THE LIFE AND DEATH of JOHN OF BARNEVELD, ADVOCATE OF HOLLAND

WITH A VIEW OF THE PRIMARY CAUSES AND MOVEMENTS OF THE THIRTY YEARS' WAR

By John Lothrop Motley, D. C. L. , LL. D. 

1880

PREFACE:

These volumes make a separate work in themselves. They form also thenatural sequel to the other histories already published by the Author, aswell as the necessary introduction to that concluding portion of hislabours which he has always desired to lay before the public; a Historyof the Thirty Years' War. 

For the two great wars which successively established the independence ofHolland and the disintegration of Germany are in reality but one; aprolonged Tragedy of Eighty Years. The brief pause, which in theNetherlands was known as the Twelve Years' Truce with Spain, wasprecisely the epoch in which the elements were slowly and certainlygathering for the renewal over nearly the whole surface of civilizedEurope of that immense conflict which for more than forty years had beenraging within the narrow precincts of the Netherlands. 

The causes and character of the two wars were essentially the same. Therewere many changes of persons and of scenery during a struggle whichlasted for nearly three generations of mankind; yet a natural successionboth of actors, motives, and events will be observed from the beginningto the close. 

The designs of Charles V. To establish universal monarchy, which he hadpassionately followed for a lifetime through a series of colossal crimesagainst humanity and of private misdeeds against individuals, such as ithas rarely been permitted to a single despot to perpetrate, had beenbaffled at last. Disappointed, broken, but even to our own generationnever completely unveiled, the tyrant had withdrawn from the stage ofhuman affairs, leaving his son to carry on the great conspiracy againstHuman Right, independence of nations, liberty of thought, and equality ofreligions, with the additional vigour which sprang from intensity ofconviction. 

For Philip possessed at least that superiority over his father that hewas a sincere bigot. In the narrow and gloomy depths of his soul he haddoubtless persuaded himself that it was necessary for the redemption ofthe human species that the empire of the world should be vested in hishands, that Protestantism in all its forms should be extirpated as amalignant disease, and that to behead, torture, burn alive, and buryalive all heretics who opposed the decree of himself and the Holy Churchwas the highest virtue by which he could merit Heaven. 

The father would have permitted Protestantism if Protestantism would havesubmitted to universal monarchy. There would have been small difficultyin the early part of his reign in effecting a compromise between Rome andAugsburg, had the gigantic secular ambition of Charles not preferred toweaken the Church and to convert conscientious religious reform intopolitical mutiny; a crime against him who claimed the sovereignty ofChristendom. 

The materials for the true history of that reign lie in the Archives ofSpain, Austria, Rome, Venice, and the Netherlands, and in many otherplaces. When out of them one day a complete and authentic narrative shallhave been constructed, it will be seen how completely the policy ofCharles foreshadowed and necessitated that of Philip, how logically, under the successors of Philip, the Austrian dream of universal empireended in the shattering, in the minute subdivision, and the reduction toa long impotence of that Germanic Empire which had really belonged toCharles. 

Unfortunately the great Republic which, notwithstanding the aid ofEngland on the one side and of France on the other, had withstood almostsingle-handed the onslaughts of Spain, now allowed the demon of religioushatred to enter into its body at the first epoch of peace, although ithad successfully exorcised the evil spirit during the long and terriblewar. 

There can be no doubt whatever that the discords within the interior ofthe Dutch Republic during the period of the Truce, and their tragiccatastrophe, had weakened her purpose and partially paralysed her arm. When the noble Commonwealth went forward to the renewed and generalconflict which succeeded the concentrated one in which it had been thechief actor, the effect of those misspent twelve years became apparent. 

Indeed the real continuity of the war was scarcely broken by the fitful, armistice. The death of John of Cleve, an event almost simultaneous withthe conclusion of the Truce, seemed to those gifted with political visionthe necessary precursor of a new and more general war. 

The secret correspondence of Barneveld shows the almost propheticaccuracy with which he indicated the course of events and the approach ofan almost universal conflict, while that tragedy was still in the future, and was to be enacted after he had been laid in his bloody grave. No manthen living was so accustomed as he was to sweep the political horizon, and to estimate the signs and portents of the times. No statesman wasleft in Europe during the epoch of the Twelve Years' Truce to comparewith him in experience, breadth of vision, political tact, oradministrative sagacity. 

Imbued with the grand traditions and familiar with the great personagesof a most heroic epoch; the trusted friend or respected counsellor ofWilliam the Silent, Henry IV. , Elizabeth, and the sages and soldiers onwhom they leaned; having been employed during an already long lifetime inthe administration of greatest affairs, he stood alone after the deathsof Henry of France and the second Cecil, and the retirement of Sully, among the natural leaders of mankind. 

To the England of Elizabeth, of Walsingham, Raleigh, and the Cecils, hadsucceeded the Great Britain of James, with his Carrs and Carletons, Nauntons, Lakes, and Winwoods. France, widowed of Henry and waiting forRichelieu, lay in the clutches of Concini's, Epernons, and Bouillons, bound hand and foot to Spain. Germany, falling from Rudolph to Matthias, saw Styrian Ferdinand in the background ready to shatter the fabric of ahundred years of attempted Reformation. In the Republic of theNetherlands were the great soldier and the only remaining statesman ofthe age. At a moment when the breathing space had been agreed upon beforethe conflict should be renewed; on a wider field than ever, betweenSpanish-Austrian world-empire and independence of the nations; betweenthe ancient and only Church and the spirit of religious Equality; betweenpopular Right and royal and sacerdotal Despotism; it would have beendesirable that the soldier and the statesman should stand side by side, and that the fortunate Confederacy, gifted with two such champions andplaced by its own achievements at the very head of the great party ofresistance, should be true to herself. 

These volumes contain a slight and rapid sketch of Barneveld's career upto the point at which the Twelve Years' Truce with Spain was signed inthe year 1609. In previous works the Author has attempted to assign thegreat Advocate's place as part and parcel of history during thecontinuance of the War for Independence. During the period of the Trucehe will be found the central figure. The history of Europe, especially ofthe Netherlands, Britain, France, and Germany, cannot be thoroughlyappreciated without a knowledge of the designs, the labours, and the fateof Barneveld. 

The materials for estimating his character and judging his judges lie inthe national archives of the land of which he was so long the foremostcitizen. But they have not long been accessible. The letters, statepapers, and other documents remain unprinted, and have rarely been read. M. Van Deventer has published three most interesting volumes of theAdvocate's correspondence, but they reach only to the beginning of 1609. He has suspended his labours exactly at the moment when these volumesbegin. I have carefully studied however nearly the whole of thatcorrespondence, besides a mass of other papers. The labour is not light, for the handwriting of the great Advocate is perhaps the worst that everexisted, and the papers, although kept in the admirable order whichdistinguishes the Archives of the Hague, have passed through many handsat former epochs before reaching their natural destination in thetreasure-house of the nation. Especially the documents connected with thefamous trial were for a long time hidden from mortal view, forBarneveld's judges had bound themselves by oath to bury the proceedingsout of sight. And the concealment lasted for centuries. Very recently asmall portion of those papers has been published by the HistoricalSociety of Utrecht. The "Verhooren, " or Interrogatories of the Judges, and the replies of Barneveld, have thus been laid before the readingpublic of Holland, while within the last two years the distinguished andlearned historian, Professor Fruin, has edited the "Verhooren" of HugoGrotius. 

But papers like these, important as they are, make but a slender portionof the material out of which a judgment concerning these grave events canbe constructed. I do not therefore offer an apology for the somewhatcopious extracts which I have translated and given in these volumes fromthe correspondence of Barneveld and from other manuscripts of greatvalue--most of them in the Royal Archives of Holland and Belgium--whichare unknown to the public. 

I have avoided as much as possible any dealings with the theologicalcontroversies so closely connected with the events which I have attemptedto describe. This work aims at being a political study. The subject isfull of lessons, examples, and warnings for the inhabitants of all freestates. Especially now that the republican system of government isundergoing a series of experiments with more or less success in onehemisphere--while in our own land it is consolidated, powerful, andunchallenged--will the conflicts between the spirits of nationalcentralization and of provincial sovereignty, and the struggle betweenthe church, the sword, and the magistracy for supremacy in a freecommonwealth, as revealed in the first considerable republic of modernhistory, be found suggestive of deep reflection. 

Those who look in this work for a history of the Synod of Dordtrecht willlook in vain. The Author has neither wish nor power to grapple with themysteries and passions which at that epoch possessed so many souls. TheAssembly marks a political period. Its political aspects have beenanxiously examined, but beyond the ecclesiastical threshold there hasbeen no attempt to penetrate. 

It was necessary for my purpose to describe in some detail the relationsof Henry IV. With the Dutch Republic during the last and most pregnantyear of his life, which makes the first of the present history. Theserelations are of European importance, and the materials for appreciatingthem are of unexpected richness, in the Dutch and Belgian Archives. 

Especially the secret correspondence, now at the Hague, of that very ablediplomatist Francis Aerssens with Barneveld during the years 1609, 1610, and 1611, together with many papers at Brussels, are full of vitalimportance. 

They throw much light both on the vast designs which filled the brain ofHenry at this fatal epoch and on his extraordinary infatuation for theyoung Princess of Conde by which they were traversed, and which wasproductive of such widespread political anal tragical results. Thisepisode forms a necessary portion of my theme, and has therefore been setforth from original sources. 

I am under renewed obligations to my friend M. Gachard, the eminentpublicist and archivist of Belgium, for his constant and friendly officesto me (which I have so often experienced before), while studying thedocuments under his charge relating to this epoch; especially the secretcorrespondence of Archduke Albert with Philip III, and his ministers, andwith Pecquius, the Archduke's agent at Paris. 

It is also a great pleasure to acknowledge the unceasing courtesy andzealous aid rendered me during my renewed studies in the Archives at theHague--lasting through nearly two years--by the Chief Archivist, M. Vanden Berg, and the gentlemen connected with that institution, especiallyM. De Jonghe and M. Hingman, without whose aid it would have beendifficult for me to decipher and to procure copies of the almostillegible holographs of Barneveld. 

I must also thank M. Van Deventer for communicating copies of somecurious manuscripts relating to my subject, some from private archives inHolland, and others from those of Simancas. 

A single word only remains to be said in regard to the name of thestatesman whose career I have undertaken to describe. 

His proper appellation and that by which he has always been known in hisown country is Oldenbarneveld, but in his lifetime and always in historyfrom that time to this he has been called Barneveld in English as well asFrench, and this transformation, as it were, of the name has become sosettled a matter that after some hesitation it has been adopted in thepresent work. 

The Author would take this opportunity of expressing his gratitude forthe indulgence with which his former attempts to illustrate an importantperiod of European history have been received by the public, and hisanxious hope that the present volumes may be thought worthy of attention. They are the result at least of severe and conscientious labour at theoriginal sources of history, but the subject is so complicated anddifficult that it may well be feared that the ability to depict andunravel is unequal to the earnestness with which the attempt has beenmade. 

LONDON, 1873. 

THE LIFE AND DEATH OF JOHN OF BARNEVELD

CHAPTER I. 

 John of Barneveld the Founder of the Commonwealth of the United Provinces--Maurice of Orange Stadholder, but Servant to the States- General--The Union of Utrecht maintained--Barneveld makes a Compromise between Civil Functionaries and Church Officials-- Embassies to France, England, and to Venice--the Appointment of Arminius to be Professor of Theology at Leyden creates Dissension-- The Catholic League opposed by the Great Protestant Union--Death of the Duke of Cleve and Struggle for his Succession--The Elector of Brandenburg and Palatine of Neuburg hold the Duchies at Barneveld's Advice against the Emperor, though having Rival Claims themselves-- Negotiations with the King of France--He becomes the Ally of the States-General to Protect the Possessory Princes, and prepares for war. 

I propose to retrace the history of a great statesman's career. Thatstatesman's name, but for the dark and tragic scenes with which it wasultimately associated, might after the lapse of two centuries and a halfhave faded into comparative oblivion, so impersonal and shadowy hispresence would have seemed upon the great European theatre where he wasso long a chief actor, and where his efforts and his achievements wereforemost among those productive of long enduring and widespread results. 

There is no doubt whatever that John of Barneveld, Advocate and SealKeeper of the little province of Holland during forty years of astroubled and fertile an epoch as any in human history, was second to noneof his contemporary statesmen. Yet the singular constitution andhistorical position of the republic whose destinies he guided and thepeculiar and abnormal office which he held combined to cast a veil overhis individuality. The ever-teeming brain, the restless almostomnipresent hand, the fertile pen, the eloquent and ready tongue, wereseen, heard, and obeyed by the great European public, by the monarchs, statesmen, and warriors of the time, at many critical moments of history, but it was not John of Barneveld that spoke to the world. Those "high andpuissant Lords my masters the States-General" personified the young butalready majestic republic. Dignified, draped, and concealed by thatovershadowing title the informing and master spirit performed its neverending task. 

Those who study the enormous masses of original papers in the archives ofthe country will be amazed to find how the penmanship, most difficult todecipher, of the Advocate meets them at every turn. Letters to monarchs, generals, ambassadors, resolutions of councils, of sovereign assemblies, of trading corporations, of great Indian companies, legal and historicaldisquisitions of great depth and length on questions agitating Europe, constitutional arguments, drafts of treaties among the leading powers ofthe world, instructions to great commissions, plans for Europeancampaigns, vast combinations covering the world, alliances of empire, scientific expeditions and discoveries--papers such as these covered nowwith the satirical dust of centuries, written in the small, crabbed, exasperating characters which make Barneveld's handwriting almostcryptographic, were once, when fairly engrossed and sealed with the greatseal of the haughty burgher-aristocracy, the documents which occupied theclose attention of the cabinets of Christendom. 

It is not unfrequent to find four or five important despatches compressedalmost in miniature upon one sheet of gigantic foolscap. It is alsocurious to find each one of these rough drafts conscientiously beginningin the statesman's own hand with the elaborate phrases of complimentbelonging to the epoch such as "Noble, strenuous, severe, highlyhonourable, very learned, very discreet, and very wise masters, " andending with "May the Lord God Almighty eternally preserve you and holdyou in His holy keeping in this world and for ever"--decorations whichone might have thought it safe to leave to be filled in by the secretaryor copying clerk. 

Thus there have been few men at any period whose lives have been moreclosely identical than his with a national history. There have been fewgreat men in any history whose names have become less familiar to theworld, and lived less in the mouths of posterity. Yet there can be nodoubt that if William the Silent was the founder of the independence ofthe United Provinces Barneveld was the founder of the Commonwealthitself. He had never the opportunity, perhaps he might have never had thecapacity, to make such prodigious sacrifices in the cause of country asthe great prince had done. But he had served his country strenuously fromyouth to old age with an abiding sense of duty, a steadiness of purpose, a broad vision, a firm grasp, and an opulence of resource such as not oneof his compatriots could even pretend to rival. 

Had that country of which he was so long the first citizen maintaineduntil our own day the same proportionate position among the empires ofChristendom as it held in the seventeenth century, the name of John ofBarneveld would have perhaps been as familiar to all men as it is at thismoment to nearly every inhabitant of the Netherlands. Even now politicalpassion is almost as ready to flame forth either in ardent affection orenthusiastic hatred as if two centuries and a half had not elapsed sincehis death. His name is so typical of a party, a polity, and a faith, soindelibly associated with a great historical cataclysm, as to render itdifficult even for the grave, the conscientious, the learned, thepatriotic of his own compatriots to speak of him with absoluteimpartiality. 

A foreigner who loves and admires all that is great and noble in thehistory of that famous republic and can have no hereditary bias as to itsecclesiastical or political theories may at least attempt the task withcomparative coldness, although conscious of inability to do thoroughjustice to a most complex subject. 

In former publications devoted to Netherland history I have endeavouredto trace the course of events of which the life and works of the Advocatewere a vital ingredient down to the period when Spain after more thanforty years of hard fighting virtually acknowledged the independence ofthe Republic and concluded with her a truce of twelve years. 

That convention was signed in the spring of 1609. The ten ensuing yearsin Europe were comparatively tranquil, but they were scarcely to benumbered among the full and fruitful sheaves of a pacific epoch. It was apause, a breathing spell during which the sulphurous clouds which hadmade the atmosphere of Christendom poisonous for nearly half a centuryhad sullenly rolled away, while at every point of the horizon they wereseen massing themselves anew in portentous and ever accumulatingstrength. At any moment the faint and sickly sunshine in which poorexhausted Humanity was essaying a feeble twitter of hope as it plumeditself for a peaceful flight might be again obscured. To us of a remoteposterity the momentary division of epochs seems hardly discernible. Sorapidly did that fight of Demons which we call the Thirty Years' Wartread on the heels of the forty years' struggle for Dutch Independencewhich had just been suspended that we are accustomed to think and speakof the Eighty Years' War as one pure, perfect, sanguinary whole. 

And indeed the Tragedy which was soon to sweep solemnly across Europe wasforeshadowed in the first fitful years of peace. The throb of theelementary forces already shook the soil of Christendom. The fantasticbut most significant conflict in the territories of the dead Duke ofClove reflected the distant and gigantic war as in a mirage. It will benecessary to direct the reader's attention at the proper moment to thatepisode, for it was one in which the beneficent sagacity of Barneveld wasconspicuously exerted in the cause of peace and conservation. Meantime itis not agreeable to reflect that this brief period of nominal and armedpeace which the Republic had conquered after nearly two generations ofwarfare was employed by her in tearing her own flesh. The heroic swordwhich had achieved such triumphs in the cause of freedom could have beenbitter employed than in an attempt at political suicide. 

In a picture of the last decade of Barneveld's eventful life hispersonality may come more distinctly forward perhaps than in previousepochs. It will however be difficult to disentangle a single thread fromthe great historical tapestry of the Republic and of Europe in which hislife and achievements are interwoven. He was a public man in the fullestsense of the word, and without his presence and influence the record ofHolland, France, Spain, Britain, and Germany might have been essentiallymodified. 

The Republic was so integral a part of that system which divided Europeinto two great hostile camps according to creeds rather than frontiersthat the history of its foremost citizen touches at every point thegeneral history of Christendom. 

The great peculiarity of the Dutch constitution at this epoch was that noprinciple was absolutely settled. In throwing off a foreign tyranny andsuccessfully vindicating national independence the burghers and nobleshad not had leisure to lay down any organic law. Nor had the day forprofound investigation of the political or social contract arrived. Mendealt almost exclusively with facts, and when the facts arrangedthemselves illogically and incoherently the mischief was grave anddifficult to remedy. It is not a trifling inconvenience for an organizedcommonwealth to be in doubt as to where, in whom, and of what nature isits sovereignty. Yet this was precisely the condition of the UnitedNetherlands. To the eternal world so dazzling were the reputation and theachievements of their great captain that he was looked upon by many asthe legitimate chief of the state and doubtless friendly monarchs wouldhave cordially welcomed him into their brotherhood. 

During the war he had been surrounded by almost royal state. Two hundredofficers lived daily at his table. Great nobles and scions of sovereignhouses were his pupils or satellites. The splendour of military despotismand the awe inspired by his unquestioned supremacy in what was deemed thegreatest of all sciences invested the person of Maurice of Nassau with agrandeur which many a crowned potentate might envy. His ampleappointments united with the spoils of war provided him with almost royalrevenues, even before the death of his elder brother Philip William hadplaced in his hands the principality and wealthy possessions of Orange. Hating contradiction, arbitrary by instinct and by military habit, impatient of criticism, and having long acknowledged no master in thechief business of state, he found himself at the conclusion of the trucewith his great occupation gone, and, although generously provided for bythe treasury of the Republic, yet with an income proportionately limited. 

Politics and theology were fields in which he had hardly served anapprenticeship, and it was possible that when he should step forward as amaster in those complicated and difficult pursuits, soon to absorb theattention of the Commonwealth and the world, it might appear that war wasnot the only science that required serious preliminary studies. 

Meantime he found himself not a king, not the master of a nominalrepublic, but the servant of the States-General, and the limitedstadholder of five out of seven separate provinces. 

And the States-General were virtually John of Barneveld. Could antagonismbe more sharply defined? Jealousy, that potent principle which controlsthe regular movements and accounts for the aberrations of humanity inwidest spheres as well as narrowest circles far more generally andconclusively than philosophers or historians have been willing to admit, began forthwith to manifest its subtle and irresistible influence. 

And there were not to be wanting acute and dangerous schemers who sawtheir profit in augmenting its intensity. 

The Seven Provinces, when the truce of twelve years had been signed, wereneither exhausted nor impoverished. Yet they had just emerged from aforty years' conflict such as no people in human history had ever wagedagainst a foreign tyranny. They had need to repose and recruit, but theystood among the foremost great powers of the day. It is not easy inimagination to thrust back the present leading empires of the earth intothe contracted spheres of their not remote past. But to feel how a littleconfederacy of seven provinces loosely tied together by an ill-definedtreaty could hold so prominent and often so controlling a place in theEuropean system of the seventeenth century, we must remember that therewas then no Germany, no Russia, no Italy, no United States of America, scarcely even a Great Britain in the sense which belongs to that mightyempire now. 

France, Spain, England, the Pope, and the Emperor were the leading powerswith which the Netherlands were daily called on to solve great problemsand try conclusions; the study of political international equilibrium, now rapidly and perhaps fortunately becoming one of the lost arts, beingthen the most indispensable duty of kings and statesmen. 

Spain and France, which had long since achieved for themselves thepolitical union of many independent kingdoms and states into which theyhad been divided were the most considerable powers and of necessityrivals. Spain, or rather the House of Austria divided into its two greatbranches, still pursued its persistent and by no means fantastic dream ofuniversal monarchy. Both Spain and France could dispose of somewhatlarger resources absolutely, although not relatively, than the SevenProvinces, while at least trebling them in population. The yearly revenueof Spain after deduction of its pledged resources was perhaps equal to amillion sterling, and that of France with the same reservation was aboutas much. England had hardly been able to levy and make up a yearly incomeof more than L600, 000 or L700, 000 at the end of Elizabeth's reign or inthe first years of James, while the Netherlands had often provedthemselves capable of furnishing annually ten or twelve millions offlorins, which would be the equivalent of nearly a million sterling. 

The yearly revenues of the whole monarchy of the Imperial house ofHabsburg can scarcely be stated at a higher figure than L350, 000. 

Thus the political game--for it was a game--was by no means a desperateone for the Netherlands, nor the resources of the various players sounequally distributed as at first sight it might appear. 

The emancipation of the Provinces from the grasp of Spain and theestablishment by them of a commonwealth, for that epoch a very free one, and which contained within itself the germs of a larger liberty, religious, political, and commercial, than had yet been known, wasalready one of the most considerable results of the Reformation. Theprobability of its continued and independent existence was hardlybelieved in by potentate or statesman outside its own borders, and hadnot been very long a decided article of faith even within them. Theknotty problem of an acknowledgment of that existence, the admission ofthe new-born state into the family of nations, and a temporary peaceguaranteed by two great powers, had at last been solved mainly by thegenius of Barneveld working amid many disadvantages and against greatobstructions. The truce had been made, and it now needed all the skill, coolness, and courage of a practical and original statesman to conductthe affairs of the Confederacy. The troubled epoch of peace was even nowheaving with warlike emotions, and was hardly less stormy than the warwhich had just been suspended. 

The Republic was like a raft loosely strung together, floating almost ona level of the ocean, and often half submerged, but freighted withinestimable treasures for itself and the world. It needed an unsleepingeye and a powerful brain to conduct her over the quicksands and throughthe whirlpools of an unmapped and intricate course. 

The sovereignty of the country so far as its nature could besatisfactorily analysed seemed to be scattered through, and inherent ineach one of, the multitudinous boards of magistracy--close corporations, self-elected--by which every city was governed. Nothing could be morepreposterous. Practically, however, these boards were represented bydeputies in each of the seven provincial assemblies, and these again sentcouncillors from among their number to the general assembly which wasthat of their High Mightinesses the Lords States-General. 

The Province of Holland, being richer and more powerful than all its sixsisters combined, was not unwilling to impose a supremacy which on thewhole was practically conceded by the rest. Thus the Union of Utrechtestablished in 1579 was maintained for want of anything better as thefoundation of the Commonwealth. 

The Advocate and Keeper of the Great Seal of that province was thereforevirtually prime minister, president, attorney-general, finance minister, and minister of foreign affairs of the whole republic. This wasBarneveld's position. He took the lead in the deliberations both of theStates of Holland and the States-General, moved resolutions, advocatedgreat measures of state, gave heed to their execution, collected thevotes, summed up the proceedings, corresponded with and instructedambassadors, received and negotiated with foreign ministers, besidesdirecting and holding in his hands the various threads of the home policyand the rapidly growing colonial system of the Republic. 

All this work Barneveld had been doing for thirty years. 

The Reformation was by no mans assured even in the lands where it had atfirst made the most essential progress. But the existence of the newcommonwealth depended on the success of that great movement which hadcalled it into being. Losing ground in France, fluctuating in England, Protestantism was apparently more triumphant in vast territories wherethe ancient Church was one day to recover its mastery. Of the populationof Bohemia, there were perhaps ten Protestants to one Papist, while inthe United Netherlands at least one-third of the people were stillattached to the Catholic faith. 

The great religious struggle in Bohemia and other dominions of theHabsburg family was fast leading to a war of which no man could evenimagine the horrors or foresee the vast extent. The Catholic League andthe Protestant Union were slowly arranging Europe into two mightyconfederacies. 

They were to give employment year after year to millions of mercenaryfreebooters who were to practise murder, pillage, and every imaginableand unimaginable outrage as the most legitimate industry that couldoccupy mankind. The Holy Empire which so ingeniously combined the worstcharacteristics of despotism and republicanism kept all Germany and halfEurope in the turmoil of a perpetual presidential election. A theatrewhere trivial personages and graceless actors performed a tragi-comedy ofmingled folly, intrigue, and crime, and where earnestness and vigour weredestined to be constantly baffled, now offered the principal stage forthe entertainment and excitement of Christendom. 

There was but one king in Europe, Henry the Bearnese. The men who sat onthe thrones in Madrid, Vienna, London, would have lived and died unknownbut for the crowns they wore, and while there were plenty of bustlingpoliticians here and there in Christendom, there were not many statesmen. 

Among them there was no stronger man than John of Barneveld, and no manhad harder or more complicated work to do. 

Born in Amersfoort in 1547, of the ancient and knightly house ofOldenbarneveldt, of patrician blood through all his ancestors both maleand female, he was not the heir to large possessions, and was a diligentstudent and hardworking man from youth upward. He was not wont to boastof his pedigree until in later life, being assailed by vilest slander, all his kindred nearest or most remote being charged with every possibleand unmentionable crime, and himself stigmatized as sprung from thelowest kennels of humanity--as if thereby his private character andpublic services could be more legitimately blackened--he was stung intoexhibiting to the world the purity and antiquity of his escutcheon, and aroll of respectably placed, well estated, and authentically noble, if notat all illustrious, forefathers in his country's records of the previouscenturies. 

Without an ancestor at his back he might have valued himself still morehighly on the commanding place he held in the world by right divine ofintellect, but as the father of lies seemed to have kept his creatures sobusy with the Barneveld genealogy, it was not amiss for the statesmanonce for all to make the truth known. 

His studies in the universities of Holland, France, Italy, and Germanyhad been profound. At an early age he was one of the first civilians ofthe time. His manhood being almost contemporary with the great war offreedom, he had served as a volunteer and at his own expense throughseveral campaigns, having nearly lost his life in the disastrous attemptto relieve the siege of Haarlem, and having been so disabled by sicknessand exposure at the heroic leaguer of Leyden as to have been deprived ofthe joy of witnessing its triumphant conclusion. 

Successfully practising his profession afterwards before the tribunals ofHolland, he had been called at the comparatively early age of twenty-nineto the important post of Chief Pensionary of Rotterdam. So long asWilliam the Silent lived, that great prince was all in all to hiscountry, and Barneveld was proud and happy to be among the most trustedand assiduous of his counsellors. 

When the assassination of William seemed for an instant to strike theRepublic with paralysis, Barneveld was foremost among the statesmen ofHolland to spring forward and help to inspire it with renewed energy. 

The almost completed negotiations for conferring the sovereignty, not ofthe Confederacy, but of the Province of Holland, upon the Prince had beenabruptly brought to an end by his death. To confer that sovereigncountship on his son Maurice, then a lad of eighteen and a student atLeyden, would have seemed to many at so terrible a crisis an act ofmadness, although Barneveld had been willing to suggest and promote thescheme. The confederates under his guidance soon hastened however to laythe sovereignty, and if not the sovereignty, the protectorship, of allthe provinces at the feet first of England and then of France. 

Barneveld was at the head of the embassy, and indeed was theindispensable head of all important, embassies to each of those twocountries throughout all this portion of his career. Both monarchsrefused, almost spurned, the offered crown in which was involved a warwith the greatest power in the world, with no compensating dignity orbenefit, as it was thought, beside. 

Then Elizabeth, although declining the sovereignty, promised assistanceand sent the Earl of Leicester as governor-general at the head of acontingent of English troops. Precisely to prevent the consolidation thusthreatened of the Provinces into one union, a measure which had beenattempted more than once in the Burgundian epoch, and always successfullyresisted by the spirit of provincial separatism, Barneveld now proposedand carried the appointment of Maurice of Nassau to the stadholdership ofHolland. This was done against great opposition and amid fierce debate. Soon afterwards Barneveld was vehemently urged by the nobles and regentsof the cities of Holland to accept the post of Advocate of that province. After repeatedly declining the arduous and most responsible office, hewas at last induced to accept it. He did it under the remarkablecondition that in case any negotiation should be undertaken for thepurpose of bringing back the Province of Holland under the dominion ofthe King of Spain, he should be considered as from that moment relievedfrom the service. 

His brother Elias Barneveld succeeded him as Pensionary of Rotterdam, andthenceforth the career of the Advocate is identical with the history ofthe Netherlands. Although a native of Utrecht, he was competent toexercise such functions in Holland, a special and ancient conventionbetween those two provinces allowing the citizens of either to enjoylegal and civic rights in both. Gradually, without intrigue or inordinateambition, but from force of circumstances and the commanding power of theman, the native authority stamped upon his forehead, he became thepolitical head of the Confederacy. He created and maintained a system ofpublic credit absolutely marvellous in the circumstances, by means ofwhich an otherwise impossible struggle was carried to a victorious end. 

When the stadholderate of the provinces of Gelderland, Utrecht, andOveryssel became vacant, it was again Barneveld's potent influence andsincere attachment to the House of Nassau that procured the election ofMaurice to those posts. Thus within six years after his father's deaththe youthful soldier who had already given proof of his surpassingmilitary genius had become governor, commander-in-chief, and highadmiral, of five of the seven provinces constituting the Confederacy. 

At about the same period the great question of Church and State, whichBarneveld had always felt to be among the vital problems of the age, andon which his opinions were most decided, came up for partial solution. Itwould have been too much to expect the opinion of any statesman to be somuch in advance of his time as to favor religious equality. Toleration ofvarious creeds, including the Roman Catholic, so far as abstinence frominquisition into consciences and private parlours could be calledtoleration, was secured, and that was a considerable step in advance ofthe practice of the sixteenth century. Burning, hanging, and buryingalive of culprits guilty of another creed than the dominant one hadbecome obsolete. But there was an established creed--the Reformedreligion, founded on the Netherland Confession and the HeidelbergCatechism. And there was one established principle then consideredthroughout Europe the grand result of the Reformation; "Cujus regio ejusreligio;" which was in reality as impudent an invasion of human right asany heaven-born dogma of Infallibility. The sovereign of a country, having appropriated the revenues of the ancient church, prescribed hisown creed to his subjects. In the royal conscience were included themillion consciences of his subjects. The inevitable result in a countrylike the Netherlands, without a personal sovereign, was a strugglebetween the new church and the civil government for mastery. And at thisperiod, and always in Barneveld's opinion, the question of dogma wassubordinate to that of church government. That there should be noauthority over the King had been settled in England. 

Henry VIII. , Elizabeth, and afterwards James, having become popes intheir own realm, had no great hostility to, but rather an affection for, ancient dogma and splendid ceremonial. But in the Seven Provinces, evenas in France, Germany, and Switzerland, the reform where it had beeneffected at all had been more thorough, and there was little left ofPopish pomp or aristocratic hierarchy. Nothing could be severer than thesimplicity of the Reformed Church, nothing more imperious than its dogma, nothing more infallible than its creed. It was the true religion, andthere was none other. But to whom belonged the ecclesiastical edifices, the splendid old minsters in the cities--raised by the people's confidingpiety and the purchased remission of their sins in a bygone age--and thehumbler but beautiful parish churches in every town and village? To theState; said Barneveld, speaking for government; to the communityrepresented by the states of the provinces, the magistracies of thecities and municipalities. To the Church itself, the one true churchrepresented by its elders, and deacons, and preachers, was the reply. 

And to whom belonged the right of prescribing laws and ordinances ofpublic worship, of appointing preachers, church servants, schoolmasters, sextons? To the Holy Ghost inspiring the Class and the Synod, said theChurch. 

To the civil authority, said the magistrates, by which the churches aremaintained, and the salaries of the ecclesiastics paid. The states ofHolland are as sovereign as the kings of England or Denmark, the electorsof Saxony or Brandenburg, the magistrates of Zurich or Basel or otherSwiss cantons. "Cujus regio ejus religio. "

In 1590 there was a compromise under the guidance of Barneveld. It wasagreed that an appointing board should be established composed of civilfunctionaries and church officials in equal numbers. Thus should theinterests of religion and of education be maintained. 

The compromise was successful enough during the war. External pressurekept down theological passion, and there were as yet few symptoms ofschism in the dominant church. But there was to come a time when thestruggle between church and government was to break forth with anintensity and to rage to an extent which no man at that moment couldimagine. 

Towards the end of the century Henry IV. Made peace with Spain. It was atrying moment for the Provinces. Barneveld was again sent forth on anembassy to the King. The cardinal point in his policy, as it had everbeen in that of William the Silent, was to maintain close friendship withFrance, whoever might be its ruler. An alliance between that kingdom andSpain would be instantaneous ruin to the Republic. With the French andEnglish sovereigns united with the Provinces, the cause of theReformation might triumph, the Spanish world-empire be annihilated, national independence secured. 

Henry assured the Ambassador that the treaty of Vervins wasindispensable, but that he would never desert his old allies. In proof ofthis, although he had just bound himself to Spain to give no assistanceto the Provinces, open or secret, he would furnish them with thirteenhundred thousand crowns, payable at intervals during four years. He wasunder great obligations to his good friends the States, he said, andnothing in the treaty forbade him to pay his debts. 

It was at this period too that Barneveld was employed by the King toattend to certain legal and other private business for which he professedhimself too poor at the moment to compensate him. There seems to havebeen nothing in the usages of the time or country to make thetransaction, innocent in itself, in any degree disreputable. The Kingpromised at some future clay, when he should be more in funds, to pay hima liberal fee. Barneveld, who a dozen years afterwards received 20, 000florins for his labour, professed that he would much rather have had onethousand at the time. 

Thence the Advocate, accompanied by his colleague, Justinus de Nassau, proceeded to England, where they had many stormy interviews withElizabeth. The Queen swore with many an oath that she too would makepeace with Philip, recommended the Provinces to do the same thing withsubmission to their ancient tyrant, and claimed from the States immediatepayment of one million sterling in satisfaction of their old debts toher. It would have been as easy for them at that moment to pay a thousandmillion. It was at last agreed that the sum of the debt should be fixedat L800, 000, and that the cautionary towns should be held in Elizabeth'shands by English troops until all the debt should be discharged. ThusEngland for a long time afterwards continued to regard itself, as in ameasure the sovereign and proprietor of the Confederacy, and Barneveldthen and there formed the resolve to relieve the country of the incubus, and to recover those cautionary towns and fortresses at the earliestpossible moment. So long as foreign soldiers commanded by militarygovernors existed on the soil of the Netherlands, they could hardlyaccount themselves independent. Besides, there was the perpetual andhorrid nightmare, that by a sudden pacification between Spain and Englandthose important cities, keys to the country's defence, might be handedover to their ancient tyrant. 

Elizabeth had been pacified at last, however, by the eloquence of theAmbassador. "I will assist you even if you were up to the neck in water, "she said. "Jusque la, " she added, pointing to her chin. 

Five years later Barneveld, for the fifth time at the head of a greatembassy, was sent to England to congratulate James on his accession. Itwas then and there that he took measure of the monarch with whom he wasdestined to have many dealings, and who was to exert so baleful aninfluence on his career. At last came the time when it was felt thatpeace between Spain and her revolted provinces might be made. Theconservation of their ancient laws, privileges, and charters, theindependence of the States, and included therein the freedom to establishthe Reformed religion, had been secured by forty years of fighting. 

The honour of Spain was saved by a conjunction. She agreed to treat withher old dependencies "as" with states over which she had no pretensions. Through virtue of an "as, " a truce after two years' negotiation, perpetually traversed and secretly countermined by the military partyunder the influence of Maurice, was carried by the determination ofBarneveld. The great objects of the war had been secured. The country wasweary of nearly half a century of bloodshed. It was time to remember thatthere could be such a condition as Peace. 

The treaty was signed, ratifications exchanged, and the usual presents ofconsiderable sums of money to the negotiators made. Barneveld earnestlyprotested against carrying out the custom on this occasion, and urgedthat those presents should be given for the public use. He was overruledby those who were more desirous of receiving their reward than he was, and he accordingly, in common with the other diplomatists, accepted thegifts. 

The various details of these negotiations have been related by the authorin other volumes, to which the present one is intended as a sequel. Ithas been thought necessary merely to recall very briefly a few salientpassages in the career of the Advocate up to the period when the presenthistory really opens. 

Their bearing upon subsequent events will easily be observed. The trucewas the work of Barneveld. It was detested by Maurice and by Maurice'spartisans. 

"I fear that our enemies and evil reports are the cause of many of ourdifficulties, " said the Advocate to the States' envoy in Paris, in 1606. "You are to pay no heed to private advices. Believe and make othersbelieve that more than one half the inhabitants of the cities and in theopen country are inclined to peace. And I believe, in case of continuingadversities, that the other half will not remain constant, principallybecause the Provinces are robbed of all traffic, prosperity, andnavigation, through the actions of France and England. I have alwaysthought it for the advantage of his Majesty to sustain us in such wise aswould make us useful in his service. As to his remaining permanently atpeace with Spain, that would seem quite out of the question. "

The King had long kept, according to treaty, a couple of French regimentsin the States' service, and furnished, or was bound to furnish, a certainyearly sum for their support. But the expenses of the campaigning hadbeen rapidly increasing and the results as swiftly dwindling. TheAdvocate now explained that, "without loss both of important places andof reputation, " the States could not help spending every month that theytook the field 200, 000 florins over and above the regular contributions, and some months a great deal more. This sum, he said, in nine months, would more than eat up the whole subsidy of the King. If they were to bein the field by March or beginning of April, they would require from himan extraordinary sum of 200, 000 crowns, and as much more in June or July. 

Eighteen months later, when the magnificent naval victory of Heemskerk inthe Bay of Gibraltar had just made a startling interlude to thelanguishing negotiations for peace, the Advocate again warned the FrenchKing of the difficulty in which the Republic still laboured of carryingon the mighty struggle alone. Spain was the common enemy of all. No peaceor hope was possible for the leading powers as long as Spain wasperpetually encamped in the very heart of Western Europe. The Netherlandswere not fighting their own battle merely, but that of freedom andindependence against the all-encroaching world-power. And their means tocarry on the conflict were dwindling, while at the same time there was afavourable opportunity for cropping some fruit from their previouslabours and sacrifices. 

"We are led to doubt, " he wrote once more to the envoy in France, "whether the King's full powers will come from Spain. This defeat is hardfor the Spaniards to digest. Meantime our burdens are quite above ourcapacity, as you will understand by the enclosed statement, which is madeout with much exactness to show what is absolutely necessary for avigorous defence on land and a respectable position at sea to keep thingsfrom entire confusion. The Provinces could raise means for the half ofthis estimate. But, it is a great difference when the means differ onehalf from the expenses. The sovereignst and most assured remedy would bethe one so often demanded, often projected, and sometimes almost preparedfor execution, namely that our neighbour kings, princes, and republicsshould earnestly take the matter in hand and drive the Spaniards andtheir adherents out of the Netherlands and over the mountains. Their owndignity and security ought not to permit such great bodies of troops ofboth belligerents permanently massed in the Netherlands. Still less oughtthey to allow these Provinces to fall into the hands of the Spaniards, whence they could with so much more power and convenience make war uponall kings, princes, and republics. This must be prevented by one means oranother. It ought to be enough for every one that we have been betweenthirty and forty years a firm bulwark against Spanish ambition. Ourconstancy and patience ought to be strengthened by counsel and by deed inorder that we may exist; a Christian sympathy and a small assistance notbeing sufficient. Believe and cause to be believed that the presentcondition of our affairs requires more aid in counsel and money than everbefore, and that nothing could be better bestowed than to further thisend. 

"Messieurs Jeannin, Buzenval, and de Russy have been all here thesetwelve days. We have firm hopes that other kings, princes, and republicswill not stay upon formalities, but will also visit the patients here inorder to administer sovereign remedies. 

"Lend no ear to any flying reports. We say with the wise men over there, 'Metuo Danaos et dons ferentes. ' We know our antagonists well, and trusttheir hearts no more than before, 'sed ultra posse non est esse. ' Toaccept more burthens than we can pay for will breed military mutiny; totax the community above its strength will cause popular tumults, especially in 'rebus adversis, ' of which the beginnings were seen lastyear, and without a powerful army the enemy is not to be withstood. Ihave received your letters to the 17th May. My advice is to trust to hisupright proceedings and with patience to overcome all things. Thus shallthe detractors and calumniators best be confounded. Assure his Majestyand his ministers that I will do my utmost to avert our ruin and hisMajesty's disservice. "

The treaty was made, and from that time forth the antagonism between theeminent statesman and the great military chieftain became inevitable. Theimportance of the one seemed likely to increase day by day. Theoccupation of the other for a time was over. 

During the war Maurice had been, with exception of Henry IV. , the mostconsiderable personage in Europe. He was surrounded with that visibleatmosphere of power the poison of which it is so difficult to resist, andthrough the golden haze of which a mortal seems to dilate for the vulgareye into the supernatural. The attention of Christendom was perpetuallyfixed upon him. Nothing like his sieges, his encampments, his militarydiscipline, his scientific campaigning had been seen before in modernEurope. The youthful aristocracy from all countries thronged to his campto learn the game of war, for he had restored by diligent study of theancients much that was noble in that pursuit, and had elevated into anart that which had long since degenerated into a system of butchery, marauding, and rapine. And he had fought with signal success andunquestionable heroism the most important and most brilliant pitchedbattle of the age. He was a central figure of the current history ofEurope. Pagan nations looked up to him as one of the leading sovereignsof Christendom. The Emperor of Japan addressed him as his brothermonarch, assured him that his subjects trading to that distant empireshould be welcomed and protected, and expressed himself ashamed that sogreat a prince, whose name and fame had spread through the world, shouldsend his subjects to visit a country so distant and unknown, and offerits emperor a friendship which he was unconscious of deserving. 

He had been a commander of armies and a chief among men since he came toman's estate, and he was now in the very vigour of life, in hisforty-second year. Of Imperial descent and closely connected by blood oralliance with many of the most illustrious of reigning houses, theacknowledged master of the most royal and noble of all sciences, he wasof the stuff of which kings were made, and belonged by what was thenaccounted right divine to the family of kings. His father's death hadalone prevented his elevation to the throne of Holland, and suchpossession of half the sovereignty of the United Netherlands wouldprobably have expanded into dominion over all the seven with a notfantastic possibility of uniting the ten still obedient provinces into asingle realm. Such a kingdom would have been more populous and farwealthier than contemporary Great Britain and Ireland. Maurice, then astudent at Leyden, was too young at that crisis, and his powers tooundeveloped to justify any serious attempt to place him in his father'splace. 

The Netherlands drifted into a confederacy of aristocratic republics, notbecause they had planned a republic, but because they could not get aking, foreign or native. The documents regarding the offer of thesovereign countship to William remained in the possession of Maurice, anda few years before the peace there had been a private meeting of leadingpersonages, of which Barneveld was the promoter and chief spokesman, totake into consideration the propriety and possibility of conferring thatsovereignty upon the son which had virtually belonged to the father. Theobstacles were deemed so numerous, and especially the scheme seemed sofraught with danger to Maurice, that it was reluctantly abandoned by hisbest friends, among whom unquestionably was the Advocate. 

There was no reason whatever why the now successful and mature soldier, to whom the country was under such vast obligations, should not aspire tothe sovereignty. The Provinces had not pledged themselves torepublicanism, but rather to monarchy, and the crown, although secretlycoveted by Henry IV. , could by no possibility now be conferred on anyother man than Maurice. It was no impeachment on his character that heshould nourish thoughts in which there was nothing criminal. 

But the peace negotiations had opened a chasm. It was obvious enough thatBarneveld having now so long exercised great powers, and become as itwere the chief magistrate of an important commonwealth, would not be sofriendly as formerly to its conversion into a monarchy and to theelevation of the great soldier to its throne. The Advocate had even beensounded, cautiously and secretly, so men believed, by thePrincess-Dowager, Louise de Coligny, widow of William the silent, as tothe feasibility of procuring the sovereignty for Maurice. She had donethis at the instigation of Maurice, who had expressed his belief that thefavourable influence of the Advocate would make success certain and whohad represented to her that, as he was himself resolved never to marry, the inheritance after his death would fall to her son Frederick Henry. The Princess, who was of a most amiable disposition, adored her son. Devoted to the House of Nassau and a great admirer of its chief, she hada long interview with Barneveld, in which she urged the scheme upon hisattention without in any probability revealing that she had come to himat the solicitation of Maurice. 

The Advocate spoke to her with frankness and out of the depths of hisheart. He professed an ardent attachment to her family, a profoundreverence for the virtues, sacrifices, and achievements of her lamentedhusband, and a warm desire to do everything to further the interests ofthe son who had proved himself so worthy of his parentage. 

But he proved to her that Maurice, in seeking the sovereignty, wasseeking his ruin. The Hollanders, he said, liked to be persuaded and notforced. Having triumphantly shaken off the yoke of a powerful king, theywould scarcely consent now to accept the rule of any personal sovereign. The desire to save themselves from the claws of Spain had led themformerly to offer the dominion over them to various potentates. Now thatthey had achieved peace and independence and were delivered from thefears of Spanish ferocity and French intrigue, they shuddered at thedangers from royal hands out of which they had at last escaped. Hebelieved that they would be capable of tearing in pieces any one whomight make the desired proposition. After all, he urged, Maurice was ahundred times more fortunate as he was than if he should succeed indesires so opposed to his own good. This splendour of sovereignty was afalse glare which would lead him to a precipice. He had now the power ofa sovereign without the envy which ever followed it. Having essentiallysuch power, he ought, like his father, to despise an empty name, whichwould only make him hated. For it was well known that William the Silenthad only yielded to much solicitation, agreeing to accept that which thenseemed desirable for the country's good but to him was more thanindifferent. 

Maurice was captain-general and admiral-general of five provinces. Heappointed to governments and to all military office. He had a share ofappointment to the magistracies. He had the same advantages and the sameauthority as had been enjoyed in the Netherlands by the ancient sovereigncounts, by the dukes of Burgundy, by Emperor Charles V. Himself. 

Every one now was in favour of increasing his pensions, his salaries, hismaterial splendour. Should he succeed in seizing the sovereignty, menwould envy him even to the ribbands of his pages' and his lackeys' shoes. He turned to the annals of Holland and showed the Princess that there hadhardly been a sovereign count against whom his subjects had not revolted, marching generally into the very courtyard of the palace at the Hague inorder to take his life. 

Convinced by this reasoning, Louise de Coligny had at once changed hermind, and subsequently besought her stepson to give up a project sure tobe fatal to his welfare, his peace of mind, and the good of the country. Maurice listened to her coldly, gave little heed to the Advocate's logic, and hated him in his heart from that day forth. 

The Princess remained loyal to Barneveld to the last. 

Thus the foundation was laid of that terrible enmity which, inflamed bytheological passion, was to convert the period of peace into a hell, torend the Provinces asunder when they had most need of repose, and to leadto tragical results for ever to be deplored. Already in 1607 FrancisAerssens had said that the two had become so embroiled and things hadgone so far that one or the other would have to leave the country. Hepermitted also the ridiculous statement to be made in his house at Paris, that Henry IV. Believed the Advocate to have become Spanish, and haddeclared that Prince Maurice would do well to have him put into a sackand thrown into the sea. 

His life had been regularly divided into two halves, the campaigningseason and the period of winter quarters. In the one his business, andhis talk was of camps, marches, sieges, and battles only. In the other hewas devoted to his stud, to tennis, to mathematical and mechanicalinventions, and to chess, of which he was passionately fond, and which hedid not play at all well. A Gascon captain serving in the States' armywas his habitual antagonist in that game, and, although the stakes werebut a crown a game, derived a steady income out of his gains, which weremore than equal to his pay. The Prince was sulky when he lost, sitting, when the candles were burned out and bed-time had arrived, with his hatpulled over his brows, without bidding his guest good night, and leavinghim to find his way out as he best could; and, on the contrary, radiantwith delight when successful, calling for valets to light the departingcaptain through the corridor, and accompanying him to the door of theapartment himself. That warrior was accordingly too shrewd not to allowhis great adversary as fair a share of triumph as was consistent withmaintaining the frugal income on which he reckoned. 

He had small love for the pleasures of the table, but was promiscuous andunlicensed in his amours. He was methodical in his householdarrangements, and rather stingy than liberal in money matters. Hepersonally read all his letters, accounts, despatches, and otherdocuments trivial or important, but wrote few letters with his own hand, so that, unlike his illustrious father's correspondence, there is littlethat is characteristic to be found in his own. He was plain but notshabby in attire, and was always dressed in exactly the same style, wearing doublet and hose of brown woollen, a silk under vest, a shortcloak lined with velvet, a little plaited ruff on his neck, and veryloose boots. He ridiculed the smart French officers who, to show theirfine legs, were wont to wear such tight boots as made them perspire toget into them, and maintained, in precept and practice, that a man shouldbe able to jump into his boots and mount and ride at a moment's notice. The only ornaments he indulged in, except, of course, on state occasions, were a golden hilt to his famous sword, and a rope of diamonds tiedaround his felt hat. 

He was now in the full flower of his strength and his fame, in hisforty-second year, and of a noble and martial presence. The face, although unquestionably handsome, offered a sharp contrast within itself;the upper half all intellect, the lower quite sensual. Fair hair growingthin, but hardly tinged with grey, a bright, cheerful, and thoughtfulforehead, large hazel eyes within a singularly large orbit of brow; astraight, thin, slightly aquiline, well-cut nose--such features were atopen variance with the broad, thick-lipped, sensual mouth, the heavypendant jowl, the sparse beard on the glistening cheek, and themoleskin-like moustachio and chin tuft. Still, upon the whole, it was aface and figure which gave the world assurance of a man and a commanderof men. Power and intelligence were stamped upon him from his birth. 

Barneveld was tall and majestic of presence, with large quadrangularface, austere, blue eyes looking authority and command, a vast forehead, and a grizzled beard. Of fluent and convincing eloquence with tongue andpen, having the power of saying much in few words, he cared much more forthe substance than the graces of speech or composition. This tendency wasnot ill exemplified in a note of his written on a sheet of questionsaddressed to him by a States' ambassador about to start on an importantmission, but a novice in his business, the answers to which questionswere to serve for his diplomatic instructions. 

"Item and principally, " wrote the Envoy, "to request of M. De Barneveld aformulary or copy of the best, soundest, wisest, and best coucheddespatches done by several preceding ambassadors in order to regulatemyself accordingly for the greater service of the Province and for myuttermost reputation. "

The Advocate's answer, scrawled in his nearly illegible hand, was--

"Unnecessary. The truth in shortest about matters of importance shall betaken for good style. "

With great love of power, which he was conscious of exerting with ease tohimself and for the good of the public, he had little personal vanity, and not the smallest ambition of authorship. Many volumes might becollected out of the vast accumulation of his writings now mouldering andforgotten in archives. Had the language in which they are written becomea world's language, they would be worthy of attentive study, ascontaining noble illustrations of the history and politics of his age, with theories and sentiments often far in advance of his age. But hecared not for style. "The truth in shortest about matters of importance"was enough for him; but the world in general, and especially the world ofposterity, cares much for style. The vehicle is often prized more thanthe freight. The name of Barneveld is fast fading out of men's memory. The fame of his pupil and companion in fortune and misfortune, HugoGrotius, is ever green. But Grotius was essentially an author rather thana statesman: he wrote for the world and posterity with all the love, pride, and charm of the devotee of literature, and he composed hisnoblest works in a language which is ever living because it is dead. Someof his writings, epochmaking when they first appeared, are text-booksstill familiar in every cultivated household on earth. Yet Barneveld wasvastly his superior in practical statesmanship, in law, in the science ofgovernment, and above all in force of character, while certainly not hisequal in theology, nor making any pretensions to poetry. Although a ripescholar, he rarely wrote in Latin, and not often in French. His ambitionwas to do his work thoroughly according to his view of duty, and to askGod's blessing upon it without craving overmuch the applause of men. 

Such were the two men, the soldier and the statesman. Would the Republic, fortunate enough to possess two such magnificent and widely contrastedcapacities, be wise enough to keep them in its service, eachsupplementing the other, and the two combining in a perfect whole?

Or was the great law of the Discords of the World, as potent as thatother principle of Universal Harmony and planetary motion which anillustrious contemporary--that Wurtemberg astronomer, once a soldier ofthe fierce Alva, now the half-starved astrologer of the brain-sickRudolph--was at that moment discovering, after "God had waited sixthousand years for him to do it, " to prevail for the misery of theRepublic and shame of Europe? Time was to show. 

The new state had forced itself into the family of sovereignties somewhatto the displeasure of most of the Lord's anointed. Rebellious andrepublican, it necessarily excited the jealousy of long-established andhereditary governments. 

The King of Spain had not formally acknowledged the independence of theUnited Provinces. He had treated with them as free, and there wassupposed to be much virtue in the conjunction. But their sovereignindependence was virtually recognized by the world. Great nations hadentered into public and diplomatic relations and conventions with them, and their agents at foreign courts were now dignified with the rank andtitle of ambassadors. 

The Spanish king had likewise refused to them the concession of the rightof navigation and commerce in the East Indies, but it was a matter ofnotoriety that the absence of the word India, suppressed as it was in thetreaty, implied an immense triumph on the part of the States, and thattheir flourishing and daily increasing commerce in the farthest East andthe imperial establishments already rising there were cause of envy andjealousy not to Spain alone, but to friendly powers. 

Yet the government of Great Britain affected to regard them as somethingless than a sovereign state. Although Elizabeth had refused thesovereignty once proffered to her, although James had united with HenryIV. In guaranteeing the treaty just concluded between the States andSpain, that monarch had the wonderful conception that the Republic was insome sort a province of his own, because he still held the cautionarytowns in pledge for the loans granted by his predecessor. His agents atConstantinople were instructed to represent the new state as unworthy toaccredit its envoys as those of an independent power. The Provinces wererepresented as a collection of audacious rebels, a piratical scum of thesea. But the Sultan knew his interests better than to incur the enmity ofthis rising maritime power. The Dutch envoy declaring that he wouldsooner throw himself into the Bosphorus than remain to be treated withless consideration than that accorded to the ministers of all greatpowers, the remonstrances of envious colleagues were hushed, and Haga wasreceived with all due honours. 

Even at the court of the best friend of the Republic, the French king, men looked coldly at the upstart commonwealth. Francis Aerssens, the keenand accomplished minister of the States, resident in Paris for manyyears, was received as ambassador after the truce with all the ceremonialbefitting the highest rank in the diplomatic service; yet Henry could notyet persuade himself to look upon the power accrediting him as athoroughly organized commonwealth. 

The English ambassador asked the King if he meant to continue his aid andassistance to the States during the truce. "Yes, " answered Henry. 

"And a few years beyond it?"

"No. I do not wish to offend the King of Spain from mere gaiety ofheart. "

"But they are free, " replied the Ambassador; "the King of Spain couldhave no cause for offence. "

"They are free, " said the King, "but not sovereign. "--"Judge then, " wroteAerssens to Barneveld, "how we shall be with the King of Spain at the endof our term when our best friends make this distinction among themselvesto our disadvantage. They insist on making a difference between libertyand sovereignty; considering liberty as a mean term between servitude andsovereignty. "

"You would do well, " continued the Dutch ambassador, "to use the word'sovereignty' on all occasions instead of 'liberty. '" The hint wassignificant and the advice sound. 

The haughty republic of Venice, too, with its "golden Book" and itspedigree of a thousand years, looked askance at the republic of yesterdayrising like herself out of lagunes and sand banks, and affecting to placeherself side by side with emperors, kings, and the lion of St. Mark. Butthe all-accomplished council of that most serene commonwealth had far toomuch insight and too wide experience in political combinations to makethe blunder of yielding to this aristocratic sentiment. 

The natural enemy of the Pope, of Spain, of Austria, must of necessity bethe friend of Venice, and it was soon thought highly desirable tointimate half officially that a legation from the States-General to theQueen of the Adriatic, announcing the conclusion of the Twelve Years'Truce, would be extremely well received. 

The hint was given by the Venetian ambassador at Paris to FrancisAerssens, who instantly recommended van der Myle, son-in-law ofBarneveld, as a proper personage to be entrusted with this importantmission. At this moment an open breach had almost occurred between Spainand Venice, and the Spanish ambassador at Paris, Don Pedro de Toledo, naturally very irate with Holland, Venice, and even with France, wasvehement in his demonstrations. The arrogant Spaniard had for some timebeen employed in an attempt to negotiate a double marriage between theDauphin and the eldest daughter of Philip III. , and between the eldestson of that king and the Princess Elizabeth of France. An indispensablebut secret condition of this negotiation was the absolute renunciation byFrance of its alliance and friendly relations with the United Provinces. The project was in truth a hostile measure aimed directly at the life ofthe Republic. Henry held firm however, and Don Pedro was about to departmalcontent, his mission having totally failed. He chanced, when going tohis audience of leave-taking, after the arrival of his successor, DonInigo de Cardenas, to meet the Venetian ambassador, Antonio Foscarini. Analtercation took place between them, during which the Spaniard poured outhis wrath so vehemently, calling his colleague with neat alliteration "apoltroon, a pantaloon, and a pig, " that Henry heard him. 

What Signor Antonio replied has not been preserved, but it is stated thathe was first to seek a reconciliation, not liking, he said, Spanishassassinations. 

Meantime the double marriage project was for a season at least suspended, and the alliance between the two republics went forwards. Van der Myle, appointed ambassador to Venice, soon afterwards arrived in Paris, wherehe made a very favourable impression, and was highly lauded by Aerssensin his daily correspondence with Barneveld. No portentous shadow offuture and fatal discord between those statesmen fell upon the cheerfulscene. Before the year closed, he arrived at his post, and was receivedwith great distinction, despite the obstacles thrown in his way by Spainand other powers; the ambassador of France itself, de Champigny, havingprivately urged that he ought to be placed on the same footing with theenvoys of Savoy and of Florence. 

Van der Myle at starting committed the trifling fault of styling theStates-General "most illustrious" (illustrissimi) instead of "mostserene, " the title by which Venice designated herself. 

The fault was at once remedied, however, Priuli the Doge seating theDutch ambassador on his right hand at his solemn reception, and givingdirections that van der Myle should be addressed as Excellency, his postbeing assigned him directly after his seniors, the ambassadors of Pope, Emperor, and kings. The same precedence was settled in Paris, whileAerssens, who did not consider himself placed in a position of greaterusefulness by his formal installation as ambassador, received privateintimation from Henry, with whom he was on terms of great confidence andintimacy, that he should have private access to the King as frequentlyand as in formally as before. The theory that the ambassador, representing the personality of his sovereign, may visit the monarch towhom he is accredited, without ceremony and at his own convenience, wasas rarely carried into practice in the sixteenth century as in thenineteenth, while on the other hand Aerssens, as the private andconfidential agent of a friendly but not publicly recognizedcommonwealth, had been for many years in almost daily personalcommunication with the King. 

It is also important to note that the modern fallacy according to whichrepublics being impersonal should not be represented by ambassadors hadnot appeared in that important epoch in diplomatic history. On thecontrary, the two great republics of the age, Holland and Venice, vindicated for themselves, with as much dignity and reason as success, their right to the highest diplomatic honours. 

The distinction was substantial not shadowy; those haughty commonwealthsnot considering it advantageous or decorous that their representativesshould for want of proper official designations be ranked on greatceremonial occasions with the ministers of petty Italian principalitiesor of the three hundred infinitesimal sovereignties of Germany. 

It was the advice of the French king especially, who knew politics andthe world as well as any man, that the envoys of the Republic which hebefriended and which stood now on the threshold of its official andnational existence, should assert themselves at every court with theself-reliance and courtesy becoming the functionaries of a great power. That those ministers were second to the representatives of no otherEuropean state in capacity and accomplishment was a fact well known toall who had dealings with them, for the States required in theirdiplomatic representatives knowledge of history and international law, modern languages, and the classics, as well as familiarity with politicalcustoms and social courtesies; the breeding of gentlemen in short, andthe accomplishments of scholars. It is both a literary enjoyment and ameans of historical and political instruction to read after the lapse ofcenturies their reports and despatches. They worthily compare as works ofart with those diplomatic masterpieces the letters and 'Relazioni' of theVenetian ambassadors; and it is well known that the earlier and some ofthe most important treatises on public and international law ever writtenare from the pens of Hollanders, who indeed may be said to have inventedthat science. '

The Republic having thus steadily shouldered its way into the family ofnations was soon called upon to perform a prominent part in the world'saffairs. More than in our own epoch there was a close politicalcommingling of such independent states as held sympathetic views on thegreat questions agitating Europe. The policy of isolation so wisely andsuccessfully carried out by our own trans-Atlantic commonwealth wasimpossible for the Dutch republic, born as it was of a great religiousschism, and with its narrow territory wedged between the chief politicalorganizations of Christendom. Moreover the same jealousy on the part ofestablished powers which threw so many obstacles in its path torecognized sovereignty existed in the highest degree between its twosponsors and allies, France and England, in regard to their respectiverelations to the new state. 

"If ever there was an obliged people, " said Henry's secretary of state, Villeroy, to Aerssens, "then it is you Netherlanders to his Majesty. Hehas converted your war into peace, and has never abandoned you. It is foryou now to show your affection and gratitude. "

In the time of Elizabeth, and now in that of her successor, there wasscarcely a day in which the envoys of the States were not reminded of theimmense load of favour from England under which they tottered, and of thegreater sincerity and value of English friendship over that of France. 

Sully often spoke to Aerssens on the subject in even stronger language, deeming himself the chief protector and guardian angel of the Republic, to whom they were bound by ties of eternal gratitude. "But if theStates, " he said, "should think of caressing the King of England morethan him, or even of treating him on an equality with his Majesty, Henrywould be very much affronted. He did not mean that they should neglectthe friendship of the King of Britain, but that they should cultivate itafter and in subordination to his own, for they might be sure that Jamesheld all things indifferent, their ruin or their conservation, while hisMajesty had always manifested the contrary both by his counsels and bythe constant furnishing of supplies. "

Henry of France and Navarre--soldier, statesman, wit, above all a man andevery inch a king--brimful of human vices, foibles, and humours, andendowed with those high qualities of genius which enabled him to mouldevents and men by his unscrupulous and audacious determination to conformto the spirit of his times which no man better understood than himself, had ever been in such close relations with the Netherlands as to seem insome sort their sovereign. 

James Stuart, emerging from the school of Buchanan and the atmosphere ofCalvinism in which he had been bred, now reigned in those more sunny andliberal regions where Elizabeth so long had ruled. Finding himself atonce, after years of theological study, face to face with a foreigncommonwealth and a momentous epoch, in which politics were so commingledwith divinity as to offer daily the most puzzling problems, the royalpedant hugged himself at beholding so conspicuous a field for histalents. 

To turn a throne into a pulpit, and amaze mankind with his learning, wasan ambition most sweet to gratify. The Calvinist of Scotland nowproclaimed his deadly hatred of Puritans in England and Holland, anddenounced the Netherlanders as a pack of rebels whom it always pleasedhim to irritate, and over whom he too claimed, through the possession ofthe cautionary towns, a kind of sovereignty. Instinctively feeling thatin the rough and unlovely husk of Puritanism was enclosed the germ of awider human liberty than then existed, he was determined to give battleto it with his tongue, his pen, with everything but his sword. 

Doubtless the States had received most invaluable assistance from bothFrance and England, but the sovereigns of those countries were too apt toforget that it was their own battles, as well as those of the Hollanders, that had been fought in Flanders and Brabant. But for the alliance andsubsidies of the faithful States, Henry would not so soon have ascendedthe throne of his ancestors, while it was matter of history that theSpanish government had for years been steadily endeavouring to subjugateEngland not so much for the value of the conquest in itself as for astepping-stone to the recovery of the revolted Netherlands. 

For the dividing line of nations or at least of national alliances was afrontier not of language but of faith. Germany was but a geographicalexpression. The union of Protestantism, subscribed by a large proportionof its three hundred and seven sovereigns, ran zigzag through thecountry, a majority probably of the people at that moment being opposedto the Roman Church. 

It has often been considered amazing that Protestantism havingaccomplished so much should have fallen backwards so soon, and yieldedalmost undisputed sway in vast regions to the long dominant church. Butin truth there is nothing surprising about it. Catholicism was andremained a unit, while its opponents were eventually broken up intohundreds of warring and politically impotent organizations. Religiousfaith became distorted into a weapon for selfish and greedy territorialaggrandizement in the hands of Protestant princes. "Cujus regio ejusreligio" was the taunt hurled in the face of the imploring Calvinists ofFrance and the Low Countries by the arrogant Lutherans of Germany. Such asword smote the principle of religious freedom and mutual toleration intothe dust, and rendered them comparatively weak in the conflict with theancient and splendidly organized church. 

The Huguenots of France, notwithstanding the protection grudginglyafforded them by their former chieftain, were dejected and discomfited byhis apostasy, and Henry, placed in a fearfully false position, was anobject of suspicion to both friends and foes. In England it is difficultto say whether a Jesuit or a Puritan was accounted the more noxiousanimal by the dominant party. 

In the United Provinces perhaps one half the population was either openlyor secretly attached to the ancient church, while among the Protestantportion a dire and tragic convulsion was about to break forth, which fora time at least was to render Remonstrants and Contra-Remonstrants morefiercely opposed to each other than to Papists. 

The doctrine of predestination in its sternest and strictest sense hadlong been the prevailing one in the Reformed Church of the revoltedNetherlands, as in those of Scotland, France, Geneva, and the Palatinate. No doubt up to the period of the truce a majority had acquiesced in thatdogma and its results, although there had always been many preachers toadvocate publicly a milder creed. It was not until the appointment ofJacob Arminius to the professorship of theology at Leyden, in the placeof Francis Junius, in the year 1603, that a danger of schism in theChurch, seemed impending. Then rose the great Gomarus in his wrath, andwith all the powers of splendid eloquence, profound learning, and theintense bigotry of conviction, denounced the horrible heresy. Conferencesbetween the two before the Court of Holland, theological tournamentsbetween six champions on a side, gallantly led by their respectivechieftains, followed, with the usual result of confirming both parties inthe conviction that to each alone belonged exclusively the truth. 

The original influence of Arminius had however been so great that whenthe preachers of Holland had been severally called on by a synod to signthe Heidelberg Catechism, many of them refused. Here was open heresy andrevolt. It was time for the true church to vindicate its authority. Thegreat war with Spain had been made, so it was urged and honestlybelieved, not against the Inquisition, not to prevent Netherlanders frombeing burned and buried alive by the old true church, not in defence ofancient charters, constitutions, and privileges--the precious result ofcenturies of popular resistance to despotic force--not to maintain anamount of civil liberty and local self-government larger in extent thanany then existing in the world, not to assert equality of religion forall men, but simply to establish the true religion, the one church, theonly possible creed; the creed and church of Calvin. 

It is perfectly certain that the living fire which glowed in the veins ofthose hot gospellers had added intense enthusiasm to the war spiritthroughout that immense struggle. It is quite possible that without thatenthusiasm the war might not have been carried on to its successful end. But it is equally certain that Catholics, Lutherans, Baptists, anddevotees of many other creeds, had taken part in the conflict in defenceboth of hearth and altar, and that without that aid the independence ofthe Provinces would never have been secured. 

Yet before the war was ended the arrogance of the Reformed priesthood hadbegun to dig a chasm. Men who with William the Silent and Barneveld hadindulged in the vision of religious equality as a possible result of somuch fighting against the Holy Inquisition were perhaps to bedisappointed. 

Preachers under the influence of the gentle Arminius having dared torefuse signing the Creed were to be dealt with. It was time to pass fromcensure to action. 

Heresy must be trampled down. The churches called for a national synod, and they did this as by divine right. "My Lords the States-General mustobserve, " they said, "that this assembly now demanded is not a humaninstitution but an ordinance of the Holy Ghost in its community, notdepending upon any man's authority, but proceeding from God to thecommunity. " They complained that the true church was allowed to act onlythrough the civil government, and was thus placed at a disadvantagecompared even with Catholics and other sects, whose proceedings werewinked at. "Thus the true church suffered from its apparent and publicfreedom, and hostile sects gained by secret connivance. "

A crisis was fast approaching. The one church claimed infallibility andsuperiority to the civil power. The Holy Ghost was placed in direct, ostentatious opposition to My Lords the States-General. It was forNetherlanders to decide whether, after having shaken off the HolyInquisition, and subjected the old true church to the public authority, they were now to submit to the imperious claims of the new true church. 

There were hundreds of links connecting the Church with the State. Inthat day a divorce between the two was hardly possible or conceivable. The system of Congregationalism so successfully put into practice soonafterwards in the wilderness of New England, and to which so much ofAmerican freedom political as well as religious is due, was not easy toadopt in an old country like the Netherlands. Splendid churches andcathedrals, the legal possession of which would be contended for by rivalsects, could scarcely be replaced by temporary structures of lath andplaster, or by humble back parlours of mechanics' shops. There werequestions of property of complicated nature. Not only the states and thecommunities claimed in rivalry the ownership of church property, but manyprivate families could show ancient advowsons and other claims to presentor to patronize, derived from imperial or ducal charters. 

So long as there could be liberty of opinion within the Church uponpoints not necessarily vital, open schism could be avoided, by which thecause of Protestantism throughout Europe must be weakened, while at thesame time subordination of the priesthood to the civil authority would bemaintained. But if the Holy Ghost, through the assembled clergy, were todictate an iron formulary to which all must conform, to make laws forchurch government which every citizen must obey, and to appoint preachersand school-masters from whom alone old and young could receiveillumination and instruction religious or lay, a theocracy would beestablished which no enlightened statesman could tolerate. 

The States-General agreed to the synod, but imposed a condition thatthere should be a revision of Creed and Catechism. This was thundereddown with one blast. The condition implied a possibility that the vileheresy of Arminius might be correct. An unconditional synod was demanded. The Heidelberg Creed and Netherland Catechism were sacred, infallible, not to be touched. The answer of the government, through the mouth ofBarneveld, was that "to My Lords the States-General as the foster-fathersand protectors of the churches every right belonged. "

Thus far the States-General under the leadership of the Advocate wereunanimous. The victory remained with State against Church. But very soonafter the truce had been established, and men had liberty to devotethemselves to peaceful pursuits, the ecclesiastical trumpet again soundedfar and wide, and contending priests and laymen rushed madly to the fray. The Remonstrance and Contra-Remonstrance, and the appointment of ConradVorstius, a more abominable heretic than Arminius, to the vacant chair ofArminius--a step which drove Gomarus and the Gomarites to frenzy, although Gomarus and Vorstius remained private and intimate friends tothe last--are matters briefly to be mentioned on a later page. 

Thus to the four chief actors in the politico-religious drama, soon to beenacted as an interlude to an eighty years' war, were assigned parts atfirst sight inconsistent with their private convictions. The King ofFrance, who had often abjured his religion, and was now the best ofCatholics, was denounced ferociously in every Catholic pulpit inChristendom as secretly an apostate again, and the open protector ofheretics and rebels. But the cheerful Henry troubled himself less than heperhaps had cause to do with these thunderblasts. Besides, as we shallsoon see, he had other objects political and personal to sway hisopinions. 

James the ex-Calvinist, crypto-Arminian, pseudo-Papist, and avowedPuritan hater, was girding on his armour to annihilate Arminians and todefend and protect Puritans in Holland, while swearing that in England hewould pepper them and harry them and hang them and that he would evenlike to bury them alive. 

Barneveld, who turned his eyes, as much as in such an inflammatory age itwas possible, from subtle points of theology, and relied on hisgreat-grandfather's motto of humility, "Nil scire tutissima fides" wasperhaps nearer to the dogma of the dominant Reformed Church than he knew, although always the consistent and strenuous champion of the civilauthority over Church as well as State. 

Maurice was no theologian. He was a steady churchgoer, and his favoritedivine, the preacher at his court chapel, was none other thanUytenbogaert. The very man who was instantly to be the champion of theArminians, the author of the Remonstrance, the counsellor and comrade ofBarneveld and Grotius, was now sneered at by the Gomarites as the "CourtTrumpeter. " The preacher was not destined to change his opinions. Perhapsthe Prince might alter. But Maurice then paid no heed to the great pointat issue, about which all the Netherlanders were to take each other bythe throat--absolute predestination. He knew that the Advocate hadrefused to listen to his stepmother's suggestion as to his obtaining thesovereignty. "He knew nothing of predestination, " he was wont to say, "whether it was green or whether it was blue. He only knew that his pipeand the Advocate's were not likely to make music together. " This much ofpredestination he did know, that if the Advocate and his friends were tocome to open conflict with the Prince of Orange-Nassau, the conqueror ofNieuwpoort, it was predestined to go hard with the Advocate and hisfriends. 

The theological quibble did not interest him much, and he was apt toblunder about it. 

"Well, preacher, " said he one day to Albert Huttenus, who had come to himto intercede for a deserter condemned to be hanged, "are you one of thoseArminians who believe that one child is born to salvation and another todamnation?"

Huttenus, amazed to the utmost at the extraordinary question, replied, "Your Excellency will be graciously pleased to observe that this is notthe opinion of those whom one calls by the hateful name of Arminians, butthe opinion of their adversaries. "

"Well, preacher, " rejoined Maurice, "don't you think I know better?" Andturning to Count Lewis William, Stadholder of Friesland, who was present, standing by the hearth with his hand on a copper ring of thechimneypiece, he cried, "Which is right, cousin, the preacher or I?"

"No, cousin, " answered Count Lewis, "you are in the wrong. "

Thus to the Catholic League organized throughout Europe in solid andconsistent phalanx was opposed the Great Protestant Union, ardent andenthusiastic in detail, but undisciplined, disobedient, and inharmoniousas a whole. 

The great principle, not of religious toleration, which is a phrase ofinsult, but of religious equality, which is the natural right of mankind, was to be evolved after a lapse of, additional centuries out of theelemental conflict which had already lasted so long. Still later was thetotal divorce of State and Church to be achieved as the finalconsummation of the great revolution. Meantime it was almost inevitablethat the privileged and richly endowed church, with ecclesiastical armiesand arsenals vastly superior to anything which its antagonist couldimprovise, should more than hold its own. 

At the outset of the epoch which now occupies our attention, Europe wasin a state of exhaustion and longing for repose. Spain had submitted tothe humiliation of a treaty of truce with its rebellious subjects whichwas substantially a recognition of their independence. Nothing could bemore deplorable than the internal condition of the country which claimedto be mistress of the world and still aspired to universal monarchy. 

It had made peace because it could no longer furnish funds for the war. The French ambassador, Barante, returning from Madrid, informed hissovereign that he had often seen officers in the army prostratingthemselves on their knees in the streets before their sovereign as hewent to mass, and imploring him for payment of their salaries, or atleast an alms to keep them from starving, and always imploring in vain. 

The King, who was less than a cipher, had neither capacity to feelemotion, nor intelligence to comprehend the most insignificant affair ofstate. Moreover the means were wanting to him even had he been disposedto grant assistance. The terrible Duke of Lerma was still his inexorablylord and master, and the secretary of that powerful personage, who keptan open shop for the sale of offices of state both high and low, tookcare that all the proceeds should flow into the coffers of the Duke andhis own lap instead of the royal exchequer. 

In France both king and people declared themselves disgusted with war. Sully disapproved of the treaty just concluded between Spain and theNetherlands, feeling sure that the captious and equivocal clausescontained in it would be interpreted to the disadvantage of the Republicand of the Reformed religion whenever Spain felt herself strong enough tomake the attempt. He was especially anxious that the States should makeno concessions in regard to the exercise of the Catholic worship withintheir territory, believing that by so doing they would compromise theirpolitical independence besides endangering the cause of Protestantismeverywhere. A great pressure was put upon Sully that moment by the Kingto change his religion. 

"You will all be inevitably ruined if you make concessions in thisregard, " said he to Aerssens. "Take example by me. I should be utterlyundone if I had listened to any overture on this subject. "

Nevertheless it was the opinion of the astute and caustic envoy that theDuke would be forced to yield at last. The Pope was making great effortsto gain him, and thus to bring about the extirpation of Protestantism inFrance. And the King, at that time much under the influence of theJesuits, had almost set his heart on the conversion. Aerssens insinuatedthat Sully was dreading a minute examination into the affairs of hisadministration of the finances--a groundless calumny--and would be thusforced to comply. Other enemies suggested that nothing would effect thismuch desired apostasy but the office of Constable of France, which it wascertain would never be bestowed on him. 

At any rate it was very certain that Henry at this period was bent onpeace. 

"Make your account, " said Aerssens to Barneveld, as the time for signingthe truce drew nigh, "on this indubitable foundation that the King isdetermined against war, whatever pretences he may make. His bellicosedemeanour has been assumed only to help forward our treaty, which hewould never have favoured, and ought never to have favoured, if he hadnot been too much in love with peace. This is a very important secret ifwe manage it discreetly, and a very dangerous one if our enemies discoverit. "

Sully would have much preferred that the States should stand out for apeace rather than for a truce, and believed it might have been obtainedif the King had not begun the matter so feebly, and if he had let it beunderstood that he would join his arms to those of the Provinces in caseof rupture. 

He warned the States very strenuously that the Pope, and the King ofSpain, and a host of enemies open and covert, were doing their host toinjure them at the French court. They would find little hindrance in thiscourse if the Republic did not show its teeth, and especially if it didnot stiffly oppose all encroachments of the Roman religion, without evenshowing any deference to the King in this regard, who was much importunedon the subject. 

He advised the States to improve the interval of truce by restoring orderto their finances and so arranging their affairs that on the resumptionof hostilities, if come they must, their friends might be encouraged tohelp them, by the exhibition of thorough vigour on their part. 

France then, although utterly indisposed for war at that moment, wasthoroughly to be relied on as a friend and in case of need an ally, solong as it was governed by its present policy. There was but one kingleft in Europe since the death of Elizabeth of England. 

But Henry was now on the abhorred threshold of old age which heobstinately refused to cross. 

There is something almost pathetic, in spite of the censure which much ofhis private life at this period provokes, in the isolation which nowseemed his lot. 

Deceived and hated by his wife and his mistresses, who were conspiringwith each other and with his ministers, not only against his policy butagainst his life; with a vile Italian adventurer, dishonouring hishousehold, entirely dominating the queen, counteracting the royalmeasures, secretly corresponding, by assumed authority, with Spain, indirect violation of the King's instructions to his ambassadors, andgorging himself with wealth and offices at the expense of everythingrespectable in France; surrounded by a pack of malignant and greedynobles, who begrudged him his fame, his authority, his independence;without a home, and almost without a friend, the Most Christian King inthese latter days led hardly as merry a life as when fighting years longfor his crown, at the head of his Gascon chivalry, the beloved chieftainof Huguenots. 

Of the triumvirate then constituting his council, Villeroy, Sillery, andSully, the two first were ancient Leaguers, and more devoted at heart toPhilip of Spain than to Henry of France and Navarre. 

Both silent, laborious, plodding, plotting functionaries, thriftilygathering riches; skilled in routine and adepts at intrigue; steadyself-seekers, and faithful to office in which their lives had passed, they might be relied on at any emergency to take part against theirmaster, if to ruin would prove more profitable than to serve him. 

There was one man who was truer to Henry than Henry had been to himself. The haughty, defiant, austere grandee, brave soldier, sagaciousstatesman, thrifty financier, against whom the poisoned arrows ofreligious hatred, envious ambition, and petty court intrigue were dailydirected, who watched grimly over the exchequer confided to him, whichwas daily growing fuller in despite of the cormorants who trembled at hisfrown; hard worker, good hater, conscientious politician, who filled hisown coffers without dishonesty, and those of the state without tyranny;unsociable, arrogant; pious, very avaricious, and inordinately vain, Maximilian de Bethune, Duke of Sully, loved and respected Henry as no manor woman loved and respected him. In truth, there was but one livingbeing for whom the Duke had greater reverence and affection than for theKing, and that was the Duke of Sully himself. 

At this moment he considered himself, as indeed he was, in fullpossession of his sovereign's confidence. But he was alone in thisconviction. Those about the court, men like Epernon and his creatures, believed the great financier on the brink of perdition. Henry, always theloosest of talkers even in regard to his best friends, had declared, onsome temporary vexation in regard to the affair between Aiguillon andBalagny, that he would deal with the Duke as with the late Marshal deBiron, and make him smaller than he had ever made him great: goading himon this occasion with importunities, almost amounting to commands, thatboth he and his son should forthwith change their religion or expectinstant ruin. The blow was so severe that Sully shut himself up, refusedto see anyone, and talked of retiring for good to his estates. But heknew, and Henry knew, how indispensable he was, and the anger of themaster was as shortlived as the despair of the minister. 

There was no living statesman for whom Henry had a more sincere respectthan for the Advocate of Holland. "His Majesty admires and greatly extolsyour wisdom, which he judges necessary for the preservation of our State;deeming you one of the rare and sage counsellors of the age. " It is truethat this admiration was in part attributed to the singular coincidenceof Barneveld's views of policy with the King's own. Sully, on his part, was a severe critic of that policy. He believed that better terms mighthave been exacted from Spain in the late negotiations, and stronglyobjected to the cavilling and equivocal language of the treaty. Rude inpen as in speech, he expressed his mind very freely in his conversationand correspondence with Henry in regard to leading personages and greataffairs, and made no secret of his opinions to the States' ambassador. 

He showed his letters in which he had informed the King that he oughtnever to have sanctioned the truce without better securities thanexisted, and that the States would never have moved in any matter withouthim. It would have been better to throw himself into a severe war than tosee the Republic perish. He further expressed the conviction that Henryought to have such authority over the Netherlands that they would embraceblindly whatever counsel he chose to give them, even if they saw in ittheir inevitable ruin; and this not so much from remembrance ofassistance rendered by him, but from the necessity in which they shouldalways feel of depending totally upon him. 

"You may judge, therefore, " concluded Aerssens, "as to how much we canbuild on such foundations as these. I have been amazed at these frankcommunications, for in those letters he spares neither My Lords theStates, nor his Excellency Prince Maurice, nor yourself; giving hisjudgment of each of you with far too much freedom and without sufficientknowledge. "

Thus the alliance between the Netherlands and France, notwithstandingoccasional traces of caprice and flaws of personal jealousy, was on thewhole sincere, for it was founded on the surest foundation ofinternational friendship, the self-interest of each. Henry, althoughboasting of having bought Paris with a mass, knew as well as his worstenemy that in that bargain he had never purchased the confidence of theancient church, on whose bosom he had flung himself with so much dramaticpomp. His noble position, as champion of religious toleration, was notonly unappreciated in an age in which each church and every sectarrogated to itself a monopoly of the truth, but it was one in which hedid not himself sincerely believe. 

After all, he was still the chieftain of the Protestant Union, and, although Eldest Son of the Church, was the bitter antagonist of theLeague and the sworn foe to the House of Austria. He was walking throughpitfalls with a crowd of invisible but relentless foes dogging his everyfootstep. In his household or without were daily visions of dagger andbowl, and he felt himself marching to his doom. How could the man on whomthe heretic and rebellious Hollanders and the Protestant princes ofGermany relied as on their saviour escape the unutterable wrath and thepatient vengeance of a power that never forgave?

In England the jealousy of the Republic and of France as co-guardian andprotector of the Republic was even greater than in France. Though placedby circumstances in the position of ally to the Netherlands and enemy toSpain, James hated the Netherlands and adored Spain. His first thought onescaping the general destruction to which the Gunpowder Plot was to haveinvolved himself and family and all the principal personages of the realmseems to have been to exculpate Spain from participation in the crime. His next was to deliver a sermon to Parliament, exonerating the Catholicsand going out of his way to stigmatize the Puritans as entertainingdoctrines which should be punished with fire. As the Puritans hadcertainly not been accused of complicity with Guy Fawkes or Garnet, thisportion of the discourse was at least superfluous. But James loathednothing so much as a Puritan. A Catholic at heart, he would have been thewarmest ally of the League had he only been permitted to be Pope of GreatBritain. He hated and feared a Jesuit, not for his religious doctrines, for with these he sympathized, but for his political creed. He liked notthat either Roman Pontiff or British Presbyterian should abridge hisheaven-born prerogative. The doctrine of Papal superiority to temporalsovereigns was as odious to him as Puritan rebellion to the hierarchy ofwhich he was the chief. Moreover, in his hostility to both Papists andPresbyterians, there was much of professional rivalry. Having beendeprived by the accident of birth of his true position as theologicalprofessor, he lost no opportunity of turning his throne into a pulpit andhis sceptre into a controversial pen. 

Henry of France, who rarely concealed his contempt for Master Jacques, ashe called him, said to the English ambassador, on receiving from him oneof the King's books, and being asked what he thought of it--"It is notthe business of us kings to write, but to fight. Everybody should mindhis own business, but it is the vice of most men to wish to appearlearned in matters of which they are ignorant. "

The flatterers of James found their account in pandering to hissacerdotal and royal vanity. "I have always believed, " said the LordChancellor, after hearing the King argue with and browbeat a Presbyteriandeputation, "that the high-priesthood and royalty ought to be united, butI never witnessed the actual junction till now, after hearing the learneddiscourse of your Majesty. " Archbishop Whitgift, grovelling still lower, declared his conviction that James, in the observations he had deigned tomake, had been directly inspired by the Holy Ghost. 

Nothing could be more illogical and incoherent with each other than histheological and political opinions. He imagined himself a defender of theProtestant faith, while hating Holland and fawning on the House ofAustria. 

In England he favoured Arminianism, because the Anglican Churchrecognized for its head the temporal chief of the State. In Holland hevehemently denounced the Arminians, indecently persecuting theirpreachers and statesmen, who were contending for exactly the sameprinciple--the supremacy of State over Church. He sentenced BartholomewLegate to be burned alive in Smithfield as a blasphemous heretic, and didhis best to compel the States of Holland to take the life of ProfessorVorstius of Leyden. He persecuted the Presbyterians in England asfuriously as he defended them in Holland. He drove Bradford and Carverinto the New England wilderness, and applauded Gomarus and Walaeus andthe other famous leaders of the Presbyterian party in the Netherlandswith all his soul and strength. 

He united with the French king in negotiations for Netherlandindependence, while denouncing the Provinces as guilty of criminalrebellion against their lawful sovereign. 

"He pretends, " said Jeannin, "to assist in bringing about the peace, andnevertheless does his best openly to prevent it. "

Richardot declared that the firmness of the King of Spain proceededentirely from reliance on the promise of James that there should be noacknowledgment in the treaty of the liberty of the States. Henry wrote toJeannin that he knew very well "what that was capable of, but that heshould not be kept awake by anything he could do. "

As a king he spent his reign--so much of it as could be spared fromgourmandizing, drunkenness, dalliance with handsome minions of his ownsex, and theological pursuits--in rescuing the Crown from dependence onParliament; in straining to the utmost the royal prerogative; insubstituting proclamations for statutes; in doing everything in hispower, in short, to smooth the path for his successor to the scaffold. Asfather of a family he consecrated many years of his life to the wondrousdelusion of the Spanish marriages. 

The Gunpowder Plot seemed to have inspired him with an insane desire forthat alliance, and few things in history are more amazing than thepersistency with which he pursued the scheme, until the pursuit becamenot only ridiculous, but impossible. 

With such a man, frivolous, pedantic, conceited, and licentious, theearnest statesmen of Holland were forced into close alliance. It ispathetic to see men like Barneveld and Hugo Grotius obliged, on greatoccasions of state, to use the language of respect and affection to oneby whom they were hated, and whom they thoroughly despised. 

But turning away from France, it was in vain for them to look for kingsor men either among friends or foes. In Germany religious dissensionswere gradually ripening into open war, and it would be difficult toimagine a more hopelessly incompetent ruler than the man who wasnominally chief of the Holy Roman Realm. Yet the distracted Rudolph wasquite as much an emperor as the chaos over which he was supposed topreside was an empire. Perhaps the very worst polity ever devised byhuman perverseness was the system under which the great German race wasthen writhing and groaning. A mad world with a lunatic to govern it; ademocracy of many princes, little and big, fighting amongst each other, and falling into daily changing combinations as some masterly ormischievous hand whirled the kaleidoscope; drinking Rhenish by hogsheads, and beer by the tun; robbing churches, dictating creeds to theirsubjects, and breaking all the commandments themselves; a people at thebottom dimly striving towards religious freedom and political life out ofabject social, ecclesiastical, and political serfdom, and perhaps eventhen dumbly feeling within its veins, with that prophetic instinct whichnever abandons great races, a far distant and magnificent Future ofnational unity and Imperial splendour, the very reverse of the confusionwhich was then the hideous Present; an Imperial family at top with manyheads and slender brains; a band of brothers and cousins wrangling, intriguing, tripping up each others' heels, and unlucky Rudolph, in hisHradschin, looking out of window over the peerless Prague, spread out inits beauteous landscape of hill and dale, darkling forest, dizzy cliffs, and rushing river, at his feet, feebly cursing the unhappy city for itsingratitude to an invisible and impotent sovereign; his excellent brotherMatthias meanwhile marauding through the realms and taking one crownafter another from his poor bald head. 

It would be difficult to depict anything more precisely what an emperorin those portentous times should not be. He collected works of art ofmany kinds--pictures, statues, gems. He passed his days in his galleriescontemplating in solitary grandeur these treasures, or in his stables, admiring a numerous stud of horses which he never drove or rode. Ambassadors and ministers of state disguised themselves as grooms andstable-boys to obtain accidental glimpses of a sovereign who rarelygranted audiences. His nights were passed in star-gazing with Tycho deBrake, or with that illustrious Suabian whose name is one of the greatlights and treasures of the world. But it was not to study the laws ofplanetary motion nor to fathom mysteries of divine harmony that themonarch stood with Kepler in the observatory. The influence of countlessworlds upon the destiny of one who, by capricious accident, if accidentever exists in history, had been entrusted with the destiny of so large aportion of one little world; the horoscope, not of the Universe, but ofhimself; such were the limited purposes with which the Kaiser looked uponthe constellations. 

For the Catholic Rudolph had received the Protestant Kepler, driven fromTubingen because Lutheran doctors, knowing from Holy Writ that the sunhad stood still in Ajalon, had denounced his theory of planetary motion. His mother had just escaped being burned as a witch, and the world owes adebt of gratitude to the Emperor for protecting the astrologer, whenenlightened theologians might, perhaps, have hanged the astronomer. 

A red-faced, heavy fowled, bald-headed, somewhat goggle-eyed oldgentleman, Rudolph did his best to lead the life of a hermit, and escapethe cares of royalty. Timid by temperament, yet liable to fits ofuncontrollable anger, he broke his furniture to pieces when irritated, and threw dishes that displeased him in his butler's face, but leftaffairs of state mainly to his valet, who earned many a penny by sellingthe Imperial signature. 

He had just signed the famous "Majestatsbrief, " by which he granted vastprivileges to the Protestants of Bohemia, and had bitten the pen topieces in a paroxysm of anger, after dimly comprehending the extent ofthe concessions which he had made. 

There were hundreds of sovereign states over all of which floated theshadowy and impalpable authority of an Imperial crown scarcely fixed onthe head of any one of the rival brethren and cousins; there was aconfederation of Protestants, with the keen-sighted and ambitiousChristian of Anhalt acting as its chief, and dreaming of the Bohemiancrown; there was the just-born Catholic League, with the calm, far-seeing, and egotistical rather than self-seeking Maximilian at itshead; each combination extending over the whole country, stamped withimbecility of action from its birth, and perverted and hampered byinevitable jealousies. In addition to all these furrows ploughed by thevery genius of discord throughout the unhappy land was the wild andsecret intrigue with which Leopold, Archduke and Bishop, dreaming also ofthe crown of Wenzel, was about to tear its surface as deeply as he dared. 

Thus constituted were the leading powers of Europe in the earlier part of1609--the year in which a peaceful period seemed to have begun. To thosewho saw the entangled interests of individuals, and the conflict oftheological dogmas and religious and political intrigue which furnishedso much material out of which wide-reaching schemes of personal ambitioncould be spun, it must have been obvious that the interval of truce wasnecessarily but a brief interlude between two tragedies. 

It seemed the very mockery of Fate that, almost at the very instant whenafter two years' painful negotiation a truce had been made, the signalfor universal discord should be sounded. One day in the early summer of1609, Henry IV. Came to the Royal Arsenal, the residence of Sully, accompanied by Zamet and another of his intimate companions. He asked forthe Duke and was told that he was busy in his study. "Of course, " saidthe King, turning to his followers, "I dare say you expected to be toldthat he was out shooting, or with the ladies, or at the barber's. But whoworks like Sully? Tell him, " he said, "to come to the balcony in hisgarden, where he and I are not accustomed to be silent. "

As soon as Sully appeared, the King observed: "Well; here the Duke ofCleve is dead, and has left everybody his heir. "

It was true enough, and the inheritance was of vital importance to theworld. 

It was an apple of discord thrown directly between the two rival campsinto which Christendom was divided. The Duchies of Cleve, Berg, andJulich, and the Counties and Lordships of Mark, Ravensberg, andRavenstein, formed a triangle, political and geographical, closely wedgedbetween Catholicism and Protestantism, and between France, the UnitedProvinces, Belgium, and Germany. Should it fall into Catholic hands, theNetherlands were lost, trampled upon in every corner, hedged in on allsides, with the House of Austria governing the Rhine, the Meuse, and theScheldt. It was vital to them to exclude the Empire from the greathistoric river which seemed destined to form the perpetual frontier ofjealous powers and rival creeds. 

Should it fall into heretic hands, the States were vastly strengthened, the Archduke Albert isolated and cut off from the protection of Spain andof the Empire. France, although Catholic, was the ally of Holland and thesecret but well known enemy of the House of Austria. It was inevitablethat the king of that country, the only living statesman that wore acrown, should be appealed to by all parties and should find himself inthe proud but dangerous position of arbiter of Europe. 

In this emergency he relied upon himself and on two men besides, Maximilian de Bethune and John of Barneveld. The conference between theKing and Sully and between both and Francis Aerssens, ambassador of theStates, were of almost daily occurrence. The minute details given in theadroit diplomatist's correspondence indicate at every stage the extremedeference paid by Henry to the opinion of Holland's Advocate and theconfidence reposed by him in the resources and the courage of theRepublic. 

All the world was claiming the heritage of the duchies. 

It was only strange that an event which could not be long deferred andthe consequences of which were soon to be so grave, the death of the Dukeof Cleve, should at last burst like a bomb-shell on the council tables ofthe sovereigns and statesmen of Europe. That mischievous madman JohnWilliam died childless in the spring of 1609. His sister Sibylla, anancient and malignant spinster, had governed him and his possessionsexcept in his lucid intervals. The mass of the population over which heruled being Protestant, while the reigning family and the chief nobleswere of the ancient faith, it was natural that the Catholic party under, the lead of Maximilian of Bavaria should deem it all-important that thereshould be direct issue to that family. Otherwise the inheritance on hisdeath would probably pass to Protestant princes. 

The first wife provided for him was a beautiful princess; Jacobea ofBaden. The Pope blessed the nuptials, and sent the bride a golden rose, but the union was sterile and unhappy. The Duke, who was in the habit ofcareering through his palace in full armour, slashing at and woundinganyone that came in his way, was at last locked up. The hapless Jacobea, accused by Sibylla of witchcraft and other crimes possible andimpossible, was thrown into prison. Two years long the devilish malignityof the sister-in-law was exercised upon her victim, who, as it isrelated, was not allowed natural sleep during all that period, being atevery hour awakened by command of Sibylla. At last the Duchess wasstrangled in prison. A new wife was at once provided for the lunatic, Antonia of Lorraine. The two remained childless, and Sibylla at the ageof forty-nine took to herself a husband, the Margrave of Burgau, of theHouse of Austria, the humble birth of whose mother, however, did notallow him the rank of Archduke. Her efforts thus to provide Catholicheirs to the rich domains of Clove proved as fruitless as her previousattempts. 

And now Duke John William had died, and the representatives of his threedead sisters, and the living Sibylla were left to fight for the duchies. 

It would be both cruel and superfluous to inflict on the reader ahistorical statement of the manner in which these six small provinceswere to be united into a single state. It would be an equally steriletask to retrace the legal arguments by which the various parties preparedthemselves to vindicate their claims, each pretender more triumphantlythan the other. The naked facts alone retain vital interest, and of thesefacts the prominent one was the assertion of the Emperor that theduchies, constituting a fief masculine, could descend to none of thepretenders, but were at his disposal as sovereign of Germany. 

On the other hand nearly all the important princes of that country senttheir agents into the duchies to look after the interests real orimaginary which they claimed. 

There were but four candidates who in reality could be considered seriousones. 

Mary Eleanor, eldest sister of the Duke, had been married in the lifetimeof their father to Albert Frederic of Brandenburg, Duke of Prussia. Tothe children of this marriage was reserved the succession of the wholeproperty in case of the masculine line becoming extinct. Two yearsafterwards the second sister, Anne, was married to Duke Philip Lewis, Count-Palatine of Neuburg; the children of which marriage stood next insuccession to those of the eldest sister, should that becomeextinguished. Four years later the third sister, Magdalen, espoused theDuke John, Count-Palatine of Deux-Ponts; who, like Neuburg, maderesignation of rights of succession in favour of the descendants of theBrandenburg marriage. The marriage of the youngest sister, Sibylla, withthe Margrave of Burgau has been already mentioned. It does not appearthat her brother, whose lunatic condition hardly permitted him to assureher the dowry which had been the price of renunciation in the case of herthree elder sisters, had obtained that renunciation from her. 

The claims of the childless Sibylla as well as those of the Deux-Pontsbranch were not destined to be taken into serious consideration. 

The real competitors were the Emperor on the one side and the Elector ofBrandenburg and the Count-Palatine of Neuburg on the other. 

It is not necessary to my purpose to say a single word as to the legaland historical rights of the controversy. Volumes upon volumes offorgotten lore might be consulted, and they would afford exactly as muchrefreshing nutriment as would the heaps of erudition hardly ten yearsold, and yet as antiquated as the title-deeds of the Pharaohs, concerningthe claims to the Duchies of Schleswig-Holstein. The fortunate house ofBrandenburg may have been right or wrong in both disputes. It is certainthat it did not lack a more potent factor in settling the politicalproblems of the world in the one case any more than in the other. 

But on the occasion with which we are occupied it was not on the might ofhis own right hand that the Elector of Brandenburg relied. Moreover, hewas dilatory in appealing to the two great powers on whose friendship hemust depend for the establishment of his claims: the United Republic andthe King of France. James of England was on the whole inclined to believein the rights of Brandenburg. His ambassador, however, with moreprophetic vision than perhaps the King ever dreamt--of, expressed a fearlest Brandenburg should grow too great and one day come to the Imperialcrown. 

The States openly favoured the Elector. Henry as at first disposedtowards Neuburg, but at his request Barneveld furnished a paper on thesubject, by which the King seems to have been entirely converted to thepretensions of Brandenburg. 

But the solution of the question had but little to do with the legalclaim of any man. It was instinctively felt throughout Christendom thatthe great duel between the ancient church and the spirit of theReformation was now to be renewed upon that narrow, debateable spot. 

The Emperor at once proclaimed his right to arbitrate on the successionand to hold the territory until decision should be made; that is to say, till the Greek Kalends. His familiar and most tricksy spirit, Bishop-Archduke Leopold, played at once on his fears and his resentments, against the ever encroaching, ever menacing, Protestantism of Germany, with which he had just sealed a compact so bitterly detested. 

That bold and bustling prelate, brother of the Queen of Spain and ofFerdinand of Styria, took post from Prague in the middle of July. Accompanied by a certain canon of the Church and disguised as hisservant, he arrived after a rapid journey before the gates of Julich, chief city and fortress of the duchies. The governor of the place, Nestelraed, inclined like most of the functionaries throughout theduchies to the Catholic cause, was delighted to recognize under thelivery of the lackey the cousin and representative of the Emperor. Leopold, who had brought but five men with him, had conquered his capitalat a blow. For while thus comfortably established as temporary governorof the duchies he designed through the fears or folly of Rudolph tobecome their sovereign lord. Strengthened by such an acquisition andreckoning on continued assistance in men and money from Spain and theCatholic League, he meant to sweep back to the rescue of the perishingRudolph, smite the Protestants of Bohemia, and achieve his appointment tothe crown of that kingdom. 

The Spanish ambassador at Prague had furnished him with a handsome sum ofmoney for the expenses of his journey and preliminary enterprise. Itshould go hard but funds should be forthcoming to support him throughoutthis audacious scheme. The champion of the Church, the sovereign princeof important provinces, the possession of which ensured conclusivetriumph to the House of Austria and to Rome--who should oppose him in hispath to Empire? Certainly not the moody Rudolph, the slippery andunstable Matthias, the fanatic and Jesuit-ridden Ferdinand. 

"Leopold in Julich, " said Henry's agent in Germany, "is a ferret in arabbit warren. "

But early in the spring and before the arrival of Leopold, the twopretenders, John Sigismund, Elector of Brandenburg, and Philip Lewis, Palatine of Neuburg, had made an arrangement. By the earnest advice ofBarneveld in the name of the States-General and as the result of ageneral council of many Protestant princes of Germany, it had beensettled that those two should together provisionally hold and administerthe duchies until the principal affair could be amicably settled. 

The possessory princes were accordingly established in Dusseldorf withthe consent of the provincial estates, in which place those bodies werewont to assemble. 

Here then was Spain in the person of Leopold quietly perched in the chiefcitadel of the country, while Protestantism in the shape of thepossessory princes stood menacingly in the capital. 

Hardly was the ink dry on the treaty which had suspended for twelve yearsthe great religious war of forty years, not yet had the ratificationsbeen exchanged, but the trumpet was again sounding, and the hostileforces were once more face to face. 

Leopold, knowing where his great danger lay, sent a friendly message tothe States-General, expressing the hope that they would submit to hisarrangements until the Imperial decision should be made. 

The States, through the pen and brain of Barneveld, replied that they hadalready recognized the rights of the possessory princes, and weresurprised that the Bishop-Archduke should oppose them. They expressed thehope that, when better informed, he would see the validity of the Treatyof Dortmund. "My Lords the States-General, " said the Advocate, "willprotect the princes against violence and actual disturbances, and areassured that the neighbouring kings and princes will do the same. Theytrust that his Imperial Highness will not allow matters, to proceed toextremities. "

This was language not to be mistaken. It was plain that the Republic didnot intend the Emperor to decide a question of life and death to herself, nor to permit Spain, exhausted by warfare, to achieve this annihilatingtriumph by a petty intrigue. 

While in reality the clue to what seemed to the outside world alabyrinthine maze of tangled interests and passions was firmly held inthe hand of Barneveld, it was not to him nor to My Lords theStates-General that the various parties to the impending conflict appliedin the first resort. 

Mankind were not yet sufficiently used to this young republic, intrudingherself among the family of kings, to defer at once to an authority whichthey could not but feel. 

Moreover, Henry of France was universally looked to both by friends andfoes as the probable arbiter or chief champion in the great debate. Hehad originally been inclined to favour Neuberg, chiefly, so Aerssensthought, on account of his political weakness. The States-General on theother hand were firmly disposed for Brandenburg from the first, not onlyas a strenuous supporter of the Reformation and an ancient ally of theirown always interested in their safety, but because the establishment ofthe Elector on the Rhine would roll back the Empire beyond that river. AsAerssens expressed it, they would have the Empire for a frontier, andhave no longer reason to fear the Rhine. 

The King, after the representations of the States, saw good ground tochange his opinion and; becoming convinced that the Palatine had longbeen coquetting with the Austrian party, soon made no secret of hispreference for Brandenburg. Subsequently Neuburg and Brandenburg fellinto a violent quarrel notwithstanding an arrangement that the Palatineshould marry the daughter of the Elector. In the heat of discussionBrandenburg on one occasion is said to have given his intended son-in-lawa box on the ear! an argument 'ad hominem' which seems to have had theeffect of sending the Palatine into the bosom of the ancient church andcausing him to rely thenceforth upon the assistance of the League. Meantime, however, the Condominium settled by the Treaty of Dortmundcontinued in force; the third brother of Brandenburg and the eldest sonof Neuburg sharing possession and authority at Dusseldorf until a finaldecision could be made. 

A flock of diplomatists, professional or volunteers, openly accredited orsecret, were now flying busily about through the troubled atmosphere, indicating the coming storm in which they revelled. The keen-sighted, subtle, but dangerously intriguing ambassador of the Republic, FrancisAerssens, had his hundred eyes at all the keyholes in Paris, that centreof ceaseless combination and conspiracy, and was besides in almost dailyconfidential intercourse with the King. Most patiently and minutely hekept the Advocate informed, almost from hour to hour, of every web thatwas spun, every conversation public or whispered in which importantaffairs were treated anywhere and by anybody. He was all-sufficient as aspy and intelligencer, although not entirely trustworthy as a counsellor. Still no man on the whole could scan the present or forecast the futuremore accurately than he was able to do from his advantageous position andhis long experience of affairs. 

There was much general jealousy between the States and the despotic king, who loved to be called the father of the Republic and to treat theHollanders as his deeply obliged and very ungrateful and miserly littlechildren. The India trade was a sore subject, Henry having throughout thenegotiations sought to force or wheedle the States into renouncing thatcommerce at the command of Spain, because he wished to help himself to itafterwards, and being now in the habit of secretly receiving Isaac LeMaire and other Dutch leaders in that lucrative monopoly, who laydisguised in Paris and in the house of Zamet--but not concealed fromAerssens, who pledged himself to break, the neck of their enterprise--andwere planning with the King a French East India Company in opposition tothat of the Netherlands. 

On the whole, however, despite these commercial intrigues which Barneveldthrough the aid of Aerssens was enabled to baffle, there was muchcordiality and honest friendship between the two countries. Henry, farfrom concealing his political affection for the Republic, was desirous ofreceiving a special embassy of congratulation and gratitude from theStates on conclusion of the truce; not being satisfied with the warmexpressions of respect and attachment conveyed through the ordinarydiplomatic channel. 

"He wishes, " wrote Aerssens to the Advocate, "a public demonstration--inorder to show on a theatre to all Christendom the regard and deference ofMy Lords the States for his Majesty. " The Ambassador suggested thatCornelis van der Myle, son-in-law of Barneveld, soon to be named firstenvoy for Holland to the Venetian republic, might be selected as chief ofsuch special embassy. 

"Without the instructions you gave me, " wrote Aerssens, "Neuburg mighthave gained his cause in this court. Brandenburg is doing himself muchinjury by not soliciting the King. "

"Much deference will be paid to your judgment, " added the envoy, "if yousee fit to send it to his Majesty. "

Meantime, although the agent of Neuburg was busily dinning in Henry'sears the claims of the Palatine, and even urging old promises which, ashe pretended, had been made, thanks to Barneveld, he took little by hisimportunity, notwithstanding that in the opinion both of Barneveld andVilleroy his claim 'stricti-juris' was the best. But it was policy andreligious interests, not the strict letter of the law, that were likelyto prevail. Henry, while loudly asserting that he would oppose anyusurpation on the part of the Emperor or any one else against theCondominium, privately renewed to the States assurances of his intentionto support ultimately the claims of Brandenburg, and notified them tohold the two regiments of French infantry, which by convention they stillkept at his expense in their service, to be ready at a moment's warningfor the great enterprise which he was already planning. "You would dowell perhaps, " wrote Aerssens to Barneveld, "to set forth the variousinterests in regard to this succession, and of the different relations ofthe claimants towards our commonwealth; but in such sort nevertheless andso dexterously that the King may be able to understand your desires, andon the other hand may see the respect you bear him in appearing to deferto his choice. "

Neuburg, having always neglected the States and made advances to ArchdukeAlbert, and being openly preferred over Brandenburg by the Austrians, whohad however no intention of eventually tolerating either, could make butsmall headway at court, notwithstanding Henry's indignation thatBrandenburg had not yet made the slightest demand upon him forassistance. 

The Elector had keenly solicited the aid of the states, who were bound tohim by ancient contract on this subject, but had manifested wonderfulindifference or suspicion in regard to France. "These nonchalantGermans, " said Henry on more than one occasion, "do nothing but sleep ordrink. "

It was supposed that the memory of Metz might haunt the imagination ofthe Elector. That priceless citadel, fraudulently extorted by Henry II. As a forfeit for assistance to the Elector of Saxony three quarters of acentury before, gave solemn warning to Brandenburg of what might beexacted by a greater Henry, should success be due to his protection. Itwas also thought that he had too many dangers about him at home, thePoles especially, much stirred up by emissaries from Rome, making manytroublesome demonstrations against the Duchy of Prussia. 

It was nearly midsummer before a certain Baron Donals arrived as emissaryof the Elector. He brought with him, many documents in support of theBrandenburg claims, and was charged with excuses for the dilatoriness ofhis master. Much stress was laid of course on the renunciation made byNeuburg at the tithe of his marriage, and Henry was urged to grant hisprotection to the Elector in his good rights. But thus far there were fewsigns of any vigorous resolution for active measures in an affair whichcould scarcely fail to lead to war. 

"I believe, " said Henry to the States ambassador, "that the right ofBrandenburg is indubitable, and it is better for you and for me that heshould be the man rather than Neuburg, who has always sought assistancefrom the House of Austria. But he is too lazy in demanding possession. Itis the fault of the doctors by whom he is guided. This delay works infavour of the Emperor, whose course however is less governed by anydetermination of his own than by the irresolution of the princes. "

Then changing the conversation, Henry asked the Ambassador whether thedaughter of de Maldere, a leading statesman of Zealand, was married or ofage to be married, and if she was rich; adding that they must make amatch between her and Barneveld's second son, then a young gentleman inthe King's service, and very much liked by him. 

Two months later a regularly accredited envoy, Belin by name, arrivedfrom the Elector. His instructions were general. He was to thank the Kingfor his declarations in favour of the possessory princes, and against allusurpation on the part of the Spanish party. Should the religious cord betouched, he was to give assurances that no change would be made in thisregard. He was charged with loads of fine presents in yellow amber, suchas ewers, basins, tables, cups, chessboards, for the King and Queen, theDauphin, the Chancellor, Villeroy, Sully, Bouillon, and other eminentpersonages. Beyond the distribution of these works of art and theexchange of a few diplomatic commonplaces, nothing serious in the way ofwarlike business was transacted, and Henry was a few weeks later muchamused by receiving a letter from the possessory princes coolly throwninto the post-office, and addressed like an ordinary letter to a privateperson, in which he was requested to advance them a loan of 400, 000crowns. There was a great laugh at court at a demand made like a bill ofexchange at sight upon his Majesty as if he had been a banker, especiallyas there happened to be no funds of the drawers in his hands. It wasthought that a proper regard for the King's quality and the amount of thesum demanded required that the letter should be brought at least by anexpress messenger, and Henry was both diverted and indignant at theseproceedings, at the months long delay before the princes had thoughtproper to make application for his protection, and then for this cooldemand for alms on a large scale as a proper beginning of theirenterprise. 

Such was the languid and extremely nonchalant manner in which the earlypreparations for a conflict which seemed likely to set Europe in a blaze, and of which possibly few living men might witness the termination, wereset on foot by those most interested in the immediate question. 

Chessboards in yellow amber and a post-office order for 400, 000 crownscould not go far in settling the question of the duchies in which thegreat problem dividing Christendom as by an abyss was involved. 

Meantime, while such were the diplomatic beginnings of the possessoryprinces, the League was leaving no stone unturned to awaken Henry to asense of his true duty to the Church of which he was Eldest Son. 

Don Pedro de Toledo's mission in regard to the Spanish marriages hadfailed because Henry had spurned the condition which was unequivocallyattached to them on the part of Spain, the king's renunciation of hisalliance with the Dutch Republic, which then seemed an equivalent to itsruin. But the treaty of truce and half-independence had been signed atlast by the States and their ancient master, and the English and Frenchnegotiators had taken their departure, each receiving as a present forconcluding the convention 20, 000 livres from the Archdukes, and 30, 000from the States-General. Henry, returning one summer's morning from thechase and holding the Count of Soissons by one hand and AmbassadorAerssens by the other, told them he had just received letters from Spainby which he learned that people were marvellously rejoiced at theconclusion of the truce. Many had regretted that its conditions were sodisadvantageous and so little honourable to the grandeur and dignity ofSpain, but to these it was replied that there were strong reasons whySpain should consent to peace on these terms rather than not have it atall. During the twelve years to come the King could repair his disastersand accumulate mountains of money in order to finish the war by thesubjugation of the Provinces by force of gold. 

Soissons here interrupted the King by saying that the States on theirpart would finish it by force of iron. 

Aerssens, like an accomplished courtier, replied they would finish it bymeans of his Majesty's friendship. 

The King continued by observing that the clear-sighted in Spain laughedat these rodomontades, knowing well that it was pure exhaustion that hadcompelled the King to such extremities. "I leave you to judge, " saidHenry, "whether he is likely to have any courage at forty-five years ofage, having none now at thirty-two. Princes show what they have in themof generosity and valour at the age of twenty-five or never. " He saidthat orders had been sent from Spain to disband all troops in theobedient Netherlands except Spaniards and Italians, telling the Archdukesthat they must raise the money out of the country to content them. Theymust pay for a war made for their benefit, said Philip. As for him hewould not furnish one maravedi. 

Aerssens asked if the Archdukes would disband their troops so long as theaffair of Cleve remained unsettled. "You are very lucky, " replied theKing, "that Europe is governed by such princes as you wot of. The King ofSpain thinks of nothing but tranquillity. The Archdukes will never moveexcept on compulsion. The Emperor, whom every one is so much afraid of inthis matter, is in such plight that one of these days, and before long, he will be stripped of all his possessions. I have news that theBohemians are ready to expel him. "

It was true enough that Rudolph hardly seemed a formidable personage. TheUtraquists and Bohemian Brothers, making up nearly the whole populationof the country, were just extorting religious liberty from their unluckymaster in his very palace and at the point of the knife. The envoy ofMatthias was in Paris demanding recognition of his master as King ofHungary, and Henry did not suspect the wonderful schemes of Leopold, theferret in the rabbit warren of the duchies, to come to the succour of hiscousin and to get himself appointed his successor and guardian. 

Nevertheless, the Emperor's name had been used to protest solemnlyagainst the entrance into Dusseldorf of the Margrave Ernest ofBrandenburg and Palatine Wolfgang William of Neuburg, representativesrespectively of their brother and father. 

The induction was nevertheless solemnly made by the Elector-Palatine andthe Landgrave of Hesse, and joint possession solemnly taken byBrandenburg and Neuburg in the teeth of the protest, and expressly inorder to cut short the dilatory schemes and the artifices of the Imperialcourt. 

Henry at once sent a corps of observation consisting of 1500 cavalry tothe Luxemburg frontier by way of Toul, Mezieres, Verdun, and Metz, toguard against movements by the disbanded troops of the Archdukes, andagainst any active demonstration against the possessory princes on thepart of the Emperor. 

The 'Condominium' was formally established, and Henry stood before theworld as its protector threatening any power that should attemptusurpation. He sent his agent Vidomacq to the Landgrave of Hesse withinstructions to do his utmost to confirm the princes of the Union inorganized resistance to the schemes of Spain, and to prevent anyinterference with the Condominium. 

He wrote letters to the Archdukes and to the Elector of Cologne, sternlynotifying them that he would permit no assault upon the princes, andmeant to protect them in their rights. He sent one of his mostexperienced diplomatists, de Boississe, formerly ambassador in England, to reside for a year or more in the duchies as special representative ofFrance, and directed him on his way thither to consult especially withBarneveld and the States-General as to the proper means of carrying outtheir joint policy either by diplomacy or, if need should be, by theirunited arms. 

Troops began at once to move towards the frontier to counteract the plansof the Emperor's council and the secret levies made by Duchess Sibylla'shusband, the Margrave of Burgau. The King himself was perpetually atMonceaux watching the movements of his cavalry towards the Luxemburgfrontier, and determined to protect the princes in their possession untilsome definite decision as to the sovereignty of the duchies should bemade. 

Meantime great pressure was put upon him by the opposite party. The Popedid his best through the Nuncius at Paris directly, and through agents atPrague, Brussels, and Madrid indirectly, to awaken the King to a sense ofthe enormity of his conduct. 

Being a Catholic prince, it was urged, he had no right to assistheretics. It was an action entirely contrary to his duty as a Christianand of his reputation as Eldest Son of the Church. Even if the right wereon the side of the princes, his Majesty would do better to strip them ofit and to clothe himself with it than to suffer the Catholic faith andreligion to receive such notable detriment in an affair likely to havesuch important consequences. 

Such was some of the advice given by the Pontiff. The suggestions weresubtle, for they were directed to Henry's self-interest both as championof the ancient church and as a possible sovereign of the very territoriesin dispute. They were also likely, and were artfully so intended, toexcite suspicion of Henry's designs in the breasts of the Protestantsgenerally and of the possessory princes especially. Allusions indeed tothe rectification of the French border in Henry II. 's time at the expenseof Lorraine were very frequent. They probably accounted for much of theapparent supineness and want of respect for the King of which hecomplained every day and with so much bitterness. 

The Pope's insinuations, however, failed to alarm him, for he had made uphis mind as to the great business of what might remain to him of life; tohumble the House of Austria and in doing so to uphold the Dutch Republicon which he relied for his most efficient support. The situation was afalse one viewed from the traditional maxims which governed Europe. Howcould the Eldest Son of the Church and the chief of an unlimited monarchymake common cause with heretics and republicans against Spain and Rome?That the position was as dangerous as it was illogical, there could bebut little doubt. But there was a similarity of opinion between the Kingand the political chief of the Republic on the great principle which wasto illume the distant future but which had hardly then dawned upon thepresent; the principle of religious equality. As he protected Protestantsin France so he meant to protect Catholics in the duchies. Apostate as hewas from the Reformed Church as he had already been from the Catholic, hehad at least risen above the paltry and insolent maxim of the princelyProtestantism of Germany: "Cujus regio ejus religio. "

While refusing to tremble before the wrath of Rome or to incline his earto its honeyed suggestions, he sent Cardinal Joyeuse with a specialmission to explain to the Pope that while the interests of France wouldnot permit him to allow the Spaniard's obtaining possession of provincesso near to her, he should take care that the Church received no detrimentand that he should insist as a price of the succour he intended for thepossessory princes that they should give ample guarantees for the libertyof Catholic worship. 

There was no doubt in the mind either of Henry or of Barneveld that thesecret blows attempted by Spain at the princes were in reality aimed atthe Republic and at himself as her ally. 

While the Nuncius was making these exhortations in Paris, his colleaguefrom Spain was authorized to propound a scheme of settlement which didnot seem deficient in humour. At any rate Henry was much diverted withthe suggestion, which was nothing less than that the decision as to thesuccession to the duchies should be left to a board of arbitrationconsisting of the King of Spain, the Emperor, and the King of France. AsHenry would thus be painfully placed by himself in a hopeless minority, the only result of the scheme would be to compel him to sanction adecision sure to be directly the reverse of his own resolve. He washardly such a schoolboy in politics as to listen to the proposal exceptto laugh at it. 

Meantime arrived from Julich, without much parade, a quiet but somewhatpompous gentleman named Teynagel. He had formerly belonged to theReformed religion, but finding it more to his taste or advantage tobecome privy councillor of the Emperor, he had returned to the ancientchurch. He was one of the five who had accompanied the Archduke Leopoldto Julich. 

That prompt undertaking having thus far succeeded so well, the warlikebishop had now despatched Teynagel on a roving diplomatic mission. Ostensibly he came to persuade Henry that, by the usages and laws of theEmpire, fiefs left vacant for want of heirs male were at the disposal ofthe Emperor. He expressed the hope therefore of obtaining the King'sapproval of Leopold's position in Julich as temporary vicegerent of hissovereign and cousin. The real motive of his mission, however, wasprivately to ascertain whether Henry was really ready to go to war forthe protection of the possessory princes, and then, to proceed to Spain. It required an astute politician, however, to sound all the shoals, quicksands, and miseries through which the French government was thensteering, and to comprehend with accuracy the somewhat varying humours ofthe monarch and the secret schemes of the ministers who immediatelysurrounded him. 

People at court laughed at Teynagel and his mission, and Henry treatedhim as a crackbrained adventurer. He announced himself as envoy of theEmperor, although he had instructions from Leopold only. He hadinterviews with the Chancellor and with Villeroy, and told them thatRudolf claimed the right of judge between the various pretenders to theduchies. The King would not be pleased, he observed, if the King of GreatBritain should constitute himself arbiter among claimants that might maketheir appearance for the crown of France; but Henry had set himself up asumpire without being asked by any one to act in that capacity among theprinces of Germany. The Emperor, on the contrary, had been appealed to bythe Duke of Nevers, the Elector of Saxony, the Margrave of Burgau, andother liege subjects of the Imperial crown as a matter of course and ofright. This policy of the King, if persisted in, said Teynagel, must leadto war. Henry might begin such a war, but he would be obliged to bequeathit to the Dauphin. He should remember that France had always been unluckywhen waging war with the Empire and with the house of Austria. '

The Chancellor and Villeroy, although in their hearts not much in lovewith Henry's course, answered the emissary with arrogance equal to hisown that their king could finish the war as well as begin it, that heconfided in his strength and the justice of his cause, and that he knewvery well and esteemed very little the combined forces of Spain and theEmpire. They added that France was bound by the treaty of Vervins toprotect the princes, but they offered no proof of that rather startlingproposition. 

Meantime Teynagel was busy in demonstrating that the princes of Germanywere in reality much more afraid of Henry than of the Emperor. Hismilitary movements and deep designs excited more suspicion throughoutthat country and all Europe than the quiet journey of Leopold and fivefriends by post to Julich. 

He had come provided with copies of the King's private letters to theprinces, and seemed fully instructed as to his most secret thoughts. Forthis convenient information he was supposed to be indebted to therevelations of Father Cotton, who was then in disgrace; having beendetected in transmitting to the General of Jesuits Henry's most sacredconfidences and confessions as to his political designs. 

Fortified with this private intelligence, and having been advised byFather Cotton to carry matters with a high hand in order to inspire theFrench court with a wholesome awe, he talked boldly about the legitimatefunctions of the Emperor. To interfere with them, he assured theministers, would lead to a long and bloody war, as neither the King northe Archduke Albert would permit the Emperor to be trampled upon. 

Peter Pecquius, the crafty and experienced agent of the Archduke atParis, gave the bouncing envoy more judicious advice, however, than thatof the Jesuit, assuring him that he would spoil his whole case should heattempt to hold such language to the King. 

He was admitted to an audience of Henry at Monceaux, but found himprepared to show his teeth as Aerssens had predicted. He treated Teynagelas a mere madcap and, adventurer who had no right to be received as apublic minister at all, and cut short his rodomontades by assuring himthat his mind was fully made up to protect the possessory princes. Jeannin was present at the interview, although, as Aerssens wellobserved, the King required no pedagogue on such an occasion? Teynagelsoon afterwards departed malcontent to Spain, having taken little by hisabnormal legation to Henry, and being destined to find at the court ofPhilip as urgent demands on that monarch for assistance to the League ashe was to make for Leopold and the House of Austria. 

For the League, hardly yet thoroughly organized under the leadership ofMaximilian of Bavaria, was rather a Catholic corrival than cordial allyof the Imperial house. It was universally suspected that Henry meant todestroy and discrown the Habsburgs, and it lay not in the schemes ofMaximilian to suffer the whole Catholic policy to be bound to thefortunes of that one family. 

Whether or not Henry meant to commit the anachronism and blunder ofreproducing the part of Charlemagne might be doubtful. The supposeddesign of Maximilian to renew the glories of the House of Wittelsbach wasequally vague. It is certain, however, that a belief in such ambitiousschemes on the part of both had been insinuated into the ears of Rudolf, and had sunk deeply into his unsettled mind. 

Scarcely had Teynagel departed than the ancient President Richardotappeared upon the scene. "The mischievous old monkey, " as he hadirreverently been characterized during the Truce negotiations, "whoshowed his tail the higher he climbed, " was now trembling at the thoughtthat all the good work he had been so laboriously accomplishing duringthe past two years should be annihilated. The Archdukes, his masters, being sincerely bent on peace, had deputed him to Henry, who, as theybelieved, was determined to rekindle war. As frequently happens in suchcases, they were prepared to smooth over the rough and almost impassablepath to a cordial understanding by comfortable and cheap commonplacesconcerning the blessings of peace, and to offer friendly compromises bywhich they might secure the prizes of war without the troubles anddangers of making it. 

They had been solemnly notified by Henry that he would go to war ratherthan permit the House of Austria to acquire the succession to theduchies. They now sent Richardot to say that neither the Archdukes northe King of Spain would interfere in the matter, and that they hoped theKing of France would not prevent the Emperor from exercising his rightfulfunctions of judge. 

Henry, who knew that Don Baltasar de Cuniga, Spanish ambassador at theImperial court, had furnished Leopold, the Emperor's cousin, with 50, 000crowns to defray his first expenses in the Julich expedition, consideredthat the veteran politician had come to perform a school boy's task. Hewas more than ever convinced by this mission of Richardot that theSpaniards had organized the whole scheme, and he was likely only to smileat any propositions the President might make. 

At the beginning of his interview, in which the King was quite alone, Richardot asked if he would agree to maintain neutrality like the King ofSpain and the Archdukes, and allow the princes to settle their businesswith the Emperor. 

"No, " said the King. 

He then asked if Henry would assist them in their wrong. 

"No, " said the King. 

He then asked if the King thought that the princes had justice on theirside, and whether, if the contrary were shown, he would change hispolicy?

Henry replied that the Emperor could not be both judge and party in thesuit and that the King of Spain was plotting to usurp the provincesthrough the instrumentality of his brother-in-law Leopold and under thename of the Emperor. He would not suffer it, he said. 

"Then there will be a general war, " replied Richardot, "since you aredetermined to assist these princes. "

"Be it so, " said the King. 

"You are right, " said the President, "for you are a great and puissantmonarch, having all the advantages that could be desired, and in case ofrupture I fear that all this immense power will be poured out over us whoare but little princes. "

"Cause Leopold to retire then and leave the princes in their right, " wasthe reply. "You will then have nothing to fear. Are you not very unhappyto live under those poor weak archdukes? Don't you foresee that as soonas they die you will lose all the little you have acquired in theobedient Netherlands during the last fifty years?"

The President had nothing to reply to this save that he had neverapproved of Leopold's expedition, and that when Spaniards make mistakesthey always had recourse to their servants to repair their faults. He hadaccepted this mission inconsiderately, he said, inspired by a hope toconjure the rising storms mingled with fears as to the result which werenow justified. He regretted having come, he said. 

The King shrugged his shoulders. 

Richardot then suggested that Leopold might be recognized in Julich, andthe princes at Dusseldorf, or that all parties might retire until theEmperor should give his decision. 

All these combinations were flatly refused by the King, who swore that noone of the House of Austria should ever perch in any part of thoseprovinces. If Leopold did not withdraw at once, war was inevitable. 

He declared that he would break up everything and dare everything, whether the possessory princes formally applied to him or not. He wouldnot see his friends oppressed nor allow the Spaniard by this usurpationto put his foot on the throat of the States-General, for it was againstthem that this whole scheme was directed. 

To the President's complaints that the States-General had been movingtroops in Gelderland, Henry replied at once that it was done by hiscommand, and that they were his troops. 

With this answer Richardot was fain to retire crestfallen, mortified, andunhappy. He expressed repentance and astonishment at the result, andprotested that those peoples were happy whose princes understood affairs. His princes were good, he said, but did not give themselves the troubleto learn their business. 

Richardot then took his departure from Paris, and very soon afterwardsfrom the world. He died at Arras early in September, as many thought ofchagrin at the ill success of his mission, while others ascribed it to asurfeit of melons and peaches. 

"Senectus edam maorbus est, " said Aerssens with Seneca. 

Henry said he could not sufficiently wonder at these last proceedings athis court, of a man he had deemed capable and sagacious, but who had beencommitting an irreparable blunder. He had never known two suchimpertinent ambassadors as Don Pedro de Toledo and Richardot on thisoccasion. The one had been entirely ignorant of the object of hismission; the other had shown a vain presumption in thinking he coulddrive him from his fixed purpose by a flood of words. He had accordinglyanswered him on the spot without consulting his council, at which poorRichardot had been much amazed. 

And now another envoy appeared upon the scene, an ambassador comingdirectly from the Emperor. Count Hohenzollern, a young man, wild, fierce, and arrogant, scarcely twenty-three years of age, arrived in Paris on the7th of September, with a train of forty horsemen. 

De Colly, agent of the Elector-Palatine, had received an outline of hisinstructions, which the Prince of Anhalt had obtained at Prague. Heinformed Henry that Hohenzollern would address him thus: "You are a king. You would not like that the Emperor should aid your subjects inrebellion. He did not do this in the time of the League, although oftensolicited to do so. You should not now sustain the princes in disobeyingthe Imperial decree. Kings should unite in maintaining the authority andmajesty of each other. " He would then in the Emperor's name urge theclaims of the House of Saxony to the duchies. 

Henry was much pleased with this opportune communication by de Colly ofthe private instructions to the Emperor's envoy, by which he was enabledto meet the wild and fierce young man with an arrogance at least equal tohis own. 

The interview was a stormy one. The King was alone in the gallery of theLouvre, not choosing that his words and gestures should be observed. TheEnvoy spoke much in the sense which de Colly had indicated; making a longargument in favour of the Emperor's exclusive right of arbitration, andassuring the King that the Emperor was resolved on war if interferencebetween himself and his subjects was persisted in. He loudly pronouncedthe proceedings of the possessory princes to be utterly illegal, andcontrary to all precedent. The Emperor would maintain his authority atall hazards, and one spark of war would set everything in a blaze withinthe Empire and without. 

Henry replied sternly but in general terms, and referred him for a finalanswer to his council. 

"What will you do, " asked the Envoy, categorically, at a subsequentinterview about a month later, "to protect the princes in case theEmperor constrains them to leave the provinces which they have unjustlyoccupied?"

"There is none but God to compel me to say more than I choose to say, "replied the King. "It is enough for you to know that I will never abandonmy friends in a just cause. The Emperor can do much for the generalpeace. He is not to lend his name to cover this usurpation. "

And so the concluding interview terminated in an exchange of threatsrather than with any hope of accommodation. 

Hohenzollern used as high language to the ministers as to the monarch, and received payment in the same coin. He rebuked their course not veryadroitly as being contrary to the interests of Catholicism. They wereplacing the provinces in the hands of Protestants, he urged. It requiredno envoy from Prague to communicate this startling fact. Friends andfoes, Villeroy and Jeannin, as well as Sully and Duplessis, knew wellenough that Henry was not taking up arms for Rome. "Sir! do you look atthe matter in that way?" cried Sully, indignantly. "The Huguenots are asgood as the Catholics. They fight like the devil!"

"The Emperor will never permit the princes to remain nor Leopold towithdraw, " said the Envoy to Jeannin. 

Jeannin replied that the King was always ready to listen to reason, butthere was no use in holding language of authority to him. It was money hewould not accept. 

"Fiat justitia pereat mundus, " said the haggard Hohenzollern. 

"Your world may perish, " replied Jeannin, "but not ours. It is muchbetter put together. "

A formal letter was then written by the King to the Emperor, in whichHenry expressed his desire to maintain peace and fraternal relations, butnotified him that if, under any pretext whatever, he should trouble theprinces in their possession, he would sustain them with all his power, being bound thereto by treaties and by reasons of state. 

This letter was committed to the care of Hohenzollern, who forthwithdeparted, having received a present of 4000 crowns. His fierce, haggardface thus vanishes for the present from our history. 

The King had taken his ground, from which there was no receding. Envoysor agents of Emperor, Pope, King of Spain, Archduke at Brussels, andArchduke at Julich, had failed to shake his settled purpose. Yet the roadwas far from smooth. He had thus far no ally but the States-General. Hecould not trust James of Great Britain. Boderie came back late in thesummer from his mission to that monarch, reporting him as beingfavourably inclined to Brandenburg, but hoping for an amicable settlementin the duchies. No suggestion being made even by the sagacious James asto the manner in which the ferret and rabbits were to come to acompromise, Henry inferred, if it came to fighting, that the Englishgovernment would refuse assistance. James had asked Boderie in factwhether his sovereign and the States, being the parties chieflyinterested, would be willing to fight it out without allies. He had alsosent Sir Ralph Winwood on a special mission to the Hague, to Dusseldorf, and with letters to the Emperor, in which he expressed confidence thatRudolph would approve the proceedings of the possessory princes. As hecould scarcely do that while loudly claiming through his official envoyin Paris that the princes should instantly withdraw on pain of instantwar, the value of the English suggestion of an amicable compromise mighteasily be deduced. 

Great was the jealousy in France of this mission from England. That theprinces should ask the interference of James while neglecting, despising, or fearing Henry, excited Henry's wrath. He was ready, and avowed hisreadiness, to put on armour at once in behalf of the princes, and toarbitrate on the destiny of Germany, but no one seemed ready to followhis standard. No one asked him to arbitrate. The Spanish faction wheedledand threatened by turns, in order to divert him from his purpose, whilethe Protestant party held aloof, and babbled of Charlemagne and of HenryII. 

He said he did not mean to assist the princes by halves, but as became aKing of France, and the princes expressed suspicion of him, talked of theexample of Metz, and called the Emperor their very clement lord. 

It was not strange that Henry was indignant and jealous. He was holdingthe wolf by the ears, as he himself observed more than once. The warcould not long be delayed; yet they in whose behalf it was to be wagedtreated him with a disrespect and flippancy almost amounting to scorn. 

They tried to borrow money of him through the post, and neglected to sendhim an ambassador. This was most decidedly putting the cart before theoxen, so Henry said, and so thought all his friends. When they hadblockaded the road to Julich, in order to cut off Leopold's supplies, they sent to request that the two French regiments in the States' servicemight be ordered to their assistance, Archduke Albert having threatenedto open the passage by force of arms. "This is a fine stratagem, " saidAerssens, "to fling the States-General headlong into the war, and, as itwere, without knowing it. "

But the States-General, under the guidance of Barneveld, were not likelyto be driven headlong by Brandenburg and Neuburg. They managed withcaution, but with perfect courage, to move side by side with Henry, andto leave the initiative to him, while showing an unfaltering front to theenemy. That the princes were lost, Spain and the Emperor triumphant, unless Henry and the States should protect them with all their strength, was as plain as a mathematical demonstration. 

Yet firm as were the attitude and the language of Henry, he was thoughtto be hoping to accomplish much by bluster. It was certain that the boldand unexpected stroke of Leopold had produced much effect upon his mind, and for a time those admitted to his intimacy saw, or thought they saw, adecided change in his demeanour. To the world at large his language andhis demonstrations were even more vehement than they had been at theoutset of the controversy; but it was believed that there was now adisposition to substitute threats for action. The military movements seton foot were thought to be like the ringing of bells and firing of cannonto dissipate a thunderstorm. Yet it was treason at court to doubt thecertainty of war. The King ordered new suits of armour, bought splendidchargers, and gave himself all the airs of a champion rushing to atournament as gaily as in the earliest days of his king-errantry. Hespoke of his eager desire to break a lance with Spinola, and give alesson to the young volunteer who had sprung into so splendid a militaryreputation, while he had been rusting, as he thought, in pacificindolence, and envying the laurels of the comparatively youthful Maurice. Yet those most likely to be well informed believed that nothing wouldcome of all this fire and fury. 

The critics were wrong. There was really no doubt of Henry's sincerity, but his isolation was terrible. There was none true to him at home butSully. Abroad, the States-General alone were really friendly, so far aspositive agreements existed. Above all, the intolerable tergiversationsand suspicions of those most interested, the princes in possession, andtheir bickerings among themselves, hampered his movements. 

Treason and malice in his cabinet and household, jealousy and fearabroad, were working upon and undermining him like a slow fever. Hisposition was most pathetic, but his purpose was fixed. 

James of England, who admired, envied, and hated Henry, was wont tomoralize on his character and his general unpopularity, while engaged innegotiations with him. He complained that in the whole affair of thetruce he had sought only his particular advantage. "This is not to bewondered at in one of his nature, " said the King, "who only careth toprovide for the felicities of his present life, without any respect forhis life to come. Indeed, the consideration of his own age and the youthof his children, the doubt of their legitimation, the strength ofcompetitioners, and the universal hatred borne unto him, makes him seekall means of security for preventing of all dangers. "

There were changes from day to day; hot and cold fits necessarilyresulting from the situation. As a rule, no eminent general who has hadmuch experience wishes to go into a new war inconsiderately and for themere love of war. The impatience is often on the part of thenon-combatants. Henry was no exception to the rule. He felt that thecomplications then existing, the religious, political, and dynasticelements arrayed against each other, were almost certain to be brought toa crisis and explosion by the incident of the duchies. He felt that theimpending struggle was probably to be a desperate and a general one, butthere was no inconsistency in hoping that the show of a vigorous andmenacing attitude might suspend, defer, or entirely dissipate theimpending storm. 

The appearance of vacillation on his part from day to day was hardlydeserving of the grave censure which it received, and was certainly inthe interests of humanity. 

His conferences with Sully were almost daily and marked by intenseanxiety. He longed for Barneveld, and repeatedly urged that the Advocate, laying aside all other business, would come to Paris, that they mightadvise together thoroughly and face to face. It was most important thatthe combination of alliances should be correctly arranged beforehostilities began, and herein lay the precise difficulty. The princesapplied formally and freely to the States-General for assistance. Theyapplied to the King of Great Britain. The agents of the opposite partybesieged Henry with entreaties, and, failing in those, with threats;going off afterwards to Spain, to the Archdukes, and to other Catholicpowers in search of assistance. 

The States-General professed their readiness to put an army of 15, 000foot and 3000 horse in the field for the spring campaign, so soon as theywere assured of Henry's determination for a rupture. 

"I am fresh enough still, " said he to their ambassador, "to lead an armyinto Cleve. I shall have a cheap bargain enough of the provinces. Butthese Germans do nothing but eat and sleep. They will get the profit andassign to me the trouble. No matter, I will never suffer theaggrandizement of the House of Austria. The States-General must disbandno troops, but hold themselves in readiness. "

Secretary of State Villeroy held the same language, but it was easy totrace beneath his plausible exterior a secret determination to traversethe plans of his sovereign. "The Cleve affair must lead to war, " he said. "The Spaniard, considering how necessary it is for him to have a princethere at his devotion, can never quietly suffer Brandenburg and Neuburgto establish themselves in those territories. The support thus gained bythe States-General would cause the loss of the Spanish Netherlands. "

This was the view of Henry, too, but the Secretary of State, secretlydevoted to the cause of Spain, looked upon the impending war with muchaversion. 

"All that can come to his Majesty from war, " he said, "is the glory ofhaving protected the right. Counterbalance this with the fatigue, theexpense, and the peril of a great conflict, after our long repose, andyou will find this to be buying glory too dearly. "

When a Frenchman talked of buying glory too dearly, it seemed probablethat the particular kind of glory was not to his taste. 

Henry had already ordered the officers, then in France, of the 4000French infantry kept in the States' service at his expense to depart atonce to Holland, and he privately announced his intention of moving tothe frontier at the head of 30, 000 men. 

'Yet not only Villeroy, but the Chancellor and the Constable, whileprofessing opposition to the designs of Austria and friendliness to thoseof Brandenburg and Neuburg, deprecated this precipitate plunge into war. "Those most interested, " they said, "refuse to move; fearing Austria, distrusting France. They leave us the burden and danger, and hope for thespoils themselves. We cannot play cat to their monkey. The King must holdhimself in readiness to join in the game when the real players haveshuffled and dealt the cards. It is no matter to us whether the Spaniardor Brandenburg or anyone else gets the duchies. The States-Generalrequire a friendly sovereign there, and ought to say how much they willdo for that result. "

The Constable laughed at the whole business. Coming straight from theLouvre, he said "there would be no serious military movement, and thatall those fine freaks would evaporate in air. "

But Sully never laughed. He was quietly preparing the ways and means forthe war, and he did not intend, so far as he had influence, that Franceshould content herself with freaks and let Spain win the game. Alone inthe council he maintained that "France had gone too far to recede withoutsacrifice of reputation. "--"The King's word is engaged both within andwithout, " he said. "Not to follow it with deeds would be dangerous to thekingdom. The Spaniard will think France afraid of war. We must strike asudden blow, either to drive the enemy away or to crush him at once. There is no time for delay. The Netherlands must prevent theaggrandizement of Austria or consent to their own ruin. "

Thus stood the game therefore. The brother of Brandenburg and son ofNeuburg had taken possession of Dusseldorf. 

The Emperor, informed of this, ordered them forthwith to decamp. Hefurther summoned all pretenders to the duchies to appear before him, inperson or by proxy, to make good their claims. They refused and appealedfor advice and assistance to the States-General. Barneveld, aware of theintrigues of Spain, who disguised herself in the drapery of the Emperor, recommended that the Estates of Cleve, Julich, Berg, Mark, Ravensberg, and Ravenstein, should be summoned in Dusseldorf. This was done and aresolution taken to resist any usurpation. 

The King of France wrote to the Elector of Cologne, who, by directions ofRome and by means of the Jesuits, had been active in the intrigue, thathe would not permit the princes to be disturbed. 

The Archduke Leopold suddenly jumped into the chief citadel of thecountry and published an edict of the Emperor. All the proceedings werethereby nullified as illegal and against the dignity of the realm and theprinces proclaimed under ban. 

A herald brought the edict and ban to the princes in full assembly. Theprinces tore it to pieces on the spot. Nevertheless they were muchfrightened, and many members of the Estates took themselves off; othersshowing an inclination to follow. 

The princes sent forth with a deputation to the Hague to consult My Lordsthe States-General. The States-General sent an express messenger toParis. Their ambassador there sent him back a week later, with notice ofthe King's determination to risk everything against everything topreserve the rights of the princes. It was added that Henry required tobe solicited by them, in order not by volunteer succour to give cause fordistrust as to his intentions. The States-General were further apprisedby the King that his interests and theirs were so considerable in thematter that they would probably be obliged to go into a brisk and openwar, in order to prevent the Spaniard from establishing himself in theduchies. He advised them to notify the Archdukes in Brussels that theywould regard the truce as broken if, under pretext of maintaining theEmperor's rights, they should molest the princes. He desired them furtherto send their forces at once to the frontier of Gelderland under PrinceMaurice, without committing any overt act of hostility, but in order toshow that both the King and the States were thoroughly in earnest. 

The King then sent to Archduke Albert, as well as to the Elector ofCologne, and despatched a special envoy to the King of Great Britain. 

Immediately afterwards came communications from Barneveld to Henry, withcomplete adhesion to the King's plans. The States would move in exactharmony with him, neither before him nor after him, which was preciselywhat he wished. He complained bitterly to Aerssens, when he communicatedthe Advocate's despatches, of the slothful and timid course of theprinces. He ascribed it to the arts of Leopold, who had written andinspired many letters against him insinuating that he was secretly inleague and correspondence with the Emperor; that he was going to theduchies simply in the interest of the Catholics; that he was like HenryII. Only seeking to extend the French frontier; and Leopold, by theseintrigues and falsehoods, had succeeded in filling the princes withdistrust, and they had taken umbrage at the advance of his cavalry. 

Henry professed himself incapable of self-seeking or ambition. He meantto prevent the aggrandizement of Austria, and was impatient at thedilatoriness and distrust of the princes. 

"All their enemies are rushing to the King of Spain. Let them addressthemselves to the King of France, " he said, "for it is we two that mustplay this game. "

And when at last they did send an embassy, they prefaced it by a postletter demanding an instant loan, and with an intimation that they wouldrather have his money than his presence!

Was it surprising that the King's course should seem occasionallywavering when he found it so difficult to stir up such stagnant watersinto honourable action? Was it strange that the rude and stern Sullyshould sometimes lose his patience, knowing so much and suspecting moreof the foul designs by which his master was encompassed, of the web ofconspiracy against his throne, his life, and his honour, which was dailyand hourly spinning?

"We do nothing and you do nothing, " he said one day to Aerssens. "You aretoo soft, and we are too cowardly. I believe that we shall spoileverything, after all. I always suspect these sudden determinations ofours. They are of bad augury. We usually founder at last when we set offso fiercely at first. There are words enough an every side, but therewill be few deeds. There is nothing to be got out of the King of GreatBritain, and the King of Spain will end by securing these provinces forhimself by a treaty. " Sully knew better than this, but he did not care tolet even the Dutch envoy know, as yet, the immense preparations he hadbeen making for the coming campaign. 

The envoys of the possessory princes, the Counts Solms, Colonel Pallandt, and Dr. Steyntgen, took their departure, after it had been arranged thatfinal measures should be concerted at the general congress of the GermanProtestants to be held early in the ensuing year at Hall, in Suabia. 

At that convention de Boississe would make himself heard on the part ofFrance, and the representatives of the States-General, of Venice, andSavoy, would also be present. 

Meantime the secret conferences between Henry and his superintendent offinances and virtual prime minister were held almost every day. Scarcelyan afternoon passed that the King did not make his appearance at theArsenal, Sully's residence, and walk up and down the garden with him forhours, discussing the great project of which his brain was full. Thisgreat project was to crush for ever the power of the Austrian house; todrive Spain back into her own limits, putting an end to her projects foruniversal monarchy; and taking the Imperial crown from the House ofHabsburg. By thus breaking up the mighty cousinship which, with the aidof Rome, overshadowed Germany and the two peninsulas, besides governingthe greater part of both the Indies, he meant to bring France into thepreponderant position over Christendom which he believed to be her due. 

It was necessary, he thought, for the continued existence of the Dutchcommonwealth that the opportunity should be taken once for all, now thata glorious captain commanded its armies and a statesman unrivalled forexperience, insight, and patriotism controlled its politics and itsdiplomacy, to drive the Spaniard out of the Netherlands. 

The Cleve question, properly and vigorously handled, presented exactlythe long desired opportunity for carrying out these vast designs. 

The plan of assault upon Spanish power was to be threefold. The Kinghimself at the head of 35, 000 men, supported by Prince Maurice and theStates' forces amounting to at least 14, 000, would move to the Rhine andseize the duchies. The Duke de la Force would command the army of thePyrenees and act in concert with the Moors of Spain, who roused to frenzyby their expulsion from the kingdom could be relied on for a revolt or atleast a most vigorous diversion. Thirdly, a treaty with the Duke of Savoyby which Henry accorded his daughter to the Duke's eldest son, the Princeof Piedmont, a gift of 100, 000 crowns, and a monthly pension during thewar of 50, 000 crowns a month, was secretly concluded. 

Early in the spring the Duke was to take the field with at least 10, 000foot and 1200 horse, supported by a French army of 12, 000 to 15, 000 menunder the experienced Marshal de Lesdiguieres. These forces were tooperate against the Duchy of Milan with the intention of driving theSpaniards out of that rich possession, which the Duke of Savoy claimedfor himself, and of assuring to Henry the dictatorship of Italy. With thecordial alliance of Venice, and by playing off the mutual jealousies ofthe petty Italian princes, like Florence, Mantua, Montserrat, and others, against each other and against the Pope, it did not seem doubtful toSully that the result would be easily accomplished. He distinctly urgedthe wish that the King should content himself with political influence, with the splendid position of holding all Italy dependent upon his willand guidance, but without annexing a particle of territory to his owncrown. 

It was Henry's intention, however, to help himself to the Duchy of Savoy, and to the magnificent city and port of Genoa as a reward to himself forthe assistance, matrimonial alliance, and aggrandizement which he wasabout to bestow upon Charles Emmanuel. Sully strenuously opposed theseself-seeking views on the part of his sovereign, however, constantlyplacing before him the far nobler aim of controlling the destinies ofChristendom, of curbing what tended to become omnipotent, of raising upand protecting that which had been abased, of holding the balance ofempire with just and steady hand in preference to the more vulgar andcommonplace ambition of annexing a province or two to the realms ofFrance. 

It is true that these virtuous homilies, so often preached by him againstterritorial aggrandizement in one direction, did not prevent him fromindulging in very extensive visions of it in another. But the dreamspointed to the east rather than to the south. It was Sully's policy toswallow a portion not of Italy but of Germany. He persuaded his masterthat the possessory princes, if placed by the help of France in theheritage which they claimed, would hardly be able to maintain themselvesagainst the dangers which surrounded them except by a direct dependenceupon France. In the end the position would become an impossible one, andit would be easy after the war was over to indemnify Brandenburg withmoney and with private property in the heart of France for example, andobtain the cession of those most coveted provinces between the Meuse andthe Weser to the King. "What an advantage for France, " whispered Sully, "to unite to its power so important a part of Germany. For it cannot bedenied that by accepting the succour given by the King now those princesoblige themselves to ask for help in the future in order to preservetheir new acquisition. Thus your Majesty will make them pay for it verydearly. "

Thus the very virtuous self-denial in regard to the Duke of Savoy did notprevent a secret but well developed ambition at the expense of theElector of Brandenburg. For after all it was well enough known that theElector was the really important and serious candidate. Henry knew fullwell that Neuburg was depending on the Austrians and the Catholics, andthat the claims of Saxony were only put forward by the Emperor in orderto confuse the princes and excite mutual distrust. 

The King's conferences with the great financier were most confidential, and Sully was as secret as the grave. But Henry never could keep a secreteven when it concerned his most important interests, and nothing wouldserve him but he must often babble of his great projects even to theirminutest details in presence of courtiers and counsellors whom in hisheart he knew to be devoted to Spain and in receipt of pensions from herking. He would boast to them of the blows by which he meant to demolishSpain and the whole house of Austria, so that there should be no longerdanger to be feared from that source to the tranquillity and happiness ofEurope, and he would do this so openly and in presence of those who, ashe knew, were perpetually setting traps for him and endeavouring todiscover his deepest secrets as to make Sully's hair stand on end. Thefaithful minister would pluck his master by the cloak at times, and theKing, with the adroitness which never forsook him when he chose to employit, would contrive to extricate himself from a dilemma and pause at thebrink of tremendous disclosures. --[Memoires de Sully, t. Vii. P. 324. ]--But Sully could not be always at his side, nor were the Nuncius orDon Inigo de Cardenas or their confidential agents and spies alwaysabsent. Enough was known of the general plan, while as to the probabilityof its coming into immediate execution, perhaps the enemies of the Kingwere often not more puzzled than his friends. 

But what the Spanish ambassador did not know, nor the Nuncius, nor eventhe friendly Aerssens, was the vast amount of supplies which had beenprepared for the coming conflict by the finance minister. Henry did notknow it himself. "The war will turn on France as on a pivot, " said Sully;"it remains to be seen if we have supplies and money enough. I willengage if the war is not to last more than three years and you require nomore than 40, 000 men at a time that I will show you munitions andammunition and artillery and the like to such an extent that you willsay, 'It is enough. '

"As to money--"

"How much money have I got?" asked the King; "a dozen millions?"

"A little more than that, " answered the Minister. 

"Fourteen millions?"

"More still. "

"Sixteen?" continued the King. 

"More yet, " said Sully. 

And so the King went on adding two millions at each question until thirtymillions were reached, and when the question as to this sum was likewiseanswered in the affirmative, he jumped from his chair, hugged hisminister around the neck, and kissed him on both cheeks. 

"I want no more than that, " he cried. 

Sully answered by assuring him that he had prepared a report showing areserve of forty millions on which he might draw for his war expenses, without in the least degree infringing on the regular budget for ordinaryexpenses. 

The King was in a transport of delight, and would have been capable oftelling the story on the spot to the Nuncius had he met him thatafternoon, which fortunately did not occur. 

But of all men in Europe after the faithful Sully, Henry most desired tosee and confer daily and secretly with Barneveld. He insisted vehementlythat, neglecting all other business, he should come forthwith to Paris atthe head of the special embassy which it had been agreed that the Statesshould send. No living statesman, he said, could compare to Holland'sAdvocate in sagacity, insight, breadth of view, knowledge of mankind andof great affairs, and none he knew was more sincerely attached to hisperson or felt more keenly the value of the French alliance. 

With him he indeed communicated almost daily through the medium ofAerssens, who was in constant receipt of most elaborate instructions fromBarneveld, but he wished to confer with him face to face, so that therewould be no necessity of delay in sending back for instructions, limitations, and explanation. No man knew better than the King did thatso far as foreign affairs were concerned the States-General were simplyBarneveld. 

On the 22nd January the States' ambassador had a long and secretinterview with the King. ' He informed him that the Prince of Anhalt hadbeen assured by Barneveld that the possessory princes would be fullysupported in their position by the States, and that the special deputiesof Archduke Albert, whose presence at the Hague made Henry uneasy, as heregarded them as perpetual spies, had been dismissed. Henry expressed hisgratification. They are there, he said, entirely in the interest ofLeopold, who has just received 500, 000 crowns from the King of Spain, andis to have that sum annually, and they are only sent to watch all yourproceedings in regard to Cleve. 

The King then fervently pressed the Ambassador to urge Barneveld's comingto Paris with the least possible delay. He signified his delight withBarneveld's answer to Anhalt, who thus fortified would be able to do goodservice at the assembly at Hall. He had expected nothing else fromBarneveld's sagacity, from his appreciation of the needs of Christendom, and from his affection for himself. He told the Ambassador that he wasanxiously waiting for the Advocate in order to consult with him as to allthe details of the war. The affair of Cleve, he said, was too special acause. A more universal one was wanted. The King preferred to begin withLuxemburg, attacking Charlemont or Namur, while the States ought at thesame time to besiege Venlo, with the intention afterwards of uniting withthe King in laying siege to Maestricht. 

He was strong enough, he said, against all the world, but he stillpreferred to invite all princes interested to join him in putting downthe ambitious and growing power of Spain. Cleve was a plausible pretext, but the true cause, he said, should be found in the general safety ofChristendom. 

Boississe had been sent to the German princes to ascertain whether and towhat extent they would assist the King. He supposed that once they foundhim engaged in actual warfare in Luxemburg, they would get rid of theirjealousy and panic fears of him and his designs. He expected them tofurnish at least as large a force as he would supply as a contingent. 

For it was understood that Anhalt as generalissimo of the German forceswould command a certain contingent of French troops, while the main armyof the King would be led by himself in person. 

Henry expressed the conviction that the King of Spain would be taken bysurprise finding himself attacked in three places and by three armies atonce, he believing that the King of France was entirely devoted to hispleasures and altogether too old for warlike pursuits, while the States, just emerging from the misery of their long and cruel conflict, would besurely unwilling to plunge headlong into a great and bloody war. 

Henry inferred this, he said, from observing the rude and brutal mannerin which the soldiers in the Spanish Netherlands were now treated. Itseemed, he said, as if the Archdukes thought they had no further need ofthem, or as if a stamp of the foot could raise new armies out of theearth. "My design, " continued the King, "is the more likely to succeed asthe King of Spain, being a mere gosling and a valet of the Duke of Lerma, will find himself stripped of all his resources and at his wits' end;unexpectedly embarrassed as he will be on the Italian side, where weshall be threatening to cut the jugular vein of his pretended universalmonarchy. "

He intimated that there was no great cause for anxiety in regard to theCatholic League just formed at Wurzburg. He doubted whether the King ofSpain would join it, and he had learned that the Elector of Cologne wasmaking very little progress in obtaining the Emperor's adhesion. As tothis point the King had probably not yet thoroughly understood that theBavarian League was intended to keep clear of the House of Habsburg, Maximilian not being willing to identify the success of GermanCatholicism with the fortunes of that family. 

Henry expressed the opinion that the King of Spain, that is to say, hiscounsellors, meant to make use of the Emperor's name while securing allthe profit, and that Rudolph quite understood their game, while Matthiaswas sure to make use of this opportunity, supported by the Protestants ofBohemia, Austria, and Moravia, to strip the Emperor of the last shred ofEmpire. 

The King was anxious that the States should send a special embassy atonce to the King of Great Britain. His ambassador, de la Boderie, gavelittle encouragement of assistance from that quarter, but it was at leastdesirable to secure his neutrality. "'Tis a prince too much devoted torepose, " said Henry, "to be likely to help in this war, but at least hemust not be allowed to traverse our great designs. He will probablyrefuse the league offensive and defensive which I have proposed to him, but he must be got, if possible, to pledge himself to the defensive. Imean to assemble my army on the frontier, as if to move upon Julich, andthen suddenly sweep down on the Meuse, where, sustained by the States'army and that of the princes, I will strike my blows and finish myenterprise before our adversary has got wind of what is coming. We mustembark James in the enterprise if we can, but at any rate we must takemeasures to prevent his spoiling it. "

Henry assured the Envoy that no one would know anything of the greatundertaking but by its effect; that no one could possibly talk about itwith any knowledge except himself, Sully, Villeroy, Barneveld, andAerssens. With them alone he conferred confidentially, and he doubted notthat the States would embrace this opportunity to have done for ever withthe Spaniards. He should take the field in person, he said, and withseveral powerful armies would sweep the enemy away from the Meuse, andafter obtaining control of that river would quietly take possession ofthe sea-coast of Flanders, shut up Archduke Albert between the States andthe French, who would thus join hands and unite their frontiers. 

Again the King expressed his anxiety for Barneveld's coming, and directedthe Ambassador to urge it, and to communicate to him the conversationwhich had just taken place. He much preferred, he said, a general war. Heexpressed doubts as to the Prince of Anhalt's capacity as chief in theCleve expedition, and confessed that being jealous of his own reputationhe did not like to commit his contingent of troops to the care of astranger and one so new to his trade. The shame would fall on himself, not on Anhalt in case of any disaster. Therefore, to avoid all pettyjealousies and inconveniences of that nature by which the enterprisemight be ruined, it was best to make out of this small affair a greatone, and the King signified his hope that the Advocate would take thisview of the case and give him his support. He had plenty of grounds ofwar himself, and the States had as good cause of hostilities in therupture of the truce by the usurpation attempted by Leopold with theassistance of Spain and in the name of the Emperor. He hoped, he said, that the States would receive no more deputations from Archduke Albert, but decide to settle everything at the point of the sword. The moment waspropitious, and, if neglected, might never return. Marquis Spinola wasabout to make a journey to Spain on various matters of business. On hisreturn, Henry said, he meant to make him prisoner as a hostage for thePrince of Conde, whom the Archdukes were harbouring and detaining. Thiswould be the pretext, he said, but the object would be to deprive theArchdukes of any military chief, and thus to throw them into utterconfusion. Count van den Berg would never submit to the authority of DonLuis de Velasco, nor Velasco to his, and not a man could come from Spainor Italy, for the passages would all be controlled by France. 

Fortunately for the King's reputation, Spinola's journey was deferred, sothat this notable plan for disposing of the great captain fell to theground. 

Henry agreed to leave the two French regiments and the two companies ofcavalry in the States' service as usual, but stipulated in certaincontingencies for their use. 

Passing to another matter concerning which there had been so muchjealousy on the part of the States, the formation of the French EastIndia Company--to organize which undertaking Le Roy and Isaac Le Maire ofAmsterdam had been living disguised in the house of Henry's famouscompanion, the financier Zamet at Paris--the King said that Barneveldought not to envy him a participation in the great profits of thisbusiness. 

Nothing would be done without consulting him after his arrival in Paris. He would discuss the matter privately with him, he said, knowing thatBarneveld was a great personage, but however obstinate he might be, hefelt sure that he would always yield to reason. On the other hand theKing expressed his willingness to submit to the Advocate's opinions ifthey should seem the more just. 

On leaving the King the Ambassador had an interview with Sully, who againexpressed his great anxiety for the arrival of Barneveld, and his hopesthat he might come with unlimited powers, so that the great secret mightnot leak out through constant referring of matters back to the Provinces. 

After rendering to the Advocate a detailed account of this remarkableconversation, Aerssens concluded with an intimation that perhaps his ownopinion might be desired as to the meaning of all those movementsdeveloping themselves so suddenly and on so many sides. 

"I will say, " he observed, "exactly what the poet sings of the army ofants--

 'Hi motus animorum atque haec certamina tanta Pulveris exigui jactu contacts quiescunt. '

If the Prince of Conde comes back, we shall be more plausible than ever. If he does not come back, perhaps the consideration of the future willsweep us onwards. All have their special views, and M. De Villeroy morewarmly than all the rest. "

 ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS:

 Abstinence from inquisition into consciences and private parlour Allowed the demon of religious hatred to enter into its body Behead, torture, burn alive, and bury alive all heretics Christian sympathy and a small assistance not being sufficient Contained within itself the germs of a larger liberty Could not be both judge and party in the suit Covered now with the satirical dust of centuries Deadly hatred of Puritans in England and Holland Doctrine of predestination in its sternest and strictest sense Emperor of Japan addressed him as his brother monarch Estimating his character and judging his judges Everybody should mind his own business He was a sincere bigot Impatience is often on the part of the non-combatants Intense bigotry of conviction International friendship, the self-interest of each It was the true religion, and there was none other James of England, who admired, envied, and hated Henry Jealousy, that potent principle Language which is ever living because it is dead More fiercely opposed to each other than to Papists None but God to compel me to say more than I choose to say Power the poison of which it is so difficult to resist Presents of considerable sums of money to the negotiators made Princes show what they have in them at twenty-five or never Putting the cart before the oxen Religious toleration, which is a phrase of insult Secure the prizes of war without the troubles and dangers Senectus edam maorbus est So much in advance of his time as to favor religious equality The Catholic League and the Protestant Union The truth in shortest about matters of importance The vehicle is often prized more than the freight There was but one king in Europe, Henry the Bearnese There was no use in holding language of authority to him Thirty Years' War tread on the heels of the forty years Unimaginable outrage as the most legitimate industry Wish to appear learned in matters of which they are ignorant

CHAPTER II. 1609-10

 Passion of Henry IV. For Margaret de Montmorency--Her Marriage with the Prince of Conde--Their Departure for the Country-Their Flight to the Netherlands-Rage of the King--Intrigues of Spain--Reception of the Prince and Princess of Conde by the Archdukes at Brussels-- Splendid Entertainments by Spinola--Attempts of the King to bring the Fugitives back--Mission of De Coeuvres to Brussels--Difficult Position of the Republic--Vast but secret Preparations for War. 

"If the Prince of Conde comes back. " What had the Prince of Conde, hiscomings and his goings, to do with this vast enterprise?

It is time to point to the golden thread of most fantastic passion whichruns throughout this dark and eventful history. 

One evening in the beginning of the year which had just come to its closethere was to be a splendid fancy ball at the Louvre in the course ofwhich several young ladies of highest rank were to perform a dance inmythological costume. 

The King, on ill terms with the Queen, who harassed him with scenes ofaffected jealousy, while engaged in permanent plots with her paramour andmaster, the Italian Concini, against his policy and his life; on stillworse terms with his latest mistress in chief, the Marquise de Verneuil, who hated him and revenged herself for enduring his caresses by makinghim the butt of her venomous wit, had taken the festivities of a court indudgeon where he possessed hosts of enemies and flatterers but scarcely asingle friend. 

He refused to attend any of the rehearsals of the ballet, but one day agroup of Diana and her nymphs passed him in the great gallery of thepalace. One of the nymphs as she went by turned and aimed her gildedjavelin at his heart. Henry looked and saw the most beautiful youngcreature, so he thought, that mortal eye had ever gazed upon, andaccording to his wont fell instantly over head and ears in love. He saidafterwards that he felt himself pierced to the heart and was ready tofaint away. 

The lady was just fifteen years of age. The King was turned offifty-five. The disparity of age seemed to make the royal passionridiculous. To Henry the situation seemed poetical and pathetic. Afterthis first interview he never missed a single rehearsal. In the intervalshe called perpetually for the services of the court poet Malherbe, whocertainly contrived to perpetrate in his behalf some of the mostdetestable verses that even he had ever composed. 

The nymph was Marguerite de Montmorency, daughter of the Constable ofFrance, and destined one day to become the mother of the great Conde, hero of Rocroy. There can be no doubt that she was exquisitely beautiful. Fair-haired, with a complexion of dazzling purity, large expressive eyes, delicate but commanding features, she had a singular fascination of lookand gesture, and a winning, almost childlike, simplicity of manner. Without feminine artifice or commonplace coquetry, she seemed to bewitchand subdue at a glance men of all ranks, ages, and pursuits; kings andcardinals, great generals, ambassadors and statesmen, as well as humblermortals whether Spanish, Italian, French, or Flemish. The Constable, anignorant man who, as the King averred, could neither write nor read, understood as well as more learned sages the manners and humours of thecourt. He had destined his daughter for the young and brilliantBassompierre, the most dazzling of all the cavaliers of the day. The twowere betrothed. 

But the love-stricken Henry, then confined to his bed with the gout, sentfor the chosen husband of the beautiful Margaret. 

"Bassompierre, my friend, " said the aged king, as the youthful loverknelt before him at the bedside, "I have become not in love, but mad, outof my senses, furious for Mademoiselle de Montmorency. If she should loveyou, I should hate you. If she should love me, you would hate me. 'Tisbetter that this should not be the cause of breaking up our goodintelligence, for I love you with affection and inclination. I amresolved to marry her to my nephew the Prince of Conde, and to keep hernear my family. She will be the consolation and support of my old ageinto which I am now about to enter. I shall give my nephew, who loves thechase a thousand times better than he does ladies, 100, 000 livres a year, and I wish no other favour from her than her affection without makingfurther pretensions. "

It was eight o'clock of a black winter's morning, and the tears as hespoke ran down the cheeks of the hero of Ivry and bedewed the face of thekneeling Bassompierre. 

The courtly lover sighed and--obeyed. He renounced the hand of thebeautiful Margaret, and came daily to play at dice with the King at hisbedside with one or two other companions. 

And every day the Duchess of Angouleme, sister of the Constable, broughther fair niece to visit and converse with the royal invalid. But for thedark and tragic clouds which were gradually closing around that eventfuland heroic existence there would be something almost comic in thespectacle of the sufferer making the palace and all France ring with thehowlings of his grotesque passion for a child of fifteen as he layhelpless and crippled with the gout. 

One day as the Duchess of Angouleme led her niece away from their morningvisit to the King, Margaret as she passed by Bassompierre shrugged hershoulders with a scornful glance. Stung by this expression of contempt, the lover who had renounced her sprang from the dice table, buried hisface in his hat, pretending that his nose was bleeding, and rushedfrantically from the palace. 

Two days long he spent in solitude, unable to eat, drink, or sleep, abandoned to despair and bewailing his wretched fate, and it was longbefore he could recover sufficient equanimity to face his lost Margaretand resume his place at the King's dicing table. When he made hisappearance, he was according to his own account so pale, changed, andemaciated that his friends could not recognise him. 

The marriage with Conde, first prince of the blood, took place early inthe spring. The bride received magnificent presents, and the husband apension of 100, 000 livres a year. The attentions of the King became soonoutrageous and the reigning scandal of the hour. Henry, discarding thegrey jacket and simple costume on which he was wont to pride himself, paraded himself about in perfumed ruffs and glittering doublet, anancient fop, very little heroic, and much ridiculed. The Princess mademerry with the antics of her royal adorer, while her vanity at least, ifnot her affection, was really touched, and there was one great round ofcourt festivities in her honour, at which the King and herself were everthe central figures. But Conde was not at all amused. Not liking the partassigned to him in the comedy thus skilfully arranged by his cousin king, never much enamoured of his bride, while highly appreciating the 100, 000livres of pension, he remonstrated violently with his wife, bitterlyreproached the King, and made himself generally offensive. "The Prince ishere, " wrote Henry to Sully, "and is playing the very devil. You would bein a rage and be ashamed of the things he says of me. But at last I amlosing patience, and am resolved to give him a bit of my mind. " He wrotein the same terms to Montmorency. The Constable, whose conduct throughoutthe affair was odious and pitiable, promised to do his best to induce thePrince, instead of playing the devil, to listen to reason, as he and theDuchess of Angouleme understood reason. 

Henry had even the ineffable folly to appeal to the Queen to use herinfluence with the refractory Conde. Mary de' Medici replied that therewere already thirty go-betweens at work, and she had no idea of being thethirty-first--[Henrard, 30]. 

Conde, surrounded by a conspiracy against his honour and happiness, suddenly carried off his wife to the country, much to the amazement andrage of Henry. 

In the autumn he entertained a hunting party at a seat of his, the Abbeyof Verneuille, on the borders of Picardy. De Traigny, governor of Amiens, invited the Prince, Princess, and the Dowager-Princess to a banquet athis chateau not far from the Abbey. On their road thither they passed agroup of huntsmen and grooms in the royal livery. Among them was an agedlackey with a plaister over one eye, holding a couple of hounds in leash. The Princess recognized at a glance under that ridiculous disguise theKing. 

"What a madman!" she murmured as she passed him, "I will never forgiveyou;" but as she confessed many years afterwards, this act of gallantlydid not displease her. '

In truth, even in mythological fable, Trove has scarcely ever reduceddemi-god or hero to more fantastic plight than was this travesty of thegreat Henry. After dinner Madame de Traigny led her fair guest about thecastle to show her the various points of view. At one window she paused, saying that it commanded a particularly fine prospect. 

The Princess looked from it across a courtyard, and saw at an oppositewindow an old gentleman holding his left hand tightly upon his heart toshow that it was wounded, and blowing kisses to her with the other: "MyGod! it is the King himself, " she cried to her hostess. The princess withthis exclamation rushed from the window, feeling or affecting muchindignation, ordered horses to her carriage instantly, and overwhelmedMadame de Traigny with reproaches. The King himself, hastening to thescene, was received with passionate invectives, and in vain attempted toassuage the Princess's wrath and induce her to remain. 

They left the chateau at once, both Prince and Princess. 

One night, not many weeks afterwards, the Due de Sully, in the Arsenal atParis, had just got into bed at past eleven o'clock when he received avisit from Captain de Praslin, who walked straight into his bed-chamber, informing him that the King instantly required his presence. 

Sully remonstrated. He was obliged to rise at three the next morning, hesaid, enumerating pressing and most important work which Henry requiredto be completed with all possible haste. "The King said you would be veryangry, " replied Praslin; "but there is no help for it. Come you must, forthe man you know of has gone out of the country, as you said he would, and has carried away the lady on the crupper behind him. "

"Ho, ho, " said the Duke, "I am wanted for that affair, am I?" And the twoproceeded straightway to the Louvre, and were ushered, of all apartmentsin the world, into the Queen's bedchamber. Mary de' Medici had givenbirth only four days before to an infant, Henrietta Maria, future queenof Charles I. Of England. The room was crowded with ministers andcourtiers; Villeroy, the Chancellor, Bassompierre, and others, beingstuck against the wall at small intervals like statues, dumb, motionless, scarcely daring to breathe. The King, with his hands behind him and hisgrey beard sunk on his breast, was pacing up and down the room in aparoxysm of rage and despair. 

"Well, " said he, turning to Sully as he entered, "our man has gone offand carried everything with him. What do you say to that?"

The Duke beyond the boding "I told you so" phrase of consolation which hewas entitled to use, having repeatedly warned his sovereign thatprecisely this catastrophe was impending, declined that night to offeradvice. He insisted on sleeping on it. The manner in which theproceedings of the King at this juncture would be regarded by theArchdukes Albert and Isabella--for there could be no doubt that Conde hadescaped to their territory--and by the King of Spain, in complicity withwhom the step had unquestionably been taken--was of gravest politicalimportance. 

Henry had heard the intelligence but an hour before. He was at cards inhis cabinet with Bassompierre and others when d'Elbene entered and made aprivate communication to him. "Bassompierre, my friend, " whispered theKing immediately in that courtier's ear, "I am lost. This man has carriedhis wife off into a wood. I don't know if it is to kill her or to takeher out of France. Take care of my money and keep up the game. "

Bassompierre followed the king shortly afterwards and brought him hismoney. He said that he had never seen a man so desperate, so transported. 

The matter was indeed one of deepest and universal import. The reader hasseen by the preceding narrative how absurd is the legend often believedin even to our own days that war was made by France upon the Archdukesand upon Spain to recover the Princess of Conde from captivity inBrussels. 

From contemporary sources both printed and unpublished; from mostconfidential conversations and revelations, we have seen how broad, deliberate, and deeply considered were the warlike and politicalcombinations in the King's ever restless brain. But although theabduction of the new Helen by her own Menelaus was not the cause of theimpending, Iliad, there is no doubt whatever that the incident had muchto do with the crisis, was the turning point in a great tragedy, and thatbut for the vehement passion of the King for this youthful princessevents might have developed themselves on a far different scale from thatwhich they were destined to assume. For this reason a court intrigue, which history under other conditions might justly disdain, assumes vastproportions and is taken quite away from the scandalous chronicle whichrarely busies itself with grave affairs of state. 

"The flight of Conde, " wrote Aerssens, "is the catastrophe to the comedywhich has been long enacting. 'Tis to be hoped that the sequel may notprove tragical. "

"The Prince, " for simply by that title he was usually called todistinguish him from all other princes in France, was next of blood. HadHenry no sons, he would have succeeded him on the throne. It was afavourite scheme of the Spanish party to invalidate Henry's divorce fromMargaret of Valois, and thus to cast doubts on the legitimacy of theDauphin and the other children of Mary de' Medici. 

The Prince in the hands of the Spanish government might prove a docileand most dangerous instrument to the internal repose of France not onlyafter Henry's death but in his life-time. Conde's character wasfrivolous, unstable, excitable, weak, easy to be played upon by designingpoliticians, and he had now the deepest cause for anger and for indulgingin ambitious dreams. 

He had been wont during this unhappy first year of his marriage to loudlyaccuse Henry of tyranny, and was now likely by public declaration toassign that as the motive of his flight. Henry had protested in replythat he had never been guilty of tyranny but once in his life, and thatwas when he allowed this youth to take the name and title of Conde?

For the Princess-Dowager his mother had lain for years in prison, underthe terrible accusation of having murdered her husband, in complicitywith her paramour, a Gascon page, named Belcastel. The present prince hadbeen born several months after his reputed father's death. Henry, out ofgood nature, or perhaps for less creditable reasons, had come to therescue of the accused princess, and had caused the process to be stopped, further enquiry to be quashed, and the son to be recognized as legitimatePrince of Conde. The Dowager had subsequently done her best to furtherthe King's suit to her son's wife, for which the Prince bitterlyreproached her to her face, heaping on her epithets which she welldeserved. 

Henry at once began to threaten a revival of the criminal suit, with aview of bastardizing him again, although the Dowager had acted on alloccasions with great docility in Henry's interests. 

The flight of the Prince and Princess was thus not only an incident ofgreat importance to the internal politics of trance, but had a direct andimportant bearing on the impending hostilities. Its intimate connectionwith the affairs of the Netherland commonwealth was obvious. It wasprobable that the fugitives would make their way towards the Archdukes'territory, and that afterwards their first point of destination would beBreda, of which Philip William of Orange, eldest brother of PrinceMaurice, was the titular proprietor. Since the truce recently concludedthe brothers, divided so entirely by politics and religion, could meet onfraternal and friendly terms, and Breda, although a city of theCommonwealth, received its feudal lord. The Princess of Orange was thesister of Conde. The morning after the flight the King, before daybreak, sent for the Dutch ambassador. He directed him to despatch a courierforthwith to Barneveld, notifying him that the Prince had left thekingdom without the permission or knowledge of his sovereign, and statingthe King's belief that he had fled to the territory of the Archdukes. Ifhe should come to Breda or to any other place within the jurisdiction ofthe States, they were requested to make sure of his person at once, andnot to permit him to retire until further instructions should be receivedfrom the King. De Praslin, captain of the body-guards and lieutenant ofChampagne, it was further mentioned, was to be sent immediately on secretmission concerning this affair to the States and to the Archdukes. 

The King suspected Conde of crime, so the Advocate was to be informed. Hebelieved him to be implicated in the conspiracy of Poitou; the six whohad been taken prisoners having confessed that they had thrice conferredwith a prince at Paris, and that the motive of the plot was to freethemselves and France from the tyranny of Henry IV. The King insistedperemptorily, despite of any objections from Aerssens, that the thingmust be done and his instructions carried out to the letter. So much heexpected of the States, and they should care no more for ulteriorconsequences, he said, than he had done for the wrath of Spain when hefrankly undertook their cause. Conde was important only because hisrelative, and he declared that if the Prince should escape, having onceentered the territory of the Republic, he should lay the blame on itsgovernment. 

"If you proceed languidly in the affair, " wrote Aerssens to Barneveld, "our affairs will suffer for ever. "

Nobody at court believed in the Poitou conspiracy, or that Conde had anyknowledge of it. The reason of his flight was a mystery to none, but asit was immediately followed by an intrigue with Spain, it seemedingenious to Henry to make, use of a transparent pretext to conceal theugliness of the whole affair. 

He hoped that the Prince would be arrested at Breda and sent back by theStates. Villeroy said that if it was not done, they would be guilty ofblack ingratitude. It would be an awkward undertaking, however, and theStates devoutly prayed that they might not be put to the test. The craftyAerssens suggested to Barneveld that if Conde was not within theirterritory it would be well to assure the King that, had he been there, hewould have been delivered up at once. "By this means, " said theAmbassador, "you will give no cause of offence to the Prince, and will atthe same time satisfy the King. It is important that he should think thatyou depend immediately upon him. If you see that after his arrest theytake severe measures against him, you will have a thousand ways ofparrying the blame which posterity might throw upon you. History teachesyou plenty of them. "

He added that neither Sully nor anyone else thought much of the Poitouconspiracy. Those implicated asserted that they had intended to raisetroops there to assist the King in the Cleve expedition. Some people saidthat Henry had invented this plot against his throne and life. TheAmbassador, in a spirit of prophecy, quoted the saying of Domitian:"Misera conditio imperantium quibus de conspiratione non creditor nisioccisis. "

Meantime the fugitives continued their journey. The Prince wasaccompanied by one of his dependants, a rude officer, de Rochefort, whocarried the Princess on a pillion behind him. She had with her alady-in-waiting named du Certeau and a lady's maid named Philippote. Shehad no clothes but those on her back, not even a change of linen. Thusthe young and delicate lady made the wintry journey through the forests. They crossed the frontier at Landrecies, then in the Spanish Netherlands, intending to traverse the Archduke's territory in order to reach Breda, where Conde meant to leave his wife in charge of his sister, the Princessof Orange, and then to proceed to Brussels. 

He wrote from the little inn at Landrecies to notify the Archduke of hisproject. He was subsequently informed that Albert would not prevent hispassing through his territories, but should object to his making a fixedresidence within them. The Prince also wrote subsequently to the King ofSpain and to the King of France. 

To Henry he expressed his great regret at being obliged to leave thekingdom in order to save his honour and his life, but that he had nointention of being anything else than his very humble and faithfulcousin, subject, and servant. He would do nothing against his service, hesaid, unless forced thereto, and he begged the King not to take it amissif he refused to receive letters from any one whomsoever at court, savingonly such letters as his Majesty himself might honour him by writing. 

The result of this communication to the King was of course to enrage thatmonarch to the utmost, and his first impulse on finding that the Princewas out of his reach was to march to Brussels at once and take possessionof him and the Princess by main force. More moderate counsels prevailedfor the moment however, and negotiations were attempted. 

Praslin did not contrive to intercept the fugitives, but theStates-General, under the advice of Barneveld, absolutely forbade theircoming to Breda or entering any part of their jurisdiction. The result ofConde's application to the King of Spain was an ultimate offer ofassistance and asylum, through a special emissary, one Anover; for thepoliticians of Madrid were astute enough to see what a card the Princemight prove in their hands. 

Henry instructed his ambassador in Spain to use strong and threateninglanguage in regard to the harbouring a rebel and a conspirator againstthe throne of France; while on the other hand he expressed hissatisfaction with the States for having prohibited the Prince fromentering their territory. He would have preferred, he said, if they hadallowed him entrance and forbidden his departure, but on the whole he wascontent. It was thought in Paris that the Netherland government had actedwith much adroitness in thus abstaining both from a violation of the lawof nations and from giving offence to the King. 

A valet of Conde was taken with some papers of the Prince about him, which proved a determination on his part never to return to France duringthe lifetime of Henry. They made no statement of the cause of his flight, except to intimate that it might be left to the judgment of every one, asit was unfortunately but too well known to all. 

Refused entrance into the Dutch territory, the Prince was obliged torenounce his project in regard to Breda, and brought his wife toBrussels. He gave Bentivoglio, the Papal nuncio, two letters to forwardto Italy, one to the Pope, the other to his nephew, Cardinal Borghese. Encouraged by the advices which he had received from Spain, he justifiedhis flight from France both by the danger to his honour and to his life, recommending both to the protection of his Holiness and his Eminence. Bentivoglio sent the letters, but while admitting the invincible reasonsfor his departure growing out of the King's pursuit of the Princess, herefused all credence to the pretended violence against Conde himself. Conde informed de Praslin that he would not consent to return to France. Subsequently he imposed as conditions of return that the King shouldassign to him certain cities and strongholds in Guienne, of whichprovince he was governor, far from Paris and very near the Spanishfrontier; a measure dictated by Spain and which inflamed Henry's wrathalmost to madness. The King insisted on his instant return, placinghimself and of course the Princess entirely in his hands and receiving afull pardon for this effort to save his honour. The Prince and Princessof Orange came from Breda to Brussels to visit their brother and hiswife. Here they established them in the Palace of Nassau, once theresidence in his brilliant youth of William the Silent; a magnificentmansion, surrounded by park and garden, built on the brow of the almostprecipitous hill, beneath which is spread out so picturesquely theantique and beautiful capital of Brabant. 

The Archdukes received them with stately courtesy at their own palace. Ontheir first ceremonious visit to the sovereigns of the land, the formalArchduke, coldest and chastest of mankind, scarcely lifted his eyes togaze on the wondrous beauty of the Princess, yet assured her after he hadled her through a portrait gallery of fair women that formerly these hadbeen accounted beauties, but that henceforth it was impossible to speakof any beauty but her own. 

The great Spinola fell in love with her at once, sent for the illustriousRubens from Antwerp to paint her portrait, and offered Mademoiselle deChateau Vert 10, 000 crowns in gold if she would do her best to furtherhis suit with her mistress. The Genoese banker-soldier made love, war, and finance on a grand scale. He gave a magnificent banquet and ball inher honour on Twelfth Night, and the festival was the wonder of the town. Nothing like it had been seen in Brussels for years. At six in theevening Spinola in splendid costume, accompanied by Don Luis Velasco, Count Ottavio Visconti, Count Bucquoy, with other nobles of lesser note, drove to the Nassau Palace to bring the Prince and Princess and theirsuite to the Marquis's mansion. Here a guard of honour of thirtymusketeers was standing before the door, and they were conducted fromtheir coaches by Spinola preceded by twenty-four torch-bearers up thegrand staircase to a hall, where they were received by the Princesses ofMansfeld, Velasco, and other distinguished dames. Thence they were ledthrough several apartments rich with tapestry and blazing with crystaland silver plate to a splendid saloon where was a silken canopy, underwhich the Princess of Conde and the Princess of Orange seated themselves, the Nuncius Bentivoglio to his delight being placed next the beautifulMargaret. After reposing for a little while they were led to theball-room, brilliantly lighted with innumerable torches of perfumed waxand hung with tapestry of gold and silk, representing in fourteenembroidered designs the chief military exploits of Spinola. Here thebanquet, a cold collation, was already spread on a table decked andlighted with regal splendour. As soon as the guests were seated, anadmirable concert of instrumental music began. Spinola walked up and downproviding for the comforts of his company, the Duke of Aumale stoodbehind the two princesses to entertain them with conversation, Don LuisVelasco served the Princess of Conde with plates, handed her the dishes, the wine, the napkins, while Bucquoy and Visconti in like manner waitedupon the Princess of Orange; other nobles attending to the other ladies. Forty-eight pages in white, yellow, and red scarves brought and removedthe dishes. The dinner, of courses innumerable, lasted two hours and ahalf, and the ladies, being thus fortified for the more serious businessof the evening, were led to the tiring-rooms while the hall was madeready for dancing. The ball was opened by the Princess of Conde andSpinola, and lasted until two in the morning. As the apartment grew warm, two of the pages went about with long staves and broke all the windowsuntil not a single pane of glass remained. The festival was estimated bythe thrifty chronicler of Antwerp to have cost from 3000 to 4000 crowns. It was, he says, "an earthly paradise of which soon not a vapourremained. " He added that he gave a detailed account of it "not because hetook pleasure in such voluptuous pomp and extravagance, but that onemight thus learn the vanity of the world. " These courtesies andassiduities on the part of the great "shopkeeper, " as the Constablecalled him, had so much effect, if not on the Princess, at least on Condehimself, that he threatened to throw his wife out of window if sherefused to caress Spinola. These and similar accusations were made by thefather and aunt when attempting to bring about a divorce of the Princessfrom her husband. The Nuncius Bentivoglio, too, fell in love with her, devoting himself to her service, and his facile and eloquent pen tochronicling her story. Even poor little Philip of Spain in the depths ofthe Escurial heard of her charms, and tried to imagine himself in lovewith her by proxy. 

Thenceforth there was a succession of brilliant festivals in honour ofthe Princess. The Spanish party was radiant with triumph, the Frenchmaddened with rage. Henry in Paris was chafing like a lion at bay. Apetty sovereign whom he could crush at one vigorous bound was protectingthe lady for whose love he was dying. He had secured Conde's exclusionfrom Holland, but here were the fugitives splendidly established inBrussels; the Princess surrounded by most formidable suitors, the Princeencouraged in his rebellious and dangerous schemes by the power which theKing most hated on earth, and whose eternal downfall he had long sincesworn to accomplish. 

For the weak and frivolous Conde began to prattle publicly of his deepprojects of revenge. Aided by Spanish money and Spanish troops he wouldshow one day who was the real heir to the throne of France--theillegitimately born Dauphin or himself. 

The King sent for the first president of Parliament, Harlay, andconsulted with him as to the proper means of reviving the suppressedprocess against the Dowager and of publicly degrading Conde from hisposition of first prince of the blood which he had been permitted tousurp. He likewise procured a decree accusing him of high-treason andordering him to be punished at his Majesty's pleasure, to be prepared bythe Parliament of Paris; going down to the court himself in hisimpatience and seating himself in everyday costume on the bench of judgesto see that it was immediately proclaimed. 

Instead of at once attacking the Archdukes in force as he intendedin the first ebullition of his wrath, he resolved to sendde Boutteville-Montmorency, a relative of the Constable, on special andurgent mission to Brussels. He was to propose that Conde and his wifeshould return with the Prince and Princess of Orange to Breda, the Kingpledging himself that for three or four months nothing should beundertaken against him. Here was a sudden change of determination fit tosurprise the States-General, but the King's resolution veered and whirledabout hourly in the tempests of his wrath and love. 

That excellent old couple, the Constable and the Duchess of Angouleme, did their best to assist their sovereign in his fierce attempts to gettheir daughter and niece into his power. 

The Constable procured a piteous letter to be written to Archduke Albert, signed "Montmorency his mark, " imploring him not to "suffer that hisdaughter, since the Prince refused to return to France, should leaveBrussels to be a wanderer about the world following a young prince whohad no fixed purpose in his mind. "

Archduke Albert, through his ambassador in Paris, Peter Pecquius, suggested the possibility of a reconciliation between Henry and hiskinsman, and offered himself as intermediary. He enquired whether theKing would find it agreeable that he should ask for pardon in name of thePrince. Henry replied that he was willing that the Archduke should accordto Conde secure residence for the time within his dominions on threeinexorable conditions:--firstly, that the Prince should ask for pardonwithout any stipulations, the King refusing to listen to any treaty or toassign him towns or places of security as had been vaguely suggested, andholding it utterly unreasonable that a man sueing for pardon should, instead of deserved punishment, talk of terms and acquisitions; secondly, that, if Conde should reject the proposition, Albert should immediatelyturn him out of his country, showing himself justly irritated at findinghis advice disregarded; thirdly, that, sending away the Prince, theArchduke should forthwith restore the Princess to her father theConstable and her aunt Angouleme, who had already made their petitions toAlbert and Isabella for that end, to which the King now added his ownmost particular prayers. 

If the Archduke should refuse consent to these three conditions, Henrybegged that he would abstain from any farther attempt to effect areconciliation and not suffer Conde to remain any longer within histerritories. 

Pecquius replied that he thought his master might agree to the two firstpropositions while demurring to the third, as it would probably not seemhonourable to him to separate man and wife, and as it was doubtfulwhether the Princess would return of her own accord. 

The King, in reporting the substance of this conversation to Aerssens, intimated his conviction that they were only wishing in Brussels to gaintime; that they were waiting for letters from Spain, which they wereexpecting ever since the return of Conde's secretary from Milan, whitherhe had been sent to confer with the Governor, Count Fuentes. He saidfarther that he doubted whether the Princess would go to Breda, which heshould now like, but which Conde would not now permit. This he imputed inpart to the Princess of Orange, who had written a letter full ofinvectives against himself to the Dowager--Princess of Conde which shehad at once sent to him. Henry expressed at the same time his greatsatisfaction with the States-General and with Barneveld in this affair, repeating his assurances that they were the truest and best friends hehad. 

The news of Conde's ceremonious visit to Leopold in Julich could not failto exasperate the King almost as much as the pompous manner in which hewas subsequently received at Brussels; Spinola and the Spanish Ambassadorgoing forth to meet him. At the same moment the secretary of Vaucelles, Henry's ambassador in Madrid, arrived in Paris, confirming the King'ssuspicions that Conde's flight had been concerted with Don Inigo deCardenas, and was part of a general plot of Spain against the peace ofthe kingdom. The Duc d'Epernon, one of the most dangerous plotters at thecourt, and deep in the intimacy of the Queen and of all the secretadherents of the Spanish policy, had been sojourning a long time at Metz, under pretence of attending to his health, had sent his children toSpain, as hostages according to Henry's belief, had made himself masterof the citadel, and was turning a deaf ear to all the commands of theKing. 

The supporters of Conde in France were openly changing their note andproclaiming by the Prince's command that he had left the kingdom in orderto preserve his quality of first prince of the blood, and that he meantto make good his right of primogeniture against the Dauphin and allcompetitors. 

Such bold language and such open reliance on the support of Spain indisputing the primogeniture of the Dauphin were fast driving the mostpacifically inclined in France into enthusiasm for the war. 

The States, too, saw their opportunity more vividly every day. "Whatcould we desire more, " wrote Aerssens to Barneveld, "than open warbetween France and Spain? Posterity will for ever blame us if we rejectthis great occasion. "

Peter Pecquius, smoothest and sliest of diplomatists, did his best tomake things comfortable, for there could be little doubt that his mastersmost sincerely deprecated war. On their heads would come the first blows, to their provinces would return the great desolation out of which theyhad hardly emerged. Still the Archduke, while racking his brains for themeans of accommodation, refused, to his honour, to wink at any violationof the law of nations, gave a secret promise, in which the Infantajoined, that the Princess should not be allowed to leave Brussels withouther husband's permission, and resolutely declined separating the pairexcept with the full consent of both. In order to protect himself fromthe King's threats, he suggested sending Conde to some neutral place forsix or eight months, to Prague, to Breda, or anywhere else; but Henryknew that Conde would never allow this unless he had the means by Spanishgold of bribing the garrison there, and so of holding the place inpretended neutrality, but in reality at the devotion of the King ofSpain. 

Meantime Henry had despatched the Marquis de Coeuvres, brother of thebeautiful Gabrielle, Duchess de Beaufort, and one of the most audaciousand unscrupulous of courtiers, on a special mission to Brussels. DeCoeuvres saw Conde before presenting his credentials to the Archduke, andfound him quite impracticable. Acting under the advice of the Prince ofOrange, he expressed his willingness to retire to some neutral city ofGermany or Italy, drawing meanwhile from Henry a pension of 40, 000 crownsa year. But de Coeuvres firmly replied that the King would make no termswith his vassal nor allow Conde to prescribe conditions to him. To leavehim in Germany or Italy, he said, was to leave him in the dependence ofSpain. The King would not have this constant apprehension of herintrigues while, living, nor leave such matter in dying for turbulence inhis kingdom. If it appeared that the Spaniards wished to make use of thePrince for such purposes, he would be beforehand with them, and show themhow much more injury he could inflict on Spain than they on France. Obviously committed to Spain, Conde replied to the entreaties of theemissary that if the King would give him half his kingdom he would notaccept the offer nor return to France; at least before the 8th ofFebruary, by which date he expected advices from Spain. He had given hisword, he said, to lend his ear to no overtures before that time. He madeuse of many threats, and swore that he would throw himself entirely intothe arms of the Spanish king if Henry would not accord him the termswhich he had proposed. 

To do this was an impossibility. To grant him places of security would, as the King said, be to plant a standard for all the malcontents ofFrance to rally around. Conde had evidently renounced all hopes of areconciliation, however painfully his host the Archduke might intercedefor it. He meant to go to Spain. Spinola was urging this daily andhourly, said Henry, for he had fallen in love with the Princess, whocomplained of all these persecutions in her letters to her father, andsaid that she would rather die than go to Spain. 

The King's advices from de Coeuvres were however to the effect that thestep would probably be taken, that the arrangements were making, and thatSpinola had been shut up with Conde six hours long with nobody presentbut Rochefort and a certain counsellor of the Prince of Orange namedKeeremans. 

Henry was taking measures to intercept them on their flight by land, butthere was some thought of their proceeding to Spain by sea. He thereforerequested the States to send two ships of war, swift sailors, wellequipped, one to watch in the roads of St. Jean and the other on theEnglish coast. These ships were to receive their instructions fromAdmiral de Vicq, who would be well informed of all the movements of thePrince and give warning to the captains of the Dutch vessels by apreconcerted signal. The King begged that Barneveld would do him thisfavour, if he loved him, and that none might have knowledge of it but theAdvocate and Prince Maurice. The ships would be required for two or threemonths only, but should be equipped and sent forth as soon as possible. 

The States had no objection to performing this service, although itsubsequently proved to be unnecessary, and they were quite ready at thatmoment to go openly into the war to settle the affairs of Clove, and oncefor all to drive the Spaniards out of the Netherlands and beyond seas andmountains. Yet strange to say, those most conversant with the state ofaffairs could not yet quite persuade themselves that matters wereserious, and that the King's mind was fixed. Should Conde return, renounce his Spanish stratagems, and bring back the Princess to court, itwas felt by the King's best and most confidential friends that all mightgrow languid again, the Spanish faction get the upper hand in the King'scouncils, and the States find themselves in a terrible embarrassment. 

On the other hand, the most prying and adroit of politicians were puzzledto read the signs of the times. Despite Henry's garrulity, or perhaps inconsequence of it, the envoys of Spain, the Empire, and of ArchdukeAlbert were ignorant whether peace were likely to be broken or not, inspite of rumours which filled the air. So well had the secrets been keptwhich the reader has seen discussed in confidential conversations--therecord of which has always remained unpublished--between the King andthose admitted to his intimacy that very late in the winter Pecquius, while sadly admitting to his masters that the King was likely to takepart against the Emperor in the affair of the duchies, expressed thedecided opinion that it would be limited to the secret sending of succourto Brandenburg and Neuburg as formerly to the United Provinces, but thathe would never send troops into Cleve, or march thither himself. 

It is important, therefore, to follow closely the development of thesepolitical and amorous intrigues, for they furnish one of the most curiousand instructive lessons of history; there being not the slightest doubtthat upon their issue chiefly depended the question of a great andgeneral war. 

Pecquius, not yet despairing that his master would effect areconciliation between the King and Conde, proposed again that the Princeshould be permitted to reside for a time in some place not within thejurisdiction of Spain or of the Archdukes, being allowed meantime to drawhis annual pension of 100, 000 livres. Henry ridiculed the idea of Conde'sdrawing money from him while occupying his time abroad with intriguesagainst his throne and his children's succession. He scoffed at theEnvoy's pretences that Conde was not in receipt of money from Spain, asif a man so needy and in so embarrassing a position could live withoutmoney from some source; and as if he were not aware, from hiscorrespondents in Spain, that funds were both promised and furnished tothe Prince. 

He repeated his determination not to accord him pardon unless he returnedto France, which he had no cause to leave, and, turning suddenly onPecquius, demanded why, the subject of reconciliation having failed, theArchduke did not immediately fulfil his promise of turning Conde out ofhis dominions. 

Upon this Albert's minister drew back with the air of one amazed, askinghow and when the Archduke had ever made such a promise. 

"To the Marquis de Coeuvres, " replied Henry. 

Pecquius asked if his ears had not deceived him, and if the King hadreally said that de Coeuvres had made such a statement. 

Henry repeated and confirmed the story. 

Upon the Minister's reply that he had himself received no suchintelligence from the Archduke, the King suddenly changed his tone, andsaid, "No, I was mistaken--I was confused--the Marquis never wrote me this; butdid you not say yourself that I might be assured that there would be nodifficulty about it if the Prince remained obstinate. "

Pecquius replied that he had made such a proposition to his masters byhis Majesty's request; but there had been no answer received, nor timefor one, as the hope of reconciliation had not yet been renounced. Hebegged Henry to consider whether, without instructions from his master, he could have thus engaged his word. 

"Well, " said the King, "since you disavow it, I see very well that theArchduke has no wish to give me pleasure, and that these are nothing buttricks that you have been amusing me with all this time. Very good; eachof us will know what we have to do. "

Pecquius considered that the King had tried to get him into a net, and toentrap him into the avowal of a promise which he had never made. Henryremained obstinate in his assertions, notwithstanding all the envoy'sprotestations. 

"A fine trick, indeed, and unworthy of a king, 'Si dicere fas est, '" hewrote to Secretary of State Praets. "But the force of truth is such thathe who spreads the snare always tumbles into the ditch himself. "

Henry concluded the subject of Conde at this interview by saying that hecould have his pardon on the conditions already named, and not otherwise. 

He also made some complaints about Archduke Leopold, who, he said, notwithstanding his demonstrations of wishing a treaty of compromise, wastaking towns by surprise which he could not hold, and was getting histroops massacred on credit. 

Pecquius expressed the opinion that it would be better to leave theGermans to make their own arrangements among themselves, adding thatneither his masters nor the King of Spain meant to mix themselves up inthe matter. 

"Let them mix themselves in it or keep out of it, as they like, " saidHenry, "I shall not fail to mix myself up in it. "

The King was marvellously out of humour. 

Before finishing the interview, he asked Pecquius whether Marquis Spinolawas going to Spain very soon, as he had permission from his Majesty to doso, and as he had information that he would be on the road early in Lent. The Minister replied that this would depend on the will of the Archduke, and upon various circumstances. The answer seemed to displease the King, and Pecquius was puzzled to know why. He was not aware, of course, ofHenry's project to kidnap the Marquis on the road, and keep him as asurety for Conde. 

The Envoy saw Villeroy after the audience, who told him not to mind theKing's ill-temper, but to bear it as patiently as he could. His Majestycould not digest, he said, his infinite displeasure at the obstinacy ofthe Prince; but they must nevertheless strive for a reconciliation. TheKing was quick in words, but slow in deeds, as the Ambassador might haveobserved before, and they must all try to maintain peace, to which hewould himself lend his best efforts. 

As the Secretary of State was thoroughly aware that the King was makingvast preparations for war, and had given in his own adhesion to theproject, it is refreshing to observe the candour with which he assuredthe representative of the adverse party of his determination thatfriendliest relations should be preserved. 

It is still more refreshing to find Villeroy, the same afternoon, warmlyuniting with Sully, Lesdiguieres, and the Chancellor, in the decisionthat war should begin forthwith. 

For the King held a council at the Arsenal immediately after thisinterview with Pecquius, in which he had become convinced that Condewould never return. He took the Queen with him, and there was not adissentient voice as to the necessity of beginning hostilities at once. 

Sully, however, was alone in urging that the main force of the attackshould be in the north, upon the Rhine and Meuse. Villeroy and those whowere secretly in the Spanish interest were for beginning it with thesouthern combination and against Milan. Sully believed the Duke of Savoyto be variable and attached in his heart to Spain, and he thought itcontrary to the interests of France to permit an Italian prince to growso great on her frontier. He therefore thoroughly disapproved the plan, and explained to the Dutch ambassador that all this urgency to carry onthe war in the south came from hatred to the United Provinces, jealousyof their aggrandizement, detestation of the Reformed religion, and hopeto engage Henry in a campaign which he could not carry on successfully. But he assured Aerssens that he had the means of counteracting thesedesigns and of bringing on an invasion for obtaining possession of theMeuse. If the possessory princes found Henry making war in the Milaneseonly, they would feel themselves ruined, and might throw up the game. Hebegged that Barneveld would come on to Paris at once, as now or never wasthe moment to assure the Republic for all time. 

The King had acted with malicious adroitness in turning the tables uponthe Prince and treating him as a rebel and a traitor because, to save hisown and his wife's honour, he had fled from a kingdom where he had buttoo good reason to suppose that neither was safe. The Prince, withinfinite want of tact, had played into the King's hands. He had braggedof his connection with Spain and of his deep designs, and had shown toall the world that he was thenceforth but an instrument in the hands ofthe Spanish cabinet, while all the world knew the single reason for whichhe had fled. 

The King, hopeless now of compelling the return of Conde, had become mostanxious to separate him from his wife. Already the subject of divorcebetween the two had been broached, and it being obvious that the Princewould immediately betake himself into the Spanish dominions, the King wasdetermined that the Princess should not follow him thither. 

He had the incredible effrontery and folly to request the Queen toaddress a letter to her at Brussels, urging her to return to France. ButMary de' Medici assured her husband that she had no intention of becominghis assistant, using, to express her thought, the plainest and mostvigorous word that the Italian language could supply. Henry had thenrecourse once more to the father and aunt. 

That venerable couple being about to wait upon the Archduke's envoy, incompliance with the royal request, Pecquius, out of respect to theiradvanced age, went to the Constable's residence. Here both the Duchessand Constable, with tears in their eyes, besought that diplomatist to dohis utmost to prevent the Princess from the sad fate of any longersharing her husband's fortunes. 

The father protested that he would never have consented to her marriage, preferring infinitely that she should have espoused any honest gentlemanwith 2000 crowns a year than this first prince of the blood, with acharacter such as it had proved to be; but that he had not dared todisobey the King. 

He spoke of the indignities and cruelties to which she was subjected, said that Rochefort, whom Conde had employed to assist him in theirflight from France, and on the crupper of whose horse the Princess hadperformed the journey, was constantly guilty of acts of rudeness andincivility towards her; that but a few days past he had fired off pistolsin her apartment where she was sitting alone with the Princess of Orange, exclaiming that this was the way he would treat anyone who interferedwith the commands of his master, Conde; that the Prince was incessantlyrailing at her for refusing to caress the Marquis of Spinola; and that, in short, he would rather she were safe in the palace of the ArchduchessIsabella, even in the humblest position among her gentlewomen, than toknow her vagabondizing miserably about the world with her husband. 

This, he said, was the greatest fear he had, and he would rather see herdead than condemned to such a fate. 

He trusted that the Archdukes were incapable of believing the storiesthat he and the Duchess of Angouleme were influenced in the appeals theymade for the separation of the Prince and Princess by a desire to servethe purposes of the King. Those were fables put about by Conde. All thatthe Constable and his sister desired was that the Archduchess wouldreceive the Princess kindly when she should throw herself at her feet, and not allow her to be torn away against her will. The Constable spokewith great gravity and simplicity, and with all the signs of genuineemotion, and Peter Pecquius was much moved. He assured the aged pair thathe would do his best to comply with their wishes, and should immediatelyapprise the Archdukes of the interview which had just taken place. Mostcertainly they were entirely disposed to gratify the Constable and theDuchess as well as the Princess herself, whose virtues, qualities, andgraces had inspired them with affection, but it must be remembered thatthe law both human and divine required wives to submit themselves to thecommands of their husbands and to be the companions of their good andevil fortunes. Nevertheless, he hoped that the Lord would so conduct theaffairs of the Prince of Conde that the Most Christian King and theArchdukes would all be satisfied. 

These pious and consolatory commonplaces on the part of Peter Pecquiusdeeply affected the Constable. He fell upon the Envoy's neck, embracedhim repeatedly, and again wept plentifully. 

CHAPTER III. 

 Strange Scene at the Archduke's Palace--Henry's Plot frustrated-- His Triumph changed to Despair--Conversation of the Dutch Ambassador with the King--The War determined upon. 

It was in the latter part of the Carnival, the Saturday night precedingShrove Tuesday, 1610. The winter had been a rigorous one in Brussels, andthe snow lay in drifts three feet deep in the streets. Within and aboutthe splendid palace of Nassau there was much commotion. Lights andflambeaux were glancing, loud voices, martial music, discharge of pistolsand even of artillery were heard together with the trampling of manyfeet, but there was nothing much resembling the wild revelry or cheerfulmummery of that holiday season. A throng of the great nobles of Belgiumwith drawn swords and menacing aspect were assembled in the chiefapartments, a detachment of the Archduke's mounted body-guard wasstationed in the courtyard, and five hundred halberdiers of the burgherguilds kept watch and ward about the palace. 

The Prince of Conde, a square-built, athletic young man of middlestature, with regular features, but a sulky expression, deepened at thismoment into ferocity, was seen chasing the secretary of the Frenchresident minister out of the courtyard, thwacking him lustily about theshoulders with his drawn sword, and threatening to kill him or any otherFrenchman on the spot, should he show himself in that palace. He washeard shouting rather than speaking, in furious language against theKing, against Coeuvres, against Berny, and bitterly bewailing hismisfortunes, as if his wife were already in Paris instead of Brussels. 

Upstairs in her own apartment which she had kept for some days on pretextof illness sat the Princess Margaret, in company' of Madame de Berny, wife of the French minister, and of the Marquis de Coeuvres, Henry'sspecial envoy, and a few other Frenchmen. She was passionately fond ofdancing. The adoring cardinal described her as marvellously graceful andperfect in that accomplishment. She had begged her other adorer, theMarquis Spinola, "with sweetest words, " that she might remain a few dayslonger in the Nassau Palace before removing to the Archduke's residence, and that the great general, according to the custom in France andFlanders, would be the one to present her with the violins. But Spinola, knowing the artifice concealed beneath these "sweetest words, " hadsummoned up valour enough to resist her blandishments, and had refused asecond entertainment. 

It was not, therefore, the disappointment at losing her ball that nowmade the Princess sad. She and her companions saw that there had been acatastrophe; a plot discovered. There was bitter disappointment and deepdismay upon their faces. The plot had been an excellent one. De Coeuvreshad arranged it all, especially instigated thereto by the father of thePrincess acting in concurrence with the King. That night when all wasexpected to be in accustomed quiet, the Princess, wrapped in hermantilla, was to have stolen down into the garden, accompanied only byher maid the adventurous and faithful Philipotte, to have gone through abreach which led through a garden wall to the city ramparts, thenceacross the foss to the counterscarp, where a number of horsemen undertrustworthy commanders were waiting. Mounting on the crupper behind oneof the officers of the escort, she was then to fly to the frontier, relays of horses having been provided at every stage until she shouldreach Rocroy, the first pausing place within French territory; a perilousadventure for the young and delicate Princess in a winter of almostunexampled severity. 

On the very morning of the day assigned for the adventure, despatchesbrought by special couriers from the Nuncius and the Spanish ambassadorat Paris gave notice of the plot to the Archdukes and to Conde, althoughup to that moment none knew of it in Brussels. Albert, having beenapprised that many Frenchmen had been arriving during the past few days, and swarming about the hostelries of the city and suburbs, was at oncedisposed to believe in the story. When Conde came to him, therefore, withconfirmation from his own letters, and demanding a detachment of thebody-guard in addition to the burgher militiamen already granted by themagistrates, he made no difficulty granting the request. It was as ifthere had been a threatened assault of the city, rather than theattempted elopement of a young lady escorted by a handful of cavaliers. 

The courtyard of the Nassau Palace was filled with cavalry sent by theArchduke, while five hundred burgher guards sent by the magistrates weredrawn up around the gate. The noise and uproar, gaining at every momentmore mysterious meaning by the darkness of night, soon spread through thecity. The whole population was awake, and swarming through the streets. Such a tumult had not for years been witnessed in Brussels, and therumour flew about and was generally believed that the King of France atthe head of an army was at the gates of the city determined to carry offthe Princess by force. But although the superfluous and very scandalousexplosion might have been prevented, there could be no doubt that thestratagem had been defeated. 

Nevertheless, the effrontery and ingenuity of de Coeuvres became nowsublime. Accompanied by his colleague, the resident minister, de Berny, who was sure not to betray the secret because he had never known it--hiswife alone having been in the confidence of the Princess--he proceededstraightway to the Archduke's palace, and, late in the night as it was, insisted on an audience. 

Here putting on his boldest face when admitted to the presence, hecomplained loudly of the plot, of which he had just become aware, contrived by the Prince of Conde to carry off his wife to Spain againsther will, by main force, and by assistance of Flemish nobles, archiducalbody-guard, and burgher militia. 

It was all a plot of Conde, he said, to palliate still more his flightfrom France. Every one knew that the Princess could not fly back to Paristhrough the air. To take her out of a house filled with people, to pierceor scale the walls of the city, to arrange her journey by ordinary means, and to protect the whole route by stations of cavalry, reaching fromBrussels to the frontier, and to do all this in profound secrecy, wasequally impossible. Such a scheme had never been arranged nor evenimagined, he said. The true plotter was Conde, aided by ministers inFlanders hostile to France, and as the honour of the King and thereputation of the Princess had been injured by this scandal, theAmbassador loudly demanded a thorough investigation of the affair inorder that vengeance might fall where it was due. 

The prudent Albert was equal to the occasion. Not wishing to state thefull knowledge which he possessed of de Coeuvres' agency and the King'scomplicity in the scheme of abduction to France, he reasoned calmly withthe excited marquis, while his colleague looked and listened in dumbamazement, having previously been more vociferous and infinitely moresincere than his colleague in expressions of indignation. 

The Archduke said that he had not thought the plot imputed to the Kingand his ambassador very probable. Nevertheless, the assertions of thePrince had been so positive as to make it impossible to refuse the guardsrequested by him. He trusted, however, that the truth would soon beknown, and that it would leave no stain on the Princess, nor give anyoffence to the King. 

Surprised and indignant at the turn given to the adventure by the Frenchenvoys, he nevertheless took care to conceal these sentiments, to abstainfrom accusation, and calmly to inform them that the Princess next morningwould be established under his own roof; and enjoy the protection of theArchduchess. 

For it had been arranged several days before that Margaret should leavethe palace of Nassau for that of Albert and Isabella on the 14th, and theabduction had been fixed for the night of the 13th precisely because theconspirators wished to profit by the confusion incident on a change ofdomicile. 

The irrepressible de Coeuvres, even then hardly willing to give up thewhole stratagem as lost, was at least determined to discover how and bywhom the plot had been revealed. In a cemetery piled three feet deep withsnow on the evening following that mid-winter's night which had beenfixed for the Princess's flight, the unfortunate ambassador waited untila certain Vallobre, a gentleman of Spinola's, who was the go-between ofthe enamoured Genoese and the Princess, but whom de Coeuvres had gainedover, came at last to meet him by appointment. When he arrived, it wasonly to inform him of the manner in which he had been baffled, toconvince him that the game was up, and that nothing was left him but toretreat utterly foiled in his attempt, and to be stigmatized as ablockhead by his enraged sovereign. 

Next day the Princess removed her residence to the palace of theArchdukes, where she was treated with distinguished honour by Isabella, and installed ceremoniously in the most stately, the most virtuous, andthe most dismal of courts. Her father and aunt professed themselves ashighly pleased with the result, and Pecquius wrote that "they were gladto know her safe from the importunities of the old fop who seemed as madas if he had been stung by a tarantula. "

And how had the plot been revealed? Simply through the incorrigiblegarrulity of the King himself. Apprised of the arrangement in all itsdetails by the Constable, who had first received the special couriers ofde Coeuvres, he could not keep the secret to himself for a moment, andthe person of all others in the world to whom he thought good to confideit was the Queen herself. She received the information with a smile, butstraightway sent for the Nuncius Ubaldini, who at her desire instantlydespatched a special courier to Spinola with full particulars of the timeand mode of the proposed abduction. 

Nevertheless the ingenuous Henry, confiding in the capacity of his deeplyoffended queen to keep the secret which he had himself divulged, couldscarcely contain himself for joy. 

Off he went to Saint-Germain with a train of coaches, impatient to getthe first news from de Coeuvres after the scheme should have been carriedinto effect, and intending to travel post towards Flanders to meet andwelcome the Princess. 

"Pleasant farce for Shrove Tuesday, " wrote the secretary of Pecquius, "isthat which the Frenchmen have been arranging down there! He in whosefavour the abduction is to be made was seen going out the same dayspangled and smart, contrary to his usual fashion, making a gambadotowards Saint-Germain-en-Laye with four carriages and four to meet thenymph. "

Great was the King's wrath and mortification at this ridiculous exposureof his detestable scheme. Vociferous were Villeroy's expressions ofHenry's indignation at being supposed to have had any knowledge of orcomplicity in the affair. "His Majesty cannot approve of the means onehas taken to guard against a pretended plot for carrying off thePrincess, " said the Secretary of State; "a fear which was simulated bythe Prince in order to defame the King. " He added that there was noreason to suspect the King, as he had never attempted anything of thesort in his life, and that the Archduke might have removed the Princessto his palace without sending an army to the hotel of the Prince ofOrange, and causing such an alarm in the city, firing artillery on therampart as if the town had been full of Frenchmen in arms, whereas onewas ashamed next morning to find that there had been but fifteen in all. "But it was all Marquis Spinola's fault, " he said, "who wished to showhimself off as a warrior. "

The King, having thus through the mouth of his secretary of state warmlyprotested against his supposed implication in the attempted abduction, began as furiously to rail at de Coeuvres for its failure; telling theDuc de Vendome that his uncle was an idiot, and writing that unluckyenvoy most abusive letters for blundering in the scheme which had been sowell concerted between them. Then he sent for Malherbe, who straightwayperpetrated more poems to express the King's despair, in which Henry wasmade to liken himself to a skeleton with a dried skin, and likewise to aviolet turned up by the ploughshare and left to wither. 

He kept up through Madame de Berny a correspondence with "his beautifulangel, " as he called the Princess, whom he chose to consider a prisonerand a victim; while she, wearied to death with the frigid monotony andsepulchral gaieties of the archiducal court, which she openly called her"dungeon" diverted herself with the freaks and fantasies of her royaladorer, called him in very ill-spelled letters "her chevalier, her heart, her all the world, " and frequently wrote to beg him, at the suggestion ofthe intriguing Chateau Vert, to devise some means of rescuing her fromprison. 

The Constable and Duchess meanwhile affected to be sufficiently satisfiedwith the state of things. Conde, however, received a letter from theKing, formally summoning him to return to France, and, in case ofrefusal, declaring him guilty of high-treason for leaving the kingdomwithout the leave and against the express commands of the King. To thisletter, brought to him by de Coeuvres, the Prince replied by a paper, drawn up and served by a notary of Brussels, to the effect that he hadleft France to save his life and honour; that he was ready to return whenguarantees were given him for the security of both. He would live anddie, he said, faithful to the King. But when the King, departing from thepaths of justice, proceeded through those of violence against him, hemaintained that every such act against his person was null and invalid. Henry had even the incredible meanness and folly to request the Queen towrite to the Archdukes, begging that the Princess might be restored toassist at her coronation. Mary de' Medici vigorously replied once morethat, although obliged to wink at the King's amours, she declined to behis procuress. Conde then went off to Milan very soon after the scene atthe Nassau Palace and the removal of the Princess to the care of theArchdukes. He was very angry with his wife, from whom he expressed adetermination to be divorced, and furious with the King, the validity ofwhose second marriage and the legitimacy of whose children he proposedwith Spanish help to dispute. 

The Constable was in favour of the divorce, or pretended to be so, andcaused importunate letters to be written, which he signed, to both Albertand Isabella, begging that his daughter might be restored to him to bethe staff of his old age, and likewise to be present at the Queen'scoronation. The Archdukes, however, resolutely refused to permit her toleave their protection without Conde's consent, or until after a divorcehad been effected, notwithstanding that the father and aunt demanded it. The Constable and Duchess however, acquiesced in the decision, andexpressed immense gratitude to Isabella. 

"The father and aunt have been talking to Pecquius, " said Henry verydismally; "but they give me much pain. They are even colder than theseason, but my fire thaws them as soon as I approach. "

"P. S. --I am so pining away in my anguish that I am nothing but skin andbones. Nothing gives me pleasure. I fly from company, and if in order tocomply with the law of nations I go into some assembly or other, insteadof enlivening, it nearly kills me. "--[Lettres missives de Henri vii. 834]. 

And the King took to his bed. Whether from gout, fever, or the pangs ofdisappointed love, he became seriously ill. Furious with every one, withConde, the Constable, de Coeuvres, the Queen, Spinola, with the Prince ofOrange, whose councillor Keeremans had been encouraging Conde in hisrebellion and in going to Spain with Spinola, he was now resolved thatthe war should go on. Aerssens, cautious of saying too much on paper ofthis very delicate affair, always intimated to Barneveld that, if thePrincess could be restored, peace was still possible, and that by movingan inch ahead of the King in the Cleve matter the States at the lastmoment might be left in the lurch. He distinctly told the Advocate, onhis expressing a hope that Henry might consent to the Prince's residencein some neutral place until a reconciliation could be effected, that thepinch of the matter was not there, and that van der Myle, who knew allabout it, could easily explain it. 

Alluding to the project of reviving the process against the Dowager, andof divorcing the Prince and Princess, he said these steps would do muchharm, as they would too much justify the true cause of the retreat of thePrince, who was not believed when he merely talked of his right ofprimogeniture: "The matter weighs upon us very heavily, " he said, "butthe trouble is that we don't search for the true remedies. The matter isso delicate that I don't dare to discuss it to the very bottom. "

The Ambassador had a long interview with the King as he lay in his bedfeverish and excited. He was more impatient than ever for the arrival ofthe States' special embassy, reluctantly acquiesced in the reasonsassigned for the delay, but trusted that it would arrive soon withBarneveld at the head, and with Count Lewis William as a member for "thesword part of it. "

He railed at the Prince of Orange, not believing that Keeremans wouldhave dared to do what he had done but with the orders of his master. Hesaid that the King of Spain would supply Conde with money and witheverything he wanted, knowing that he could make use of him to troublehis kingdom. It was strange, he thought, that Philip should venture tothese extremities with his affairs in such condition, and when he had somuch need of repose. He recalled all his ancient grievances againstSpain, his rights to the Kingdom of Navarre and the County of St. Polviolated; the conspiracy of Biron, the intrigues of Bouillon, the plotsof the Count of Auvergne and the Marchioness of Verneuil, the treason ofMeragne, the corruption of L'Hoste, and an infinity of other plots of theKing and his ministers; of deep injuries to him and to the public repose, not to be tolerated by a mighty king like himself, with a grey beard. Hewould be revenged, he said, for this last blow, and so for all the rest. He would not leave a troublesome war on the hands of his young son. Theoccasion was favourable. It was just to defend the oppressed princes withthe promptly accorded assistance of the States-General. The King of GreatBritain was favourable. The Duke of Savoy was pledged. It was better tobegin the war in his green old age than to wait the pleasure andopportunity of the King of Spain. 

All this he said while racked with fever, and dismissed the Envoy atlast, after a long interview, with these words: "Mr. Ambassador--I havealways spoken roundly and frankly to you, and you will one day be mywitness that I have done all that I could to draw the Prince out of theplight into which he has put himself. But he is struggling for thesuccession to this crown under instructions from the Spaniards, to whomhe has entirely pledged himself. He has already received 6000 crowns forhis equipment. I know that you and my other friends will work for theconservation of this monarchy, and will never abandon me in my designs toweaken the power of Spain. Pray God for my health. "

The King kept his bed a few days afterwards, but soon recovered. Villeroysent word to Barneveld in answer to his suggestions of reconciliationthat it was too late, that Conde was entirely desperate and Spanish. Thecrown of France was at stake, he said, and the Prince was promisinghimself miracles and mountains with the aid of Spain, loudly declaringthe marriage of Mary de' Medici illegal, and himself heir to the throne. The Secretary of State professed himself as impatient as his master forthe arrival of the embassy; the States being the best friends France everhad and the only allies to make the war succeed. 

Jeannin, who was now never called to the council, said that the war wasnot for Germany but for Conde, and that Henry could carry it on for eightyears. He too was most anxious for Barneveld's arrival, and was of hisopinion that it would have been better for Conde to be persuaded toremain at Breda and be supported by his brother-in-law, the Prince ofOrange. The impetuosity of the King had however swept everything beforeit, and Conde had been driven to declare himself Spanish and a pretenderto the crown. There was no issue now but war. 

Boderie, the King's envoy in Great Britain, wrote that James would bewilling to make a defensive league for the affairs of Cleve and Julichonly, which was the slenderest amount of assistance; but Henry alwayssuspected Master Jacques of intentions to baulk him if possible andtraverse his designs. But the die was cast. Spinola had carried off Condein triumph; the Princess was pining in her gilt cage in Brussels, anddemanding a divorce for desertion and cruel treatment; the Kingconsidered himself as having done as much as honour allowed him to effecta reconciliation, and it was obvious that, as the States' ambassadorsaid, he could no longer retire from the war without shame, which wouldbe the greatest danger of all. 

"The tragedy is ready to begin, " said Aerssens. "They are only waitingnow for the arrival of our ambassadors. "

On the 9th March the King before going to Fontainebleau for a few dayssummoned that envoy to the Louvre. Impatient at a slight delay in hisarrival, Henry came down into the courtyard as he was arriving and askedeagerly if Barneveld was coming to Paris. Aerssens replied, that theAdvocate had been hastening as much as possible the departure of thespecial embassy, but that the condition of affairs at home was such asnot to permit him to leave the country at that moment. Van der Myle, whowould be one of the ambassadors, would more fully explain this by word ofmouth. 

The King manifested infinite annoyance and disappointment that Barneveldwas not to make part of the embassy. "He says that he reposes suchsingular confidence in your authority in the state, experience inaffairs, and affection for himself, " wrote Aerssens, "that he might treatwith you in detail and with open heart of all his designs. He fears nowthat the ambassadors will be limited in their powers and instructions, and unable to reply at once on the articles which at different times havebeen proposed to me for our enterprise. Thus much valuable time will bewasted in sending backwards and forwards. "

The King also expressed great anxiety to consult with Count Lewis Williamin regard to military details, but his chief sorrow was in regard to theAdvocate. "He acquiesced only with deep displeasure and regret in yourreasons, " said the Ambassador, "and says that he can hope for nothingfirm now that you refuse to come. "

Villeroy intimated that Barneveld did not come for fear of exciting thejealousy of the English. 

 ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS:

 He who spreads the snare always tumbles into the ditch himself Most detestable verses that even he had ever composed She declined to be his procuress

CHAPTER IV. 1610

 Difficult Position of Barneveld--Insurrection at Utrecht subdued by the States' Army--Special Embassies to England and France--Anger of the King with Spain and the Archdukes--Arrangements of Henry for the coming War--Position of Spain--Anxiety of the King for the Presence of Barneveld in Paris--Arrival of the Dutch Commissioners in France and their brilliant Reception--Their Interview with the King and his Ministers--Negotiations--Delicate Position of the Dutch Government-- India Trade--Simon Danzer, the Corsair--Conversations of Henry with the Dutch Commissioners--Letter of the King to Archduke Albert-- Preparations for the Queen's Coronation, and of Henry to open the Campaign in person--Perplexities of Henry--Forebodings and Warnings --The Murder accomplished--Terrible Change in France--Triumph of Concini and of Spain--Downfall of Sully--Disputes of the Grandees among themselves--Special Mission of Condelence from the Republic-- Conference on the great Enterprise--Departure of van der Myle from Paris. 

There were reasons enough why the Advocate could not go to Paris at thisjuncture. It was absurd in Henry to suppose it possible. Everythingrested on Barneveld's shoulders. During the year which had just passed hehad drawn almost every paper, every instruction in regard to the peacenegotiations, with his own hand, had assisted at every conference, guidedand mastered the whole course of a most difficult and intricatenegotiation, in which he had not only been obliged to make allowance forthe humbled pride and baffled ambition of the ancient foe of theNetherlands, but to steer clear of the innumerable jealousies, susceptibilities, cavillings, and insolences of their patronizingfriends. 

It was his brain that worked, his tongue that spoke, his restless penthat never paused. His was not one of those easy posts, not unknown inthe modern administration of great affairs, where the subordinatefurnishes the intellect, the industry, the experience, while the blandsuperior, gratifying the world with his sign-manual, appropriates theapplause. So long as he lived and worked, the States-General and theStates of Holland were like a cunningly contrived machine, which seemedto be alive because one invisible but mighty mind vitalized the whole. 

And there had been enough to do. It was not until midsummer of 1609 thatthe ratifications of the Treaty of Truce, one of the great triumphs inthe history of diplomacy, had been exchanged, and scarcely had thisperiod been put to the eternal clang of arms when the death of a lunaticthrew the world once more into confusion. It was obvious to Barneveldthat the issue of the Cleve-Julich affair, and of the tremendousreligious fermentation in Bohemia, Moravia, and Austria, must sooner orlater lead to an immense war. It was inevitable that it would devolveupon the States to sustain their great though vacillating, their generousthough encroaching, their sincere though most irritating, ally. And yet, thoroughly as Barneveld had mastered all the complications andperplexities of the religious and political question, carefully as he hadcalculated the value of the opposing forces which were shakingChristendom, deeply as he had studied the characters of Matthias andRudolph, of Charles of Denmark and Ferdinand of Graz, of Anhalt andMaximilian, of Brandenburg and Neuburg, of James and Philip, of Paul V. And Charles Emmanuel, of Sully and Yilleroy, of Salisbury and Bacon, ofLerma and Infantado; adroitly as he could measure, weigh, and analyse allthese elements in the great problem which was forcing itself on theattention of Europe--there was one factor with which it was difficult forthis austere republican, this cold, unsusceptible statesman, to deal: theintense and imperious passion of a greybeard for a woman of sixteen. 

For out of the cauldron where the miscellaneous elements of universal warwere bubbling rose perpetually the fantastic image of MargaretMontmorency: the fatal beauty at whose caprice the heroic sword of Ivryand Cahors was now uplifted and now sheathed. 

Aerssens was baffled, and reported the humours of the court where heresided as changing from hour to hour. To the last he reported that allthe mighty preparations then nearly completed "might evaporate in smoke"if the Princess of Conde should come back. Every ambassador in Paris wasbaffled. Peter Pecquius was as much in the dark as Don Inigo de Cardenas, as Ubaldini or Edmonds. No one save Sully, Aerssens, Barneveld, and theKing knew the extensive arrangements and profound combinations which hadbeen made for the war. Yet not Sully, Aerssens, Barneveld, or the King, knew whether or not the war would really be made. 

Barneveld had to deal with this perplexing question day by day. Hiscorrespondence with his ambassador at Henry's court was enormous, and wehave seen that the Ambassador was with the King almost daily; sleeping orwaking; at dinner or the chase; in the cabinet or the courtyard. 

But the Advocate was also obliged to carry in his arms, as it were, thebrood of snarling, bickering, cross-grained German princes, to supplythem with money, with arms, with counsel, with brains; to keep them awakewhen they went to sleep, to steady them in their track, to teach them togo alone. He had the congress at Hall in Suabia to supervise and direct;he had to see that the ambassadors of the new republic, upon which theyin reality were already half dependent and chafing at their dependence, were treated with the consideration due to the proud position which theCommonwealth had gained. Questions of etiquette were at that momentquestions of vitality. He instructed his ambassadors to leave thecongress on the spot if they were ranked after the envoys of princes whowere only feudatories of the Emperor. The Dutch ambassadors, "recognisingand relying upon no superiors but God and their sword, " placed themselvesaccording to seniority with the representatives of proudest kings. 

He had to extemporize a system of free international communication withall the powers of the earth--with the Turk at Constantinople, with theCzar of Muscovy; with the potentates of the Baltic, with both the Indies. The routine of a long established and well organized foreign office in atime-honoured state running in grooves; with well-balanced springs andwell oiled wheels, may be a luxury of civilization; but it was a morearduous task to transact the greatest affairs of a state springingsuddenly into recognized existence and mainly dependent for its primaryconstruction and practical working on the hand of one man. 

Worse than all, he had to deal on the most dangerous and delicate topicsof state with a prince who trembled at danger and was incapable ofdelicacy; to show respect for a character that was despicable, to lean ona royal word falser than water, to inhale almost daily the effluvia froma court compared to which the harem of Henry was a temple of vestals. Thespectacle of the slobbering James among his Kars and Hays and Villiers'sand other minions is one at which history covers her eyes and is dumb;but the republican envoys, with instructions from a Barneveld, wereobliged to face him daily, concealing their disgust, and bowingreverentially before him as one of the arbiters of their destinies andthe Solomon of his epoch. 

A special embassy was sent early in the year to England to convey thesolemn thanks of the Republic to the King for his assistance in the trucenegotiations, and to treat of the important matters then pressing on theattention of both powers. Contemporaneously was to be despatched theembassy for which Henry was waiting so impatiently at Paris. 

Certainly the Advocate had enough with this and other, important businessalready mentioned to detain him at his post. Moreover the first year ofpeace had opened disastrously in the Netherlands. Tremendous tempestssuch as had rarely been recorded even in that land of storms had ragedall the winter. The waters everywhere had burst their dykes andinundations, which threatened to engulph the whole country, and which hadcaused enormous loss of property and even of life, were alarming the mostcourageous. It was difficult in many district to collect the taxes forthe every-day expenses of the community, and yet the Advocate knew thatthe Republic would soon be forced to renew the war on a prodigious scale. 

Still more to embarrass the action of the government and perplex itsstatesmen, an alarming and dangerous insurrection broke out in Utrecht. 

In that ancient seat of the hard-fighting, imperious, and opulentsovereign archbishops of the ancient church an important portion of thepopulation had remained Catholic. Another portion complained of theabolition of various privileges which they had formerly enjoyed; amongothers that of a monopoly of beer-brewing for the province. All thepopulation, as is the case with all populations in all countries and allepochs, complained of excessive taxation. 

A clever politician, Dirk Kanter by name, a gentleman by birth, a scholarand philosopher by pursuit and education, and a demagogue by profession, saw an opportunity of taking an advantage of this state of things. Morethan twenty years before he had been burgomaster of the city, and hadmuch enjoyed himself in that position. He was tired of the learnedleisure to which the ingratitude of his fellow-citizens had condemnedhim. He seems to have been of easy virtue in the matter of religion, aCatholic, an Arminian, an ultra orthodox Contra-Remonstrant by turns. Henow persuaded a number of determined partisans that the time had come forsecuring a church for the public worship of the ancient faith, and at thesame time for restoring the beer brewery, reducing the taxes, recoveringlost privileges, and many other good things. Beneath the whole scheme laya deep design to effect the secession of the city and with it of theopulent and important province of Utrecht from the Union. Kanter had beenheard openly to avow that after all the Netherlands had flourished underthe benign sway of the House of Burgundy, and that the time would sooncome for returning to that enviable condition. 

By a concerted assault the city hall was taken possession of by mainforce, the magistracy was overpowered, and a new board of senators andcommon council-men appointed, Kanter and a devoted friend of his, Heldingen by name, being elected burgomasters. 

The States-Provincial of Utrecht, alarmed at these proceedings in thecity, appealed for protection against violence to the States-Generalunder the 3rd Article of the Union, the fundamental pact which bore thename of Utrecht itself. Prince Maurice proceeded to the city at the headof a detachment of troops to quell the tumults. Kanter and his friendswere plausible enough to persuade him of the legality and propriety ofthe revolution which they had effected, and to procure his formalconfirmation of the new magistracy. Intending to turn his military geniusand the splendour of his name to account, they contrived to keep him fora time at least in an amiable enthralment, and induced him to contemplatein their interest the possibility of renouncing the oath which subjectedhim to the authority of the States of Utrecht. But the far-seeing eye ofBarneveld could not be blind to the danger which at this crisis beset theStadholder and the whole republic. The Prince was induced to return tothe Hague, but the city continued by armed revolt to maintain the newmagistracy. They proceeded to reduce the taxes, and in other respects tocarry out the measures on the promise of which they had come into power. Especially the Catholic party sustained Kanter and his friends, andpromised themselves from him and from his influence over Prince Mauriceto obtain a power of which they had long been deprived. 

The States-General now held an assembly at Woerden, and summoned themalcontents of Utrecht to bring before that body a statement of theirgrievances. This was done, but there was no satisfactory arrangementpossible, and the deputation returned to Utrecht, the States-General tothe Hague. The States-Provincial of Utrecht urged more strongly than everupon the assembly of the Union to save the city from the hands of areckless and revolutionary government. The States-General resolvedaccordingly to interfere by force. A considerable body of troops wasordered to march at once upon Utrecht and besiege the city. Maurice, inhis capacity of captain-general and stadholder of the province, wassummoned to take charge of the army. He was indisposed to do so, andpleaded sickness. The States, determined that the name of Nassau shouldnot be used as an encouragement to disobedience, and rebellion, thendirected the brother of Maurice, Frederic Henry, youngest son of Williamthe Silent, to assume the command. Maurice insisted that his brother wastoo young, and that it was unjust to allow so grave a responsibility tofall upon his shoulders. The States, not particularly pleased with thePrince's attitude at this alarming juncture, and made anxious by theglamour which seemed to possess him since his conferences with therevolutionary party at Utrecht, determined not to yield. 

The army marched forth and laid siege to the city, Prince Frederic Henryat its head. He was sternly instructed by the States-General, under whoseorders he acted, to take possession of the city at all hazards. He was toinsist on placing there a garrison of 2000 foot and 300 horse, and topermit not another armed man within the walls. The members of the councilof state and of the States of Utrecht accompanied the army. For a momentthe party in power was disposed to resist the forces of the Union. DickKanter and his friends were resolute enough; the Catholic priests turnedout among the rest with their spades and worked on the entrenchments. Theimpossibility of holding the city against the overwhelming power of theStates was soon obvious, and the next day the gates were opened, and easyterms were granted. The new magistracy was set aside, the old board thathad been deposed by the rebels reinstated. The revolution and thecounterrevolution were alike bloodless, and it was determined that thevarious grievances of which the discontented party had complained shouldbe referred to the States-General, to Prince Maurice, to the council ofstate, and to the ambassadors of France and England. Amnesty was likewisedecreed on submission. 

The restored government was Arminian in its inclinations, therevolutionary one was singularly compounded both of Catholic and ofultra-orthodox elements. Quiet was on the whole restored, but theresources of the city were crippled. The event occurring exactly at thecrisis of the Clove and Julich expedition angered the King of France. 

"The trouble of Utrecht, " wrote Aerssens to Barneveld, "has been turnedto account here marvellously, the Archdukes and Spaniards boasting thatmany more revolts like this may be at once expected. I have explained tohis Majesty, who has been very much alarmed about it, both its source andthe hopes that it will be appeased by the prudence of his ExcellencyPrince Maurice and the deputies of the States. The King desires thateverything should be pacified as soon as possible, so that there may beno embarrassment to the course of public affairs. But he fears, he tellsme, that this may create some new jealousy between Prince Maurice andyourself. I don't comprehend what he means, although he held thislanguage to me very expressly and without reserve. I could only answerthat you were living on the best of terms together in perfect amity andintelligence. If you know if this talk of his has any other root, pleaseto enlighten me, that I may put a stop to false reports, for I knownothing of affairs except what you tell me. "

King James, on the other hand, thoroughly approved the promptness of theStates-General in suppressing the tumult. 

Nothing very serious of alike nature occurred in Utrecht until the end ofthe year, when a determined and secret conspiracy was discovered, havingfor its object to overpower the garrison and get bodily possession ofColonel John Ogle, the military commander of the town. At the bottom ofthe movement were the indefatigable Dirk Kanter and his friend Heldingen. The attempt was easily suppressed, and the two were banished from thetown. Kanter died subsequently in North Holland, in the odour ofultra-orthodoxy. Four of the conspirators--a post-master, two shoemakers, and a sexton, who had bound themselves by oath to take the lives of twoeminent Arminian preachers, besides other desperate deeds--were condemnedto death, but pardoned on the scaffold. Thus ended the first revolutionat Utrecht. 

Its effect did not cease, however, with the tumults which were itsoriginal manifestations. This earliest insurrection in organized shapeagainst the central authority of the States-General; this violent thoughabortive effort to dissolve the Union and to nullify its laws; thispainful necessity for the first time imposed upon the federal governmentto take up arms against misguided citizens of the Republic, in order tosave itself from disintegration and national death, were destined to befollowed by far graver convulsions on the self-same spot. Religiousdifferences and religious hatreds were to mingle their poison withantagonistic political theories and personal ambitions, and to develop ona wide scale the danger ever lurking in a constitution whose fundamentallaw was unstable, ill defined, and liable to contradictoryinterpretations. For the present it need only be noticed that theStates-General, guided by Barneveld, most vigorously suppressed the localrevolt and the incipient secession, while Prince Maurice, the right armof the executive, the stadholder of the province, and the representativeof the military power of the Commonwealth, was languid in the exertion ofthat power, inclined to listen to the specious arguments of the Utrechtrebels, and accused at least of tampering with the fell spirit which theAdvocate was resolute to destroy. Yet there was no suspicion of treason, no taint of rebellion, no accusation of unpatriotic motives utteredagainst the Stadholder. 

There was a doubt as to the true maxims by which the Confederacy was tobe governed, and at this moment, certainly, the Prince and the Advocaterepresented opposite ideas. There was a possibility, at a future day, when the religious and political parties might develop themselves on awider scale and the struggles grow fiercer, that the two great championsin the conflict might exchange swords and inflict mutual and poisonedwounds. At present the party of the Union had triumphed, with Barneveldat its head. At a later but not far distant day, similar scenes might beenacted in the ancient city of Utrecht, but with a strange difference andchange in the cast of parts and with far more tragical results. 

For the moment the moderate party in the Church, those more inclined toArminianism and the supremacy of the civil authority in religiousmatters, had asserted their ascendency in the States-General, and hadprevented the threatened rupture. 

Meantime it was doubly necessary to hasten the special embassies toFrance and to England, in both which countries much anxiety as to thepolitical health and strength of the new republic had been excited bythese troubles in Utrecht. It was important for the States-General toshow that they were not crippled, and would not shrink from the comingconflict, but would justify the reliance placed on them by their allies. 

Thus there were reasons enough why Barneveld could not himself leave thecountry in the eventful spring of 1610. It must be admitted, however, that he was not backward in placing his nearest relatives in places ofhonour, trust, and profit. 

His eldest son Reinier, Seignior of Groeneveld, had been knighted byHenry IV. ; his youngest, William, afterwards called Seignior ofStoutenburg, but at this moment bearing the not very mellifluous title ofCraimgepolder, was a gentleman-in-waiting at that king's court, with asalary of 3000 crowns a year. He was rather a favourite with theeasy-going monarch, but he gave infinite trouble to the Dutch ambassadorAerssens, who, feeling himself under immense obligations to the Advocateand professing for him boundless gratitude, did his best to keep theidle, turbulent, extravagant, and pleasure-loving youth up to the strictline of his duties. 

"Your son is in debt again, " wrote Aerssens, on one occasion, "andtroubled for money. He is in danger of going to the usurers. He says hecannot keep himself for less than 200 crowns a month. This is a largeallowance, but he has spent much more than that. His life is notirregular nor his dress remarkably extravagant. His difficulty is that hewill not dine regularly with me nor at court. He will keep his own tableand have company to dinner. That is what is ruining him. He comessometimes to me, not for the dinner nor the company, but for tennis, which he finds better in my faubourg than in town. His trouble comes fromthe table, and I tell you frankly that you must regulate his expenses orthey will become very onerous to you. I am ashamed of them and have toldhim so a hundred times, more than if he had been my own brother. It isall for love of you . . . . I have been all to him that could be expectedof a man who is under such vast obligations to you; and I so much esteemthe honour of your friendship that I should always neglect my privateaffairs in order to do everything for your service and meet your desires. . . . . If M. De Craimgepolder comes back from his visit home, you mustrestrict him in two things, the table and tennis, and you can do this ifyou require him to follow the King assiduously as his service requires. "

Something at a future day was to be heard of William of Barneveld, aswell as of his elder brother Reinier, and it is good, therefore, to havethese occasional glimpses of him while in the service of the King andunder the supervision of one who was then his father's devoted friend, Francis Aerssens. There were to be extraordinary and tragical changes inthe relations of parties and of individuals ere many years should go by. 

Besides the sons of the Advocate, his two sons-in-law, Brederode, Seignior of Veenhuizep, and Cornelis van der Myle, were constantlyemployed? in important embassies. Van der Myle had been the firstambassador to the great Venetian republic, and was now placed at the headof the embassy to France, an office which it was impossible at thatmoment for the Advocate to discharge. At the same critical momentBarneveld's brother Elias, Pensionary of Rotterdam, was appointed one ofthe special high commissioners to the King of Great Britain. 

It is necessary to give an account of this embassy. 

They were provided with luminous and minute instructions from the hand ofthe Advocate. 

They were, in the first place, and ostensibly, to thank the King for hisservices in bringing about the truce, which, truly, had been of theslightest, as was very well known. They were to explain, on the part ofthe States, their delay in sending this solemn commission, caused by thetardiness of the King of Spain in sending his ratification to the treaty, and by the many disputations caused by the irresolutions of the Archdukesand the obstinacy of their commissioners in regard to their manycontraventions of the treaty. After those commissioners had gone, furtherhindrances had been found in the "extraordinary tempests, high floods, rising of the waters, both of the ocean and the rivers, and the verydisastrous inundations throughout nearly all the United Provinces, withthe immense and exorbitant damage thus inflicted, both on the public andon many individuals; in addition to all which were to be mentioned thetroubles in the city of Utrecht. "

They were, in almost hyperbolical language, directed to express theeternal gratitude of the States for the constant favours received by themfrom the crown of England, and their readiness to stand forth at anymoment with sincere affection and to the utmost of their power, at alltimes and seasons, in resistance of any attempts against his Majesty'sperson or crown, or against the Prince of Wales or the royal family. Theywere to thank him for his "prudent, heroic, and courageous resolve tosuffer nothing to be done under colour of justice, authority, or anyother pretext, to the hindrance of the Elector of Brandenburg andPalatine of Neuburg, in the maintenance of their lawful rights andpossession of the principalities of Julich, Cleve, and Berg, and otherprovinces. "

By this course his Majesty, so the commissioners were to state, would putan end to the imaginations of those who thought they could give the lawto everybody according to their pleasure. 

They were to assure the King that the States-General would exertthemselves to the utmost to second his heroic resolution, notwithstandingthe enormous burthens of their everlasting war, the very exorbitantdamage caused by the inundations, and the sensible diminution in thecontributions and other embarrassments then existing in the country. 

They were to offer 2000 foot and 500 horse for the general purpose underPrince Henry of Nassau, besides the succours furnished by the King ofFrance and the electors and princes of Germany. Further assistance inmen, artillery, and supplies were promised under certain contingencies, and the plan of the campaign on the Meuse in conjunction with the King ofFrance was duly mapped. 

They were to request a corresponding promise of men and money from theKing of Great Britain, and they were to propose for his approval a closerconvention for mutual assistance between his Majesty, the UnitedNetherlands, the King of France, the electors and princes and otherpowers of Germany; as such close union would be very beneficial to allChristendom. It would put a stop to all unjust occupations, attempts, andintrigues, and if the King was thereto inclined, he was requested toindicate time and place for making such a convention. 

The commissioners were further to point out the various contraventions onthe part of the Archdukes of the Treaty of Truce, and were to give anexposition of the manner in which the States-General had quelled thetumults at Utrecht, and reasons why such a course had of necessity beenadopted. 

They were instructed to state that, "over and above the great expenses ofthe late war and the necessary maintenance of military forces to protecttheir frontiers against their suspected new friends or old enemies, theProvinces were burthened with the cost of the succour to the Elector ofBrandenburg and Palatine of Neuburg, and would be therefore incapable offurnishing the payments coming due to his Majesty. They were accordinglyto sound his Majesty as to whether a good part of the debt might not beremitted or at least an arrangement made by which the terms should beginto run only after a certain number of years. "

They were also directed to open the subject of the fisheries on thecoasts of Great Britain, and to remonstrate against the order latelypublished by the King forbidding all foreigners from fishing on thosecoasts. This was to be set forth as an infringement both of natural lawand of ancient treaties, and as a source of infinite danger to theinhabitants of the United Provinces. 

The Seignior of Warmond, chief of the commission, died on the 15th April. His colleagues met at Brielle on the 16th, ready to take passage toEngland in the ship of war, the Hound. They were, however, detained theresix days by head winds and great storms, and it was not until the 22ndthat they were able to put to sea. The following evening their ship castanchor in Gravesend. Half an hour before, the Duke of Wurtemberg hadarrived from Flushing in a ship of war brought from France by the Princeof Anhalt. 

Sir Lewis Lewkener, master of ceremonies, had been waiting for theambassadors at Gravesend, and informed them that the royal barges were tocome next morning from London to take them to town. They remained thatnight on board the Hound, and next morning, the wind blowing up theriver, they proceeded in their ship as far as Blackwall, where they wereformally received and bade welcome in the name of the King by Sir ThomasCornwallis and Sir George Carew, late ambassador in France. Escorted bythem and Sir Lewis, they were brought in the court barges to Tower Wharf. Here the royal coaches were waiting, in which they were taken to lodgingsprovided for them in the city at the house of a Dutch merchant. Noel deCaron, Seignior of Schonewal, resident ambassador of the States inLondon, was likewise there to greet them. This was Saturday night: On thefollowing Tuesday they went by appointment to the Palace of Whitehall inroyal carriages for their first audience. Manifestations of as entirerespect and courtesy had thus been made to the Republican envoys as couldbe shown to the ambassadors of the greatest sovereigns. They found theKing seated on his throne in the audience chamber, accompanied by thePrince of Wales, the Duke of York, the Lord High Treasurer and Lord HighAdmiral, the Duke of Lenox, the Earls of Arundel and Northampton, andmany other great nobles and dignitaries. James rose from his seat, tookoff his hat, and advanced several paces to meet the ambassadors, and badethem courteously and respectfully welcome. He then expressed his regretat the death of the Seignior of Warmond, and after the exchange of a fewcommonplaces listened, still with uncovered head, to the opening address. 

The spokesman, after thanking the King for his condolences on the deathof the chief commissioner, whom, as was stated with whimsical simplicity, "the good God had called to Himself after all his luggage had been put onboard ship, " proceeded in the French language to give a somewhatabbreviated paraphrase of Barneveld's instructions. 

When this was done and intimation made that they would confer more fullywith his Majesty's council on the subjects committed to their charge, theambassadors were conducted home with the same ceremonies as hadaccompanied their arrival. They received the same day the first visitfrom the ambassadors of France and Venice, Boderie and Carrero, and had along conference a few days afterwards with the High Treasurer, LordSalisbury. 

On the 3rd May they were invited to attend the pompous celebration of thefestival of St. George in the palace at Westminster, where they wereplaced together with the French ambassador in the King's oratorium; theDukes of Wurtemberg and Brunswick being in that of the Queen. 

These details are especially to be noted, and were at the moment ofconsiderable importance, for this was the first solemn and extraordinaryembassy sent by the rebel Netherlanders, since their independent nationalexistence had been formally vindicated, to Great Britain, a power which aquarter of a century before had refused the proffered sovereignty overthem. Placed now on exactly the same level with the representatives ofemperors and kings, the Republican envoys found themselves looked upon bythe world with different eyes from those which had regarded theirpredecessors askance, and almost with derision, only seven years before. At that epoch the States' commissioners, Barneveld himself at the head ofthem, had gone solemnly to congratulate King James on his accession, hadscarcely been admitted to audience by king or minister, and had foundthemselves on great festivals unsprinkled with the holy water of thecourt, and of no more account than the crowd of citizens and spectatorswho thronged the streets, gazing with awe at the distant radiance of thethrone. 

But although the ambassadors were treated with every externalconsideration befitting their official rank, they were not likely to findthemselves in the most genial atmosphere when they should come tobusiness details. If there was one thing in the world that James did notintend to do, it was to get himself entangled in war with Spain, thepower of all others which he most revered and loved. His "heroic andcourageous resolve" to defend the princes, on which the commissioners byinstructions of the Advocate had so highly complimented him, was notstrong enough to carry him much beyond a vigorous phraseology. He had notawoke from the delusive dream of the Spanish marriage which haddexterously been made to flit before him, and he was not inclined, forthe sake of the Republic which he hated the more because obliged to beone of its sponsors, to risk the animosity of a great power whichentertained the most profound contempt for him. He was destined to findhimself involved more closely than he liked, and through family ties, with the great Protestant movement in Germany, and the unfortunate"Winter King" might one day find his father-in-law as unstable a reed tolean upon as the States had found their godfather, or the Brandenburgsand Neuburgs at the present juncture their great ally. Meantime, as theBohemian troubles had not yet reached the period of actual explosion, andas Henry's wide-reaching plan against the House of Austria had beenstrangely enough kept an inviolable secret by the few statesmen, likeSully and Barneveld, to whom they had been confided, it was necessary forthe King and his ministers to deal cautiously and plausibly with theDutch ambassadors. Their conferences were mere dancing among eggs, and ifno actual mischief were done, it was the best result that could beexpected. 

On the 8th of May, the commissioners met in the council chamber atWestminster, and discussed all the matters contained in theirinstructions with the members of the council; the Lord TreasurerSalisbury, Earl of Northampton, Privy Seal and Warden of the CinquePorts, Lord Nottingham, Lord High Admiral, the Lord Chamberlain, Earl ofSuffolk, Earls of Shrewsbury, Worcester, and several others beingpresent. 

The result was not entirely satisfactory. In regard to the succourdemanded for the possessory princes, the commissioners were told thatthey seemed to come with a long narrative of their great burthens duringthe war, damage from inundations, and the like, to excuse themselves fromdoing their share in the succour, and thus the more to overload hisMajesty, who was not much interested in the matter, and was likewisegreatly encumbered by various expenses. The King had already franklydeclared his intention to assist the princes with the payment of 4000men, and to send proportionate artillery and powder from England. As theStates had supplies in their magazines enough to move 12, 000 men, heproposed to draw upon those, reimbursing the States for what was thusconsumed by his contingent. 

With regard to the treaty of close alliance between France, GreatBritain, the princes, and the Republic, which the ambassadors hadproposed, the--Lord Treasurer and his colleagues gave a reply far fromgratifying. His Majesty had not yet decided on this point, they said. TheKing of France had already proposed to treat for such an alliance, but itdid not at present seem worth while for all to negotiate together. 

This was a not over-courteous hint that the Republic was after all notexpected to place herself at the council-board of kings on even terms ofintimacy and fraternal alliance. 

What followed was even less flattering. If his Majesty, it was intimated, should decide to treat with the King of France, he would not shut thedoor on their High Mightinesses; but his Majesty was not yet exactlyinformed whether his Majesty had not certain rights over the provinces'in petitorio. '

This was a scarcely veiled insinuation against the sovereignty of theStates, a sufficiently broad hint that they were to be considered in acertain degree as British provinces. To a soldier like Maurice, to astatesman like Barneveld, whose sympathies already were on the side ofFrance, such rebuffs and taunts were likely to prove unpalatable. Therestiveness of the States at the continual possession by Great Britain ofthose important sea-ports the cautionary towns, a fact which gave colourto these innuendoes, was sure to be increased by arrogant language on thepart of the English ministers. The determination to be rid of their debtto so overbearing an ally, and to shake off the shackles imposed by thecostly mortgages, grew in strength from that hour. 

In regard to the fisheries, the Lord Treasurer and his colleaguesexpressed amazement that the ambassadors should consider the subjects oftheir High Mightinesses to be so much beloved by his Majesty. Why shouldthey of all other people be made an exception of, and be exempt from, theaction of a general edict? The reasons for these orders in council oughtto be closely examined. It would be very difficult to bring the opinionsof the English jurists into harmony with those of the States. Meantime itwould be well to look up such treaties as might be in existence, and havea special joint commission to confer together on the subject. It was veryplain, from the course of the conversation, that the Netherland fishermenwere not to be allowed, without paying roundly for a license, to catchherrings on the British coasts as they had heretofore done. 

Not much more of importance was transacted at this first interviewbetween the ambassadors and the Ding's ministers. Certainly they had notyet succeeded in attaining their great object, the formation of analliance offensive and defensive between Great Britain and the Republicin accordance with the plan concerted between Henry and Barneveld. Theycould find but slender encouragement for the warlike plans to whichFrance and the States were secretly committed; nor could they obtainsatisfactory adjustment of affairs more pacific and commercial in theirtendencies. The English ministers rather petulantly remarked that, whilelast year everybody was talking of a general peace, and in the presentconjuncture all seemed to think, or at least to speak, of nothing but ageneral war, they thought best to defer consideration of the varioussubjects connected with duties on the manufactures and products of therespective countries, the navigation laws, the "entrecours, " and othermatters of ancient agreement and controversy, until a more convenientseason. 

After the termination of the verbal conference, the ambassadors deliveredto the King's government, in writing, to be pondered by the council andrecorded in the archives, a summary of the statements which had been thusorally treated. The document was in French, and in the main a paraphraseof the Advocate's instructions, the substance of which has been alreadyindicated. In regard, however, to the far-reaching designs of Spain, andthe corresponding attitude which it would seem fitting for Great Britainto assume, and especially the necessity of that alliance the proposal forwhich had in the conference been received so haughtily, their languagewas far plainer, bolder, and more vehement than that of the instructions. 

"Considering that the effects show, " they said, "that those who claim themonarchy of Christendom, and indeed of the whole world, let slip noopportunity which could in any way serve their designs, it is suitable tothe grandeur of his Majesty the King, and to the station in which by thegrace of the good God he is placed, to oppose himself thereto for thesake of the common liberty of Christendom, to which end, and in order thebetter to prevent all unjust usurpations, there could be no better meansdevised than a closer alliance between his Majesty and the Most ChristianKing, My Lords the States-General, and the electors, princes, and statesof Germany. Their High Mightinesses would therefore be most glad to learnthat his Majesty was inclined to such a course, and would be glad todiscuss the subject when and wherever his Majesty should appoint, orwould readily enter into such an alliance on reasonable conditions. "

This language and the position taken up by the ambassadors were highlyapproved by their government, but it was fated that no very great resultwas to be achieved by this embassy. Very elaborate documents, exhaustivein legal lore, on the subject of the herring fisheries, and of the rightto fish in the ocean and on foreign coasts, fortified by copiouscitations from the 'Pandects' and 'Institutes' of Justinian, werepresented for the consideration of the British government, and wereanswered as learnedly, exhaustively, and ponderously. The Englishministers were also reminded that the curing of herrings had beeninvented in the fifteenth century by a citizen of Biervliet, theinscription on whose tombstone recording that faces might still be readin the church of that town. 

All this did not prevent, however, the Dutch herring fishermen from beingexcluded from the British waters unless they chose to pay for licenses. 

The conferences were however for a season interrupted, and a new aspectwas given to affairs by an unforeseen and terrible event. 

Meanwhile it is necessary to glance for a moment at the doings of thespecial embassy to France, the instructions for which were prepared byBarneveld almost at the same moment at which he furnished those for thecommission to England. 

The ambassadors were Walraven, Seignior of Brederode, Cornelis van derMyle, son-in-law of the Advocate, and Jacob van Maldere. Remembering howimpatient the King of France had long been for their coming, and that allthe preparations and decisions for a great war were kept in suspenseuntil the final secret conferences could be held with the representativesof the States-General, it seems strange enough to us to observe theextreme deliberation with which great affairs of state were thenconducted and the vast amount of time consumed in movements andcommunications which modern science has either annihilated or abridgedfrom days to hours. While Henry was chafing with anxiety in Paris, theambassadors, having received Barneveld's instructions dated 31st March, set forth on the 8th April from the Hague, reached Rotterdam at noon, andslept at Dordrecht. Newt day they went to Breda, where the Prince ofOrange insisted upon their passing a couple of days with him in hiscastle, Easter-day being 11th April. He then provided them with a coupleof coaches and pair in which they set forth on their journey, going byway of Antwerp, Ghent, Courtray, Ryssel, to Arras, making easy stages, stopping in the middle of the day to bait, and sleeping at each of thecities thus mentioned, where they duly received the congratulatory visitand hospitalities of their respective magistracies. 

While all this time had been leisurely employed in the Netherlands inpreparing, instructing, and despatching the commissioners, affairs werereaching a feverish crisis in France. 

The States' ambassador resident thought that it would have been betternot to take such public offence at the retreat of the Prince of Conde. The King had enough of life and vigour in him; he could afford to leavethe Dauphin to grow up, and when he should one day be established on thethrone, he would be able to maintain his heritage. "But, " said Aerssens, "I fear that our trouble is not where we say it is, and we don't dare tosay where it is. " Writing to Carew, former English ambassador in Paris, whom we have just seen in attendance on the States' commissioners inLondon, he said: "People think that the Princess is wearying herself muchunder the protection of the Infanta, and very impatient at not obtainingthe dissolution of her marriage, which the Duchess of Angouleme is to goto Brussels to facilitate. This is not our business, but I mention itonly as the continuation of the Tragedy which you saw begin. NeverthelessI don't know if the greater part of our deliberations is not founded onthis matter. "

It had been decided to cause the Queen to be solemnly crowned afterEaster. She had set her heart with singular persistency upon theceremony, and it was thought that so public a sacrament would annihilateall the wild projects attributed to Spain through the instrumentality ofConde to cast doubts on the validity of her marriage and the legitimacyof the Dauphin. The King from the first felt and expressed a singularrepugnance, a boding apprehension in regard to the coronation, but hadalmost yielded to the Queen's importunity. He told her he would give hisconsent provided she sent Concini to Brussels to invite in her own namethe Princess of Conde to be present on the occasion. Otherwise hedeclared that at least the festival should be postponed till September. 

The Marquis de Coeuvres remained in disgrace after the failure of hismission, Henry believing that like all the world he had fallen in lovewith the Princess, and had only sought to recommend himself, not tofurther the suit of his sovereign. 

Meanwhile Henry had instructed his ambassador in Spain, M. De Vaucelas, to tell the King that his reception of Conde within his dominions wouldbe considered an infraction of the treaty of Vervins and a direct act ofhostility. The Duke of Lerma answered with a sneer that the MostChristian King had too greatly obliged his Most Catholic Majesty bysustaining his subjects in their rebellion and by aiding them to maketheir truce to hope now that Conde would be sent back. France had everbeen the receptacle of Spanish traitors and rebels from Antonio Perezdown, and the King of Spain would always protect wronged and oppressedprinces like Conde. France had just been breaking up the friendlyrelations between Savoy and Spain and goading the Duke into hostilities. 

On the other hand the King had more than one stormy interview with DonInigo de Cardenas in Paris. That ambassador declared that his masterwould never abandon his only sister the most serene Infanta, such was theaffection he born her, whose dominions were obviously threatened by theseFrench armies about to move to the frontiers. Henry replied that thefriends for whom he was arming had great need of his assistance; that hisCatholic Majesty was quite right to love his sister, whom he also loved;but that he did not choose that his own relatives should be so muchbeloved in Spain as they were. "What relatives?" asked Don Inigo. "ThePrince of Conde, " replied the King, in a rage, "who has been debauched bythe Spaniards just as Marshal Biron was, and the Marchioness Verneuil, and so many others. There are none left for them to debauch now but theDauphin and his brothers. " The Ambassador replied that, if the King hadconsulted him about the affair of Conde, he could have devised a happyissue from it. Henry rejoined that he had sent messages on the subject tohis Catholic Majesty, who had not deigned a response, but that the Dukeof Lerma had given a very indiscreet one to his ambassador. Don Inigoprofessed ignorance of any such reply. The King said it was a mockery toaffect ignorance of such matters. Thereupon both grew excited and veryviolent in their discourses; the more so as Henry knowing but littleSpanish and the Envoy less French they could only understand from toneand gesture that each was using exceedingly unpleasant language. At lastDon Inigo asked what he should write to his sovereign. "Whatever youlike, " replied the King, and so the audience terminated, each remainingin a towering passion. 

Subsequently Villeroy assured the Archduke's ambassador that the Kingconsidered the reception given to the Prince in the Spanish dominions asone of the greatest insults and injuries that could be done to him. Nothing could excuse it, said the Secretary of State, and for this reasonit was very difficult for the two kings to remain at peace with eachother, and that it would be wiser to prevent at once the evil designs ofhis Catholic Majesty than to leave leisure for the plans to be put intoexecution, and the claims of the Dauphin to his father's crown to bedisputed at a convenient season. 

He added that war would not be made for the Princess, but for the Prince, and that even the war in Germany, although Spain took the Emperor's sideand France that of the possessory princes, would not necessarily producea rupture between the two kings if it were not for this affair of thePrince--true cause of the disaster now hanging over Christianity. Pecquius replied by smooth commonplaces in favour of peace with whichVilleroy warmly concurred; both sadly expressing the conviction howeverthat the wrath divine had descended on them all on account of their sins. 

A few days later, however, the Secretary changed his tone. 

"I will speak to you frankly and clearly, " he said to Pecquius, "and tellyou as from myself that there is passion, and if one is willing toarrange the affair of the Princess, everything else can be accommodatedand appeased. Put if the Princess remain where she is, we are on the eveof a rupture which may set fire to the four corners of Christendom. "Pecquius said he liked to talk roundly, and was glad to find that he hadnot been mistaken in his opinion, that all these commotions were onlymade for the Princess, and if all the world was going to war, she wouldbe the principal subject of it. He could not marvel sufficiently, hesaid, at this vehement passion which brought in its train so great andhorrible a conflagration; adding many arguments to show that it was nofault of the Archdukes, but that he who was the cause of all might oneday have reason to repent. 

Villeroy replied that "the King believed the Princess to be suffering andmiserable for love of him, and that therefore he felt obliged to have hersent back to her father. " Pecquius asked whether in his conscience theSecretary of State believed it right or reasonable to make war for such acause. Villeroy replied by asking "whether even admitting the negative, the Ambassador thought it were wisely done for such a trifle, for aformality, to plunge into extremities and to turn all Christendom upsidedown. " Pecquius, not considering honour a trifle or a formality, saidthat "for nothing in the world would his Highness the Archduke descend toa cowardly action or to anything that would sully his honour. " Villeroysaid that the Prince had compelled his wife, pistol in hand, to followhim to the Netherlands, and that she was no longer bound to obey ahusband who forsook country and king. Her father demanded her, and shesaid "she would rather be strangled than ever to return to the company ofher husband. " The Archdukes were not justified in keeping her against herwill in perpetual banishment. He implored the Ambassador in most patheticterms to devise some means of sending back the Princess, saying that hewho should find such expedient would do the greatest good that was everdone to Christianity, and that otherwise there was no guarantee against auniversal war. The first design of the King had been merely to send amoderate succour to the Princes of Brandenburg and Neuburg, which couldhave given no umbrage to the Archdukes, but now the bitterness growingout of the affairs of the Prince and Princess had caused him to set onfoot a powerful army to do worse. He again implored Pecquius to inventsome means of sending back the Princess, and the Ambassador besought himardently to divert the King from his designs. Of this the Secretary ofState left little hope and they parted, both very low and dismal inmind. Subsequent conversations with the leading councillors of stateconvinced Pecquius that these violent menaces were only used to shake theconstancy of the Archduke, but that they almost all highly disapprovedthe policy of the King. "If this war goes on, we are all ruined, " saidthe Duke d'Epernon to the Nuncius. 

Thus there had almost ceased to be any grimacing between the two kings, although it was still a profound mystery where or when hostilities wouldbegin, and whether they would break out at all. Henry frequently remarkedthat the common opinion all over Europe was working in his favour. Fewpeople in or out of France believed that he meant a rupture, or that hispreparations were serious. Thus should he take his enemies unawares andunprepared. Even Aerssens, who saw him almost daily, was sometimesmystified, in spite of Henry's vehement assertions that he was resolvedto make war at all hazards and on all sides, provided My Lords the Stateswould second him as they ought, their own existence being at stake. 

"For God's sake, " cried the King, "let us take the bit into our mouths. Tell your masters that I am quite resolved, and that I am shriekingloudly at their delays. " He asked if he could depend on the States, ifBarneveld especially would consent to a league with him. The Ambassadorreplied that for the affair of Cleve and Julich he had instructions topromise entire concurrence, that Barneveld was most resolute in thematter, and had always urged the enterprise and wished information as tothe levies making in France and other military preparations. 

"Tell him, " said Henry, "that they are going on exactly as often beforestated, but that we are holding everything in suspense until I havetalked with your ambassadors, from whom I wish counsel, safety, andencouragement for doing much more than the Julich business. That alonedoes not require so great a league and such excessive and unnecessaryexpense. "

The King observed however that the question of the duchies would serve asjust cause and excellent pretext to remove those troublesome fellows forever from his borders and those of the States. Thus the princes would beestablished safely in their possession and the Republic as well ashimself freed from the perpetual suspicions which the Spaniards excitedby their vile intrigues, and it was on this general subject that hewished to confer with the special commissioners. It would not be possiblefor him to throw succour into Julich without passing through Luxemburg inarms. The Archdukes would resist this, and thus a cause of war wouldarise. His campaign on the Meuse would help the princes more than if heshould only aid them by the contingent he had promised. Nor could thejealousy of King James be excited since the war would spring out of theArchdukes' opposition to his passage towards the duchies, as he obviouslycould not cut himself off from his supplies, leaving a hostile provincebetween himself and his kingdom. Nevertheless he could not stir, he said, without the consent and active support of the States, on whom he reliedas his principal buttress and foundation. 

The levies for the Milanese expedition were waiting until Marshal deLesdiguieres could confer personally with the Duke of Savoy. The reportsas to the fidelity of that potentate were not to be believed. He wastrifling with the Spanish ambassadors, so Henry was convinced, who wereoffering him 300, 000 crowns a year besides Piombino, Monaco, and twoplaces in the Milanese, if he would break his treaty with France. But hewas thought to be only waiting until they should be gone before makinghis arrangements with Lesdiguieres. "He knows that he can put no trust inSpain, and that he can confide in me, " said the King. "I have made agreat stroke by thus entangling the King of Spain by the use of a fewtroops in Italy. But I assure you that there is none but me and My Lordsthe States that can do anything solid. Whether the Duke breaks or holdsfast will make no difference in our first and great designs. For thehonour of God I beg them to lose no more time, but to trust in me. I willnever deceive them, never abandon them. "

At last 25, 000 infantry and 5000 cavalry were already in marching order, and indeed had begun to move towards the Luxemburg frontier, ready toco-operate with the States' army and that of the possessory princes forthe campaign of the Meuse and Rhine. 

Twelve thousand more French troops under Lesdiguieres were to act withthe Duke of Savoy, and an army as large was to assemble in the Pyreneesand to operate on the Spanish frontier, in hope of exciting and fomentingan insurrection caused by the expulsion of the Moors. That gigantic actof madness by which Spain thought good at this juncture to tear herselfto pieces, driving hundreds of thousands of the most industrious, mostintelligent, and most opulent of her population into hopeless exile, hadnow been accomplished, and was to stand prominent for ever on the recordsof human fatuity. 

Twenty-five thousand Moorish families had arrived at Bayonne, and theViceroy of Canada had been consulted as to the possibility and expediencyof establishing them in that province, although emigration thither seemedless tempting to them than to Virginia. Certainly it was not unreasonablefor Henry to suppose that a kingdom thus torn by internal convulsionsmight be more open to a well organized attack, than capable of carryingout at that moment fresh projects of universal dominion. 

As before observed, Sully was by no means in favour of this combinedseries of movements, although at a later day, when dictating his famousmemoirs to his secretaries, he seems to describe himself asenthusiastically applauding and almost originating them. But there is nodoubt at all that throughout this eventful spring he did his best toconcentrate the whole attack on Luxemburg and the Meuse districts, andwished that the movements in the Milanese and in Provence should beconsidered merely a slight accessory, as not much more than a diversionto the chief design, while Villeroy and his friends chose to consider theDuke of Savoy as the chief element in the war. Sully thoroughlydistrusted the Duke, whom he deemed to be always put up at auctionbetween Spain and France and incapable of a sincere or generous policy. He was entirely convinced that Villeroy and Epernon and Jeannin and otherearnest Papists in France were secretly inclined to the cause of Spain, that the whole faction of the Queen, in short, were urging thisscattering of the very considerable forces now at Henry's command in thehope of bringing him into a false position, in which defeat or anignominious peace would be the alternative. To concentrate an immenseattack upon the Archdukes in the Spanish Netherlands and the debateableduchies would have for its immediate effect the expulsion of theSpaniards out of all those provinces and the establishment of the Dutchcommonwealth on an impregnable basis. That this would be to strengtheninfinitely the Huguenots in France and the cause of Protestantism inBohemia, Moravia and Austria, was unquestionable. It was natural, therefore, that the stern and ardent Huguenot should suspect the plans ofthe Catholics with whom he was in daily council. One day he asked theKing plumply in the presence of Villeroy if his Majesty meant anythingserious by all these warlike preparations. Henry was wroth, andcomplained bitterly that one who knew him to the bottom of his soulshould doubt him. But Sully could not persuade himself that a great andserious war would be carried on both in the Netherlands and in Italy. 

As much as his sovereign he longed for the personal presence ofBarneveld, and was constantly urging the States' ambassador to induce hiscoming to Paris. "You know, " said Aerssens, writing to the Frenchambassador at the Hague, de Russy, "that it is the Advocate alone thathas the universal knowledge of the outside and the inside of ourcommonwealth. "

Sully knew his master as well as any man knew him, but it was difficultto fix the chameleon hues of Henry at this momentous epoch. To theAmbassador expressing doubts as to the King's sincerity the Duke assertedthat Henry was now seriously piqued with the Spaniard on account of theConde business. Otherwise Anhalt and the possessory princes and theaffair of Cleve might have had as little effect in driving him into waras did the interests of the Netherlands in times past. But the bolddemonstration projected would make the "whole Spanish party bleed at thenose; a good result for the public peace. "

Therefore Sully sent word to Barneveld, although he wished his nameconcealed, that he ought to come himself, with full powers to doeverything, without referring to any superiors or allowing any secrets tobe divulged. The King was too far committed to withdraw, unless coldnesson part of the States should give him cause. The Advocate must comeprepared to answer all questions; to say how much in men and money theStates would contribute, and whether they would go into the war with theKing as their only ally. He must come with the bridle on his neck. Allthat Henry feared was being left in the lurch by the States; otherwise hewas not afraid of Rome. Sully was urgent that the Provinces should now govigorously into the war without stumbling at any consideration. Thus theywould confirm their national power for all time, but if the opportunitywere now lost, it would be their ruin, and posterity would most justlyblame them. The King of Spain was so stripped of troops and resources, soembarrassed by the Moors, that in ten months he would not be able to sendone man to the Netherlands. 

Meantime the Nuncius in Paris was moving heaven and earth; storming, intriguing, and denouncing the course of the King in protecting heresy, when it would have been so easy to extirpate it, encouraging rebellionand disorder throughout Christendom, and embarking in an action againstthe Church and against his conscience. A new legate was expected dailywith the Pope's signature to the new league, and a demand upon the Kingto sign it likewise, and to pause in a career of which something wassuspected, but very little accurately known. The preachers in Paris andthroughout the kingdom delivered most vehement sermons against the King, the government, and the Protestants, and seemed to the King to be such"trumpeters of sedition" that he ordered the seneschals and otherofficers to put a stop to these turbulent discourses, censure theirauthors, and compel them to stick to their texts. 

But the preparations were now so far advanced and going on so warmly thatnothing more was wanting than, in the words of Aerssens, "to uncouple thedogs and let them run. " Recruits were pouring steadily to their places ofrendezvous; their pay having begun to run from the 25th March at the rateof eight sous a day for the private foot soldier and ten sous for acorporal. They were moved in small parties of ten, lodged in the waysideinns, and ordered, on pain of death, to pay for everything they consumed. 

It was growing difficult to wait much longer for the arrival of thespecial ambassadors, when at last they were known to be on their way. Aerssens obtained for their use the Hotel Gondy, formerly the residenceof Don Pedro de Toledo, the most splendid private palace in Paris, andrecently purchased by the Queen. It was considered expedient that theembassy should make as stately an appearance as that of royal or imperialenvoys. He engaged an upholsterer by the King's command to furnish, athis Majesty's expense, the apartments, as the Baron de Gondy, he said, had long since sold and eaten up all the furniture. He likewise laid insix pieces of wine and as many of beer, "tavern drinks" being in theopinion of the thrifty ambassador "both dear and bad. "

He bought a carriage lined with velvet for the commissioners, and anotherlined with broadcloth for the principal persons of their suite, and withhis own coach as a third he proposed to go to Amiens to meet them. Theycould not get on with fewer than these, he said, and the new carriageswould serve their purpose in Paris. He had paid 500 crowns for the two, and they could be sold, when done with, at a slight loss. He boughtlikewise four dapple-grey horses, which would be enough, as nobody hadmore than two horses to a carriage in town, and for which he paid 312crowns--a very low price, he thought, at a season when every one waspurchasing. He engaged good and experienced coachmen at two crowns amonth, and; in short, made all necessary arrangements for their comfortand the honour of the state. 

The King had been growing more and more displeased at the tardiness ofthe commission, petulantly ascribing it to a design on the part of theStates to "excuse themselves from sharing in his bold conceptions, " butsaid that "he could resolve on nothing without My Lords the States, whowere the only power with which he could contract confidently, as mightyenough and experienced enough to execute the designs to be proposed tothem; so that his army was lying useless on his hands until thecommissioners arrived, " and lamented more loudly than ever that Barneveldwas not coming with them. He was now rejoiced, however, to hear that theywould soon arrive, and went in person to the Hotel Gondy to see thateverything was prepared in a manner befitting their dignity and comfort. 

His anxiety had moreover been increased, as already stated, by thealarming reports from Utrecht and by his other private accounts from theNetherlands. 

De Russy expressed in his despatches grave doubts whether the Stateswould join the king in a war against the King of Spain, because theyfeared the disapprobation of the King of Great Britain, "who had alreadymanifested but too much jealousy of the power and grandeur of theRepublic. " Pecquius asserted that the Archdukes had received assurancesfrom the States that they would do nothing to violate the truce. ThePrince of Anhalt, who, as chief of the army of the confederated princes, was warm in his demonstrations for a general war by taking advantage ofthe Cleve expedition, was entirely at cross purposes with the States'ambassador in Paris, Aerssens maintaining that the forty-three years'experience in their war justified the States in placing no dependence onGerman princes except with express conventions. They had no suchconventions now, and if they should be attacked by Spain in consequenceof their assistance in the Cleve business, what guarantee of aid had theyfrom those whom Anhalt represented? Anhalt was loud in expressions ofsympathy with Henry's designs against Spain, but said that he and theStates meant a war of thirty or forty years, while the princes wouldfinish what they meant to do in one. 

A more erroneous expression of opinion, when viewed in the light ofsubsequent events, could hardly have been hazarded. Villeroy made as gooduse as he could of these conversations to excite jealousy between theprinces and the States for the furtherance of his own ends, whileaffecting warm interest in the success of the King's projects. 

Meantime Archduke Albert had replied manfully and distinctly to themenaces of the King and to the pathetic suggestions made by Villeroy toPecquius as to a device for sending back the Princess. Her stay atBrussels being the chief cause of the impending war, it would be better, he said, to procure a divorce or to induce the Constable to obtain theconsent of the Prince to the return of his wife to her father's house. Tofurther either of these expedients, the Archduke would do his best. "Butif one expects by bravados and threats, " he added, "to force us to do athing against our promise, and therefore against reason, our reputation, and honour, resolutely we will do nothing of the kind. And if the saidLord King decided on account of this misunderstanding for a rupture andto make war upon us, we will do our best to wage war on him. In suchcase, however, we shall be obliged to keep the Princess closer in our ownhouse, and probably to send her to such parts as may be most convenientin order to remove from us an instrument of the infinite evils which thiswar will produce. "

Meantime the special commissioners whom we left at Arras had now enteredthe French kingdom. 

On the 17th April, Aerssens with his three coaches met them on theirentrance into Amiens, having been waiting there for them eight days. Asthey passed through the gate, they found a guard of soldiers drawn up toreceive them with military honours, and an official functionary toapologize for the necessary absence of the governor, who had gone withmost of the troops stationed in the town to the rendezvous in Champagne. He expressed regret, therefore, that the King's orders for their solemnreception could not be literally carried out. The whole board ofmagistrates, however, in their costumes of ceremony, with sergeantsbearing silver maces marching before them, came forth to bid theambassadors welcome. An advocate made a speech in the name of the cityauthorities, saying that they were expressly charged by the King toreceive them as coming from his very best friends, and to do them allhonour. He extolled the sage government of their High Mightinesses andthe valour of the Republic, which had become known to the whole world bythe successful conduct of their long and mighty war. 

The commissioners replied in words of compliment, and the magistratesthen offered them, according to ancient usage, several bottles ofhippocras. 

Next day, sending back the carriages of the Prince of Orange, in whichthey had thus far performed the journey, they set forth towards Paris, reaching Saint-Denis at noon of the third day. Here they were met by deBonoeil, introducer of ambassadors, sent thither by the King to give themwelcome, and to say that they would be received on the road by the Dukeof Vendome, eldest of the legitimatized children of the King. Accordinglybefore reaching the Saint-Denis gate of Paris, a splendid cavalcade ofnearly five hundred noblemen met them, the Duke at their head, accompanied by two marshals of France, de Brissac and Boisdaulphin. Thethree instantly dismounted, and the ambassadors alighted from theircoach. The Duke then gave them solemn and cordial welcome, saying that hehad been sent by his father the King to receive them as befitted envoysof the best and most faithful friends he possessed in the world. 

The ambassadors expressed their thanks for the great and extraordinaryhonour thus conferred on them, and they were then requested to get into aroyal carriage which had been sent out for that purpose. After muchceremonious refusal they at last consented and, together with the Duke ofVendome, drove through Paris in that vehicle into the Faubourg SaintGermain. Arriving at the Hotel Gondy, they were, notwithstanding alltheir protestations, escorted up the staircase into the apartments by theDuke. 

"This honour is notable, " said the commissioners in their report to theStates, "and never shown to anyone before, so that our ill-wishers arefilled with spite. "

And Peter Pecquius was of the same opinion. "Everyone is grumbling here, "about the reception of the States' ambassadors, "because such honourswere never paid to any ambassador whatever, whether from Spain, England, or any other country. "

And there were many men living and employed in great affairs of State, both in France and in the Republic--the King and Villeroy, Barneveld andMaurice--who could remember how twenty-six years before a solemn embassyfrom the States had proceeded from the Hague to France to offer thesovereignty of their country to Henry's predecessor, had been keptignominiously and almost like prisoners four weeks long in Rouen, and hadbeen thrust back into the Netherlands without being admitted even to oneaudience by the monarch. Truly time, in the course of less than onegeneration of mankind, had worked marvellous changes in the fortunes ofthe Dutch Republic. 

President Jeannin came to visit them next day, with friendly proffers ofservice, and likewise the ambassador of Venice and the charge d'affairesof Great Britain. 

On the 22nd the royal carriages came by appointment to the Hotel Gondy, and took them for their first audience to the Louvre. They were receivedat the gate by a guard of honour, drums beating and arms presented, andconducted with the greatest ceremony to an apartment in the palace. Soonafterwards they were ushered into a gallery where the King stood, surrounded by a number of princes and distinguished officers of thecrown. These withdrew on the approach of the Netherlanders, leaving theKing standing alone. They made their reverence, and Henry saluted themall with respectful cordiality. Begging them to put on their hats again, he listened attentively to their address. 

The language of the discourse now pronounced was similar in tenour tothat almost contemporaneously held by the States' special envoys inLondon. Both documents, when offered afterwards in writing, bore theunmistakable imprint of the one hand that guided the whole politicalmachine. In various passages the phraseology was identical, and, indeed, the Advocate had prepared and signed the instructions for both embassieson the same day. 

The commissioners acknowledged in the strongest possible terms the greatand constant affection, quite without example, that Henry had manifestedto the Netherlands during the whole course of their war. They were at aloss to find language adequately to express their gratitude for thatfriendship, and the assistance subsequently afforded them in thenegotiations for truce. They apologized for the tardiness of the Statesin sending this solemn embassy of thanksgiving, partly on the ground ofthe delay in receiving the ratifications from Spain, partly by theprotracted contraventions by the Archdukes of certain articles in thetreaty, but principally by the terrible disasters occasioned throughouttheir country by the great inundations, and by the commotions in the cityof Utrecht, which had now been "so prudently and happily pacified. "

They stated that the chief cause of their embassy was to express theirrespectful gratitude, and to say that never had prince or state treasuredmore deeply in memory benefits received than did their republic thefavours of his Majesty, or could be more disposed to do their utmost todefend his Majesty's person, crown, or royal family against all attack. They expressed their joy that the King had with prudence, and heroiccourage undertaken the defence of the just rights of Brandenburg andNeuburg to the duchies of Cleve, Julich, and the other dependentprovinces. Thus had he put an end to the presumption of those who thoughtthey could give the law to all the world. They promised the co-operationof the States in this most important enterprise of their ally, notwithstanding their great losses in the war just concluded, and thediminution of revenue occasioned by the inundations by which they hadbeen afflicted; for they were willing neither to tolerate so unjust anusurpation as that attempted by the Emperor nor to fail to second hisMajesty in his generous designs. They observed also that they had beeninstructed to enquire whether his Majesty would not approve thecontracting of a strict league of mutual assistance between France, England, the United Provinces, and the princes of Germany. 

The King, having listened with close attention, thanked the envoys inwords of earnest and vigorous cordiality for their expressions ofaffection to himself. He begged them to remember that he had always beentheir good friend, and that he never would forsake them; that he hadalways hated the Spaniards, and should ever hate them; and that theaffairs of Julich must be arranged not only for the present but for thefuture. He requested them to deliver their propositions in writing tohim, and to be ready to put themselves into communication with themembers of his council, in order that they might treat with each otherroundly and without reserve. He should always deal with the Netherlandersas with his own people, keeping no back-door open, but pouring outeverything as into the lap of his best and most trusty friends. 

After this interview conferences followed daily between the ambassadorsand Villeroy, Sully, Jeannin, the Chancellor, and Puysieug. 

The King's counsellors, after having read the written paraphrase ofBarneveld's instructions, the communication of which followed their oralstatements, and which, among other specifications, contained a respectfulremonstrance against the projected French East India Company, as likelyto benefit the Spaniards only, while seriously injuring the States, complained that "the representations were too general, and that the paperseemed to contain nothing but compliments. "

The ambassadors, dilating on the various points and articles, maintainedwarmly that there was much more than compliments in their instructions. The ministers wished to know what the States practically were prepared todo in the affair of Cleve, which they so warmly and encouraginglyrecommended to the King. They asked whether the States' army would marchat once to Dusseldorf to protect the princes at the moment when the Kingmoved from Mezieres, and they made many enquiries as to what amount ofsupplies and munitions they could depend upon from the States' magazines. 

The envoys said that they had no specific instructions on these points, and could give therefore no conclusive replies. More than ever did Henryregret the absence of the great Advocate at this juncture. If he couldhave come, with the bridle on his neck, as Henry had so repeatedly urgedupon the resident ambassador, affairs might have marched more rapidly. The despotic king could never remember that Barneveld was not theunlimited sovereign of the United States, but only the seal-keeper of oneof the seven provinces and the deputy of Holland to the General Assembly. His indirect power, however vast, was only great because it was socarefully veiled. 

It was then proposed by Villeroy and Sully, and agreed to by thecommissioners, that M. De Bethune, a relative of the great financier, should be sent forthwith to the Hague, to confer privately with PrinceMaurice and Barneveld especially, as to military details of the comingcampaign. 

It was also arranged that the envoys should delay their departure untilde Bethune's return. Meantime Henry and the Nuncius had been exchangingplain and passionate language. Ubaldini reproached the King withdisregarding all the admonitions of his Holiness, and being about toplunge Christendom into misery and war for the love of the Princess ofConde. He held up to him the enormity of thus converting the King ofSpain and the Archdukes into his deadly enemies, and warned him that hewould by such desperate measures make even the States-General and theKing of Britain his foes, who certainly would never favour such schemes. The King replied that "he trusted to his own forces, not to those of hisneighbours, and even if the Hollanders should not declare for him stillhe would execute his designs. On the 15th of May most certainly he wouldput himself at the head of his army, even if he was obliged to put offthe Queen's coronation till October, and he could not consider the Kingof Spain nor the Archdukes his friends unless they at once made him somedemonstration of friendship. Being asked by the Nuncius whatdemonstration he wished, he answered flatly that he wished the Princessto be sent back to the Constable her father, in which case the affair ofJulich could be arranged amicably, and, at all events, if the warcontinued there, he need not send more than 4000 men. "

Thus, in spite of his mighty preparations, vehement demands forBarneveld, and profound combinations revealed to that statesman, toAerssens, and to the Duke of Sully only, this wonderful monarch was readyto drop his sword on the spot, to leave his friends in the lurch, toembrace his enemies, the Archduke first of all, instead of bombardingBrussels the very next week, as he had been threatening to do, providedthe beautiful Margaret could be restored to his arms through those of hervenerable father. 

He suggested to the Nuncius his hope that the Archduke would yet bewilling to wink at her escape, which he was now trying to arrange throughde Preaux at Brussels, while Ubaldini, knowing the Archduke incapable ofanything so dishonourable, felt that the war was inevitable. 

At the very same time too, Father Cotton, who was only too ready tobetray the secrets of the confessional when there was an object to gain, had a long conversation with the Archduke's ambassador, in which the holyman said that the King had confessed to him that he made the warexpressly to cause the Princess to be sent back to France, so that asthere could be no more doubt on the subject the father-confessor beggedPecquius, in order to prevent so great an evil, to devise "some promptand sudden means to induce his Highness the Archduke to order thePrincess to retire secretly to her own country. " The Jesuit had differentnotions of honour, reputation, and duty from those which influenced theArchduke. He added that "at Easter the King had been so well disposed toseek his salvation that he could easily have forgotten his affection forthe Princess, had she not rekindled the fire by her letters, in which shecaressed him with amorous epithets, calling him 'my heart, ' 'mychevalier, ' and similar terms of endearment. " Father Cotton also drew upa paper, which he secretly conveyed to Pecquius, "to prove that theArchduke, in terms of conscience and honour, might decide to permit thisescape, but he most urgently implored the Ambassador that for the love ofGod and the public good he would influence his Serene Highness to preventthis from ever coming to the knowledge of the world, but to keep thesecret inviolably. "

Thus, while Henry was holding high council with his own most trustedadvisers, and with the most profound statesmen of Europe, as to theopening campaign within a fortnight of a vast and general war, he wassecretly plotting with his father-confessor to effect what he avowed tobe the only purpose of that war, by Jesuitical bird-lime to be applied tothe chief of his antagonists. Certainly Barneveld and his colleagues werejustified in their distrust. To move one step in advance of their potentbut slippery ally might be a step off a precipice. 

On the 1st of May, Sully made a long visit to the commissioners. Heearnestly urged upon them the necessity of making the most of the presentopportunity. There were people in plenty, he said, who would gladly seethe King take another course, for many influential persons about him werealtogether Spanish in their inclinations. 

The King had been scandalized to hear from the Prince of Anhalt, withoutgoing into details, that on his recent passage through the Netherlands hehad noticed some change of feeling, some coolness in their HighMightinesses. The Duke advised that they should be very heedful, thatthey should remember how much more closely these matters regarded themthan anyone else, that they should not deceive themselves, but be firmlyconvinced that unless they were willing to go head foremost into thebusiness the French would likewise not commit themselves. Sully spokewith much earnestness and feeling, for it was obvious that both he andhis master had been disappointed at the cautious and limited nature ofthe instructions given to the ambassadors. 

An opinion had indeed prevailed, and, as we have seen, was to a certainextent shared in by Aerssens, and even by Sully himself, that the King'smilitary preparations were after all but a feint, and that if the Princeof Conde, and with him the Princess, could be restored to France, thewhole war cloud would evaporate in smoke. 

It was even asserted that Henry had made a secret treaty with the enemy, according to which, while apparently ready to burst upon the House ofAustria with overwhelming force, he was in reality about to shake handscordially with that power, on condition of being allowed to incorporateinto his own kingdom the very duchies in dispute, and of receiving thePrince of Conde and his wife from Spain. He was thus suspected of beingabout to betray his friends and allies in the most ignoble manner and forthe vilest of motives. The circulation of these infamous reports no doubtparalysed for a time the energy of the enemy who had made no requisitepreparations against the threatened invasion, but it sickened his friendswith vague apprehensions, while it cut the King himself to the heart andinfuriated him to madness. 

He asked the Nuncius one day what people thought in Rome and Italy of thewar about to be undertaken. Ubaldini replied that those best informedconsidered the Princess of Conde as the principal subject of hostilities;they thought that he meant to have her back. "I do mean to have herback, " cried Henry, with a mighty oath, and foaming with rage, "and Ishall have her back. No one shall prevent it, not even the Lieutenant ofGod on earth. "

But the imputation of this terrible treason weighed upon his mind andembittered every hour. 

The commissioners assured Sully that they had no knowledge of anycoolness or change such as Anhalt had reported on the part of theirprincipals, and the Duke took his leave. 

It will be remembered that Villeroy had, it was thought, been makingmischief between Anhalt and the States by reporting and misreportingprivate conversations between that Prince and the Dutch ambassador. 

As soon as Sully had gone, van der Myle waited upon Villeroy to ask, inname of himself and colleagues, for audience of leave-taking, the objectof their mission having been accomplished. The Secretary of State, too, like Sully, urged the importance of making the most of the occasion. Theaffair of Cleve, he said, did not very much concern the King, but hisMajesty had taken it to heart chiefly on account of the States and fortheir security. They were bound, therefore, to exert themselves to theutmost, but more would not be required of them than it would be possibleto fulfil. 

Van der Myle replied that nothing would be left undone by their HighMightinesses to support the King faithfully and according to theirpromise. 

On the 5th, Villeroy came to the ambassadors, bringing with him a letterfrom the King for the States-General, and likewise a written reply to thedeclarations made orally and in writing by the ambassadors to hisMajesty. 

The letter of Henry to "his very dear and good friends, allies, andconfederates, " was chiefly a complimentary acknowledgment of theexpressions of gratitude made to him on part of the States-General, andwarm approbation of their sage resolve to support the cause ofBrandenburg and Neuburg. He referred them for particulars to theconfidential conferences held between the commissioners and himself. Theywould state how important he thought it that this matter should besettled now so thoroughly as to require no second effort at any futuretime when circumstances might not be so propitious; and that he intendedto risk his person, at the head of his army, to accomplish this result. 

To the ambassadors he expressed his high satisfaction at their assurancesof affection, devotion, and gratitude on the part of the States. Heapproved and commended their resolution to assist the Elector and thePalatine in the affair of the duchies. He considered this a proof oftheir prudence and good judgment, as showing their conviction that theywere more interested and bound to render this assistance than any otherpotentates or states, as much from the convenience and security to bederived from the neighbourhood of princes who were their friends as fromdangers to be apprehended from other princes who were seeking toappropriate those provinces. The King therefore begged the States to moveforward as soon as possible the forces which they offered for thisenterprise according to his Majesty's suggestion sent through de Bethune. The King on his part would do the same with extreme care and diligence, from the anxiety he felt to prevent My Lords the States from receivingdetriment in places so vital to their preservation. 

He begged the States likewise to consider that it was meet not only tomake a first effort to put the princes into entire possession of theduchies, but to provide also for the durable success of the enterprise;to guard against any invasions that might be made in the future to ejectthose princes. Otherwise all their present efforts would be useless; andhis Majesty therefore consented on this occasion to enter into the newleague proposed by the States with all the princes and states mentionedin the memoir of the ambassadors for mutual assistance against all unjustoccupations, attempts, and baneful intrigues. 

Having no special information as to the infractions by the Archdukes ofthe recent treaty of truce, the King declined to discuss that subject forthe moment, although holding himself bound to all required of him as oneof the guarantees of that treaty. 

In regard to the remonstrance made by the ambassadors concerning thetrade of the East Indies, his Majesty disclaimed any intention of doinginjury to the States in permitting his subjects to establish a company inhis kingdom for that commerce. He had deferred hitherto taking action inthe matter only out of respect to the States, but he could no longerrefuse the just claims of his subjects if they should persist in them asurgently as they had thus far been doing. The right and liberty whichthey demanded was common to all, said the King, and he was certainlybound to have as great care for the interests of his subjects as forthose of his friends and allies. 

Here, certainly, was an immense difference in tone and in terms towardsthe Republic adopted respectively by their great and good friends andallies the Kings of France and Great Britain. It was natural enough thatHenry, having secretly expressed his most earnest hope that the Stateswould move at his side in his broad and general assault upon the House ofAustria, should impress upon them his conviction, which was a just one, that no power in the world was more interested in keeping a Spanish andCatholic prince out of the duchies than they were themselves. But whilethus taking a bond of them as it were for the entire fulfilment of theprimary enterprise, he accepted with cordiality, and almost withgratitude, their proposition of a close alliance of the Republic withhimself and with the Protestant powers which James had so superciliouslyrejected. 

It would have been difficult to inflict a more petty and, more studiedinsult upon the Republic than did the King of Great Britain at thatsupreme moment by his preposterous claim of sovereign rights over theNetherlands. He would make no treaty with them, he said, but should hefind it worth while to treat with his royal brother of France, he shouldprobably not shut the door in their faces. 

Certainly Henry's reply to the remonstrances of the ambassadors in regardto the India trade was as moderate as that of James had been haughty andperemptory in regard to the herring fishery. It is however sufficientlyamusing to see those excellent Hollanders nobly claiming that "the seawas as free as air" when the right to take Scotch pilchards was inquestion, while at the very same moment they were earnest for excludingtheir best allies and all the world besides from their East Indiamonopoly. But Isaac Le Maire and Jacques Le Roy had not lain so longdisguised in Zamet's house in Paris for nothing, nor had Aerssens socompletely "broke the neck of the French East India Company" as hesupposed. A certain Dutch freebooter, however, Simon Danzer by name, anative of Dordrecht, who had been alternately in the service of Spain, France, and the States, but a general marauder upon all powers, wasexercising at that moment perhaps more influence on the East India tradethan any potentate or commonwealth. 

He kept the seas just then with four swift-sailing and well-armedvessels, that potent skimmer of the ocean, and levied tribute uponProtestant and Catholic, Turk or Christian, with great impartiality. TheKing of Spain had sent him letters of amnesty and safe-conduct, withlarge pecuniary offers, if he would enter his service. The King of Francehad outbid his royal brother and enemy, and implored him to sweep theseas under the white flag. 

The States' ambassador begged his masters to reflect whether this"puissant and experienced corsair" should be permitted to serve Spaniardor Frenchman, and whether they could devise no expedient for turning himinto another track. "He is now with his fine ships at Marseilles, " saidAerssens. "He is sought for in all quarters by the Spaniard and by thedirectors of the new French East India Company, private persons who equipvessels of war. If he is not satisfied with this king's offers, he islikely to close with the King of Spain, who offers him 1000 crowns amonth. Avarice tickles him, but he is neither Spaniard nor Papist, and Ifear will be induced to serve with his ships the East India Company, andso will return to his piracy, the evil of which will always fall on ourheads. If My Lords the States will send me letters of abolition for him, in imitation of the French king, on condition of his returning to hishome in Zealand and quitting the sea altogether, something might be done. Otherwise he will be off to Marseilles again, and do more harm to us thanever. Isaac Le Maire is doing as much evil as he can, and one holds dailycouncil with him here. "

Thus the slippery Simon skimmed the seas from Marseilles to the Moluccas, from Java to Mexico, never to be held firmly by Philip, or Henry, orBarneveld. A dissolute but very daring ship's captain, born in Zealand, and formerly in the service of the States, out of which he had beenexpelled for many evil deeds, Simon Danzer had now become a professionalpirate, having his head-quarters chiefly at Algiers. His Englishcolleague Warde stationed himself mainly at Tunis, and both actedtogether in connivance with the pachas of the Turkish government. Theywith their considerable fleet, one vessel of which mounted sixty guns, were the terror of the Mediterranean, extorted tribute from the commerceof all nations indifferently, and sold licenses to the greatestgovernments of Europe. After growing rich with his accumulated booty, Simon was inclined to become respectable, a recourse which was alwaysopen to him--France, England, Spain, the United Provinces, vieing witheach other to secure him by high rank and pay as an honoured member oftheir national marine. He appears however to have failed in his plan ofretiring upon his laurels, having been stabbed in Paris by a man whom hehad formerly robbed and ruined. 

Villeroy, having delivered the letters with his own hands to theambassadors, was asked by them when and where it would be convenient forthe King to arrange the convention of close alliance. The Secretary ofState--in his secret heart anything but kindly disposed for this lovingunion with a republic he detested and with heretics whom he would haveburned--answered briefly that his Majesty was ready at any time, and thatit might take place then if they were provided with the necessary powers. He said in parting that the States should "have an eye to everything, foroccasions like the present were irrecoverable. " He then departed, sayingthat the King would receive them in final audience on the following day. 

Next morning accordingly Marshal de Boisdaulphin and de Bonoeil came withroyal coaches to the Hotel Gondy and escorted the ambassadors to theLouvre. On the way they met de Bethune, who had returned solo from theHague bringing despatches for the King and for themselves. While in theantechamber, they had opportunity to read their letters from theStates-General, his Majesty sending word that he was expecting them withimpatience, but preferred that they should read the despatches before theaudience. 

They found the King somewhat out of humour. He expressed himself astolerably well satisfied with the general tenour of the despatchesbrought by de Bethune, but complained loudly of the request now made bythe States, that the maintenance and other expenses of 4000 French in theStates' service should be paid in the coming campaign out of the royalexchequer. He declared that this proposition was "a small manifestationof ingratitude, " that my Lords the States were "little misers, " and thatsuch proceedings were "little avaricious tricks" such as he had notexpected of them. 

So far as England was concerned, he said there was a great difference. The English took away what he was giving. He did cheerfully a great dealfor his friends, he said, and was always ready doubly to repay what theydid for him. If, however, the States persisted in this course, he shouldcall his troops home again. 

The King, as he went on, became more and more excited, and showed decideddissatisfaction in his language and manner. It was not to be wondered at, for we have seen how persistently he had been urging that the Advocateshould come in person with "the bridle on his neck, " and now he had senthis son-in-law and two colleagues tightly tied up by stringentinstructions. And over an above all this, while he was contemplating ageneral war with intention to draw upon the States for unlimitedsupplies, behold, they were haggling for the support of a couple ofregiments which were virtually their own troops. 

There were reasons, however, for this cautiousness besides thoseunfounded, although not entirely chimerical, suspicions as to the King'sgood faith, to which we have alluded. It should not be forgotten that, although Henry had conversed secretly with the States' ambassador at fulllength on his far-reaching plans, with instructions that he shouldconfidentially inform the Advocate and demand his co-operation, not aword of it had been officially propounded to the States-General, nor tothe special embassy with whom he was now negotiating. No treaty ofalliance offensive or defensive existed between the Kingdom and theRepublic or between the Republic and any power whatever. It would havebeen culpable carelessness therefore at this moment for the primeminister of the States to have committed his government in writing to afull participation in a general assault upon the House of Austria; thefirst step in which would have been a breach of the treaty just concludedand instant hostilities with the Archdukes Albert and Isabella. 

That these things were in the immediate future was as plain as that nightwould follow day, but the hour had not yet struck for the States to throwdown the gauntlet. 

Hardly two months before, the King, in his treaty with the princes atHall, had excluded both the King of Great Britain and the States-Generalfrom participation in those arrangements, and it was grave matter forconsideration, therefore, for the States whether they should allow suchsuccour as they might choose to grant the princes to be included in theFrench contingent. The opportunity for treating as a sovereign power withthe princes and making friends with them was tempting, but it did notseem reasonable to the States that France should make use of them in thiswar without a treaty, and should derive great advantage from thealliance, but leave the expense to them. 

Henry, on the other hand, forgetting, when it was convenient to him, allabout the Princess of Conde, his hatred of Spain, and his resolution tocrush the House of Austria, chose to consider the war as made simply forthe love of the States-General and to secure them for ever from danger. 

The ambassadors replied to the King's invectives with great respect, andendeavoured to appease his anger. They had sent a special despatch totheir government, they said, in regard to all those matters, settingforth all the difficulties that had been raised, but had not wished totrouble his Majesty with premature discussions of them. They did notdoubt, however, that their High Mightinesses would so conduct this greataffair as to leave the King no ground of complaint. 

Henry then began to talk of the intelligence brought by de Bethune fromthe Hague, especially in regard to the sending of States' troops toDusseldorf and the supply of food for the French army. He did notbelieve, he said, that the Archdukes would refuse him the passage withhis forces through their territory, inasmuch as the States' army would beon the way to meet him. In case of any resistance, however, he declaredhis resolution to strike his blow and to cause people to talk of him. Hehad sent his quartermaster-general to examine the passes, who hadreported that it would be impossible to prevent his Majesty's advance. Hewas also distinctly informed that Marquis Spinola, keeping his placesgarrisoned, could not bring more than 8000 men into the field. The Dukeof Bouillon, however, was sending advices that his communications wereliable to be cut off, and that for this purpose Spinola could set on footabout 16, 000 infantry and 4000 horse. 

If the passage should be allowed by the Archdukes, the King stated hisintention of establishing magazines for his troops along the whole lineof march through the Spanish Netherlands and neighbouring districts, andto establish and fortify himself everywhere in order to protect hissupplies and cover his possible retreat. He was still in doubt, he said, whether to demand the passage at once or to wait until he had began tomove his army. He was rather inclined to make the request instantly inorder to gain time, being persuaded that he should receive no answereither of consent or refusal. 

Leaving all these details, the King then frankly observed that the affairof Cleve had a much wider outlook than people thought. Therefore theStates must consider well what was to be done to secure the whole work assoon as the Cleve business had been successfully accomplished. Upon thissubject it was indispensable that he should consult especially with hisExcellency (Prince Maurice) and some members of the General Assembly, whom he wished that My Lords the States-General should depute to thearmy. 

"For how much good will it do, " said the King, "if we drive off ArchdukeLeopold without establishing the princes in security for the future?Nothing is easier than to put the princes in possession. Every one willyield or run away before our forces, but two months after we havewithdrawn the enemy will return and drive the princes out again. I cannotalways be ready to spring out of my kingdom, nor to assemble such greatarmies. I am getting old, and my army moreover costs me 400, 000 crowns amonth, which is enough to exhaust all the treasures of France, Spain, Venice, and the States-General together. "

He added that, if the present occasion were neglected, the States wouldafterwards bitterly lament and never recover it. The Pope was very muchexcited, and was sending out his ambassadors everywhere. Only theprevious Saturday the new nuncius destined for France had left Rome. IfMy Lords the States would send deputies to the camp with full powers, hestood there firm and unchangeable, but if they remained cool in thebusiness, he warned them that they would enrage him. 

The States must seize the occasion, he repeated. It was bald behind, andmust be grasped by the forelock. It was not enough to have begun well. One must end well. "Finis coronat opus. " It was very easy to speak of aleague, but a league was not to be made in order to sit with arms tied, but to do good work. The States ought not to suffer that the Germansshould prove themselves more energetic, more courageous, than themselves. 

And again the King vehemently urged the necessity of his Excellency andsome deputies of the States coming to him "with absolute power" to treat. He could not doubt in that event of something solid being accomplished. 

"There are three things, " he continued, "which cause me to speak freely. I am talking with my friends whom I hold dear--yes, dearer, perhaps, thanthey hold themselves. I am a great king, and say what I choose to say. Iam old, and know by experience the ways of this world's affairs. I tellyou, then, that it is most important that you should come to me resolvedand firm on all points. "

He then requested the ambassadors to make full report of all that he hadsaid to their masters, to make the journey as rapidly as possible, inorder to encourage the States to the great enterprise and to meet hiswishes. He required from them, he said, not only activity of the body, but labour of the intellect. 

He was silent for a few moments, and then spoke again. "I shall notalways be here, " he said, "nor will you always have Prince Maurice, and afew others whose knowledge of your commonwealth is perfect. My Lords theStates must be up and doing while they still possess them. Nest Tuesday Ishall cause the Queen to be crowned at Saint-Denis; the followingThursday she will make her entry into Paris. Next day, Friday, I shalltake my departure. At the end of this month I shall cross the Meuse atMezieres or in that neighbourhood. "

He added that he should write immediately to Holland, to urge upon hisExcellency and the States to be ready to make the junction of their armywith his forces without delay. He charged the ambassadors to assure theirHigh Mightinesses that he was and should remain their truest friend, their dearest neighbour. He then said a few gracious and cordial words toeach of them, warmly embraced each, and bade them all farewell. 

The next day was passed by the ambassadors in paying and receivingfarewell visits, and on Saturday, the 8th, they departed from Paris, being escorted out of the gate by the Marshal de Boisdaulphin, with acavalcade of noblemen. They slept that night at Saint Denis, and thenreturned to Holland by the way of Calais and Rotterdam, reaching theHague on the 16th of May. 

I make no apology for the minute details thus given of the proceedings ofthis embassy, and especially of the conversations of Henry. 

The very words of those conversations were taken down on the spot by thecommissioners who heard them, and were carefully embodied in their reportmade to the States-General on their return, from which I have transcribedthem. 

It was a memorable occasion. The great king--for great he was, despitehis numerous vices and follies--stood there upon the threshold of a vastundertaking, at which the world, still half incredulous, stood gazing, half sick with anxiety. He relied on his own genius and valour chiefly, and after these on the brain of Barneveld and the sword of Maurice. Norwas his confidence misplaced. 

But let the reader observe the date of the day when those strikingutterances were made, and which have never before been made public. Itwas Thursday, the 6th May. "I shall not always be here, " said the King, . . . "I cannot be ready at any moment to spring out of my kingdom. ". . . "Friday of next week I take my departure. "

How much of heroic pathos in Henry's attitude at this supreme moment! Howmournfully ring those closing words of his address to the ambassadors!

The die was cast. A letter drawn up by the Duc de Sully was sent toArchduke Albert by the King. 

"My brother, " he said; "Not being able to refuse my best allies andconfederates the help which they have asked of me against those who wishto trouble them in the succession to the duchies and counties of Cleve, Julich, Mark, Berg, Ravensberg, and Ravenstein, I am advancing towardsthem with my army. As my road leads me through your country, I desire tonotify you thereof, and to know whether or not I am to enter as a friendor enemy. "

Such was the draft as delivered to the Secretary of State; "and as suchit was sent, " said Sully, "unless Villeroy changed it, as he had a greatdesire to do. "

Henry was mistaken in supposing that the Archduke would leave the letterwithout an answer. A reply was sent in due time, and the permissiondemanded was not refused. For although France was now full of militarymovement, and the regiments everywhere were hurrying hourly to the placesof rendezvous, though the great storm at last was ready to burst, theArchdukes made no preparations for resistance, and lapped themselves infatal security that nothing was intended but an empty demonstration. 

Six thousand Swiss newly levied, with 20, 000 French infantry and 6000horse, were waiting for Henry to place himself at their head at Mezieres. Twelve thousand foot and 2000 cavalry, including the French and Englishcontingents--a splendid army, led by Prince Maurice--were ready to marchfrom Holland to Dusseldorf. The army of the princes under PrinceChristian of Anhalt numbered 10, 000 men. The last scruples of the usuallyunscrupulous Charles Emmanuel had been overcome, and the Duke was quiteready to act, 25, 000 strong, with Marshal de Lesdiguieres, in theMilanese; while Marshal de la Force was already at the head of his forcesin the Pyrenees, amounting to 12, 000 foot and 2000 horse. 

Sully had already despatched his splendid trains of artillery to thefrontier. "Never was seen in France, and perhaps never will be seen thereagain, artillery more complete and better furnished, " said the Duke, thinking probably that artillery had reached the climax of perfectdestructiveness in the first decade of the seventeenth century. 

His son, the Marquis de Rosny, had received the post of grand master ofartillery, and placed himself at its head. His father was to follow asits chief, carrying with him as superintendent of finance a cash-box ofeight millions. 

The King had appointed his wife, Mary de' Medici, regent, with an eminentcouncil. 

The new nuncius had been requested to present himself with his letters ofcredence in the camp. Henry was unwilling that he should enter Paris, being convinced that he came to do his best, by declamation, persuasion, and intrigue, to paralyse the enterprise. Sully's promises to Ubaldini, the former nuncius, that his Holiness should be made king, howeverflattering to Paul V. , had not prevented his representatives fromvigorously denouncing Henry's monstrous scheme to foment heresy andencourage rebellion. 

The King's chagrin at the cautious limitations imposed upon the States'special embassy was, so he hoped, to be removed by full conferences inthe camp. Certainly he had shown in the most striking manner the respecthe felt for the States, and the confidence he reposed in them. 

"In the reception of your embassy, " wrote Aerssens to the Advocate, "certainly the King has so loosened the strap of his affection that hehas reserved nothing by which he could put the greatest king in the worldabove your level. "

He warned the States, however, that Henry had not found as much in theirpropositions as the common interest had caused him to promise himself. "Nevertheless he informs me in confidence, " said Aerssens, "that he willengage himself in nothing without you; nay, more, he has expressly toldme that he could hardly accomplish his task without your assistance, andit was for our sakes alone that he has put himself into this position andincurred this great expense. "

Some days later he informed Barneveld that he would leave to van der Myleand his colleagues the task of describing the great dissatisfaction ofthe King at the letters brought by de Bethune. He told him in confidencethat the States must equip the French regiments and put them in marchingorder if they wished to preserve Henry's friendship. He added that sincethe departure of the special embassy the King had been vehemently andseriously urging that Prince Maurice, Count Lewis William, Barneveld, andthree or four of the most qualified deputies of the States-General, entirely authorized to treat for the common safety, should meet with himin the territory of Julich on a fixed day. 

The crisis was reached. The King stood fully armed, thoroughly prepared, with trustworthy allies at his side, disposing of overwhelming forcesready to sweep down with irresistible strength upon the House of Austria, which, as he said and the States said, aspired to give the law to thewhole world. Nothing was left to do save, as the Ambassador said, to"uncouple the dogs of war and let them run. "

What preparations had Spain and the Empire, the Pope and the League, seton foot to beat back even for a moment the overwhelming onset? Nonewhatever. Spinola in the Netherlands, Fuentes in Milan, Bucquoy andLobkowitz and Lichtenstein in Prague, had hardly the forces of a moderatepeace establishment at their disposal, and all the powers save France andthe States were on the verge of bankruptcy. 

Even James of Great Britain--shuddering at the vast thundercloud whichhad stretched itself over Christendom growing blacker and blacker, precisely at this moment, in which he had proved to his own satisfactionthat the peace just made would perpetually endure--even James did notdare to traverse the designs of the king whom he feared, and the republicwhich he hated, in favour of his dearly loved Spain. Sweden, Denmark, theHanse Towns, were in harmony with France, Holland, Savoy, and the wholeProtestant force of Germany--a majority both in population and resourcesof the whole empire. What army, what combination, what device, whattalisman, could save the House of Austria, the cause of Papacy, from theimpending ruin?

A sudden, rapid, conclusive victory for the allies seemed as predestineda result as anything could be in the future of human affairs. 

On the 14th or 15th day of May, as he had just been informing the States'ambassadors, Henry meant to place himself at the head of his army. Thatwas the moment fixed by himself for "taking his departure. "

And now the ides of May had come--but not gone. 

In the midst of all the military preparations with which Paris had beenresounding, the arrangements for the Queen's coronation had beensimultaneously going forward. Partly to give check in advance to theintrigues which would probably at a later date be made by Conde, supported by the power of Spain, to invalidate the legitimacy of theDauphin, but more especially perhaps to further and to conceal what thefaithful Sully called the "damnable artifices" of the Queen's intimatecouncillors--sinister designs too dark to be even whispered at thatepoch, and of which history, during the lapse of more than two centuriesand a half, has scarcely dared to speak above its breath--it was deemedall important that the coronation should take place. 

A certain astrologer, Thomassin by name, was said to have bidden the Kingto beware the middle of the next month of May. Henry had tweaked thesoothsayer by the beard and made him dance twice or thrice about theroom. To the Duc de Vendome expressing great anxiety in regard toThomassin, Henry replied, "The astrologer is an old fool, and you are ayoung fool. " A certain prophetess called Pasithea had informed the Queenthat the King could not survive his fifty-seventh year. She was much inthe confidence of Mary de' Medici, who had insisted this year on herreturning to Paris. Henry, who was ever chafing and struggling to escapethe invisible and dangerous net which he felt closing about him, and whoconnected the sorceress with all whom he most loathed among the intimateassociates of the Queen, swore a mighty oath that she should not show herface again at court. "My heart presages that some signal disaster willbefall me on this coronation. Concini and his wife are urging the Queenobstinately to send for this fanatic. If she should come, there is nodoubt that my wife and I shall squabble well about her. If I discovermore about these private plots of hers with Spain, I shall be in a mightypassion. " And the King then assured the faithful minister of hisconviction that all the jealousy affected by the Queen in regard to thePrincess of Conde was but a veil to cover dark designs. It was necessaryin the opinion of those who governed her, the vile Concini and his wife, that there should be some apparent and flagrant cause of quarrel. Thepublic were to receive payment in these pretexts for want of better coin. Henry complained that even Sully and all the world besides attributed tojealousy that which was really the effect of a most refined malice. 

And the minister sometimes pauses in the midst of these revelations madein his old age, and with self-imposed and shuddering silence intimatesthat there are things he could tell which are too odious and dreadful tobe breathed. 

Henry had an invincible repugnance to that coronation on which the Queenhad set her heart. Nothing could be more pathetic than the isolatedposition in which he found himself, standing thus as he did on thethreshold of a mighty undertaking in which he was the central figure, anobject for the world to gaze upon with palpitating interest. At hishearth in the Louvre were no household gods. Danger lurked behind everytapestry in that magnificent old palace. A nameless dread dogged hisfootsteps through those resounding corridors. 

And by an exquisite refinement in torture the possible father of severalof his children not only dictated to the Queen perpetual outbreaks offrantic jealousy against her husband, but moved her to refuse withsuspicion any food and drink offered her by his hands. The Concini'swould even with unparalleled and ingenious effrontery induce her to makeuse of the kitchen arrangements in their apartments for the preparationof her daily meals?

Driven from house and home, Henry almost lived at the Arsenal. There hewould walk for hours in the long alleys of the garden, discussing withthe great financier and soldier his vast, dreamy, impracticable plans. Strange combination of the hero, the warrior, the voluptuary, the sage, and the schoolboy--it would be difficult to find in the whole range ofhistory a more human, a more attractive, a more provoking, a lessvenerable character. 

Haunted by omens, dire presentiments, dark suspicions with and withoutcause, he was especially averse from the coronation to which in a momentof weakness he had given his consent. 

Sitting in Sully's cabinet, in a low chair which the Duke had expresslyprovided for his use, tapping and drumming on his spectacle case, orstarting up and smiting himself on the thigh, he would pour out his soulhours long to his one confidential minister. "Ah, my friend, how thissacrament displeases me, " he said; "I know not why it is, but my hearttells me that some misfortune is to befall me. By God I shall die in thiscity, I shall never go out of it; I see very well that they are findingtheir last resource in my death. Ah, accursed coronation! thou wilt bethe cause of my death. "

So many times did he give utterance to these sinister forebodings thatSully implored him at last for leave to countermand the whole ceremonynotwithstanding the great preparations which had been made for thesplendid festival. "Yes, yes, " replied the King, "break up thiscoronation at once. Let me hear no more of it. Then I shall have my mindcured of all these impressions. I shall leave the town and fear nothing. "

He then informed his friend that he had received intimations that heshould lose his life at the first magnificent festival he should give, and that he should die in a carriage. Sully admitted that he had often, when in a carriage with him, been amazed at his starting and crying outat the slightest shock, having so often seen him intrepid among guns andcannon, pikes and naked swords. 

The Duke went to the Queen three days in succession, and with passionatesolicitations and arguments and almost upon his knees implored her toyield to the King's earnest desire, and renounce for the time at leastthe coronation. In vain. Mary de' Medici was obdurate as marble to hisprayers. 

The coronation was fixed for Thursday, the 13th May, two days later thanthe time originally appointed when the King conversed with the States'ambassadors. On the following Sunday was to be the splendid and solemnentrance of the crowned Queen. On the Monday, Henry, postponing likewisefor two days his original plan of departure, would leave for the army. 

Meantime there were petty annoyances connected with the details of thecoronation. Henry had set his heart on having his legitimatized children, the offspring of the fair Gabrielle, take their part in the ceremony onan equal footing with the princes of the blood. They were not entitled towear the lilies of France upon their garments, and the King wassolicitous that "the Count"--as Soissons, brother of Prince Conti anduncle of Conde, was always called--should dispense with those ensigns forhis wife upon this solemn occasion, and that the other princesses of theblood should do the same. Thus there would be no appearance ofinferiority on the part of the Duchess of Vendome. 

The Count protested that he would have his eyes torn out of his headrather than submit to an arrangement which would do him so much shame. Hewent to the Queen and urged upon her that to do this would likewise be aninjury to her children, the Dukes of Orleans and of Anjou. He refusedflatly to appear or allow his wife to appear except in the costumebefitting their station. The King on his part was determined not toabandon his purpose. He tried to gain over the Count by the most splendidproposals, offering him the command of the advance-guard of the army, orthe lieutenancy-general of France in the absence of the King, 30, 000crowns for his equipment and an increase of his pension if he would causehis wife to give up the fleurs-de-lys on this occasion. The alternativewas to be that, if she insisted upon wearing them, his Majesty wouldnever look upon him again with favourable eyes. 

The Count never hesitated, but left Paris, refusing to appear at theceremony. The King was in a towering passion, for to lose the presence ofthis great prince of the blood at a solemnity expressly intended as ademonstration against the designs hatching by the first of all theprinces of the blood under patronage of Spain was a severe blow to hispride and a check to his policy. '

Yet it was inconceivable that he could at such a moment commit sosuperfluous and unmeaning a blunder. He had forced Conde into exile, intrigue with the enemy, and rebellion, by open and audacious efforts todestroy his domestic peace, and now he was willing to alienate one of hismost powerful subjects in order to place his bastards on a level withroyalty. While it is sufficiently amusing to contemplate this proposedbarter of a chief command in a great army or the lieutenancy-general of amighty kingdom at the outbreak of a general European war against a bit ofembroidery on the court dress of a lady, yet it is impossible not torecognize something ideal and chivalrous from his own point of view inthe refusal of Soissons to renounce those emblems of pure and highdescent, those haughty lilies of St. Louis, against any bribes of placeand pelf however dazzling. 

The coronation took place on Thursday, 13th May, with the pomp andglitter becoming great court festivals; the more pompous and glitteringthe more the monarch's heart was wrapped in gloom. The representatives ofthe great powers were conspicuous in the procession; Aerssens, the Dutchambassador, holding a foremost place. The ambassadors of Spain and Veniceas usual squabbled about precedence and many other things, and actuallycame to fisticuffs, the fight lasting a long time and ending somewhat tothe advantage of the Venetian. But the sacrament was over, and Mary de'Medici was crowned Queen of France and Regent of the Kingdom during theabsence of the sovereign with his army. 

Meantime there had been mysterious warnings darker and more distinct thanthe babble of the soothsayer Thomassin or the ravings of the lunaticPasithea. Count Schomberg, dining at the Arsenal with Sully, had beencalled out to converse with Mademoiselle de Gournay, who implored that acertain Madame d'Escomans might be admitted to audience of the King. Thatperson, once in direct relations with the Marchioness of Verneuil, theone of Henry's mistresses who most hated him, affirmed that a man fromthe Duke of Epernon's country was in Paris, agent of a conspiracy seekingthe King's life. 

The woman not enjoying a very reputable character found it impossible toobtain a hearing, although almost frantic with her desire to save hersovereign's life. The Queen observed that it was a wicked woman, who wasaccusing all the world, and perhaps would accuse her too. 

The fatal Friday came. Henry drove out, in his carriage to see thepreparations making for the triumphal entrance of the Queen into Paris onthe following Sunday. What need to repeat the tragic, familiar tale? Thecoach was stopped by apparent accident in the narrow street de laFeronniere, and Francis Ravaillac, standing on the wheel, drove his knifethrough the monarch's heart. The Duke of Epernon, sitting at his side, threw his cloak over the body and ordered the carriage back to theLouvre. 

"They have killed him, 'e ammazato, '" cried Concini (so says tradition), thrusting his head into the Queen's bedchamber. 

 [Michelet, 197. It is not probable that the documents concerning the trial, having been so carefully suppressed from the beginning, especially the confession dictated to Voisin--who wrote it kneeling on the ground, and was perhaps so appalled at its purport that he was afraid to write it legibly--will ever see the light. I add in the Appendix some contemporary letters of persons, as likely as any one to know what could be known, which show how dreadful were the suspicions which men entertained, and which they hardly ventured to whisper to each other]. 

That blow had accomplished more than a great army could have done, andSpain now reigned in Paris. The House of Austria, without making anymilitary preparations, had conquered, and the great war of religion andpolitics was postponed for half a dozen years. 

This history has no immediate concern with solving the mysteries of thatstupendous crime. The woman who had sought to save the King's life nowdenounced Epernon as the chief murderer, and was arrested, examined, accused of lunacy, proved to be perfectly sane, and, persisting in herstatements with perfect coherency, was imprisoned for life for her pains;the Duke furiously demanding her instant execution. 

The documents connected with the process were carefully suppressed. Theassassin, tortured and torn by four horses, was supposed to have revealednothing and to have denied the existence of accomplices. 

The great accused were too omnipotent to be dealt with by humble accusersor by convinced but powerless tribunals. The trial was all mystery, hugger-mugger, horror. Yet the murderer is known to have dictated to theGreflier Voisin, just before expiring on the Greve, a declaration whichthat functionary took down in a handwriting perhaps purposely illegible. 

Two centuries and a half have passed away, yet the illegible originalrecord is said to exist, to have been plainly read, and to contain thenames of the Queen and the Duke of Epernon. 

Twenty-six years before, the pistol of Balthasar Gerard had destroyed theforemost man in Europe and the chief of a commonwealth just strugglinginto existence. Yet Spain and Rome, the instigators and perpetrators ofthe crime, had not reaped the victory which they had the right to expect. The young republic, guided by Barneveld and loyal to the son of themurdered stadholder, was equal to the burthen suddenly descending uponits shoulders. Instead of despair there had been constancy. Instead ofdistracted counsels there had been heroic union of heart and hand. Ratherthan bend to Rome and grovel to Philip, it had taken its sovereignty inits hands, offered it successively, without a thought ofself-aggrandizement on the part of its children, to the crowns of Franceand Great Britain, and, having been repulsed by both, had learned afterfiery trials and incredible exertions to assert its own high and foremostplace among the independent powers of the world. 

And now the knife of another priest-led fanatic, the wretched butunflinching instrument of a great conspiracy, had at a blow decapitatedFrance. No political revolution could be much more thorough than thatwhich had been accomplished in a moment of time by Francis Ravaillac. 

On the 14th of May, France, while in spiritual matters obedient to thePope, stood at the head of the forces of Protestantism throughout Europe, banded together to effect the downfall of the proud house of Austria, whose fortunes and fate were synonymous with Catholicism. The Balticpowers, the majority of the Teutonic races, the Kingdom of Britain, thegreat Republic of the Netherlands, the northernmost and most warlikegovernments of Italy, all stood at the disposition of the warrior-king. Venice, who had hitherto, in the words of a veteran diplomatist, "shunnedto look a league or a confederation in the face, if there was anyProtestant element in it, as if it had been the head of Medusa, " hadformally forbidden the passage of troops northwards to the relief of theassailed power. Savoy, after direful hesitations, had committed herselfbody and soul to the great enterprise. Even the Pope, who feared theovershadowing personality of Henry, and was beginning to believe hishouse's private interests more likely to flourish under the protection ofthe French than the Spanish king, was wavering in his fidelity to Spainand tempted by French promises: If he should prove himself incapable ofeffecting a pause in the great crusade, it was doubtful on which side hewould ultimately range himself; for it was at least certain that the newCatholic League, under the chieftainship of Maximilian of Bavaria, wasresolved not to entangle its fortunes inextricably with those of theAustrian house. 

The great enterprise, first unfolding itself with the episode of Cleveand Berg and whimsically surrounding itself with the fantastic idyl ofthe Princess of Conde, had attained vast and misty proportions in thebrain of its originator. Few political visions are better known inhistory than the "grand design" of Henry for rearranging the map of theworld at the moment when, in the middle of May, he was about to draw hissword. Spain reduced to the Mediterranean and the Pyrenees, but presentedwith both the Indies, with all America and the whole Orient in fee; theEmpire taken from Austria and given to Bavaria; a constellation of Statesin Italy, with the Pope for president-king; throughout the rest ofChristendom a certain number of republics, of kingdoms, of religions--agreat confederation of the world, in short--with the most Christian kingfor its dictator and protector, and a great Amphictyonic council toregulate all disputes by solemn arbitration, and to make war in thefuture impossible, such in little was his great design. 

Nothing could be more humane, more majestic, more elaborate, more utterlypreposterous. And all this gigantic fabric had passed away in aninstant--at one stroke of a broken table knife sharpened on a carriagewheel. 

Most pitiful was the condition of France on the day after, and for yearsafter, the murder of the King. Not only was the kingdom for the timebeing effaced from the roll of nations, so far as external relations wereconcerned, but it almost ceased to be a kingdom. The ancient monarchy ofHugh Capet, of Saint-Louis, of Henry of France and Navarre, wastransformed into a turbulent, self-seeking, quarrelsome, pillaging, pilfering democracy of grandees. The Queen-Regent was tossed hither andthither at the sport of the winds and waves which shifted every hour inthat tempestuous court. 

No man pretended to think of the State. Every man thought only ofhimself. The royal exchequer was plundered with a celerity and cynicalrecklessness such as have been rarely seen in any age or country. Themillions so carefully hoarded by Sully, and exhibited so dramatically bythat great minister to the enraptured eyes of his sovereign; thattreasure in the Bastille on which Henry relied for payment of the armieswith which he was to transform the world, all disappeared in a few weeksto feed the voracious maw of courtiers, paramours, and partisans!

The Queen showered gold like water upon her beloved Concini that he mightpurchase his Marquisate of Ancre, and the charge of first gentleman ofthe court from Bouillon; that he might fit himself for the government ofPicardy; that he might elevate his marquisate into a dukedom. Conde, having no further reason to remain in exile, received as a gift from thetrembling Mary de' Medici the magnificent Hotel Gondy, where the Dutchambassadors had so recently been lodged, for which she paid 65, 000crowns, together with 25, 000 crowns to furnish it, 50, 000 crowns to payhis debts, 50, 000 more as yearly pension. 

He claimed double, and was soon at sword's point with the Queen in spiteof her lavish bounty. 

Epernon, the true murderer of Henry, trampled on courts of justice andcouncils of ministers, frightened the court by threatening to convert hispossession of Metz into an independent sovereignty, as Balagny hadformerly seized upon Cambray, smothered for ever the process ofRavaillac, caused those to be put to death or immured for life indungeons who dared to testify to his complicity in the great crime, andstrode triumphantly over friends and enemies throughout France, althoughso crippled by the gout that he could scarcely walk up stairs. 

There was an end to the triumvirate. Sully's influence was gone for ever. The other two dropped the mask. The Chancellor and Villeroy revealedthemselves to be what they secretly had always been--humble servants andstipendiaries of Spain. The formal meetings of the council were of littleimportance, and were solemn, tearful, and stately; draped in woe for thegreat national loss. In the private cabinet meetings in the entresol ofthe Louvre, where the Nuncius and the Spanish ambassador held counselwith Epernon and Villeroy and Jeannin and Sillery, the tone was merry andloud; the double Spanish marriage and confusion to the Dutch being thechief topics of consultation. 

But the anarchy grew day by day into almost hopeless chaos. There was nosatisfying the princes of the blood nor the other grandees. Conde, whosereconciliation with the Princess followed not long after the death ofHenry and his own return to France, was insatiable in his demands formoney, power, and citadels of security. Soissons, who might formerly havereceived the lieutenancy-general of the kingdom by sacrificing the lilieson his wife's gown, now disputed for that office with his elder brotherConti, the Prince claiming it by right of seniority, the Count denouncingConti as deaf, dumb, and imbecile, till they drew poniards on each otherin the very presence of the Queen; while Conde on one occasion, havingbeen refused the citadels which he claimed, Blaye and Chateau Trompette, threw his cloak over his nose and put on his hat while the Queen wasspeaking, and left the council in a fury, declaring that Villeroy and thechancellor were traitors, and that he would have them both soundlycudgelled. Guise, Lorraine, Epernon, Bouillon, and other great lordsalways appeared in the streets of Paris at the head of three, four, orfive hundred mounted and armed retainers; while the Queen in herdistraction gave orders to arm the Paris mob to the number of fiftythousand, and to throw chains across the streets to protect herself andher son against the turbulent nobles. 

Sully, hardly knowing to what saint to burn his candle, being forced toresign his great posts, was found for a time in strange politicalcombination with the most ancient foes of his party and himself. Thekaleidoscope whirling with exasperating quickness showed ancient Leaguersand Lorrainers banded with and protecting Huguenots against the Crown, while princes of the blood, hereditary patrons and chiefs of theHuguenots, became partisans and stipendiaries of Spain. 

It is easy to see that circumstances like these rendered the position ofthe Dutch commonwealth delicate and perilous. 

Sully informed Aerssens and van der Myle, who had been sent back to Parison special mission very soon after the death of the King, that it took ahundred hours now to accomplish a single affair, whereas under Henry ahundred affairs were transacted in a single hour. But Sully's sun hadset, and he had few business conferences now with the ambassadors. 

Villeroy and the Chancellor had fed fat their ancient grudge to the onceomnipotent minister, and had sworn his political ruin. The old secretaryof state had held now complete control of the foreign alliances andcombinations of France, and the Dutch ambassadors could be under nodelusion as to the completeness of the revolution. 

"You will find a passion among the advisers of the Queen, " said Villeroyto Aerssens and van der Myle, "to move in diametrical opposition to theplans of the late king. " And well might the ancient Leaguer and presentpensionary of Spain reveal this foremost fact in a policy of which he wasin secret the soul. He wept profusely when he first received FrancisAerssens, but after these "useless tears, " as the Envoy called them, hesoon made it manifest that there was no more to be expected of France, inthe great project which its government had so elaborately set on foot. 

Villeroy was now sixty-six years of age, and had been secretary of stateduring forty-two years and under four kings. A man of delicate health, frail body, methodical habits, capacity for routine, experience inpolitical intrigue, he was not personally as greedy of money as many ofhis contemporaries, and was not without generosity; but he loved power, the Pope, and the House of Austria. He was singularly reserved in public, practised successfully the talent of silence, and had at last arrived atthe position he most coveted, the virtual presidency of the council, andsaw the men he most hated beneath his feet. 

At the first interview of Aerssens with the Queen-Regent she was drownedin tears, and could scarcely articulate an intelligible sentence. So faras could be understood she expressed her intention of carrying out theKing's plans, of maintaining the old alliances, of protecting bothreligions. Nothing, however, could be more preposterous than suchphrases. Villeroy, who now entirely directed the foreign affairs of thekingdom, assured the Ambassador that France was much more likely to applyto the States for assistance than render them aid in any enterprisewhatever. "There is no doubt, " said Aerssens, "that the Queen is entirelyin the hands of Spain and the priests. " Villeroy, whom Henry was wont tocall the pedagogue of the council, went about sighing dismally, wishinghimself dead, and perpetually ejaculating, "Ho! poor France, how muchhast thou still to suffer!" In public he spoke of nothing but of union, and of the necessity of carrying out the designs of the King, instructingthe docile Queen to hold the same language. In private he was quitedetermined to crush those designs for ever, and calmly advised the Dutchgovernment to make an amicable agreement with the Emperor in regard tothe Cleve affair as soon as possible; a treaty which would have beenshameful for France and the possessory princes, and dangerous, if notdisastrous, for the States-General. "Nothing but feverish and sickcounsels, " he said, "could be expected from France, which had now lostits vigour and could do nothing but groan. "

Not only did the French council distinctly repudiate the idea of doinganything more for the princes than had been stipulated by the treaty ofHall--that is to say, a contingent of 8000 foot and 2000 horse--but manyof them vehemently maintained that the treaty, being a personal one ofthe late king, was dead with him? The duty of France was now in theiropinion to withdraw from these mad schemes as soon as possible, to makepeace with the House of Austria without delay, and to cement thefriendship by the double marriages. 

Bouillon, who at that moment hated Sully as much as the most vehementCatholic could do, assured the Dutch envoy that the government was, underspecious appearances, attempting to deceive the States; a propositionwhich it needed not the evidence of that most intriguing duke to makemanifest to so astute a politician; particularly as there was none morebent on playing the most deceptive game than Bouillon. There would be notroops to send, he said, and even if there were, there would be nopossibility of agreeing on a chief. The question of religion would atonce arise. As for himself, the Duke protested that he would not acceptthe command if offered him. He would not agree to serve under the Princeof Anhalt, nor would he for any consideration in the world leave thecourt at that moment. At the same time Aerssens was well aware thatBouillon, in his quality of first marshal of France, a Protestant and aprince having great possessions on the frontier, and the brother-in-lawof Prince Maurice, considered himself entitled to the command of thetroops should they really be sent, and was very indignant at the idea ofits being offered to any one else. 

 [Aerssens worked assiduously, two hours long on one occasion, to effect a reconciliation between the two great Protestant chiefs, but found Bouillon's demands "so shameful and unreasonable" that he felt obliged to renounce all further attempts. In losing Sully from the royal councils, the States' envoy acknowledged that the Republic had lost everything that could be depended on at the French court. "All the others are time-serving friends, " he said, "or saints without miracles. "--Aerssens to Barneveld, 11 June, 1610. ]

He advised earnestly therefore that the States should make a firm demandfor money instead of men, specifying the amount that might be consideredthe equivalent of the number of troops originally stipulated. 

It is one of the most singular spectacles in history; France sinking intothe background of total obscurity in an instant of time, at one blow of aknife, while the Republic, which she had been patronizing, protecting, but keeping always in a subordinate position while relying implicitlyupon its potent aid, now came to the front, and held up on its strongshoulders an almost desperate cause. Henry had been wont to call theStates-General "his courage and his right arm, " but he had alwaysstrictly forbidden them to move an inch in advance of him, but ever tofollow his lead, and to take their directions from himself. They were apart, and an essential one, in his vast designs; but France, or he whoembodied France, was the great providence, the destiny, theall-directing, all-absorbing spirit, that was to remodel and control thewhole world. He was dead, and France and her policy were already in astate of rapid decomposition. 

Barneveld wrote to encourage and sustain the sinking state. "Our courageis rising in spite and in consequence of the great misfortune, " he said. He exhorted the Queen to keep her kingdom united, and assured her that MyLords the States would maintain themselves against all who dared toassail them. He offered in their name the whole force of the Republic totake vengeance on those who had procured the assassination, and to defendthe young king and the Queen-Mother against all who might make anyattempt against their authority. He further declared, in language not tobe mistaken, that the States would never abandon the princes and theircause. 

This was the earliest indication on the part of the Advocate of theintention of the Republic--so long as it should be directed by hiscounsels--to support the cause of the young king, helpless and incapableas he was, and directed for the time being by a weak and wicked mother, against the reckless and depraved grandees, who were doing their best todestroy the unity and the independence of France, Cornelis van der Mylewas sent back to Paris on special mission of condolence and comfort fromthe States-General to the sorely afflicted kingdom. 

On the 7th of June, accompanied by Aerssens, he had a long interview withVilleroy. That minister, as usual, wept profusely, and said that inregard to Cleve it was impossible for France to carry out the designs ofthe late king. He then listened to what the ambassadors had to urge, andcontinued to express his melancholy by weeping. Drying his tears for atime, he sought by a long discourse to prove that France during thistender minority of the King would be incapable of pursuing the policy ofhis father. It would be even too burthensome to fulfil the Treaty ofHall. The friends of the crown, he said, had no occasion to further it, and it would be much better to listen to propositions for a treaty. Archduke Albert was content not to interfere in the quarrel if the Queenwould likewise abstain; Leopold's forces were altogether too weak to makehead against the army of the princes, backed by the power of My Lords theStates, and Julich was neither strong nor well garrisoned. He concludedby calmly proposing that the States should take the matter in hand bythemselves alone, in order to lighten the burthen of France, whose vigourhad been cut in two by that accursed knife. 

A more sneaking and shameful policy was never announced by the ministerof a great kingdom. Surely it might seem that Ravaillac had cut in twainnot the vigour only but the honour and the conscience of France. But theenvoys, knowing in their hearts that they were talking not with a Frenchbut a Spanish secretary of state, were not disposed to be the dupes ofhis tears or his blandishments. 

They reminded him that the Queen-Regent and her ministers since themurder of the King had assured the States-General and the princes oftheir firm intention to carry out the Treaty of Hall, and they observedthat they had no authority to talk of any negotiation. The affair of theduchies was not especially the business of the States, and the Secretarywas well aware that they had promised their succour on the expresscondition that his Majesty and his army should lead the way, and thatthey should follow. This was very far from the plan now suggested, thatthey should do it all, which would be quite out of the question. Francehad a strong army, they said, and it would be better to use it than toefface herself so pitiably. The proposition of abstention on the part ofthe Archduke was a delusion intended only to keep France out of thefield. 

Villeroy replied by referring to English affairs. King James, he said, was treating them perfidiously. His first letters after the murder hadbeen good, but by the following ones England seemed to wish to put herfoot on France's throat, in order to compel her to sue for an alliance. The British ministers had declared their resolve not to carry out thatconvention of alliance, although it had been nearly concluded in thelifetime of the late king, unless the Queen would bind herself to makegood to the King of Great Britain that third part of the subsidiesadvanced by France to the States which had been furnished on Englishaccount!

This was the first announcement of a grievance devised by the politiciansnow governing France to make trouble for the States with that kingdom andwith Great Britain likewise. According to a treaty made at Hampton Courtby Sully during his mission to England at the accession of James, it hadbeen agreed that one-third of the moneys advanced by France in aid of theUnited Provinces should be credited to the account of Great Britain, indiminution of the debt for similar assistance rendered by Elizabeth toHenry. In regard to this treaty the States had not been at all consulted, nor did they acknowledge the slightest obligation in regard to it. Thesubsidies in men and in money provided for them both by France and byEngland in their struggle for national existence had always been mostgratefully acknowledged by the Republic, but it had always been perfectlyunderstood that these expenses had been incurred by each kingdom out ofan intelligent and thrifty regard for its own interest. Nothing could bemore ridiculous than to suppose France and England actuated bydisinterested sympathy and benevolence when assisting the Netherlandpeople in its life-and-death struggle against the dire and deadly enemyof both crowns. Henry protested that, while adhering to Rome in spiritualmatters, his true alliances and strength had been found in the UnitedProvinces, in Germany, and in Great Britain. As for the States, he hadspent sixteen millions of livres, he said, in acquiring a perfectbenevolence on the part of the States to his person. It was the bestbargain he had ever made, and he should take care to preserve it at anycost whatever, for he considered himself able, when closely united withthem, to bid defiance to all the kings in Europe together. 

Yet it was now the settled policy of the Queen-Regent's council, so faras the knot of politicians guided by the Nuncius and the Spanishambassador in the entresols of the Louvre could be called a council, toforce the States to refund that third, estimated at something betweenthree and four million livres, which France had advanced them on accountof Great Britain. 

Villeroy told the two ambassadors at this interview that, if GreatBritain continued to treat the Queen-Regent in such fashion, she would beobliged to look about for other allies. There could hardly be doubt as tothe quarter in which Mary de' Medici was likely to look. Meantime, theSecretary of State urged the envoys "to intervene at once to-mediate thedifference. " There could be as little doubt that to mediate thedifference was simply to settle an account which they did not owe. 

The whole object of the Minister at this first interview was to inducethe States to take the whole Cleve enterprise upon their own shoulders, and to let France off altogether. The Queen-Regent as then advised meantto wash her hands of the possessory princes once and for ever. The envoyscut the matter short by assuring Villeroy that they would do nothing ofthe kind. He begged them piteously not to leave the princes in the lurch, and at the same time not to add to the burthens of France at sodisastrous a moment. 

So they parted. Next day, however, they visited the Secretary again, andfound him more dismal and flaccid than ever. 

He spoke feebly and drearily about the succour for the great enterprise, recounted all the difficulties in the way, and, having thrown downeverything that the day before had been left standing, he tried to excusean entire change of policy by the one miserable crime. 

He painted a forlorn picture of the council and of France. "I can myselfdo nothing as I wish, " added the undisputed controller of thatgovernment's policy, and then with a few more tears he concluded byrequesting the envoys to address their demands to the Queen in writing. 

This was done with the customary formalities and fine speeches on bothsides; a dull comedy by which no one was amused. 

Then Bouillon came again, and assured them that there had been a chancethat the engagements of Henry, followed up by the promise of theQueen-Regent, would be carried out, but now the fact was not to beconcealed that the continued battery of the Nuncius, of the ambassadorsof Spain and of the Archdukes, had been so effective that nothing sure orsolid was thenceforth to be expected; the council being resolved toaccept the overtures of the Archduke for mutual engagement to abstainfrom the Julich enterprise. 

Nothing in truth could be more pitiable than the helpless drifting of theonce mighty kingdom, whenever the men who governed it withdrew theirattention for an instant from their private schemes of advancement andplunder to cast a glance at affairs of State. In their secret heart theycould not doubt that France was rushing on its ruin, and that in thealliance of the Dutch commonwealth, Britain, and the German Protestants, was its only safety. But they trembled before the Pope, grown bold andformidable since the death of the dreaded Henry. To offend his Holiness, the King of Spain, the Emperor, and the great Catholics of France, was tomake a crusade against the Church. Garnier, the Jesuit, preached from hispulpit that "to strike a blow in the Cleve enterprise was no less a sinthan to inflict a stab in the body of our Lord. " The Parliament of Parishaving ordered the famous treatise of the Jesuit Mariana--justifying thekilling of excommunicated kings by their subjects--to be publicly burnedbefore Notre Dame, the Bishop opposed the execution of the decree. TheParliament of Paris, although crushed by Epernon in its attempts to fixthe murder of the King upon himself as the true culprit, was at leaststrong enough to carry out this sentence upon a printed, volumerecommending the deed, and the Queen's council could only do its best tomitigate the awakened wrath of the Jesuits at this exercise of legalauthority. --At the same time, it found on the whole so many moredifficulties in a cynical and shameless withdrawal from the Treaty ofHall than in a nominal and tardy fulfilment of its conditions that itresolved at last to furnish the 8000 foot and 2000 horse promised to thepossessory princes. The next best thing to abandoning entirely even thislittle shred, this pitiful remnant, of the splendid designs of Henry wasto so arrange matters that the contingent should be feebly commanded, andset on foot in so dilatory a manner that the petty enterprise should onthe part of France be purely perfunctory. The grandees of the kingdom hadsomething more important to do than to go crusading in Germany, with thehelp of a heretic republic, to set up the possessory princes. They werefighting over the prostrate dying form of their common mother for theirshare of the spoils, stripping France before she was dead, and castinglots for her vesture. 

Soissons was on the whole in favour of the Cleve expedition. Epernon wasdesperately opposed to it, and maltreated Villeroy in full council whenhe affected to say a word, insincere as the Duke knew it to be, in favourof executing agreements signed by the monarch, and sealed with the greatseal of France. The Duke of Guise, finding himself abandoned by theQueen, and bitterly opposed and hated by Soissons, took sides with hisdeaf and dumb and imbecile brother, and for a brief interval the Duke ofSully joined this strange combination of the House of Lorraine and chiefsof ancient Leaguers, who welcomed him with transport, and promised himsecurity. 

Then Bouillon, potent by his rank, his possessions, and his authorityamong the Protestants, publicly swore that he would ruin Sully and changethe whole order of the government. What more lamentable spectacle, whatmore desolate future for the cause of religious equality, which for amoment had been achieved in France, than this furious alienation of thetrusted leaders of the Huguenots, while their adversaries were carryingeverything before them? At the council board Bouillon quarrelledostentatiously with Sully, shook his fist in his face, and but for theQueen's presence would have struck him. Next day he found that the Queenwas intriguing against himself as well as against Sully, was making acat's-paw of him, and was holding secret councils daily from which he aswell as Sully was excluded. At once he made overtures of friendship toSully, and went about proclaiming to the world that all Huguenots were tobe removed from participation in affairs of state. His vows of vengeancewere for a moment hushed by the unanimous resolution of the council that, as first marshal of France, having his principality on the frontier, andbeing of the Reformed religion, he was the fittest of all to command theexpedition. Surely it might be said that the winds and tides were notmore changeful than the politics of the Queen's government. The Dutchambassador was secretly requested by Villeroy to negotiate with Bouillonand offer him the command of the Julich expedition. The Duke affected tomake difficulties, although burning to obtain the post, but at lastconsented. All was settled. Aerssens communicated at once with Villeroy, and notice of Bouillon's acceptance was given to the Queen, when, behold, the very next day Marshal de la Chatre was appointed to the commandexpressly because he was a Catholic. Of course the Duke of Bouillon, furious with Soissons and Epernon and the rest of the government, wasmore enraged than ever against the Queen. His only hope was now in Conde, but Conde at the outset, on arriving at the Louvre, offered his heart tothe Queen as a sheet of white paper. Epernon and Soissons received himwith delight, and exchanged vows of an eternal friendship of severalweeks' duration. And thus all the princes of the blood, all the cousinsof Henry of Navarre, except the imbecile Conti, were ranged on the sideof Spain, Rome, Mary de' Medici, and Concino Concini, while the son ofthe Balafre, the Duke of Mayenne, and all their adherents were makingcommon cause with the Huguenots. What better example had been seenbefore, even in that country of pantomimic changes, of the effronterywith which Religion was made the strumpet of Political Ambition?

All that day and the next Paris was rife with rumours that there was tobe a general massacre of the Huguenots to seal the new-born friendship ofa Conde with a Medici. France was to renounce all her old alliances andpublicly to enter into treaties offensive and defensive with Spain. Aleague like that of Bayonne made by the former Medicean Queen-Regent ofFrance was now, at Villeroy's instigation, to be signed by Mary de'Medici. Meantime, Marshal de la Chatre, an honest soldier and ferventPapist, seventy-three years of age, ignorant of the language, thegeography, the politics of the country to which he was sent, and knowingthe road thither about as well, according to Aerssens, who was requestedto give him a little preliminary instruction, as he did the road toIndia, was to co-operate with Barneveld and Maurice of Nassau in theenterprise against the duchies. 

These were the cheerful circumstances amid which the first step in thedead Henry's grand design against the House of Austria and in support ofProtestantism in half Europe and of religious equality throughoutChristendom, was now to be ventured. 

Cornelis van der Myle took leave of the Queen on terminating his briefspecial embassy, and was fain to content himself with languid assurancesfrom that corpulent Tuscan dame of her cordial friendship for the UnitedProvinces. Villeroy repeated that the contingent to be sent was furnishedout of pure love to the Netherlands, the present government being in nowise bound by the late king's promises. He evaded the proposition of theStates for renewing the treaty of close alliance by saying that he wasthen negotiating with the British government on the subject, who insistedas a preliminary step on the repayment of the third part of the sumsadvanced to the States by the late king. 

He exchanged affectionate farewell greetings and good wishes with Jeanninand with the dropsical Duke of Mayenne, who was brought in his chair tohis old fellow Leaguer's apartments at the moment of the Ambassador'sparting interview. 

There was abundant supply of smooth words, in the plentiful lack of anysubstantial nutriment, from the representatives of each busy faction intowhich the Medicean court was divided. Even Epernon tried to say agracious word to the retiring envoy, assuring him that he would do asmuch for the cause as a good Frenchman and lover of his fatherland coulddo. He added, in rather a surly way, that he knew very well how foully hehad been described to the States, but that the devil was not as black ashe was painted. It was necessary, he said, to take care of one's ownhouse first of all, and he knew very well that the States and all prudentpersons would do the same thing. 

 ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS:

 And now the knife of another priest-led fanatic As with his own people, keeping no back-door open At a blow decapitated France Conclusive victory for the allies seemed as predestined Epernon, the true murderer of Henry Father Cotton, who was only too ready to betray the secrets Great war of religion and politics was postponed Jesuit Mariana--justifying the killing of excommunicated kings No man pretended to think of the State Practised successfully the talent of silence Queen is entirely in the hands of Spain and the priests Religion was made the strumpet of Political Ambition Smooth words, in the plentiful lack of any substantial Stroke of a broken table knife sharpened on a carriage wheel The assassin, tortured and torn by four horses They have killed him, 'e ammazato, ' cried Concini Things he could tell which are too odious and dreadful Uncouple the dogs and let them run Vows of an eternal friendship of several weeks' duration What could save the House of Austria, the cause of Papacy Wrath of the Jesuits at this exercise of legal authority

CHAPTER V. 1610-12

 Interviews between the Dutch Commissioners and King James--Prince Maurice takes command of the Troops--Surrender of Julich--Matthias crowned King of Bohemia--Death of Rudolph--James's Dream of a Spanish Marriage--Appointment of Vorstius in place of Arminius at Leyden--Interview between Maurice and Winwood--Increased Bitterness between Barneveld and Maurice--Projects of Spanish Marriages in France. 

It is refreshing to escape from the atmosphere of self-seeking faction, feverish intrigue, and murderous stratagem in which unhappy France wasstifling into the colder and calmer regions of Netherland policy. 

No sooner had the tidings of Henry's murder reached the States than theyfelt that an immense responsibility had fallen on their shoulders. It isto the eternal honour of the Republic, of Barneveld, who directed hercouncils, and of Prince Maurice, who wielded her sword, that she wasequal to the task imposed upon her. 

There were open bets on the Exchange in Antwerp, after the death ofHenry, that Maurice would likewise be killed within the month. Nothingseemed more probable, and the States implored the Stadholder to takespecial heed to himself. But this was a kind of caution which the Princewas not wont to regard. Nor was there faltering, distraction, cowardice, or parsimony in Republican councils. 

We have heard the strong words of encouragement and sympathy addressed bythe Advocate's instructions to the Queen-Regent and the leading statesmenof France. We have seen their effects in that lingering sentiment ofshame which prevented the Spanish stipendiaries who governed the kingdomfrom throwing down the mask as cynically as they were at first inclinedto do. 

Not less manful and statesmanlike was the language held to the King ofGreat Britain and his ministers by the Advocate's directions. The news ofthe assassination reached the special ambassadors in London at threeo'clock of Monday, the 17th May. James returned to Whitehall from ahunting expedition on the 21st, and immediately signified his intentionof celebrating the occasion by inviting the high commissioners of theStates to a banquet and festival at the palace. 

Meantime they were instructed by Barneveld to communicate the results ofthe special embassy of the States to the late king according to thereport just delivered to the Assembly. Thus James was to be informed ofthe common resolution and engagement then taken to support the cause ofthe princes. He was now seriously and explicitly to be summoned to assistthe princes not only with the stipulated 4000 men, but with a muchgreater force, proportionate to the demands for the security and welfareof Christendom, endangered by this extraordinary event. He was assuredthat the States would exert themselves to the full measure of theirability to fortify and maintain the high interests of France, of thepossessory princes, and of Christendom, so that the hopes of theperpetrators of the foul deed would be confounded. 

"They hold this to be the occasion, " said the envoys, "to show to all theworld that it is within your power to rescue the affairs of France, Germany, and of the United Provinces from the claws of those who imaginefor themselves universal monarchy. "

They concluded by requesting the King to come to "a resolution on thisaffair royally, liberally, and promptly, in order to take advantage ofthe time, and not to allow the adversary to fortify himself in hisposition"; and they pledged the States-General to stand by and second himwith all their power. 

The commissioners, having read this letter to Lord Salisbury beforecommunicating it to the King, did not find the Lord Treasurer very promptor sympathetic in his reply. There had evidently been much jealousy atthe English court of the confidential and intimate relations recentlyestablished with Henry, to which allusions were made in the documentsread at the present conference. Cecil, while expressing satisfaction informal terms at the friendly language of the States, and confidence inthe sincerity of their friendship for his sovereign, intimated veryplainly that more had passed between the late king and the authorities ofthe Republic than had been revealed by either party to the King of GreatBritain, or than could be understood from the letters and papers nowcommunicated. He desired further information from the commissioners, especially in regard to those articles of their instructions whichreferred to a general rupture. They professed inability to give moreexplanations than were contained in the documents themselves. Ifsuspicion was felt, they said, that the French King had been proposinganything in regard to a general rupture, either on account of the retreatof Conde, the affair of Savoy, or anything else, they would reply thatthe ambassadors in France had been instructed to decline committing theStates until after full communication and advice and ripe deliberationwith his British Majesty and council, as well as the Assembly of theStates-General; and it had been the intention of the late king to haveconferred once more and very confidentially with Prince Maurice and CountLewis William before coming to a decisive resolution. 

It was very obvious however to the commissioners that their statementgave no thorough satisfaction, and that grave suspicions remained ofsomething important kept back by them. Cecil's manner was constrained andcold, and certainly there were no evidences of profound sorrow at theEnglish court for the death of Henry. 

"The King of France, " said the High Treasurer, "meant to make amaster-stroke--a coup de maistre--but he who would have all may easilylose all. Such projects as these should not have been formed or taken inhand without previous communication with his Majesty of Great Britain. "

All arguments on the part of the ambassadors to induce the Lord Treasureror other members of the government to enlarge the succour intended forthe Cleve affair were fruitless. The English troops regularly employed inthe States' service might be made use of with the forces sent by theRepublic itself. More assistance than this it was idle to expect, unlessafter a satisfactory arrangement with the present regency of France. Theproposition, too, of the States for a close and general alliance wascoldly repulsed. "No resolution can be taken as to that, " said Cecil;"the death of the French king has very much altered such matters. "

At a little later hour on the same day the commissioners, according toprevious invitation, dined with the King. 

No one sat at the table but his Majesty and themselves, and they all kepttheir hats on their heads. The King was hospitable, gracious, discursive, loquacious, very theological. 

He expressed regret for the death of the King of France, and said thatthe pernicious doctrine out of which such vile crimes grew must beuprooted. He asked many questions in regard to the United Netherlands, enquiring especially as to the late commotions at Utrecht, and theconduct of Prince Maurice on that occasion. He praised the resoluteconduct of the States-General in suppressing those tumults with force, adding, however, that they should have proceeded with greater rigouragainst the ringleaders of the riot. He warmly recommended the Union ofthe Provinces. 

He then led the conversation to the religious controversies in theNetherlands, and in reply to his enquiries was informed that the pointsin dispute related to predestination and its consequences. 

"I have studied that subject, " said James, "as well as anybody, and havecome to the conclusion that nothing certain can be laid down in regard toit. I have myself not always been of one mind about it, but I will betthat my opinion is the best of any, although I would not hang mysalvation upon it. My Lords the States would do well to order theirdoctors and teachers to be silent on this topic. I have hardly ventured, moreover, to touch upon the matter of justification in my own writings, because that also seemed to hang upon predestination. "

Thus having spoken with the air of a man who had left nothing further tobe said on predestination or justification, the King rose, took off hishat, and drank a bumper to the health of the States-General and hisExcellency Prince Maurice, and success to the affair of Cleve. 

After dinner there was a parting interview in the gallery. The King, attended by many privy councillors and high functionaries of state, badethe commissioners a cordial farewell, and, in order to show hisconsideration for their government, performed the ceremony of knighthoodupon them, as was his custom in regard to the ambassadors of Venice. Thesword being presented to him by the Lord Chamberlain, James touched eachof the envoys on the shoulder as he dismissed him. "Out of respect to MyLords the States, " said they in their report, "we felt compelled to allowourselves to be burthened with this honour. "

Thus it became obvious to the States-General that there was but little tohope for from Great Britain or France. France, governed by Concini and bySpain, was sure to do her best to traverse the designs of the Republic, and, while perfunctorily and grudgingly complying with the letter of theHall treaty, was secretly neutralizing by intrigue the slender militaryaid which de la Chatre was to bring to Prince Maurice. The close allianceof France and Protestantism had melted into air. On the other hand thenew Catholic League sprang into full luxuriance out of the grave ofHenry, and both Spain and the Pope gave their hearty adhesion to thecombinations of Maximilian of Bavaria, now that the mighty designs of theFrench king were buried with him. The Duke of Savoy, caught in the trapof his own devising, was fain to send his son to sue to Spain for pardonfor the family upon his knees, and expiated by draining a deep cup ofhumiliation his ambitious designs upon the Milanese and the matrimonialalliance with France. Venice recoiled in horror from the position shefound herself in as soon as the glamour of Henry's seductive policy wasdispelled, while James of Great Britain, rubbing his hands with greatdelight at the disappearance from the world of the man he so admired, bewailed, and hated, had no comfort to impart to the States-General thusleft in virtual isolation. The barren burthen of knighthood and a sermonon predestination were all he could bestow upon the high commissioners inplace of the alliance which he eluded, and the military assistance whichhe point-blank refused. The possessory princes, in whose cause the swordwas drawn, were too quarrelsome and too fainthearted to serve for muchelse than an incumbrance either in the cabinet or the field. 

And the States-General were equal to the immense responsibility. Steadily, promptly, and sagaciously they confronted the wrath, thepolicy, and the power of the Empire, of Spain, and of the Pope. Had theRepublic not existed, nothing could have prevented that debateable andmost important territory from becoming provinces of Spain, whose powerthus dilated to gigantic proportions in the very face of England wouldhave been more menacing than in the days of the Armada. Had the Republicfaltered, she would have soon ceased to exist. But the Republic did notfalter. 

On the 13th July, Prince Maurice took command of the States' forces, 13, 000 foot and 3000 horse, with thirty pieces of cannon, assembled atSchenkenschans. The July English and French regiments in the regularservice of the United Provinces were included in these armies, but therewere no additions to them: "The States did seven times as much, "Barneveld justly averred, "as they had stipulated to do. " Maurice, movingwith the precision and promptness which always marked his militaryoperations, marched straight upon Julich, and laid siege to thatimportant fortress. The Archdukes at Brussels, determined to keep out ofthe fray as long as possible, offered no opposition to the passage of hissupplies up the Rhine, which might have been seriously impeded by them atRheinberg. The details of the siege, as of all the Prince's sieges, possess no more interest to the general reader than the working out of ageometrical problem. He was incapable of a flaw in his calculations, butit was impossible for him quite to complete the demonstration before thearrival of de la Chatre. Maurice received with courtesy the Marshal, whoarrived on the 18th August, at the head of his contingent of 8000 footand a few squadrons of cavalry, and there was great show of harmonybetween them. For any practical purposes, de la Chatre might as well haveremained in France. For political ends his absence would have beenpreferable to his presence. 

Maurice would have rejoiced, had the Marshal blundered longer along theroad to the debateable land than he had done. He had almost broughtJulich to reduction. A fortnight later the place surrendered. The termsgranted by the conqueror were equitable. No change was to be made in theliberty of Roman Catholic worship, nor in the city magistracy. Thecitadel and its contents were to be handed over to the Princes ofBrandenburg and Neuburg. Archduke Leopold and his adherents departed toPrague, to carry out as he best could his farther designs upon the crownof Bohemia, this first portion of them having so lamentably failed, andSergeant-Major Frederick Pithan, of the regiment of Count Ernest Casimirof Nassau, was appointed governor of Julich in the interest of thepossessory princes. 

Thus without the loss of a single life, the Republic, guided by herconsummate statesman and unrivalled general, had gained an immensevictory, had installed the Protestant princes in the full possession ofthose splendid and important provinces, and had dictated her decrees onGerman soil to the Emperor of Germany, and had towed, as it were, GreatBritain and France along in her wake, instead of humbly following thosepowers, and had accomplished all that she had ever proposed to do, evenin alliance with them both. 

The King of England considered that quite enough had been done, and wasin great haste to patch up a reconciliation. He thought his ambassadorwould soon "have as good occasion to employ his tongue and his pen asGeneral Cecil and his soldiers have done their swords and theirmattocks. "

He had no sympathy with the cause of Protestantism, and steadily refusedto comprehend the meaning of the great movements in the duchies. "I onlywish that I may handsomely wind myself out of this quarrel, where theprincipal parties do so little for themselves, " he said. 

De la Chatre returned with his troops to France within a fortnight afterhis arrival on the scene. A mild proposition made by the Frenchgovernment through the Marshal, that the provinces should be held inseguestration by France until a decision as to the true sovereignty couldbe reached, was promptly declined. Maurice of Nassau had hardly gained sosignal a triumph for the Republic and for the Protestant cause only tohand it over to Concini and Villeroy for the benefit of Spain. Julich wasthought safer in the keeping of Sergeant Pithan. 

By the end of September the States' troops had returned to their owncountry. 

Thus the Republic, with eminent success, had accomplished a brief andbrilliant campaign, but no statesman could suppose that the result wasmore than a temporary one. These coveted provinces, most valuable inthemselves and from their important position, would probably not besuffered peacefully to remain very long under the protection of theheretic States-General and in the 'Condominium' of two Protestantprinces. There was fear among the Imperialists, Catholics, and Spaniards, lest the baleful constellation of the Seven Provinces might be increasedby an eighth star. And this was a project not to be tolerated. It wasmuch already that the upstart confederacy had defied Pope, Emperor, andKing, as it were, on their own domains, had dictated arrangements inGermany directly in the teeth of its emperor, using France as hersubordinate, and compelling the British king to acquiesce in what he mosthated. 

But it was not merely to surprise Julich, and to get a foothold in theduchies, that Leopold had gone forth on his adventure. His campaign, asalready intimated, was part of a wide scheme in which he had persuadedhis emperor-cousin to acquiesce. Poor Rudolph had been at last goadedinto a feeble attempt at revolt against his three brothers and his cousinFerdinand. Peace-loving, inert, fond of his dinner, fonder of hismagnificent collections of gems and intagli, liking to look out of windowat his splendid collection of horses, he was willing to pass a quietlife, afar from the din of battles and the turmoil of affairs. As hehappened to be emperor of half Europe, these harmless tastes could notwell be indulged. Moon-faced and fat, silent and slow, he was notimperial of aspect on canvas or coin, even when his brows were decoratedwith the conventional laurel wreath. He had been stripped of hisauthority and all but discrowned by his more bustling brothers Matthiasand Max, while the sombre figure of Styrian Ferdinand, pupil of theJesuits, and passionate admirer of Philip II. , stood ever in thebackground, casting a prophetic shadow over the throne and over Germany. 

The brothers were endeavouring to persuade Rudolph that he would findmore comfort in Innsbruck than in Prague; that he required repose afterthe strenuous labours of government. They told him, too, that it would bewise to confer the royal crown of Bohemia upon Matthias, lest, beingelective and also an electorate, the crown and vote of that country mightpass out of the family, and so both Bohemia and the Empire be lost to theHabsburgs. The kingdom being thus secured to Matthias and his heirs, thenext step, of course, was to proclaim him King of the Romans. Otherwisethere would be great danger and detriment to Hungary, and otherhereditary states of that conglomerate and anonymous monarchy which ownedthe sway of the great Habsburg family. 

The unhappy emperor was much piqued. He had been deprived by his brotherof Hungary, Moravia, and Austria, while Matthias was now at Prague withan army, ostensibly to obtain ratification of the peace with Turkey, butin reality to force the solemn transfer of those realms and extort thepromise of Bohemia. Could there be a better illustration of theabsurdities of such a system of Imperialism?

And now poor Rudolph was to be turned out of the Hradschin, and sentpacking with or without his collections to the Tyrol. 

The bellicose bishop of Strassburg and Passau, brother of Ferdinand, hadlittle difficulty in persuading the downtrodden man to rise to vengeance. It had been secretly agreed between the two that Leopold, at the head ofa considerable army of mercenaries which he had contrived to levy, shoulddart into Julich as the Emperor's representative, seize the debateableduchies, and hold them in sequestration until the Emperor should decideto whom they belonged, and, then, rushing back to Bohemia, shouldannihilate Matthias, seize Prague, and deliver Rudolph from bondage. Itwas further agreed that Leopold, in requital of these services, shouldreceive the crown of Bohemia, be elected King of the Romans, and declaredheir to the Emperor, so far as Rudolph could make him his heir. 

The first point in the program he had only in part accomplished. He hadtaken Julich, proclaimed the intentions of the Emperor, and then beendriven out of his strong position by the wise policy of the States underthe guidance of Barneveld and by the consummate strategy of Maurice. Itwill be seen therefore that the Republic was playing a world's game atthis moment, and doing it with skill and courage. On the issue of theconflict which had been begun and was to be long protracted in theduchies, and to spread over nearly all Christendom besides, would dependthe existence of the United Netherlands and the fate of Protestantism. 

The discomfited Leopold swept back at the head of his mercenaries, 9000foot and 3000 horse, through Alsace and along the Danube to Linz and soto Prague, marauding, harrying, and black-mailing the country as he went. He entered the city on the 15th of February 1611, fighting his waythrough crowds of exasperated burghers. Sitting in full harness onhorseback in the great square before the cathedral, the warlike bishopcompelled the population to make oath to him as the Emperor's commissary. The street fighting went on however day by day, poor Rudolph meantimecowering in the Hradschin. On the third day, Leopold, driven out of thetown, took up a position on the heights, from which he commanded it withhis artillery. Then came a feeble voice from the Hradschin, telling allmen that these Passau marauders and their episcopal chief were there bythe Emperor's orders. The triune city--the old, the new, and the Jew--wasbidden to send deputies to the palace and accept the Imperial decrees. Nodeputies came at the bidding. The Bohemians, especially the Praguers, being in great majority Protestants knew very well that Leopold wasfighting the cause of the Papacy and Spain in Bohemia as well as in theduchies. 

And now Matthias appeared upon the scene. The Estates had already been incommunication with him, better hopes, for the time at least, beingentertained from him than from the flaccid Rudolph. Moreover a kind ofcompromise had been made in the autumn between Matthias and the Emperorafter the defeat of Leopold in the duchies. The real king had fallen atthe feet of the nominal one by proxy of his brother Maximilian. Seventhousand men of the army of Matthias now came before Prague under commandof Colonitz. The Passauers, receiving three months pay from the Emperor, marched quietly off. Leopold disappeared for the time. His chancellor andcounsellor in the duchies, Francis Teynagel, a Geldrian noble, takenprisoner and put to the torture, revealed the little plot of the Emperorin favour of the Bishop, and it was believed that the Pope, the King ofSpain, and Maximilian of Bavaria were friendly to the scheme. This wasprobable, for Leopold at last made no mystery of his resolve to fightProtestantism to the death, and to hold the duchies, if he could, for thecause of Rome and Austria. 

Both Rudolph and Matthias had committed themselves to the toleration ofthe Reformed religion. The famous "Majesty-Letter, " freshly granted bythe Emperor (1609), and the Compromise between the Catholic andProtestant Estates had become the law of the land. Those of the Bohemianconfession, a creed commingled of Hussism, Lutheranism, and Calvinism, had obtained toleration. In a country where nine-tenths of the populationwere Protestants it was permitted to Protestants to build churches and toworship God in them unmolested. But these privileges had been extorted byforce, and there was a sullen, dogged determination which might be easilyguessed at to revoke them should it ever become possible. The House ofAustria, reigning in Spain, Italy, and Germany, was bound by the very lawof their being to the Roman religion. Toleration of other worshipsignified in their eyes both a defeat and a crime. 

Thus the great conflict, to be afterwards known as the Thirty Years' War, had in reality begun already, and the Netherlands, in spite of the truce, were half unconsciously taking a leading part in it. The odds at thatmoment in Germany seemed desperately against the House of Austria, sodeep and wide was the abyss between throne and subjects which religiousdifference had created. But the reserved power in Spain, Italy, andSouthern Germany was sure enough to make itself felt sooner or later onthe Catholic side. 

Meantime the Estates of Bohemia knew well enough that the Imperial housewas bent on destroying the elective principle of the Empire, and onkeeping the crown of Bohemia in perpetuity. They had also discovered thatBishop-Archduke Leopold had been selected by Rudolph as chief of thereactionary movement against Protestantism. They could not know at thatmoment whether his plans were likely to prove fantastic or dangerous. 

So Matthias came to Prague at the invitation of the Estates, entering thecity with all the airs of a conqueror. Rudolph received his brother withenforced politeness, and invited him to reside in the Hradschin. Thisproposal was declined by Matthias, who sent a colonel however, with sixpieces of artillery, to guard and occupy that palace. The Passauprisoners were pardoned and released, and there was a generalreconciliation. A month later, Matthias went in pomp to the chapel of theholy Wenceslaus, that beautiful and barbarous piece of mediaeval, Sclavonic architecture, with its sombre arches, and its walls encrustedwith huge precious stones. The Estates of Bohemia, arrayed in splendidZchech costume, and kneeling on the pavement, were asked whether theyaccepted Matthias, King of Hungary, as their lawful king. Thrice theyanswered Aye. Cardinal Dietrichstein then put the historic crown of St. Wenceslaus on the King's head, and Matthias swore to maintain the lawsand privileges of Bohemia, including the recent charters granting libertyof religion to Protestants. Thus there was temporary, if hollow, trucebetween the religious parties, and a sham reconciliation between theEmperor and his brethren. The forlorn Rudolph moped away the few monthsof life left to him in the Hradschin, and died 1612 soon after the newyear. The House of Austria had not been divided, Matthias succeeded hisbrother, Leopold's visions melted into air, and it was for the future toreveal whether the Majesty-Letter and the Compromise had been written onvery durable material. 

And while such was the condition of affairs in Germany immediatelyfollowing the Cleve and Julich campaign, the relations of the Republicboth to England and France were become rapidly more dangerous than theyever had been. It was a severe task for Barneveld, and enough to overtaxthe energies of any statesman, to maintain his hold on two such slipperygovernments as both had become since the death of their great monarchs. It had been an easier task for William the Silent to steer his course, notwithstanding all the perversities, short-comings, brow-beatings, andinconsistencies that he had been obliged to endure from Elizabeth andHenry. Genius, however capricious and erratic at times, has at leastvision, and it needed no elaborate arguments to prove to both thosesovereigns that the severance of their policy from that of theNetherlands was impossible without ruin to the Republic and incalculabledanger themselves. 

But now France and England were both tending towards Spain through astupidity on the part of their rulers such as the gods are said tocontend against in vain. Barneveld was not a god nor a hero, but acourageous and wide-seeing statesman, and he did his best. Obliged by hisposition to affect admiration, or at least respect, where no emotion butcontempt was possible, his daily bread was bitter enough. It wasabsolutely necessary to humour those whom knew to be traversing hispolicy and desiring his ruin, for there was no other way to serve hiscountry and save it from impending danger. So long as he was faithfullyserved by his subordinates, and not betrayed by those to whom he gave hisheart, he could confront external enemies and mould the policy ofwavering allies. 

Few things in history are more pitiable than the position of James inregard to Spain. For seven long years he was as one entranced, the slaveto one idea, a Spanish marriage for his son. It was in vain that hiscounsellors argued, Parliament protested, allies implored. Parliament wastold that a royal family matter regarded himself alone, and thatinterference on their part was an impertinence. Parliament's duty was asimple one, to give him advice if he asked it, and money when he requiredit, without asking for reasons. It was already a great concession that heshould ask for it in person. They had nothing to do with his affairs norwith general politics. The mystery of government was a science beyondtheir reach, and with which they were not to meddle. "Ne sutor ultracrepidam, " said the pedant. 

Upon that one point his policy was made to turn. Spain held him in thehollow of her hand. The Infanta, with two million crowns in dowry, waspromised, withheld, brought forward again like a puppet to please orirritate a froward child. Gondemar, the Spanish ambassador, held himspellbound. Did he falter in his opposition to the States--did he ceaseto goad them for their policy in the duchies--did he express sympathywith Bohemian Protestantism, or, as time went on, did he dare to lift afinger or touch his pocket in behalf of his daughter and the unluckyElector-Palatine; did he, in short, move a step in the road which Englandhad ever trod and was bound to tread--the road of determined resistanceto Spanish ambition--instantaneously the Infanta withheld, and James wason his knees again. A few years later, when the great Raleigh returnedfrom his trans-Alantic expedition, Gondemar fiercely denounced him to theKing as the worst enemy of Spain. The usual threat was made, the wand waswaved, and the noblest head in England fell upon the block, in pursuanceof an obsolete sentence fourteen years old. 

It is necessary to hold fast this single clue to the crooked and amazingentanglements of the policy of James. The insolence, the meanness, andthe prevarications of this royal toad-eater are only thus explained. 

Yet Philip III. Declared on his death-bed that he had never had a seriousintention of bestowing his daughter on the Prince. 

The vanity and the hatreds of theology furnished the chief additionalmaterial in the policy of James towards the Provinces. The diplomacy ofhis reign so far as the Republic was concerned is often a mere mass ofcontroversial divinity, and gloomy enough of its kind. Exactly at thismoment Conrad Vorstius had been called by the University of Leyden to theprofessorship vacant by the death of Arminius, and the wrath of PeterPlancius and the whole orthodox party knew no bounds. Born in Cologne, Vorstius had been a lecturer in Geneva, and beloved by Beza. He hadwritten a book against the Jesuit Belarmino, which he had dedicated tothe States-General. But he was now accused of Arminianism, Socianism, Pelagianism, Atheism--one knew not what. He defended himself in writingagainst these various charges, and declared himself a believer in theTrinity, in the Divinity of Christ, in the Atonement. But he had writtena book on the Nature of God, and the wrath of Gomarus and Plancius andBogerman was as nothing to the ire of James when that treatise was oneday handed to him on returning from hunting. He had scarcely looked intoit before he was horror-struck, and instantly wrote to Sir Ralph Winwood, his ambassador at the Hague, ordering him to insist that this blasphemousmonster should at once be removed from the country. Who but James knewanything of the Nature of God, for had he not written a work in Latinexplaining it all, so that humbler beings might read and be instructed. 

Sir Ralph accordingly delivered a long sermon to the States on the briefsupplied by his Majesty, told them that to have Vorstius as successor toArminius was to fall out of the frying-pan into the fire, and handed thema "catalogue" prepared by the King of the blasphemies, heresies, andatheisms of the Professor. "Notwithstanding that the man in full assemblyof the States of Holland, " said the Ambassador with headlong and confusedrhetoric, "had found the means to palliate and plaster the dung of hisheresies, and thus to dazzle the eyes of good people, " yet it wasnecessary to protest most vigorously against such an appointment, and toadvise that "his works should be publicly burned in the open places ofall the cities. "

The Professor never was admitted to perform his functions of theology, but he remained at Leyden, so Winwood complained, "honoured, recognizedas a singularity and ornament to the Academy in place of the late JosephScaliger. "--"The friendship of the King and the heresy of Vorstius arequite incompatible, " said the Envoy. 

Meantime the Advocate, much distressed at the animosity of Englandbursting forth so violently on occasion of the appointment of a divinityprofessor at Leyden, and at the very instant too when all the acutenessof his intellect was taxed to keep on good or even safe terms withFrance, did his best to stem these opposing currents. His private lettersto his old and confidential friend, Noel de Carom, States' ambassador inLondon, reveal the perplexities of his soul and the upright patriotism bywhich he was guided in these gathering storms. And this correspondence, as well as that maintained by him at a little later period with thesuccessor of Aerssens at Paris, will be seen subsequently to have had adirect and most important bearing upon the policy of the Republic andupon his own fate. It is necessary therefore that the reader, interestedin these complicated affairs which were soon to bring on a sanguinary waron a scale even vaster than the one which had been temporarily suspended, should give close attention to papers never before exhumed from the mustysepulchre of national archives, although constantly alluded to in therecords of important state trials. It is strange enough to observe theapparent triviality of the circumstances out of which gravest events seemto follow. But the circumstances were in reality threads of iron whichled down to the very foundations of the earth. 

"I wish to know, " wrote the Advocate to Caron, "from whom the Archbishopof Canterbury received the advices concerning Vorstius in order to findout what is meant by all this. "

It will be remembered that Whitgift was of opinion that James wasdirectly inspired by the Holy Ghost, and that as he affected to deem himthe anointed High-priest of England, it was natural that he shouldencourage the King in his claims to be 'Pontifex maximus' for theNetherlands likewise. 

"We are busy here, " continued Barneveld, "in examining all things for thebest interests of the country and the churches. I find the nobles andcities here well resolved in this regard, although there be somedisagreements 'in modo. ' Vorstius, having been for many years professorand minister of theology at Steinfurt, having manifested his learning inmany books written against the Jesuits, and proved himself pure andmoderate in doctrine, has been called to the vacant professorship atLeyden. This appointment is now countermined by various means. We aredoing our best to arrange everything for the highest good of theProvinces and the churches. Believe this and believe nothing else. Payheed to no other information. Remember what took place in Flanders, events so well known to you. It is not for me to pass judgment in thesematters. Do you, too, suspend your judgment. "

The Advocate's allusion was to the memorable course of affairs inFlanders at an epoch when many of the most inflammatory preachers andpoliticians of the Reformed religion, men who refused to employ a footmanor a housemaid not certified to be thoroughly orthodox, subsequentlyafter much sedition and disturbance went over to Spain and the Catholicreligion. 

A few weeks later Barneveld sent copies to Caron of the latest haranguesof Winwood in the Assembly and the reply of My Lords on the Vorstianbusiness; that is to say, the freshest dialogue on predestination betweenthe King and the Advocate. For as James always dictated word for word theorations of his envoy, so had their Mightinesses at this period no headand no mouthpiece save Barneveld alone. Nothing could be drearier thanthese controversies, and the reader shall be spared as much, as possiblethe infliction of reading them. It will be necessary, however, for theproper understanding of subsequent events that he should be familiar withportions of the Advocate's confidential letters. 

"Sound well the gentleman you wot of, " said Barneveld, "and otherpersonages as to the conclusive opinions over there. The course of thepropositions does not harmonize with what I have myself heard out of theKing's mouth at other times, nor with the reports of former ambassadors. I cannot well understand that the King should, with such preciseness, condemn all other opinions save those of Calvin and Beza. It is importantto the service of this country that one should know the final intentionof his Majesty. "

And this was the misery of the position. For it was soon to appear thatthe King's definite and final intentions, varied from day to day. It wasalmost humorous to find him at that moment condemning all opinions butthose of Calvin and Beza in Holland, while his course to the strictestconfessors of that creed in England was so ferocious. 

But Vorstius was a rival author to his Majesty on subjects treated of byboth, so that literary spite of the most venomous kind, stirred intotheological hatred, was making a dangerous mixture. Had a man with thesoul and sense of the Advocate sat on the throne which James wasregarding at that moment as a professor's chair, the world's historywould have been changed. 

"I fear, " continued Barneveld, "that some of our own precisians have beenspinning this coil for us over there, and if the civil authority can bethus countermined, things will go as in Flanders in your time. Praycontinue to be observant, discreet, and moderate. "

The Advocate continued to use his best efforts to smooth the risingwaves. He humoured and even flattered the King, although perpetuallydenounced by Winwood in his letters to his sovereign as tyrannical, over-bearing, malignant, and treacherous. He did his best to counselmoderation and mutual toleration, for he felt that these needlesstheological disputes about an abstract and insoluble problem of casuistrywere digging an abyss in which the Republic might be swallowed up forever. If ever man worked steadily with the best lights of experience andinborn sagacity for the good of his country and in defence of aconstitutional government, horribly defective certainly, but the onlylegal one, and on the whole a more liberal polity than any then existing, it was Barneveld. Courageously, steadily, but most patiently, he stoodupon that position so vital and daily so madly assailed; the defence ofthe civil authority against the priesthood. He felt instinctively andkeenly that where any portion of the subjects or citizens of a countrycan escape from the control of government and obey other head than thelawful sovereignty, whether monarchical or republican, social disorderand anarchy must be ever impending. 

"We are still tortured by ecclesiastical disputes, " he wrote a few weekslater to Caron. "Besides many libels which have appeared in print, theletters of his Majesty and the harangues of Winwood have been published;to what end you who know these things by experience can judge. The truthof the matter of Vorstius is that he was legally called in July 1610, that he was heard last May before My Lords the States with six preachersto oppose him, and in the same month duly accepted and placed in office. He has given no public lectures as yet. You will cause this to be knownon fitting opportunity. Believe and cause to be believed that hisMajesty's letters and Sir R. Winwood's propositions have been and shallbe well considered, and that I am working with all my strength to thatend. You know the constitution of our country, and can explain everythingfor the best. Many pious and intelligent people in this State holdthemselves assured that his Majesty according to his royal exceedinggreat wisdom, foresight, and affection for the welfare of this land willnot approve that his letters and Winwood's propositions should bescattered by the press among the common people. Believe and cause to bebelieved, to your best ability, that My Lords the States of Hollanddesire to maintain the true Christian, Reformed religion as well in theUniversity of Leyden as in all their cities and villages. The onlydispute is on the high points of predestination and its adjuncts, concerning which moderation and a more temperate teaching is furthered bysome amongst us. Many think that such is the edifying practice inEngland. Pray have the kindness to send me the English Confession of theyear 1572, with the corrections and alterations up to this year. "

But the fires were growing hotter, fanned especially by Flemishministers, a brotherhood of whom Barneveld had an especial distrust, andwho certainly felt great animosity to him. His moderate counsels were butoil to the flames. He was already depicted by zealots and calumniators asfalse to the Reformed creed. 

"Be assured and assure others, " he wrote again to Caron, "that in thematter of religion I am, and by God's grace shall remain, what I everhave been. Make the same assurances as to my son-in-law and brother. Weare not a little amazed that a few extraordinary Puritans, mostlyFlemings and Frisians, who but a short time ago had neither property norkindred in the country, and have now very little of either, and who havegiven but slender proofs of constancy or service to the fatherland, couldthrough pretended zeal gain credit over there against men well proved inall respects. We wonder the more because they are endeavouring, inecclesiastical matters at least, to usurp an extraordinary authority, against which his Majesty, with very weighty reasons, has so many timesdeclared his opinion founded upon God's Word and upon all laws andprinciples of justice. "

It was Barneveld's practice on this as on subsequent occasions verycourteously to confute the King out of his own writings and speeches, andby so doing to be unconsciously accumulating an undying hatred againsthimself in the royal breast. Certainly nothing could be easier than toshow that James, while encouraging in so reckless a manner theemancipation of the ministers of an advanced sect in the Reformed Churchfrom control of government, and their usurpation of supreme authoritywhich had been destroyed in England, was outdoing himself in dogmatismand inconsistency. A king-highpriest, who dictated his supreme will tobishops and ministers as well as to courts and parliaments, wasludicrously employed in a foreign country in enforcing the superiority ofthe Church to the State. 

"You will give good assurances, " said the Advocate, "upon my word, thatthe conservation of the true Reformed religion is as warmly cherishedhere, especially by me, as at any time during the war. "

He next alluded to the charges then considered very grave against certainwritings of Vorstius, and with equal fairness to his accusers as he hadbeen to the Professor gave a pledge that the subject should be examined. 

"If the man in question, " he said, "be the author, as perhaps falselyimputed, of the work 'De Filiatione Christi' or things of that sort, youmay be sure that he shall have no furtherance here. " He complained, however, that before proof the cause was much prejudiced by thecirculation through the press of letters on the subject from importantpersonages in England. His own efforts to do justice in the matter weretraversed by such machinations. If the Professor proved to be guilty ofpublications fairly to be deemed atheistical and blasphemous, he shouldbe debarred from his functions, but the outcry from England was doingmore harm than good. 

"The published extract from the letter of the Archbishop, " he wrote, "tothe effect that the King will declare My Lords the States to be hisenemies if they are not willing to send the man away is doing much harm. "

Truly, if it had come to this--that a King of England was to go to warwith a neighbouring and friendly republic because an obnoxious professorof theology was not instantly hurled from a university of which hisMajesty was not one of the overseers--it was time to look a littleclosely into the functions of governments and the nature of public andinternational law. Not that the sword of James was in reality very likelyto be unsheathed, but his shriekings and his scribblings, pacific as hewas himself, were likely to arouse passions which torrents of blood alonecould satiate. 

"The publishing and spreading among the community, " continued Barneveld, "of M. Winwood's protestations and of many indecent libels are also doingmuch mischief, for the nature of this people does not tolerate suchthings. I hope, however, to obtain the removal according to his Majesty'sdesire. Keep me well informed, and send me word what is thought inEngland by the four divines of the book of Vorstius, 'De Deo, ' and of hisdeclarations on the points sent here by his Majesty. Let me know, too, ifthere has been any later confession published in England than that of theyear 1562, and whether the nine points pressed in the year 1595 wereaccepted and published in 1603. If so, pray send them, as they maybe madeuse of in settling our differences here. "

Thus it will be seen that the spirit of conciliation, of a calm butearnest desire to obtain a firm grasp of the most reasonable relationsbetween Church and State through patient study of the phenomena exhibitedin other countries, were the leading motives of the man. Yet he wasperpetually denounced in private as an unbeliever, an atheist, a tyrant, because he resisted dictation from the clergy within the Provinces andfrom kings outside them. 

"It was always held here to be one of the chief infractions of the lawsand privileges of this country, " he said, "that former princes had placedthemselves in matter of religion in the tutelage of the Pope and theSpanish Inquisition, and that they therefore on complaint of their goodsubjects could take no orders on that subject. Therefore it cannot beconsidered strange that we are not willing here to fall into the sameobloquy. That one should now choose to turn the magistrates, who wereonce so seriously summoned on their conscience and their office to adoptthe Reformation and to take the matter of religion to heart, intoignorants, to deprive them of knowledge, and to cause them to see withother eyes than their own, cannot by many be considered right andreasonable. 'Intelligenti pauca. '"

 [The interesting letter from which I have given these copious extracts was ordered by its writer to be burned. "Lecta vulcano" was noted at the end of it, as was not unfrequently the case with the Advocate. It never was burned; but, innocent and reasonable as it seems, was made use of by Barneveld's enemies with deadly effect. J. L. M. ]

Meantime M. De Refuge, as before stated, was on his way to the Hague, tocommunicate the news of the double marriage. He had fallen sick atRotterdam, and the nature of his instructions and of the message hebrought remained unknown, save from the previous despatches of Aerssens. But reports were rife that he was about to propose new terms of allianceto the States, founded on large concessions to the Roman Catholicreligion. Of course intense jealousy was excited at the English court, and calumny plumed her wings for a fresh attack upon the Advocate. Ofcourse he was sold to Spain, the Reformed religion was to be trampled outin the Provinces, and the Papacy and Holy Inquisition established on itsruins. Nothing could be more diametrically the reverse of the fact thansuch hysterical suspicions as to the instructions of the ambassadorextraordinary from France, and this has already appeared. The Vorstianaffair too was still in the same phase, the Advocate professing awillingness that justice should be done in the matter, while courteouslybut firmly resisting the arrogant pretensions of James to take the matterout of the jurisdiction of the States. 

"I stand amazed, " he said, "at the partisanship and the calumniousrepresentations which you tell me of, and cannot imagine what is thoughtnor what is proposed. Should M. De Refuge make any such propositions asare feared, believe, and cause his Majesty and his counsellors tobelieve, that they would be of no effect. Make assurances upon my word, notwithstanding all advices to the contrary, that such things would beflatly refused. If anything is published or proven to the discredit ofVorstius, send it to me. Believe that we shall not defend heretics norschismatics against the pure Evangelical doctrine, but one cannotconceive here that the knowledge and judicature of the matter belongsanywhere else than to My Lords the States of Holland, in whose service hehas legally been during four months before his Majesty made the leastdifficulty about it. Called hither legally a year before, with theknowledge and by the order of his Excellency and the councillors of stateof Holland, he has been countermined by five or six Flemings andFrisians, who, without recognizing the lawful authority of themagistrates, have sought assistance in foreign countries--in Germany andafterwards in England. Yes, they have been so presumptuous as todesignate one of their own men for the place. If such a proceeding shouldbe attempted in England, I leave it to those whose business it would beto deal with it to say what would be done. I hope therefore that one willleave the examination and judgment of this matter freely to us, withoutattempting to make us--against the principles of the Reformation and theliberties and laws of the land--executors of the decrees of others, asthe man here wishes to obtrude it upon us. "

He alluded to the difficulty in raising the ways and means; saying thatthe quota of Holland, as usual, which was more than half the whole, wasready, while other provinces were in arrears. Yet they were protected, while Holland was attacked. 

"Methinks I am living in a strange world, " he said, "when those who havereceived great honour from Holland, and who in their conscience know thatthey alone have conserved the Commonwealth, are now traduced with suchgreat calumnies. But God the Lord Almighty is just, and will in His owntime do chastisement. "

The affair of Vorstius dragged its slow length along, and few things aremore astounding at this epoch than to see such a matter, interestingenough certainly to theologians, to the University, and to the risinggeneration of students, made the topic of unceasing and embittereddiplomatic controversy between two great nations, who had most pressingand momentous business on their hands. But it was necessary to humour theKing, while going to the verge of imprudence in protecting the Professor. In March he was heard, three or four hours long, before the Assembly ofHolland, in answer to various charges made against him, being warned that"he stood before the Lord God and before the sovereign authority of theStates. " Although thought by many to have made a powerful defence, he wasordered to set it forth in writing, both in Latin and in the vernacular. Furthermore it was ordained that he should make a complete refutation ofall the charges already made or that might be made during the ensuingthree months against him in speech, book, or letter in England, Germany, the Netherlands, or anywhere else. He was allowed one year and a half toaccomplish this work, and meantime was to reside not in Leyden, nor theHague, but in some other town of Holland, not delivering lectures orpractising his profession in any way. It might be supposed thatsufficient work had been thus laid out for the unfortunate doctor ofdivinity without lecturing or preaching. The question of jurisdiction wassaved. The independence of the civil authority over the extremepretensions of the clergy had been vindicated by the firmness of theAdvocate. James bad been treated with overflowing demonstrations ofrespect, but his claim to expel a Dutch professor from his chair andcountry by a royal fiat had been signally rebuked. Certainly if theProvinces were dependent upon the British king in regard to such amatter, it was the merest imbecility for them to affect independence. Barneveld had carried his point and served his country strenuously andwell in this apparently small matter which human folly had dilated into agreat one. But deep was the wrath treasured against him in consequence inclerical and royal minds. 

Returning from Wesel after the negotiations, Sir Ralph Winwood had animportant interview at Arnheim with Prince Maurice, in which theyconfidentially exchanged their opinions in regard to the Advocate, andmutually confirmed their suspicions and their jealousies in regard tothat statesman. 

The Ambassador earnestly thanked the Prince in the King's name for his"careful and industrious endeavours for the maintenance of the truth ofreligion, lively expressed in prosecuting the cause against Vorstius andhis adherents. "

He then said:

"I am expressly commanded that his Majesty conferring the presentcondition of affairs of this quarter of the world with thoseadvertisements he daily receives from his ministers abroad, together withthe nature and disposition of those men who have in their hands themanaging of all business in these foreign parts, can make no otherjudgment than this. 

"There is a general ligue and confederation complotted far the subversionand ruin of religion upon the subsistence whereof his Majesty doth judgethe main welfare of your realms and of these Provinces solely to consist. 

"Therefore his Majesty has given me charge out of the knowledge he has ofyour great worth and sufficiency, " continued Winwood, "and the confidencehe reposes in your faith and affection, freely to treat with you on thesepoints, and withal to pray you to deliver your opinion what way would bethe most compendious and the most assured to contrequarr these complots, and to frustrate the malice of these mischievous designs. "

The Prince replied by acknowledging the honour the King had vouchsafed todo him in holding so gracious an opinion of him, wherein his Majestyshould never be deceived. 

"I concur in judgment with his Majesty, " continued the Prince, "that themain scope at which these plots and practices do aim, for instance, thealliance between France and Spain, is this, to root out religion, and byconsequence to bring under their yoke all those countries in whichreligion is professed. 

"The first attempt, " continued the Prince, "is doubtless intended againstthese Provinces. The means to countermine and defeat these projecteddesigns I take to be these: the continuance of his Majesty's constantresolution for the protection of religion, and then that the King wouldbe pleased to procure a general confederation between the kings, princes, and commonwealths professing religion, namely, Denmark, Sweden, theGerman princes, the Protestant cantons of Switzerland, and our UnitedProvinces. 

"Of this confederation, his Majesty must be not only the director, butthe head and protector. 

"Lastly, the Protestants of France should be, if not supported, at leastrelieved from that oppression which the alliance of Spain doth threatenupon them. This, I insist, " repeated Maurice with great fervour, "is theonly coupegorge of all plots whatever between France and Spain. "

He enlarged at great length on these points, which he considered sovital. 

"And what appearance can there be, " asked Winwood insidiously andmaliciously, "of this general confederation now that these Provinces, which heretofore have been accounted a principal member of the ReformedChurch, begin to falter in the truth of religion?

"He who solely governs the metropolitan province of Holland, " continuedthe Ambassador, with a direct stab in the back at Barneveld, "is reputedgenerally, as your Excellency best knows, to be the only patron ofVorstius, and the protector of the schisms of Arminius. And likewise, what possibility is there that the Protestants of France can expectfavour from these Provinces when the same man is known to depend at thedevotion of France?"

The international, theological, and personal jealousy of the King againstHolland's Advocate having been thus plainly developed, the Ambassadorproceeded to pour into the Prince's ear the venom of suspicion, and toinflame his jealousy against his great rival. The secret conversationshowed how deeply laid was the foundation of the political hatred, bothof James and of Maurice, against the Advocate, and certainly nothingcould be more preposterous than to imagine the King as the director andhead of the great Protestant League. We have but lately seen himconfidentially assuring his minister that his only aim was "to windhimself handsomely out of the whole business. " Maurice must have found itdifficult to preserve his gravity when assigning such a part to "MasterJacques. "

"Although Monsieur Barneveld has cast off all care of religion, " saidMaurice, "and although some towns in Holland, wherein his power dothreign, are infected with the like neglect, yet so long as so many goodtowns in Holland stand sound, and all the other provinces of thisconfederacy, the proposition would at the first motion be cheerfullyaccepted. 

"I confess I find difficulty in satisfying your second question, "continued the Prince, "for I acknowledge that Barneveld is wholly devotedto the service of France. During the truce negotiations, when somedifference arose between him and myself, President Jeannin came to me, requiring me in the French king's name to treat Monsieur Barneveld well, whom the King had received into his protection. The letters which theStates' ambassador in France wrote to Barneveld (and to him allambassadors address their despatches of importance), the very autographsthemselves, he sent back into the hands of Villeroy. "

Here the Prince did not scruple to accuse the Advocate of doing the baseand treacherous trick against Aerssens which he had expressly denieddoing, and which had been done during his illness, as he solemnly avowed, by a subordinate probably for the sake of making mischief. 

Maurice then discoursed largely and vehemently of the suspiciousproceedings of Barneveld, and denounced him as dangerous to the State. "When one man who has the conduct of all affairs in his sole power, " hesaid, "shall hold underhand intelligence with the ministers of Spain andthe Archduke, and that without warrant, thereby he may have the means soto carry the course of affairs that, do what they will, these Provincesmust fall or stand at the mercy and discretion of Spain. Therefore somegood resolutions must be taken in time to hold up this State from asudden downfall, but in this much moderation and discretion must beused. "

The Prince added that he had invited his cousin Lewis William to appearat the Hague at May day, in order to consult as to the proper means topreserve the Provinces from confusion under his Majesty's safeguard, andwith the aid of the Englishmen in the States' service whom Mauricepronounced to be "the strength and flower of his army. "

Thus the Prince developed his ideas at great length, and accused theAdvocate behind his back, and without the faintest shadow of proof, ofbase treachery to his friends and of high-treason. Surely Barneveld wasin danger, and was walking among pitfalls. Most powerful and deadlyenemies were silently banding themselves together against him. Could helong maintain his hold on the slippery heights of power, where he was soconsciously serving his country, but where he became day by day a mereshining mark for calumny and hatred?

The Ambassador then signified to the Prince that he had been instructedto carry to him the King's purpose to confer on him the Order of theGarter. 

"If his Majesty holds me worthy of so great honour, " said the Prince, "Iand my family shall ever remain bound to his service and that of hisroyal posterity. 

"That the States should be offended I see no cause, but holding thecharge I do in their service, I could not accept the honour without firstacquainting them and receiving their approbation. "

Winwood replied that, as the King knew the terms on which the Princelived with the States, he doubted not his Majesty would first notify themand say that he honoured the mutual amity between his realms and theseProvinces by honouring the virtues of their general, whose services, asthey had been most faithful and affectionate, so had they beenaccompanied with the blessings of happiness and prosperous success. 

Thus said Winwood to the King: "Your Majesty may plaster two walls withone trowel ('una fidelia duos dealbare parietes'), reverse the designs ofthem who to facilitate their own practices do endeavour to alienate youraffections from the good of these Provinces, and oblige to your servicethe well-affected people, who know that there is no surety forthemselves, their wives and children, but under the protection of yourMajesty's favour. Perhaps, however, the favourers of Vorstius andArminius will buzz into the ears of their associates that your Majestywould make a party in these Provinces by maintaining the truth ofreligion and also by gaining unto you the affections of their chiefcommander. But your Majesty will be pleased to pass forth whose worthyends will take their place, which is to honour virtue where you find it, and the suspicious surmises of malice and envy in one instant will vanishinto smoke. "

Winwood made no scruple in directly stating to the English governmentthat Barneveld's purpose was to "cause a divorce between the King'srealms and the Provinces, the more easily to precipitate them into thearms of Spain. " He added that the negotiation with Count Maurice then onfoot was to be followed, but with much secrecy, on account of the placehe held in the State. 

Soon after the Ambassador's secret conversation with Maurice he had aninterview with Barneveld. He assured the Advocate that no contentmentcould be given to his Majesty but by the banishment of Vorstius. "If thetown of Leyden should understand so much, " replied Barneveld, "I fear themagistrates would retain him still in their town. "

"If the town of Leyden should retain Vorstius, " answered Winwood, "tobrave or despight his Majesty, the King has the means, if it pleases himto use them, and that without drawing sword, to range them to reason, andto make the magistrates on their knees demand his pardon, and I say asmuch of Rotterdam. "

Such insolence on the part of an ambassador to the first minister of agreat republic was hard to bear. Barneveld was not the man to brook it. He replied with great indignation. "I was born in liberty, " he said withrising choler, "I cannot digest this kind of language. The King of Spainhimself never dared to speak in so high a style. "

"I well understand that logic, " returned the Ambassador with continuedinsolence. "You hold your argument to be drawn 'a majori ad minus;' but Ipray you to believe that the King of Great Britain is peer and companionto the King of Spain, and that his motto is, 'Nemo me impune lacessit. '"

And so they parted in a mutual rage; Winwood adding on going out of theroom, "Whatsoever I propose to you in his Majesty's name can find withyou neither goust nor grace. "

He then informed Lord Rochester that "the man was extremely distemperedand extremely distasted with his Majesty. 

"Some say, " he added, "that on being in England when his Majesty firstcame to the throne he conceived some offence, which ever since hathrankled in his heart, and now doth burst forth with more violent malice. "

Nor was the matter so small as it superficially appeared. Dependence ofone nation upon the dictation of another can never be consideredotherwise than grave. The subjection of all citizens, clerical or lay, tothe laws of the land, the supremacy of the State over the Church, wereequally grave subjects. And the question of sovereignty now raised forthe first time, not academically merely, but practically, was the gravestone of all. It was soon to be mooted vigorously and passionately whetherthe United Provinces were a confederacy or a union; a league of sovereignand independent states bound together by treaty for certain specifiedpurposes or an incorporated whole. The Advocate and all the principallawyers in the country had scarcely a doubt on the subject. Whether itwere a reasonable system or an absurd one, a vigorous or an imbecile formof government, they were confident that the Union of Utrecht, made abouta generation of mankind before, and the only tie by which the Provinceswere bound together at all, was a compact between sovereigns. 

Barneveld styled himself always the servant and officer of the States ofHolland. To them was his allegiance, for them he spoke, wrought, andthought, by them his meagre salary was paid. At the congress of theStates-General, the scene of his most important functions, he was theambassador of Holland, acting nominally according to their instructions, and exercising the powers of minister of foreign affairs and, as it were, prime minister for the other confederates by their common consent. Thesystem would have been intolerable, the great affairs of war and peacecould never have been carried on so triumphantly, had not thepreponderance of the one province Holland, richer, more powerful, moreimportant in every way than the other six provinces combined, given tothe confederacy illegally, but virtually, many of the attributes ofunion. Rather by usucaption than usurpation Holland had in many regardscome to consider herself and be considered as the Republic itself. AndBarneveld, acting always in the name of Holland and with the most modestof titles and appointments, was for a long time in all civil matters thechief of the whole country. This had been convenient during the war, still more convenient during negotiations for peace, but it wasinevitable that there should be murmurs now that the cessation frommilitary operations on a large scale had given men time to look moredeeply into the nature of a constitution partly inherited and partlyimprovised, and having many of the defects usually incident to bothsources of government. 

The military interest, the ecclesiastical power, and the influence offoreign nations exerted through diplomatic intrigue, were rapidlyarraying themselves in determined hostility to Barneveld and to what wasdeemed his tyrannous usurpation. A little later the national spirit, asopposed to provincial and municipal patriotism, was to be aroused againsthim, and was likely to prove the most formidable of all the elements ofantagonism. 

It is not necessary to anticipate here what must be developed on asubsequent page. This much, however, it is well to indicate for thecorrect understanding of passing events. Barneveld did not considerhimself the officer or servant of their High Mightinesses theStates-General, while in reality often acting as their master, but thevassal and obedient functionary of their Great Mightinesses the States ofHolland, whom he almost absolutely controlled. 

His present most pressing business was to resist the encroachments of thesacerdotal power and to defend the magistracy. The casuistical questionswhich were fast maddening the public mind seemed of importance to himonly as enclosing within them a more vital and practical question ofcivil government. 

But the anger of his opponents, secret and open, was rapidly increasing. Envy, jealousy, political and clerical hate, above all, that deadliestand basest of malignant spirits which in partisan warfare is bred out ofsubserviency to rising and rival power, were swarming about him andstinging him at every step. No parasite of Maurice could more effectivelypay his court and more confidently hope for promotion or reward than byvilipending Barneveld. It would be difficult to comprehend the infiniteextent and power of slander without a study of the career of the Advocateof Holland. 

"I thank you for your advices, " he wrote to Carom' "and I wish from myheart that his Majesty, according to his royal wisdom and clemencytowards the condition of this country, would listen only to My Lords theStates or their ministers, and not to his own or other passionate personswho, through misunderstanding or malice, furnish him with information andso frequently flatter him. I have tried these twenty years to deserve hisMajesty's confidence, and have many letters from him reaching throughtwelve or fifteen years, in which he does me honour and promises hisroyal favour. I am the more chagrined that through false and passionatereports and information--because I am resolved to remain good and true toMy Lords the States, to the fatherland, and to the true Christianreligion--I and mine should now be so traduced. I hope that God Almightywill second my upright conscience, and cause his Majesty soon to see theinjustice done to me and mine. To defend the resolutions of My Lords theStates of Holland is my office, duty, and oath, and I assure you thatthose resolutions are taken with wider vision and scope than his Majestycan believe. Let this serve for My Lords' defence and my own againstindecent calumny, for my duty allows me to pursue no other course. "

He again alluded to the dreary affair of Vorstius, and told the Envoythat the venation caused by it was incredible. "That men unjustly defameour cities and their regents is nothing new, " he said; "but I assure youthat it is far more damaging to the common weal than the defamersimagine. "

Some of the private admirers of Arminius who were deeply grieved at sooften hearing him "publicly decried as the enemy of God" had beendefending the great heretic to James, and by so doing had excited theroyal wrath not only against the deceased doctor and themselves, butagainst the States of Holland who had given them no commission. 

On the other hand the advanced orthodox party, most bitter haters ofBarneveld, and whom in his correspondence with England he uniformly andperhaps designedly called the Puritans, knowing that the very word was ascarlet rag to James, were growing louder and louder in their demands. "Some thirty of these Puritans, " said he, "of whom at least twenty areFlemings or other foreigners equally violent, proclaim that they and thelike of them mean alone to govern the Church. Let his Majesty comparethis proposal with his Royal Present, with his salutary declaration atLondon in the year 1603 to Doctor Reynolds and his associates, and withhis admonition delivered to the Emperor, kings, sovereigns, andrepublics, and he will best understand the mischievous principles ofthese people, who are now gaining credit with him to the detriment of thefreedom and laws of these Provinces. "

A less enlightened statesman than Barneveld would have found it easyenough to demonstrate the inconsistency of the King in thus preachingsubserviency of government to church and favouring the rule of Puritansover both. It needed but slender logic to reduce such a policy on hispart to absurdity, but neither kings nor governments are apt to valuethemselves on their logic. So long as James could play the pedagogue toemperors, kings, and republics, it mattered little to him that thedoctrines which he preached in one place he had pronounced flat blasphemyin another. 

That he would cheerfully hang in England the man whom he would elevate topower in Holland might be inconsistency in lesser mortals; but what wasthe use of his infallibility if he was expected to be consistent?

But one thing was certain. The Advocate saw through him as if he had beenmade of glass, and James knew that he did. This fatal fact outweighed allthe decorous and respectful phraseology under which Barneveld veiled hisremorseless refutations. It was a dangerous thing to incur the wrath ofthis despot-theologian. 

Prince Maurice, who had originally joined in the invitation given by theoverseers of Leyden to Vorstius, and had directed one of the deputies andhis own "court trumpeter, " Uytenbogaert, to press him earnestly to granthis services to the University, now finding the coldness of Barneveld tothe fiery remonstrances of the King, withdrew his protection of theProfessor. 

"The Count Maurice, who is a wise and understanding prince, " saidWinwood, "and withal most affectionate to his Majesty's service, dothforesee the miseries into which these countries are likely to fall, andwith grief doth pine away. "

It is probable that the great stadholder had never been more robust, orindeed inclining to obesity, than precisely at this epoch; but Sir Ralphwas of an imaginative turn. He had discovered, too, that the Advocate'sdesign was "of no other nature than so to stem the course of the Statethat insensibly the Provinces shall fall by relapse into the hands ofSpain. "

A more despicable idea never entered a human brain. Every action, word, and thought, of Barneveld's life was a refutation of it. But he wasunwilling, at the bidding of a king, to treat a professor with contumelywho had just been solemnly and unanimously invited by the greatuniversity, by the States of Holland, and by the Stadholder to animportant chair; and that was enough for the diplomatist and courtier. "He, and only he, " said Winwood passionately, "hath opposed his Majesty'spurposes with might and main. " Formerly the Ambassador had been full ofcomplaints of "the craving humour of Count Maurice, " and had censured himbitterly in his correspondence for having almost by his inordinatepretensions for money and other property brought the Treaty of Truce to astandstill. And in these charges he was as unjust and as reckless as hewas now in regard to Barneveld. 

The course of James and his agents seemed cunningly devised to sowdiscord in the Provinces, to inflame the growing animosity of theStadholder to the Advocate, and to paralyse the action of the Republic inthe duchies. If the King had received direct instructions from theSpanish cabinet how to play the Spanish game, he could hardly have doneit with more docility. But was not Gondemar ever at his elbow, and theInfanta always in the perspective?

And it is strange enough that, at the same moment, Spanish marriages werein France as well as England the turning-point of policy. 

Henry had been willing enough that the Dauphin should espouse a Spanishinfanta, and that one of the Spanish princes should be affianced to oneof his daughters. But the proposition from Spain had been coupled with acondition that the friendship between France and the Netherlands shouldbe at once broken off, and the rebellious heretics left to their fate. And this condition had been placed before him with such arrogance that hehad rejected the whole scheme. Henry was not the man to do anythingdishonourable at the dictation of another sovereign. He was also not theman to be ignorant that the friendship of the Provinces was necessary tohim, that cordial friendship between France and Spain was impossible, andthat to allow Spain to reoccupy that splendid possession between his ownrealms and Germany, from which she had been driven by the Hollanders inclose alliance with himself, would be unworthy of the veriest schoolboyin politics. But Henry was dead, and a Medici reigned in his place, whosewhole thought was to make herself agreeable to Spain. 

Aerssens, adroit, prying, experienced, unscrupulous, knew very well thatthese double Spanish marriages were resolved upon, and that theinevitable condition refused by the King would be imposed upon his widow. He so informed the States-General, and it was known to the Frenchgovernment that he had informed them. His position soon became almostuntenable, not because he had given this information, but because theinformation and the inference made from it were correct. 

It will be observed that the policy of the Advocate was to preservefriendly relations between France and England, and between both and theUnited Provinces. It was for this reason that he submitted to theexhortations and denunciations of the English ambassadors. It was forthis that he kept steadily in view the necessity of dealing with andsupporting corporate France, the French government, when there were manyreasons for feeling sympathy with the internal rebellion against thatgovernment. Maurice felt differently. He was connected by blood oralliance with more than one of the princes now perpetually in revolt. Bouillon was his brother-in-law, the sister of Conde was his brother'swife. Another cousin, the Elector-Palatine, was already encouragingdistant and extravagant hopes of the Imperial crown. It was not unnaturalthat he should feel promptings of ambition and sympathy difficult to avoweven to himself, and that he should feel resentment against the man bywhom this secret policy was traversed in the well-considered interest ofthe Republican government. 

Aerssens, who, with the keen instinct of self-advancement was alreadyattaching himself to Maurice as to the wheels of the chariot goingsteadily up the hill, was not indisposed to loosen his hold upon the manthrough whose friendship he had first risen, and whose power was nowperhaps on the decline. Moreover, events had now caused him to hate theFrench government with much fervour. With Henry IV. He had beenall-powerful. His position had been altogether exceptional, and he hadwielded an influence at Paris more than that exerted by any foreignambassador. The change naturally did not please him, although he wellknew the reasons. It was impossible for the Dutch ambassador to bepopular at a court where Spain ruled supreme. Had he been willing to eathumiliation as with a spoon, it would not have sufficed. They knew him, they feared him, and they could not doubt that his sympathies would everbe with the malcontent princes. At the same time he did not like to losehis hold upon the place, nor to have it known, as yet, to the world thathis power was diminished. 

"The Queen commands me to tell you, " said the French ambassador de Russyto the States-General, "that the language of the Sieur Aerssens has notonly astonished her, but scandalized her to that degree that she couldnot refrain from demanding if it came from My Lords the States or fromhimself. He having, however, affirmed to her Majesty that he had expresscharge to justify it by reasons so remote from the hope and the beliefthat she had conceived of your gratitude to the Most Christian King andherself, she is constrained to complain of it, and with great frankness. "

Some months later than this Aerssens communicated to the States-Generalthe project of the Spanish marriage, "which, " said he, "they havedeclared to me with so many oaths to be false. " He informed them that M. De Refuge was to go on special mission to the Hague, "having beendesignated to that duty before Aerssens' discovery of the marriageproject. " He was to persuade their Mightinesses that the marriages wereby no means concluded, and that, even if they were, their Mightinesseswere not interested therein, their Majesties intending to remain by theold maxims and alliances of the late king. Marriages, he would beinstructed to say, were mere personal conventions, which remained of noconsideration when the interests of the crown were touched. "Nevertheless, I know very well, " said Aerssens, "that in England thesenegotiations are otherwise understood, and that the King has utteredgreat complaints about them, saying that such a negotiation as this oughtnot to have been concealed from him. He is pressing more than ever forreimbursement of the debt to him, and especially for the moneys pretendedto have been furnished to your Mightinesses in his Majesty's name. "

Thus it will be seen how closely the Spanish marriages were connectedwith the immediate financial arrangements of France, England, and theStates, without reference to the wider political consequencesanticipated. 

"The princes and most gentlemen, " here continued the Ambassador, "believethat these reciprocal and double marriages will bring about great changesin Christendom if they take the course which the authors of them intend, however much they may affect to believe that no novelties are impending. The marriages were proposed to the late king, and approved by him, duringthe negotiations for the truce, and had Don Pedro do Toledo been able togovern himself, as Jeannin has just been telling me, the United Provinceswould have drawn from it their assured security. What he means by that, Icertainly cannot conceive, for Don Pedro proposed the marriage of theDauphin (now Louis XIII. ) with the Infanta on the condition that Henryshould renounce all friendship with your Mightinesses, and neither openlynor secretly give you any assistance. You were to be entirely abandoned, as an example for all who throw off the authority of their lawful prince. But his Majesty answered very generously that he would take noconditions; that he considered your Mightinesses as his best friends, whom he could not and would not forsake. Upon this Don Pedro broke offthe negotiation. What should now induce the King of Spain to resume themarriage negotiations but to give up the conditions, I am sure I don'tknow, unless, through the truce, his designs and his ambition have grownflaccid. This I don't dare to hope, but fear, on the contrary, that hewill so manage the irresolution, weakness, and faintheartedness of thiskingdom as through the aid of his pensioned friends here to arrive at allhis former aims. "

Certainly the Ambassador painted the condition of France in striking andveracious colours, and he was quite right in sending the informationwhich he was first to discover, and which it was so important for theStates to know. It was none the less certain in Barneveld's mind that thebest, not the worst, must be made of the state of affairs, and thatFrance should not be assisted in throwing herself irrecoverably into thearms of Spain. 

"Refuge will tell you, " said Aerssens, a little later, "that thesemarriages will not interfere with the friendship of France for you norwith her subsidies, and that no advantage will be given to Spain in thetreaty to your detriment or that of her other allies. But whatever finedeclarations they may make, it is sure to be detrimental. And all theprinces, gentlemen, and officers here have the same conviction. Those ofthe Reformed religion believe that the transaction is directed solelyagainst the religion which your Mightinesses profess, and that the nextstep will be to effect a total separation between the two religions andthe two countries. "

Refuge arrived soon afterwards, and made the communication to theStates-General of the approaching nuptials between the King of France andthe Infanta of Spain; and of the Prince of Spain with Madame, eldestdaughter of France, exactly as Aerssens had predicted four months before. There was a great flourish of compliments, much friendly phrase-making, and their Mightinesses were informed that the communication of themarriages was made to them before any other power had been notified, inproof of the extraordinary affection entertained for them by France. "Youare so much interested in the happiness of France, " said Refuge, "thatthis treaty by which it is secured will be for your happiness also. Hedid not indicate, however, the precise nature of the bliss beyond theindulgence of a sentimental sympathy, not very refreshing in thecircumstances, which was to result to the Confederacy from this closealliance between their firmest friend and their ancient and deadly enemy. He would have found it difficult to do so. 

"Don Rodrigo de Calderon, secretary of state, is daily expected fromSpain, " wrote, Aerssens once more. "He brings probably the articles ofthe marriages, which have hitherto been kept secret, so they say. 'Tis ashrewd negotiator; and in this alliance the King's chief design is toinjure your Mightinesses, as M. De Villeroy now confesses, although hesays that this will not be consented to on this side. It behoves yourMightinesses to use all your ears and eyes. It is certain these are muchmore than private conventions. Yes, there is nothing private about them, save the conjunction of the persons whom they concern. In short, all theconditions regard directly the state, and directly likewise, or bynecessary consequence, the state of your Mightinesses' Provinces. Ireserve explanations until it shall please your Mightinesses to hear meby word of mouth. "

For it was now taken into consideration by the States' government whetherAerssens was to remain at his post or to return. Whether it was his wishto be relieved of his embassy or not was a question. But there was noquestion that the States at this juncture, and in spite of the dangersimpending from the Spanish marriages, must have an ambassador ready to dohis best to keep France from prematurely sliding into positive hostilityto them. Aerssens was enigmatical in his language, and Barneveld wassomewhat puzzled. 

"I have according to your reiterated requests, " wrote the Advocate to theAmbassador, "sounded the assembly of My Lords the States as to yourrecall; but I find among some gentlemen the opinion that if earnestlypressed to continue you would be willing to listen to the proposal. ThisI cannot make out from your letters. Please to advise me frankly as toyour wishes, and assure yourself in everything of my friendship. "

Nothing could be more straightforward than this language, but the Envoywas less frank than Barneveld, as will subsequently appear. The subjectwas a most important one, not only in its relation to the great affairsof state, but to momentous events touching the fate of illustriouspersonages. 

Meantime a resolution was passed by the States of Holland "in regard tothe question whether Ambassador Aerssens should retain his office, yes orno?" And it was decided by a majority of votes "to leave it to his candidopinion if in his free conscience he thinks he can serve the public causethere any longer. If yes, he may keep his office one year more. If no, hemay take leave and come home. In no case is his salary to be increased. "

Surely the States, under the guidance of the Advocate, had thus actedwith consummate courtesy towards a diplomatist whose position from noapparent fault of his own but by the force of circumstances--and ratherto his credit than otherwise--was gravely compromised. 

 ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS:

 Advanced orthodox party-Puritans Atheist, a tyrant, because he resisted dictation from the clergy Give him advice if he asked it, and money when he required He was not imperial of aspect on canvas or coin He who would have all may easily lose all King's definite and final intentions, varied from day to day Neither kings nor governments are apt to value logic Outdoing himself in dogmatism and inconsistency Small matter which human folly had dilated into a great one The defence of the civil authority against the priesthood

CHAPTER VI. 1609-14

 Establishment of the Condominium in the Duchies--Dissensions between the Neuburgers and Brandenburgers--Occupation of Julich by the Brandenburgers assisted by the States-General--Indignation in Spain and at the Court of the Archdukes--Subsidy despatched to Brussels Spinola descends upon Aix-la-Chapelle and takes possession of Orsoy and other places--Surrender of Wesel--Conference at Xanten--Treaty permanently dividing the Territory between Brandenburg and Neuburg-- Prohibition from Spain--Delays and Disagreements. 

Thus the 'Condominium' had been peaceably established. 

Three or four years passed away in the course of which the evils of ajoint and undivided sovereignty of two rival houses over the sameterritory could not fail to manifest themselves. Brandenburg, Calvinistin religion, and for other reasons more intimately connected with andmore favoured by the States' government than his rival, gained ground inthe duchies. The Palatine of Neuburg, originally of Lutheran faith likehis father, soon manifested Catholic tendencies, which excited suspicionin the Netherlands. These suspicions grew into certainties at the momentwhen he espoused the sister of Maximilian of Bavaria and of the Electorof Cologne. That this close connection with the very heads of theCatholic League could bode no good to the cause of which theStates-General were the great promoters was self-evident. Very soonafterwards the Palatine, a man of mature age and of considerable talents, openly announced his conversion to the ancient church. Obviously thesympathies of the States could not thenceforth fail to be on the side ofBrandenburg. The Elector's brother died and was succeeded in thegovernorship of the Condeminium by the Elector's brother, a youth ofeighteen. He took up his abode in Cleve, leaving Dusseldorf to be thesole residence of his co-stadholder. 

Rivalry growing warmer, on account of this difference of religion, between the respective partisans of Neuburg and Brandenburg, an attemptwas made in Dusseldorf by a sudden entirely unsuspected rising of theBrandenburgers to drive their antagonist colleagues and their portion ofthe garrison out of the city. It failed, but excited great anger. A moresuccessful effort was soon afterwards made in Julich; the Neuburgers weredriven out, and the Brandenburgers remained in sole possession of thetown and citadel, far the most important stronghold in the wholeterritory. This was partly avenged by the Neuburgers, who gained absolutecontrol of Dusseldorf. Here were however no important fortifications, theplace being merely an agreeable palatial residence and a thriving mart. The States-General, not concealing their predilection for Brandenburg, but under pretext of guarding the peace which they had done so much toestablish, placed a garrison of 1400 infantry and a troop or two of horsein the citadel of Julich. 

Dire was the anger not unjustly excited in Spain when the news of thisviolation of neutrality reached that government. Julich, placed midwaybetween Liege and Cologne, and commanding those fertile plains which makeup the opulent duchy, seemed virtually converted into a province of thedetested heretical republic. The German gate of the Spanish Netherlandswas literally in the hands of its most formidable foe. 

The Spaniards about the court of the Archduke did not dissemble theirrage. The seizure of Julich was a stain upon his reputation, they cried. Was it not enough, they asked, for the United Provinces to have made atruce to the manifest detriment and discredit of Spain, and to havetreated her during all the negotiation with such insolence? Were they nowto be permitted to invade neutral territory, to violate public faith, toact under no responsibility save to their own will? What was left forthem to do except to set up a tribunal in Holland for giving laws to thewhole of Northern Europe? Arrogating to themselves absolute power overthe controverted states of Cleve, Julich, and the dependencies, they nowpretended to dispose of them at their pleasure in order at the endinsolently to take possession of them for themselves. 

These were the egregious fruits of the truce, they said tauntingly to thediscomfited Archduke. It had caused a loss of reputation, the very soulof empires, to the crown of Spain. And now, to conclude her abasement, the troops in Flanders had been shaven down with such parsimony as tomake the monarch seem a shopkeeper, not a king. One would suppose theobedient Netherlands to be in the heart of Spain rather than outlyingprovinces surrounded by their deadliest enemies. The heretics had gainedpossession of the government at Aix-la-Chapelle; they had converted theinsignificant town of Mulheim into a thriving and fortified town indefiance of Cologne and to its manifest detriment, and in various otherways they had insulted the Catholics throughout those regions. And whocould wonder at such insolence, seeing that the army in Flanders, formerly the terror of heretics, had become since the truce so weak as tobe the laughing-stock of the United Provinces? If it was expensive tomaintain these armies in the obedient Netherlands, let there be economyelsewhere, they urged. 

From India came gold and jewels. From other kingdoms came ostentation anda long series of vain titles for the crown of Spain. Flanders was itsplace of arms, its nursery of soldiers, its bulwark in Europe, and so itshould be preserved. 

There was ground for these complaints. The army at the disposition of theArchduke had been reduced to 8000 infantry and a handful of cavalry. Thepeace establishment of the Republic amounted to 20, 000 foot, 3000 horse, besides the French and English regiments. 

So soon as the news of the occupation of Julich was officiallycommunicated to the Spanish cabinet, a subsidy of 400, 000 crowns was atonce despatched to Brussels. Levies of Walloons and Germans were madewithout delay by order of Archduke Albert and under guidance of Spinola, so that by midsummer the army was swollen to 18, 000 foot and 3000 horse. With these the great Genoese captain took the field in the middle ofAugust. On the 22nd of that month the army was encamped on some plainsmid-way between Maestricht and Aachen. There was profound mystery both atBrussels and at the Hague as to the objective point of these militarymovements. Anticipating an attack upon Julich, the States had meantimestrengthened the garrison of that important place with 3000 infantry anda regiment of horse. It seemed scarcely probable therefore that Spinolawould venture a foolhardy blow at a citadel so well fortified anddefended. Moreover, there was not only no declaration of war, but strictorders had been given by each of the apparent belligerents to theirmilitary commanders to abstain from all offensive movements against theadversary. And now began one of the strangest series of warlikeevolution's that were ever recorded. Maurice at the head of an army of14, 000 foot and 3000 horse manoeuvred in the neighbourhood of his greatantagonist and professional rival without exchanging a blow. It was aphantom campaign, the prophetic rehearsal of dreadful marches and tragichistories yet to be, and which were to be enacted on that very stage andon still wider ones during a whole generation of mankind. That cynicalcommerce in human lives which was to become one of the chief branches ofhuman industry in the century had already begun. 

Spinola, after hovering for a few days in the neighbourhood, descendedupon the Imperial city of Aachen (Aix-la-Chapelle). This had been one ofthe earliest towns in Germany to embrace the Reformed religion, and up tothe close of the sixteenth century the control of the magistracy had beenin the hands of the votaries of that creed. Subsequently the Catholicshad contrived to acquire and keep the municipal ascendency, secretlysupported by Archduke Albert, and much oppressing the Protestants withimprisonments, fines, and banishment, until a new revolution which hadoccurred in the year 1610, and which aroused the wrath of Spinola. Certainly, according to the ideas of that day, it did not seem unnaturalin a city where a very large majority of the population were Protestantsthat Protestants should have a majority in the town council. It seemed, however, to those who surrounded the Archduke an outrage which could nolonger be tolerated, especially as a garrison of 600 Germans, supposed tohave formed part of the States' army, had recently been introduced intothe town. Aachen, lying mostly on an extended plain, had but very slightfortifications, and it was commanded by a neighbouring range of hills. Ithad no garrison but the 600 Germans. Spinola placed a battery or two onthe hills, and within three days the town surrendered. The inhabitantsexpected a scene of carnage and pillage, but not a life was lost. Noinjury whatever was inflicted on person or property, according to thestrict injunctions of the Archduke. The 600 Germans were driven out, and1200 other Germans then serving under Catholic banners were put in theirplaces to protect the Catholic minority, to whose keeping the municipalgovernment was now confided. 

Spinola, then entering the territory of Cleve, took session of Orsoy, animportant place on the Rhine, besides Duren, Duisburg, Kaster, Greevenbroek and Berchem. Leaving garrisons in these places, he razed thefortifications of Mulheim, much to the joy of the Archbishop and hisfaithful subjects of Cologne, then crossed the Rhine at Rheinberg, andswooped down upon Wesel. This flourishing and prosperous city hadformerly belonged to the Duchy of Cleve. Placed at the junction of theRhine and Lippe and commanding both rivers, it had become both powerfuland Protestant, and had set itself up as a free Imperial city, recognising its dukes no longer as sovereigns, but only as protectors. Sofervent was it in the practice of the Reformed religion that it wascalled the Rhenish Geneva, the cradle of German Calvinism. So importantwas its preservation considered to the cause of Protestantism that theStates-General had urged its authorities to accept from them a garrison. They refused. Had they complied, the city would have been saved, becauseit was the rule in this extraordinary campaign that the belligerents madewar not upon each other, nor in each others territory, but againstneutrals and upon neutral soil. The Catholic forces under Spinola or hislieutenants, meeting occasionally and accidentally with the Protestantsunder Maurice or his generals, exchanged no cannon shots or buffets, butonly acts of courtesy; falling away each before the other, and eachceding to the other with extreme politeness the possession of towns whichone had preceded the other in besieging. 

The citizens of Wesel were amazed at being attacked, consideringthemselves as Imperial burghers. They regretted too late that they hadrefused a garrison from Maurice, which would have prevented Spinola fromassailing them. They had now nothing for it but to surrender, which theydid within three days. The principal condition of the capitulation wasthat when Julich should be given up by the States Wesel should berestored to its former position. Spinola then took and garrisoned thecity of Xanten, but went no further. Having weakened his armysufficiently by the garrisons taken from it for the cities captured byhim, he declined to make any demonstration upon the neighbouring andimportant towns of Emmerich and Rees. The Catholic commander fallingback, the Protestant moved forward. Maurice seized both Emmerich andRees, and placed garrisons within them, besides occupying Goch, Kranenburg, Gennip, and various places in the County of Mark. This closedthe amicable campaign. 

Spinola established himself and his forces near Wesel. The Princeencamped near Rees. The two armies were within two hours' march of eachother. The Duke of Neuburg--for the Palatine had now succeeded on hisfather's death to the ancestral dukedom and to his share of theCondominium of the debateable provinces--now joined Spinola with an armyof 4000 foot and 400 horse. The young Prince of Brandenburg came toMaurice with 800 cavalry and an infantry regiment of theElector-Palatine. 

Negotiations destined to be as spectral and fleeting as the campaign hadbeen illusory now began. The whole Protestant world was aflame withindignation at the loss of Wesel. The States' government had alreadyproposed to deposit Julich in the hands of a neutral power if theArchduke would abstain from military movements. But Albert, proud of hisachievements in Aachen, refused to pause in his career. Let them make thedeposit first, he said. 

Both belligerents, being now satiated with such military glory as couldflow from the capture of defenceless cities belonging to neutrals, agreedto hold conferences at Xanten. To this town, in the Duchy of Cleve, andmidway between the rival camps, came Sir Henry Wotton and Sir DudleyCarleton, ambassadors of Great Britain; de Refuge and de Russy, thespecial and the resident ambassador of France at the Hague; ChancellorPeter Pecquius and Counsellor Visser, to represent the Archdukes; sevendeputies from the United Provinces, three from the Elector of Cologne, three from Brandenburg, three from Neuburg, and two from theElector-Palatine, as representative of the Protestant League. 

In the earlier conferences the envoys of the Archduke and of the Electorof Cologne were left out, but they were informed daily of each step inthe negotiation. The most important point at starting was thought to beto get rid of the 'Condominium. ' There could be no harmony nor peace injoint possession. The whole territory should be cut provisionally inhalves, and each possessory prince rule exclusively within the portionassigned to him. There might also be an exchange of domain between thetwo every six months. As for Wesel and Julich, they could remainrespectively in the hands then holding them, or the fortifications ofJulich might be dismantled and Wesel restored to the status quo. Thelatter alternative would have best suited the States, who were growingdaily more irritated at seeing Wesel, that Protestant stronghold, with anexclusively Calvinistic population, in the hands of Catholics. 

The Spanish ambassador at Brussels remonstrated, however, at the thoughtof restoring his precious conquest, obtained without loss of time, money, or blood, into the hands of heretics, at least before consultation withthe government at Madrid and without full consent of the King. 

"How important to your Majesty's affairs in Flanders, " wrote Guadalesteto Philip, "is the acquisition of Wesel may be seen by the manifest griefof your enemies. They see with immense displeasure your royal ensignsplanted on the most important place on the Rhine, and one which wouldbecome the chief military station for all the armies of Flanders toassemble in at any moment. 

"As no acquisition could therefore be greater, so your Majesty shouldnever be deprived of it without thorough consideration of the case. TheArchduke fears, and so do his ministers, that if we refuse to restoreWesel, the United Provinces would break the truce. For my part I believe, and there are many who agree with me, that they would on the contrary bemore inclined to stand by the truce, hoping to obtain by negotiation thatwhich it must be obvious to them they cannot hope to capture by force. But let Wesel be at once restored. Let that be done which is so muchdesired by the United Provinces and other great enemies and rivals ofyour Majesty, and what security will there be that the same Provinceswill not again attempt the same invasion? Is not the example of Julichfresh? And how much more important is Wesel! Julich was after all notsituate on their frontiers, while Wesel lies at their principal gates. Your Majesty now sees the good and upright intentions of those Provincesand their friends. They have made a settlement between Brandenburg andNeuburg, not in order to breed concord but confusion between those two, not tranquillity for the country, but greater turbulence than everbefore. Nor have they done this with any other thought than that theUnited Provinces might find new opportunities to derive the same profitfrom fresh tumults as they have already done so shamelessly from thosewhich are past. After all I don't say that Wesel should never berestored, if circumstances require it, and if your Majesty, approving theTreaty of Xanten, should sanction the measure. But such a result shouldbe reached only after full consultation with your Majesty, to whoseglorious military exploits these splendid results are chiefly owing. "

The treaty finally decided upon rejected the principle of alternatepossession, and established a permanent division of the territory indispute between Brandenburg and Neuburg. 

The two portions were to be made as equal as possible, and lots were tobe thrown or drawn by the two princes for the first choice. To the oneside were assigned the Duchy of Cleve, the County of Mark, and theSeigniories of Ravensberg and Ravenstein, with some other baronies andfeuds in Brabant and Flanders; to the other the Duchies of Julich andBerg with their dependencies. Each prince was to reside exclusivelywithin the territory assigned to him by lot. The troops introduced byeither party were to be withdrawn, fortifications made since thepreceding month of May to be razed, and all persons who had beenexpelled, or who had emigrated, to be restored to their offices, property, or benefices. It was also stipulated that no place within thewhole debateable territory should be put in the hands of a third power. 

These articles were signed by the ambassadors of France and England, bythe deputies of the Elector-Palatine and of the United Provinces, allbinding their superiors to the execution of the treaty. The arrangementwas supposed to refer to the previous conventions between those twocrowns, with the Republic, and the Protestant princes and powers. CountZollern, whom we have seen bearing himself so arrogantly as envoy fromthe Emperor Rudolph to Henry IV. , was now despatched by Matthias on asfruitless a mission to the congress at Xanten, and did his best toprevent the signature of the treaty, except with full concurrence of theImperial government. He likewise renewed the frivolous proposition thatthe Emperor should hold all the provinces in sequestration until thequestion of rightful sovereignty should be decided. The "proud andhaggard" ambassador was not more successful in this than in thediplomatic task previously entrusted to him, and he then went toBrussels, there to renew his remonstrances, menaces, and intrigues. 

For the treaty thus elaborately constructed, and in appearance atriumphant settlement of questions so complicated and so burning as tothreaten to set Christendom at any moment in a blaze, was destined to animpotent and most unsatisfactory conclusion. 

The signatures were more easily obtained than the ratifications. Execution was surrounded with insurmountable difficulties which innegotiation had been lightly skipped over at the stroke of a pen. At thevery first step, that of military evacuation, there was a stumble. Maurice and Spinola were expected to withdraw their forces, and toundertake to bring in no troops in the future, and to make no invasion ofthe disputed territory. 

But Spinola construed this undertaking as absolute; the Prince as onlybinding in consequence of, with reference to, and for the duration of;the Treaty of Xanten. The ambassadors and other commissioners, disgustedwith the long controversy which ensued, were making up their minds todepart when a courier arrived from Spain, bringing not a ratification butstrict prohibition of the treaty. The articles were not to be executed, no change whatever was to be made, and, above all, Wesel was not to berestored without fresh negotiations with Philip, followed by his explicitconcurrence. 

Thus the whole great negotiation began to dissolve into a shadowy, unsatisfactory pageant. The solid barriers which were to imprison thevast threatening elements of religious animosity and dynastic hatreds, and to secure a peaceful future for Christendom, melted into films ofgossamer, and the great war of demons, no longer to be quelled by thecommonplaces of diplomatic exorcism, revealed its close approach. Theprospects of Europe grew blacker than ever. 

The ambassadors, thoroughly disheartened and disgusted, all took theirdeparture from Xanten, and the treaty remained rather a by-word than asolution or even a suggestion. 

"The accord could not be prevented, " wrote Archduke Albert to Philip, "because it depended alone on the will of the signers. Nor can thepromise to restore Wesel be violated, should Julich be restored. Who candoubt that such contravention would arouse great jealousies in France, England, the United Provinces, and all the members of the heretic Leagueof Germany? Who can dispute that those interested ought to procure theexecution of the treaty? Suspicions will not remain suspicions, but theylight up the flames of public evil and disturbance. Either your Majestywishes to maintain the truce, in which case Wesel must be restored, or tobreak the truce, a result which is certain if Wesel be retained. But thereasons which induced your Majesty to lay down your arms remain the sameas ever. Our affairs are not looking better, nor is the requisition ofWesel of so great importance as to justify our involving Flanders in anew and more atrocious war than that which has so lately been suspended. The restitution is due to the tribunal of public faith. It is a greatadvantage when actions done for the sole end of justice are united tothat of utility. Consider the great successes we have had. How well theaffairs of Aachen and Mulbeim have been arranged; those of the Duke ofNeuburg how completely re-established. The Catholic cause, alwaysidentical with that of the House of Austria, remains in great superiorityto the cause of the heretics. We should use these advantages well, and todo so we should not immaturely pursue greater ones. Fortune changes, flies when we most depend on her, and delights in making her chief sportof the highest quality of mortals. "

Thus wrote the Archduke sensibly, honourably from his point of view, andwith an intelligent regard to the interests of Spain and the Catholiccause. After months of delay came conditional consent from Madrid to theconventions, but with express condition that there should be absoluteundertaking on the part of the United Provinces never to send or maintaintroops in the duchies. Tedious and futile correspondence followed betweenBrussels, the Hague, London, Paris. But the difficulties grew everymoment. It was a Penelope's web of negotiation, said one of the envoys. Amid pertinacious and wire-drawn subtleties, every trace of practicalbusiness vanished. Neuburg departed to look after his patrimonialestates; leaving his interests in the duchies to be watched over by theArchduke. Even Count Zollern, after six months of wrangling in Brussels, took his departure. Prince Maurice distributed his army in various placeswithin the debateable land, and Spinola did the same, leaving a garrisonof 3000 foot and 300 horse in the important city of Wesel. The town andcitadel of Julich were as firmly held by Maurice for the Protestantcause. Thus the duchies were jointly occupied by the forces ofCatholicism and Protestantism, while nominally possessed and administeredby the princes of Brandenburg and Neuburg. And so they were destined toremain until that Thirty Years' War, now so near its outbreak, shouldsweep over the earth, and bring its fiery solution at last to all thesegreat debates. 

CHAPTER VII. 

 Proud Position of the Republic--France obeys her--Hatred of Carleton --Position and Character of Aerssens--Claim for the "Third"--Recall of Aerssens--Rivalry between Maurice and Barneveld, who always sustains the separate Sovereignties of the Provinces--Conflict between Church and State added to other Elements of Discord in the Commonwealth--Religion a necessary Element in the Life of all Classes. 

Thus the Republic had placed itself in as proud a position as it waspossible for commonwealth or kingdom to occupy. It had dictated thepolicy and directed the combined military movements of Protestantism. Ithad gathered into a solid mass the various elements out of which thegreat Germanic mutiny against Rome, Spain, and Austria had beencompounded. A breathing space of uncertain duration had come to interruptand postpone the general and inevitable conflict. Meantime the Republicwas encamped upon the enemy's soil. 

France, which had hitherto commanded, now obeyed. England, vacillatingand discontented, now threatening and now cajoling, saw for the time atleast its influence over the councils of the Netherlands neutralized bythe genius of the great statesman who still governed the Provinces, supreme in all but name. The hatred of the British government towards theRepublic, while in reality more malignant than at any previous period, could now only find vent in tremendous, theological pamphlets, composedby the King in the form of diplomatic instructions, and hurled almostweekly at the heads of the States-General, by his ambassador, DudleyCarleton. 

Few men hated Barneveld more bitterly than did Carleton. I wish todescribe as rapidly, but as faithfully, as I can the outline at least ofthe events by which one of the saddest and most superfluous catastrophesin modern history was brought about. The web was a complex one, wroughtapparently of many materials; but the more completely it is unravelledthe more clearly we shall detect the presence of the few simple butelemental fibres which make up the tissue of most human destinies, whether illustrious or obscure, and out of which the most moving picturesof human history are composed. 

The religious element, which seems at first view to be the all pervadingand controlling one, is in reality rather the atmosphere which surroundsand colours than the essence which constitutes the tragedy to bedelineated. 

Personal, sometimes even paltry, jealousy; love of power, of money, ofplace; rivalry between civil and military ambition for predominance in afree state; struggles between Church and State to control and oppresseach other; conflict between the cautious and healthy, but provincial andcentrifugal, spirit on the one side, and the ardent centralizing, imperial, but dangerous, instinct on the other, for ascendancy in afederation; mortal combat between aristocracy disguised in the plebeianform of trading and political corporations and democracy shelteringitself under a famous sword and an ancient and illustrious name;--allthese principles and passions will be found hotly at work in themelancholy five years with which we are now to be occupied, as they haveentered, and will always enter, into every political combination in thegreat tragi-comedy which we call human history. As a study, a lesson, anda warning, perhaps the fate of Barneveld is as deserving of seriousattention as most political tragedies of the last few centuries. 

Francis Aerssens, as we have seen, continued to be the Dutch ambassadorafter the murder of Henry IV. Many of the preceding pages of this volumehave been occupied with his opinions, his pictures, his conversations, and his political intrigues during a memorable epoch in the history ofthe Netherlands and of France. He was beyond all doubt one of the ablestdiplomatists in Europe. Versed in many languages, a classical student, familiar with history and international law, a man of the world andfamiliar with its usages, accustomed to associate with dignity and tacton friendliest terms with sovereigns, eminent statesmen, and men ofletters; endowed with a facile tongue, a fluent pen, and an eye and earof singular acuteness and delicacy; distinguished for unflagging industryand singular aptitude for secret and intricate affairs;--he had by theexercise of these various qualities during a period of nearly twentyyears at the court of Henry the Great been able to render inestimableservices to the Republic which he represented. Of respectable but notdistinguished lineage, not a Hollander, but a Belgian by birth, son ofCornelis Aerssens, Grefter of the States-General, long employed in thatimportant post, he had been brought forward from a youth by Barneveld andearly placed by him in the diplomatic career, of which through his favourand his own eminent talents he had now achieved the highest honours. 

He had enjoyed the intimacy and even the confidence of Henry IV. , so faras any man could be said to possess that monarch's confidence, and hisfriendly relations and familiar access to the King gave him politicaladvantages superior to those of any of his colleagues at the same court. 

Acting entirely and faithfully according to the instructions of theAdvocate of Holland, he always gratefully and copiously acknowledged theprivilege of being guided and sustained in the difficult paths he had totraverse by so powerful and active an intellect. I have seldom alluded interms to the instructions and despatches of the chief, but everyposition, negotiation, and opinion of the envoy--and the reader has seenmany of them--is pervaded by their spirit. Certainly the correspondenceof Aerssens is full to overflowing of gratitude, respect, ferventattachment to the person and exalted appreciation of the intellect andhigh character of the Advocate. 

There can be no question of Aerssen's consummate abilities. Whether hisheart were as sound as his head, whether his protestations of devotionhad the ring of true gold or not, time would show. Hitherto Barneveld hadnot doubted him, nor had he found cause to murmur at Barneveld. 

But the France of Henry IV. , where the Dutch envoy was so all-powerful, had ceased to exist. A duller eye than that of Aerssens could have seenat a glance that the potent kingdom and firm ally of the Republic hadbeen converted, for a long time to come at least, into a Spanishprovince. The double Spanish marriages (that of the young Louis XIII. With the Infanta Anna, and of his sister with the Infante, one day to bePhilip IV. ), were now certain, for it was to make them certain that theknife of Ravaillac had been employed. The condition precedent to thosemarriages had long been known. It was the renunciation of the alliancebetween France and Holland. It was the condemnation to death, so far asFrance had the power to condemn her to death, of the young Republic. Hadnot Don Pedro de Toledo pompously announced this condition a year and ahalf before? Had not Henry spurned the bribe with scorn? And now had notFrancis Aerssens been the first to communicate to his masters the fruitwhich had already ripened upon Henry's grave? As we have seen, he hadrevealed these intrigues long before they were known to the world, andthe French court knew that he had revealed them. His position had becomeuntenable. His friendship for Henry could not be of use to him with thedelicate-featured, double-chinned, smooth and sluggish Florentine, whohad passively authorized and actively profited by her husband's murder. 

It was time for the Envoy to be gone. The Queen-Regent and Concinithought so. And so did Villeroy and Sillery and the rest of the oldservants of the King, now become pensionaries of Spain. But Aerssens didnot think so. He liked his position, changed as it was. He was deep inthe plottings of Bouillon and Conde and the other malcontents against theQueen-Regent. These schemes, being entirely personal, the rank growth ofthe corruption and apparent disintegration of France, were perpetuallychanging, and could be reduced to no principle. It was a mere struggle ofthe great lords of France to wrest places, money, governments, militarycommands from the Queen-Regent, and frantic attempts on her part to saveas much as possible of the general wreck for her lord and master Concini. 

It was ridiculous to ascribe any intense desire on the part of the Duc deBouillon to aid the Protestant cause against Spain at that moment, actingas he was in combination with Conde, whom we have just seen employed bySpain as the chief instrument to effect the destruction of France and thebastardy of the Queen's children. Nor did the sincere and devoutProtestants who had clung to the cause through good and bad report, menlike Duplessis-Mornay, for example, and those who usually acted with him, believe in any of these schemes for partitioning France on pretence ofsaving Protestantism. But Bouillon, greatest of all French fishermen introubled waters, was brother-in-law of Prince Maurice of Nassau, andAerssens instinctively felt that the time had come when he should anchorhimself to firm holding ground at home. 

The Ambassador had also a personal grievance. Many of his most secretdespatches to the States-General in which he expressed himself veryfreely, forcibly, and accurately on the general situation in France, especially in regard to the Spanish marriages and the Treaty of HamptonCourt, had been transcribed at the Hague and copies of them sent to theFrench government. No baser act of treachery to an envoy could beimagined. It was not surprising that Aerssens complained bitterly of thedeed. He secretly suspected Barneveld, but with injustice, of havingplayed him this evil turn, and the incident first planted the seeds ofthe deadly hatred which was to bear such fatal fruit. 

"A notable treason has been played upon me, " he wrote to Jacques deMaldere, "which has outraged my heart. All the despatches which I havebeen sending for several months to M. De Barneveld have been communicatedby copy in whole or in extracts to this court. Villeroy quoted from themat our interview to-day, and I was left as it were without power ofreply. The despatches were long, solid, omitting no particularity forgiving means to form the best judgment of the designs and intrigues ofthis court. No greater damage could be done to me and my usefulness. Allthose from whom I have hitherto derived information, princes and greatpersonages, will shut themselves up from me . . . . What can be moreticklish than to pass judgment on the tricks of those who are governingthis state? This single blow has knocked me down completely. For I wasmoving about among all of them, making my profit of all, without anyreserve. M. De Barneveld knew by this means the condition of this kingdomas well as I do. Certainly in a well-ordered republic it would cost thelife of a man who had thus trifled with the reputation of an ambassador. I believe M. De Barneveld will be sorry, but this will never restore tome the confidence which I have lost. If one was jealous of my position atthis court, certainly I deserved rather pity from those who shouldcontemplate it closely. If one wished to procure my downfall in order toraise oneself above me, there was no need of these tricks. I have beenoffering to resign my embassy this long time, which will now producenothing but thorns for me. How can I negotiate after my privatedespatches have been read? L'Hoste, the clerk of Villeroy, was not sogreat a criminal as the man who revealed my despatches; and L'Hoste wastorn by four horses after his death. Four months long I have beencomplaining of this to M. De Barneveld. . . . Patience! I am groaningwithout being able to hope for justice. I console myself, for my term ofoffice will soon arrive. Would that my embassy could have finished underthe agreeable and friendly circumstances with which it began. The man whomay succeed me will not find that this vile trick will help him much. . . . Pray find out whence and from whom this intrigue has come. "

Certainly an envoy's position could hardly be more utterly compromised. Most unquestionably Aerssens had reason to be indignant, believing as hedid that his conscientious efforts in the service of his government hadbeen made use of by his chief to undermine his credit and blast hischaracter. There was an intrigue between the newly appointed Frenchminister, de Russy, at the Hague and the enemies of Aerssens to representhim to his own government as mischievous, passionate, unreasonablyvehement in supporting the claims and dignity of his own country at thecourt to which he was accredited. Not often in diplomatic history has anambassador of a free state been censured or removed for believing andmaintaining in controversy that his own government is in the right. Itwas natural that the French government should be disturbed by the vividlight which he had flashed upon their pernicious intrigues with Spain tothe detriment of the Republic, and at the pertinacity with which heresisted their preposterous claim to be reimbursed for one-third of themoney which the late king had advanced as a free subsidy towards the warof the Netherlands for independence. But no injustice could be moreoutrageous than for the Envoy's own government to unite with the foreignState in damaging the character of its own agent for the crime offidelity to itself. 

Of such cruel perfidy Aerssens had been the victim, and he mostwrongfully suspected his chief as its real perpetrator. 

The claim for what was called the "Third" had been invented after thedeath of Henry. As already explained, the "Third" was not a gift fromEngland to the Netherlands. It was a loan from England to France, or moreproperly a consent to abstain from pressing for payment for thisproportion of an old debt. James, who was always needy, had oftendesired, but never obtained, the payment of this sum from Henry. Now thatthe King was dead, he applied to the Regent's government, and theRegent's government called upon the Netherlands, to pay the money. 

Aerssens, as the agent of the Republic, protested firmly against suchclaim. The money had been advanced by the King as a free gift, as hiscontribution to a war in which he was deeply interested, although he wasnominally at peace with Spain. As to the private arrangements betweenFrance and England, the Republic, said the Dutch envoy, was in no sensebound by them. He was no party to the Treaty of Hampton Court, and knewnothing of its stipulations. 

Courtiers and politicians in plenty at the French court, now that Henrywas dead, were quite sure that they had heard him say over and over againthat the Netherlands had bound themselves to pay the Third. Theypersuaded Mary de' Medici that she likewise had often heard him say so, and induced her to take high ground on the subject in her interviews withAerssens. The luckless queen, who was always in want of money to satisfythe insatiable greed of her favourites, and to buy off the enmity of thegreat princes, was very vehement--although she knew as much of thosetransactions as of the finances of Prester John or the Lama of Thibet--inmaintaining this claim of her government upon the States. 

"After talking with the ministers, " said Aerssens, "I had an interviewwith the Queen. I knew that she had been taught her lesson, to insist onthe payment of the Third. So I did not speak at all of the matter, buttalked exclusively and at length of the French regiments in the States'service. She was embarrassed, and did not know exactly what to say. Atlast, without replying a single word to what I had been saying, shebecame very red in the face, and asked me if I were not instructed tospeak of the money due to England. Whereupon I spoke in the sense alreadyindicated. She interrupted me by saying she had a perfect recollectionthat the late king intended and understood that we were to pay the Thirdto England, and had talked with her very seriously on the subject. If hewere living, he would think it very strange, she said, that we refused;and so on. 

"Soissons, too, pretends to remember perfectly that such were the King'sintentions. 'Tis a very strange thing, Sir. Every one knows now thesecrets of the late king, if you are willing to listen. Yet he was not inthe habit of taking all the world into his confidence. The Queen takesher opinions as they give them to her. 'Tis a very good princess, but Iam sorry she is so ignorant of affairs. As she says she remembers, one isobliged to say one believes her. But I, who knew the King so intimately, and saw him so constantly, know that he could only have said that theThird was paid in acquittal of his debts to and for account of the Kingof England, and not that we were to make restitution thereof. TheChancellor tells me my refusal has been taken as an affront by the Queen, and Puysieux says it is a contempt which she can't swallow. "

Aerssens on his part remained firm; his pertinacity being the greater ashe thoroughly understood the subject which he was talking about, anadvantage which was rarely shared in by those with whom he conversed. TheQueen, highly scandalized by his demeanour, became from that time forthhis bitter enemy, and, as already stated, was resolved to be rid of him. 

Nor was the Envoy at first desirous of remaining. He had felt afterHenry's death and Sully's disgrace, and the complete transformation ofthe France which he had known, that his power of usefulness was gone. "Our enemies, " he said, "have got the advantage which I used to have intimes past, and I recognize a great coldness towards us, which isincreasing every day. " Nevertheless, he yielded reluctantly toBarneveld's request that he should for the time at least remain at hispost. Later on, as the intrigues against him began to unfold themselves, and his faithful services were made use of at home to blacken hischaracter and procure his removal, he refused to resign, as to do sowould be to play into the hands of his enemies, and by inference at leastto accuse himself of infidelity to his trust. 

But his concealed rage and his rancor grew more deadly every day. He wasfully aware of the plots against him, although he found it difficult totrace them to their source. 

"I doubt not, " he wrote to Jacques de Maldere, the distinguisheddiplomatist and senator, who had recently returned from his embassy toEngland, "that this beautiful proposition of de Russy has been sent toyour Province of Zealand. Does it not seem to you a plot well woven aswell in Holland as at this court to remove me from my post withdisreputation? What have I done that should cause the Queen to disapprovemy proceedings? Since the death of the late king I have always opposedthe Third, which they have been trying to fix upon the treasury, on theground that Henry never spoke to me of restitution, that the receiptsgiven were simple ones, and that the money given was spent for the commonbenefit of France and the States under direction of the King'sgovernment. But I am expected here to obey M. De Villeroy, who says thatit was the intention of the late king to oblige us to make the payment. Iam not accustomed to obey authority if it be not supported by reason. Itis for my masters to reply and to defend me. The Queen has no reason tocomplain. I have maintained the interests of my superiors. But this isnot the cause of the complaints. My misfortune is that all my despatcheshave been sent from Holland in copy to this court. Most of them containedfree pictures of the condition and dealings of those who govern here. M. De Villeroy has found himself depicted often, and now under pretext of apublic negotiation he has found an opportunity of revenging himself. . . . Besides this cause which Villeroy has found for combing my head, Russyhas given notice here that I have kept my masters in the hopes of beinghonourably exempted from the claims of this government. The long letterwhich I wrote to M. De Barneveld justifies my proceedings. "

It is no wonder that the Ambassador was galled to the quick by theoutrage which those concerned in the government were seeking to put uponhim. How could an honest man fail to be overwhelmed with rage and anguishat being dishonoured before the world by his masters for scrupulouslydoing his duty, and for maintaining the rights and dignity of his owncountry? He knew that the charges were but pretexts, that the motives ofhis enemies were as base as the intrigues themselves, but he also knewthat the world usually sides with the government against the individual, and that a man's reputation is rarely strong enough to maintain itselfunsullied in a foreign land when his own government stretches forth itshand not to, shield, but to stab him. 

 [See the similarity of Aerssens position to that of Motley 250 years later, in the biographical sketch of Motley by Oliver Wendell Holmes. D. W. ]

"I know, " he said, "that this plot has been woven partly in Holland andpartly here by good correspondence, in order to drive me from my postwith disreputation. To this has tended the communication of my despatchesto make me lose my best friends. This too was the object of theparticular imparting to de Russy of all my propositions, in order to drawa complaint against me from this court. 

"But as I have discovered this accurately, I have resolved to offer to mymasters the continuance of my very humble service for such time and undersuch conditions as they may think good to prescribe. I prefer forcing mynatural and private inclinations to giving an opportunity for theministers of this kingdom to discredit us, and to my enemies to succeedin injuring me, and by fraud and malice to force me from my post . . . Iam truly sorry, being ready to retire, wishing to have an honourabletestimony in recompense of my labours, that one is in such hurry to takeadvantage of my fall. I cannot believe that my masters wish to sufferthis. They are too prudent, and cannot be ignorant of the treachery whichhas been practised on me. I have maintained their cause. If they havechosen to throw down the fruits of my industry, the blame should beimputed to those who consider their own ambition more than the interestsof the public . . . . What envoy will ever dare to speak with vigour ifhe is not sustained by the government at home? . . . . . . My enemieshave misrepresented my actions, and my language as passionate, exaggerated, mischievous, but I have no passion except for the service ofmy superiors. They say that I have a dark and distrustful disposition, but I have been alarmed at the alliance now forming here with the King ofSpain, through the policy of M. De Villeroy. I was the first to discoverthis intrigue, which they thought buried in the bosom of the Triumvirate. I gave notice of it to My Lords the States as in duty bound. It all cameback to the government in the copies furnished of my secret despatches. This is the real source of the complaints against me. The rest of thecharges, relating to the Third and other matters, are but pretexts. Toparry the blow, they pretend that all that is said and done with theSpaniard is but feigning. Who is going to believe that? Has not the Popeintervened in the affair? . . . I tell you they are furious here becauseI have my eyes open. I see too far into their affairs to suit theirpurposes. A new man would suit them better. "

His position was hopelessly compromised. He remained in Paris, however, month after month, and even year after year, defying his enemies both atthe Queen's court and in Holland, feeding fat the grudge he bore toBarneveld as the supposed author of the intrigue against him, and drawingcloser the personal bands which united him to Bouillon and through him toPrince Maurice. 

The wrath of the Ambassador flamed forth without disguise againstBarneveld and all his adherents when his removal, as will be related on asubsequent page, was at last effected. And his hatred was likely to bedeadly. A man with a shrewd, vivid face, cleanly cut features and arestless eye; wearing a close-fitting skull cap, which gave him somethingthe lock of a monk, but with the thoroughbred and facile demeanour of onefamiliar with the world; stealthy, smooth, and cruel, a man coldlyintellectual, who feared no one, loved but few, and never forgot orforgave; Francis d'Aerssens, devoured by ambition and burning withrevenge, was a dangerous enemy. 

Time was soon to show whether it was safe to injure him. Barneveld, fromwell-considered motives of public policy, was favouring his honourablerecall. But he allowed a decorous interval of more than three years toelapse in which to terminate his affairs, and to take a deliberatedeparture from that French embassy to which the Advocate had originallypromoted him, and in which there had been so many years of mutual benefitand confidence between the two statesmen. He used no underhand means. Hedid not abuse the power of the States-General which he wielded to casthim suddenly and brutally from the distinguished post which he occupied, and so to attempt to dishonour him before the world. Nothing could bemore respectful and conciliatory than the attitude of the government fromfirst to last towards this distinguished functionary. The Republicrespected itself too much to deal with honourable agents whose servicesit felt obliged to dispense with as with vulgar malefactors who had beendetected in crime. But Aerssens believed that it was the Advocate who hadcaused copies of his despatches to be sent to the French court, and thathe had deliberately and for a fixed purpose been undermining hisinfluence at home and abroad and blackening his character. All hisancient feelings of devotion, if they had ever genuinely existed towardshis former friend and patron, turned to gall. He was almost ready to denythat he had ever respected Barneveld, appreciated his public services, admired his intellect, or felt gratitude for his guidance. 

A fierce controversy--to which at a later period it will be necessary tocall the reader's attention, because it is intimately connected with darkscenes afterwards to be enacted--took place between the late ambassadorand Cornelis van der Myle. Meantime Barneveld pursued the policy which hehad marked out for the States-General in regard to France. 

Certainly it was a difficult problem. There could be no doubt thatmetamorphosed France could only be a dangerous ally for the Republic. Itwas in reality impossible that she should be her ally at all. And thisBarneveld knew. Still it was better, so he thought, for the Netherlandsthat France should exist than that it should fall into utterdecomposition. France, though under the influence of Spain, and doublyallied by marriage contracts to Spain, was better than Spain itself inthe place of France. This seemed to be the only choice between two evils. Should the whole weight of the States-General be thrown into the scale ofthe malcontent and mutinous princes against the established but totteringgovernment of France, it was difficult to say how soon Spain mightliterally, as well as inferentially, reign in Paris. 

Between the rebellion and the legitimate government, therefore, Barnevelddid not hesitate. France, corporate France, with which the Republic hadbean so long in close and mutually advantageous alliance, and from whoselate monarch she had received such constant and valuable benefits, was inthe Advocate's opinion the only power to be recognised, Papal and Spanishthough it was. The advantage of an alliance with the fickle, self-seeking, and ever changing mutiny, that was seeking to make use ofProtestantism to effect its own ends, was in his eyes rather speciousthan real. 

By this policy, while making the breach irreparable with Aerssens and asmany leading politicians as Aerssens could influence, he first brought onhimself the stupid accusation of swerving towards Spain. Dull murmurslike these, which were now but faintly making themselves heard againstthe reputation of the Advocate, were destined ere long to swell into amighty roar; but he hardly listened now to insinuations which seemedinfinitely below his contempt. He still effectually ruled the nationthrough his influence in the States of Holland, where he reigned supreme. Thus far Barneveld and My Lords the States-General were one personage. 

But there was another great man in the State who had at last grownimpatient of the Advocate's power, and was secretly resolved to brook itno longer. Maurice of Nassau had felt himself too long rebuked by thegenius of the Advocate. The Prince had perhaps never forgiven him for thepolitical guardianship which he had exercised over him ever since thedeath of William the Silent. He resented the leading strings by which hisyouthful footstep had been sustained, and which he seemed always to feelabout his limbs so long as Barneveld existed. He had never forgotten theunpalatable advice given to him by the Advocate through thePrincess-Dowager. 

The brief campaign in Cleve and Julich was the last great politicaloperation in which the two were likely to act in even apparent harmony. But the rivalry between the two had already pronounced itselfemphatically during the negotiations for the truce. The Advocate had feltit absolutely necessary for the Republic to suspend the war at the firstmoment when she could treat with her ancient sovereign on a footing ofequality. Spain, exhausted with the conflict, had at last consented towhat she considered the humiliation of treating with her rebelliousprovinces as with free states over which she claimed no authority. Thepeace party, led by Barneveld, had triumphed, notwithstanding the steadyopposition of Prince Maurice and his adherents. 

Why had Maurice opposed the treaty? Because his vocation was over, because he was the greatest captain of the age, because his emoluments, his consideration, his dignity before the world, his personal power, wereall vastly greater in war than in his opinion they could possibly be inpeace. It was easy for him to persuade himself that what was manifestlyfor his individual interest was likewise essential to the prosperity ofthe country. 

The diminution in his revenues consequent on the return to peace was madegood to him, his brother, and his cousin, by most munificent endowmentsand pensions. And it was owing to the strenuous exertions of the Advocatethat these large sums were voted. A hollow friendship was kept up betweenthe two during the first few years of the truce, but resentment andjealousy lay deep in Maurice's heart. 

At about the period of the return of Aerssens from his French embassy, the suppressed fire was ready to flame forth at the first fanning by thatartful hand. It was impossible, so Aerssens thought and whispered, thattwo heads could remain on one body politic. There was no room in theNetherlands for both the Advocate and the Prince. Barneveld was in allcivil affairs dictator, chief magistrate, supreme judge; but he occupiedthis high station by the force of intellect, will, and experience, notthrough any constitutional provision. In time of war the Prince wasgeneralissimo, commander-in-chief of all the armies of the Republic. Yetconstitutionally he was not captain-general at all. He was onlystadholder of five out of seven provinces. 

Barneveld suspected him of still wishing to make himself sovereign of thecountry. Perhaps his suspicions were incorrect. Yet there was everyreason why Maurice should be ambitious of that position. It would havebeen in accordance with the openly expressed desire of Henry IV. Andother powerful allies of the Netherlands. His father's assassination hadalone prevented his elevation to the rank of sovereign Count of Holland. The federal policy of the Provinces had drifted into a republican formafter their renunciation of their Spanish sovereign, not because thepeople, or the States as representing the people, had deliberately chosena republican system, but because they could get no powerful monarch toaccept the sovereignty. They had offered to become subjects of ProtestantEngland and of Catholic France. Both powers had refused the offer, andrefused it with something like contumely. However deep the subsequentregret on the part of both, there was no doubt of the fact. But theinternal policy in all the provinces, and in all the towns, wasrepublican. Local self-government existed everywhere. Each citymagistracy was a little republic in itself. The death of William theSilent, before he had been invested with the sovereign power of all sevenprovinces, again left that sovereignty in abeyance. Was the supreme powerof the Union, created at Utrecht in 1579, vested in the States-General?

They were beginning theoretically to claim it, but Barneveld denied theexistence of any such power either in law or fact. It was a league ofsovereignties, he maintained; a confederacy of seven independent states, united for certain purposes by a treaty made some thirty years before. Nothing could be more imbecile, judging by the light of subsequent eventsand the experience of centuries, than such an organization. Theindependent and sovereign republic of Zealand or of Groningen, forexample, would have made a poor figure campaigning, or negotiating, orexhibiting itself on its own account before the world. Yet it wasdifficult to show any charter, precedent, or prescription for thesovereignty of the States-General. Necessary as such an incorporation wasfor the very existence of the Union, no constitutional union had everbeen enacted. Practically the Province of Holland, representing more thanhalf the population, wealth, strength, and intellect of the wholeconfederation, had achieved an irregular supremacy in the States-General. But its undeniable superiority was now causing a rank growth of envy, hatred, and jealousy throughout the country, and the great Advocate ofHolland, who was identified with the province, and had so long wieldedits power, was beginning to reap the full harvest of that malice. 

Thus while there was so much of vagueness in theory and practice as tothe sovereignty, there was nothing criminal on the part of Maurice if hewas ambitious of obtaining the sovereignty himself. He was not seeking tocompass it by base artifice or by intrigue of any kind. It was verynatural that he should be restive under the dictatorship of the Advocate. If a single burgher and lawyer could make himself despot of theNetherlands, how much more reasonable that he--with the noblest blood ofEurope in his veins, whose direct ancestor three centuries before hadbeen emperor not only of those provinces, but of all Germany and halfChristendom besides, whose immortal father had under God been the creatorand saviour of the new commonwealth, had made sacrifices such as mannever made for a people, and had at last laid down his life in itsdefence; who had himself fought daily from boyhood upwards in the greatcause, who had led national armies from victory to victory till he hadplaced his country as a military school and a belligerent power foremostamong the nations, and had at last so exhausted and humbled the greatadversary and former tyrant that he had been glad of a truce while therebel chief would have preferred to continue the war--should aspire torule by hereditary right a land with which his name and his race wereindelibly associated by countless sacrifices and heroic achievements. 

It was no crime in Maurice to desire the sovereignty. It was still less acrime in Barneveld to believe that he desired it. There was no specialreason why the Prince should love the republican form of governmentprovided that an hereditary one could be legally substituted for it. Hehad sworn allegiance to the statutes, customs, and privileges of each ofthe provinces of which he had been elected stadholder, but there wouldhave been no treason on his part if the name and dignity of stadholdershould be changed by the States themselves for those of King or sovereignPrince. 

Yet it was a chief grievance against the Advocate on the part of thePrince that Barneveld believed him capable of this ambition. 

The Republic existed as a fact, but it had not long existed, nor had itever received a formal baptism. So undefined was its constitution, and soconflicting were the various opinions in regard to it of eminent men, that it would be difficult to say how high-treason could be committedagainst it. Great lawyers of highest intellect and learning believed thesovereign power to reside in the separate states, others found thatsovereignty in the city magistracies, while during a feverish period ofwar and tumult the supreme function had without any written constitution, any organic law, practically devolved upon the States-General, who hadnow begun to claim it as a right. The Republic was neither venerable byage nor impregnable in law. It was an improvised aristocracy of lawyers, manufacturers, bankers, and corporations which had done immense work andexhibited astonishing sagacity and courage, but which might never haveachieved the independence of the Provinces unaided by the sword ofOrange-Nassau and the magic spell which belonged to that name. 

Thus a bitter conflict was rapidly developing itself in the heart of theCommonwealth. There was the civil element struggling with the militaryfor predominance; sword against gown; states' rights against centralauthority; peace against war; above all the rivalry of one prominentpersonage against another, whose mutual hatred was now artfully inflamedby partisans. 

And now another element of discord had come, more potent than all therest: the terrible, never ending, struggle of Church against State. Theological hatred which forty years long had found vent in the exchangeof acrimony between the ancient and the Reformed churches was nowassuming other shapes. Religion in that age and country was more than hasoften been the case in history the atmosphere of men's daily lives. Butduring the great war for independence, although the hostility between thetwo religious forces was always intense, it was modified especiallytowards the close of the struggle by other controlling influences. Thelove of independence and the passion for nationality, the devotion toancient political privileges, was often as fervid and genuine in Catholicbosoms as in those of Protestants, and sincere adherents of the ancientchurch had fought to the death against Spain in defence of charteredrights. 

At that very moment it is probable that half the population of the UnitedProvinces was Catholic. Yet it would be ridiculous to deny that theaggressive, uncompromising; self-sacrificing, intensely believing, perfectly fearless spirit of Calvinism had been the animating soul, themotive power of the great revolt. For the Provinces to have encounteredSpain and Rome without Calvinism, and relying upon municipal enthusiasmonly, would have been to throw away the sword and fight with thescabbard. 

But it is equally certain that those hot gospellers who had suffered somuch martyrdom and achieved so many miracles were fully aware of theirpower and despotic in its exercise. Against the oligarchy of commercialand juridical corporations they stood there the most terrible aristocracyof all: the aristocracy of God's elect, predestined from all time and toall eternity to take precedence of and to look down upon their inferiorand lost fellow creatures. It was inevitable that this aristocracy, whichhad done so much, which had breathed into a new-born commonwealth thebreath of its life, should be intolerant, haughty, dogmatic. 

The Church of Rome, which had been dethroned after inflicting suchexquisite tortures during its period of power, was not to raise its head. Although so large a proportion of the inhabitants of the country weresecretly or openly attached to that faith, it was a penal offence toparticipate openly in its rites and ceremonies. Religious equality, except in the minds of a few individuals, was an unimaginable idea. Therewas still one Church which arrogated to itself the sole possession oftruth, the Church of Geneva. Those who admitted the possibility of otherforms and creeds were either Atheists or, what was deemed worse thanAtheists, Papists, because Papists were assumed to be traitors also, anddesirous of selling the country to Spain. An undevout man in that landand at that epoch was an almost unknown phenomenon. Religion was as mucha recognized necessity of existence as food or drink. It were as easy tofind people about without clothes as without religious convictions. 

The Advocate, who had always adhered to the humble spirit of hisancestral device, "Nil scire tutissima fedes, " and almost alone among hisfellow citizens (save those immediate apostles and pupils of his whobecame involved in his fate) in favour of religious toleration, began tobe suspected of treason and Papacy because, had he been able to give thelaw, it was thought he would have permitted such horrors as the publicexercise of the Roman Catholic religion. 

The hissings and screamings of the vulgar against him as he moved forwardon his stedfast course he heeded less than those of geese on a common. But there was coming a time when this proud and scornful statesman, conscious of the superiority conferred by great talents and unparalleledexperience, would find it less easy to treat the voice of slanderers, whether idiots or powerful and intellectual enemies, with contempt. 

CHAPTER VIII. 

 Schism in the Church a Public Fact--Struggle for Power between the Sacerdotal and Political Orders--Dispute between Arminius and Gomarus--Rage of James I. At the Appointment of Voratius--Arminians called Remonstrants--Hague Conference--Contra-Remonstrance by Gomarites of Seven Points to the Remonstrants' Five--Fierce Theological Disputes throughout the Country--Ryswyk Secession-- Maurice wishes to remain neutral, but finds himself the Chieftain of the Contra-Remonstrant Party--The States of Holland Remonstrant by a large Majority--The States-General Contra-Remonstrant--Sir Ralph Winwood leaves the Hague--Three Armies to take the Field against Protestantism. 

Schism in the Church had become a public fact, and theological hatred wasin full blaze throughout the country. 

The great practical question in the Church had been as to the appointmentof preachers, wardens, schoolmasters, and other officers. By theecclesiastical arrangements of 1591 great power was conceded to the civilauthority in church matters, especially in regard to such appointments, which were made by a commission consisting of four members named by thechurches and four by the magistrates in each district. 

Barneveld, who above all things desired peace in the Church, had wishedto revive this ordinance, and in 1612 it had been resolved by the Statesof Holland that each city or village should, if the magistracy approved, provisionally conform to it. The States of Utrecht made at the same timea similar arrangement. 

It was the controversy which has been going on since the beginning ofhistory and is likely to be prolonged to the end of time--the strugglefor power between the sacerdotal and political orders; the controversywhether priests shall control the state or the state govern the priests. 

This was the practical question involved in the fierce dispute as todogma. The famous duel between Arminius and Gomarus; the splendidtheological tournaments which succeeded; six champions on a side armed infull theological panoply and swinging the sharpest curtal axes whichlearning, passion, and acute intellect could devise, had as yet producedno beneficent result. Nobody had been convinced by the shock of argument, by the exchange of those desperate blows. The High Council of the Haguehad declared that no difference of opinion in the Church existedsufficient to prevent fraternal harmony and happiness. But Gomarus loudlydeclared that, if there were no means of putting down the heresy ofArminius, there would before long be a struggle such as would setprovince against province, village against village, family againstfamily, throughout the land. He should be afraid to die in such doctrine. He shuddered that any one should dare to come before God's tribunal withsuch blasphemies. Meantime his great adversary, the learned and eloquent, the musical, frolicsome, hospitable heresiarch was no more. Worn out withcontroversy, but peaceful and happy in the convictions which were sobitterly denounced by Gomarus and a large proportion of both preachersand laymen in the Netherlands, and convinced that the schism which in hisview had been created by those who called themselves the orthodox wouldweaken the cause of Protestantism throughout Europe, Arminius died at theage of forty-nine. 

The magistrates throughout Holland, with the exception of a few cities, were Arminian, the preachers Gomarian; for Arminius ascribed to the civilauthority the right to decide upon church matters, while Gomarusmaintained that ecclesiastical affairs should be regulated inecclesiastical assemblies. The overseers of Leyden University appointedConrad Vorstius to be professor of theology in place of Arminius. Theselection filled to the brim the cup of bitterness, for no man was moreaudaciously latitudinarian than he. He was even suspected of Socinianism. There came a shriek from King James, fierce and shrill enough to rouseArminius from his grave. James foamed to the mouth at the insolence ofthe overseers in appointing such a monster of infidelity to theprofessorship. He ordered his books to be publicly burned in St. Paul'sChurchyard and at both Universities, and would have burned the Professorhimself with as much delight as Torquemada or Peter Titelman ever felt inroasting their victims, had not the day for such festivities gone by. Heordered the States of Holland on pain of for ever forfeiting hisfriendship to exclude Vorstius at once from the theological chair and toforbid him from "nestling anywhere in the country. "

He declared his amazement that they should tolerate such a pest as ConradVorstius. Had they not had enough of the seed sown by that foe of God, Arminius? He ordered the States-General to chase the blasphemous monsterfrom the land, or else he would cut off all connection with their falseand heretic churches and make the other Reformed churches of Europe dothe same, nor should the youth of England ever be allowed to frequent theUniversity of Leyden. 

In point of fact the Professor was never allowed to qualify, to preach, or to teach; so tremendous was the outcry of Peter Plancius and manyorthodox preachers, echoing the wrath of the King. He lived at Gouda in aprivate capacity for several years, until the Synod of Dordrecht at lastpublicly condemned his opinions and deprived him of his professorship. 

Meantime, the preachers who were disciples of Arminius had in a privateassembly drawn up what was called a Remonstrance, addressed to the Statesof Holland, and defending themselves from the reproach that they wereseeking change in the Divine service and desirous of creating tumult andschism. 

This Remonstrance, set forth by the pen of the famous Uytenbogaert, whomGomarus called the Court Trumpeter, because for a long time he had beenPrince Maurice's favourite preacher, was placed in the hands ofBarneveld, for delivery to the States of Holland. Thenceforth theArminians were called Remonstrants. 

The Hague Conference followed, six preachers on a side, and the States ofHolland exhorted to fraternal compromise. Until further notice, theydecreed that no man should be required to believe more than had been laiddown in the Five Points:

I. God has from eternity resolved to choose to eternal life those whothrough his grace believe in Jesus Christ, and in faith and obedience socontinue to the end, and to condemn the unbelieving and unconverted toeternal damnation. 

II. Jesus Christ died for all; so, nevertheless, that no one actuallyexcept believers is redeemed by His death. 

III. Man has not the saving belief from himself, nor out of his freewill, but he needs thereto God's grace in Christ. 

IV. This grace is the beginning, continuation, and completion of man'ssalvation; all good deeds must be ascribed to it, but it does not workirresistibly. 

V. God's grace gives sufficient strength to the true believers toovercome evil; but whether they cannot lose grace should be more closelyexamined before it should be taught in full security. 

Afterwards they expressed themselves more distinctly on this point, anddeclared that a true believer, through his own fault, can fall away fromGod and lose faith. 

Before the conference, however, the Gomarite preachers had drawn up aContra-Remonstrance of Seven Points in opposition to the Remonstrants'five. 

They demanded the holding of a National Synod to settle the differencebetween these Five and Seven Points, or the sending of them to foreignuniversities for arbitration, a mutual promise being given by thecontending parties to abide by the decision. 

Thus much it has been necessary to state concerning what in theseventeenth century was called the platform of the two great parties: aterm which has been perpetuated in our own country, and is familiar toall the world in the nineteenth. 

These were the Seven Points:

I. God has chosen from eternity certain persons out of the human race, which in and with Adam fell into sin and has no more power to believe andConvert itself than a dead man to restore himself to life, in order tomake them blessed through Christ; while He passes by the rest through Hisrighteous judgment, and leaves them lying in their sins. 

II. Children of believing parents, as well as full-grown believers, areto be considered as elect so long as they with action do not prove thecontrary. 

III. God in His election has not looked at the belief and the repentanceof the elect; but, on the contrary, in His eternal and unchangeabledesign, has resolved to give to the elect faith and stedfastness, andthus to make them blessed. 

IV. He, to this end, in the first place, presented to them His onlybegotten Son, whose sufferings, although sufficient for the expiation ofall men's sins, nevertheless, according to God's decree, serves alone tothe reconciliation of the elect. 

V. God causest he Gospel to be preached to them, making the same throughthe Holy Ghost, of strength upon their minds; so that they not merelyobtain power to repent and to believe, but also actually and voluntarilydo repent and believe. 

VI. Such elect, through the same power of the Holy Ghost through whichthey have once become repentant and believing, are kept in such wise thatthey indeed through weakness fall into heavy sins; but can never whollyand for always lose the true faith. 

VII. True believers from this, however, draw no reason for fleshly quiet, it being impossible that they who through a true faith were planted inChrist should bring forth no fruits of thankfulness; the promises ofGod's help and the warnings of Scripture tending to make their salvationwork in them in fear and trembling, and to cause them more earnestly todesire help from that spirit without which they can do nothing. 

There shall be no more setting forth of these subtle and finely wroughtabstractions in our pages. We aspire not to the lofty heights oftheological and supernatural contemplation, where the atmosphere becomestoo rarefied for ordinary constitutions. Rather we attempt an objectiveand level survey of remarkable phenomena manifesting themselves on theearth; direct or secondary emanations from those distant spheres. 

For in those days, and in that land especially, theology and politicswere one. It may be questioned at least whether this practical fusion ofelements, which may with more safety to the Commonwealth be keptseparate, did not tend quite as much to lower and contaminate thereligious sentiments as to elevate the political idea. To mix habituallythe solemn phraseology which men love to reserve for their highest andmost sacred needs with the familiar slang of politics and trade seems toour generation not a very desirable proceeding. 

The aroma of doubly distilled and highly sublimated dogma is moredifficult to catch than to comprehend the broader and more practicaldistinctions of every-day party strife. 

King James was furious at the thought that common men--the vulgar, thepeople in short--should dare to discuss deep problems of divinity which, as he confessed, had puzzled even his royal mind. Barneveld modestlydisclaimed the power of seeing with absolute clearness into things beyondthe reach of the human intellect. But the honest Netherlanders were notabashed by thunder from the royal pulpit, nor perplexed by hesitationswhich darkened the soul of the great Advocate. 

In burghers' mansions, peasants' cottages, mechanics' back-parlours, onboard herring smacks, canal boats, and East Indiamen; in shops, counting-rooms, farmyards, guard-rooms, ale-houses; on the exchange, inthe tennis-court, on the mall; at banquets, at burials, christenings, orbridals; wherever and whenever human creatures met each other, there was ever to be found the fierce wrangle of Remonstrant andContra-Remonstrant, the hissing of red-hot theological rhetoric, thepelting of hostile texts. The blacksmith's iron cooled on the anvil, thetinker dropped a kettle half mended, the broker left a bargainunclinched, the Scheveningen fisherman in his wooden shoes forgot thecracks in his pinkie, while each paused to hold high converse with friendor foe on fate, free will, or absolute foreknowledge; losing himself inwandering mazes whence there was no issue. Province against province, city against city, family against family; it was one vast scene ofbickering, denunciation, heart-burnings, mutual excommunication andhatred. 

Alas! a generation of mankind before, men had stood banded together toresist, with all the might that comes from union, the fell spirit of theHoly Inquisition, which was dooming all who had wandered from the ancientfold or resisted foreign tyranny to the axe, the faggot, the livinggrave. There had been small leisure then for men who fought forFatherland, and for comparative liberty of conscience, to tear eachothers' characters in pieces, and to indulge in mutual hatreds andloathing on the question of predestination. 

As a rule the population, especially of the humbler classes, and a greatmajority of the preachers were Contra-Remonstrant; the magistrates, theburgher patricians, were Remonstrant. In Holland the controllinginfluence was Remonstrant; but Amsterdam and four or five other cities ofthat province held to the opposite doctrine. These cities formedtherefore a small minority in the States Assembly of Holland sustained bya large majority in the States-General. The Province of Utrecht wasalmost unanimously Remonstrant. The five other provinces were decidedlyContra-Remonstrant. 

It is obvious therefore that the influence of Barneveld, hitherto soall-controlling in the States-General, and which rested on the completesubmission of the States of Holland to his will, was tottering. Thebattle-line between Church and State was now drawn up; and it was at thesame time a battle between the union and the principles of statesovereignty. 

It had long since been declared through the mouth of the Advocate, but ina solemn state manifesto, that My Lords the States-General were thefoster-fathers and the natural protectors of the Church, to whom supremeauthority in church matters belonged. 

The Contra-Remonstrants, on the other hand, maintained that all thevarious churches made up one indivisible church, seated above the States, whether Provincial or General, and governed by the Holy Ghost actingdirectly upon the congregations. 

As the schism grew deeper and the States-General receded from theposition which they had taken up under the lead of the Advocate, thescene was changed. A majority of the Provinces being Contra-Remonstrant, and therefore in favour of a National Synod, the States-General as a bodywere of necessity for the Synod. 

It was felt by the clergy that, if many churches existed, they would allremain subject to the civil authority. The power of the priesthood wouldthus sink before that of the burgher aristocracy. There must be onechurch--the Church of Geneva and Heidelberg--if that theocracy which theGomarites meant to establish was not to vanish as a dream. It was foundedon Divine Right, and knew no chief magistrate but the Holy Ghost. A fewyears before the States-General had agreed to a National Synod, but witha condition that there should be revision of the Netherland Confessionand the Heidelberg Catechism. 

Against this the orthodox infallibilists had protested and thundered, because it was an admission that the vile Arminian heresy might perhapsbe declared correct. It was now however a matter of certainty that theStates-General would cease to oppose the unconditional Synod, because themajority sided with the priesthood. 

The magistrates of Leyden had not long before opposed the demand for aSynod on the ground that the war against Spain was not undertaken tomaintain one sect; that men of various sects and creeds had fought withequal valour against the common foe; that religious compulsion washateful, and that no synod had a right to claim Netherlanders as slaves. 

To thoughtful politicians like Barneveld, Hugo Grotius, and men who actedwith them, fraught with danger to the state, that seemed a doctrine bywhich mankind were not regarded as saved or doomed according to belief ordeeds, but as individuals divided from all eternity into two classeswhich could never be united, but must ever mutually regard each other asenemies. 

And like enemies Netherlanders were indeed beginning to regard eachother. The man who, banded like brothers, had so heroically fought fortwo generations long for liberty against an almost superhuman despotism, now howling and jeering against each other like demons, seemed determinedto bring the very name of liberty into contempt. 

Where the Remonstrants were in the ascendant, they excited the hatred anddisgust of the orthodox by their overbearing determination to carry theirFive Points. A broker in Rotterdam of the Contra-Remonstrant persuasion, being about to take a wife, swore he had rather be married by a pig thana parson. For this sparkling epigram he was punished by the Remonstrantmagistracy with loss of his citizenship for a year and the right topractise his trade for life. A casuistical tinker, expressing himselfviolently in the same city against the Five Points, and disrespectfullytowards the magistrates for tolerating them, was banished from the town. A printer in the neighbourhood, disgusted with these and similar effortsof tyranny on the part of the dominant party, thrust a couple of lines ofdoggrel into the lottery:

 "In name of the Prince of Orange, I ask once and again, What difference between the Inquisition of Rotterdam and Spain?"

For this poetical effort the printer was sentenced to forfeit the prizethat he had drawn in the lottery, and to be kept in prison on bread andwater for a fortnight. 

Certainly such punishments were hardly as severe as being beheaded orburned or buried alive, as would have been the lot of tinkers andprinters and brokers who opposed the established church in the days ofAlva, but the demon of intolerance, although its fangs were drawn, stillsurvived, and had taken possession of both parties in the ReformedChurch. For it was the Remonstrants who had possession of the churches atRotterdam, and the printer's distich is valuable as pointing out that thename of Orange was beginning to identify itself with theContra-Remonstrant faction. At this time, on the other hand, the gabblethat Barneveld had been bought by Spanish gold, and was about to sell hiscountry to Spain, became louder than a whisper. Men were not ashamed, from theological hatred, to utter such senseless calumnies against avenerable statesman whose long life had been devoted to the cause of hiscountry's independence and to the death struggle with Spain. 

As if because a man admitted the possibility of all his fellow-creaturesbeing saved from damnation through repentance and the grace of God, hemust inevitably be a traitor to his country and a pensionary of herdeadliest foe. 

And where the Contra-Remonstrants held possession of the churches and thecity governments, acts of tyranny which did not then seem ridiculous wereof everyday occurrence. Clergymen, suspected of the Five Points, weredriven out of the pulpits with bludgeons or assailed with brickbats atthe church door. At Amsterdam, Simon Goulart, for preaching the doctrineof universal salvation and for disputing the eternal damnation of youngchildren, was forbidden thenceforth to preach at all. 

But it was at the Hague that the schism in religion and politics firstfatally widened itself. Henry Rosaeus, an eloquent divine, disgusted withhis colleague Uytenbogaert, refused all communion with him, and was inconsequence suspended. Excluded from the Great Church, where he hadformerly ministered, he preached every Sunday at Ryswyk, two or threemiles distant. Seven hundred Contra-Remonstrants of the Hague followedtheir beloved pastor, and, as the roads to Ryswyk were muddy and sloppyin winter, acquired the unsavoury nickname of the "Mud Beggars. " Thevulgarity of heart which suggested the appellation does not inspireto-day great sympathy with the Remonstrant party, even if one wereinclined to admit, what is not the fact, that they represented the causeof religious equality. For even the illustrious Grotius was at that verymoment repudiating the notion that there could be two religions in onestate. "Difference in public worship, " he said, "was in kingdomspernicious, but in free commonwealths in the highest degree destructive. "

It was the struggle between Church and State for supremacy over the wholebody politic. "The Reformation, " said Grotius, "was not brought about bysynods, but by kings, princes, and magistrates. " It was the same eternalstory, the same terrible two-edged weapon, "Cujus reggio ejus religio, "found in the arsenal of the first Reformers, and in everypolitico-religious arsenal of history. 

"By an eternal decree of God, " said Gomarus in accordance with Calvin, "it has been fixed who are to be saved and who damned. By His decree someare drawn to faith and godliness, and, being drawn, can never fall away. God leaves all the rest in the general corruption of human nature andtheir own misdeeds. "

"God has from eternity made this distinction in the fallen human race, "said Arminius, "that He pardons those who desist from their sins and puttheir faith in Christ, and will give them eternal life, but will punishthose who remain impenitent. Moreover, it is pleasanter to God that allmen should repent, and, coming to knowledge of truth, remain therein, butHe compels none. "

This was the vital difference of dogma. And it was because they couldhold no communion with those who believed in the efficacy of repentancethat Rosaeus and his followers had seceded to Ryswyk, and the ReformedChurch had been torn into two very unequal parts. But it is difficult tobelieve that out of this arid field of controversy so plentiful a harvestof hatred and civil convulsion could have ripened. More practical thanthe insoluble problems, whether repentance could effect salvation, andwhether dead infants were hopelessly damned, was the question who shouldrule both Church and State. 

There could be but one church. On that Remonstrants andContra-Remonstrants were agreed. But should the five Points or the SevenPoints obtain the mastery? Should that framework of hammered iron, theConfession and Catechism, be maintained in all its rigidity around thesheepfold, or should the disciples of the arch-heretic Arminius, thesalvation-mongers, be permitted to prowl within it?

Was Barneveld, who hated the Reformed religion (so men told each other), and who believed in nothing, to continue dictator of the whole Republicthrough his influence over one province, prescribing its religious dogmasand laying down its laws; or had not the time come for the States-Generalto vindicate the rights of the Church, and to crush for ever thepernicious principle of State sovereignty and burgher oligarchy?

The abyss was wide and deep, and the wild waves were raging more madlyevery hour. The Advocate, anxious and troubled, but undismayed, did hisbest in the terrible emergency. He conferred with Prince Maurice on thesubject of the Ryswyk secession, and men said that he sought to impressupon him, as chief of the military forces, the necessity of putting downreligious schism with the armed hand. 

The Prince had not yet taken a decided position. He was still under theinfluence of John Uytenbogaert, who with Arminius and the Advocate madeup the fateful three from whom deadly disasters were deemed to have comeupon the Commonwealth. He wished to remain neutral. But no man can beneutral in civil contentions threatening the life of the body politic anymore than the heart can be indifferent if the human frame is sawn in two. 

"I am a soldier, " said Maurice, "not a divine. These are matters oftheology which I don't understand, and about which I don't troublemyself. "

On another occasion he is reported to have said, "I know nothing ofpredestination, whether it is green or whether it is blue; but I do knowthat the Advocate's pipe and mine will never play the same tune. "

It was not long before he fully comprehended the part which he mustnecessarily play. To say that he was indifferent to religious matters wasas ridiculous as to make a like charge against Barneveld. Both werereligious men. It would have been almost impossible to find anirreligious character in that country, certainly not among itshighest-placed and leading minds. Maurice had strong intellectual powers. He was a regular attendant on divine worship, and was accustomed to heardaily religious discussions. To avoid them indeed, he would have beenobliged not only to fly his country, but to leave Europe. He had aprofound reverence for the memory of his father, Calbo y Calbanista, asWilliam the Silent had called himself. But the great prince had diedbefore these fierce disputes had torn the bosom of the Reformed Church, and while Reformers still were brethren. But if Maurice were a religiousman, he was also a keen politician; a less capable politician, however, than a soldier, for he was confessedly the first captain of his age. Hewas not rapid in his conceptions, but he was sure in the end tocomprehend his opportunity. 

The Church, the people, the Union--the sacerdotal, the democratic, andthe national element--united under a name so potent to conjure with asthe name of Orange-Nassau, was stronger than any other possiblecombination. Instinctively and logically therefore the Stadholder foundhimself the chieftain of the Contra-Remonstrant party, and without thenecessity of an apostasy such as had been required of his greatcontemporary to make himself master of France. 

The power of Barneveld and his partisans was now put to a severe strain. His efforts to bring back the Hague seceders were powerless. Theinfluence of Uytenbogaert over the Stadholder steadily diminished. Heprayed to be relieved from his post in the Great Church of the Hague, especially objecting to serve with a Contra-Remonstrant preacher whomMaurice wished to officiate there in place of the seceding Rosaeus. Butthe Stadholder refused to let him go, fearing his influence in otherplaces. "There is stuff in him, " said Maurice, "to outweigh half a dozenContra-Remonstrant preachers. " Everywhere in Holland the opponents of theFive Points refused to go to the churches, and set up tabernacles forthemselves in barns, outhouses, canal-boats. And the authorities in townand village nailed up the barn-doors, and dispersed the canal boatcongregations, while the populace pelted them with stones. The secedersappealed to the Stadholder, pleading that at least they ought to beallowed to hear the word of God as they understood it without beingforced into churches where they were obliged to hear Arminian blasphemy. At least their barns might be left them. "Barns, " said Maurice, "barnsand outhouses! Are we to preach in barns? The churches belong to us, andwe mean to have them too. "

Not long afterwards the Stadholder, clapping his hand on his sword hilt, observed that these differences could only be settled by force of arms. An ominous remark and a dreary comment on the forty years' war againstthe Inquisition. 

And the same scenes that were enacting in Holland were going on inOveryssel and Friesland and Groningen; but with a difference. Here it wasthe Five Points men who were driven into secession, whose barns werenailed up, and whose preachers were mobbed. A lugubrious spectacle, butless painful certainly than the hangings and drownings and burnings alivein the previous century to prevent secession from the indivisible church. 

It is certain that stadholders and all other magistrates ever since theestablishment of independence were sworn to maintain the Reformedreligion and to prevent a public divine worship under any other form. Itis equally certain that by the 13th Article of the Act of Union--theorganic law of the confederation made at Utrecht in 1579--each provincereserved for itself full control of religious questions. It would indeedseem almost unimaginable in a country where not only every province, butevery city, every municipal board, was so jealous of its local privilegesand traditional rights that the absolute disposition over the highest, gravest, and most difficult questions that can inspire and perplexhumanity should be left to a general government, and one moreover whichhad scarcely come into existence. 

Yet into this entirely illogical position the Commonwealth was steadilydrifting. The cause was simple enough. The States of Holland, as alreadyobserved, were Remonstrant by a large majority. The States-General wereContra-Remonstrant by a still greater majority. The Church, rigidlyattached to the Confession and Catechism, and refusing all change exceptthrough decree of a synod to be called by the general government which itcontrolled, represented the national idea. It thus identified itself withthe Republic, and was in sympathy with a large majority of thepopulation. 

Logic, law, historical tradition were on the side of the Advocate and theStates' right party. The instinct of national self-preservation, repudiating the narrow and destructive doctrine of provincialsovereignty, were on the side of the States-General and the Church. 

Meantime James of Great Britain had written letters both to the States ofHolland and the States-General expressing his satisfaction with the FivePoints, and deciding that there was nothing objectionable in the doctrineof predestination therein set forth. He had recommended unity and peacein Church and Assembly, and urged especially that these controvertedpoints should not be discussed in the pulpit to the irritation andperplexity of the common people. 

The King's letters had produced much satisfaction in the moderate party. Barneveld and his followers were then still in the ascendant, and itseemed possible that the Commonwealth might enjoy a few moments oftranquillity. That James had given a new exhibition of his astoundinginconsistency was a matter very indifferent to all but himself, and hewas the last man to trouble himself for that reproach. 

It might happen, when he should come to realize how absolutely he hadobeyed the tuition of the Advocate and favoured the party which he hadbeen so vehemently opposing, that he might regret and prove willing toretract. But for the time being the course of politics had seemed runningsmoother. The acrimony of the relations between the English governmentand dominant party at the Hague was sensibly diminished. The King seemedfor an instant to have obtained a true insight into the nature of thestruggle in the States. That it was after all less a theological than apolitical question which divided parties had at last dawned upon him. 

"If you have occasion to write on the subject, " said Barneveld, "it isabove all necessary to make it clear that ecclesiastical persons andtheir affairs must stand under the direction of the sovereign authority, for our preachers understand that the disposal of ecclesiastical personsand affairs belongs to them, so that they alone are to appoint preachers, elders, deacons, and other clerical persons, and to regulate the wholeecclesiastical administration according to their pleasure or by a populargovernment which they call the community. "

"The Counts of Holland from all ancient times were never willing underthe Papacy to surrender their right of presentation to the churches andcontrol of all spiritual and ecclesiastical benefices. The EmperorCharles and King Philip even, as Counts of Holland, kept these rights tothemselves, save that they in enfeoffing more than a hundred gentlemen, of noble and ancient families with seigniorial manors, enfeoffed themalso with the right of presentation to churches and benefices on theirrespective estates. Our preachers pretend to have won this right againstthe Countship, the gentlemen, nobles, and others, and that it belongs tothem. "

It is easy to see that this was a grave, constitutional, legal, andhistorical problem not to be solved offhand by vehement citations fromScripture, nor by pragmatical dissertations from the lips of foreignambassadors. 

"I believe this point, " continued Barneveld, "to be the most difficultquestion of all, importing far more than subtle searchings andconflicting sentiments as to passages of Holy Writ, or disputationsconcerning God's eternal predestination and other points thereupondepending. Of these doctrines the Archbishop of Canterbury well observedin the Conference of 1604 that one ought to teach them ascendendo and notdescendendo. "

The letters of the King had been very favourably received both in theStates-General and in the Assembly of Holland. "You will present thereplies, " wrote Barneveld to the ambassador in London, "at the bestopportunity and with becoming compliments. You may be assured and assurehis Majesty that they have been very agreeable to both assemblies. Ourcommissioners over there on the East Indian matter ought to know nothingof these letters. "

This statement is worthy of notice, as Grotius was one of thosecommissioners, and, as will subsequently appear, was accused of being theauthor of the letters. 

"I understand from others, " continued the Advocate, "that the gentlemanwell known to you--[Obviously Francis Aerssens]--is not well pleased thatthrough other agency than his these letters have been written andpresented. I think too that the other business is much against his grain, but on the whole since your departure he has accommodated himself to thesituation. "

But if Aerssens for the moment seemed quiet, the orthodox clergy wererestive. 

"I know, " said Barneveld, "that some of our ministers are so audaciousthat of themselves, or through others, they mean to work by direct orindirect means against these letters. They mean to show likewise thatthere are other and greater differences of doctrine than those alreadydiscussed. You will keep a sharp eye on the sails and provide against theeffect of counter-currents. To maintain the authority of their GreatMightinesses over ecclesiastical matters is more than necessary for theconservation of the country's welfare and of the true Christian religion. As his Majesty would not allow this principle to be controverted in hisown realms, as his books clearly prove, so we trust that he will not findit good that it should be controverted in our state as sure to lead to avery disastrous and inequitable sequel. "

And a few weeks later the Advocate and the whole party of tolerationfound themselves, as is so apt to be the case, between two fires. TheCatholics became as turbulent as the extreme Calvinists, and alreadyhopes were entertained by Spanish emissaries and spies that this rapidlygrowing schism in the Reformed Church might be dexterously made use of tobring the Provinces, when they should become fairly distracted, back tothe dominion of Spain. 

"Our precise zealots in the Reformed religion, on the one side, " wroteBarneveld, "and the Jesuits on the other, are vigorously kindling thefire of discord. Keep a good lookout for the countermine which is nowworking against the good advice of his Majesty for mutual toleration. Thepublication of the letters was done without order, but I believe withgood intent, in the hope that the vehemence and exorbitance of someprecise Puritans in our State should thereby be checked. That which isnow doing against us in printed libels is the work of the aforesaidPuritans and a few Jesuits. The pretence in those libels, that there areother differences in the matter of doctrine, is mere fiction designed tomake trouble and confusion. "

In the course of the autumn, Sir Ralph Winwood departed from the Hague, to assume soon afterwards in England the position of secretary of statefor foreign affairs. He did not take personal farewell of Barneveld, theAdvocate being absent in North Holland at the moment, and detained thereby indisposition. The leave-taking was therefore by letter. He had donemuch to injure the cause which the Dutch statesman held vital to theRepublic, and in so doing he had faithfully carried out the instructionsof his master. Now that James had written these conciliatory letters tothe States, recommending toleration, letters destined to be famous, Barneveld was anxious that the retiring ambassador should foster thespirit of moderation, which for a moment prevailed at the British court. But he was not very hopeful in the matter. 

"Mr. Winwood is doubtless over there now, " he wrote to Caron. "He haspromised in public and private to do all good offices. The States-Generalmade him a present on his departure of the value of L4000. I fearnevertheless that he, especially in religious matters, will not do thebest offices. For besides that he is himself very hard and precise, thosewho in this country are hard and precise have made a dead set at him, andtried to make him devoted to their cause, through many fictitious anduntruthful means. "

The Advocate, as so often before, sent assurances to the King that "theStates-General, and especially the States of Holland, were resolved tomaintain the genuine Reformed religion, and oppose all novelties andimpurities conflicting with it, " and the Ambassador was instructed to seethat the countermine, worked so industriously against his Majesty'sservice and the honour and reputation of the Provinces, did not provesuccessful. 

"To let the good mob play the master, " he said, "and to permit hypocritesand traitors in the Flemish manner to get possession of the government ofthe provinces and cities, and to cause upright patriots whose faith andtruth has so long been proved, to be abandoned, by the blessing of God, shall never be accomplished. Be of good heart, and cause these Flemishtricks to be understood on every occasion, and let men know that we meanto maintain, with unchanging constancy, the authority of the government, the privileges and laws of the country, as well as the true Reformedreligion. "

The statesman was more than ever anxious for moderate counsels in thereligious questions, for it was now more important than ever that thereshould be concord in the Provinces, for the cause of Protestantism, andwith it the existence of the Republic, seemed in greater danger than atany moment since the truce. It appeared certain that the alliance betweenFrance and Spain had been arranged, and that the Pope, Spain, theGrand-duke of Tuscany, and their various adherents had organized a strongcombination, and were enrolling large armies to take the field in thespring, against the Protestant League of the princes and electors inGermany. The great king was dead. The Queen-Regent was in the hand ofSpain, or dreamed at least of an impossible neutrality, while the priestwho was one day to resume the part of Henry, and to hang upon the swordof France the scales in which the opposing weights of Protestantism andCatholicism in Europe were through so many awful years to be balanced, was still an obscure bishop. 

The premonitory signs of the great religious war in Germany were not tobe mistaken. In truth, the great conflict had already opened in theduchies, although few men as yet comprehended the full extent of thatmovement. The superficial imagined that questions of hereditarysuccession, like those involved in the dispute, were easily to be settledby statutes of descent, expounded by doctors of law, and sustained, ifneedful, by a couple of comparatively bloodless campaigns. Those wholooked more deeply into causes felt that the limitations of Imperialauthority, the ambition of a great republic, suddenly starting intoexistence out of nothing, and the great issues of the religiousreformation, were matters not so easily arranged. When the scene shifted, as it was so soon to do, to the heart of Bohemia, when Protestantism hadtaken the Holy Roman Empire by the beard in its ancient palace, andthrown Imperial stadholders out of window, it would be evident to theblindest that something serious was taking place. 

Meantime Barneveld, ever watchful of passing events, knew that greatforces of Catholicism were marshalling in the south. Three armies were totake the field against Protestantism at the orders of Spain and the Pope. One at the door of the Republic, and directed especially against theNetherlands, was to resume the campaign in the duchies, and to preventany aid going to Protestant Germany from Great Britain or from Holland. Another in the Upper Palatinate was to make the chief movement againstthe Evangelical hosts. A third in Austria was to keep down the Protestantparty in Bohemia, Hungary, Austria, Moravia, and Silesia. To sustain thismovement, it was understood that all the troops then in Italy were to bekept all the winter on a war footing. '

Was this a time for the great Protestant party in the Netherlands to tearitself in pieces for a theological subtlety, about which good Christiansmight differ without taking each other by the throat?

"I do not lightly believe or fear, " said the Advocate, in communicating asurvey of European affairs at that moment to Carom "but present advicesfrom abroad make me apprehend dangers. "

 ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS:

 Aristocracy of God's elect Determined to bring the very name of liberty into contempt Disputing the eternal damnation of young children Fate, free will, or absolute foreknowledge Louis XIII. No man can be neutral in civil contentions No synod had a right to claim Netherlanders as slaves Philip IV. Priests shall control the state or the state govern the priests Schism in the Church had become a public fact That cynical commerce in human lives The voice of slanderers Theological hatred was in full blaze throughout the country Theology and politics were one To look down upon their inferior and lost fellow creatures Whether dead infants were hopelessly damned Whether repentance could effect salvation Whose mutual hatred was now artfully inflamed by partisans Work of the aforesaid Puritans and a few Jesuits

CHAPTER IX. 1613-15

 Aerssens remains Two Years longer in France--Derives many Personal Advantages from his Post--He visits the States-General--Aubery du Maurier appointed French Ambassador--He demands the Recall of Aerssens--Peace of Sainte-Menehould--Asperen de Langerac appointed in Aerssens' Place. 

Francis Aerssens had remained longer at his post than had been intendedby the resolution of the States of Holland, passed in May 1611. 

It is an exemplification of the very loose constitutional framework ofthe United Provinces that the nomination of the ambassador to Francebelonged to the States of Holland, by whom his salary was paid, although, of course, he was the servant of the States-General, to whom his publicand official correspondence was addressed. His most important despatcheswere however written directly to Barneveld so long as he remained inpower, who had also the charge of the whole correspondence, public orprivate, with all the envoys of the States. 

Aerssens had, it will be remembered, been authorized to stay one yearlonger in France if he thought he could be useful there. He stayed twoyears, and on the whole was not useful. He had too many eyes and too manyears. He had become mischievous by the very activity of his intelligence. He was too zealous. There were occasions in France at that moment inwhich it was as well to be blind and deaf. It was impossible for theRepublic, unless driven to it by dire necessity, to quarrel with itsgreat ally. It had been calculated by Duplessis-Mornay that France hadpaid subsidies to the Provinces amounting from first to last to 200millions of livres. This was an enormous exaggeration. It was Barneveld'sestimate that before the truce the States had received from France elevenmillions of florins in cash, and during the truce up to the year 1613, 3, 600, 000 in addition, besides a million still due, making a total ofabout fifteen millions. During the truce France kept two regiments offoot amounting to 4200 soldiers and two companies of cavalry in Hollandat the service of the States, for which she was bound to pay yearly600, 000 livres. And the Queen-Regent had continued all the treaties bywhich these arrangements were secured, and professed sincere andcontinuous friendship for the States. While the French-Spanish marriagesgave cause for suspicion, uneasiness, and constant watchfulness in theStates, still the neutrality of France was possible in the coming storm. So long as that existed, particularly when the relations of England withHolland through the unfortunate character of King James were perpetuallystrained to a point of imminent rupture, it was necessary to hold as longas it was possible to the slippery embrace of France. 

But Aerssens was almost aggressive in his attitude. He rebuked thevacillations, the shortcomings, the imbecility, of the Queen's governmentin offensive terms. He consorted openly with the princes who were on thepoint of making war upon the Queen-Regent. He made a boast to theSecretary of State Villeroy that he had unravelled all his secret plotsagainst the Netherlands. He declared it to be understood in France, sincethe King's death, by the dominant and Jesuitical party that the crowndepended temporally as well as spiritually on the good pleasure of thePope. 

No doubt he was perfectly right in many of his opinions. No ruler orstatesman in France worthy of the name would hesitate, in the impendingreligious conflict throughout Europe and especially in Germany, tomaintain for the kingdom that all controlling position which was itssplendid privilege. But to preach this to Mary de' Medici was waste ofbreath. She was governed by the Concini's, and the Concini's weregoverned by Spain. The woman who was believed to have known beforehand ofthe plot to murder her great husband, who had driven the one powerfulstatesman on whom the King relied, Maximilian de Bethune, intoretirement, and whose foreign affairs were now completely in the hands ofthe ancient Leaguer Villeroy--who had served every government in thekingdom for forty years--was not likely to be accessible to high views ofpublic policy. 

Two years had now elapsed since the first private complaints against theAmbassador, and the French government were becoming impatient at hispresence. Aerssens had been supported by Prince Maurice, to whom he hadlong paid his court. He was likewise loyally protected by Barneveld, whomhe publicly flattered and secretly maligned. But it was now necessarythat he should be gone if peaceful relations with France were to bepreserved. 

After all, the Ambassador had not made a bad business of his embassy fromhis own point of view. A stranger in the Republic, for his father theGreffier was a refugee from Brabant, he had achieved through his ownindustry and remarkable talents, sustained by the favour of Barneveld--towhom he owed all his diplomatic appointments--an eminent position inEurope. Secretary to the legation to France in 1594, he had beensuccessively advanced to the post of resident agent, and when theRepublic had been acknowledged by the great powers, to that ofambassador. The highest possible functions that representatives ofemperors and kings could enjoy had been formally recognized in the personof the minister of a new-born republic. And this was at a moment when, with exception of the brave but insignificant cantons of Switzerland, theRepublic had long been an obsolete idea. 

In a pecuniary point of view, too, he had not fared badly during histwenty years of diplomatic office. He had made much money in variousways. The King not long before his death sent him one day 20, 000 florinsas a present, with a promise soon to do much more for him. 

Having been placed in so eminent a post, he considered it as due tohimself to derive all possible advantage from it. "Those who serve at thealtar, " he said a little while after his return, "must learn to live byit. I served their High Mightinesses at the court of a great king, andhis Majesty's liberal and gracious favours were showered upon me. Myupright conscience and steady obsequiousness greatly aided me. I did notlook upon opportunity with folded arms, but seized it and made my profitby it. Had I not met with such fortunate accidents, my office would nothave given me dry bread. "

Nothing could exceed the frankness and indeed the cynicism with which theAmbassador avowed his practice of converting his high and sacred officeinto merchandise. And these statements of his should be scanned closely, because at this very moment a cry was distantly rising, which at a laterday was to swell into a roar, that the great Advocate had been bribed andpensioned. Nothing had occurred to justify such charges, save that at theperiod of the truce he had accepted from the King of France a fee of20, 000 florins for extra official and legal services rendered him a dozenyears before, and had permitted his younger son to hold the office ofgentleman-in-waiting at the French court with the usual salary attachedto it. The post, certainly not dishonourable in itself, had been intendedby the King as a kindly compliment to the leading statesman of his greatand good ally the Republic. It would be difficult to say why such afavour conferred on the young man should be held more discreditable tothe receiver than the Order of the Garter recently bestowed upon thegreat soldier of the Republic by another friendly sovereign. It isinstructive however to note the language in which Francis Aerssens spokeof favours and money bestowed by a foreign monarch upon himself, forAerssens had come back from his embassy full of gall and bitternessagainst Barneveld. Thenceforth he was to be his evil demon. 

"I didn't inherit property, " said this diplomatist. "My father andmother, thank God, are yet living. I have enjoyed the King's liberality. It was from an ally, not an enemy, of our country. Were every man obligedto give a reckoning of everything he possesses over and above hishereditary estates, who in the government would pass muster? Those whodeclare that they have served their country in her greatest trouble, andlived in splendid houses and in service of princes and great companiesand the like on a yearly salary of 4000 florins, may not approve thesemaxims. "

It should be remembered that Barneveld, if this was a fling at theAdvocate, had acquired a large fortune by marriage, and, althoughcertainly not averse from gathering gear, had, as will be seen on asubsequent page, easily explained the manner in which his property hadincreased. No proof was ever offered or attempted of the anonymouscalumnies levelled at him in this regard. 

"I never had the management of finances, " continued Aerssens. "My profitsI have gained in foreign parts. My condition of life is without excess, and in my opinion every means are good so long as they are honourable andlegal. They say my post was given me by the Advocate. Ergo, all myfortune comes from the Advocate. Strenuously to have striven to makemyself agreeable to the King and his counsellors, while fulfilling myoffice with fidelity and honour, these are the arts by which I haveprospered, so that my splendour dazzles the eyes of the envious. Thegreediness of those who believe that the sun should shine for them alonewas excited, and so I was obliged to resign the embassy. "

So long as Henry lived, the Dutch ambassador saw him daily, and at allhours, privately, publicly, when he would. Rarely has a foreign envoy atany court, at any period of history, enjoyed such privileges of beinguseful to his government. And there is no doubt that the services ofAerssens had been most valuable to his country, notwithstanding hisconstant care to increase his private fortune through his publicopportunities. He was always ready to be useful to Henry likewise. Whenthat monarch same time before the truce, and occasionally during thepreliminary negotiations for it, had formed a design to make himselfsovereign of the Provinces, it was Aerssens who charged himself with thescheme, and would have furthered it with all his might, had the projectnot met with opposition both from the Advocate and the Stadholder. Subsequently it appeared probable that Maurice would not object to thesovereignty himself, and the Ambassador in Paris, with the King'sconsent, was not likely to prove himself hostile to the Prince'sambition. 

"There is but this means alone, " wrote Jeannini to Villeroy, "that cancontent him, although hitherto he has done like the rowers, who neverlook toward the place whither they wish to go. " The attempt of the Princeto sound Barneveld on this subject through the Princess-Dowager hasalready been mentioned, and has much intrinsic probability. Thenceforward, the republican form of government, the municipaloligarchies, began to consolidate their power. Yet although the people assuch were not sovereigns, but subjects, and rarely spoken of by thearistocratic magistrates save with a gentle and patronizing disdain, theyenjoyed a larger liberty than was known anywhere else in the world. Buzenval was astonished at the "infinite and almost unbridled freedom"which he witnessed there during his embassy, and which seemed to himhowever "without peril to the state. "

The extraordinary means possessed by Aerssens to be important and usefulvanished with the King's death. His secret despatches, painting in sombreand sarcastic colours the actual condition of affairs at the Frenchcourt, were sent back in copy to the French court itself. It was notknown who had played the Ambassador this vilest of tricks, but it wasdone during an illness of Barneveld, and without his knowledge. Early inthe year 1613 Aerssens resolved, not to take his final departure, but togo home on leave of absence. His private intention was to look for somesubstantial office of honour and profit at home. Failing of this, hemeant to return to Paris. But with an eye to the main chance as usual, heingeniously caused it to be understood at court, without making positivestatements to that effect, that his departure was final. On hisleavetaking, accordingly, he received larger presents from the crown thanhad been often given to a retiring ambassador. At least 20, 000 florinswere thus added to the frugal store of profits on which he pridedhimself. Had he merely gone away on leave of absence, he would havereceived no presents whatever. But he never went back. The Queen-Regentand her ministers were so glad to get rid of him, and so little disposed, in the straits in which they found themselves, to quarrel with thepowerful republic, as to be willing to write very complimentary publicletters to the States, concerning the character and conduct of the manwhom they so much detested. 

Pluming himself upon these, Aerssens made his appearance in the Assemblyof the States-General, to give account by word of mouth of the conditionof affairs, speaking as if he had only come by permission of theirMightinesses for temporary purposes. Two months later he was summonedbefore the Assembly, and ordered to return to his post. 

Meantime a new French ambassador had arrived at the Hague, in the springof 1613. Aubery du Maurier, a son of an obscure country squire, aProtestant, of moderate opinions, of a sincere but rather obsequiouscharacter, painstaking, diligent, and honest, had been at an earlier dayin the service of the turbulent and intriguing Due de Bouillon. He hadalso been employed by Sully as an agent in financial affairs betweenHolland and France, and had long been known to Villeroy. He was living onhis estate, in great retirement from all public business, when SecretaryVilleroy suddenly proposed him the embassy to the Hague. There was nomore important diplomatic post at that time in Europe. Other countrieswere virtually at peace, but in Holland, notwithstanding the truce, therewas really not much more than an armistice, and great armies lay in theNetherlands, as after a battle, sleeping face to face with arms in theirhands. The politics of Christendom were at issue in the open, elegant, and picturesque village which was the social capital of the UnitedProvinces. The gentry from Spain, Italy, the south of Europe, CatholicGermany, had clustered about Spinola at Brussels, to learn the art of warin his constant campaigning against Maurice. English and Scotch officers, Frenchmen, Bohemians, Austrians, youths from the Palatinate and allProtestant countries in Germany, swarmed to the banners of the prince whohad taught the world how Alexander Farnese could be baffled, and thegreat Spinola outmanoeuvred. Especially there was a great number ofFrenchmen of figure and quality who thronged to the Hague, besides theofficers of the two French regiments which formed a regular portion ofthe States' army. That army was the best appointed and most conspicuousstanding force in Europe. Besides the French contingent there were alwaysnearly 30, 000 infantry and 3000 cavalry on a war footing, splendidlydisciplined, experienced, and admirably armed. The navy, consisting ofthirty war ships, perfectly equipped and manned, was a match for thecombined marine forces of all Europe, and almost as numerous. 

When the Ambassador went to solemn audience of the States-General, he wasattended by a brilliant group of gentlemen and officers, often to thenumber of three hundred, who volunteered to march after him on foot tohonour their sovereign in the person of his ambassador; the Envoy'scarriage following empty behind. Such were the splendid diplomaticprocessions often received by the stately Advocate in his plain civicgarb, when grave international questions were to be publicly discussed. 

There was much murmuring in France when the appointment of a personagecomparatively so humble to a position so important was known. It wasconsidered as a blow aimed directly at the malcontent princes of theblood, who were at that moment plotting their first levy of arms againstthe Queen. Du Maurier had been ill-treated by the Due de Bouillon, whonaturally therefore now denounced the man whom he had injured to thegovernment to which he was accredited. Being the agent of Mary de'Medici, he was, of course, described as a tool of the court and a secretpensioner of Spain. He was to plot with the arch traitor Barneveld as tothe best means for distracting the Provinces and bringing them back intoSpanish subjection. Du Maurier, being especially but secretly charged toprevent the return of Francis Aerssens to Paris, incurred of course theenmity of that personage and of the French grandees who ostentatiouslyprotected him. It was even pretended by Jeannin that the appointment of aman so slightly known to the world, so inexperienced in diplomacy, and ofa parentage so little distinguished, would be considered an affront bythe States-General. 

But on the whole, Villeroy had made an excellent choice. No safer mancould perhaps have been found in France for a post of such eminence, incircumstances so delicate, and at a crisis so grave. The man who had beenable to make himself agreeable and useful, while preserving hisintegrity, to characters so dissimilar as the refining, self-torturing, intellectual Duplessis-Mornay, the rude, aggressive, and straightforwardSully, the deep-revolving, restlessly plotting Bouillon, and the smooth, silent, and tortuous Villeroy--men between whom there was no friendship, but, on the contrary, constant rancour--had material in him to rendervaluable services at this particular epoch. Everything depended onpatience, tact, watchfulness in threading the distracting, almostinextricable, maze which had been created by personal rivalries, ambitions, and jealousies in the state he represented and the one towhich he was accredited. "I ascribe it all to God, " he said, in histestament to his children, "the impenetrable workman who in His goodnesshas enabled me to make myself all my life obsequious, respectful, andserviceable to all, avoiding as much as possible, in contenting some, notto discontent others. " He recommended his children accordingly toendeavour "to succeed in life by making themselves as humble, intelligent, and capable as possible. "

This is certainly not a very high type of character, but a safer one forbusiness than that of the arch intriguer Francis Aerssens. And he hadarrived at the Hague under trying circumstances. Unknown to the foreignworld he was now entering, save through the disparaging rumoursconcerning him, sent thither in advance by the powerful personagesarrayed against his government, he might have sunk under such a storm atthe outset, but for the incomparable kindness and friendly aid of thePrincess-Dowager, Louise de Coligny. "I had need of her protection andrecommendation as much as of life, " said du Maurier; "and she gave themin such excess as to annihilate an infinity of calumnies which envy hadexcited against me on every side. " He had also a most difficult anddelicate matter to arrange at the very moment of his arrival. 

For Aerssens had done his best not only to produce a dangerous divisionin the politics of the Republic, but to force a rupture between theFrench government and the States. He had carried matters before theassembly with so high a hand as to make it seem impossible to get rid ofhim without public scandal. He made a parade of the official letters fromthe Queen-Regent and her ministers, in which he was spoken of in terms ofconventional compliment. He did not know, and Barneveld wished, ifpossible, to spare him the annoyance of knowing, that both Queen andministers, so soon as informed that there was a chance of coming back tothem, had written letters breathing great repugnance to him andintimating that he would not be received. Other high personages of statehad written to express their resentment at his duplicity, perpetualmischief-making, and machinations against the peace of the kingdom, andstating the impossibility of his resuming the embassy at Paris. And atlast the queen wrote to the States-General to say that, having heardtheir intention to send him back to a post "from which he had taken leaveformally and officially, " she wished to prevent such a step. "We shouldsee M. Aerssens less willingly than comports with our friendship for youand good neighbourhood. Any other you could send would be most welcome, as M. Du Maurier will explain to you more amply. "

And to du Maurier himself she wrote distinctly, "Rather than suffer thereturn of the said Aerssens, you will declare that for causes whichregard the good of our affairs and our particular satisfaction we cannotand will not receive him in the functions which he has exercised here, and we rely too implicitly upon the good friendship of My Lords theStates to do anything in this that would so much displease us. "

And on the same day Villeroy privately wrote to the Ambassador, "If, inspite of all this, Aerssens should endeavour to return, he will not bereceived, after the knowledge we have of his factious spirit, mostdangerous in a public personage in a state such as ours and in theminority of the King. "

Meantime Aerssens had been going about flaunting letters in everybody'sface from the Duc de Bouillon insisting on the necessity of his return!The fact in itself would have been sufficient to warrant his removal, forthe Duke was just taking up arms against his sovereign. Unless the Statesmeant to interfere officially and directly in the civil war about tobreak out in France, they could hardly send a minister to the governmenton recommendation of the leader of the rebellion. 

It had, however, become impossible to remove him without an explosion. Barneveld, who, said du Maurier, "knew the man to his finger nails, " hadbeen reluctant to "break the ice, " and wished for official notice in thematter from the Queen. Maurice protected the troublesome diplomatist. "'Tis incredible, " said the French ambassador "how covertly PrinceMaurice is carrying himself, contrary to his wont, in this whole affair. I don't know whether it is from simple jealousy to Barneveld, or if thereis some mystery concealed below the surface. "

Du Maurier had accordingly been obliged to ask his government fordistinct and official instructions. "He holds to his place, " said he, "byso slight and fragile a root as not to require two hands to pluck him up, the little finger being enough. There is no doubt that he has been inconcert with those who are making use of him to re-establish their creditwith the States, and to embark Prince Maurice contrary to his precedingcustom in a cabal with them. "

Thus a question of removing an obnoxious diplomatist could hardly begraver, for it was believed that he was doing his best to involve themilitary chief of his own state in a game of treason and rebellionagainst the government to which he was accredited. It was not the firstnor likely to be the last of Bouillon's deadly intrigues. But the man whohad been privy to Biron's conspiracy against the crown and life of hissovereign was hardly a safe ally for his brother-in-law, thestraightforward stadholder. 

The instructions desired by du Maurier and by Barneveld had, as we haveseen, at last arrived. The French ambassador thus fortified appearedbefore the Assembly of the States-General and officially demanded therecall of Aerssens. In a letter addressed privately and confidentially totheir Mightinesses, he said, "If in spite of us you throw him at ourfeet, we shall fling him back at your head. "

At last Maurice yielded to, the representations of the French envoy, andAerssens felt obliged to resign his claims to the post. TheStates-General passed a resolution that it would be proper to employ himin some other capacity in order to show that his services had beenagreeable to them, he having now declared that he could no longer beuseful in France. Maurice, seeing that it was impossible to save him, admitted to du Maurier his unsteadiness and duplicity, and said that, ifpossessed of the confidence of a great king, he would be capable ofdestroying the state in less than a year. 

But this had not always been the Prince's opinion, nor was it likely toremain unchanged. As for Villeroy, he denied flatly that the cause of hisdispleasure had been that Aerssens had penetrated into his most secretaffairs. He protested, on the contrary, that his annoyance with him hadpartly proceeded from the slight acquaintance he had acquired of hispolicy, and that, while boasting to be better informed than any one, hewas in the habit of inventing and imagining things in order to get creditfor himself. 

It was highly essential that the secret of this affair should be madeclear; for its influence on subsequent events was to be deep and wide. For the moment Aerssens remained without employment, and there was noopen rupture with Barneveld. The only difference of opinion between theAdvocate and himself, he said, was whether he had or had not definitelyresigned his post on leaving Paris. 

Meantime it was necessary to fix upon a successor for this most importantpost. The war soon after the new year had broken out in France. Conde, Bouillon, and the other malcontent princes with their followers had takenpossession of the fortress of Mezieres, and issued a letter in the nameof Conde to the Queen-Regent demanding an assembly of the States-Generalof the kingdom and rupture of the Spanish marriages. Both parties, thatof the government and that of the rebellion, sought the sympathy andactive succour of the States. Maurice, acting now in perfect accord withthe Advocate, sustained the Queen and execrated the rebellion of hisrelatives with perfect frankness. Conde, he said, had got his headstuffed full of almanacs whose predictions he wished to see realized. Hevowed he would have shortened by a head the commander of the garrison whobetrayed Mezieres, if he had been under his control. He forbade on painof death the departure of any officer or private of the French regimentsfrom serving the rebels, and placed the whole French force at thedisposal of the Queen, with as many Netherland regiments as could bespared. One soldier was hanged and three others branded with the mark ofa gibbet on the face for attempting desertion. The legal government wasloyally sustained by the authority of the States, notwithstanding all theintrigues of Aerssens with the agents of the princes to procure themassistance. The mutiny for the time was brief, and was settled on the15th of May 1614, by the peace of Sainte-Menehould, as much a caricatureof a treaty as the rising had been the parody of a war. Van der Myle, son-in-law of Barneveld, who had been charged with a special andtemporary mission to France, brought back the terms, of the convention tothe States-General. On the other hand, Conde and his confederates sent aspecial agent to the Netherlands to give their account of the war and thenegotiation, who refused to confer either with du Maurier or Barneveld, but who held much conference with Aerssens. 

It was obvious enough that the mutiny of the princes would becomechronic. In truth, what other condition was possible with two characterslike Mary de' Medici and the Prince of Conde respectively at the head ofthe government and the revolt? What had France to hope for but to remainthe bloody playground for mischievous idiots, who threw about thefirebrands and arrows of reckless civil war in pursuit of the paltriestof personal aims?

Van der Myle had pretensions to the vacant place of Aerssens. He had someexperience in diplomacy. He had conducted skilfully enough the firstmission of the States to Venice, and had subsequently been employed inmatters of moment. But he was son-in-law to Barneveld, and although theAdvocate was certainly not free from the charge of nepotism, he shrankfrom the reproach of having apparently removed Aerssens to make a placefor one of his own family. 

Van der Myle remained to bear the brunt of the late ambassador's malice, and to engage at a little later period in hottest controversy with him, personal and political. "Why should van der Myle strut about, with hisarms akimbo like a peacock?" complained Aerssens one day in confusedmetaphor. A question not easy to answer satisfactorily. 

The minister selected was a certain Baron Asperen de Langerac, whollyunversed in diplomacy or other public affairs, with abilities not abovethe average. A series of questions addressed by him to the Advocate, theanswers to which, scrawled on the margin of the paper, were to serve forhis general instructions, showed an ingenuousness as amusing as thereplies of Barneveld were experienced and substantial. 

In general he was directed to be friendly and respectful to every one, tothe Queen-Regent and her counsellors especially, and, within the limitsof becoming reverence for her, to cultivate the good graces of the Princeof Conde and the other great nobles still malcontent and rebellious, butwhose present movement, as Barneveld foresaw, was drawing rapidly to aclose. Langerac arrived in Paris on the 5th of April 1614. 

Du Maurier thought the new ambassador likely to "fall a prey to thespecious language and gentle attractions of the Due de Bouillon. " He alsodescribed him as very dependent upon Prince Maurice. On the other handLangerac professed unbounded and almost childlike reverence forBarneveld, was devoted to his person, and breathed as it were onlythrough his inspiration. Time would show whether those sentiments wouldoutlast every possible storm. 

CHAPTER X

 Weakness of the Rulers of France and England--The Wisdom of Barneveld inspires Jealousy--Sir Dudley Carleton succeeds Winwood-- Young Neuburg under the Guidance of Maximilian--Barneveld strives to have the Treaty of Xanten enforced--Spain and the Emperor wish to make the States abandon their Position with regard to the Duchies-- The French Government refuses to aid the States--Spain and the Emperor resolve to hold Wesel--The great Religious War begun--The Protestant Union and Catholic League both wish to secure the Border Provinces--Troubles in Turkey--Spanish Fleet seizes La Roche--Spain places large Armies on a War Footing. 

Few things are stranger in history than the apathy with which the widedesigns of the Catholic party were at that moment regarded. Thepreparations for the immense struggle which posterity learned to call theThirty Years' War, and to shudder when speaking of it, were going forwardon every side. In truth the war had really begun, yet those most deeplymenaced by it at the outset looked on with innocent calmness becausetheir own roofs were not quite yet in a blaze. The passage of arms in theduchies, the outlines of which have just been indicated, and which wasthe natural sequel of the campaign carried out four years earlier on thesame territory, had been ended by a mockery. In France, reduced almost toimbecility by the absence of a guiding brain during a long minority, fallen under the distaff of a dowager both weak and wicked, distracted bythe intrigues and quarrels of a swarm of self-seeking grandees, and withall its offices, from highest to lowest, of court, state, jurisprudence, and magistracy, sold as openly and as cynically as the commonest wares, there were few to comprehend or to grapple with the danger. It shouldhave seemed obvious to the meanest capacity in the kingdom that the greathouse of Austria, reigning supreme in Spain and in Germany, could not beallowed to crush the Duke of Savoy on the one side, and Bohemia, Moravia, and the Netherlands on the other without danger of subjection for France. Yet the aim of the Queen-Regent was to cultivate an impossible alliancewith her inevitable foe. 

And in England, ruled as it then was with no master mind to enforceagainst its sovereign the great lessons of policy, internal and external, on which its welfare and almost its imperial existence depended, the onlyambition of those who could make their opinions felt was to pursue thesame impossibility, intimate alliance with the universal foe. 

Any man with slightest pretensions to statesmanship knew that the libertyfor Protestant worship in Imperial Germany, extorted by force, had beengiven reluctantly, and would be valid only as long as that force couldstill be exerted or should remain obviously in reserve. The"Majesty-Letter" and the "Convention" of the two religions would prove asflimsy as the parchment on which they were engrossed, the Protestantchurches built under that sanction would be shattered like glass, if oncethe Catholic rulers could feel their hands as clear as their conscienceswould be for violating their sworn faith to heretics. Men knew, even ifthe easy-going and uxorious emperor, into which character the once busyand turbulent Archduke Matthias had subsided, might be willing to keephis pledges, that Ferdinand of Styria, who would soon succeed him, andMaximilian of Bavaria were men who knew their own minds, and had mentallynever resigned one inch of the ground which Protestantism imagined itselfto have conquered. 

These things seem plain as daylight to all who look back upon themthrough the long vista of the past; but the sovereign of England did notsee them or did not choose to see them. He saw only the Infanta and hertwo millions of dowry, and he knew that by calling Parliament together toask subsidies for an anti-Catholic war he should ruin those goldenmatrimonial prospects for his son, while encouraging those "shoemakers, "his subjects, to go beyond their "last, " by consulting therepresentatives of his people on matters pertaining to the mysteries ofgovernment. He was slowly digging the grave of the monarchy and buildingthe scaffold of his son; but he did his work with a laborious andpedantic trifling, when really engaged in state affairs, most amazing tocontemplate. He had no penny to give to the cause in which his nearestrelatives mere so deeply involved and for which his only possible allieswere pledged; but he was ready to give advice to all parties, and withludicrous gravity imagined himself playing the umpire between greatcontending hosts, when in reality he was only playing the fool at thebeck of masters before whom he quaked. 

"You are not to vilipend my counsel, " said he one day to a foreign envoy. "I am neither a camel nor an ass to take up all this work on myshoulders. Where would you find another king as willing to do it as Iam?"

The King had little time and no money to give to serve his own family andallies and the cause of Protestantism, but he could squander vast sumsupon worthless favourites, and consume reams of paper on controvertedpoints of divinity. The appointment of Vorstius to the chair of theologyin Leyden aroused more indignation in his bosom, and occupied more of histime, than the conquests of Spinola in the duchies, and the menaces ofSpain against Savoy and Bohemia. He perpetually preached moderation tothe States in the matter of the debateable territory, although moderationat that moment meant submission to the House of Austria. He chose toaffect confidence in the good faith of those who were playing a comedy bywhich no statesman could be deceived, but which had secured theapprobation of the Solomon of the age. 

But there was one man who was not deceived. The warnings and thelamentations of Barneveld sound to us out of that far distant time likethe voice of an inspired prophet. It is possible that a portion of thewrath to come might have been averted had there been many men in highplaces to heed his voice. I do not wish to exaggerate the power andwisdom of the man, nor to set him forth as one of the greatest heroes ofhistory. But posterity has done far less than justice to a statesman andsage who wielded a vast influence at a most critical period in the fateof Christendom, and uniformly wielded it to promote the cause oftemperate human liberty, both political and religious. Viewed by thelight of two centuries and a half of additional experience, he may appearto have made mistakes, but none that were necessarily disastrous or evenmischievous. Compared with the prevailing idea of the age in which helived, his schemes of polity seem to dilate into large dimensions, hissentiments of religious freedom, however limited to our modern ideas, mark an epoch in human progress, and in regard to the generalcommonwealth of Christendom, of which he was so leading a citizen, thepart he played was a lofty one. No man certainly understood the tendencyof his age more exactly, took a broader and more comprehensive view thanhe did of the policy necessary to preserve the largest portion of theresults of the past three-quarters of a century, or had pondered therelative value of great conflicting forces more skilfully. Had hiscounsels been always followed, had illustrious birth placed him virtuallyupon a throne, as was the case with William the Silent, and thus allowedhim occasionally to carry out the designs of a great mind with almostdespotic authority, it might have been better for the world. But in thatage it was royal blood alone that could command unflinching obediencewithout exciting personal rivalry. Men quailed before his majesticintellect, but hated him for the power which was its necessary result. They already felt a stupid delight in cavilling at his pedigree. Todispute his claim to a place among the ancient nobility to which he wasan honour was to revenge themselves for the rank he unquestionablypossessed side by side in all but birth with the kings and rulers of theworld. Whether envy and jealousy be vices more incident to the republicanform of government than to other political systems may be an openquestion. But it is no question whatever that Barneveld's every footstepfrom this period forward was dogged by envy as patient as it wasdevouring. Jealousy stuck to him like his shadow. We have examined therelations which existed between Winwood and himself; we have seen thatambassador, now secretary of state for James, never weary in denouncingthe Advocate's haughtiness and grim resolution to govern the countryaccording to its laws rather than at the dictate of a foreign sovereign, and in flinging forth malicious insinuations in regard to his relationsto Spain. The man whose every hour was devoted in spite of a thousandobstacles strewn by stupidity, treachery, and apathy, as well as by envy, hatred, and bigotry--to the organizing of a grand and universal league ofProtestantism against Spain, and to rolling up with strenuous andsometimes despairing arms a dead mountain weight, ever ready to fall backupon and crush him, was accused in dark and mysterious whispers, soon togrow louder and bolder, of a treacherous inclination for Spain. 

There is nothing less surprising nor more sickening for those who observepublic life, and wish to retain faith in the human species, than thealmost infinite power of the meanest of passions. 

The Advocate was obliged at the very outset of Langerac's mission toFrance to give him a warning on this subject. 

"Should her Majesty make kindly mention of me, " he said, "you will saynothing of it in your despatches as you did in your last, although I amsure with the best intentions. It profits me not, and many take umbrageat it; wherefore it is wise to forbear. "

But this was a trifle. By and by there would be many to take umbrage atevery whisper in his favour, whether from crowned heads or from thesimplest in the social scale. Meantime he instructed the Ambassador, without paying heed to personal compliments to his chief, to do his bestto keep the French government out of the hands of Spain, and with thatobject in view to smooth over the differences between the two greatparties in the kingdom, and to gain the confidence, if possible, of Condeand Nevers and Bouillon, while never failing in straightforward respectand loyal friendship to the Queen-Regent and her ministers, as thelegitimate heads of the government. 

From England a new ambassador was soon to take the place of Winwood. SirDudley Carleton was a diplomatist of respectable abilities, and welltrained to business and routine. Perhaps on the whole there was noneother, in that epoch of official mediocrity, more competent than he tofill what was then certainly the most important of foreign posts. Hiscourse of life had in no wise familiarized him with the intricacies ofthe Dutch constitution, nor could the diplomatic profession, combinedwith a long residence at Venice, be deemed especially favourable for deepstudies of the mysteries of predestination. Yet he would be found readyat the bidding of his master to grapple with Grotius and Barneveld on thefield of history and law, and thread with Uytenbogaert or Taurinus allthe subtleties of Arminianism and Gomarism as if he had been half hislife both a regular practitioner at the Supreme Court of the Hague andprofessor of theology at the University of Leyden. Whether the triumphsachieved in such encounters were substantial and due entirely to his owngenius might be doubtful. At all events he had a sovereign behind him whowas incapable of making a mistake on any subject. 

"You shall not forget, " said James in his instructions to Sir Dudley, "that you are the minister of that master whom God hath made the soleprotector of his religion . . . . . And you may let fall how hateful themaintaining of erroneous opinions is to the majesty of God and howdispleasing to us. "

The warlike operations of 1614 had been ended by the abortive peace ofXanten. The two rival pretenders to the duchies were to halve theterritory, drawing lots for the first choice, all foreign troops were tobe withdrawn, and a pledge was to be given that no fortress should beplaced in the hands of any power. But Spain at the last moment hadrefused to sanction the treaty, and everything was remitted to what mightbe exactly described as a state of sixes and sevens. Subsequently it washoped that the States' troops might be induced to withdraw simultaneouslywith the Catholic forces on an undertaking by Spinola that there shouldbe no re-occupation of the disputed territory either by the Republic orby Spain. But Barneveld accurately pointed out that, although the Marquiswas a splendid commander and, so long as he was at the head of thearmies, a most powerful potentate, he might be superseded at any moment. Count Bucquoy, for example, might suddenly appear in his place and refuseto be bound by any military arrangement of his predecessor. Then theArchduke proposed to give a guarantee that in case of a mutual withdrawalthere should be no return of the troops, no recapture of garrisons. ButBarneveld, speaking for the States, liked not the security. The Archdukewas but the puppet of Spain, and Spain had no part in the guarantee. Sheheld the strings, and might cause him at any moment to play what pranksshe chose. It would be the easiest thing in the world for despotic Spain, so the Advocate thought, to reappear suddenly in force again at amoment's notice after the States' troops had been withdrawn and partiallydisbanded, and it would be difficult for the many-headed and many-tonguedrepublic to act with similar promptness. To withdraw without a guaranteefrom Spain to the Treaty of Xanten, which had once been signed, sealed, and all but ratified, would be to give up fifty points in the game. Nothing but disaster could ensue. The Advocate as leader in all thesenegotiations and correspondence was ever actuated by the favouritequotation of William the Silent from Demosthenes, that the safest citadelagainst an invader and a tyrant is distrust. And he always distrusted inthese dealings, for he was sure the Spanish cabinet was trying to makefools of the States, and there were many ready to assist it in the task. Now that one of the pretenders, temporary master of half the duchies, thePrince of Neuburg, had espoused both Catholicism and the sister of theArchbishop of Cologne and the Duke of Bavaria, it would be more safe thanever for Spain to make a temporary withdrawal. Maximilian of Bavaria wasbeyond all question the ablest and most determined leader of the Catholicparty in Germany, and the most straightforward and sincere. No man beforeor since his epoch had, like him, been destined to refuse, and more thanonce refuse, the Imperial crown. 

Through his apostasy the Prince of Neuburg was in danger of losing hishereditary estates, his brothers endeavouring to dispossess him on theground of the late duke's will, disinheriting any one of his heirs whoshould become a convert to Catholicism. He had accordingly implored aidfrom the King of Spain. Archduke Albert had urged Philip to render suchassistance as a matter of justice, and the Emperor had naturally declaredthat the whole right as eldest son belonged, notwithstanding the will, tothe Prince. 

With the young Neuburg accordingly under the able guidance of Maximilian, it was not likely that the grasp of the Spanish party upon theseall-important territories would be really loosened. The Emperor stillclaimed the right to decide among the candidates and to hold theprovinces under sequestration till the decision should be made--that wasto say, until the Greek Kalends. The original attempt to do this throughArchduke Leopold had been thwarted, as we have seen, by the promptmovements of Maurice sustained by the policy of Barneveld. The Advocatewas resolved that the Emperor's name should not be mentioned either inthe preamble or body of the treaty. And his course throughout thesimulations, which were never negotiations, was perpetually baffled asmuch by the easiness and languor of his allies as the ingenuity of theenemy. 

He was reproached with the loss of Wesel, that Geneva of the Rhine, whichwould never be abandoned by Spain if it was not done forthwith. Let Spainguarantee the Treaty of Xanten, he said, and then she cannot come back. All else is illusion. Moreover, the Emperor had given positive ordersthat Wesel should not be given up. He was assured by Villeroy that Francewould never put on her harness for Aachen, that cradle of Protestantism. That was for the States-General to do, whom it so much more nearlyconcerned. The whole aim of Barneveld was not to destroy the Treaty ofXanten, but to enforce it in the only way in which it could be enforced, by the guarantee of Spain. So secured, it would be a barrier in theuniversal war of religion which he foresaw was soon to break out. But itwas the resolve of Spain, instead of pledging herself to the treaty, toestablish the legal control of the territory in the hand of the Emperor. Neuburg complained that Philip in writing to him did not give him thetitle of Duke of Julich and Cleve, although he had been placed inpossession of those estates by the arms of Spain. Philip, referring toArchduke Albert for his opinion on this subject, was advised that, as theEmperor had not given Neuburg the investiture of the duchies, the Kingwas quite right in refusing him the title. Even should the Treaty ofXanten be executed, neither he nor the Elector of Brandenburg would beanything but administrators until the question of right was decided bythe Emperor. 

Spain had sent Neuburg the Order of the Golden Fleece as a reward for hisconversion, but did not intend him to be anything but a man of straw inthe territories which he claimed by sovereign right. They were to form apermanent bulwark to the Empire, to Spain, and to Catholicism. 

Barneveld of course could never see the secret letters passing betweenBrussels and Madrid, but his insight into the purposes of the enemy wasalmost as acute as if the correspondence of Philip and Albert had been inthe pigeonholes of his writing-desk in the Kneuterdyk. 

The whole object of Spain and the Emperor, acting through the Archduke, was to force the States to abandon their positions in the duchiessimultaneously with the withdrawal of the Spanish troops, and to besatisfied with a bare convention between themselves and Archduke Albertthat there should be no renewed occupation by either party. Barneveld, finding it impossible to get Spain upon the treaty, was resolved that atleast the two mediating powers, their great allies, the sovereigns ofGreat Britain and France, should guarantee the convention, and that thepromises of the Archduke should be made to them. This was steadilyrefused by Spain; for the Archduke never moved an inch in the matterexcept according to the orders of Spain, and besides battling andbuffeting with the Archduke, Barneveld was constantly deafened with theclamour of the English king, who always declared Spain to be in the rightwhatever she did, and forced to endure with what patience he might thegoading of that King's envoy. France, on the other hand, supported theStates as firmly as could have been reasonably expected. 

"We proposed, " said the Archduke, instructing an envoy whom he wassending to Madrid with detailed accounts of these negotiations, "that thepromise should be made to each other as usual in treaties. But theHollanders said the promise should be made to the Kings of France andEngland, at which the Emperor would have been deeply offended, as if inthe affair he was of no account at all. At any moment by this arrangementin concert with France and England the Hollanders might walk in and dowhat they liked. "

Certainly there could have been no succincter eulogy of the policysteadily recommended, as we shall have occasion to see, by Barneveld. Hadhe on this critical occasion been backed by England and France combined, Spain would have been forced to beat a retreat, and Protestantism in thegreat general war just beginning would have had an enormous advantage inposition. But the English Solomon could not see the wisdom of thispolicy. "The King of England says we are right, " continued the Archduke, "and has ordered his ambassador to insist on our view. The Frenchambassador here says that his colleague at the Hague has similarinstructions, but admits that he has not acted up to them. There is notmuch chance of the Hollanders changing. It would be well that the Kingshould send a written ultimatum that the Hollanders should sign theconvention which we propose. If they don't agree, the world at least willsee that it is not we who are in fault. "

The world would see, and would never have forgiven a statesman in theposition of Barneveld, had he accepted a bald agreement from asubordinate like the Archduke, a perfectly insignificant personage in thegreat drama then enacting, and given up guarantees both from theArchduke's master and from the two great allies of the Republic. He stoodout manfully against Spain and England at every hazard, and under apelting storm of obloquy, and this was the man whose designs the Englishsecretary of state had dared to describe "as of no other nature than tocause the Provinces to relapse into the hands of Spain. "

It appeared too a little later that Barneveld's influence with the Frenchgovernment, owing to his judicious support of it so long as it was agovernment, had been decidedly successful. Drugged as France was by theSpanish marriage treaty, she was yet not so sluggish nor spell-bound asthe King of Great Britain. 

"France will not urge upon the Hollanders to execute the proposal as wemade it, " wrote the Archduke to the King, "so negotiations are at astandstill. The Hollanders say it is better that each party should remainwith what each possesses. So that if it does not come to blows, and ifthese insolences go on as they have done, the Hollanders will be gainingand occupying more territory every day. "

Thus once more the ancient enemies and masters of the Republic weremaking the eulogy of the Dutch statesman. It was impossible at presentfor the States to regain Wesel, nor that other early stronghold of theReformation, the old Imperial city of Aachen (Aix-la-Chapelle). The priceto be paid was too exorbitant. 

The French government had persistently refused to assist the States andpossessory princes in the recovery of this stronghold. The Queen-Regentwas afraid of offending Spain, although her government had induced thecitizens of the place to make the treaty now violated by that country. The Dutch ambassador had been instructed categorically to enquire whethertheir Majesties meant to assist Aachen and the princes if attacked by theArchdukes. "No, " said Villeroy; "we are not interested in Aachen, 'tistoo far off. Let them look for assistance to those who advised theirmutiny. "

To the Ambassador's remonstrance that France was both interested in andpledged to them, the Secretary of State replied, "We made the treatythrough compassion and love, but we shall not put on harness for Aachen. Don't think it. You, the States and the United Provinces, may assist themif you like. "

The Envoy then reminded the Minister that the States-General had alwaysagreed to go forward evenly in this business with the Kings of GreatBritain and France and the united princes, the matter being of equalimportance to all. They had given no further pledge than this to theUnion. 

It was plain, however, that France was determined not to lift a finger atthat moment. The Duke of Bouillon and those acting with him had triedhard to induce their Majesties "to write seriously to the Archduke inorder at least to intimidate him by stiff talk, " but it was hopeless. They thought it was not a time then to quarrel with their neighbour andgive offence to Spain. 

So the stiff talk was omitted, and the Archduke was not intimidated. Theman who had so often intimidated him was in his grave, and his widow wasoccupied in marrying her son to the Infanta. "These are thefirst-fruits, " said Aerssens, "of the new negotiations with Spain. "

Both the Spanish king and the Emperor were resolved to hold Wesel to thevery last. Until the States should retire from all their positions on thebare word of the Archduke, that the Spanish forces once withdrawn wouldnever return, the Protestants of those two cities must suffer. There wasno help for it. To save them would be to abandon all. For no truestatesman could be so ingenuous as thus to throw all the cards on thetable for the Spanish and Imperial cabinet to shuffle them at pleasurefor a new deal. The Duke of Neuburg, now Catholic and especiallyprotected by Spain, had become, instead of a pretender with more or lesslaw on his side, a mere standard-bearer and agent of the Great CatholicLeague in the debateable land. He was to be supported at all hazard bythe Spanish forces, according to the express command of Philip'sgovernment, especially now that his two brothers with the countenance ofthe States were disputing his right to his hereditary dominions inGermany. 

The Archduke was sullen enough at what he called the weak-mindedness ofFrance. Notwithstanding that by express orders from Spain he had sent5000 troops under command of Juan de Rivas to the Queen's assistance justbefore the peace of Sainte-Menehould, he could not induce her governmentto take the firm part which the English king did in browbeating theHollanders. 

"'Tis certain, " he complained, "that if, instead of this sluggishness onthe part of France, they had done us there the same good services we havehad from England, the Hollanders would have accepted the promise just asit was proposed by us. " He implored the King, therefore, to use hisstrongest influence with the French government that it should strenuouslyintervene with the Hollanders, and compel them to sign the proposal whichthey rejected. "There is no means of composition if France does notoblige them to sign, " said Albert rather piteously. 

But it was not without reason that Barneveld had in many of his lettersinstructed the States' ambassador, Langerac, "to caress the oldgentleman" (meaning and never naming Villeroy), for he would prove to bein spite of all obstacles a good friend to the States, as he always hadbeen. And Villeroy did hold firm. Whether the Archduke was right or notin his conviction, that, if France would only unite with England inexerting a strong pressure on the Hollanders, they would evacuate theduchies, and so give up the game, the correspondence of Barneveld showsvery accurately. But the Archduke, of course, had not seen thatcorrespondence. 

The Advocate knew what was plotting, what was impending, what wasactually accomplished, for he was accustomed to sweep the whole horizonwith an anxious and comprehensive glance. He knew without requiring toread the secret letters of the enemy that vast preparations for anextensive war against the Reformation were already completed. Themovements in the duchies were the first drops of a coming deluge. Thegreat religious war which was to last a generation of mankind had alreadybegun; the immediate and apparent pretext being a little disputedsuccession to some petty sovereignties, the true cause being thenecessity for each great party--the Protestant Union and the CatholicLeague--to secure these border provinces, the possession of which wouldbe of such inestimable advantage to either. If nothing decisive occurredin the year 1614, the following year would still be more convenient forthe League. There had been troubles in Turkey. The Grand Vizier had beenmurdered. The Sultan was engaged in a war with Persia. There was noeastern bulwark in Europe to the ever menacing power of the Turk and ofMahometanism in Europe save Hungary alone. Supported and ruled as thatkingdom was by the House of Austria, the temper of the populations ofGermany had become such as to make it doubtful in the present conflict ofreligious opinions between them and their rulers whether the Turk or theSpaniard would be most odious as an invader. But for the moment, Spainand the Emperor had their hands free. They were not in danger of anattack from below the Danube. Moreover, the Spanish fleet had beenachieving considerable successes on the Barbary coast, having seized LaRoche, and one or two important citadels, useful both against thecorsairs and against sudden attacks by sea from the Turk. There were atleast 100, 000 men on a war footing ready to take the field at command ofthe two branches of the House of Austria, Spanish and German. In thelittle war about Montserrat, Savoy was on the point of being crushed, andSavoy was by position and policy the only possible ally, in the south, ofthe Netherlands and of Protestant Germany. 

While professing the most pacific sentiments towards the States, and aprofound anxiety to withdraw his troops from their borders, the King ofSpain, besides daily increasing those forces, had just raised 4, 000, 000ducats, a large portion of which was lodged with his bankers in Brussels. Deeds like those were of more significance than sugared words. 

 ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS:

 Almost infinite power of the meanest of passions Ludicrous gravity Safest citadel against an invader and a tyrant is distrust Their own roofs were not quite yet in a blaze Therefore now denounced the man whom he had injured

 ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS, ENTIRE JOHN OF BARNEVELD 1609-1615:

 Abstinence from inquisition into consciences and private parlour Advanced orthodox party-Puritans Allowed the demon of religious hatred to enter into its body Almost infinite power of the meanest of passions And now the knife of another priest-led fanatic Aristocracy of God's elect As with his own people, keeping no back-door open At a blow decapitated France Atheist, a tyrant, because he resisted dictation from the clergy Behead, torture, burn alive, and bury alive all heretics Christian sympathy and a small assistance not being sufficient Conclusive victory for the allies seemed as predestined Contained within itself the germs of a larger liberty Could not be both judge and party in the suit Covered now with the satirical dust of centuries Deadly hatred of Puritans in England and Holland Determined to bring the very name of liberty into contempt Disputing the eternal damnation of young children Doctrine of predestination in its sternest and strictest sense Emperor of Japan addressed him as his brother monarch Epernon, the true murderer of Henry Estimating his character and judging his judges Everybody should mind his own business Fate, free will, or absolute foreknowledge Father Cotton, who was only too ready to betray the secrets Give him advice if he asked it, and money when he required Great war of religion and politics was postponed He was not imperial of aspect on canvas or coin He was a sincere bigot He who would have all may easily lose all He who spreads the snare always tumbles into the ditch himself Impatience is often on the part of the non-combatants Intense bigotry of conviction International friendship, the self-interest of each It was the true religion, and there was none other James of England, who admired, envied, and hated Henry Jealousy, that potent principle Jesuit Mariana--justifying the killing of excommunicated kings King's definite and final intentions, varied from day to day Language which is ever living because it is dead Louis XIII. Ludicrous gravity More fiercely opposed to each other than to Papists Most detestable verses that even he had ever composed Neither kings nor governments are apt to value logic No man can be neutral in civil contentions No synod had a right to claim Netherlanders as slaves No man pretended to think of the State None but God to compel me to say more than I choose to say Outdoing himself in dogmatism and inconsistency Philip IV. Power the poison of which it is so difficult to resist Practised successfully the talent of silence Presents of considerable sums of money to the negotiators made Priests shall control the state or the state govern the priests Princes show what they have in them at twenty-five or never Putting the cart before the oxen Queen is entirely in the hands of Spain and the priests Religion was made the strumpet of Political Ambition Religious toleration, which is a phrase of insult Safest citadel against an invader and a tyrant is distrust Schism in the Church had become a public fact Secure the prizes of war without the troubles and dangers Senectus edam maorbus est She declined to be his procuress Small matter which human folly had dilated into a great one Smooth words, in the plentiful lack of any substantial So much in advance of his time as to favor religious equality Stroke of a broken table knife sharpened on a carriage wheel That cynical commerce in human lives The defence of the civil authority against the priesthood The assassin, tortured and torn by four horses The truth in shortest about matters of importance The voice of slanderers The Catholic League and the Protestant Union The vehicle is often prized more than the freight Their own roofs were not quite yet in a blaze Theological hatred was in full blaze throughout the country Theology and politics were one There was no use in holding language of authority to him There was but one king in Europe, Henry the Bearnese Therefore now denounced the man whom he had injured They have killed him, 'e ammazato, ' cried Concini Things he could tell which are too odious and dreadful Thirty Years' War tread on the heels of the forty years To look down upon their inferior and lost fellow creatures Uncouple the dogs and let them run Unimaginable outrage as the most legitimate industry Vows of an eternal friendship of several weeks' duration What could save the House of Austria, the cause of Papacy Whether repentance could effect salvation Whether dead infants were hopelessly damned Whose mutual hatred was now artfully inflamed by partisans Wish to appear learned in matters of which they are ignorant Work of the aforesaid Puritans and a few Jesuits Wrath of the Jesuits at this exercise of legal authority