance of their jailers; but the escape of Grotius isthe most remarkable of all, both from his own celebrity as oneof the first writers of his age in the most varied walks ofliterature, and from its peculiar circumstances, which only founda parallel in European history after a lapse of two centuries. We allude to the escape of Lavalette from the prison of theConciergerie in Paris in 1815, which so painfully excited theinterest of all Europe for the intended victim's wife, whosereason was the forfeit of her exertion. 

Grotius was freely allowed during his close imprisonment all therelaxations of study. His friends supplied him with quantities ofbooks, which were usually brought into the fortress in a trunk twofeet two inches long, which the governor regularly and carefullyexamined during the first year. But custom brought relaxation inthe strictness of the prison rules; and the wife of the illustriousprisoner, his faithful and constant visitor, proposed the plan ofhis escape, to which he gave a ready and, all hazards considered, a courageous assent. Shut up in this trunk for two hours, andwith all the risk of suffocation, and of injury from the rudehandling of the soldiers who carried it out of the fort, Grotiuswas brought clear off by the very agents of his persecutors, and safely delivered to the care of his devoted and discreetfemale servant, who knew the secret and kept it well. She attendedthe important consignment in the barge to the town of Gorcum;and after various risks of discovery, providentially escaped, Grotius at length found himself safe beyond the limits of hisnative land. His wife, whose torturing suspense may be imaginedthe while, concealed the stratagem as long as it was possibleto impose on the jailer with the pardonable and praiseworthyfiction of her husband's illness and confinement to his bed. The government, outrageous at the result of the affair, at firstproposed to hold this interesting prisoner in place of the preythey had lost, and to proceed criminally against her. But aftera fortnight's confinement she was restored to liberty, and thecountry saved from the disgrace of so ungenerous and cowardlya proceeding. Grotius repaired to Paris, where he was receivedin the most flattering manner, and distinguished by a pensionof one thousand crowns allowed by the king. He soon publishedhis vindication--one of the most eloquent and unanswerableproductions of its kind, in which those times of unjust accusationsand illegal punishments were so fertile. 

The expiration of the twelve years' truce was now at hand; andthe United Provinces, after that long period of intestine troubleand disgrace, had once more to recommence a more congenial struggleagainst foreign enemies; for a renewal of the war with Spainmight be fairly considered a return to the regimen best suitedto the constitution of the people. The republic saw, however, with considerable anxiety, the approach of this new contest. Itwas fully sensible of its own weakness. Exile had reduced itspopulation; patriotism had subsided; foreign friends were dead;the troops were unused to warfare; the hatred against Spanishcruelty had lost its excitement; the finances were in confusion;Prince Maurice had no longer the activity of youth; and the stillmore vigorous impulse of fighting for his country's liberty waschanged to the dishonoring task of upholding his own tyranny. 

The archdukes, encouraged by these considerations, had hopesof bringing back the United Provinces to their domination. Theyaccordingly sent an embassy to Holland with proposals to thateffect. It was received with indignation; and the ambassador, Peckius, was obliged to be escorted back to the frontiers bysoldiers, to protect him from the insults of the people. Militaryoperations were, however, for a while refrained from on eitherside, in consequence of the deaths of Philip III. Of Spain andthe archduke Albert. Philip IV. Succeeded his father at the ageof sixteen; and the archduchess Isabella found herself alone atthe head of the government in the Belgian provinces. Olivarezbecame as sovereign a minister in Spain, as his predecessor theduke of Lerma had been; but the archduchess, though now withonly the title of stadtholderess of the Netherlands, held thereins of power with a firm and steady hand. 

In the celebrated thirty years' war which had commenced betweenthe Protestants and Catholics of Germany, the former had met withconsiderable assistance from the United Provinces. Barneveldt, whoforesaw the embarrassments which the country would have to contendwith on the expiration of that truce, had strongly opposed itsmeddling in the quarrel; but his ruin and death left no restrainton the policy which prompted the republic to aid the Protestantcause. Fifty thousand florins a month to the revolted Protestants, and a like sum to the princes of the union, were for some timeadvanced. Frederick, the elector palatine, son-in-law of theking of England, and nephew of the prince, was chosen by theBohemians for their king; but in spite of the enthusiastic wishesof the English nation, James persisted in refusing to interferein Frederick's favor. France, governed by De Luynes, a favoritewhose influence was deeply pledged, and, it is said, dearly sold toSpain, abandoned the system of Henry IV. , and upheld the House ofAustria. Thus the new monarch, only aided by the United Provinces, and that feebly, was soon driven from his temporary dignity;his hereditary dominions in the palatinate were overrun by theSpanish army under Spinola; and Frederick, utterly defeated atthe battle of Prague, was obliged to take refuge in Holland. James's abandonment of his son-in-law has been universally blamedby almost every historian. He certainly allowed a few generousindividuals to raise a regiment in England of two thousand fourhundred chosen soldiers, who, under the command of the gallantSir Horace Vere, could only vainly regret the impossibility ofopposition to ten times their number of veteran troops. 

This contest was carried on at first with almost all the advantageson the side of the House of Austria. Two men of extraordinarycharacter, which presented a savage parody of military talent, and a courage chiefly remarkable for the ferocity into which itdegenerated, struggled for a while against the imperial arms. These were the count of Mansfield and Christian of Brunswick. Atthe head of two desperate bands, which, by dint of hard fighting, acquired something of the consistency of regular armies, theymaintained a long resistance; but the duke of Bavaria, commandingthe troops of the emperor, and Count Tilly at the head of thoseof Spain, completed in the year 1622 the defeat of their daringand semi-barbarous opponents. 

Spinola was resolved to commence the war against the republic bysome important exploit. He therefore laid siege to Berg-op-Zoom, a place of great consequence, commanding the navigation of theMeuse and the coasts of all the islands of Zealand. But Maurice, roused from the lethargy of despotism which seemed to have whollychanged his character, repaired to the scene of threatened danger;and succeeded, after a series of desperate efforts on both sides, to raise the siege, forcing Spinola to abandon his attempt witha loss of upward of twelve thousand men. Frederick Henry in themeantime had made an incursion into Brabant with a body of lighttroops; and ravaging the country up to the very gates of Mechlin, Louvain, and Brussels, levied contributions to the amount ofsix hundred thousand florins. The states completed this seriesof good fortune by obtaining the possession of West Friesland, by means of Count Mansfield, whom they had despatched thitherat the head of his formidable army, and who had, in spite of theopposition of Count Tilly, successfully performed his mission. 

We must now turn from these brief records of military affairs, the more pleasing theme for the historian of the Netherlandsin comparison with domestic events, which claim attention butto create sensations of regret and censure. Prince Maurice hadenjoyed without restraint the fruits of his ambitious daring. His power was uncontrolled and unopposed, but it was publiclyodious; and private resentments were only withheld by fear, and, perhaps, in some measure by the moderation and patience whichdistinguished the disciples of Arminianism. In the midst, however, of the apparent calm, a deep conspiracy was formed against thelife of the prince. The motives, the conduct, and the terminationof this plot, excite feelings of many opposite kinds. We cannot, as in former instances, wholly execrate the design and approvethe punishment. Commiseration is mingled with blame, when wemark the sons of Barneveldt, urged on by the excess of filialaffection to avenge their venerable father's fate; and despiteour abhorrence for the object in view, we sympathize with theconspirators rather than the intended victim. William vonStoutenbourg and Renier de Groeneveld were the names of thesetwo sons of the late pensionary. The latter was the younger;but, of more impetuous character than his brother, he was theprincipal in the plot. Instead of any efforts to soften downthe hatred of this unfortunate family, these brothers had beenremoved from their employments, their property was confiscated, and despair soon urged them to desperation. In such a time ofgeneral discontent it was easy to find accomplices. Seven oreight determined men readily joined in the plot; of these, twowere Catholics, the rest Arminians; the chief of whom was HenrySlatius, a preacher of considerable eloquence, talent, and energy. It was first proposed to attack the prince at Rotterdam; butthe place was soon after changed for Ryswyk, a village near TheHague, and afterward celebrated by the treaty of peace signedthere and which bears its name. Ten other associates were soonengaged by the exertions of Slatius: these were Arminian artisansand sailors, to whom the actual execution of the murder was tobe confided; and they were persuaded that it was planned withthe connivance of Prince Frederick Henry, who was consideredby the Arminians as the secret partisan of their sect. The 6thof February was fixed on for the accomplishment of the deed. The better to conceal the design, the conspirators agreed to gounarmed to the place, where they were to find a box containingpistols and poniards in a spot agreed upon. The death of thePrince of Orange was not the only object intended. During theconfusion subsequent to the hoped-for success of that first blow, the chief conspirators intended to excite simultaneous revoltsat Leyden, Gouda, and Rotterdam, in which towns the Arminianswere most numerous. A general revolution throughout Holland wasfirmly reckoned on as the infallible result; and success wasenthusiastically looked for to their country's freedom and theirindividual fame. 

But the plot, however cautiously laid and resolutely perseveredin, was doomed to the fate of many another; and the horror ofa second murder (but with far different provocation from thefirst) averted from the illustrious family to whom was stilldestined the glory of consolidating the country it had formed. Two brothers named Blansaart, and one Parthy, having procured aconsiderable sum of money from the leading conspirators, repairedto The Hague, as they asserted, for the purpose of betraying theplot; but they were forestalled in this purpose: four of thesailors had gone out to Ryswyk the preceding evening, and laid thewhole of the project, together with the wages of their intendedcrime, before the prince; who, it would appear, then occupied theancient chateau, which no longer exists at Ryswyk. The box of armswas found in the place pointed out by the informers, and measureswere instantly taken to arrest the various accomplices. Severalwere seized. Groeneveld had escaped along the coast disguised asa fisherman, and had nearly effected his passage to England, when he was recognized and arrested in the island of Vlieland. Slatius and others were also intercepted in their attempts atescape. --Stoutenbourg, the most culpable of all, was the mostfortunate; probably from the energy of character which marksthe difference between a bold adventurer and a timid speculator. He is believed to have passed from The Hague in the same manneras Grotius quitted his prison; and, by the aid of a faithfulservant, he accomplished his escape through various perils, andfinally reached Brussels, where the archduchess Isabella took himunder her special protection. He for several years made efforts tobe allowed to return to Holland; but finding them hopeless, evenafter the death of Maurice, he embraced the Catholic religion, andobtained the command of a troop of Spanish cavalry, at the headof which he made incursions into his native country, carryingbefore him a black flag with the effigy of a death's head, toannounce the mournful vengeance which he came to execute. 

Fifteen persons were executed for the conspiracy. If ever mercywas becoming to a man, it would have been pre-eminently so toMaurice on this occasion; but he was inflexible as adamant. Themother, the wife, and the son of Groeneveld, threw themselves athis feet, imploring pardon. Prayers, tears and sobs were alikeineffectual. It is even said that Maurice asked the wretchedmother "why she begged mercy for her son, having refused to doas much for her husband?" To which cruel question she is reportedto have made the sublime answer--"Because my son is guilty, andmy husband was not. "

These bloody executions caused a deep sentiment of gloom. Theconspiracy excited more pity for the victims than horror for theintended crime. Maurice, from being the idol of his countrymen, wasnow become an object of their fear and dislike. When he moved fromtown to town, the people no longer hailed him with acclamations; andeven the common tokens of outward respect were at times withheld. TheSpaniards, taking advantage of the internal weakness consequent onthis state of public feeling in the States, made repeated incursionsinto the provinces, which were now united but in title, not inspirit. Spinola was once more in the field, and had invested theimportant town of Breda, which was the patrimonial inheritanceof the princes of Orange. Maurice was oppressed with anxietyand regret; and, for the sake of his better feelings, it may behoped, with remorse. He could effect nothing against his rival;and he saw his own laurels withering from his careworn brow. Theonly hope left of obtaining the so much wanted supplies of moneywas in the completion of a new treaty with France and England. Cardinal Richelieu, desirous of setting bounds to the ambitionand the successes of the House of Austria, readily came intothe views of the States; and an obligation for a loan of onemillion two hundred thousand livres during the year 1624, and onemillion more for each of the two succeeding years, was grantedby the king of France, on condition that the republic made nonew truce with Spain without his mediation. 

An alliance nearly similar was at the same time concluded withEngland. Perpetual quarrels on commercial questions loosenedthe ties which bound the States to their ancient allies. Thefailure of his son's intended marriage with the infanta of Spainhad opened the eyes of King James to the way in which he wasdespised by those who seemed so much to respect him. He was highlyindignant; and he undertook to revenge himself by aiding therepublic. He agreed to furnish six thousand men, and supply thefunds for their pay, with a provision for repayment by the Statesat the conclusion of a peace with Spain. 

Prince Maurice had no opportunity of reaping the expected advantagesfrom these treaties. Baffled in all his efforts for relievingBreda, and being unsuccessful in a new attempt upon Antwerp, he returned to The Hague, where a lingering illness, that hadfor some time exhausted him, terminated in his death on the 23dof April, 1625, in his fifty-ninth year. Most writers attributethis event to agitation at being unable to relieve Breda fromthe attack of Spinola. It is in any case absurd to suppose thatthe loss of a single town could have produced so fatal an effecton one whose life had been an almost continual game of the chancesof war. But cause enough for Maurice's death may be found in thewearing effects of thirty years of active military service, andthe more wasting ravages of half as many of domestic despotism. 

CHAPTER XVIII

TO THE TREATY OF MUNSTER

A. D. 1625--1648

Frederick Henry succeeded to almost all his brother's titles andemployments, and found his new dignities clogged with an accumulationof difficulties sufficient to appall the most determined spirit. Everything seemed to justify alarm and despondency. If the affairsof the republic in India wore an aspect of prosperity, those inEurope presented a picture of past disaster and approaching peril. Disunion and discontent, an almost insupportable weight of taxation, and the disputes of which it was the fruitful source, formedthe subjects of internal ill. Abroad was to be seen navigationharassed and trammelled by the pirates of Dunkirk; and the almostdefenceless frontiers of the republic exposed to the irruptionsof the enemy. The king of Denmark, who endeavored to make headagainst the imperialist and Spanish forces, was beaten by Tilly, and made to tremble for the safety of his own States. England didnothing toward the common cause of Protestantism, in consequenceof the weakness of the monarch; and civil dissensions for a whiledisabled France from resuming the system of Henry IV. For humblingthe House of Austria. 

Frederick Henry was at this period in his forty-second year. His military reputation was well established; he soon proved hispolitical talents. He commenced his career by a total change inthe tone of government on the subject of sectarian differences. He exercised several acts of clemency in favor of the imprisonedand exiled Arminians, at the same time that he upheld the dominantreligion. By these measures he conciliated all parties; and bydegrees the fierce spirit of intolerance became subdued. The foreignrelations of the United Provinces now presented the anomalouspolicy of a fleet furnished by the French king, manned by rigidCalvinists, and commanded by a grandson of Admiral Coligny, forthe purpose of combating the remainder of the French Huguenots, whom they considered as brothers in religion, though politicalfoes; and during the joint expedition which was undertaken by theallied French and Dutch troops against Rochelle, the strongholdof Protestantism, the preachers of Holland put up prayers for theprotection of those whom their army was marching to destroy. Thestates-general, ashamed of this unpopular union, recalled theirfleet, after some severe fighting with that of the Huguenots. Cardinal Richelieu and the king of France were for a time furiousin their displeasure; but interests of state overpowered individualresentments, and no rupture took place. 

Charles I. Had now succeeded his father on the English throne. He renewed the treaty with the republic, which furnished himwith twenty ships to assist his own formidable fleet in his waragainst Spain. Frederick Henry had, soon after his successionto the chief command, commenced an active course of martialoperations, and was successful in almost all his enterprises. He took Groll and several other towns; and it was hoped thathis successes would have been pushed forward upon a wider fieldof action against the imperial arms; but the States prudentlyresolved to act on the defensive by land, choosing the sea forthe theatre of their more active operations. All the hopes of apowerful confederation against the emperor and the king of Spainseemed frustrated by the war which now broke out between Franceand England. The states-general contrived by great prudence tomaintain a strict neutrality in this quarrel. They even succeededin mediating a peace between the rival powers, which was concludedthe following year; and in the meantime they obtained a moreastonishing and important series of triumphs against the Spanishfleets than had yet been witnessed in naval conflicts. 

The West India Company had confided the command of their fleet toPeter Hein, a most intrepid and intelligent sailor, who proved hisown merits, and the sagacity of his employers on many occasions, two of them of an extraordinary nature. In 1627, he defeated afleet of twenty-six vessels, with a much inferior force. In thefollowing year, he had the still more brilliant good fortune, near Havana, in the island of Cuba, in an engagement with thegreat Spanish armament, called the Money Fleet, to indicate theimmense wealth which it contained. The booty was safely carriedto Amsterdam, and the whole of the treasure, in money, preciousstones, indigo, etc. , was estimated at the value of twelve millionflorins. This was indeed a victory worth gaining, won almostwithout bloodshed, and raising the republic far above the manifolddifficulties by which it had been embarrassed. Hein perishedin the following year, in a combat with some of the pirates ofDunkirk--those terrible freebooters whose name was a watchwordof terror during the whole continuance of the war. 

The year 1629 brought three formidable armies at once to thefrontiers of the republic, and caused a general dismay all throughthe United Provinces; but the immense treasures taken from theSpaniards enabled them to make preparations suitable to the danger;and Frederick Henry, supported by his cousin William of Nassau, hisnatural brother Justin, and other brave and experienced officers, defeated every effort of the enemy. He took many towns in rapidsuccession; and finally forced the Spaniards to abandon all notionof invading the territories of the republic. Deprived of thepowerful talents of Spinola, who was called to command the Spanishtroops in Italy, the armies of the archduchess, under the countof Berg, were not able to cope with the genius of the Prince ofOrange. The consequence was the renewal of negotiations for asecond truce. But these were received on the part of the republicwith a burst of opposition. All parties seemed decided on thatpoint; and every interest, however opposed on minor questions, combined to give a positive negative on this. 

The gratitude of the country for the services of Frederick Henryinduced the provinces of which he was stadtholder to grant thereversion in this title to his son, a child of three years old;and this dignity had every chance of becoming as absolute, as itwas now pronounced almost hereditary, by the means of an armyof one hundred and twenty thousand men devoted to their chief. However, few military occurrences took place, the sea being stillchosen as the element best suited to the present enterprisesof the republic. In the widely-distant settlements of Braziland Batavia, the Dutch were equally successful; and the Eastand West India companies acquired eminent power and increasingsolidity. 

The year 1631 was signalized by an expedition into Flanders, consisting of eighteen thousand men, intended against Dunkirk, but hastily abandoned, in spite of every probability of success, by the commissioners of the states-general, who accompanied thearmy, and thwarted all the ardor and vigor of the Prince of Orange. But another great naval victory in the narrow seas of Zealandrecompensed the disappointments of this inglorious affair. 

The splendid victories of Augustus Adolphus against the imperialarms in Germany changed the whole face of European affairs. Protestantism began once more to raise its head; and the importantconquests by Frederick Henry of almost all the strong placeson the Meuse, including Maestricht, the strongest of all, gavethe United Provinces their ample share in the glories of thewar. The death of the archduchess Isabella, which took place atBrussels in the year 1633, added considerably to the difficultiesof Spain in the Belgian provinces. The defection of the countof Berg, the chief general of their armies, who was actuatedby resentment on the appointment of the marquis of St. Croixover his head, threw everything into confusion, in exposing awidespread confederacy among the nobility of these provincesto erect themselves into an independent republic, strengthenedby a perpetual alliance with the United Provinces against thepower of Spain. But the plot failed, chiefly, it is said, bythe imprudence of the king of England, who let the secret slip, from some motives vaguely hinted at, but never sufficientlyexplained. After the death of Isabella, the prince of Brabanconwas arrested. The prince of Epinoi and the duke of Burnonvillemade their escape; and the duke of Arschot, who was arrested inSpain, was soon liberated, in consideration of some discoveriesinto the nature of the plot. An armistice, published in 1634, threw this whole affair into complete oblivion. 

The king of Spain appointed his brother Ferdinand, a cardinaland archbishop of Toledo, to the dignity of governor-general ofthe Netherlands. He repaired to Germany at the head of seventeenthousand men, and bore his share in the victory of Nordlingen;after which he hastened to the Netherlands, and made his entryinto Brussels in 1634. Richelieu had hitherto only combated thehouse of Austria in these countries by negotiation and intrigue;but he now entered warmly into the proposals made by Holland fora treaty offensive and defensive between Louis XIII. And therepublic. By a treaty soon after concluded (February 8, 1635)the king of France engaged to invade the Belgian provinces withan army of thirty thousand men, in concert with a Dutch forceof equal number. It was agreed that if Belgium would consentto break from the Spanish yoke it was to be erected into a freestate; if, on the contrary, it would not co-operate for its ownfreedom, France and Holland were to dismember, and to divideit equally. 

The plan of these combined measures was soon acted on. The Frencharmy took the field under the command of the marshals De Chatillonand De Breeze; and defeated the Spaniards in a bloody battle, near Avein, in the province of Luxemburg, on the 20th of May, 1635, with the loss of four thousand men. The victors soon madea junction with the Prince of Orange; and the towns of Tirlemont, St. Trond, and some others, were quickly reduced. The former ofthese places was taken by assault, and pillaged with circumstancesof cruelty that recall the horrors of the early transactions ofthe war. The Prince of Orange was forced to punish severely theauthors of these offences. The consequences of this event werehighly injurious to the allies. A spirit of fierce resistance wasexcited throughout the invaded provinces. Louvain set the firstexample. The citizens and students took arms for its defence; andthe combined forces of France and Holland were repulsed, and forcedby want of supplies to abandon the siege, and rapidly retreat. Theprince-cardinal, as Ferdinand was called, took advantage of thisreverse to press the retiring French; recovered several towns;and gained all the advantages as well as glory of the campaign. The remains of the French army, reduced by continual combats, and still more by sickness, finally embarked at Rotterdam, toreturn to France in the ensuing spring, a sad contrast to itsbrilliant appearance at the commencement of the campaign. 

The military events for several ensuing years present nothingof sufficient interest to induce us to record them in detail. Aperpetual succession of sieges and skirmishes afford a monotonouspicture of isolated courage and skill; but we see none of thosegreat conflicts which bring out the genius of opposing generals, andshow war in its grand results, as the decisive means of enslavingor emancipating mankind. The prince-cardinal, one of the many whoon this bloody theatre displayed consummate military talents, incessantly employed himself in incursions into the borderingprovinces of France, ravaged Picardy, and filled Paris with fearand trembling. He, however, reaped no new laurels when he cameinto contact with Frederick Henry, who, on almost every occasion, particularly that of the siege of Breda, in 1637, carried his objectin spite of all opposition. The triumphs of war were balanced; butSpain and the Belgian provinces, so long upheld by the talentof the governor-general, were gradually become exhausted. Therevolution in Portugal, and the succession of the duke of Braganza, under the title of John IV. , to the throne of his ancestors, struck a fatal blow to the power of Spain. A strict alliancewas concluded between the new monarch of France and Holland; andhostilities against the common enemy were on all sides vigorouslycontinued. 

The successes of the republic at sea and in their distant enterpriseswere continual, and in some instances brilliant. Brazil was graduallyfalling into the power of the West India Company. The East Indiapossessions were secure. The great victory of Van Tromp, knownby the name of the battle of the Downs, from being fought offthe coast of England, on the 21st of October, 1639, raised thenaval reputation of Holland as high as it could well be carried. Fifty ships taken, burned, and sunk, were the proofs of theiradmiral's triumph; and the Spanish navy never recovered the loss. The victory was celebrated throughout Europe, and Van Tromp wasthe hero of the day. The king of England was, however, highlyindignant at the hardihood with which the Dutch admiral brokethrough the etiquette of territorial respect, and destroyed hiscountry's bitter foes under the very sanction of English neutrality. But the subjects of Charles I. Did not partake their monarch'sfeelings. They had no sympathy with arbitrary and tyrannicgovernment; and their joy at the misfortune of their old enemiesthe Spaniards gave a fair warning of the spirit which afterwardproved so fatal to the infatuated king, who on this occasionwould have protected and aided them. 

In an unsuccessful enterprise in Flanders, Count Henry Casimirof Nassau was mortally wounded, adding another to the list ofthose of that illustrious family whose lives were lost in theservice of their country. His brother, Count William Frederick, succeeded him in his office of stadtholder of Friesland; but thesame dignity in the provinces of Groningen and Drent devolvedon the Prince of Orange. The latter had conceived the desire of aroyal alliance for his son William. Charles I. Readily assentedto the proposal of the states-general that this young princeshould receive the hand of his daughter Mary. Embassies wereexchanged; the conditions of the contract agreed on; but it wasnot till two years later that Van Tromp, with an escort of twentyships, conducted the princess, then twelve years old, to thecountry of her future husband. The republic did not view with aneye quite favorable this advancing aggrandizement of the Houseof Orange. Frederick Henry had shortly before been dignified bythe king of France, at the suggestion of Richelieu, with thetitle of "highness, " instead of the inferior one of "excellency";and the states-general, jealous of this distinction granted totheir chief magistrate, adopted for themselves the soundingappellation of "high and mighty lords. " The Prince of Orange, whatever might have been his private views of ambition, had howeverthe prudence to silence all suspicion, by the mild and moderateuse which he made of the power, which he might perhaps have wishedto increase, but never attempted to abuse. 

On the 9th of November, 1641, the prince-cardinal Ferdinand diedat Brussels in his thirty-third year; another instance of thosewho were cut off, in the very vigor of manhood, from worldlydignities and the exercise of the painful and inauspicious dutiesof governor-general of the Netherlands. Don Francisco de Mello, anobleman of highly reputed talents, was the next who obtained thisonerous situation. He commenced his governorship by a succession ofmilitary operations, by which, like most of his predecessors, heis alone distinguished. Acts of civil administration are scarcelynoticed by the historians of these men. Not one of them, withthe exception of the archduke Albert, seems to have valued theinternal interests of the government; and he alone, perhaps, because they were declared and secured as his own. De Mello, after taking some towns, and defeating the marshal De Guiche inthe battle of Hannecourt, tarnished all his fame by the greatfaults which he committed in the famous battle of Rocroy. Theduke of Enghien, then twenty-one years of age, and subsequentlyso celebrated as the great Condé, completely defeated De Mello, and nearly annihilated the Spanish and Walloon infantry. Themilitary operations of the Dutch army were this year only remarkableby the gallant conduct of Prince William, son of the Prince ofOrange, who, not yet seventeen years of age, defeated, near Hulst, under the eyes of his father, a Spanish detachment in a verywarm skirmish. 

Considerable changes were now insensibly operating in the policyof Europe. Cardinal Richelieu had finished his dazzling buttempestuous career of government, in which the hand of deatharrested him on the 4th of December, 1642. Louis XIII. Soon followedto the grave him who was rather his master than his minister. Anneof Austria was declared regent during the minority of her son, Louis XIV. , then only five years of age; and Cardinal Mazarinsucceeded to the station from which death alone had power toremove his predecessor. 

The civil wars in England now broke out, and their terrible resultsseemed to promise to the republic the undisturbed sovereignty ofthe seas. The Prince of Orange received with great distinctionthe mother-in-law of his son, when she came to Holland underpretext of conducting her daughter; but her principal purpose wasto obtain, by the sale of the crown jewels and the assistance ofFrederick Henry, funds for the supply of her unfortunate husband'scause. 

The prince and several private individuals contributed largelyin money; and several experienced officers passed over to servein the royalist army of England. The provincial states of Holland, however, sympathizing wholly with the parliament, remonstratedwith the stadtholder; and the Dutch colonists encouraged thehostile efforts of their brethren, the Puritans of Scotland, by all the absurd exhortations of fanatic zeal. Boswell, theEnglish resident in the name of the king, and Strickland, theambassador from the parliament, kept up a constant successionof complaints and remonstrances on occasion of every incidentwhich seemed to balance the conduct of the republic in the greatquestion of English politics. Considerable differences existed:the province of Holland, and some others, leaned toward theparliament; the Prince of Orange favored the king; and thestates-general endeavored to maintain a neutrality. 

The struggle was still furiously maintained in Germany. Generalsof the first order of military talent were continually appearing, and successively eclipsing each other by their brilliant actions. Gustavus Adolphus was killed in the midst of his glorious career, at the battle of Lutzen; the duke of Weimar succeeded to hiscommand, and proved himself worthy of the place; Tilly and thecelebrated Wallenstein were no longer on the scene. The emperorFerdinand II. Was dead, and his son Ferdinand III. Saw his victoriousenemies threaten, at last, the existence of the empire. Everythingtended to make peace necessary to some of the contending powers, as it was at length desirable for all. Sweden and Denmark wereengaged in a bloody and wasteful conflict. The United Provincessent an embassy, in the month of June, 1644, to each of thosepowers; and by a vigorous demonstration of their resolution toassist Sweden, if Denmark proved refractory, a peace was signedthe following year, which terminated the disputes of the rivalnations. 

Negotiations were now opened at Munster between the severalbelligerents. The republic was, however, the last to send itsplenipotentiaries there; having signed anew treaty with France, by which they mutually stipulated to make no peace independentof each other. It behooved the republic, however, to contributeas much as possible toward the general object; for, among otherstrong motives to that line of conduct, the finances of Hollandwere in a state perfectly deplorable. 

Every year brought the necessity of a new loan; and the publicdebt of the provinces now amounted to one hundred and fifty millionflorins, bearing interest at six and a quarter per cent. Considerablealarm was excited at the progress of the French army in the Belgianprovinces; and escape from the tyranny of Spain seemed only tolead to the danger of submission to a nation too powerful andtoo close at hand not to be dangerous, either as a foe or anally. These fears were increased by the knowledge that CardinalMazarin projected a marriage between Louis XIV. And the infantaof Spain, with the Belgian provinces, or Spanish Netherlands asthey were now called, for her marriage portion. This projectwas confided to the Prince of Orange, under the seal of secrecy, and he was offered the marquisate of Antwerp as the price ofhis influence toward effecting the plan. The prince revealedthe whole to the states-general. Great fermentation was excited;the stadtholder himself was blamed, and suspected of complicitywith the designs of the cardinal. Frederick Henry was deeplyhurt at this want of confidence, and the injurious publicationswhich openly assailed his honor in a point where he felt himselfentitled to praise instead of suspicion. 

The French labored to remove the impression which this affairexcited in the republic; but the states-general felt themselvesjustified by the intriguing policy of Mazarin in entering intoa secret negotiation with the king of Spain, who offered veryfavorable conditions. The negotiations were considerably advancedby the marked disposition evinced by the Prince of Orange tohasten the establishment of peace. Yet, at this very period, andwhile anxiously wishing this great object, he could not resistthe desire for another campaign; one more exploit, to signalizethe epoch at which he finally placed his sword in the scabbard. 

Frederick Henry was essentially a soldier, with all the spiritof his race; and this evidence of the ruling passion, while hetouched the verge of the grave, is one of the most striking pointsof his character. He accordingly took the field; but, with aconstitution broken by a lingering disease, he was little fittedto accomplish any feat worthy of his splendid reputation. He failedin an attempt on Venlo, and another on Antwerp, and retired to TheHague, where for some months he rapidly declined. On the 14th ofMarch, 1647, he expired, in his sixty-third year; leaving behindhim a character of unblemished integrity, prudence, toleration, and valor. He was not of that impetuous stamp which leads mento heroic deeds, and brings danger to the states whose libertyis compromised by their ambition. He was a striking contrast tohis brother Maurice, and more resembled his father in many ofthose calmer qualities of the mind, which make men more belovedwithout lessening their claims to admiration. Frederick Henry hadthe honor of completing the glorious task which William beganand Maurice followed up. He saw the oppression they had combatednow humbled and overthrown; and he forms the third in a sequenceof family renown, the most surprising and the least checkeredafforded by the annals of Europe. 

William II. Succeeded his father in his dignities; and his ardentspirit longed to rival him in war. He turned his endeavors tothwart all the efforts for peace. But the interests of the nationand the dying wishes of Frederick Henry were of too powerfulinfluence with the states, to be overcome by the martial yearningsof an inexperienced youth. The negotiations were pressed forward;and, despite the complaints, the murmurs, and the intrigues ofFrance, the treaty of Munster was finally signed by the respectiveambassadors of the United Provinces and Spain, on the 30th ofJanuary, 1648. This celebrated treaty contains seventy-nine articles. Three points were of main and vital importance to the republic:the first acknowledges an ample and entire recognition of thesovereignty of the states-general, and a renunciation forever ofall claims on the part of Spain; the second confirms the rightsof trade and navigation in the East and West Indies, with thepossession of the various countries and stations then actuallyoccupied by the contracting powers; the third guarantees a likepossession of all the provinces and towns of the Netherlands, asthey then stood in their respective occupation--a clause highlyfavorable to the republic, which had conquered several considerableplaces in Brabant and Flanders. The ratifications of the treatywere exchanged at Munster with great solemnity on the 15th ofMay following the signature; the peace was published in thattown and in Osnaburg on the 19th, and in all the different statesof the king of Spain and the United Provinces as soon as thejoyous intelligence could reach such various and widely separateddestinations. Thus after eighty years of unparalleled warfare, only interrupted by the truce of 1609, during which hostilitieshad not ceased in the Indies, the new republic rose from thehorrors of civil war and foreign tyranny to its uncontested rankas a free and independent state among the most powerful nationsof Europe. No country had ever done more for glory; and the resultof its efforts was the irrevocable guarantee of civil and religiousliberty, the great aim and end of civilization. 

The king of France alone had reason to complain of this treaty:his resentment was strongly pronounced. But the United Provincesflung back the reproaches of his ambassador on Cardinal Mazarin;and the anger of the monarch was smothered by the policy of theminister. 

The internal tranquillity of the republic was secured from allfuture alarm by the conclusion of the general peace of Westphalia, definitively signed on the 24th of October, 1648. This treaty waslong considered not only as the fundamental law of the empire, but as the basis of the political system of Europe. As numbers ofconflicting interests were reconciled, Germanic liberty secured, and a just equilibrium established between the Catholics andProtestants, France and Sweden obtained great advantages; andthe various princes of the empire saw their possessions regulatedand secured, at the same time that the powers of the emperorwere strictly defined. 

This great epoch in European history naturally marks the conclusionof another in that of the Netherlands; and this period of generalrepose allows a brief consideration of the progress of arts, sciences, and manners, during the half century just now completed. 

The archdukes Albert and Isabella, during the whole course oftheir sovereignty, labored to remedy the abuses which had crowdedthe administration of justice. The Perpetual Edict, in 1611, regulated the form of judicial proceedings; and several provincesreceived new charters, by which the privileges of the people wereplaced on a footing in harmony with their wants. Anarchy, in short, gave place to regular government; and the archdukes, in swearingto maintain the celebrated pact known by the name of the JoyeuseEntree, did all in their power to satisfy their subjects, whilesecuring their own authority. The piety of the archdukes gave anexample to all classes. This, although degenerating in the vulgarto superstition and bigotry, formed a severe check, which allowedtheir rulers to restrain popular excesses, and enabled them inthe internal quiet of their despotism to soften the people bythe encouragement of the sciences and arts. Medicine, astronomy, and mathematics, made prodigious progress during this epoch. Several eminent men flourished in the Netherlands. But the gloryof others, in countries presenting a wider theatre for theirrenown, in many instances eclipsed them; and the inventors ofnew methods and systems in anatomy, optics and music were almostforgotten in the splendid improvements of their followers. 

In literature, Hugo de Groot, or Grotius (his Latinized name, by which he is better known), was the most brilliant star of hiscountry or his age, as Erasmus was of that which preceded. He wasat once eminent as jurist, poet, theologian, and historian. Hiserudition was immense; and he brought it to bear in his politicalcapacity, as ambassador from Sweden to the court of France, whenthe violence of party and the injustice of power condemned himto perpetual imprisonment in his native land. The religiousdisputations in Holland had given a great impulse to talent. They were not mere theological arguments; but with the wild andfurious abstractions of bigotry were often blended variousillustrations from history, art, and science, and a tone of keenand delicate satire, which at once refined and made them readable. It is remarkable that almost the whole of the Latin writings ofthis period abound in good taste, while those written in thevulgar tongue are chiefly coarse and trivial. Vondel and Hooft, the great poets of the time, wrote with genius and energy, butwere deficient in judgment founded on good taste. The latterof these writers was also distinguished for his prose works;in honor of which Louis XIII. Dignified him with letters patentof nobility, and decorated him with the order of St. Michael. 

But while Holland was more particularly distinguished by theprogress of the mechanical arts, to which Prince Maurice affordedunbounded patronage, the Belgian provinces gave birth to thatgalaxy of genius in the art of painting, which no equal periodof any other country has ever rivalled. A volume like this wouldscarcely suffice to do justice to the merits of the eminent artistswho now flourished in Belgium; at once founding, perfecting, andimmortalizing the Flemish school of painting. Rubens, Vandyck, Teniers, Crayer, Jordaens, Sneyders, and a host of other greatnames, crowd on us with claims for notice that almost make themention of any an injustice to the rest. But Europe is familiarwith their fame; and the widespread taste for their delicious artmakes them independent of other record than the combination oftheir own exquisite touch, undying tints, and unequalled knowledgeof nature. Engraving, carried at the same time to great perfection, has multiplied some of the merits of the celebrated painters, while stamping the reputation of its own professors. Sculpture, also, had its votaries of considerable note. Among these, DesJardins and Quesnoy held the foremost station. Architecture alsoproduced some remarkable names. 

The arts were, in short, never held in higher honor than at thisbrilliant epoch. Otto Venire, the master of Rubens, held mostimportant employments. Rubens himself, appointed secretary tothe privy council of the archdukes, was subsequently sent toEngland, where he negotiated the peace between that country andSpain. The unfortunate King Charles so highly esteemed his meritthat he knighted him in full parliament, and presented him with thediamond ring he wore on his own finger, and a chain enriched withbrilliants. David Teniers, the great pupil of this distinguishedmaster, met his due share of honor. He has left several portraits ofhimself; one of which hands him down to posterity in the costume, and with the decorations of the belt and key, which he wore in hiscapacity of chamberlain to the archduke Leopold, governor-generalof the Spanish Netherlands. 

The intestine disturbances of Holland during the twelve years'truce, and the enterprises against Friesland and the duchy ofCleves, had prevented that wise economy which was expected fromthe republic. The annual ordinary cost of the military establishmentat that period amounted to thirteen million florins. To meetthe enormous expenses of the state, taxes were raised on everymaterial. They produced about thirty million florins a year, independent of five million each for the East and West Indiacompanies. The population in 1620, in Holland, was about sixhundred thousand, and the other provinces contained about thesame number. 

It is singular to observe the fertile erections of monopoly ina state founded on principles of commercial freedom. The Eastand West India companies, the Greenland company, and others, were successively formed. By the effect of their enterprise, industry and wealth, conquests were made and colonies foundedwith surprising rapidity. The town of Amsterdam, now New York, was founded in 1624; and the East saw Batavia rise up from theruins of Jacatra, which was sacked and razed by the Dutchadventurers. 

The Dutch and English East India companies, repressing theirmutual jealousy, formed a species of partnership in 1619 for thereciprocal enjoyment of the rights of commerce. But four yearslater than this date an event took place so fatal to nationalconfidence that its impressions are scarcely yet effaced--thiswas the torturing and execution of several Englishmen in theisland of Amboyna, on pretence of an unproved plot, of which everyprobability leads to the belief that they were wholly innocent. Thiscircumstance was the strongest stimulant to the hatred so evidentin the bloody wars which not long afterward took place betweenthe two nations; and the lapse of two centuries has not entirelyeffaced its effects. Much has been at various periods writtenfor and against the establishment of monopolizing companies, by which individual wealth and skill are excluded from theirchances of reward. With reference to those of Holland at thisperiod of its history, it is sufficient to remark that the greatresults of their formation could never have been brought aboutby isolated enterprises; and the justice or wisdom of theircontinuance are questions wholly dependent on the fluctuationsin trade, and the effects produced on that of any given countryby the progress and the rivalry of others. 

With respect to the state of manners in the republic, it is clearthat the jealousies and emulation of commerce were not likelyto lessen the vice of avarice with which the natives have beenreproached. The following is a strong expression of one, who cannot, however, be considered an unprejudiced observer, on occasion ofsome disputed points between the Dutch and English maritimetribunals--"The decisions of our courts cause much ill-will amongthese people, whose hearts' blood is their purse. "[5] Whiledrunkenness was a vice considered scarcely scandalous, the intriguesof gallantry were concealed with the most scrupulous mystery--givingevidence of at least good taste, if not of pure morality. Courtetiquette began to be of infinite importance. The wife of CountErnest Casimir of Nassau was so intent on the preservation ofher right of precedence that on occasion of Lady Carleton, theBritish ambassadress, presuming to dispute the _pas_, she forgottrue dignity so far as to strike her. We may imagine the vehementresentment of such a man as Carleton for such an outrage. Thelower orders of the people had the rude and brutal manners commonto half-civilized nations which fight their way to freedom. Theunfortunate king of Bohemia, when a refugee in Holland, was oneday hunting; and, in the heat of the chase, he followed his dogs, which had pursued a hare, into a newly sown corn-field: he wasquickly interrupted by a couple of peasants armed with pitchforks. He supposed his rank and person to be unknown to them; but hewas soon undeceived, and saluted with unceremonious reproaches. "King of Bohemia! King of Bohemia!" shouted one of the boors, "why do you trample on my wheat which I have so lately had thetrouble of sowing?" The king made many apologies, and retired, throwing the whole blame on his dogs. But in the life of MarshalTurenne we find a more marked trait of manners than this, whichmight be paralleled in England at this day. This great generalserved his apprenticeship in the art of war under his uncles, theprinces Maurice and Frederick Henry. He appeared one day on thepublic walk at The Hague, dressed in his usual plain and modeststyle. Some young French lords, covered with gold, embroidery, andribbons, met and accosted him: a mob gathered round; and whiletreating Turenne, although unknown to them, with all possiblerespect, they forced the others to retire, assailed with mockeryand the coarsest abuse. 

[Footnote 5: Carleton. ]

But one characteristic, more noble and worthy than any of thosethus briefly cited, was the full enjoyment of the liberty ofthe press in the United Provinces. The thirst of gain, the furyof faction, the federal independence of the minor towns, theabsolute power of Prince Maurice, all the combinations whichmight carry weight against this grand principle, were totallyineffectual to prevail over it. And the republic was, on thispoint, proudly pre-eminent among surrounding nations. 

CHAPTER XIX

FROM THE PEACE OF MUNSTER TO THE PEACE OF NIMEGUEN

A. D. 1648--1678

The completion of the peace of Munster opens a new scene in thehistory of the republic. Its political system experiencedconsiderable changes. Its ancient enemies became its most ardentfriends, and its old allies loosened the bonds of long-continuedamity. The other states of Europe, displeased at its imperiousconduct, or jealous of its success, began to wish its humiliation;but it was little thought that the consummation was to be effectedat the hands of England. 

While Holland prepared to profit by the peace so brilliantlygained, England, torn by civil war, was hurried on in crime andmisery to the final act which has left an indelible stain on herannals. Cromwell and the parliament had completely subjugatedthe kingdom. The unfortunate king, delivered up by the Scotch, was brought to a mock trial, and condemned to an ignominiousdeath. Great as were his faults, they are almost lost sight ofin the atrocity of his opponents; so surely does disproportionedpunishment for political offences produce a reaction in the mindsthat would approve a commensurate penalty. The United Provinceshad preserved a strict neutrality while the contest was undecided. The Prince of Orange warmly strove to obtain a declaration infavor of his father-in-law, Charles I. The Prince of Wales andthe Duke of York, his sons, who had taken refuge at The Hague, earnestly joined in the entreaty; but all that could be obtainedfrom the states-general was their consent to an embassy to interposewith the ferocious bigots who doomed the hapless monarch to theblock. Pauw and Joachimi, the one sixty-four years of age, theother eighty-eight, the most able men of the republic, undertookthe task of mediation. They were scarcely listened to by theparliament, and the bloody sacrifice took place. 

The details of this event, and its immediate consequences, belongto English history; and we must hurry over the brief, turbid, and inglorious stadtholderate of William II. , to arrive at themore interesting contest between the republic which had honorablyconquered its freedom, and that of the rival commonwealth, whichhad gained its power by hypocrisy, violence, and guilt. 

William II. Was now in his twenty-fourth year. He had early evincedthat heroic disposition which was common to his race. He pantedfor military glory. All his pleasures were those usual to ardentand high-spirited men, although his delicate constitution seemedto forbid the indulgence of hunting, tennis, and the other violentexercises in which he delighted. He was highly accomplished;spoke five different languages with elegance and fluency, andhad made considerable progress in mathematics and other abstractsciences. His ambition knew no bounds. Had he reigned over amonarchy as absolute king, he would most probably have gone downto posterity a conqueror and a hero. But, unfitted to direct arepublic as its first citizen, he has left but the name of arash and unconstitutional magistrate. From the moment of hisaccession to power, he was made sensible of the jealousy andsuspicion with which his office and his character were observedby the provincial states of Holland. Many instances of thisdisposition were accumulated to his great disgust; and he wasnot long in evincing his determination to brave all the odiumand reproach of despotic designs, and to risk everything forthe establishment of absolute power. The province of Holland, arrogating to itself the greatest share in the reforms of thearmy, and the financial arrangements called for by the transitionfrom war to peace, was soon in fierce opposition with thestates-general, which supported the prince in his early views. Cornelius Bikker, one of the burgomasters of Amsterdam, was theleading person in the states of Holland; and a circumstance soonoccurred which put him and the stadtholder in collision, andquickly decided the great question at issue. 

The admiral Cornellizon de Witt arrived from Brazil with theremains of his fleet, and without the consent of the council ofregency there established by the states-general. He was instantlyarrested by order of the Prince of Orange, in his capacity ofhigh-admiral. The admiralty of Amsterdam was at the same timeordered by the states-general to imprison six of the captainsof this fleet. The states of Holland maintained that this was aviolation of their provincial rights, and an illegal assumptionof power on the part of the states-general; and the magistratesof Amsterdam forced the prison doors, and set the captains atliberty. William, backed by the authority of the states-general, now put himself at the head of a deputation from that body, andmade a rapid tour of visitation to the different chief towns ofthe republic, to sound the depths of public opinion on the mattersin dispute. The deputation met with varied success; but the resultproved to the irritated prince that no measures of compromise wereto be expected, and that force alone was to arbitrate the question. The army was to a man devoted to him. The states-general gavehim their entire, and somewhat servile, support. He, therefore, on his own authority, arrested the six deputies of Holland, inthe same way that his uncle Maurice had seized on Barneveldt, Grotius, and the others; and they were immediately conveyed tothe castle of Louvestein. 

In adopting this bold and unauthorized measure, he decided on animmediate attempt to gain possession of the city of Amsterdam, the central point of opposition to his violent designs. WilliamFrederick, count of Nassau, stadtholder of Friesland, at thehead of a numerous detachment of troops, marched secretly andby night to surprise the town; but the darkness and a violentthunderstorm having caused the greater number to lose their way, the count found himself at dawn at the city gates with a veryinsufficient force; and had the further mortification to see thewalls well manned, the cannon pointed, the draw-bridges raised, and everything in a state of defence. The courier from Hamburg, who had passed through the scattered bands of soldiers during thenight, had given the alarm. The first notion was that a rovingband of Swedish or Lorraine troops, attracted by the opulenceof Amsterdam, had resolved on an attempt to seize and pillageit. The magistrates could scarcely credit the evidence of day, which showed them the count of Nassau and his force on theirhostile mission. A short conference with the deputies from thecitizens convinced him that a speedy retreat was the only measureof safety for himself and his force, as the sluices of the dikeswere in part opened, and a threat of submerging the intendedassailants only required a moment more to be enforced. 

Nothing could exceed the disappointment and irritation of thePrince of Orange consequent on this transaction. He at firstthreatened, then negotiated, and finally patched up the matter ina mariner the least mortifying to his wounded pride. Bikker noblyoffered himself for a peace-offering, and voluntarily resignedhis employments in the city he had saved; and De Witt and hisofficers were released. William was in some measure consoled forhis disgrace by the condolence of the army, the thanks of theprovince of Zealand, and a new treaty with France, strengthened bypromises of future support from Cardinal Mazarin; but, before hecould profit by these encouraging symptoms, domestic and foreign, a premature death cut short all his projects of ambition. Over-violent exercise in a shooting party in Guelders broughton a fever, which soon terminated in an attack of smallpox. Onthe first appearance of his illness, he was removed to The Hague;and he died there on the 6th of November, 1650, aged twenty-fouryears and six months. 

The death of this prince left the state without a stadtholder, and the army without a chief. The whole of Europe shared more orless in the joy or the regret it caused. The republican party, both in Holland and in England, rejoiced in a circumstance whichthrew back the sovereign power into the hands of the nation;the partisans of the House of Orange deeply lamented the event. But the birth of a son, of which the widowed princess of Orangewas delivered within a week of her husbands death, revived thehopes of those who mourned his loss, and offered her the onlyconsolation which could assuage her grief. This child was, however, the innocent cause of a breach between his mother and grandmother, the dowager-princess, who had never been cordially attached toeach other. Each claimed the guardianship of the young prince;and the dispute was at length decided by the states, who adjudgedthe important office to the elector of Brandenburg and the twoprincesses jointly. The states of Holland soon exercised theirinfluence on the other provinces. Many of the prerogatives ofthe stadtholder were now assumed by the people; and, with theexception of Zealand, which made an ineffectual attempt to namethe infant prince to the dignity of his ancestors under the titleof William III. , a perfect unanimity seemed to have reconciledall opposing interests. The various towns secured the privilegesof appointing their own magistrates, and the direction of thearmy and navy devolved to the states-general. 

The time was now arrived when the wisdom, the courage, and theresources of the republic were to be put once more to the test, in a contest hitherto without example, and never since equalled inits nature. The naval wars between Holland and England had theirreal source in the inveterate jealousies and unbounded ambitionof both countries, reciprocally convinced that a joint supremacyat sea was incompatible with their interests and their honor, andeach resolved to risk everything for their mutual pretensions--toperish rather than yield. The United Provinces were assuredlynot the aggressors in this quarrel. They had made sure of theircapability to meet it, by the settlement of all questions ofinternal government, and the solid peace which secured them againstany attack on the part of their old and inveterate enemy; but theydid not seek a rupture. They at first endeavored to ward off thethreatened danger by every effort of conciliation; and they met, with temperate management, even the advances made by Cromwell, atthe instigation of St. John, the chief justice, for a proposed, yet impracticable coalition between the two republics, which wasto make them one and indivisible. An embassy to The Hague, withSt. John and Strickland at its head, was received with all publichonors; but the partisans of the families of Orange and Stuart, and the populace generally, openly insulted the ambassadors. About the same time Dorislas, a Dutchman naturalized in England, and sent on a mission from the parliament, was murdered at TheHague by some Scotch officers, friends of the banished king;the massacre of Amboyna, thirty years before, was made a cause ofrevived complaint; and altogether a sum of injuries was easilymade up to turn the proposed fantastic coalition into a fierceand bloody war. 

The parliament of England soon found a pretext in an outrageousmeasure, under pretence of providing for the interests of commerce. They passed the celebrated act of navigation, which prohibited allnations from importing into England in their ships any commoditywhich was not the growth and manufacture of their own country. This law, though worded generally, was aimed directly at theDutch, who were the general factors and carriers of Europe. Shipswere seized, reprisals made, the mockery of negotiation carriedon, fleets equipped, and at length the war broke out. 

In the month of May, 1652, the Dutch admiral, Tromp, commandingforty-two ships of war, met with the English fleet under Blakein the Straits of Dover; the latter, though much inferior innumber, gave a signal to the Dutch admiral to strike, the usualsalutation of honor accorded to the English during the monarchy. Totally different versions have been given by the two admirals ofwhat followed. Blake insisted that Tromp, instead of complying, fired a broadside at his vessel; Tromp stated that a second anda third bullet were sent promptly from the British ship whilehe was preparing to obey the admiral's claim. The discharge ofthe first broadside is also a matter of contradiction, and ofcourse of doubt. But it is of small consequence; for whetherhostilities had been hurried on or delayed, they were ultimatelyinevitable. A bloody battle began: it lasted five hours. Theinferiority in number on the side of the English was balancedby the larger size of their ships. One Dutch vessel was sunk;another taken; and night parted the combatants. 

The states-general heard the news with consternation: they despatchedthe grand pensionary Pauw on a special embassy to London. Theimperious parliament would hear of neither reason nor remonstrance. Right or wrong, they were resolved on war. Blake was soon atsea again with a numerous fleet; Tromp followed with a hundredships; but a violent tempest separated these furious enemies, and retarded for a while the rencounter they mutually longedfor. On the 16th of August a battle took place between Sir GeorgeAyscue and the renowned De Ruyter, near Plymouth, each with aboutforty ships; but with no decisive consequences. On the 28th ofOctober, Blake, aided by Bourn and Pen, met a Dutch squadronof nearly equal force off the coast of Kent, under De Ruyterand De Witt. The fight which followed was also severe, but notdecisive, though the Dutch had the worst of the day. In theMediterranean, the Dutch admiral Van Galen defeated the Englishcaptain Baddely, but bought the victory with his life. And, onthe 29th of November, another bloody conflict took place betweenBlake and Tromp, seconded by De Ruyter, near the Goodwin Sands. In this determined action Blake was wounded and defeated; fiveEnglish ships, taken, burned, or sunk; and night saved the fleetfrom destruction. After this victory Tromp placed a broom athis masthead, as if to intimate that he would sweep the Channelfree of all English ships. 

Great preparations were made in England to recover this disgrace;eighty sail put to sea under Blake, Dean, and Monk, so celebratedsubsequently as the restorer of the monarchy. Tromp and De Ruyter, with seventy-six vessels, were descried on the 18th of February, escorting three hundred merchantmen up Channel. Three days ofdesperate fighting ended in the defeat of the Dutch, who lostten ships of war and twenty-four merchant vessels. Several ofthe English ships were disabled, one sunk; and the carnage onboth sides was nearly equal. Tromp acquired prodigious honorby this battle; having succeeded, though defeated, in saving, as has been seen, almost the whole of his immense convoy. Onthe 12th of June and the day following two other actions werefought: in the first of which the English admiral Dean was killed;in the second, Monk, Pen, and Lawson amply revenged his deathby forcing the Dutch to regain their harbors with great loss. 

The 21st of July was the last of these bloody and obstinate conflictsfor superiority. Tromp issued out once more, determined to conqueror die. He met the enemy off Scheveling, commanded by Monk. Bothfleets rushed to the combat. The heroic Dutchman, animating hissailors with his sword drawn, was shot through the heart with amusket-ball. This event, and this alone, won the battle, whichwas the most decisive of the whole war. The enemy captured or sunknearly thirty ships. The body of Tromp was carried with greatsolemnity to the church of Delft, where a magnificent mausoleum waserected over the remains of this eminently brave and distinguishedman. 

This memorable defeat, and the death of this great naval hero, added to the injury done to their trade, induced the states-generalto seek terms from their too powerful enemy. The want of peacewas felt throughout the whole country. Cromwell was not averse togrant it; but he insisted on conditions every way disadvantageousand humiliating. He had revived his chimerical scheme of a totalconjunction of government, privileges, and interests betweenthe two republics. This was firmly rejected by John de Witt, now grand pensionary of Holland, and by the States under hisinfluence. But the Dutch consented to a defensive league; topunish the survivors of those concerned in the massacre of Amboyna;to pay nine thousand pounds of indemnity for vessels seized inthe Sound, five thousand pounds for the affair of Amboyna, andeighty-five thousand pounds to the English East India Company, to cede to them the island of Polerone in the East; to yieldthe honor of the national flag to the English; and, finally, that neither the young Prince of Orange nor any of his familyshould ever be invested with the dignity of stadtholder. Thesetwo latter conditions were certainly degrading to Holland; andthe conditions of the treaty prove that an absurd point of honorwas the only real cause for the short but bloody and ruinous warwhich plunged the Provinces into overwhelming difficulties. 

For several years after the conclusion of this inglorious peace, universal discontent and dissension spread throughout the republic. The supporters of the House of Orange, and every impartial friendof the national honor, were indignant at the act of exclusion. Murmurs and revolts broke out in several towns; and all was oncemore tumult, agitation, and doubt. No event of considerableimportance marks particularly this epoch of domestic trouble. A new war was at last pronounced inevitable, and was the meansof appeasing the distractions of the people, and reconciling bydegrees contending parties. Denmark, the ancient ally of therepublic, was threatened with destruction by Charles Gustavus, king of Sweden, who held Copenhagen in blockade. The interestsof Holland were in imminent peril should the Swedes gain thepassage of the Sound. This double motive influenced De Witt;and he persuaded the states-general to send Admiral Opdam witha considerable fleet to the Baltic. This intrepid successor ofthe immortal Tromp soon came to blows with a rival worthy tomeet him. Wrangel, the Swedish admiral, with a superior force, defended the passage of the Sound; and the two castles of Cronenbergand Elsenberg supported his fleet with their tremendous fire. But Opdam resolutely advanced; though suffering extreme anguishfrom an attack of gout, he had himself carried on deck, where hegave his orders with the most admirable coolness and precision, in the midst of danger and carnage. The rival monarchs witnessedthe battle; the king of Sweden from the castle of Cronenberg, and the king of Denmark from the summit of the highest tower inhis besieged capital. A brilliant victory crowned the effortsof the Dutch admiral, dearly bought by the death of his second incommand, the brave De Witt, and Peter Florizon, another admiralof note. Relief was poured into Copenhagen. Opdam was replacedin the command, too arduous for his infirmities, by the stillmore celebrated De Ruyter, who was greatly distinguished by hisvalor in several successive affairs: and after some months moreof useless obstinacy, the king of Sweden, seeing his army perishin the island of Funen, by a combined attack of those of Hollandand Denmark, consented to a peace highly favorable to the latterpower. 

These transactions placed the United Provinces on a still higherpinnacle of glory than they had ever reached. Intestine disputeswere suddenly calmed. The Algerines and other pirates were sweptfrom the seas by a succession of small but vigorous expeditions. The mediation of the States re-established peace in several ofthe petty states of Germany. England and France were both heldin check, if not preserved in friendship, by the dread of theirrecovered power. Trade and finance were reorganized. Everythingseemed to promise a long-continued peace and growing greatness, much of which was owing to the talents and persevering energy ofDe Witt; and, to complete the good work of European tranquillity, the French and Spanish monarchs concluded in this year the treatyknown by the name of the "peace of the Pyrenees. "

Cromwell had now closed his career, and Charles II. Was restoredto the throne from which he had so long been excluded. Thecomplimentary entertainments rendered to the restored king inHolland were on the proudest scale of expense. He left the countrywhich had given him refuge in misfortune, and done him honor inhis prosperity, with profuse expressions of regard and gratitude. Scarcely was he established in his recovered kingdom, when a stillgreater testimony of deference to his wishes was paid, by thestates-general formally annulling the act of exclusion againstthe House of Orange. A variety of motives, however, acting on theeasy and plastic mind of the monarch, soon effaced whatever ofgratitude he had at first conceived. He readily entered into theviews of the English nation, which was irritated by the greatcommercial superiority of Holland, and a jealousy excited byits close connection with France at this period. 

It was not till the 22d of February, 1665, that war was formallydeclared against the Dutch; but many previous acts of hostilityhad taken place in expeditions against their settlements on thecoast of Africa and in America, which were retaliated by De Ruyterwith vigor and success. The Dutch used every possible means ofavoiding the last extremities. De Witt employed all the powersof his great capacity to avert the evil of war; but nothing couldfinally prevent it, and the sea was once more to witness theconflict between those who claimed its sovereignty. A great battlewas fought on the 31st of June. The duke of York, afterward JamesII. , commanded the British fleet, and had under him the earl ofSandwich and Prince Rupert. The Dutch were led on by Opdam; andthe victory was decided in favor of the English by the blowingup of that admiral's ship, with himself and his whole crew. Theloss of the Dutch was altogether nineteen ships. De Witt thepensionary then took in person the command of the fleet, whichwas soon equipped; and he gave a high proof of the adaptation ofgenius to a pursuit previously unknown, by the rapid knowledgeand the practical improvements he introduced into some of themost intricate branches of naval tactics. 

Immense efforts were now made by England, but with a veryquestionable policy, to induce Louis XIV. To join in the war. Charles offered to allow of his acquiring the whole of the SpanishNetherlands, provided he would leave him without interruption todestroy the Dutch navy (and, consequently, their commerce), in theby no means certain expectation that its advantages would all fallto the share of England. But the king of France resolved to supportthe republic. The king of Denmark, too, formed an alliance withthem, after a series of the most strange tergiversations. Spain, reduced to feebleness, and menaced with invasion by France, showedno alacrity to meet Charles's overtures for an offensive treaty. Van Galen, bishop of Munster, a restless prelate, was the onlyally he could acquire. This bishop, at the head of a tumultuousforce of twenty thousand men, penetrated into Friesland; but sixthousand French were despatched by Louis to the assistance of therepublic, and this impotent invasion was easily repelled. 

The republic, encouraged by all these favorable circumstances, resolved to put forward its utmost energies. Internal discordswere once more appeased; the harbors were crowded with merchantships; the young Prince of Orange had put himself under the tuitionof the states of Holland and of De Witt, who faithfully executedhis trust; and De Ruyter was ready to lead on the fleet. TheEnglish, in spite of the dreadful calamity of the great fire ofLondon, the plague which desolated the city, and a declarationof war on the part of France, prepared boldly for the shock. 

The Dutch fleet, commanded by De Ruyter and Tromp, the gallantsuccessor of his father's fame, was soon at sea. The English, under Prince Rupert and Monk, now duke of Albemarle, did notlie idle in port. A battle of four days continuance, one of themost determined and terrible up to this period on record, wasthe consequence. The Dutch claim, and it appears with justice, to have had the advantage. But a more decisive conflict tookplace on the 25th of July, [6] when a victory was gained by theEnglish, the enemy having three of their admirals killed. "My God!"exclaimed De Ruyter; during this desperate fight, and seeing thecertainty of defeat; "what a wretch I am! Among so many thousandbullets, is there not one to put an end to my miserable life?"

[Footnote 6: In all these naval battles we have followed Humeand the English historians as to dates, which, in almost everyinstance, are strangely at variance with those given by the Dutchwriters. ]

The king of France hastened forward in this crisis to the assistanceof the republic and De Witt, by a deep stroke of policy, amusedthe English with negotiation while a powerful fleet was fittedout. It suddenly appeared in the Thames, under the command of DeRuyter, and all England was thrown into consternation. The Dutchtook Sheerness, and burned many ships of war; almost insultingthe capital itself in their predatory incursion. Had the Frenchpower joined that of the Provinces at this time, and invadedEngland, the most fatal results to that kingdom might have takenplace. But the alarm soon subsided with the disappearance of thehostile fleet; and the signing the peace of Breda, on the 10thof July, 1667, extricated Charles from his present difficulties. The island of Polerone was restored to the Dutch, and the point ofmaritime superiority was, on this occasion, undoubtedly theirs. 

While Holland was preparing to indulge in the luxury of nationalrepose, the death of Philip IV. Of Spain, and the startling ambitionof Louis XIV. , brought war once more to their very doors, andsoon even forced it across the threshold of the republic. Theking of France, setting at naught his solemn renunciation at thepeace of the Pyrenees of all claims to any part of the Spanishterritories in right of his wife, who was daughter of the lateking, found excellent reasons (for his own satisfaction) to invadea material portion of that declining monarchy. Well prepared bythe financial and military foresight of Colbert for his greatdesign, he suddenly poured a powerful army, under Turenne, intoBrabant and Flanders; quickly overran and took possession of theseprovinces; and, in the space of three weeks, added Franche-Comte tohis conquests. Europe was in universal alarm at these unexpectedmeasures; and no state felt more terror than the republic of theUnited Provinces. The interest of all countries seemed now torequire a coalition against the power which had abandoned theHouse of Austria only to settle on France. The first measure tothis effect was the signing of the triple league between Holland, Sweden, and England, at The Hague, on the 13th of January, 1668. But this proved to be one of the most futile confederations onrecord. Charles, with almost unheard-of perfidy throughout thetransaction, fell in with the designs of his pernicious, andon this occasion purchased, cabinet, called the Cabal; and heentered into a secret treaty with France, in the very teeth ofhis other engagements. Sweden was dissuaded from the league bythe arguments of the French ministers; and Holland in a shorttime found itself involved in a double war with its late allies. 

A base and piratical attack on the Dutch Smyrna fleet by a largeforce under Sir Robert Holmes, on the 13th of March, 1672, wasthe first overt act of treachery on the part of the Englishgovernment. The attempt completely failed, through the prudenceand valor of the Dutch admirals; and Charles reaped only the doubleshame of perfidy and defeat. He instantly issued a declaration ofwar against the republic, on reasoning too palpably false torequire refutation, and too frivolous to merit record to theexclusion of more important matter from our narrow limits. 

Louis at least covered with the semblance of dignity his unjustco-operation in this violence. He soon advanced with his army, and the contingents of Munster and Cologne, his allies, amountingaltogether to nearly one hundred and seventy thousand men, commandedby Conde, Turenne, Luxemburg, and others of the greatest generalsof France. Never was any country less prepared than were theUnited Provinces to resist this formidable aggression. Theirarmy was as naught; their long cessation of military operationsby land having totally demoralized that once invincible branchof their forces. No general existed who knew anything of thepractice of war. Their very stores of ammunition had been deliveredover, in the way of traffic, to the enemy who now prepared tooverwhelm them. De Witt was severely, and not quite unjustly, blamed for having suffered the country to be thus taken by surprise, utterly defenceless, and apparently without resource. Envy ofhis uncommon merit aggravated the just complaints against hiserror. But, above all things, the popular affection to the youngprince threatened, in some great convulsion, the overthrow ofthe pensionary, who was considered eminently hostile to theillustrious House of Orange. 

[Illustration: A HOLLAND BEAUTY]

William III. , prince of Orange, now twenty-two years of age, was amply endowed with those hereditary qualities of valor andwisdom which only required experience to give him rank with thegreatest of his ancestors. The Louvenstein party, as the adherentsof the House of Orange were called, now easily prevailed in theirlong-conceived design of placing him at the head of affairs, with the titles of captain-general and high admiral. De Witt, anxious from personal considerations, as well as patriotism, toemploy every means of active exertion, attempted the organizationof an army, and hastened the equipment of a formidable fleet ofnearly a hundred ships of the line and half as many fire-ships. De Ruyter, now without exception the greatest commander of theage, set sail with this force in search of the combined fleetsof England and France, commanded by the duke of York and MarshalD'Etrees. He encountered them, on the 6th of May, 1672, at Solebay. A most bloody engagement was the result of this meeting. Sandwich, on the side of the English, and Van Ghent, a Dutch admiral, wereslain. The glory of the day was divided; the victory doubtful;but the sea was not the element on which the fate of Hollandwas to be decided. 

The French armies poured like a torrent into the territoriesof the republic. Rivers were passed, towns taken, and provincesoverrun with a rapidity much less honorable to France thandisgraceful to Holland. No victory was gained--no resistanceoffered; and it is disgusting to look back on the fulsome panegyricswith which courtiers and poets lauded Louis for those facileand inglorious triumphs. The Prince of Orange had received thecommand of a nominal army of seventy thousand men; but with thisundisciplined and discouraged mass he could attempt nothing. Heprudently retired into the province of Holland, vainly hopingthat the numerous fortresses on the frontiers would have offeredsome resistance to the enemy. Guelders, Overyssel and Utrechtwere already in Louis's hands. Groningen and Friesland werethreatened. Holland and Zealand opposed obstruction to such rapidconquest from their natural position; and Amsterdam set a nobleexample to the remaining towns--forming a regular and energeticplan of defence, and endeavoring to infuse its spirit into therest. The sluices, those desperate sources at once of safetyand desolation, were opened; the whole country submerged; andthe other provinces following this example, extensive districtsof fertility and wealth were given to the sea, for the exclusionof which so many centuries had scarcely sufficed. 

The states-general now assembled, and it was decided to supplicatefor peace at the hands of the combined monarchs. The haughtyinsolence of Louvois, coinciding with the temper of Louis himself, made the latter propose the following conditions as the priceof peace: To take off all duties on commodities exported intoHolland; to grant the free exercise of the Romish religion inthe United Provinces; to share the churches with the Catholics, and to pay their priests; to yield up all the frontier towns, withseveral in the heart of the republic; to pay him twenty millionlivres; to send him every year a solemn embassy, accompanied bya present of a golden medal, as an acknowledgment that they owedhim their liberty; and, finally, that they should give entiresatisfaction to the king of England. 

Charles, on his part, after the most insulting treatment of theambassadors sent to London, required, among other terms, thatthe Dutch should give up the honor of the flag without reserve, whole fleets being expected, even on the coasts of Holland, tolower their topsails to the smallest ship under British colors;that the Dutch should pay one million pounds sterling toward thecharges of the war, and ten thousand pounds a year for permissionto fish in the British seas; that they should share the Indiantrade with the English; and that Walcheren and several otherislands should be put into the king's hands as security for theperformance of the articles. 

The insatiable monarchs overshot the mark. Existence was notworth preserving on these intolerable terms. Holland was drivento desperation; and even the people of England were inspiredwith indignation at this monstrous injustice. In the republic aviolent explosion of popular excess took place. The people nowsaw no safety but in the courage and talents of the Prince ofOrange. He was tumultuously proclaimed stadtholder. De Witt andhis brother Cornelis, the conscientious but too obstinate opponentsof this measure of salvation, fell victims to the popular frenzy. The latter, condemned to banishment on an atrocious charge ofintended assassination against the Prince of Orange, was visitedin his prison at The Hague by the grand pensionary. The rabble, incited to fury by the calumnies spread against these two virtuouscitizens, broke into the prison, forced the unfortunate brothersinto the street, and there literally tore them to pieces withcircumstances of the most brutal ferocity. This horrid scenetook place on the 27th of August, 1672. 

The massacre of the De Witts completely destroyed the party ofwhich they were the head. All men now united under the only leaderleft to the country. William showed himself well worthy of thetrust, and of his heroic blood. He turned his whole force againstthe enemy. He sought nothing for himself but the glory of savinghis country; and taking his ancestors for models, in the bestpoints of their respective characters, he combined prudence withenergy, and firmness with moderation. His spirit inspired allranks of men. The conditions of peace demanded by the partnerkings were rejected with scorn. The whole nation was moved byone concentrated principle of heroism; and it was even resolvedto put the ancient notion of the first William into practice, and abandon the country to the waves, sooner than submit to thepolitical annihilation with which it was threatened. The capabilityof the vessels in their harbors was calculated; and they werefound sufficient to transport two hundred thousand families tothe Indian settlements. We must hasten from this sublime pictureof national desperation. The glorious hero who stands in itsforeground was inaccessible to every overture of corruption. Buckingham, the English ambassador, offered him, on the partof England and France, the independent sovereignty of Holland, if he would abandon the other provinces to their grasp; and, urging his consent, asked him if he did not see that the republicwas ruined? "There is one means, " replied the Prince of Orange, "which will save me from the sight of my country's ruin--I willdie in the last ditch. "

Action soon proved the reality of the prince's profession. Hetook the field; having first punished with death some of thecowardly commanders of the frontier towns. He besieged and tookNaarden, an important place; and, by a masterly movement, formeda junction with Montecuculi, whom the emperor Leopold had atlength sent to his assistance with twenty thousand men. Groningenrepulsed the bishop of Munster, the ally of France, with a lossof twelve thousand men. The king of Spain (such are the strangefluctuations of political friendship and enmity) sent the countof Monterey, governor of the Belgian provinces, with ten thousandmen to support the Dutch army. The elector of Brandenburg alsolent them aid. The whole face of affairs was changed; and Louiswas obliged to abandon all his conquests with more rapidity thanhe had made them. Two desperate battles at sea, on the 28th ofMay and the 4th of June, in which De Ruyter and Prince Rupertagain distinguished themselves, only proved the valor of thecombatants, leaving victory still doubtful. England was withone common feeling ashamed of the odious war in which the kingand his unworthy ministers had engaged the nation. Charles wasforced to make peace on the conditions proposed by the Dutch. The honor of the flag was yielded to the English; a regulationof trade was agreed to; all possessions were restored to thesame condition as before the war; and the states-general agreedto pay the king eight hundred thousand patacoons, or nearly threehundred thousand pounds. 

With these encouraging results from the Prince of Orange's influenceand example, Holland persevered in the contest with France. He, inthe first place, made head, during a winter campaign in Holland, against Marshal Luxemburg, who had succeeded Turenne in the LowCountries, the latter being obliged to march against the imperialistsin Westphalia. He next advanced to oppose the great Conde, whooccupied Brabant with an army of forty-five thousand men. Aftermuch manoeuvring, in which the Prince of Orange displayed consummatetalent, he on only one occasion exposed a part of his army to adisadvantageous contest. Conde seized on the error; and of hisown accord gave the battle to which his young opponent couldnot succeed in forcing him. The battle of Senef is remarkablenot merely for the fury with which it was fought, or for itsleaving victory undecided, but as being the last combat of onecommander and the first of the other. "The Prince of Orange, "said the veteran Conde (who had that day exposed his person morethan on any previous occasion), "has acted in everything like anold captain, except venturing his life too like a young soldier. "

The campaign of 1675 offered no remarkable event; the Princeof Orange with great prudence avoiding the risk of a battle. But the following year was rendered fatally remarkable by thedeath of the great De Ruyter, [7] who was killed in an actionagainst the French fleet in the Mediterranean; and about thesame time the not less celebrated Turenne met his death from acannon-ball in the midst of his triumphs in Germany. This yearwas doubly occupied in a negotiation for peace and an activeprosecution of the war. Louis, at the head of his army, tookseveral towns in Belgium: William was unsuccessful in an attempton Maestricht. About the beginning of winter, the plenipotentiariesof the several belligerents assembled at Nimeguen, where thecongress for peace was held. The Hollanders, loaded with debtsand taxes, and seeing the weakness and slowness of their allies, the Spaniards and Germans, prognosticated nothing but misfortunes. Their commerce languished; while that of England, now neutralamid all these quarrels, flourished extremely. The Prince ofOrange, however, ambitious of glory, urged another campaign;and it commenced accordingly. In the middle of February, Louiscarried Valenciennes by storm, and laid siege to St. Omer andCambray. William, though full of activity, courage, and skill, was, nevertheless, almost always unsuccessful in the field, andnever more so than in this campaign. Several towns fell almostin his sight; and he was completely defeated in the great battleof Mount Cassel by the duke of Orleans and Marshal Luxemburg. Butthe period for another peace was now approaching. Louis offeredfair terms for the acceptance of the United Provinces at thecongress of Nimeguen, April, 1678, as he now considered his chiefenemies Spain and the empire, who had at first only entered intothe war as auxiliaries. He was, no doubt, principally impelledin his measures by the marriage of the Prince of Orange withthe lady Mary, eldest daughter of the duke of York, and heirpresumptive to the English crown, which took place on the 23d ofOctober, to the great joy of both the Dutch and English nations. Charles was at this moment the arbiter of the peace of Europe;and though several fluctuations took place in his policy in thecourse of a few months, as the urgent wishes of the parliamentand the large presents of Louis differently actuated him, stillthe wiser and more just course prevailed, and he finally decidedthe balance by vigorously declaring his resolution for peace; andthe treaty was consequently signed at Nimeguen, on the 10th ofAugust, 1678. The Prince of Orange, from private motives of spleen, or a most unjustifiable desire for fighting, took the extraordinarymeasure of attacking the French troops under Luxemburg, near Mons, on the very day after the signing of this treaty. He must haveknown it, even though it were not officially notified to him; andhe certainly had to answer for all the blood so wantonly spilled inthe sharp though undecisive action which ensued. Spain, abandonedto her fate, was obliged to make the best terms she could; and onthe 17th of September she also concluded a treaty with France, on conditions entirely favorable to the latter power. 

[Footnote 7: The council of Spain gave De Ruyter the title andletters patent of duke. The latter arrived in Holland after hisdeath; and his children, with true republican spirit, refusedto adopt the title. ]

CHAPTER XX

FROM THE PEACE OF NIMEGUEN TO THE PEACE OF UTRECHT

A. D. 1678--1713

A few years passed over after this period, without the occurrenceof any transaction sufficiently important to require a mentionhere. Each of the powers so lately at war followed the variousbent of their respective ambition. Charles of England wassufficiently occupied by disputes with parliament, and the discovery, fabrication, and punishment of plots, real or pretended. LouisXIV. , by a stretch of audacious pride hitherto unknown, arrogatedto himself the supreme power of regulating the rest of Europe, asif all the other princes were his vassals. He established courts, or chambers of reunion as they were called, in Metz and Brisac, which cited princes, issued decrees, and authorized spoliation, in the most unjust and arbitrary manner. Louis chose to award tohimself Luxemburg, Chiny, and a considerable portion of Brabantand Flanders. He marched a considerable army into Belgium, whichthe Spanish governors were unable to oppose. The Prince of Orange, who labored incessantly to excite a confederacy among the otherpowers of Europe against the unwarrantable aggressions of France, was unable to arouse his countrymen to actual war; and was forced, instead of gaining the glory he longed for, to consent to a trucefor twenty years, which the states-general, now wholly pacificand not a little cowardly, were too happy to obtain from France. The emperor and the king of Spain gladly entered into a liketreaty. The fact was that the peace of Nimeguen had disjointedthe great confederacy which William had so successfully broughtabout; and the various powers were laid utterly prostrate at thefeet of the imperious Louis, who for a while held the destiniesof Europe in his hands. 

Charles II. Died most unexpectedly in the year 1685; and hisobstinately bigoted and unconstitutional successor, James II. , seemed, during a reign of not four years' continuance, to rushwilfully headlong to ruin. During this period, the Prince ofOrange had maintained a most circumspect and unexceptionableline of conduct; steering clear of all interference with Englishaffairs; giving offence to none of the political factions; andobserving in every instance the duty and regard which he owed tohis father-in-law. During Monmouth's invasion he had despatchedto James's assistance six regiments of British troops which werein the Dutch service, and he offered to take the command of theking's forces against the rebels. It was from the applicationof James himself that William took any part in English affairs;for he was more widely and much more congenially employed in theestablishment of a fresh league against France. Louis had arouseda new feeling throughout Protestant Europe by the revocationof the Edict of Nantes. The refugees whom he had driven fromtheir native country inspired in those in which they settledhatred of his persecution as well as alarm of his power. Hollandnow entered into all the views of the Prince of Orange. By hisimmense influence he succeeded in forming the great confederacycalled the League of Augsburg, to which the emperor, Spain, andalmost every European power but England became parties. 

James gave the prince reason to believe that he too would joinin this great project, if William would in return concur in hisviews of domestic tyranny; but William wisely refused. James, muchdisappointed, and irritated by the moderation which showed hisown violence in such striking contrast, expressed his displeasureagainst the prince, and against the Dutch generally, by variousvexatious acts. William resolved to maintain a high attitude;and many applications were made to him by the most considerablepersons in England for relief against James's violent measures, and which there was but one method of making effectual. That methodwas force. But as long as the Princess of Orange was certain ofsucceeding to the crown on her father's death, William hesitatedto join in an attempt that might possibly have failed and losther her inheritance. But the birth of a son, which, in givingJames a male heir, destroyed all hope of redress for the kingdom, decided the wavering, and rendered the determined desperate. The prince chose the time for his enterprise with the sagacity, arranged its plan with the prudence, and put it into executionwith the vigor, which were habitual qualities of his mind. 

Louis XIV. , menaced by the League of Augsburg, had resolved tostrike the first blow against the allies. He invaded Germany; sothat the Dutch preparations seemed in the first instance intendedas measures of defence against the progress of the French. ButLouis's envoy at The Hague could not be long deceived. He gavenotice to his master, who in his turn warned James. But thatinfatuated monarch not only doubted the intelligence, but refusedthe French king's offers of assistance and co-operation. On the21st of October, the Prince of Orange, with an army of fourteenthousand men, and a fleet of five hundred vessels of all kinds, set sail from Helvoetsluys; and after some delays from bad weather, he safely landed his army in Torbay, on the 5th of November, 1688. The desertion of James's best friends; his own consternation, flight, seizure, and second escape; and the solemn act by which hewas deposed; were the rapid occurrences of a few weeks: and thusthe grandest revolution that England had ever seen was happilyconsummated. Without entering here on legislative reasonings orparty sophisms, it is enough to record the act itself; and tosay, in reference to our more immediate subject, that withoutthe assistance of Holland and her glorious chief, England mighthave still remained enslaved, or have had to purchase libertyby oceans of blood. By the bill of settlement, the crown wasconveyed jointly to the Prince and Princess of Orange, the soleadministration of government to remain in the prince; and thenew sovereigns were proclaimed on the 23d of February, 1689. The convention, which had arranged this important point, annexedto the settlement a declaration of rights, by which the powersof royal prerogative and the extent of popular privilege weredefined and guaranteed. 

William, now become king of England, still preserved his titleof stadtholder of Holland; and presented the singular instanceof a monarchy and a republic being at the same time governed bythe same individual. But whether as a king or a citizen, Williamwas actuated by one grand and powerful principle, to which everyact of private administration was made subservient, althoughit certainly called for no sacrifice that was not required forthe political existence of the two nations of which he was thehead. Inveterate opposition to the power of Louis XIV. Was thisall-absorbing motive. A sentiment so mighty left William butlittle time for inferior points of government, and everythingbut that seems to have irritated and disgusted him. He was soonagain on the Continent, the chief theatre of his efforts. Heput himself in front of the confederacy which resulted from thecongress of Utrecht in 1690. He took the command of the alliedarmy; and till the hour of his death, he never ceased hisindefatigable course of hostility, whether in the camp or thecabinet, at the head of the allied armies, or as the guidingspirit of the councils which gave them force and motion. 

Several campaigns were expended, and bloody combats fought, almostall to the disadvantage of William, whose genius for war wasnever seconded by that good fortune which so often decides thefate of battles in defiance of all the calculations of talent. But no reverse had power to shake the constancy and courage ofWilliam. He always appeared as formidable after defeat as hewas before action. His conquerors gained little but the honorof the day. Fleurus, Steinkerk, Herwinde, were successively thescenes of his evil fortune, and the sources of his fame. Hisretreats were master-strokes of vigilant activity and profoundcombinations. Many eminent sieges took place during this war. Among other towns, Mons and Namur were taken by the French, andHuy by the allies; and the army of Marshal Villeroi bombardedBrussels during three days, in August, 1695, with such fury thatthe town-house, fourteen churches, and four thousand houses, were reduced to ashes. The year following this event saw anotherundecisive campaign. During the continuance of this war, the navaltransactions present no grand results. Du Bart, a celebratedadventurer of Dunkirk, occupies the leading place in those affairs, in which he carried on a desultory but active warfare against theDutch and English fleets, and generally with great success. 

All the nations which had taken part in so many wars were nowbecoming exhausted by the contest, but none so much so as France. The great despot who had so long wielded the energies of thatcountry with such wonderful splendor and success found that hisunbounded love of dominion was gradually sapping all the realgood of his people, in chimerical schemes of universal conquest. England, though with much resolution voting new supplies, and inevery way upholding William in his plans for the continuance ofwar, was rejoiced when Louis accepted the mediation of CharlesXI. , king of Sweden, and agreed to concessions which made peacefeasible. The emperor and Charles II. Of Spain, were less satisfiedwith those concessions; but everything was finally arranged to meetthe general views of the parties, and negotiations were openedat Ryswyk. The death of the king of Sweden, and the minority ofhis son and successor, the celebrated Charles XII. , retardedthem on points of form for some time. At length, on the 20th ofSeptember, 1697, the articles of the treaty were subscribed bythe Dutch, English, Spanish, and French ambassadors. The treatyconsisted of seventeen articles. The French king declared hewould not disturb or disquiet the king of Great Britain, whosetitle he now for the first time acknowledged. Between Franceand Holland were declared a general armistice, perpetual amity, a mutual restitution of towns, a reciprocal renunciation of allpretensions upon each other, and a treaty of commerce which wasimmediately put into execution. Thus, after this long, expensive, and sanguinary war, things were established just on the footing theyhad been by the peace of Nimeguen; and a great, though unavailablelesson, read to the world on the futility and wickedness of thosequarrels in which the personal ambition of kings leads to themisery of the people. Had the allies been true to each otherthroughout, Louis would certainly have been reduced much lowerthan he now was. His pride was humbled, and his encroachmentsstopped. But the sufferings of the various countries engaged inthe war were too generally reciprocal to make its result of anymaterial benefit to either. The emperor held out for a while, encouraged by the great victory gained by his general, PrinceEugene of Savoy, over the Turks at Zenta in Hungary; but he finallyacceded to the terms offered by France; the peace, therefore, became general, but, unfortunately for Europe, of very shortduration. 

France, as if looking forward to the speedy renewal of hostilities, still kept her armies undisbanded. Let the foresight of herpoliticians have been what it might, this negative proof of it wasjustified by events. The king of Spain, a weak prince, without anydirect heir for his possessions, considered himself authorized todispose of their succession by will. The leading powers of Europethought otherwise, and took this right upon themselves. Charlesdied on the 1st of November, 1700, and thus put the importantquestion to the test. By a solemn testament he declared Philip, duke of Anjou, second son of the dauphin, and grandson of LouisXIV. , his successor to the whole of the Spanish monarchy. Louisimmediately renounced his adherence to the treaties of partition, executed at The Hague and in London, in 1698 and 1700, and to whichhe had been a contracting party; and prepared to maintain the actby which the last of the descendants of Charles V. Bequeathedthe possessions of Spain and the Indies to the family which hadso long been the inveterate enemy and rival of his own. 

The emperor Leopold, on his part, prepared to defend his claims;and thus commenced the new war between him and France, which tookits name from the succession which formed the object of dispute. Hostilities were commenced in Italy, where Prince Eugene, theconqueror of the Turks, commanded for Leopold, and every daymade for himself a still more brilliant reputation. Louis senthis grandson to Spain to take possession of the inheritance, for which so hard a fight was yet to be maintained, with thestriking expression at parting--"My child, there are no longerany Pyrenees!" an expression most happily unprophetic for thefuture independence of Europe; for the moral force of the barrierhas long existed after the expiration of the family compact whichwas meant to deprive it of its force. 

Louis prepared to act vigorously. Among other measures, he causedpart of the Dutch army that was quartered in Luxemburg and Brabantto be suddenly made prisoners of war, because they would not ownPhilip V. As king of Spain. The states-general were dreadfullyalarmed, immediately made the required acknowledgment, and inconsequence had their soldiers released. They quickly reinforcedtheir garrisons, purchased supplies, solicited foreign aid, andprepared for the worst that might happen. They wrote to KingWilliam, professing the most inviolable attachment to England;and he met their application by warm assurances of support andan immediate reinforcement of three regiments. 

William followed up these measures by the formation of the celebratedtreaty called the Grand Alliance, by which England, the States, and the emperor covenanted for the support of the pretensionsof the latter to the Spanish monarchy. William was preparing, in spite of his declining health, to take his usual lead in themilitary operations now decided on, and almost all Europe wasagain looking forward to his guidance, when he died on the 8th ofMarch, 1701, leaving his great plans to receive their executionfrom still more able adepts in the art of war. 

William's character has been traced by many hands. In his capacityof king of England, it is not our province to judge him in thisplace. As stadtholder of Holland, he merits unqualified praise. Like his great ancestor William I. , whom he more resembled thanany other of his race, he saved the country in a time of suchimminent peril that its abandonment seemed the only resourceleft to the inhabitants, who preferred self-exile to slavery. All his acts were certainly merged in the one overwhelming objectof a great ambition--that noble quality, which, if coupled withthe love of country, is the very essence of true heroism. Williamwas the last of that illustrious line which for a century and ahalf had filled Europe with admiration. He never had a child;and being himself an only one, his title as Prince of Orangepassed into another branch of the family. He left his cousin, Prince Frison of Nassau, the stadtholder of Friesland, his soleand universal heir, and appointed the states-general his executors. 

William's death filled Holland with mourning and alarm. The meetingof the states-general after this sad intelligence was of a mostaffecting description; but William, like all master-minds, hadleft the mantle of his inspiration on his friends and followers. Heinsius, the grand pensionary, followed up the views of thelamented stadtholder with considerable energy, and was answeredby the unanimous exertions of the country. Strong assurancesof support from Queen Anne, William's successor, still furtherencouraged the republic, which now vigorously prepared for war. But it did not lose this occasion of recurring to the form ofgovernment of 1650. No new stadtholder was now appointed; thesupreme authority being vested in the general assembly of thestates, and the active direction of affairs confided to the grandpensionary. This departure from the form of government which hadbeen on various occasions proved to be essential to the safety, although at all times hazardous to the independence, of the States, was not attended with any evil consequences. The factions andthe anarchy which had before been the consequence of the coursenow adopted were prevented by the potent influence of nationalfear lest the enemy might triumph, and crush the hopes, thejealousies, and the enmities of all parties in one general ruin. Thus the common danger awoke a common interest, and the splendidsuccesses of her allies kept Holland steady in the career ofpatriotic energy which had its rise in the dread of her redoubtablefoe. 

The joy in France at William's death was proportionate to thegrief it created in Holland; and the arrogant confidence of Louisseemed to know no bounds. "I will punish these audacious merchants, "said he, with an air of disdain, when he read the manifesto ofHolland; not foreseeing that those he affected to despise somuch would, ere long, command in a great measure the destiniesof his crown. Queen Anne entered upon the war with masculineintrepidity, and maintained it with heroic energy. Efforts weremade by the English ministry and the states-general to mediatebetween the kings of Sweden and Poland. But Charles XII. , enamoredof glory, and bent on the one great object of his designs againstRussia, would listen to nothing that might lead him from hisimmediate career of victory. Many other of the northern princeswere withheld, by various motives, from entering into the contestwith France, and its whole brunt devolved on the original membersof the Grand Alliance. The generals who carried it on wereMarlborough and Prince Eugene. The former, at its commencementan earl, and subsequently raised to the dignity of duke, wasdeclared generalissimo of the Dutch and English forces. He wasa man of most powerful genius, both as warrior and politician. A pupil of the great Turenne, his exploits left those of hismaster in the shade. No commander ever possessed in a greaterdegree the faculty of forming vast designs, and of carrying theminto effect with consummate skill; no one displayed more coolnessand courage in action, saw with a keener eye the errors of theenemy, or knew better how to profit by success. He never laidsiege to a town that he did not take, and never fought a battlethat he did not gain. 

Prince Eugene joined to the highest order of personal bravery aprofound judgment for the grand movements of war, and a capacityfor the most minute of the minor details on which their successfulissue so often depends. United in the same cause, these two greatgenerals pursued their course without the least misunderstanding. At the close of each of those successive campaigns, in which theyreaped such a full harvest of renown, they retired together to TheHague, to arrange, in the profoundest secrecy, the plans for thenext year's operations, with one other person, who formed the greatpoint of union between them, and completed a triumvirate withouta parallel in the history of political affairs. This third wasHeinsius, one of those great men produced by the republic whosenames are tantamount to the most detailed eulogium for talentand patriotism. Every enterprise projected by the confederateswas deliberately examined, rejected, or approved by these threeassociates, whose strict union of purpose, disowning all pettyrivalry, formed the centre of counsels and the source ofcircumstances finally so fatal to France. 

Louis XIV. , now sixty years of age, could no longer himself commandhis armies, or probably did not wish to risk the reputation hewas conscious of having gained by the advice and services ofTurenne, Conde, and Luxemburg. Louvois, too, was dead; and Colbertno longer managed his finances. A council of rash and ignorantministers hung like a dead weight on the talent of the generalswho succeeded the great men above mentioned. Favor and not merittoo often decided promotion, and lavished command. Vendome, Villars, Boufflers, and Berwick were set aside, to make way for Villeroi, Tallard, and Marsin, men every way inferior. 

The war began in 1702 in Italy, and Marlborough opened his firstcampaign in Brabant also in that year. For several succeedingyears the confederates pursued a career of brilliant success, the details of which do not properly belong to this work. A merechronology of celebrated battles would be of little interest, andthe pages of English history abound in records of those deeds. Blenheim, Ramillies, Oudenarde, and Malplaquet, are names thatspeak for themselves, and tell their own tale of glory. The utterhumiliation of France was the result of events, in which theundying fame of England for inflexible perseverance and unboundedgenerosity was joined in the strictest union with that of Holland;and the impetuous valor of the worthy successor to the titleof Prince of Orange was, on many occasions, particularly atMalplaquet, supported by the devotion and gallantry of the Dutchcontingent in the allied armies. The naval affairs of Hollandoffered nothing very remarkable. The states had always a fleetready to support the English in their enterprises; but no eminentadmiral arose to rival the renown of Rooke, Byng, Benbow, and othersof their allies. The first of those admirals took Gibraltar, whichhas ever since remained in the possession of England. The greatearl of Peterborough carried on the war with splendid success inPortugal and Spain, supported occasionally by the English fleetunder Sir Cloudesley Shovel, and that of Holland under AdmiralsAllemonde and Wapenaer. 

During the progress of the war, the haughty and longtime imperialLouis was reduced to a state of humiliation that excited a compassionso profound as to prevent its own open expression--the most gallingof all sentiments to a proud mind. In the year 1709 he solicitedpeace on terms of most abject submission. The states-general, under the influence of the duke of Marlborough and Prince Eugene, rejected all his supplications, retorting unsparingly the insolentharshness with which he had formerly received similar proposalsfrom them. France, roused to renewed exertions by the insultingtreatment experienced by her humiliated but still haughty despot, made prodigious but vain efforts to repair her ruinous losses. In the following year Louis renewed his attempts to obtain sometolerable conditions; offering to renounce his grandson, and tocomply with all the former demands of the confederates. Even theseovertures were rejected; Holland and England appearing satisfiedwith nothing short of--what was after all impracticable--the totaldestruction of the great power which Louis had so long provedto be incompatible with their welfare. 

The war still went on; and the taking of Bouchain on the 30thof August, 1711, closed the almost unrivalled military careerof Marlborough, by the success of one of his boldest and bestconducted exploits. Party intrigue had accomplished what, incourt parlance, is called the disgrace, but which, in the languageof common sense, means only the dismissal of this great man. Thenew ministry, who hated the Dutch, now entered seriously intonegotiations with France. The queen acceded to these views, andsent special envoys to communicate with the court of Versailles. The states-general found it impossible to continue hostilities ifEngland withdrew from the coalition; conferences were consequentlyopened at Utrecht in the month of January, 1712. England tookthe important station of arbiter in the great question theredebated. The only essential conditions which she demandedindividually were the renunciation of all claims to the crown ofFrance by Philip V. , and the demolition of the harbor of Dunkirk. The first of these was the more readily acceded to, as the greatbattles of Almanza and Villaviciosa, gained by Philip's generals, the dukes of Berwick and Vendome, had steadily fixed him on thethrone of Spain--a point still more firmly secured by the deathof the emperor Joseph I. , son of Leopold, and the elevation ofhis brother Charles, Philip's competitor for the crown of Spain, to the imperial dignity, by the title of Charles VI. 

The peace was not definitively signed until the 11th of April, 1713; and France obtained far better conditions than those whichwere refused her a few years previously. The Belgian provinceswere given to the new emperor, and must henceforth be calledthe Austrian instead of the Spanish Netherlands. The gold andthe blood of Holland had been profusely expended during thiscontest; it might seem for no positive results; but the exhaustionproduced to every one of the other belligerents was a sourceof peace and prosperity to the republic. Its commerce wasre-established; its financial resources recovered their level;and altogether we must fix on the epoch now before us as thatof its utmost point of influence and greatness. France, on thecontrary, was now reduced from its palmy state of almost Europeansovereignty to one of the deepest misery; and its monarch, inhis old age, found little left of his former power but thoserecords of poetry, painting, sculpture, and architecture whichtell posterity of his magnificence, and the splendor of whichthrow his faults and his misfortunes into the shade. 

The great object now to be accomplished by the United Provinceswas the regulation of a distinct and guaranteed line of frontierbetween the republic and France. This object had become by degrees, ever since the peace of Munster, a fundamental maxim of theirpolitics. The interposition of the Belgian provinces between therepublic and France was of serious inconvenience to the former inthis point of view. It was made the subject of a special article in"the grand alliance. " In the year 1707 it was particularly discussedbetween England and the States, to the great discontent of theemperor, who was far from wishing its definitive settlement. Butit was now become an indispensable item in the total of importantmeasures whose accomplishment was called for by the peace ofUtrecht. Conferences were opened on this sole question at Antwerpin the year 1714; and, after protracted and difficult discussions, the treaty of the Barrier was concluded on the 15th of November, 1715. 

This treaty was looked on with an evil eye in the AustrianNetherlands. The clamor was great and general; jealousy of thecommercial prosperity of Holland being the real motive. Longnegotiations took place on the subject of the treaty; and inDecember, 1718, the republic consented to modify some of thearticles. The Pragmatic Sanction, published at Vienna in 1713by Charles VI. , regulated the succession to all the imperialhereditary possessions; and, among the rest, the provinces ofthe Netherlands. But this arrangement, though guaranteed by thechief powers of Europe, was, in the sequel, little respected, and but indifferently executed. 

CHAPTER XXI

FROM THE PEACE OF UTRECHT TO THE INCORPORATION OF BELGIUM WITHTHE FRENCH REPUBLIC

A. D. 1713--1795

During a period of thirty years following the treaty of Utrecht, the republic enjoyed the unaccustomed blessing of profound peace. While the discontents of the Austrian Netherlands on the subjectof the treaty of the Barrier were in debate, the quadruple alliancewas formed between Holland, England, France and the emperor, forreciprocal aid against all enemies, foreign and domestic. It wasin virtue of this treaty that the pretender to the English thronereceived orders to remove from France; and the states-generalabout the same time arrested the Swedish ambassador, Baron Gortz, whose intrigues excited some suspicion. The death of Louis XIV. Had once more changed the political system of Europe; and thecommencement of the eighteenth century was fertile in negotiationsand alliances in which we have at present but little direct interest. The rights of the republic were in all instances respected; andHolland did not cease to be considered as a power of the firstdistinction and consequence. The establishment of an East IndiaCompany at Ostend, by the emperor Charles VI. , in 1722, was theprincipal cause of disquiet to the United Provinces, and the mostlikely to lead to a rupture. But, by the treaty of Hanover in1726, the rights of Holland resulting from the treaty of Munsterwere guaranteed; and in consequence the emperor abolished thecompany of his creation, by the treaty of Seville in 1729, andthat of Vienna in 1731. 

The peace which now reigned in Europe allowed the United Provincesto direct their whole efforts toward the reform of those internalabuses resulting from feudality and fanaticism. Confiscationswere reversed, and property secured throughout the republic. It received into its protection the persecuted sectarians ofFrance, Germany, and Hungary; and the tolerant wisdom which itexercised in these measures gives the best assurance of its justiceand prudence in one of a contrary nature, forming a solitaryexception to them. This was the expulsion of the Jesuits, whosedangerous and destructive doctrines had been long a warrant forthis salutary example to the Protestant states of Europe. 

In the year 1732 the United Provinces were threatened with imminentperil, which accident alone prevented from becoming fatal totheir very existence. It was perceived that the dikes, whichhad for ages preserved the coasts, were in many places crumblingto ruin, in spite of the enormous expenditure of money and labordevoted to their preservation. By chance it was discovered that thebeams, piles and other timber works employed in the constructionof the dikes were eaten through in all parts by a species ofsea-worm hitherto unknown. The terror of the people was, as maybe supposed, extreme. Every possible resource was applied whichcould remedy the evil; a hard frost providentially set in anddestroyed the formidable reptiles; and the country was thus savedfrom a danger tenfold greater than that involved in a dozen wars. 

The peace of Europe was once more disturbed in 1733. Poland, Germany, France, and Spain, were all embarked in the new war. Holland and England stood aloof; and another family allianceof great consequence drew still closer than ever the bonds ofunion between them. The young Prince of Orange, who in 1728 hadbeen elected stadtholder of Groningen and Guelders, in additionto that of Friesland which had been enjoyed by his father, hadin the year 1734 married the princess Anne, daughter of GeorgeII. Of England; and by thus adding to the consideration of theHouse of Nassau, had opened a field for the recovery of all itsold distinctions. 

The death of the emperor Charles VI. , in October, 1740, left hisdaughter, the archduchess Maria Theresa, heiress of his throneand possessions. Young, beautiful, and endowed with qualities ofthe highest order, she was surrounded with enemies whose envyand ambition would have despoiled her of her splendid rights. Frederick of Prussia, surnamed the Great, in honor of his abilitiesrather than his sense of justice, the electors of Bavaria andSaxony, and the kings of Spain and Sardinia, all pressed forwardto the spoliation of an inheritance which seemed a fair play forall comers. But Maria Theresa, first joining her husband, DukeFrancis of Lorraine, in her sovereignty, but without prejudice toit, under the title of co-regent, took an attitude truly heroic. When everything seemed to threaten the dismemberment of her states, she threw herself upon the generous fidelity of her Hungariansubjects with a dignified resolution that has few examples. Therewas imperial grandeur even in her appeal to their compassion. The results were electrical; and the whole tide of fortune wasrapidly turned. 

England and Holland were the first to come to the aid of theyoung and interesting empress. George II. , at the head of hisarmy, gained the victory of Dettingen, in support of her quarrel, in 1743; the states-general having contributed twenty thousandmen and a large subsidy to her aid. Louis XV. Resolved to throwhis whole influence into the scale against these generous effortsin the princess's favor; and he invaded the Austrian Netherlandsin the following year. Marshal Saxe commanded under him, and atfirst carried everything before him. Holland, having furnishedtwenty thousand troops and six ships of war to George II. Onthe invasion of the young pretender, was little in a state tooppose any formidable resistance to the enemy that threatenedher own frontiers. The republic, wholly attached for so longa period to pursuits of peace and commerce, had no longer goodgenerals nor effective armies; nor could it even put a fleet ofany importance to sea. Yet with all these disadvantages it wouldnot yield to the threats nor the demands of France; resolvedto risk a new war rather than succumb to an enemy it had onceso completely humbled and given the law to. 

Conferences were opened at Breda, but interrupted almost as soonas commenced. Hostilities were renewed. The memorable battle ofFontenoy was offered and gloriously fought by the allies; acceptedand splendidly won by the French. Never did the English and Dutchtroops act more nobly in concert than on this remarkable occasion. The valor of the French was not less conspicuous; and the successof the day was in a great measure decided by the Irish battalions, sent, by the lamentable politics of those and much later days, to swell the ranks and gain the battles of England's enemies. Marshal Saxe followed up his advantage the following year, takingBrussels and many other towns. Almost the whole of the AustrianNetherlands being now in the power of Louis XV. , and the UnitedProvinces again exposed to invasion and threatened with danger, they had once more recourse to the old expedient of the elevationof the House of Orange, which in times of imminent peril seemedto present a never-failing palladium. Zealand was the first togive the impulsion; the other provinces soon followed the example;and William IV. Was proclaimed stadtholder and captain-general, amid the almost unanimous rejoicings of all. These dignitieswere soon after declared hereditary both in the male and femaleline of succession of the House of Orange Nassau. 

The year 1748 saw the termination of the brilliant campaigns ofLouis XV. During this bloody war of eight years' continuance. The treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, definitively signed on the 18th ofOctober, put an end to hostilities; Maria Theresa was establishedin her rights and power; and Europe saw a fair balance of thenations, which gave promise of security and peace. But the UnitedProvinces, when scarcely recovering from struggles which had sochecked their prosperity, were employed in new and universalgrief and anxiety by the death of their young stadtholder, whichhappened at The Hague, October 13, 1751. He had long been keptout of the government, though by no means deficient in the talentssuited to his station. His son, William V. , aged but three yearsand a half, succeeded him, under the guardianship of his mother, Anne of England, daughter of George II. , a princess representedto be of a proud and ambitious temper, who immediately assumeda high tone of authority in the state. 

The war of seven years, which agitated the north of Europe, anddeluged its plains with blood, was almost the only one in which therepublic was able to preserve a strict neutrality throughout. Butthis happy state of tranquillity was not, as on former occasions, attended by that prodigious increase of commerce, and thataccumulation of wealth, which had so often astonished the world. Differing with England on the policy which led the latter toweaken and humiliate France, jealousies sprung up between thetwo countries, and Dutch commerce became the object of the mostvexatious and injurious efforts on the part of England. Remonstrancewas vain; resistance impossible; and the decline of the republichurried rapidly on. The Hanseatic towns, the American colonies, thenorthern states of Europe, and France itself, all entered into therivalry with Holland, in which, however, England carried off themost important prizes. Several private and petty encounters tookplace between the vessels of England and Holland, in consequenceof the pretensions of the former to the right of search; and hadthe republic possessed the ability of former periods, and thetalents of a Tromp or a De Ruyter, a new war would no doubt havebeen the result. But it was forced to submit; and a degrading butirritating tranquillity was the consequence for several years;the national feelings receiving a salve for home-decline by someextension of colonial settlements in the East, in which the islandof Ceylon was included. 

In the midst of this inglorious state of things, and the domesticabundance which was the only compensation for the gradual lossof national influence, the installation of William V. , in 1766;his marriage with the princess of Prussia, niece of Frederickthe Great, in 1768; and the birth of two sons, the eldest onthe 24th of August, 1772; successively took place. Magnificentfetes celebrated these events; the satisfied citizens littleimagining, amid their indolent rejoicings, the dismal futurity ofrevolution and distress which was silently but rapidly preparingfor their country. 

Maria Theresa, reduced to widowhood by the death of her husband, whom she had elevated to the imperial dignity by the title ofFrancis I. , continued for a while to rule singly her vastpossessions; and had profited so little by the sufferings of herown early reign that she joined in the iniquitous dismembermentof Poland, which has left an indelible stain on her memory, and onthat of Frederick of Prussia and Catherine of Russia. In her owndominions she was adored; and her name is to this day cherishedin Belgium among the dearest recollections of the people. 

The impulsion given to the political mind of Europe by the revolutionin North America was soon felt in the Netherlands. The wish forreform was not merely confirmed to the people. A memorable instancewas offered by Joseph II. , son and successor of Maria Theresa, that sovereigns were not only susceptible of rational notionsof change, but that the infection of radical extravagance couldpenetrate even to the imperial crown. Disgusted by the despotismexercised by the clergy of Belgium, Joseph commenced his reignby measures that at once roused a desperate spirit of hostilityin the priesthood, and soon spread among the bigoted mass of thepeople, who were wholly subservient to their will. Miscalculatinghis own power, and undervaluing that of the priests, the emperorissued decrees and edicts with a sweeping violence that shockedevery prejudice and roused every passion perilous to the country. Toleration to the Protestants, emancipation of the clergy from thepapal yoke, reformation in the system of theological instruction, were among the wholesale measures of the emperor's enthusiasm, so imprudently attempted and so virulently opposed. 

But ere the deep-sown seeds of bigotry ripened to revolt, orproduced the fruit of active resistance in Belgium, Holland hadto endure the mortification of another war with England. Therepublic resolved on a futile imitation of the northern powers, who had adopted the difficult and anomalous system of an armedneutrality, for the prevention of English domination on the seas. The right of search, so proudly established by this power, was notlikely to be wrenched from it by manifestoes or remonstrances;and Holland was not capable of a more effectual warfare. In theyear 1781, St. Eustache, Surinam, Essequibo, and Demerara, weretaken by British valor; and in the following year several of theDutch colonies in the East, well fortified but ill defended, also fell into the hands of England. Almost the whole of thosecolonies, the remnants of prodigious power acquired by suchincalculable instances of enterprise and courage, were one by oneassailed and taken. But this did not suffice for the satisfactionof English objects in the prosecution of the war. It was alsoresolved to deprive Holland of the Baltic trade. A squadron ofseven vessels, commanded by Sir Hyde Parker, was encountered onthe Dogher Bank by a squadron of Dutch ships of the same forceunder Admiral Zoutman. An action of four hours was maintainedwith all the ancient courage which made so many of the memorablesea-fights between Tromp, De Ruyter, Blake, and Monk drawn battles. A storm separated the combatants, and saved the honor of each;for both had suffered alike, and victory had belonged to neither. The peace of 1784 terminated this short, but, to Holland, fatalwar; the two latter years of which had been, in the petty warfareof privateering, most disastrous to the commerce of the republic. Negapatam, on the coast of Coromandel, and the free navigation ofthe Indian seas, were ceded to England, who occupied the othervarious colonies taken during the war. 

Opinion was now rapidly opening out to that spirit of intenseinquiry which arose in France, and threatened to sweep beforeit not only all that was corrupt, but everything that tendedto corruption. It is in the very essence of all kinds of powerto have that tendency, and, if not checked by salutary means, to reach that end. But the reformers of the last century, newin the desperate practice of revolutions, seeing its necessity, but ignorant of its nature, neither did nor could place boundsto the careering whirlwind that they raised. The well-meaningbut intemperate changes essayed by Joseph II. In Belgium had aconsiderable share in the development of free principles, althoughthey at first seemed only to excite the resistance of bigotry andstrengthen the growth of superstition. Holland was always aliveto those feelings of resistance, to established authority whichcharacterize republican opinions; and the general discontent at theresult of the war with England gave a good excuse to the pretendedpatriotism which only wanted change, while it professed reform. The stadtholder saw clearly the storm which was gathering, andwhich menaced his power. Anxious for the present, and uncertainfor the future, he listened to the suggestions of England, andresolved to secure and extend by foreign force the rights ofwhich he risked the loss from domestic faction. 

In the divisions which were now loudly proclaimed among the statesin favor of or opposed to the House of Orange, the people, despisingall new theories which they did not comprehend, took open partwith the family so closely connected with every practical feelingof good which their country had yet known. The states of Hollandsoon proceeded to measures of violence. Resolved to limit thepower of the stadtholder, they deprived him of the command ofthe garrison of The Hague, and of all the other troops of theprovince; and, shortly afterward, declared him removed from allhis employments. The violent disputes and vehement discussionsconsequent upon this measure throughout the republic announcedan inevitable commotion. The advance of a Prussian army towardthe frontiers inflamed the passions of one party and strengthenedthe confidence of the other. An incident which now happened broughtabout the crisis even sooner than was expected. The Princessof Orange left her palace at Loo to repair to The Hague; andtravelling with great simplicity and slightly attended, she wasarrested and detained by a military post on the frontiers of theprovince of Holland. The neighboring magistrates of the town ofWoesden refused her permission to continue her journey, and forcedher to return to Loo under such surveillance as was usual with aprisoner of state. The stadtholder and the English ambassadorloudly complained of this outrage. The complaint was answeredby the immediate advance of the duke of Brunswick with twentythousand Prussian soldiers. Some demonstrations of resistancewere made by the astonished party whose outrageous conduct hadprovoked the measure; but in three weeks' time the whole of therepublic was in perfect obedience to the authority of thestadtholder, who resumed all his functions of chief magistrate, with the additional influence which was sure to result from avain and unjustifiable attempt to reduce his former power. Weregret to be beyond the reach of Mr. Ellis's interesting butunpublished work, detailing the particulars of this revolution. The former persual of a copy of it only leaves a recollectionof its admirable style and the leading facts, but not of thedetails with sufficient accuracy to justify more than a generalreference to the work itself. 

By this time the discontent and agitation in Belgium had attaineda most formidable height. The attempted reformation in religionand judicial abuses persisted in by the emperor were represented, by a party whose existence was compromised by reform, as nothingless than sacrilege and tyranny, and blindly rejected by a peoplestill totally unfitted for rational enlightenment in points offaith, or practices of civilization. Remonstrances and strongcomplaints were soon succeeded by tumultuous assemblages andopen insurrection. A lawyer of Brussels, named Vander Noot, puthimself at the head of the malcontents. The states-general ofBrabant declared the new measures of the emperor to be in oppositionto the constitution and privileges of the country. The otherBelgian provinces soon followed this example. The prince Albertof Saxe-Teschen, and the archduchess Maria Theresa, his wife, were at this period joint governors-general of the AustrianNetherlands. At the burst of rebellion they attempted to temporize;but this only strengthened the revolutionary party, while theemperor wholly disapproved their measures and recalled them toVienna. 

Count Murray was now named governor-general; and it was evidentthat the future fate of the provinces was to depend on the issueof civil war. Count Trautmansdorff, the imperial minister atBrussels, and General D'Alton, who commanded the Austrian troops, took a high tone, and evinced a peremptory resolution. The soldieryand the citizens soon came into contact on many points; and bloodwas spilled at Brussels, Mechlin, and Antwerp. 

The provincial states were convoked, for the purpose of votingthe usual subsidies. Brabant, after some opposition, consented; butthe states of Hainault unanimously refused the vote. The emperorsaw, or supposed, that the necessity for decisive measures wasnow inevitable. The refractory states were dissolved, and arrestsand imprisonments were multiplied in all quarters. Vander Noot, who had escaped to England, soon returned to the Netherlands, and established a committee at Breda, which conferred on him theimposing title of agent plenipotentiary of the people of Brabant. He hoped, under this authority, to interest the English, Prussian, and Dutch governments in favor of his views; but his proposalswere coldly received: Protesiant states had little sympathy fora people whose resistance was excited, not by tyrannical effortsagainst freedom, but by broad measures of civil and religiousreformation; the only fault of which was their attempted applicationto minds wholly incompetent to comprehend their value. 

Left to themselves, the Belgians soon gave a display of thatenergetic valor which is natural to them, and which would beentitled to still greater admiration had it been evinced in aworthier cause. During the fermentation which led to a generalrising in the provinces, on the impulse of fanatic zeal, thetruly enlightened portion of the people conceived the project ofraising, on the ruins of monkish superstition and aristocraticalpower, an edifice of constitutional freedom. Vonck, also an advocateof Brussels, took the lead in this splendid design; and he andhis friends proved themselves to have reached the level of thattrue enlightenment which distinguished the close of the eighteenthcentury. But the Vonckists, as they were called, formed but asmall minority compared with the besotted mass; and, overwhelmedby fanaticism on the one hand, and despotism on the other, theywere unable to act effectually for the public good. Vander Mersch, a soldier of fortune, and a man of considerable talents, who hadraised himself from the ranks to the command of a regiment, andhad been formed in the school of the seven years' war, was appointedto the command of the patriot forces. Joseph II. Was declaredto have forfeited his sovereignty in Brabant; and hostilitiessoon commenced by a regular advance of the insurgent army uponthat province. Vander Mersch displayed consummate ability inthis crisis, where so much depended upon the prudence of themilitary chief. He made no rash attempt, to which commanders aresometimes induced by reliance upon the enthusiasm of a newlyrevolted people. He, however, took the earliest safe opportunityof coming to blows with the enemy; and, having cleverly inducedthe Austrians to follow him into the very streets of the townof Turnhout, he there entered on a bloody contest, and finallydefeated the imperialists with considerable loss. He next manoeuvredwith great ability, and succeeded in making his way into theprovince of Flanders, took Ghent by assault, and soon reducedBruges, Ypres, and Ostend. At the news of these successes, thegovernors-general quitted Brussels in all haste. The states ofFlanders assembled, in junction with those of Brabant. Both provinceswere freed from the presence of the Austrian troops. Vander Nootand the committee of Breda made an entrance into Brussels withall the pomp of royalty; and in the early part of the followingyear (1790) a treaty of union was signed by the seven revoltedprovinces, now formed into a confederation under the name ofthe United Belgian States. 

All the hopes arising from these brilliant events were soon, however, to be blighted by the scorching heats of faction. JosephII. , whose temperament appears to have been too sensitive tosupport the shock of disappointment in plans which sprung from thepurest motives, saw, in addition to this successful insurrectionagainst his power, his beloved sister, the queen of France, menacedwith the horrors of an inevitable revolution. His over-sanguineexpectations of successfully rivalling the glory of Frederickand Catherine, and the ill success of his war against the Turks, all tended to break down his enthusiastic spirit, which onlywanted the elastic resistance of fortitude to have made him agreat character. He for some time sunk into a profound melancholy;and expired on the 20th of January, 1791, accusing his Belgiansubjects of having caused his premature death. 

Leopold, the successor of his brother, displayed much sagacityand moderation in the measures which he adopted for the recoveryof the revolted provinces; but their internal disunion was thebest ally of the new emperor. The violent party which now ruledat Brussels had ungratefully forgotten the eminent services ofVander Mersch, and accused him of treachery, merely from hisattachment to the noble views and principles of the widely-increasingparty of the Vonckists. Induced by the hope of reconciling theopposing parties, he left his army in Namur, and imprudentlyventured into the power of General Schoenfeld, who commandedthe troops of the states. Vander Mersch was instantly arrestedand thrown into prison, where he lingered for months, until setfree by the overthrow of the faction he had raised to power; buthe did not recover his liberty to witness the realization ofhis hopes for that of his country. The states-general, in theirtriumph over all that was truly patriotic, occupied themselvessolely in contemptible labors to establish the monkish absurditieswhich Joseph had suppressed. The overtures of the new emperor wererejected with scorn; and, as might be expected from this combinationof bigotry and rashness, the imperial troops under General Bendermarched quietly to the conquest of the whole country; town aftertown opening their gates, while Vander Noot and his partisansbetook themselves to rapid and disgraceful flight. On the 10thof December, 1791, the ministers of the emperor concluded aconvention with those of England, Russia, and Holland (whichpowers guaranteed its execution), by which Leopold granted anamnesty for all past offences, and confirmed to all his recoveredprovinces their ancient constitution and privileges; and, thusreturning under the domination of Austria, Belgium saw its bestchance for successfully following the noble example of the UnitedProvinces paralyzed by the short-sighted bigotry which deprivedthe national courage of all moral force. 

Leopold enjoyed but a short time the fruits of his well-measuredindulgence: he died, almost suddenly, March 1, 1792; and wassucceeded by his son Francis II. , whose fate it was to see thoseprovinces of Belgium, which had cost his ancestors so many strugglesto maintain, wrested forever from the imperial power. Belgiumpresented at this period an aspect of paramount interest to theworld; less owing to its intrinsic importance than to its becomingat once the point of contest between the contending powers, andthe theatre of the terrible struggle between republican France andthe monarchs she braved and battled with. The whole combinationsof European policy were staked on the question of the Frenchpossession of this country. 

This war between France and Austria began its earliest operationson the very first days after the accession of Francis II. Thevictory of Jemappes, gained by Dumouriez, was the first greatevent of the campaign. The Austrians were on all sides drivenout. Dumouriez made his triumphal entry into Brussels on the13th of November; and immediately after the occupation of thistown the whole of Flanders, Brabant, and Hainault, with the otherBelgian provinces, were subjected to France. Soon afterward severalpretended deputies from the Belgian people hastened to Paris, andimplored the convention to grant them a share of that libertyand equality which was to confer such inestimable blessings onFrance. Various decrees were issued in consequence; and afterthe mockery of a public choice, hurried on in several of thetowns by hired Jacobins and well-paid patriots, the incorporationof the Austrian Netherlands with the French republic was formallypronounced. 

The next campaign destroyed this whole fabric of revolution. Dumouriez, beaten at Nerwinde by the prince of Saxe-Coburg, abandonednot only his last year's conquest, but fled from his own army topass the remainder of his life on a foreign soil, and leave hisreputation a doubtful legacy to history. Belgium, once again inthe possession of Austria, was placed under the government ofthe archduke Charles, the emperor's brother, who was destinedto a very brief continuance in this precarious authority. 

During this and the succeeding year the war was continued withunbroken perseverance and a constant fluctuation in its results. In the various battles which were fought, and the sieges which tookplace, the English army was, as usual, in the foremost ranks, underthe Duke of York, second son of George III. The Prince of Orange, at the head of the Dutch troops, proved his inheritance of thevalor which seems inseparable from the name of Nassau. The archdukeCharles laid the foundation of his subsequent high reputation. The emperor Francis himself fought valiantly at the head of histroops. But all the coalesced courage of these princes and theirarmies could not effectually stop the progress of the republicanarms. The battle of Fleurus rendered the French completely mastersof Belgium; and the representatives of the city of Brussels oncemore repaired to the national convention of France, to solicitthe reincorporation of the two countries. This was not, however, finally pronounced till the 1st of October, 1795, by which timethe violence of an arbitrary government had given the people asample of what they were to expect. The Austrian Netherlands andthe province of Liege were divided into nine departments, formingan integral part of the French republic; and this new state ofthings was consolidated by the preliminaries of peace, signedat Leoben in Styria, between the French general Bonaparte and thearchduke Charles, and confirmed by the treaty of Campo-Formioon the 17th of October, 1797. 

CHAPTER XXII

FROM THE INVASION OF HOLLAND BY THE FRENCH TO THE RETURN OF THEPRINCE OF ORANGE

A. D. 1794--1818

While the fate of Belgium was decided on the plains of Fleurus, Pichegru prepared to carry the triumphant arms of France intothe heart of Holland. He crossed the Meuse at the head of onehundred thousand men, and soon gained possession of most of thechief places of Flanders. An unusually severe winter was settingin; but a circumstance which in common cases retards the operationsof war was, in the present instance, the means of hurrying on theconquest on which the French general was bent. The arms of thesea, which had hitherto been the best defences of Holland, nowbecame solid masses of ice; battlefields, on which the soldiersmanoeuvred and the artillery thundered, as if the laws of theelements were repealed to hasten the fall of the once proud andlong flourishing republic. Nothing could arrest the ambitiousardor of the invaders. The Duke of York and his brave army resistedto the utmost; but, borne down by numbers, he was driven fromposition to position. Batteries, cannons, and magazines weresuccessfully taken; and Pichegru was soon at the term of hisbrilliant exploits. 

But Holland speedily ceased to be a scene of warfare. Thediscontented portion of the citizens, now the majority, rejoicedto retaliate the revolution of 1787 by another, received the Frenchas liberators. Reduced to extremity, yet still capable by the aidof his allies of making a long and desperate resistance, thestadtholder took the nobler resolution of saving his fellow-citizensfrom the horrors of prolonged warfare. He repaired to The Hague;presented himself in the assembly of the states-general; andsolemnly deposited in their hands the exercise of the supremepower, which he found he could no longer wield but to entailmisery and ruin on his conquered country. After this splendidinstance of true patriotism and rare virtue, he quitted Holland andtook refuge in England. The states-general dissolved a nationalassembly installed at The Hague; and, the stadtholderate abolished, the United Provinces now changed their form of government, theirlong-cherished institutions, and their very name, and were christenedthe Batavian Republic. 

Assurances of the most flattering nature were profusely showeredon the new state, by the sister republic which had effected thisnew revolution. But the first measure of regeneration was thenecessity of paying for the recovered independence, which waseffected for the sum of one hundred million florins. The newconstitution was almost entirely modelled on that of France, and the promised independence soon became a state of deplorablesuffering and virtual slavery. Incalculable evils were the portionof Holland in the part which she was forced to take in the warbetween France and England. Her marine was nearly annihilated, and some of her most valuable possessions in the Indies ravishedfrom her by the British arms. She was at the same time obligedto cede to her ally the whole of Dutch Flanders, Maestricht, Venloo, and their dependencies; and to render free and commonto both nations the navigation of the Rhine, the Meuse, and theScheldt. 

The internal situation of the unfortunate republic was deplorable. Under the weight of an enormous and daily increasing debt, allthe resources of trade and industry were paralyzed. Universalmisery took place of opulence, and not even the consolation of afree constitution remained to the people. They vainly sought thatblessing from each new government of the country whose destiniesthey followed, but whose advantages they did not share. They sawthemselves successively governed by the states-general, a nationalassembly, and the directory. But these ephemeral authorities hadnot sufficient weight to give the nation domestic happiness, nor consideration among the other powers. 

On the 11th of October, 1797, the English admiral, Sir Adam Duncan, with a superior force, encountered the Dutch fleet under De Winteroff Camperdown; and in spite of the bravery of the latter he wastaken prisoner, with nine ships of the line and a frigate. Anexpedition on an extensive scale was soon after fitted out inEngland, to co-operate with a Russian force for the establishmentof the House of Orange. The Helder was the destination of thisarmament, which was commanded by Sir Ralph Abercrombie. The Duke ofYork soon arrived in the Texel with a considerable reinforcement. A series of severe, and well-contested actions near Bergen endedin the defeat of the allies and the abandonment of the enterprise;the only success of which was the capture of the remains of theDutch fleet, which was safely conveyed to England. 

From this period the weight of French oppression became everyday more intolerable in Holland. Ministers, generals, and everyother species of functionary, with swarms of minor tyrants, whiletreating the country as a conquered province, deprived it of allshare in the brilliant though checkered glories gained by thatto which it was subservient. The Dutch were robbed of nationalindependence and personal freedom. While the words "liberty" and"equality" were everywhere emblazoned, the French ambassadorassumed an almost Oriental despotism. The language and forms of afree government were used only to sanction a foreign tyranny; andthe Batavian republic, reduced to the most hopeless and degradedstate, was in fact but a forced appendage chained to the triumphalcar of France. 

Napoleon Bonaparte, creating by the force of his prodigious talentsthe circumstances of which inferior minds are but the creatures, nowrapidly rose to the topmost height of power. He not only toweredabove the mass of prejudices which long custom had legalized, but spurned the multitude by whom these prejudices had beenoverthrown. Yet he was not of the first order of great minds;for he wanted that grand principle of self-control which is thesupreme attribute of greatness. Potent, and almost irresistiblein every conflict with others, and only to be vanquished by hisown acts, he possessed many of the higher qualities of genius. He was rapid, resolute, and daring, filled with contempt forthe littleness of mankind, yet molding every atom which composedthat littleness to purposes at utter variance with its nature. In defiance of the first essence of republican theory, he builthimself an imperial throne on the crushed privileges of a prostratepeople; and he lavished titles and dignities on men raised fromits very dregs, with a profusion which made nobility a byword ofscorn. Kingdoms were created for his brothers and his friends;and the Batavian republic was made a monarchy, to give Louis adignity, or at least a title, like the rest. 

The character of Louis Bonaparte was gentle and amiable, hismanners easy and affable. He entered on his new rank with thebest intentions toward the country which he was sent to reignover; and though he felt acutely when the people refused himmarks of respect and applause, which was frequently the case, his temper was not soured, and he conceived no resentment. Heendeavored to merit popularity; and though his power was scanty, his efforts were not wholly unsuccessful. He labored to revive theruined trade, which he knew to be the staple of Dutch prosperity:but the measures springing from this praiseworthy motive weretotally opposed to the policy of Napoleon; and in proportion asLouis made friends and partisans among his subjects, he excitedbitter enmity in his imperial brother. Louis was so averse fromthe continental system, or exclusion of British manufactures, thatduring his short reign every facility was given to his subjectsto elude it, even in defiance of the orders conveyed to him fromParis through the medium of the French ambassador at The Hague. He imposed no restraints on public opinion, nor would he establishthe odious system of espionage cherished by the French police;but he was fickle in his purposes, and prodigal in his expenses. The profuseness of his expenditure was very offensive to theDutch notions of respectability in matters of private finance, and injurious to the existing state of the public means. Thetyranny of Napoleon became soon quite insupportable to him; somuch so, that it is believed that had the ill-fated Englishexpedition to Walcheren in 1809 succeeded, and the army advancedinto the country, he would have declared war against France. After an ineffectual struggle of more than three years, he choserather to abdicate his throne than retain it under the degradingconditions of proconsulate subserviency. This measure excitedconsiderable regret, and much esteem for the man who preferredthe retirement of private life to the meanness of regal slavery. But Louis left a galling memento of misplaced magnificence, inan increase of ninety millions of florins (about nine millionssterling) to the already oppressive amount of the national debtof the country. 

The annexation of Holland to the French empire was immediatelypronounced by Napoleon. Two-thirds of the national debt wereabolished, the conscription law was introduced, and the Berlinand Milan decrees against the introduction of British manufactureswere rigidly enforced. The nature of the evils inflicted on theDutch people by this annexation and its consequences demand asomewhat minute examination. Previous to it all that part ofthe territory of the former United Provinces had been ceded toFrance. The kingdom of Holland consisted of the departments ofthe Zuyder Zee, the mouths of the Maese, the Upper Yssel, themouths of the Yssel, Friesland, and the Western and Eastern Ems;and the population of the whole did not exceed one million eighthundred thousand souls. When Louis abdicated his throne, he lefta military and naval force of eighteen thousand men, who wereimmediately taken into the service of France; and in three yearsand a half after that event this number was increased to fiftythousand, by the operation of the French naval and military code:thus about a thirty-sixth part of the whole population was employedin arms. The forces included in the maritime conscription werewholly employed in the navy. The national guards were on constantduty in the garrisons or naval establishments. The cohorts wereby law only liable to serve in the _interior_ of the Frenchempire--that is to say, from Hamburg to Rome; but after the Russiancampaign, this limitation was disregarded, and they formed apart of Napoleon's army at the battle of Bautzen. 

The conscription laws now began to be executed with the greatestrigor; and though the strictest justice and impartiality wereobserved in the ballot and other details of this most oppressivemeasure, yet it has been calculated that, on an average, nearlyone-half of the male population of the age of twenty years wasannually taken off. The conscripts were told that their service wasnot to extend beyond the term of five years; but as few instancesoccurred of a French soldier being discharged without his beingdeclared unfit for service, it was always considered in Hollandthat the service of a conscript was tantamount to an obligationduring life. Besides, the regulations respecting the conscriptionwere annually changed, by which means the code became each yearmore intricate and confused; and as the explanation of any doubtrested with the functionaries, to whom the execution of the lawwas confided, there was little chance of their constructionsmitigating its severity. 

But the conscription, however galling, was general in its operation. Not so the formation of the emperor's guard of honor. The membersof this patrician troop were chosen from the most noble and opulentfamilies, particularly those who were deemed inimical to the Frenchconnection. The selection depended altogether on the prefect, whowas sure to name those most obnoxious to his political or personaldislike, without regard to their rank or occupation, or even thestate of their health. No exemption was admitted--not even tothose who from mental or bodily infirmity, or other cause, hadbeen declared unfit for general military duty. The victims wereforced to the mockery of volunteering their services; obliged toprovide themselves with horses, arms, and accoutrements; and whenarrived at the depot appointed for their assembling, consideredprobably but as hostages for the fidelity of their relatives. 

The various taxes were laid on and levied in the most oppressivemanner; those on land usually amounting to twenty-five, and thoseon houses to thirty per cent of the clear annual rent. Otherdirect taxes were levied on persons and movable property, andall were regulated on a scale of almost intolerable severity. Thewhole sum annually obtained from Holland by these means amountedto about thirty millions of florins (or three million poundssterling), being at the rate of about one pound thirteen shillingsfour pence from every soul inhabiting the country. 

The operation of what was called the continental system createdan excess of misery in Holland, only to be understood by those whowitnessed its lamentable results. In other countries, Belgium forinstance, where great manufactories existed, the loss of maritimecommunication was compensated by the exclusion of English goods. Instates possessed of large and fertile territories, the populationwhich could no longer be employed in commerce might be occupiedin agricultural pursuits. But in Holland, whose manufactures wereinconsiderable, and whose territory is insufficient to supportits inhabitants, the destruction of trade threw innumerableindividuals wholly out of employment, and produced a graduatedscale of poverty in all ranks. A considerable part of the populationhad been employed in various branches of the traffic carried onby means of the many canals which conveyed merchandise from theseaports into the interior, and to the different continentalmarkets. When the communication with England was cut off, principalsand subordinates were involved in a common ruin. 

In France, the effect of the continental system was somewhatalleviated by the license trade, the exportation of variousproductions forced on the rest of continental Europe, and theencouragement given to home manufactures. But all this was reversedin Holland: the few licenses granted to the Dutch were cloggedwith duties so exorbitant as to make them useless; the duties onone ship which entered the Maese, loaded with sugar and coffee, amounting to about fifty thousand pounds sterling. At the sametime every means was used to crush the remnant of Dutch commerceand sacrifice the country to France. The Dutch troops were clothedand armed from French manufactories; the frontiers were openedto the introduction of French commodities duty free; and theDutch manufacturer undersold in his own market. 

The population of Amsterdam was reduced from two hundred andtwenty thousand souls to one hundred and ninety thousand, of whicha fourth part derived their whole subsistence from charitableinstitutions, while another fourth part received partial succorfrom the same sources. At Haarlem, where the population had beenchiefly employed in bleaching and preparing linen made in Brabant, whole streets were levelled with the ground, and more than fivehundred houses destroyed. At The Hague, at Delft, and in othertowns, many inhabitants had been induced to pull down their houses, from inability to keep them in repair or pay the taxes. Thepreservation of the dikes, requiring an annual expense of sixhundred thousand pounds sterling, was everywhere neglected. Thesea inundated the country, and threatened to resume its ancientdominion. No object of ambition, no source of professional wealthor distinction, remained to which a Hollander could aspire. Nonecould voluntarily enter the army or navy, to fight for the worstenemy of Holland. The clergy were not provided with a decentcompetency. The ancient laws of the country, so dear to its prideand its prejudices, were replaced by the Code Napoleon; so thatold practitioners had to recommence their studies, and youngmen were disgusted with the drudgery of learning a system whichwas universally pronounced unfit for a commercial country. 

Independent of this mass of positive ill, it must be borne inmind that in Holland trade was not merely a means of gainingwealth, but a passion long and deeply grafted on the nationalmind: so that the Dutch felt every aggravation of calamity, considering themselves degraded and sacrificed by a power whichhad robbed them of all which attaches a people to their nativeland; and, for an accumulated list of evils, only offered themthe empty glory of appertaining to the country which gave thelaw to all the nations of Europe, with the sole exception ofEngland. 

Those who have considered the events noted in this history forthe last two hundred years, and followed the fluctuations ofpublic opinion depending on prosperity or misfortune, will haveanticipated that, in the present calamitous state of the country, all eyes were turned toward the family whose memory was revived byevery pang of slavery, and associated with every throb for freedom. The presence of the Prince of Orange, William IV. , who had, onthe death of his father, succeeded to the title, though he hadlost the revenues of his ancient house, and the re-establishmentof the connection with England, were now the general desire. Some of the principal partisans of the House of Nassau were forsome time in correspondence with his most serene highness. Theleaders of the various parties into which the country was dividedbecame by degrees more closely united. Approaches toward a betterunderstanding were reciprocally made; and they ended in a generalanxiety for the expulsion of the French, with the establishmentof a free constitution, and a cordial desire that the Prince ofOrange should be at its head. It may be safely affirmed, that, at the close of the year 1813, these were the unanimous wishesof the Dutch nation. 

Napoleon, lost in the labyrinths of his exorbitant ambition, afforded at length a chance of redress to the nations he hadenslaved. Elevated so suddenly and so high, he seemed suspendedbetween two influences, and unfit for either. He might, in amoral view, be said to have breathed badly, in a station whichwas beyond the atmosphere of his natural world, without beingout of its attraction; and having reached the pinnacle, he soonlost his balance and fell. Driven from Russia by the junction ofhuman with elemental force, in 1812, he made some grand effortsin the following year to recover from his irremediable reverses. The battles of Bautzen and Lutzen were the expiring efforts ofhis greatness. That of Leipzig put a fatal negative upon thehopes that sprang from the two former; and the obstinate ambition, which at this epoch made him refuse the most liberal offers ofthe allies, was justly punished by humiliation and defeat. Almostall the powers of Europe now leagued against him; and Franceitself being worn out by his wasteful expenditure of men andmoney, he had no longer a chance in resistance. The empire wasattacked at all points. The French troops in Holland were drawnoff to reinforce the armies in distant directions; and the wholemilitary force in that country scarcely exceeded ten thousandmen. The advance of the combined armies toward the frontiersbecame generally known: parties of Cossacks had entered the northof Holland in November, and were scouring the country beyond theYssel. The moment for action on the part of the Dutch confederatepatriots had now arrived; and it was not lost or neglected. 

A people inured to revolutions for upward of two centuries, filledwith proud recollections, and urged on by well-digested hopes, were the most likely to understand the best period and the surestmeans for success. An attempt that might have appeared to othernations rash was proved to be wise, both by the reasonings of itsauthors and its own results. The intolerable tyranny of Francehad made the population not only ripe, but eager for revolt. This disposition was acted on by a few enterprising men, at oncepartisans of the House of Orange and patriots in the truest senseof the word. It would be unjust to omit the mention of some oftheir names in even this sketch of the events which sprang fromtheir courage and sagacity. Count Styrum, Messieurs Repelaerd'Jonge, Van Hogendorp, Vander Duyn van Maasdam, and Changuion, were the chiefs of the intrepid junta which planned and executedthe bold measures of enfranchisement, and drew up the outlinesof the constitution which was afterward enlarged and ratified. Their first movements at The Hague were totally unsupported byforeign aid. Their early checks from the exasperated French andtheir overcautious countrymen would have deterred most men embarkedin so perilous a venture; but they never swerved nor shrank back. At the head of a force, which courtesy and policy called an army, of three hundred national guards badly armed, fifty citizenscarrying fowling-pieces, fifty soldiers of the old Dutch guard, four hundred auxiliary citizens armed with pikes, and a cavalryforce of twenty young men, the confederates oddly proclaimedthe Prince of Orange, on the 17th of November, 1813, in theiropen village of The Hague, and in the teeth of a French force offull ten thousand men, occupying every fortress in the country. 

While a few gentlemen thus boldly came forward, at their ownrisk, with no funds but their private fortunes, and only aided byan unarmed populace, to declare war against the French emperor, they did not even know the residence of the exiled prince inwhose cause they were now so completely compromised. The othertowns of Holland were in a state of the greatest incertitude:Rotterdam had not moved; and the intentions of Admiral Kickert, who commanded there, were (mistakenly) supposed to be decidedlyhostile to the national cause. Amsterdam had, on the precedingday, been the scene of a popular commotion, which, however, boreno decided character; the rioters having been fired on by thenational guard, no leader coming forward, and the proclamationof the magistrates cautiously abstaining from any allusion tothe Prince of Orange. A brave officer, Captain Falck, had madeuse of many strong but inefficient arguments to prevail on thetimid corporation to declare for the prince; the presence ofa French garrison of sixty men seeming sufficient to preservetheir patriotism from any violent excess. 

The subsequent events at The Hague furnish an inspiring lesson forall people who would learn that to be free they must be resoluteand daring. The only hope of the confederates was from the Britishgovernment, and the combined armies then acting in the north ofEurope. But many days were to be lingered through before troopscould be embarked, and make their way from England in the teethof the easterly winds then prevailing; while a few Cossacks, hovering on the confines of Holland, gave the only evidence ofthe proximity of the allied forces. 

In this crisis, it was most fortunate that the French prefectat The Hague, M. De Stassart, had stolen away on the earliestalarm; and the French garrison of four hundred chasseurs, aidedby one hundred well-armed custom-house officers, under the commandof General Bouvier des Eclats, caught the contagious fears of thecivil functionary. This force had retired to the old palace--abuilding in the centre of the town, the depot of all the arms andammunition then at The Hague, and, from its position, capableof some defence. But the general and his garrison soon felt acomplete panic from the bold attitude of Count Styrum, who madethe most of his little means, and kept up, during the night, aprodigious clatter by his twenty horsemen; sentinels challenging, amid incessant singing and shouting, cries of "Oranje boven!""Vivat Oranje!" and clamorous patrols of the excited citizens. At an early hour on the 18th, the French general demanded terms, and obtained permission to retire on Gorcum, his garrison beingescorted as far as the village of Ryswyk by the twenty cavalierswho composed the whole mounted force of the patriots. 

Unceasing efforts were now made to remedy the want of arms andmen. A quantity of pikes were rudely made and distributed tothe volunteers who crowded in; and numerous fishing-boats weredespatched in different directions to inform the British cruisersof the passing events. An individual named Pronck, an inhabitantof Schævening, a village of the coast, rendered great servicesin this way, from his influence among the sailors and fishermenin the neighborhood. 

The confederates spared no exertion to increase the confidenceof the people under many contradictory and dishearteningcontingencies. An officer who had been despatched for adviceand information to Baron Bentinck, at Zwolle, who was incommunication with the allies, returned with the discouragingnews that General Bulow had orders not to pass the Yssel, theallies having decided not to advance into Holland beyond theline of that river. A meeting of the ancient regents of The Haguewas convoked by the proclamation of the confederates, and tookplace at the house of Mr. Van Hogendorp, the ancient residenceof the De Witts. The wary magistrates absolutely refused allco-operation in the daring measures of the confederates, whohad now the whole responsibility on their heads, with little tocheer them on in their perilous career but their own resolutehearts and the recollection of those days when their ancestors, with odds as fearfully against them, rose up and shivered toatoms the yoke of their oppressors. 

Some days of intense anxiety now elapsed; and various incidentsoccurred to keep up the general excitement. Reinforcements camegradually in; no hostile measure was resorted to by the Frenchtroops; yet the want of success, as rapid as was proportionedto the first movements of the revolution, threw a gloom overall. Amsterdam and Rotterdam still held back; but the nominationof Messrs. Van Hogendorp and Vander Duyn van Maasdam to be headsof the government, until the arrival of the Prince of Orange, and a formal abjuration of the emperor Napoleon, inspired newvigor into the public mind. Two nominal armies were formed, andtwo generals appointed to the command; and it is impossible toresist a smile of mingled amusement and admiration on reading theexact statement of the forces, so pompously and so effectivelyannounced as forming the armies of Utrecht and Gorcum. 

The first of these, commanded by Major-General D'Jonge, consistedof three hundred infantry, thirty-two volunteer cavalry, with twoeight-pounders. The latter, under the orders of Major-GeneralSweertz van Landas, was composed of two hundred and fifty of TheHague Orange Guard, thirty Prussian deserters from the Frenchgarrison, three hundred volunteers, forty cavalry, with twoeight-pounders. 

The "army of Gorcum" marched on the 22d on Rotterdam: its arrivalwas joyfully hailed by the people, who contributed three hundredvolunteers to swell its ranks. The "army of Utrecht" advancedon Leyden, and raised the spirits of the people by the displayof even so small a force. But still the contrary winds kept backall appearance of succor from England, and the enemy was known tomeditate a general attack on the patriot lines from Amsterdam toDordrecht. The bad state of the roads still retarded the approachof the far-distant armies of the allies; alarms, true and false, were spread on all hands--when the appearance of three hundredCossacks, detached from the Russian armies beyond the Yssel, prevailed over the hesitation of Amsterdam and the other towns, and they at length declared for the Prince of Orange. 

But this somewhat tardy determination seemed to be the signal forvarious petty events, which at an epoch like that were magnifiedinto transactions of the most fatal import. A reinforcement of onethousand five hundred French troops reached Gorcum from Antwerp:a detachment of twenty-five Dutch, with a piece of cannon, weresurprised at one of the outposts of Woerden, which had beenpreviously evacuated by the French, and the recapture of the townwas accompanied by some excesses. The numbers and the cruelties ofthe enemy were greatly exaggerated. Consternation began to spreadall over the country. The French, who seemed to have recoveredfrom their panic, had resumed on all sides offensive operations. The garrison of Gorcum made a sortie, repulsed the force underGeneral Van Landas, entered the town of Dordrecht, and leviedcontributions; but the inhabitants soon expelled them, and thearmy was enabled to resume its position. 

Still the wind continued adverse to arrivals from the Englishcoast; the Cossacks, so often announced, had not yet reachedThe Hague; and the small unsupported parties in the neighborhoodof Amsterdam were in daily danger of being cut off. 

In this crisis the confederates were placed in a most criticalposition. On the eve of failure, and with the certainty, in sucha result, of being branded as rebels and zealots, whose rashnesshad drawn down ruin on themselves, their families, and theircountry, it required no common share of fortitude to bear upagainst the danger that threatened them. Aware of its extent, they calmly and resolutely opposed it; and each seemed to viewith the others in energy and firmness. 

The anxiety of the public had reached the utmost possible height. Every shifting of the wind was watched with nervous agitation. The road from The Hague to the sea was constantly covered witha crowd of every age and sex. Each sail that came in sight waswatched and examined with intense interest; and at length, on the26th of November, a small boat was seen to approach the shore, and the inquiring glances of the observers soon discovered thatit contained an Englishman. This individual, who had come overon a mercantile adventure, landed amid the loudest acclamation, and was conducted by the populace in triumph to the governor's. Dressed in an English volunteer uniform, he showed himself inevery part of the town, to the great delight of the people, whohailed him as the precursor and type of an army of deliverers. 

The French soon retreated before the marvellous exaggerationswhich the coming of this single Englishman gave rise to. TheDutch displayed great ability in the transmission of falseintelligence to the enemy. On the 27th Mr. Fagel arrived fromEngland with a letter from the Prince of Orange, announcing hisimmediate coming; and finally, the disembarkation of two hundredEnglish marines, on the 29th, was followed the next day by thelanding of the prince, whose impatience to throw himself into theopen arms of his country made him spurn every notion of risk andevery reproach for rashness. He was received with indescribableenthusiasm. The generous flame rushed through the whole country. No bounds were set to the affectionate confidence of the nation, and no prince ever gave a nobler example of gratitude. As thepeople everywhere proclaimed William I. Sovereign prince, itwas proposed that he should everywhere assume that title. Itwas, however, after some consideration, decided that no step ofthis nature should be taken till his most serene highness hadvisited the capital. On the 1st of December the prince issued aproclamation to his countrymen, in which he states his hopes ofbecoming, by the blessing of Providence, the means of restoringthem to their former state of independence and prosperity. "This, "continued he, "is my only object; and I have the satisfaction ofassuring you that it is also the object of the combined powers. This is particularly the wish of the prince regent and the Britishnation; and it will be proved to you by the succor which thatpowerful people will immediately afford you, and which will, Ihope, restore those ancient bonds of alliance and friendship whichwere a source of prosperity and happiness to both countries. " Thisaddress being distributed at Amsterdam, a proclamation, signedby the commissioners of the confederate patriots, was publishedthere the same day. It contained the following passages, remarkableas being the first authentic declaration of the sovereigntysubsequently conferred on the Prince of Orange: "The uncertaintywhich formerly existed as to the executive power will no longerparalyze your efforts. It is not William, the sixth stadtholder, whom the nation recalls, without knowing what to hope or expectfrom him; but William I. Who offers himself as sovereign princeof this free country. " The following day, the 2d of December, the prince made his entry into Amsterdam. He did not, like someother sovereigns, enter by a breach through the constitutionalliberties of his country, in imitation of the conquerors fromthe Olympic games, who returned to the city by a breach in itswalls: he went forward borne on the enthusiastic greetings ofhis fellow-countrymen, and meeting their confidence by a fullmeasure of magnanimity. On the 3d of December he published anaddress, from which we shall quote one paragraph: "You desire, Netherlands! that I should be intrusted with a greater shareof power than I should have possessed but for my absence. Yourconfidence, your affection, offer me the sovereignty; and I amcalled upon to accept it, since the state of my country and thesituation of Europe require it. I accede to your wishes. I overlookthe difficulties which may attend such a measure; I accept theoffer which you have made me; but I accept it only on onecondition--that it shall be accompanied by a wise constitution, which shall guarantee your liberties and secure them againstevery attack. My ancestors sowed the seeds of your independence:the preservation of that independence shall be the constant objectof the efforts of myself and those around me. "

CHAPTER XXIII

FROM THE INSTALLATION OF WILLIAM I. AS PRINCE SOVEREIGN OF THENETHERLANDS TO THE BATTLE OF WATERLOO

A. D. 1814--1815

The regeneration of Holland was rapid and complete. Within fourmonths, an army of twenty-five thousand men was raised; and inthe midst of financial, judicial, and commercial arrangements, the grand object of the constitution was calmly and seriouslydebated. A committee, consisting of fourteen persons of the firstimportance in the several provinces, furnished the result ofthree months' labors in the plan of a political code, which wasimmediately printed and published for the consideration of thepeople at large. Twelve hundred names were next chosen from amongthe most respectable householders in the different towns andprovinces, including persons of every religious persuasion, whetherJews or Christians. A special commission was then formed, whoselected from this number six hundred names; and every housekeeperwas called on to give his vote for or against their election. Alarge majority of the six hundred notables thus chosen met atAmsterdam on the 28th of March, 1814. The following day theyassembled with an immense concourse of people in the great church, which was splendidly fitted up for the occasion; and then andthere the prince, in an impressive speech, solemnly offered theconstitution for acceptance or rejection. After a few hours'deliberation, a discharge of artillery announced to the anxiouspopulation that the constitution had been accepted. The numberspresent were four hundred and eighty-three, and the votes asfollows: Ayes, four hundred and fifty-eight; Noes, twenty-five. 

There were one hundred and seventeen members absent; severalof these were kept away by unavoidable obstacles. The majorityamong them was considered as dissentients; but it was calculatedthat if the whole body of six hundred had voted, the adoptionof the constitution would have been carried by a majority offive-sixths. The dissentients chiefly objected to the power ofdeclaring war and concluding treaties of peace being vested inthe sovereign. Some individuals urged that the Protestant interestwas endangered by the admission of persons of every persuasionto all public offices; and the Catholics complained that thestate did not sufficiently contribute to the support of theirreligious establishments. 

Such objections as these were to be expected, from individualinterest or sectarian prejudices. But they prove that the wholeplan was fairly considered and solemnly adopted; that so far frombeing the dictation of a government, it was the freely chosencharter of the nation at large, offered and sworn to by the prince, whose authority was only exerted in restraining and modifyingthe overardent generosity and confidence of the people. 

Only one day more elapsed before the new sovereign was solemnlyinaugurated, and took the oath prescribed by the constitution:"I swear that first and above all things I will maintain theconstitution of the United Netherlands, and that I will promote, to the utmost of my power, the independence of the state andthe liberty and prosperity of its inhabitants. " In the eloquentsimplicity of this pledge, the Dutch nation found an ample guaranteefor their freedom and happiness. With their characteristic wisdomand moderation, they saw that the obligation it imposed embracedeverything they could demand; and they joined in the opinionexpressed by the sovereign in his inaugural address, that "nogreater degree of liberty could be desired by rational subjects, nor any larger share of power by the sovereign, than that allottedto them respectively by the political code. "

While Holland thus resumed its place among free nations, and Francewas restored to the Bourbons by the abdication of Napoleon, theallied armies had taken possession of and occupied the remainder ofthe Low Countries, or those provinces distinguished by the name ofBelgium (but then still forming departments of the French empire), and the provisional government was vested in Baron Vincent, theAustrian general. This choice seemed to indicate an intentionof restoring Austria to her ancient domination over the country. Such was certainly the common opinion among those who had no meansof penetrating the secrets of European policy at that importantepoch. It was, in fact, quite conformable to the principle of_statu_quo_ante_bellum_, adopted toward France. Baron Vincenthimself seemed to have been impressed with the false notion;and there did not exist a doubt throughout Belgium of there-establishment of the old institutions. 

But the intentions of the allied powers were of a nature fardifferent. The necessity of a consolidated state capable of offeringa barrier to French aggression on the Flemish frontier was evidentto the various powers who had so long suffered from its want. ByEngland particularly, such a field was required for the operationsof her armies; and it was also to the interest of that nation thatHolland, whose welfare and prosperity are so closely connectedwith her own, should enjoy the blessings of national independenceand civil liberty, guaranteed by internal strength as well asfriendly alliances. 

The treaty of Paris (30th May, 1814), was the first act whichgave an open manifestation of this principle. It was stipulatedby its sixth article; that "Holland, placed under the sovereigntyof the House of Orange, should receive an increase of territory. "In this was explained the primitive notion of the creation of thekingdom of the Netherlands, based on the necessity of augmentingthe power of a nation which was destined to turn the balancebetween France and Germany. The following month witnessed theexecution of the treaty of London, which prescribed the precisenature of the projected increase. 

It was wholly decided, without subjecting the question to theapprobation of Belgium, that that country and Holland should formone United State; and the rules of government in the chief branchesof its administration were completely fixed. The Prince of Orangeand the plenipotentiaries of the great allied powers covenantedby this treaty: first, that the union of the two portions formingthe kingdom of the Netherlands should be as perfect as possible, forming one state, governed in conformity with the fundamental lawof Holland, which might be modified by common consent; secondly, that religious liberty, and the equal right of citizens of allpersuasions to fill all the employments of the state, shouldbe maintained; thirdly, that the Belgian provinces should befairly represented in the assembly of the states-general, andthat the sessions of the states in time of peace should be heldalternately in Belgium and in Holland; fourthly and fifthly, thatall the commercial privileges of the country should be commonto the citizens at large; that the Dutch colonies should beconsidered as belonging equally to Belgium; and, finally, thatthe public debt of the two countries, and the expenses of itsinterest, should be borne in common. 

We shall now briefly recapitulate some striking points in thematerials which were thus meant to be amalgamated. Holland, wrenchedfrom the Spanish yoke by the genius and courage of the earlyprinces of Orange, had formed for two centuries an independentrepublic, to which the extension of maritime commerce had givenimmense wealth. The form of government was remarkable. It wascomposed of seven provinces, mutually independent of each other. These provinces possessed during the Middle Ages constitutionsnearly similar to that of England: a sovereign with limited power;representatives of the nobles and commons, whose concurrencewith the prince was necessary for the formation of laws; and, finally, the existence of municipal privileges, which each townpreserved and extended by means of its proper force. This stateof things had known but one alteration--but that a mighty one--theforfeiture of Philip II. At the latter end of the sixteenth century, and the total abolition of monarchical power. 

The remaining forms of the government were hardly altered; sothat the state was wholly regulated by its ancient usages; and, like some Gothic edifice, its beauty and solidity were perfectlyoriginal, and different from the general rules and modern theoriesof surrounding nations. The country loved its liberty such asit found it, and not in the fashion of any Utopian plan tracedby some new-fangled system of political philosophy. InherentlyProtestant and commercial, the Dutch abhorred every yoke butthat of their own laws, of which they were proud even in theirabuse. They held in particular detestation all French customs, in remembrance of the wretchedness they had suffered from Frenchtyranny; they had unbounded confidence in the House of Orange, from long experience of its hereditary virtues. The main strengthof Holland was, in fact, in its recollections; but these, perhaps, generated a germ of discontent, in leading it to expect a revivalof all the influence it had lost, and was little likely to recover, in the total change of systems and the variations of trade. Therenevertheless remained sufficient capital in the country, and thepeople were sufficiently enlightened, to give just and extensivehope for the future which now dawned on them. The obstacles offeredby the Dutch character to the proposed union were chiefly to befound in the dogmatical opinions, consequent on the isolation ofthe country from all the principles that actuated other states, andparticularly that with which it was now joined: while long-cherishedsentiments of opposition to the Catholic religion was littlelikely to lead to feelings of accommodation and sympathy withits new fellow-citizens. 

The inhabitants of Belgium, accustomed to foreign domination, werelittle shocked by the fact of the allied powers having disposedof their fate with consulting their wishes. But they were not soindifferent to the double discovery of finding themselves thesubjects of a Dutch and a protestant king. Without entering atlarge into any invidious discussion on the causes of the naturaljealousy which they felt toward Holland, it may suffice to statethat such did exist, and in no very moderate degree. The countrieshad hitherto had but little community of interests with eachother; and they formed elements so utterly discordant as to affordbut slight hope that they would speedily coalesce. The lowerclasses of the Belgian population were ignorant as well assuperstitious (not that these two qualities are to be consideredas inseparable); and if they were averse to the Dutch, they wereperhaps not more favorably disposed to the French and Austrians. The majority of the nobles may be said to have leaned more, atthis period, to the latter than to either of the other two peoples. But the great majority of the industrious and better informedportions of the middle orders felt differently from the othertwo, because they had found tangible and positive advantages intheir subjection to France, which overpowered every sentimentof political degradation. 

We thus see there was little sympathy between the members of thenational family. The first glance at the geographical positionof Holland and Belgium might lead to a belief that their interestswere analogous. But we have traced the anomalies in governmentand religion in the two countries, which led to totally differentpursuits and feelings. Holland had sacrificed manufactures tocommerce. The introduction, duty free, of grain from the northernparts of Europe, though checking the progress of agriculture, had not prevented it to flourish marvellously, considering thisobstacle to culture; and, faithful to their traditional notions, the Dutch saw the elements of well-being only in that liberty ofimportation which had made their harbors the marts and magazinesof Europe. But the Belgian, to use the expressions of an acuteand well-informed writer, "restricted in the thrall of a lessliberal religion, is bounded in the narrow circle of his actuallocality. Concentrated in his home, he does not look beyond thelimits of his native land, which he regards exclusively. Incurious, and stationary in a happy existence, he has no interest in whatpasses beyond his own doors. "

Totally unaccustomed to the free principles of trade, so cherishedby the Dutch, the Belgians had found under the protection of theFrench custom-house laws, an internal commerce and agriculturaladvantages which composed their peculiar prosperity. They founda consumption for the produce of their well-cultivated lands, athigh prices, in the neighboring provinces of France. The webswoven by the Belgian peasantry, and generally all the manufacturesof the country, met no rivalry from those of England, which werestrictly prohibited; and being commonly superior to those ofFrance, the sale was sure and the profit considerable. 

Belgium was as naturally desirous of the state of things as Hollandwas indifferent to it; but in could only have been accomplishedby the destruction of free trade, and the exclusive protectionof internal manufactures. Under such discrepancies as we havethus traced in religion, character, and local interests, thetwo countries were made one; and on the new monarch devolvedthe hard and delicate task of reconciling each party in theill-assorted match, and inspiring them with sentiments of mutualmoderation. 

Under the title of governor-general of the Netherlands (for hisintended elevation to the throne and the definitive junction ofHolland and Belgium were still publicly unknown), the Prince ofOrange repaired to his new state. He arrived at Brussels in themonth of August, 1814, and his first effort was to gain the heartsand the confidence of the people, though he saw the nobles andthe higher orders of the inferior classes (with the exception ofthe merchants) intriguing all around him for the re-establishmentof the Austrian power. Petitions on this subject were printed anddistributed; and the models of those anti-national documents maystill be referred to in a work published at the time. [8]

[Footnote 8: History of the Low Countries, by St. Genoist. ]

As soon as the moment came for promulgating the decision of thesovereign powers as to the actual extent of the new kingdom--thatis to say, in the month of February, 1815--the whole plan was madepublic; and a commission, consisting of twenty-seven members, Dutch and Belgian, was formed, to consider the modificationsnecessary in the fundamental law of Holland, in pursuance ofthe stipulation of the treaty of London. After due deliberationthese modifications were formed, and the great political pactwas completed for the final acceptance of the king and people. 

As a document so important merits particular consideration, inreference to the formation of the new monarchy, we shall brieflycondense the reasonings of the most impartial and well-informedclasses in the country on the constitution now about to be framed. Every one agreed that some radical change in the whole form ofgovernment was necessary, and that its main improvement shouldbe the strengthening of the executive power. That possessed bythe former stadtholders of Holland was often found to be too muchfor the chief of a republic, too little for the head of a monarchy. The assembly of the states-general, as of old constructed, wasdefective in many points; in none so glaringly as in that conditionwhich required unanimity in questions of peace or war, and in theprovision, from which they had no power to swerve, that all thetaxes should be uniform. Both these stipulations were, of sheernecessity, continually disregarded; so that the government could becarried on at all only by repeated violations of the constitution. In order to excuse measures dictated by this necessity, eachstadtholder was perpetually obliged to form partisans, and hethus became the hereditary head of a faction. His legitimatepower was trifling: but his influence was capable of fearfulincrease; for the principle which allowed him to infringe theconstitution, even on occasions of public good, might be easilywarped into a pretext for encroachments that had no bounds buthis own will. 

Besides, the preponderance of the deputies from the commercialtowns in the states-general caused the others to become mereciphers in times of peace; only capable of clogging the marchof affairs, and of being, on occasions of civil dissensions, the mere tools of whatever party possessed the greatest tactin turning them to their purpose. Hence a wide field was opento corruption. Uncertainty embarrassed every operation of thegovernment. The Hague became an arena for the conflicting intriguesof every court in Europe. Holland was dragged into almost everywar; and thus, gradually weakened from its rank among independentnations, it at length fell an easy prey to the French invaders. 

To prevent the recurrence of such evils as those, and to establisha kingdom on the solid basis of a monarchy, unequivocal in itsessence yet restrained in its prerogative, the constitution weare now examining was established. According to the report ofthe commissioners who framed it, "It is founded on the mannersand habits of the nation, on its public economy and its oldinstitutions, with a disregard for the ephemeral constitutionsof the age. It is not a mere abstraction, more or less ingenious, but a law adapted to the state of the country in the nineteenthcentury. It did not reconstruct what was worn out by time; butit revived all that was worth preserving. In such a system oflaws and institutions well adapted to each other, the membersof the commission belonging to the Belgian provinces recognizedthe basis of their ancient charters, and the principles of theirformer liberty. They found no difficulty in adapting this law, so as to make it common to the two nations, united by ties whichhad been broken only for their own misfortune and that of Europe, and which it was once more the interest of Europe to renderindissoluble. "

The news of the elevation of William I. To the throne was receivedin the Dutch provinces with great joy, in as far as it concernedhim personally; but a joy considerably tempered by doubt andjealousy, as regarded their junction with a country sufficientlylarge to counterbalance Holland, oppose interests to interests, and people to people. National pride and oversanguine expectationsprevented a calm judgment on the existing state of Europe, and onthe impossibility of Holland, in its ancient limits, maintainingthe influence which it was hoped it would acquire. 

In Belgium the formation of the new monarchy excited the mostlively sensation. The clergy and the nobility were considerablyagitated and not slightly alarmed; the latter fearing the resentmentof the king for their avowed predilection in favor of Austria, and perceiving the destruction of every hope of aristocraticaldomination. The more elevated of the middle clases also saw anend to their exclusive occupation of magisterial and municipalemployments. The manufacturers, great and small, saw the ruin ofmonopoly staring them in the face. The whole people took frightat the weight of the Dutch debt, which was considerably greaterthan that of Belgium. No one seemed to look beyond the presentmoment. The advantage of colonial possessions seemed remote andquestionable to those who possessed no maritime commerce; andthe pride of national independence was foreign to the feelingsof those who had never yet tasted its blessings. 

It was in this state of public feeling that intelligence wasreceived in March, 1815, of the reappearance in France of theemperor Napoleon. At the head of three hundred men he had takenthe resolution, without parallel even among the grandest of hisown powerful conceptions, of invading a country containing thirtymillions of people, girded by the protecting armies of coalescedEurope, and imbued, beyond all doubt, with an almost generalobjection to the former despot who now put his foot on its shores, with imperial pretensions only founded on the memory of his bygoneglory. His march to Paris was a miracle; and the vigor of hissubsequent measures redeems the ambitious imbecility with whichhe had hurried on the catastrophe of his previous fall. 

The flight of Louis XVIII. From Paris was the sure signal tothe kingdom of the Netherlands, in which he took refuge, that itwas about to become the scene of another contest for the life ordeath of despotism. Had the invasion of Belgium, which now tookplace, been led on by one of the Bourbon family, it is probablethat the priesthood, the people, and even the nobility, wouldhave given it not merely a negative support. But the name ofNapoleon was a bugbear for every class; and the efforts of theKing and government, which met with most enthusiastic supportin the northern provinces, were seconded with zeal and courageby the rest of the kingdom. 

The national force was soon in the field, under the command ofthe Prince of Orange, the king's eldest son, and heir-apparentto the throne for which he now prepared to fight. His brother, Prince Frederick, commanded a division under him. The English army, under the duke of Wellington, occupied Brussels and the variouscantonments in its neighborhood; and the Prussians, commanded byPrince Blucher, were in readiness to co-operate with their allieson the first movement of the invaders. 

Napoleon, hurrying from Paris to strike some rapid and decisiveblow, passed the Sambre on the 15th of June, at the head of theFrench army, one hundred and fifty thousand strong, driving thePrussians before him beyond Charleroi and back on the plain ofFleurus with some loss. On the 16th was fought the bloody battleof Ligny, in which the Prussians sustained a decided defeat; butthey retreated in good order on the little river Lys, followedby Marshal Grouchy with thirty thousand men detached by Napoleonin their pursuit. On the same day the British advanced positionat Quatre Bras, and the _corps_d'armée_ commanded by the Princeof Orange, were fiercely attacked by Marshal Ney; a battalion ofBelgian infantry and a brigade of horse artillery having beenengaged in a skirmish the preceding evening at Frasnes with theFrench advanced troops. 

The affair of Quatre Bras was sustained with admirable firmnessby the allied English and Netherland forces, against an enemyinfinitely superior in number, and commanded by one of the bestgenerals in France. The Prince of Orange, with only nine thousandmen, maintained his position till three o'clock in the afternoon, despite the continual attacks of Marshal Ney, who commanded theleft of the French army, consisting of forty-three thousand men. But the interest of this combat, and the details of the lossin killed and wounded, are so merged in the succeeding battle, which took place on the 18th, that they form in most minds acombination of exploits which the interval of a day can scarcelybe considered to have separated. 

The 17th was occupied by a retrograde movement of the alliedarmy, directed by the duke of Wellington, for the purpose oftaking its stand on the position he had previously fixed on forthe pitched battle, the decisive nature of which his determinedforesight had anticipated. Several affairs between the Frenchand English cavalry took place during this movement; and it ispretty well established that the enemy, flushed with the victoryover Blucher of the preceding day, were deceived by this shortretreat of Wellington, and formed a very mistaken notion of itsreal object, or of the desperate reception destined for the morrow'sattack. 

The battle of Waterloo has been over and over described andprofoundly felt, until its records may be said to exist in thevery hearts and memories of the nations. The fiery valor of theassault, and the unshakable firmness of the resistance, are perhapswithout parallel in the annals of war. The immense stake dependingon the result, the grandeur of Napoleon's isolated efforts againstthe flower of the European forces, and the awful responsibilityresting on the head of their great leader, give to this conflicta romantic sublimity, unshared by all the manoeuvring of sciencein a hundred commonplace combats of other wars. It forms an epochin the history of battles. It is to the full as memorable, as anindividual event, as it is for the consequences which followedit. It was fought by no rules, and gained by no tactics. It was afair stand-up fight on level ground, where downright manly couragewas alone to decide the issue. This derogates in nothing from thesplendid talents and deep knowledge of the rival commanders. Their reputation for all the intricate qualities of generalshiprests on the broad base of previous victories. This day was tobe won by strength of nerve and steadiness of heart; and a moralgrandeur is thrown over its result by the reflection that humanskill had little to do where so much was left to Providence. 

We abstain from entering on details of the battle. It is enoughto state that throughout the day the troops of the Netherlandssustained the character for courage which so many centuries hadestablished. Various opinions have gone forth as to the conduct ofthe Belgian troops on this memorable occasion. Isolated instanceswere possibly found, among a mass of several thousands, of thatnervous weakness which neither the noblest incitements nor thefinest examples can conquer. Old associations and feelings noteffaced might have slackened the efforts of a few, directed againstformer comrades or personal friends whom the stern necessity ofpolitics had placed in opposing ranks. Raw troops might hereand there have shrunk from attacks the most desperate on record;but that the great principle of public duty, on grounds purelynational, pervaded the army, is to be found in the official reportsof its loss; two thousand and fifty-eight men killed and onethousand nine hundred and thirty-six wounded prove indeliblythat the troops of the Netherlands had their full share in thehonor of the day. The victory was cemented by the blood of thePrince of Orange, who stood the brunt of the fight with his gallantsoldiers. His conduct was conformable to the character of hiswhole race, and to his own reputation during a long series ofservice with the British army in the Spanish peninsula. He stoodbravely at the head of his troops during the murderous conflict;or, like Wellington, in whose school he was formed and whoseexample was beside him, rode from rank to rank and column tocolumn, inspiring his men by the proofs of his untiring courage. 

Several anecdotes are related of the prince's conduct throughoutthe day. One is remarkable as affording an example of those pithyepigrams of the battlefield with which history abounds, accompaniedby an act that speaks a fine knowledge of the soldier's heart. Onoccasion of one peculiarly desperate charge, the prince, hurriedon by his ardor, was actually in the midst of the French, and wasin the greatest danger; when a Belgian battalion rushed forward, and, after a fierce struggle, repulsed the enemy and disengaged theprince. In the impulse of his admiration and gratitude, he torefrom his breast one of those decorations gained by his own conducton some preceding occasion, and flung it among the battalion, calling out, "Take it, take it, my lads! you have all earned it!"This decoration was immediately grappled for, and tied to theregimental standard, amid loud shouts of "Long live the prince!"and vows to defend the trophy, in the very utterance of whichmany a brave fellow received the stroke of death. 

A short time afterward, and just half an hour before that terriblecharge of the whole line, which decided the victory, the princewas struck by a musket-ball in the left shoulder. He was carriedfrom the field, and conveyed that evening to Brussels, in thesame cart with one of his wounded aides-de-camp, supported byanother, and displaying throughout as much indifference to painas he had previously shown contempt of danger. 

The battle of Waterloo consolidated the kingdom of the Netherlands. The wound of the Prince of Orange was perhaps one of the mostfortunate that was ever received by an individual, or sympathizedin by a nation. To a warlike people, wavering in their allegiance, this evidence of the prince's valor acted like a talisman againstdisaffection. The organization of the kingdom was immediatelyproceeded on. The commission, charged with the revision of thefundamental law, and the modification required by the increaseof territory, presented its report on the 31st of July. Theinauguration of the king took place at Brussels on the 21st ofSeptember, in presence of the states-general: and the ceremonyreceived additional interest from the appearance of the sovereignsupported by his two sons who had so valiantly fought for therights he now swore to maintain; the heir to the crown yet bearinghis wounded arm in a scarf, and showing in his countenance themarks of recent suffering. 

The constitution was finally accepted by the nation, and theprinciples of the government were stipulated and fixed in onegrand view--that of the union, and, consequently, the force ofthe new state. 

It has been asked by a profound and sagacious inquirer, or atleast the question is put forth on undoubted authority in hisname, "Why did England create for herself a difficulty, and whatwill be by and by a natural enemy, in uniting Holland and Belgium, in place of managing those two immense resources to her commerceby keeping them separate? For Holland, without manufactures, was the natural mart for those of England, while Belgium underan English prince had been the route for constantly inundatingFrance and Germany. "

So asked Napoleon, and England may answer and justify her conductso impugned, on principles consistent with the general wishesand the common good of Europe. The discussion of the questionis foreign to our purpose, which is to trace the circumstances, not to argue on the policy, that led to the formation of theNetherlands as they now exist. But it appears that the differentintegral parts of the nation were amalgamated from deep-formeddesigns for their mutual benefit. Belgium was not given to Holland, as the already-cited article of the treaty of Paris might atfirst sight seem to imply; nor was Holland allotted to Belgium. But they were grafted together, with all the force of legislativewisdom; not that one might be dominant and the other oppressed, but that both should bend to form an arch of common strength, able to resist the weight of such invasions as had perpetuallyperiled, and often crushed, their separate independence. 

SUPPLEMENTARY CHAPTER

A. D. 1815--1899

In the preceding chapters we have seen the history of Hollandcarried down to the treaty which joined together what are nowknown as the separate countries of Holland and Belgium. And it isat this point that the interest of the subject for the historianpractically ceases. The historian differs from the annalist inthis--that he selects for treatment those passages in the careerof nations which possess a dramatic form and unity, and thereforeconvey lessons for moral guidance, or for constituting a basisfor reasonable prognostications of the future. But there are inthe events of the world many tracts of country (as we might termthem) which have no special character or apparent significance, andwhich therefore, though they may extend over many years in time, are dismissed with bare mention in the pages of the historian;just as, in travelling by rail, the tourist will keep his faceat the window only when the scenery warrants it; at other timescomposing himself to other occupations. 

The scenery of Dutch history has episodes as stirring and instructiveas those of any civilized people since history began; but itreached its dramatic and moral apogee when the independence ofthe United Netherlands was acknowledged by Spain. The Netherlandsthen reached their loftiest pinnacle of power and prosperity;their colonial possessions were vast and rich; their reputationas guardians of liberty and the rights of man was foremost in theworld. But further than this they could not go; and the momentwhen a people ceases to advance may generally be regarded asthe moment when, relatively speaking at least, it begins to gobackward. The Dutch could in no sense become the masters of Europe;not only was their domain too small, but it was geographically ata disadvantage with the powerful and populous nations neighboringit, and it was compelled ever to fight for its existence againstthe attacks of nature itself. The stormy waves of the North Seawere ever moaning and threatening at the gates, and ever and anona breach would be made, and the labor of generations annulled. Holland could never enter upon a career of conquest, like Franceor Russia; neither could she assume the great part which Britainhas played; for although the character of the Dutchmen is inmany respects as strong and sound as that of the English, andin some ways its superior, yet the Dutch had not been doweredwith a sea-defended isle for their habitation, which might enablethem to carry out enterprises abroad without the distraction andweakness involved in maintaining adequate guards at home. Theywere mighty in self-defence and in resistance against tyranny;and they were unsurpassed in those virtues and qualities which goto make a nation rich and orderly; but aggression could not befor them. They took advantage of their season of power to confirmthemselves in the ownership of lands in the extreme East and inthe West, which should be a continual source of revenue; butthey could do no more; and they wasted not a little treasure andstrength in preserving what they had gained, or a part of it, fromthe grasp of others. But this was the sum of their possibility;they could not presume to dictate terms to the world; and theconsequence was that they gradually ceased to be a consideredfactor in the European problem. In some respects, their territorialinsignificance, while it prevented them from aggressive action, preserved them from aggression; their domain was not worthconquering, and again its conquest could not be accomplishedby any nation without making others uneasy and jealous. Theybecame, like Switzerland, and unlike Poland and Hungary, a neutralregion, which it was for the interest of Europe at large to letalone. None cared to meddle with them; and, on the other hand, they had native virtue and force enough to resist being absorbedinto other peoples; the character of the Dutch is as distinctto-day as ever it had been. Their language, their literature, their art, and their personal traits, are unimpaired. They are, in their own degree, remarkably prosperous and comfortable; andthey have the good sense to be content with their condition. They are liberal and progressive, and yet conservative; they areeven with modern ideas as regards education and civilization, and yet the tourist within their boundaries continually findshimself reminded of their past. The costumes and the customs ofthe mass of the people have undergone singularly little change;they mind their own affairs, and are wisely indifferent to theaffairs of others. Both as importers and as exporters they areuseful to the world, and if the prophecies of those who foretella general clash of the European powers should be fulfilled, itis likely that the Dutch will be onlookers merely, or perhapsprofit by the misfortunes of their neighbors to increase theirown well-being. 

As we have seen in the foregoing pages, Belgium did not unitewith the Hollanders in their revolt of the sixteenth century;but appertained to Burgundy, and was afterward made a domainof France. But after Napoleon had been overthrown at Waterloo, the nations who had been so long harried and terrorized by himwere not satisfied with banishing the ex-conqueror to his islandexile, but wished to present any possibility of another Napoleonarising to renew the wars which had devastated and impoverishedthem. Consequently they agreed to make a kingdom which might actas a buffer between France and the rest of Europe; and to thisend they decreed that Belgium and Holland should be one. But indoing this, the statesmen or politicians concerned failed to takeinto account certain factors and facts which must inevitably, inthe course of time, undermine their arrangements. Nations cannotbe arbitrarily manufactured to suit the convenience of others. There is a chemistry in nationalities which has laws of its own, and will not be ignored. Between the Hollanders and the Belgiansthere existed not merely a negative lack of homogeneity, but apositive incompatibility. The Hollanders had for generations beenfighters and men of enterprise; the Belgians had been the appanageof more powerful neighbors. The Hollanders were Protestants; theBelgians were adherents of the Papacy. The former were seafarers;the latter, farmers. The sympathies or affiliations of the Dutchwere with the English and the Germans; those of the Belgianswere with the French. Moreover, the Dutch were inclined to actoppressively toward the Belgians, and this disposition was madethe more irksome by the fact that King William was a dull, stupid, narrow and very obstinate sovereign, who thought that to have arequest made of him was reason sufficient for resisting it. 

But over and above all these causes for disintegration of the newkingdom lay facts of the broadest significance and application. The arbiters of 1815 did not sufficiently apprehend the meaning ofthe French Revolution. The wars of Napoleon had made them forgetit; his power had seemed so much more formidable and positivethat the deeper forces which had brought about the events of thelast decade of the eighteenth century were ignored. But theystill continued profoundly active, and were destined ere longto announce themselves anew. They were in truth the generativeforces of the nineteenth century. 

They have not yet spent themselves; but as we look back uponthe events of the past eighty or ninety years, we perceive whatvast differences there are between what we were in Napoleon's dayand what we are now. A long period of intrigue and misrule, ofwars and revolutions, has been followed by material, mental andsocial changes affecting every class of the people, and especiallythat class which had hitherto been almost entirely unconsidered. The wars of this century have been of another character thanthose of the past; they have not involved basic principles ofhuman association, but have been the result of attempts to gaincomparatively trifling political advantages, or else were thealmost inevitable consequence of adjustments of national relations. Several small new kingdoms have appeared; but their presencehas not essentially altered the political aspect of Europe. Itis the conquests of mind that have been, in this century, farmore important than the struggles of arms. Steam, as appliedto locomotion on sea and land, and to manufactures, has broughtabout modifications in social and industrial conditions thatcannot be exaggerated. Steamboats and railroads have not onlygiven a different face to commerce and industry, but they haveunited the world in bonds of mutual knowledge and sympathy, whichcannot fail to profoundly affect the political relations of mankind. Isolation is ignorance; as soon as men begin to discover, by actualintercourse, the similarities and dissimilarities of their severalconditions, these will begin to show improvements. To be assuredthat people in one part of the world are better off than those inanother, will tend inevitably to bring about ameliorations forthe latter. The domain of evil will be continually restricted, and that of good enlarged. In the dissemination of intelligenceand the spread of sympathy, the telegraph, and other applicationsof electricity, have enormously aided the work of steam. Everyindividual of civilized mankind may now be cognizant, at anymoment, of what is taking place at any point of the earth's surfaceto which the appliances of civilization have penetrated. Thisunprecedented spread of common acquaintanceship of the worldhas been supplemented by discoveries of science in many otherdirections. We know more of the moon to-day than Europe did ofthis planet a few centuries ago. The industrial arts are nowprosecuted by machinery with a productiveness which enables oneman to do the work formerly performed by hundreds, and which morethan keeps up the supply with the demand. Conquests of naturalforces are constantly making, and each one of them adds to thecomfort and enlightenment of man. Men, practically, live a dozenlives such as those of the past in their single span of seventyyears; and we are even finding means of prolonging the Scripturallimit of mortal existence physically as well as mentally. 

But is all this due to that great moral and social earthquaketo which we give the name of the French Revolution? Yes; forthat upheaval, like the plow of some titanic husbandman, broughtto the surface elements of good and use which had been lyingfallow for unnumbered ages. It brought into view the People, as against mere rulers and aristocrats, who had hitherto livedupon what the People produced, without working themselves, andwithout caring for anything except to conserve things as theywere. Human progress will never be advanced by oligarchies, nomatter how gentle and well-disposed. We see their results to-dayin Spain and in Turkey, which are still mediæval, or worse, intheir condition and methods. It is the brains of the common peoplethat have wrought the mighty change; their personal interestsdemand that they go forward, and their fresh and unencumberedminds show them the way. The great scientists, the inventors, the philanthropists, the reformers, are all of the common people;the statesmen who have really governed the world in this centuryhave sprung from the common stock. The French Revolution destroyedthe dominance of old ideas, and with them the forms in whichthey were embodied. Political, personal and religious freedomare now matters of course; but a hundred years ago they werealmost unheard of, save in the dreams of optimists and fanatics. The rights of labor have been vindicated; and the right of everyhuman being to the benefit of what he produces has been claimedand established. Along with this improvement has come, of course, a train of evils and abuses, due to our ignorance of how bestto manage and apply our new privileges and advantages; but suchevils are transient, and the conditions which created them willsuffice, ere long, to remove them. The conflict between laborand capital is not permanent; it will yield to better knowledgeof the true demands of political economy. The indifference orcorruption of law makers and dispensers will disappear when menrealize that personal selfishness is self-destructive, and thatonly care for the commonweal can bring about prosperity for theindividual. The democracy is still in its swaddling clothes, and its outward aspect is in many ways ugly and unwelcome, andwe sigh for the elegance and composure of old days; but thesediscomforts are a necessary accompaniment of growth, and willvanish when the growing pains are past. The Press is the mirror ofthe aspirations, the virtues and the faults of the new mankind; itspower is stupendous and constantly increasing; many are beginningto dread it as a possible agent of ill; but in truth its realpower can only be for good, since the mass of mankind, howeverwedded to selfishness as individuals, are united in desiringhonesty and good in the general trend of things; and it is tothe generality, and not to the particular, that the Press, tobe successful, must appeal. It is the great critic and the greatrecorder; and in the face of such criticism and record abusescannot long maintain themselves. Men will be free, first of externaltyrannies, and then of that more subtle but not less dangeroustyranny which they impose upon themselves. As might have beenexpected, extremists have arisen who sought to find a short roadto perfection, and they have met with disappointment. The dreamsof the socialists have not been realized; men will not work for oneanother unless they are at the same time working for themselves. The communist and the nihilist are yet further from the trueideal; there will always remain in human society certain personswho rule, and others who obey. There must always, in all affairs, be a head to direct as well as hands to execute. Men are bornunequal in intelligence and ability; and it will never be possibleto reduce leaders to the level of followers. The form of societymust take its model from the human form, in which one part issubordinate to another, yet all work together in harmony. Onlytime--and probably no very long time--is required to bring arecognition of these facts. Meanwhile, the very violence of therevolts against even the suspicion of oppression are but symptomsof the vigorous vitality which, in former centuries, seemed to haveno existence at all. On the other hand, industrial co-operationseems to promise successful development; it involves immenseeconomies, and consequent profit to producers. The middleman hashis uses, and especially is he a convenience; but it is easy topay too dear for conveniences; and there seems no reason why theproducer should not, as time goes on, become constantly betterequipped for dealing direct with the consumer, to the manifestadvantage of both. 

All these and many other triumphs of civilization, which we seenow in objective form, were present in potency at the beginningof this century, though, as we have said, they were not dulytaken into account by the framers of the agreement which soughtto make Holland and Belgium one flesh. Had the sun not yet risenupon the human horizon, the attempt might have had a quasi success;but the light was penetrating the darkened places, and men wereno longer willing to accept subjection as their inevitable doom. It might be conducive to the comfort of the rest of Europe thatBatavian and Belgian should dwell together under one politicalroof; but it did not suit the parties themselves; and thereforethey soon began to make their incompatibility known. But nothingwas heard beyond the grumblings of half-awakened discontent until, in 1830, the new revolution in Paris sent a sympathetic thrillthrough all the dissatisfied of Europe. A generation had nowpassed since the first great upheaval, and men had had time todigest the lesson which it conveyed, and to draw various more orless reasonable inferences as to future possibilities. It had beendetermined that, broadly speaking, what the people heartily wanted, the people might have; and the disturbances in Paris indicatedthat the people were prepared to resent any attempt on the partof their rulers to bring back the old abuses. When the Pentarchy, in 1815, had made its division of the spoils of Napoleon, theBourbons were reseated on the throne which Louis XIV. Had madefamous; but Louis XVIII. Was but a degenerate representativeof the glories that had been. He adopted a reactionary policyagainst the Napoleonic (or imperialist), the republican and theProtestant elements in France; and outrages and oppressions occurred. As a consequence, secret societies were formed to counteractthe ultra-royalist policy. When Louis died, it was hoped thathis successor, Charles X. , might introduce improvements; buton the contrary he only made matters worse. The consequence wasthe gradual growth of a liberal party, seeking a monarchy basedon the support of the great middle class of the population. In1827 Charles disbanded the National Guard; and in the followingyear the liberals elected a majority in the Chamber. Charlesfoolishly attempted to meet this step by making the prince dePolignac his minister, who stood for all that the people hadin abhorrence. The prince issued ordinances declaring the lateelections illegal, narrowing down the rights of suffrage to thelarge landowners, and forbidding all liberty to the press. Hereuponthe populace of Paris erected barricades and took up arms; andin the "Three Days" from the 27th to the 29th of July, 1830, they defeated the forces of the king, and after capturing theHotel de Ville and the Louvre, sent him into exile, and madethe venerable and faithful Lafayette commander of the NationalGuard. But the revolutionists showed forbearance; and instead ofbeheading Charles, as they might have done, they let him go, andpunished the ministers by imprisonment only. This put an end tothe older line of the Bourbons in France, and the representativeof the younger branch, Louis Philippe ("Philippe Egalite"), wasset on the throne, in the hope that he would be willing to carryout the people's will. 

All this was interesting to the Belgians, and they profited bythe example. They regarded William as another Charles, and deemedthemselves justified in revolting against his rule. They declaredthat they were no longer subject to his control, and issue wasjoined on that point. But the Powers were not ready to permit thedissolution of their anxiously constructed edifice; and they mettogether with a view to arranging some secure modus vivendi. Theissue of their deliberations took the form of proposing that theduchy of Luxemburg, at the southeast corner of Belgium, should beceded to Holland on the north. This suggestion was favorably receivedby the Hollanders, but was not so agreeable to the Belgians; and anassembly at Brussels devised and adopted a liberal constitution, and invited Leopold of Saxe-Coburg to occupy their throne. Leopoldwas at this time about forty years of age; he was the youngestson of Francis, duke of Saxe-Coburg; he had married, in 1816, the daughter of George IV. Of England, the princess Charlotte, and had, a few months before the Belgians' proposal, been offeredand had refused the crown of Greece. But the Belgian throne wasmore to his liking; and after taking measures to sound the Powerson the subject, and to assure himself of their good will, heaccepted the proffer, and was crowned under the title of LeopoldI. His reign lasted thirty-four years, and was comparativelyuneventful and prosperous. 

But the Dutch refused to tolerate this change of sovereigntywithout a struggle; William raised an army and suddenly threwit into Belgium; and the chanees are that he would have madeshort work of Belgian resistance had the two been permitted tofight out their quarrel undisturbed. This, however, could nothappen; since the independence of Belgium had been recognized byEngland, Austria, Russia, and Prussia; and the triumphal marchof the Dutch was arrested by a French army which happened tobe in the place where they could be most effective in thecircumstances. The Dutch had occupied Antwerp, a town on theborderland of Belgium and Holland. It had been in the possessionof the French in 1794, but had been taken from them at theRestoration in 1814. The French now laid siege to it, being underthe command of Gérard, while the Dutch were led by Chassè. Thecitadel was taken in 1832, and the resistance of the Dutch tothe decree of Europe was practically at an end, though Williamthe Obstinate refused for several years to accept the fact. Theduchy of Luxemburg had sided with the Belgians all along, asmight have been anticipated from its position and naturalaffiliations; and though no immediate action was taken relativeto its ownership till 1839, it remained during the interval inBelgian hands. Matters remained in this ambiguous condition forsome time; but though the Dutch might grumble, they could notfight. At length the treaty of 1839 was signed in London, onthe 19th of April, according to the terms of which part of theduchy of Luxemburg was retained by the Belgians, and part wasruled by the king of Holland as grand duke. In other respects, the status quo ante was preserved, and the partition of Hollandand Belgium was confirmed, as it has ever since remained. Thehistory of Belgium thenceforward has been almost wholly devoid ofincidents; the little nation may quite too apothegm as applyingto themselves, "Short are the annals of a happy people!" Theirinsignificance and their geographical position secure them againstall disturbance. They live in their tiny quarters with economyand industry; the most densely populous community in Europe, andone of the most prosperous. Around their borders rises the sullenmurmur of threatening armies and hostile dynasties; but Belgiumis free from menace, and their sunshine of peace is without acloud. It is of course conceivable that in the great struggle whichseems impending, the Belgian nation may suddenly vanish from themap, and become but a memory in the minds of a future generation;but their end, if it come, is likely to be in the nature of aeuthanasia, and so far as they are physically concerned, theywill survive their political annihilation. The only ripples whichhave varied the smooth surface of their career since the treaty, have been disputes between the liberal and clerical parties onquestions of education, and disturbances and occasional riotsinstigated by socialists over industrial questions. Leopold, dying at the age of seventy-six, was succeeded by his son asLeopold II. , and his reign continued during the remainder of thecentury. 

The treaty of 1839, in addition to its provisions already mentioned, gave Limburg, on the Prussian border, to the Dutch, and openedthe Scheldt under heavy tolls. In October of the year followingthe treaty, William I. Abdicated the throne of Holland in favorof his son. He had not enjoyed his reign, and he retired in anill humor, which was not without some excuse. His career hadbeen a worthy one; he had been a soldier in the field from histwenty-first year till the battle of Wagram in 1809, when he wasnear forty; after that he dwelt in retirement in Berlin untilhe was called to the throne of the Netherlands. At that timehe had exchanged his German possessions for the grand duchy ofLuxemburg; and was therefore naturally reluctant to be deprivedof the latter. The old soldier survived his abdication only afew years, dying in 1843 at Berlin. 

William II. Was a soldier like his father. He had gained distinctionunder Wellington in the Spanish campaign, and in the struggleagainst Napoleon during the Hundred Days he commanded the Dutchcontingent. He married Anne, sister of Alexander I. Of Russia, in 1816, and at the outbreak of the revolution of 1830 he wassent to Belgium to bring about an arrangement. On the 16th ofOctober of that year he took the step, which was repudiated byhis rigid old father, of acknowledging Belgian independence; buthe subsequently commanded the Dutch army against the Belgians, and was forced to yield to the French in August, 1832. After hisaccession, he behaved with firmness and liberality, and diedin 1849 leaving a good reputation behind him. 

Meanwhile, the new revolution of 1848 was approaching. Insensibly, the states of Europe had ranged themselves under two principles. There were on one side the states governed by constitutions, including Great Britain, France, Holland, Belgium, Switzerland, Sweden and, Norway, Denmark, and, for the time being, Spain andPortugal. On the other side were Russia, Prussia, Austria, theItalian States, and some of those of Germany, who held that theright of rule and the making of laws belonged absolutely to certaindynasties, which were, indeed, morally bound to consult the interestsof their populations, yet were not responsible to their subjectsfor the manner in which they might choose to do it. In the lastmentioned states there existed a chronic strife between the peopleand their rulers. It was an irrepressible conflict, and its crisiswas reached in 1848. 

It was in France that things first came to a head. Louis Philippeand his minister, Guizot, tried to render the government graduallyindependent of the nation, in imitation of the absolutist empires;and the uneasiness caused by this policy was emphasized by thescarcity that prevailed during the years 1846 and 1847. The Liberalsbegan to demand electoral reform; but the king, on opening theChambers, intimated that he was convinced that no reform wasneeded. Angry debates ensued, and finally the opposition arrangedfor a great banquet in the Champs Elysee on February 22, 1848, in support of the reform movement. This gathering, however, wasforbidden by Guizot. The order was regarded as arbitrary, andthe Republicans seized the opportunity. Barricades appeared inParis, the king was forced to abdicate, and took refuge withhis family in England. France was thereupon declared to be aRepublic, and the government was intrusted to Lamartine and others. There was now great danger of excesses similar to those of thefirst great revolution; but the elements of violence were keptunder by the opposition of the middle and higher classes. Thecommunistic clubs were overawed by the National Guards, and onApril 16th the Communistic party was defeated. General Cavaignac, who had been made dictator during the struggle, laid down hisoffice after the battle which began on the 23d of June betweenthe rabble of idle mechanics, eighty thousand in number, andthe national forces had been decided in favor of the latter, who slew no less than sixteen thousand of the enemy. Cavaignacwas now appointed chief of the Executive Commission with thetitle of President of the Council. A reaction favoring a monarchywas indicated; but meanwhile a new constitution provided fora quadriennial presidency, with a single legislature of sevenhundred and fifty members. Louis Napoleon, the nephew of thegreat emperor, was chosen by a majority vote for the office inDecember of 1848. Four years later he was declared emperor underthe title of Napoleon III. 

The revolutionary movement spread to other countries of Europe, with varying results. In Hungary, Kossuth in the Diet demandedof the emperor-king a national government. Prince Metternich, prime minister, attempted to resist the demand with militaryforce, but an insurrection in Vienna drove him into exile, andthe Hungarians gained a temporary advantage, and were granteda constitution. The Slavs met at Prague, at the instigation ofPolocky, and held a congress; but it was broken up by the impatienceof the inhabitants, and a success of the imperialists was followedby the rising of the southern Slavs in favor of the emperor. A battle took place in Hungary on September 11, 1848, but theimperialists under Jellachich were routed and driven toward theAustrian frontier. The war became wider in its scope; theinsurrectionists at first met with success; but in spite of theirdesperate valor the Hungarian forces were finally overthrown by theaid of a Russian army; and their leader, Goergy, was compelled tosurrender to the Russians on August 13, 1849. It was thought thatthe Czar might annex Hungary; but he handed it back to FrancisJoseph, who, by way of vengeance, permitted the most hideouscruelties. 

In Germany, the issue had no definite feature. The people demandedfreedom of the Press and a German parliament, and the variousprinces seemed acquiescent; but when it was proposed that Prussiashould become Germany, there was opposition on all sides; a Dietof the Confederation was held, but Frederick William IV. , kingof Prussia, refused to accept the title of hereditary emperorwhich was offered him. Austria and Prussia came into opposition;two rival congresses were sitting at the same time in 1850; andwar between the two states was only averted by the interferenceof Russia. Czar Nicholas, then virtually dictator of Europe, ordered Prussia's troops back, and the Convention of Olmutz, inNovember, seemed to put a final end to Prussia's hopes of Germanhegemony. 

All the local despotisms of Italy collapsed before the breathof revolution; but the country then found itself face to facewith Austria. Charles Albert of Sardinia had the courage to headthe revolt; but was defeated, and abdicated in favor of his sonVictor Emmanuel. Venice was taken after a severe siege by theAustrians; and King Bomba managed to repossess himself of Naples, after a terrible massacre. Sicily was subdued. In the Papal States, Pio Nono was deposed; but after a time a reaction set in, theprovisional government under Mazzini was overthrown, and theFrench occupied Rome and recalled the Pope. 

The question as to the Danish or German ownership of the duchiesof Schleswig-Holstein had already been agitated, and they becameacute at this time; but the spirit of the new revolution had nodirect bearing upon the matter. By the end of the first halfof the nineteenth century, Europe was outwardly quiet once more. 

And what part had Holland taken in these proceedings? A verysmall one. The phlegmatic Dutchmen found themselves fairly welloff, and were nowise tempted to embark in troubles for sentiment'ssake. The constitution given them in 1814 was revised, with theconsent of the king, and the changes, which involved variouspolitical reforms, went into effect on April 17, 1848. WilliamII. Died just eleven months afterward, and was succeeded by hisson William III. , at that time a man of two-and-thirty. He favoredthe reforms granted by his father, and showed himself to be inharmony with such sober ideas of progress as belonged to thenation over which he ruled. His aim in all things was peace, andthe development of the resources of the country; he understood hispeople, and they placed confidence in him, and Holland steadilygrew in wealth and comfort. In 1853, after the establishment bythe papacy of Catholic bishoprics had been allowed, there wasa period of some excitement; for Roman Catholicism had found astern and unconquerable foe in the Dutch; when it had come withthe bloody tyranny of Spain. But those evil days were past, andthe Dutch, who had pledged themselves to welcome religious freedomin their dominions, were disposed to let bygones be bygones, andto permit such of their countrymen as preferred the Catholicceremonial to have their way. It was evident that no danger existedof Holland's becoming subject to the papacy; and, indeed, theimmediate political sequel of the establishment of the bishopricswas the election of a moderate, liberal, Protestant cabinet, which thoroughly represented the country, and which representedits tone thereafter, with such modifications as new circumstancesmight suggest. The Dutch were philosophic, and were victims tono vague and costly ambitions. They felt that they had givensufficient proofs of their quality in the past; the glory whichthey had won as champions of liberty could never fade; and nowthey merited the repose which we have learned to associate withour conception of the Dutch character. Their nature seems topartake of the scenic traits of their country; its picturesque, solid serenity, its unemotional levels, its flavor of the antique:and yet beneath that composure we feel the strength and steadfastnesswhich can say to the ocean, Thus far and no further, and can buildtheir immaculate towns, and erect their peaceful windmills, andnavigate their placid canals, and smoke their fragrant pipes onland which, by natural right, should be the bottom of the sea. Holland is a perennial type of human courage and industry, commonsense and moderation. As we contemplate them to-day, it requiresan effort of the imagination to picture them as the descendantsof a race of heroes who defied and overcame the strongest andmost cruel Power on earth in their day, and then taught the restof Europe how to unite success in commerce with justice and honor. But the heroism is still there, and, should need arise, we neednot doubt that it would once more be manifested. 

Because Holland is so quiet, some rash critics fancy that shemay be termed effete. But this is far from the truth. The absenceof military burdens, rendered needless by the intelligentselfishness, if not the conscience, of the rest of Europe, impliesno decadence of masculine spirit in the Dutch. In no departmentof enterprise, commercial ability, or intellectual energy arethey inferior to any of their contemporaries, or to their owngreat progenitors. "Holland, " says Professor Thorold Rogers, "isthe origin of scientific medicine and rational therapeutics. FromHolland came the first optical instruments, the best mathematicians, the most intelligent philosophers, as well as the boldest and mostoriginal thinkers. Amsterdam and Rotterdam held the printingpresses of Europe in the early days of the republic; the Elzevirswere the first publishers of cheap editions, and thereby aidedin disseminating the new learning. From Holland came the newagriculture, which has done so much for social life, horticultureand floriculture. The Dutch taught modern Europe navigation. Theywere the first to explore the unknown seas, and many an islandand cape which their captains discovered has been renamed aftersome one who got his knowledge by their research, and appropriatedthe fruit of his predecessor's labors. They have been as muchplundered in the world of letters as they have been in commerceand politics. Holland taught the Western nations finance--perhapsno great boon. But they also taught commercial honor, the lastand hardest lesson which nations learn. They inculcated freetrade, a lesson nearly as hard to learn, if not harder, sincethe conspiracy against private right is watchful, incessant, and, as some would make us believe, respectable. They raiseda constant and for a long time ineffectual protest against thebarbarous custom of privateering, and the dangerous doctrine ofcontraband of war, a doctrine which, if carried out logically, would allow belligerents to interdict the trade of the world. TheDutch are the real founders of what people call international law, or the rights of nations. They made mistakes, but they made fewerthan their neighbors made. The benefits which they conferred wereincomparably greater than the errors they committed. There is nothingmore striking than the fact that, after a brief and discreditableepisode, the states were an asylum for the persecuted. The Jews, who were condemned because they were thrifty, plundered becausethey were rich, and harassed because they clung tenaciously totheir ancient faith and customs, found an asylum in Holland;and some of them perhaps, after they originated and adopted, with the pliability of their race, a Teutonic alias, have notbeen sufficiently grateful to the country which sheltered them. The Jansenists, expelled from France, found a refuge in Utrecht, and more than a refuge, a recognition, when recognition was adangerous offence. 

"There is no nation in Europe, " continues the professor, "whichowes more to Holland than Great Britain does. The English werefor a long time, in the industrial history of modern civilization, the stupidest and most backward nation in Europe. There was, tobe sure, a great age in England during the reign of Elizabethand that of the first Stuart king. But it was brief indeed. Inevery other department of art, of agriculture, of trade, we learnedour lesson from the Hollanders. I doubt whether any other smallEuropean race, after passing through the trials which it enduredafter the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle to the conclusion of thecontinental war, ever had so entire a recovery. The chain of itshistory, to be sure, was broken, and can never, in the natureof things, be welded together. But there is still left to Hollandthe boast and the reality of her motto, 'Luctor et emergo. '"

The events of Holland's history since the Catholic concessionscan be briefly told. In 1863 slavery was abolished in the DutchWest Indies, the owners being compensated; and forty-two thousandslaves were set free, chiefly in Dutch Guiana. In the same yearthe navigation of the Scheldt was freed, by purchase from Hollandby the European powers, of the right to levy tolls. In 1867, LouisNapoleon raised the question of Luxemburg by negotiating to buythe grand duchy from Holland; but Prussia objected to the scheme, and the matter was finally settled by a Conference in London; thePrussian garrison evacuating the fortifications, which were thendismantled, and Luxemburg was declared neutral territory. Capitalpunishment was abolished in 1869; and on the 15th of July of thesame year the Amsterdam National Exposition was opened by PrinceHenry. In 1870, at the outbreak of war between Germany and France, the neutrality of Holland as to both belligerents was secured bythe other Powers. In 1871 the Hollanders ceded Dutch Guinea toEngland, and in 1876 the canal between Amsterdam and the NorthSea, which had been begun in 1865, was completed, and the passagethrough it was accomplished by a monitor. Another Exposition wasopened in 1883, and in the same year the constitution underwenta further revision. On the 24th of June, 1884, the Prince ofOrange, heir-apparent to the throne, died, and the successionthus devolved upon the princess Wilhelmina, then a child of fouryears. William III. Himself died in 1890, and Queen Emma thereuponassumed the regency, which she was to hold until Wilhelmina cameof age in 1898; an agreeable consummation which we have justwitnessed. 

A word may here be said concerning the physical and politicalconstitution of the present kingdom of Holland. The country isdivided into eleven provinces--North and South Holland, Zealand, North Brabant, Utrecht, Limburg, Gelderland, Overyssel, Drenthe, Groningen, and Friesland. There are three large rivers--the Rhine, the Meuse, and the Scheldt. The inhabitants are Low Germans (Dutch), Frankish, Saxon, Frisian, and Jews, the latter numbering somesixty thousand, though their influence is, owing to their wealthand activity, larger than these figures would normally represent. The leading religion of the country is Lutheran; but there arealso many Catholics and persons of other faiths, all of whomare permitted the enjoyment of their creeds. Holland was at onetime second to no country in the extent of its colonies; andit still owns Java, the Moluccas, part of Borneo, New Guinea, Sumatra and Celebes, in the East; and in the West, Dutch Guianaand Curacoa. In Roman times the Low Countries were inhabited byvarious peoples, chiefly of Germanic origin; and in the MiddleAges were divided into several duchies and counties--such asBrabant, Flanders, Gelderland, Holland, Zealand, etc. The presentgovernment is a hereditary monarchy, consisting of a king orqueen and states-general; the upper chamber of fifty members, the lower of one hundred. It is essentially a country of largetowns, of five thousand inhabitants and upward. The Frisians arein North Holland, separated by the river Meuse from the Franks;the Saxons extend to the Utrecht Veldt. The Semitic race isrepresented by the Portuguese Jews; and there is an admixtureof other nationalities. In no part of the country do the Dutchpresent a marked physical type, but, on the other hand, theyare sharply differenced, in various localities, by their laws, their customs, and particularly by their dialects; indeed theFrisians have a distinct language of their own. 

The constitution of 1815, though more than once revised, remainspractically much the same as at first. The son of the monarch, theheir-apparent, is called the Prince of Orange. The administrationof the Provinces is in the hands of the provincial states; thesemeet but a few times in the year. The Communes have their communalcouncils, under the control of the burgomasters. There is a highcourt of justice, and numerous minor courts. 

The population is divided between about two million two hundredthousand Protestants, and half as many Roman Catholics, togetherwith others. There are four thousand schools, with six hundredthousand pupils, and about fourteen thousand teachers. Not morethan ten per cent of the people are illiterate, and the women areas carefully educated the men. There are four great universities:Leyden, founded in 1575; Utrecht, founded in 1636; Groningen, in1614; and Amsterdam, which has existed since 1877. These seats oflearning give instruction to from three hundred to seven hundredstudents each. The total expenses of the universities averageabout six hundred thousand dollars. There are also in Hollandexcellent institutions of art, science, and industry. 

Agriculture is generally pursued, but without the extreme scienceand economy shown in Belgium. The cultivation and produce vary, in part, according as the soil is sand or clay; but the same kindof soil, in different parts of the country, produces differentresults. Cattle are largely raised and are of first-rate quality;Friesland produces the best, but there are also excellent stocks inNorth Holland and South Holland. In Drenthe, owing to the extensivepasturage, great numbers of sheep are raised. But perhaps the mostimportant industry of Holland is the fisheries, both those of thedeep sea, and those carried on in the great Zuyder Zee, whichoccupies a vast area within the boundaries of the country. Thesefisheries, however, are not in all years successful, owing tothe ungovernable vagaries of ocean currents, and other causes. 

Holland has taken a prominent part in European thought since about1820. The Dutch language, instead of yielding to the dominationof the German, has been cultivated and enriched. The writers whohave achieved distinction could hardly even be named in spacehere available, and any approach to a critical estimate of themwould require volumes. One of the earlier but best-known namesis that of Jacobus Van Lennep, who is regarded as the leaderof the Dutch Romantic school. He was born in Amsterdam on the24th of March, 1802, and died at Oosterbeek, near Arnheim, August25, 1868. His father, David, was a professor and a poet; Jacobusstudied jurisprudence at Leyden, and afterward practiced law atAmsterdam. For a while he took some part in politics as a memberof the second chamber; but his heart was bent on the pursuitof literature, and he gradually abandoned all else for that. His first volume of poems was published when he was butfour-and-twenty; and he was the author of several dramas. Buthis strongest predilections were for romantic novel-writing;and his works in this direction show signs of the influence ofWalter Scott, who dominated the romantic field in the first halfof this century, and was known in Holland as well as throughoutthe rest of Europe. "The Foster Son" was published in 1829; the"Rose of Dekama" in 1836; "The Adventures of Claus Sevenstars" in1865. His complete works, in prose and poetry, fill six-and-thirtyvolumes. A younger contemporary of Van Lennep was Nikolas Beets, born at Haarlem in 1814; he also was both poet and prose writer, and his "Camara Obscura, " published in 1839, is accounted amasterpiece of character and humor, though it was composed whenthe author was barely twenty-four years of age. Van den Brinkwas a leading critic of the Romanticists; Hasebrock, author ofa volume of essays called "Truth and Dream, " has been likenedto the English Charles Lamb. Vosmaer is another eminent figurein Dutch literature; he wrote a "Life of Rembrandt" which is amasterpiece of biography. Kuenen, who died but ten years ago, was a biblical critic of European celebrity. But the list ofcontemporary Dutch writers is long and brilliant, and the timeto speak critically of them must be postponed. 

Nothing impresses the visitor to Holland more than the vast dikesor dams which restrain the sea from overwhelming the country. They have to be constantly watched and renewed, and to thoseunused to the idea of dwelling in the presence of such constantperil, the phlegm of the Hollanders is remarkable. M. Havard, whohas made a careful study of the country and its people, and whowrites of them in a lively style, has left excellent descriptionsof these unique works. "We know, " he says, "what the Zealandsoil is--how uncertain, changing, and mutable; nevertheless, a construction is placed upon it, one hundred and twenty yardslong, sixteen yards wide at the entrance, and more than sevenand a half yards deep below high water. Add to this, that theenormous basin (one thousand nine hundred square yards) is enclosedwithin granite walls of extraordinary thickness, formed of solidblocks of stone of tremendous weight. To what depth must thedaring workmen who undertook the Cyclopean task have gone insearch of a stable standpoint, on which to lay the foundationof such a mass! In what subterranean layer could they have hadsuch confidence, in this country where the earth sinks in, all ofa sudden, where islands disappear without leaving a trace--thatthey ventured to build upon it so mighty an edifice! And observethat not only one dam is thus built; in the two islands of ZuidBeveland and Walcheren a dozen have been constructed. There aretwo at Wormeldingen. In the presence of these achievements, ofproblems faced with such courage and solved with such success, one is almost bewildered. "

Elsewhere, in speaking of Kampveer, one of the towns which sufferedan inundation, he says, "Poor little port! once so famous, lively, populous, and noisy, and now so solitary and still! Traces ofits former military and mercantile character are yet to be seen. On the left stands a majestic building with thick walls and fewapertures, terminating on the sea in a crenelated round tower;and these elegant houses, with their arched and trefoiled windows, and their decorated gables, on the right, once formed the ancientScotschhuis. Every detail of the building recalls the great tradein wool done by the city at that period. Far off, at the entranceof the port, stands a tower, the last remnant of the ramparts, formerly a fortification; it is now a tavern. In vain do we lookfor the companion tower; it has disappeared with the earth onwhich its foundations stood deep and strong for ages. If, fromthe summit of the surviving tower, you search for that mysterioustown upon the opposite bank, you will look for it in vain whereit formerly stood and mirrored its houses and steeples in thelimpid waters. Kampen also has been swallowed up forever, leavingno trace that it ever existed in this world. The land that stretchesout before us is all affected by that subtle, cancerous disease, the _val_, whose ravages are so terrible. Two centuries ago thisgreat bay was so filled up with sand that it was expected thetwo islands would in a short time be reunited and thenceforthform but one. Then, on a sudden, the gulf yawned anew. That hugerent, the Veer Gat, opened once again, more deeply than before;whole towns were buried, and their inhabitants drowned. Then thewater retired, the earth rose, shaking off its humid windingsheet, and the old task was resumed; man began once more to disputethe soil with the invading waves. A portion of the land, whichseemed to have been forever lost, was regained; but at the costof what determined strife, after how many battles, with whatdire alternations! Within a century, three entire polders onthe north coast of Noordbeveland have again vanished, and inthe place where they were there flows a stream forty yards deep. In 1873, the polder of Borselen, thirty-one acres in extent, sankinto the waters. Each year the terrible _val_ devours some spaceor other, carrying away the land in strips. The Sophia polder isnow attacked by the _val_. Every possible means is being employedfor its defence; no sacrifice is spared. The game is almost up;already one dike has been swallowed, and a portion of the conqueredground has had to be abandoned. The dams are being strengthenedin the rear, while every effort is being made to fix the soil soas to prevent the slipping away of the reclaimed land. To effectthis, not only are the dams, reinforced and complicated by aninextricable network of stones and interlaced tree-branches; but_Zinkstukken_ are sunk far off in the sea, which by squeezing downthe shifting bottom avert those sudden displacements which bringabout such disasters. The Zinkstukken--enormous constructions inwicker work--are square rafts, made of reeds and boughs twistedtogether, sometimes two or three hundred feet long on a side. They are made on the edge of the coast and pushed into the sea;and no sooner is one afloat than it is surrounded by a crowd ofbarges and boats, big and little, laden with stones and clodsof earth. The boats are then attached to the Zinkstuk, and thiscombined flotilla is so disposed along shore that the currentcarries it to the place where the Zinkstuk is to be sunk. Whenthe current begins to make itself felt, the raft is loaded bythe simple process of heaping the contents of the barges uponthe middle of it. The men form in line from the four cornersto the centre, and the loads of stone and earth are passed on tothe centre of the raft, on which they are flung; then the middleof the Zinkstuk begins to sink gently, and to disappear under thewater. As it goes down, the operators withdraw; the stones andclods are then flung upon it from boats. At this stage of theproceedings the Zinkstuk is so heavy that all the vessels, draggedby its weight, lean over, and their masts bend above it. But nowthe decisive moment approaches, and the foreman, standing onthe poop of the largest boat, in the middle of the flotilla, onthe side furthest from the shore, awaits the instant when theZinkstuk shall come into precisely the foreordained position. At that instant he utters a shout and makes a signal; the ropesare cut, the raft plunges downward, and disappears forever, whilethe boats recover their proper position. "

M. Havard merits the space we have given him; for he describesa work the like of which has never been seen elsewhere in theworld, any more than have the conditions which necessitated it. But the picturesqueness of the actual scene can hardly be conveyedin words. Under an azure sky we behold outstretched a sparklingsea, its waters shading from green to blue and from yellow toviolet, harmoniously blending. In the distance, as though markingthe horizon, stretches a long, green strip of land, with thespires of the churches standing out in strong relief against thesky. At our feet is the Zinkstuk, surrounded by its flotilla. The great red sails furled upon the masts, the green poops, therudders sheathed with burnished copper, the red streaks alongthe sides of the boats, the colored shirts, brown vests, andblue girdles of the men, touched by the warm rays of the sun, compose a striking picture. On all sides the men are in motion, and five hundred brawny arms are flinging the contents of theboats upon the great raft; a truly Titanic stoning! Projectilesrain from all sides without pause, until the moment comes whenthe decisive command is to be given. Then silence, absolute andimpressive, falls upon the multitude. Suddenly the signal isgiven; a creaking noise is heard; the fifty boats right themselvesat the same instant, and turn toward the point where the greatraft which had separated them has just disappeared. They bumpagainst one another, they get entangled, they group themselves innumberless different ways. The swarming men, stooping and raisingup, the uplifted arms, the flying stones, the spurting watercovering the boats with foam; and in the midst of the confusion thepolder-jungens flinging the clods of earth with giant strength andswiftness upon the raft. At certain points the tumult declines;flags are hoisted from the tops of masts, the large sails areshaken out, and aided by the breeze some vessels get loose, sailout, and desert the field of battle. These are they whose taskis done, and which are empty. They retire one by one upon thegreat expanse of water, which, save in one spot, was a littlewhile ago deserted, and is now overspread with the vessels makingtheir various ways toward that green line on the horizon. 

This is a conflict not of days, nor of years, nor of generations, but of all time; and what the end will be none can foretell. It is the concrete symbol of the everlasting fight of man withnature, which means civilization. The day may come when, whereonce Holland was, will be outspread the serene waters of thesea, hiding beneath them the records of the stupendous struggleof so many centuries. Or, perhaps, some mysterious shifting ofthe ocean bottom may not only lift Holland out of peril, butuncover mighty tracts of land which, in the prehistoric past, belonged to Europe. Meanwhile it is easy to understand that thepeople who can wage this ceaseless war for their homes and lives, are the sons of those heroes who curbed the might of Spain, andtaught the world the lessons of freedom and independence. 

THE END