[NOTE: There is a short list of bookmarks, or pointers, at the end of thefile for those who may wish to sample the author's ideas before making anentire meal of them. D. W. ]

MOTLEY'S HISTORY OF THE NETHERLANDS, PG EDITION, VOLUME 13. 

THE RISE OF THE DUTCH REPUBLIC

By John Lothrop Motley

1855

1567 [CHAPTER IX. , Part 2. ]

 Calvinists defeated at Lannoy and at Waterlots--Elation of the government--The siege pressed more closely--Cruelties practised upon the country people--Courage of the inhabitants--Remonstrance to the Knights of the Fleece--Conduct of Brederode--Orange at Amsterdam-- New Oath demanded by Government--Orange refuses--He offers his resignation of all offices--Meeting at Breda--New "Request" of Brederode--He creates disturbances and levies troops in Antwerp-- Conduct of Hoogstraaten--Plans of Brederode--Supposed connivance of Orange--Alarm at Brussels--Tholouse at Ostrawell--Brederode in Holland--De Beauvoir defeats Tholouse--Excitement at Antwerp-- Determined conduct of Orange--Three days' tumult at Antwerp suppressed by the wisdom and courage of Orange. 

It was then that Noircarmes and his "seven sleepers" showed that theywere awake. Early in January, 1567, that fierce soldier, among whosevices slothfulness was certainly never reckoned before or afterwards, fell upon the locksmith's army at Zannoy, while the Seigneur deRassinghem attacked the force at Waterlots on the same day. Noircarmesdestroyed half his enemies at the very first charge. The ill-assortedrabble fell asunder at once. The preacher fought well, but hisundisciplined force fled at the first sight of the enemy. Those whocarried arquebusses threw them down without a single discharge, that theymight run the faster. At least a thousand were soon stretched dead uponthe field; others were hunted into the river. Twenty-six hundred, according to the Catholic accounts, were exterminated in an hour. 

Rassinghem, on his part, with five or six hundred regulars, attackedTeriel's force, numbering at least twice as many. Half of these weresoon cut to pieces and put to flight. Six hundred, however, who had seensome service, took refuge in the cemetery of Waterlots. Here, frombehind the stone wall of the inclosure, they sustained the attack of theCatholics with some spirit. The repose of the dead in the quiet countrychurch-yard was disturbed by the uproar of a most sanguinary conflict. The temporary fort was soon carried, and the Huguenots retreated into thechurch. A rattling arquebusade was poured in upon them as they struggledin the narrow doorway. At least four hundred corpses were soon strewnamong the ancient graves. The rest were hunted, into the church, andfrom the church into the belfry. A fire was then made in the steeple andkept up till all were roasted or suffocated. Not a man escaped. 

This was the issue in the first stricken field in the Netherlands, forthe cause of religious liberty. It must be confessed that it was notvery encouraging to the lovers of freedom. The partisans of governmentwere elated, in proportion to the apprehension which had been feltfor the result of this rising in the Walloon country. "These goodhypocrites, " wrote a correspondent of Orange, "are lifting up theirheads like so many dromedaries. They are becoming unmanageable withpride. " The Duke of Aerschot and Count Meghem gave great banquets inBrussels, where all the good chevaliers drank deep in honor of thevictory, and to the health of his Majesty and Madame. "I saw Berlaymontjust go by the window, " wrote Schwartz to the Prince. "He was comingfrom Aerschot's dinner with a face as red as the Cardinal's new hat. "

On the other hand, the citizens of Valenciennes were depressed in equalmeasure with the exultation of their antagonists. There was no more talkof seven sleepers now, no more lunettes stuck upon lances, to spy thecoming forces of the enemy. It was felt that the government was wideawake, and that the city would soon see the impending horrors withouttelescopes. The siege was pressed more closely. Noircarmes took up acommanding position at Saint Armand, by which he was enabled to cut offall communication between the city and the surrounding country. All thevillages in the neighborhood were pillaged; all the fields laid waste. All the infamies which an insolent soldiery can inflict upon helplesspeasantry were daily enacted. Men and women who attempted anycommunication--with the city, were murdered in cold blood by hundreds. The villagers were plundered of their miserable possessions, childrenwere stripped naked in the midst of winter for the sake of the rags whichcovered them; matrons and virgins were sold at public auction by the tapof drum; sick and wounded wretches were burned over slow fires, to affordamusement to the soldiers. In brief, the whole unmitigated curse whichmilitary power inflamed by religious bigotry can embody, had descendedupon the heads of these unfortunate provincials who had dared to worshipGod in Christian churches without a Roman ritual. 

Meantime the city maintained, a stout heart still. The whole populationwere arranged under different banners. The rich and poor alike took armsto defend the walls which sheltered them. The town paupers were enrolledin three companies, which bore the significant title of the "Tons-nulls"or the "Stark-nakeds, " and many was the fierce conflict delivered outsidethe gates by men, who, in the words of a Catholic then in the city, mightrather be taken for "experienced veterans than for burghers andartisans. " At the same time, to the honor of Valenciennes, it must bestated, upon the same incontestable authority, that not a Catholic in thecity was injured or insulted. The priests who had remained there werenot allowed to say mass, but they never met with an opprobrious word orlook from the people. 

The inhabitants of the city called upon the confederates for assistance. They also issued an address to the Knights of the Fleece; a paper whichnarrated the story of their wrongs in pathetic and startling language. They appealed to those puissant and illustrious chevaliers to prevent theperpetration of the great wrong which was now impending over so manyinnocent heads. "Wait not, " they said, "till the thunderbolt has fallen, till the deluge has overwhelmed us, till the fires already blazing havelaid the land in coals and ashes, till no other course be possible, butto abandon the country in its desolation to foreign barbarity. Let thecause of the oppressed come to your ears. So shall your consciencebecome a shield of iron; so shall the happiness of a whole countrywitness before the angels, of your truth to his Majesty, in the cause ofhis true grandeur and glory. "

These stirring appeals to an order of which Philip was chief, Vigliuschancellor, Egmont, Mansfeld, Aerschot, Berlaymont, and others, chevaliers, were not likely to produce much effect. The city couldrely upon no assistance in those high quarters. 

Meantime, however, the bold Brederode was attempting a very extensivediversion, which, if successful, would have saved Valenciennes and thewhole country beside. That eccentric personage, during the autumn andwinter had been creating disturbances in various parts of the country. Wherever he happened to be established, there came from the windows ofhis apartments a sound of revelry and uproar. Suspicious characters invarious costumes thronged his door and dogged his footsteps. At the sametime the authorities felt themselves obliged to treat him with respect. At Horn he had entertained many of the leading citizens at a greatbanquet. --The-health-of-the-beggars had been drunk in mighty potations, and their shibboleth had resounded through the house. In the midst ofthe festivities, Brederode had suspended a beggar's-medal around the neckof the burgomaster, who had consented to be his guest upon that occasion, but who had no intention of enrolling himself in the fraternities ofactual or political mendicants. The excellent magistrate, however, wasnear becoming a member of both. The emblem by which he had beenconspicuously adorned proved very embarrassing to him upon his recoveryfrom the effects of his orgies with the "great beggar, " and he wassubsequently punished for his imprudence by the confiscation of half hisproperty. 

Early in January, Brederode had stationed himself in his city of Viane. There, in virtue of his seignorial rights, he had removed all statues andother popish emblems from the churches, performing the operation, however, with much quietness and decorum. He had also collected manydisorderly men at arms in this city, and had strengthened itsfortifications, to resist, as he said, the threatened attacks of DukeEric of Brunswick and his German mercenaries. A printing-press wasestablished in the place, whence satirical pamphlets, hymn-books, andother pestiferous productions, were constantly issuing to the annoyanceof government. Many lawless and uproarious individuals enjoyed theCount's hospitality. All the dregs and filth of the provinces, accordingto Doctor Viglius, were accumulated at Viane as in a cesspool. Along theplacid banks of the Lech, on which river the city stands, the "hydra ofrebellion" lay ever coiled and threatening. 

Brederode was supposed to be revolving vast schemes, both political andmilitary, and Margaret of Parma was kept in continual apprehension by thebravado of this very noisy conspirator. She called upon William ofOrange, as usual, for assistance. The Prince, however, was very ill-disposed to come to her relief. An extreme disgust for the policy of thegovernment already began to, characterize his public language. In theautumn and winter he had done all that man could do for the safety of themonarch's crown, and for the people's happiness. His services in Antwerphave been recorded. As soon as he could tear himself from that city, where the magistrates and all classes of citizens clung to him as totheir only saviour, he had hastened to tranquillize the provinces ofHolland, Zeland, and Utrecht. He had made arrangements in the principalcities there upon the same basis which he had adopted in Antwerp, and towhich Margaret had consented in August. It was quite out of the questionto establish order without permitting the reformers, who constituted muchthe larger portion of the population, to have liberty of religiousexercises at some places, not consecrated, within the cities. 

At Amsterdam, for instance, as he informed the Duchess, there were swarmsof unlearned, barbarous people, mariners and the like, who could by nomeans perceive the propriety of doing their preaching in the opencountry, seeing that the open country, at that season, was quite underwater. --Margaret's gracious suggestion that, perhaps, something might bedone with boats, was also considered inadmissible. "I know not, "said Orange, "who could have advised your highness to make such aproposition. " He informed her, likewise; that the barbarous marinershad a clear right to their preaching; for the custom had already beenestablished previously to the August treaty, at a place called the"Lastadge, " among the wharves. "In the name of God, then, " wroteMargaret; "let them continue to preach in the Lastadge. " This being allthe barbarians wanted, an Accord, with the full consent of the Regent, was drawn up at Amsterdam and the other northern cities. The Catholicskept churches and cathedrals, but in the winter season, the greater partof the population obtained permission to worship God upon dry land, inwarehouses and dock-yards. 

Within a very few weeks, however, the whole arrangement was coollycancelled by the Duchess, her permission revoked, and peremptoryprohibition of all preaching within or without the walls proclaimed. The government was growing stronger. Had not Noircarmes and Rassinghemcut to pieces three or four thousand of these sectaries marching tobattle under parsons, locksmiths, and similar chieftains? Were not alllovers of good government "erecting their heads like dromedaries?"

It may easily be comprehended that the Prince could not with complacencypermit himself to be thus perpetually stultified by a weak, false, andimperious woman. She had repeatedly called upon him when she wasappalled at the tempest and sinking in the ocean; and she had asconstantly disavowed his deeds and reviled his character when she feltherself in safety again. He had tranquillized the old Batavianprovinces, where the old Batavian spirit still lingered, by his personalinfluence and his unwearied exertions. Men of all ranks and religionswere grateful for his labors. The Reformers had not gained much, butthey were satisfied. The Catholics retained their churches, theirproperty, their consideration. The states of Holland had voted him fiftythousand florins, as an acknowledgment of his efforts in restoring peace. He had refused the present. He was in debt, pressed for money, but hedid not choose, as he informed Philip, "that men should think his actionsgoverned by motives of avarice or particular interest, instead of thetrue affection which he bore to his Majesty's service and the good of thecountry. " Nevertheless, his back was hardly turned before all his workwas undone by the Regent. 

A new and important step on the part of the government had now placed himin an attitude of almost avowed rebellion. All functionaries, fromgovernors of provinces down to subalterns in the army, were required totake a new oath of allegiance, "novum et hactenua inusitatum religioniajuramentum, " as the Prince characterized it, which was, he said, quiteequal to the inquisition. Every man who bore his Majesty's commissionwas ordered solemnly to pledge himself to obey the orders of government, every where, and against every person, without limitation orrestriction. --Count Mansfeld, now "factotum at Brussels, " had taken theoath with great fervor. So had Aerachot, Berlaymont, Meghem, and, aftera little wavering, Egmont. Orange spurned the proposition. He had takenoaths enough which he had never broken, nor intended now to break: He wasready still to do every thing conducive to the real interest of themonarch. Who dared do more was no true servant to the government, notrue lover of the country. He would never disgrace himself by a blindpledge, through which he might be constrained to do acts detrimental, in his opinion, to the safety of the crown, the happiness of thecommonwealth, and his own honor. The alternative presented he willinglyembraced. He renounced all his offices, and desired no longer to serve agovernment whose policy he did not approve, a King by whom he wassuspected. 

His resignation was not accepted by the Duchess, who still made effortsto retain the services of a man who was necessary to her administration. She begged him, notwithstanding the purely defensive and watchfulattitude which he had now assumed, to take measures that Brederode shouldabandon his mischievous courses. She also reproached the Prince withhaving furnished that personage with artillery for his fortifications. Orange answered, somewhat contemptuously, that he was not Brederode'skeeper, and had no occasion to meddle with his affairs. He had given himthree small field-pieces, promised long ago; not that he mentioned thatcircumstance as an excuse for the donation. "Thank God, " said he, "we have always had the liberty in this country of making to friends orrelatives what presents we liked, and methinks that things have come to apretty pass when such trifles are scrutinized. " Certainly, as Suzerainof Viane, and threatened with invasion in his seignorial rights, theCount might think himself justified in strengthening the bulwarks of hislittle stronghold, and the Prince could hardly be deemed very seriouslyto endanger the safety of the crown by the insignificant present whichhad annoyed the Regent. 

It is not so agreeable to contemplate the apparent intimacy which thePrince accorded to so disreputable a character, but Orange was now inhostility to the government, was convinced by evidence, whose accuracytime was most signally to establish, that his own head, as well as manyothers, were already doomed to the block, while the whole country wasdevoted to abject servitude, and he was therefore disposed to look withmore indulgence upon the follies of those who were endeavoring, howeverweakly and insanely, to avert the horrors which he foresaw. The time forreasoning had passed. All that true wisdom and practical statesmanshipcould suggest, he had already placed at the disposal of a woman whostabbed him in the back even while she leaned upon his arm--of a king whohad already drawn his death warrant, while reproaching his "cousin ofOrange" for want of confidence in the royal friendship. Was he nowto attempt the subjugation of his country by interfering with theproceedings of men whom he had no power to command, and who, at least, were attempting to oppose tyranny? Even if he should do so, he wasperfectly aware of the reward, reserved for his loyalty. He liked notsuch honors as he foresaw for all those who had ever interposed betweenthe monarch and his vengeance. For himself he had the liberation of acountry, the foundation of a free commonwealth to achieve. There wasmuch work for those hands before he should fall a victim to the crownedassassin. 

Early in February, Brederode, Hoogstraaten, Horn, and some othergentlemen, visited the Prince at Breda. Here it is supposed the adviceof Orange was asked concerning the new movement contemplated byBrederode. He was bent upon presenting a new petition to the Duchesswith great solemnity. There is no evidence to show that the Princeapproved the step, which must have seemed to him superfluous, if notpuerile. He probably regarded the matter with indifference. Brederode, however, who was fond of making demonstrations, and thought himselfendowed with a genius for such work, wrote to the Regent for letters ofsafe conduct that he might come to Brussels with his petition. Thepassports were contemptuously refused. He then came to Antwerp, fromwhich city he forwarded the document to Brussels in a letter. 

By this new Request, the exercise of the reformed religion was claimed asa right, while the Duchess was summoned to disband the forces which shehad been collecting, and to maintain in good faith the "August" treaty. These claims were somewhat bolder than those of the previous April, although the liberal party was much weaker and the confederacy entirelydisbanded. Brederode, no doubt, thought it good generalship to throwthe last loaf of bread into the enemy's camp before the city shouldsurrender. His haughty tone was at once taken down by Margaret of Parma. "She wondered, " she said, "what manner of nobles these were, who, afterrequesting, a year before, to be saved only from the inquisition, nowpresumed to talk about preaching in the cities. " The concessions ofAugust had always been odious, and were now canceled. "As for you andyour accomplices, " she continued to the Count, "you will do well to goto your homes at once without meddling with public affairs, for, in caseof disobedience, I shall deal with you as I shall deem expedient. "

Brederode not easily abashed, disregarded the advice, and continuedin Antwerp. Here, accepting the answer of the Regent as a formaldeclaration of hostilities, he busied himself in levying troops inand about the city. 

Orange had returned to Antwerp early in February. During his absence, Hoogstraaten had acted as governor at the instance of the Prince and ofthe Regent. During the winter that nobleman, who was very young and veryfiery, had carried matters with a high hand, whenever there had been theleast attempt at sedition. Liberal in principles, and the devoted friendof Orange, he was disposed however to prove that the champions ofreligious liberty were not the patrons of sedition. A riot occurringin the cathedral, where a violent mob were engaged in defacing whateverwas left to deface in that church, and in heaping insults on the papistsat their worship, the little Count, who, says a Catholic contemporary, "had the courage of a lion, " dashed in among them, sword in hand, killedthree upon the spot, and, aided by his followers, succeeded in slaying, wounding, or capturing all the rest. He had also tracked the ringleaderof the tumult to his lodging, where he had caused him to be arrested atmidnight, and hanged at once in his shirt without any form of trial. Such rapid proceedings little resembled the calm and judicious moderationof Orange upon all occasions, but they certainly might have sufficedto convince Philip that all antagonists of the inquisition were notheretics and outlaws. Upon the arrival of the Prince in Antwerp, it wasconsidered advisable that Hoogstraaten should remain associated with himin the temporary government of the city. 

During the month of February, Brederode remained in Antwerp, secretlyenrolling troops. It was probably his intention--if so desultory andirresponsible an individual could be said to have an intention--to makean attempt upon the Island of Walcheren. If such important cities asFlushing and Middelburg could be gained, he thought it possible toprevent the armed invasion now soon expected from Spain. Orange had sentan officer to those cities, who was to reconnoitre their condition, andto advise them against receiving a garrison from government without hisauthority. So far he connived at Brederode's proceedings, as he had aperfect right to do, for Walcheren was within what had been the Prince'sgovernment, and he had no disposition that these cities should share thefate of Tourney, Valenciennes, Bois le Duc, and other towns which hadalready passed or were passing under the spears of foreign mercenaries. 

It is also probable that he did not take any special pains to check theenrolments of Brederode. The peace of Antwerp was not endangered, andto the preservation of that city the Prince seemed now to limit himself. He was hereditary burgrave of Antwerp, but officer of Philip's nevermore. Despite the shrill demands of Duchess Margaret, therefore; thePrince did not take very active measures by which the crown of Philipmight be secured. He, perhaps, looked upon the struggle almost withindifference. Nevertheless, he issued a formal proclamation by which theCount's enlistments were forbidden. Van der Aa, a gentleman who had beenactive in making these levies, was compelled to leave the city. Brederode was already gone to the north to busy himself with furtherenrolments. 

In the mean time there had been much alarm in Brussels. Egmont, whoomitted no opportunity of manifesting his loyalty, offered to throwhimself at once into the Isle of Walcheren, for the purpose of dislodgingany rebels who might have effected an entrance. He collected accordinglyseven or eight hundred Walloon veterans, at his disposal in Flanders, in the little port of Sas de Ghent, prepared at once to execute hisintention, "worthy, " says a Catholic writer, "of his well-known courageand magnanimity. " The Duchess expressed gratitude for the Count'sdevotion and loyalty, but his services in the sequel proved unnecessary. The rebels, several boat-loads of whom had been cruising about in theneighborhood of Flushing during the early part of March, had been refusedadmittance into any of the ports on the island. They therefore sailed upthe Scheld, and landed at a little village called Ostrawell, at thedistance of somewhat more than a mile from Antwerp. 

The commander of the expedition was Marnix of Tholouse, brother to Marnixof Saint Aldegonde. This young nobleman, who had left college to fightfor the cause of religious liberty, was possessed of fine talents andaccomplishments. Like his illustrious brother, he was already a sincereconvert to the doctrines of the reformed Church. He had nothing, however, but courage to recommend him as a leader in a militaryexpedition. He was a mere boy, utterly without experience in thefield. His troops were raw levies, vagabonds and outlaws. 

Such as it was, however, his army was soon posted at Ostrawell in aconvenient position, and with considerable judgment. He had the Scheldand its dykes in his rear, on his right and left the dykes and thevillage. In front he threw up a breastwork and sunk a trench. Here thenwas set up the standard of rebellion, and hither flocked daily manymalcontents from the country round. Within a few days three thousand menwere in his camp. On the other handy Brederode was busy in Holland, andboasted of taking the field ere long with six thousand soldiers at thevery least. Together they would march to the relief of Valenciennes, anddictate peace in Brussels. 

It was obvious that this matter could not be allowed to go on. TheDuchess, with some trepidation, accepted the offer made by Philip deLannoy, Seigneur de Beauvoir, commander of her body-guard in Brussels, to destroy this nest of rebels without delay. Half the whole number ofthese soldiers was placed at his disposition, and Egmont supplied DeBeauvoir with four hundred of his veteran Walloons. 

With a force numbering only eight hundred, but all picked men, theintrepid officer undertook his enterprise, with great despatch andsecrecy. Upon the 12th March, the whole troop was sent off in smallparties, to avoid suspicion, and armed only with sword and dagger. Theirhelmets, bucklers, arquebusses, corselets, spears, standards and drums, were delivered to their officers, by whom they were conveyed noiselesslyto the place of rendezvous. Before daybreak, upon the following morning, De Beauvoir met his soldiers at the abbey of Saint Bernard, within aleague of Antwerp. Here he gave them their arms, supplied them withrefreshments, and made them a brief speech. He instructed them thatthey were to advance, with furled banners and without beat of drum, tillwithin sight of the enemy, that the foremost section was to deliver itsfire, retreat to the rear and load, to be followed by the next, which wasto do the same, and above all, that not an arquebus should be dischargedtill the faces of the enemy could be distinguished. 

The troop started. After a few minutes' march they were in full sight ofOstrawell. They then displayed their flags and advanced upon the fortwith loud huzzas. Tholouse was as much taken by surprise as if they hadsuddenly emerged from the bowels of the earth. He had been informed thatthe government at Brussels was in extreme trepidation. When he firstheard the advancing trumpets and sudden shouts, he thought it adetachment of Brederode's promised force. The cross on the banners soonundeceived him. Nevertheless "like a brave and generous young gentlemanas he was, " he lost no time in drawing up his men for action, imploredthem to defend their breastworks, which were impregnable against so smalla force, and instructed them to wait patiently with their fire, till theenemy were near enough to be marked. 

These orders were disobeyed. The "young scholar, " as De Beauvoir haddesignated him, had no power to infuse his own spirit into his rabblerout of followers. They were already panic-struck by the unexpectedappearance of the enemy. The Catholics came on with the coolness ofveterans, taking as deliberate aim as if it had been they, not theirenemies, who were behind breastworks. The troops of Tholouse firedwildly, precipitately, quite over the heads of the assailants. Many ofthe defenders were slain as fast as they showed themselves above theirbulwarks. The ditch was crossed, the breastwork carried at, a singledetermined charge. The rebels made little resistance, but fled as soonas the enemy entered their fort. It was a hunt, not a battle. Hundredswere stretched dead in the camp; hundreds were driven into the Scheld;six or eight hundred took refuge in a farm-house; but De Beauvoir's menset fire to the building, and every rebel who had entered it was burnedalive or shot. No quarter was given. Hardly a man of the three thousandwho had held the fort escaped. The body of Tholouse was cut into ahundred pieces. The Seigneur de Beauvoir had reason, in the brief letterwhich gave an account of this exploit, to assure her Highness that therewere "some very valiant fellows in his little troop. " Certainly they hadaccomplished the enterprise entrusted to them with promptness, neatness, and entire success. Of the great rebellious gathering, which every dayhad seemed to grow more formidable, not a vestige was left. 

This bloody drama had been enacted in full sight of Antwerp. The fighthad lasted from daybreak till ten o'clock in the forenoon, during thewhole of which period, the city ramparts looking towards Ostrawell, theroofs of houses, the towers of churches had been swarming with eagerspectators. The sound of drum and trumpet, the rattle of musketry, theshouts of victory, the despairing cries of the vanquished were heard bythousands who deeply sympathized with the rebels thus enduring sosanguinary a chastisement. In Antwerp there were forty thousand peopleopposed to the Church of Rome. Of this number the greater proportionwere Calvinists, and of these Calvinists there were thousands lookingdown from the battlements upon the disastrous fight. 

The excitement soon became uncontrollable. Before ten o'clock vastnumbers of sectaries came pouring towards the Red Gate, which affordedthe readiest egress to the scene of action; the drawbridge of theOstrawell Gate having been destroyed the night before by command ofOrange. They came from every street and alley of the city. Some werearmed with lance, pike, or arquebus; some bore sledge-hammers; others hadthe partisans, battle-axes, and huge two-handed swords of the previouscentury; all were determined upon issuing forth to the rescue of theirfriends in the fields outside the town. The wife of Tholouse, not yetaware of her husband's death, although his defeat was obvious, flew fromstreet to street, calling upon the Calvinists to save or to avenge theirperishing brethren. 

A terrible tumult prevailed. Ten thousand men were already up and inarms. --It was then that the Prince of Orange, who was sometimes describedby his enemies as timid and pusillanimous by nature, showed the mettle hewas made of. His sense of duty no longer bade him defend the crown ofPhilip--which thenceforth was to be entrusted to the hirelings of theInquisition--but the vast population of Antwerp, the women, the children, and the enormous wealth of the richest Deity in the world had beenconfided to his care, and he had accepted the responsibility. Mountinghis horse, he made his appearance instantly at the Red Gate, before asformidable a mob as man has ever faced. He came there almost alone, without guards. Hoogstraaten arrived soon afterwards with the sameintention. The Prince was received with howls of execration. A thousandhoarse voices called him the Pope's servant, minister of Antichrist, andlavished upon him many more epithets of the same nature. His life was inimminent danger. A furious clothier levelled an arquebus full at hisbreast. "Die, treacherous villain?" he cried; "thou who art the causethat our brethren have perished thus miserably in yonder field. " Theloaded weapon was struck away by another hand in the crowd, while thePrince, neither daunted by the ferocious demonstrations against his life, nor enraged by the virulent abuse to which he was subjected, continuedtranquilly, earnestly, imperatively to address the crowd. William ofOrange had that in his face and tongue "which men willingly call master-authority. " With what other talisman could he, without violence andwithout soldiers, have quelled even for a moment ten thousand furiousCalvinists, armed, enraged against his person, and thirsting forvengeance on Catholics. The postern of the Red Gate had already beenbroken through before Orange and his colleague, Hoogstraaten, hadarrived. The most excited of the Calvinists were preparing to rush forthupon the enemy at Ostrawell. The Prince, after he had gained the ear ofthe multitude, urged that the battle was now over, that the reformerswere entirely cut to pieces, the enemy, retiring, and that a disorderlyand ill-armed mob would be unable to retrieve the fortunes of the day. Many were persuaded to abandon the design. Five hundred of the mostviolent, however, insisted upon leaving the gates, and the governors, distinctly warning these zealots that their blood must be upon their ownheads, reluctantly permitted that number to issue from the city. Therest of the mob, not appeased, but uncertain, and disposed to takevengeance upon the Catholics within the walls, for the disaster which hadbeen occurring without, thronged tumultuously to the long, wide street, called the Mere, situate in the very heart of the city. 

Meantime the ardor of those who had sallied from the gate grew sensiblycooler, when they found themselves in the open fields. De Beauvoir, whose men, after the victory, had scattered in pursuit of the fugitives, now heard the tumult in the city. Suspecting an attack, he rallied hiscompact little army again for a fresh encounter. The last of thevanquished Tholousians who had been captured; more fortunate than theirpredecessors, had been spared for ransom. There were three hundred ofthem; rather a dangerous number of prisoners for a force of eighthundred, who were just going into another battle. De Beauvoir commandedhis soldiers, therefore, to shoot them all. This order having beenaccomplished, the Catholics marched towards Antwerp, drums beating, colors flying. The five hundred Calvinists, not liking their appearance, and being in reality outnumbered, retreated within; the gates as hastilyas they had just issued from them. De Beauvoir advanced close to thecity moat, on the margin of which he planted the banners of theunfortunate Tholouse, and sounded a trumpet of defiance. Finding thatthe citizens had apparently no stomach for the fight, he removed histrophies, and took his departure. 

On the other hand, the tumult within the walls had again increased. TheCalvinists had been collecting in great numbers upon the Mere. This wasa large and splendid thoroughfare, rather an oblong market-place than astreet, filled with stately buildings, and communicating by various crossstreets with the Exchange and with many other public edifices. By anearly hour in the afternoon twelve or fifteen thousand Calvinists, allarmed and fighting men, had assembled upon the place. They hadbarricaded the whole precinct with pavements and upturned wagons. They had already broken into the arsenal and obtained many field-pieces, which were planted at the entrance of every street and by-way. They hadstormed the city jail and liberated the prisoners, all of whom, gratefuland ferocious, came to swell the numbers who defended the stronghold onthe Mere. A tremendous mischief was afoot. Threats of pillaging thechurches and the houses of the Catholics, of sacking the whole opulentcity, were distinctly heard among this powerful mob, excited by religiousenthusiasm, but containing within one great heterogeneous mass theelements of every crime which humanity can commit. The alarm throughoutthe city was indescribable. The cries of women and children, as theyremained in trembling expectation of what the next hour might bringforth, were, said one who heard them, "enough to soften the hardesthearts. "

Nevertheless the diligence and courage of the Prince kept pace with theinsurrection. He had caused the eight companies of guards enrolled inSeptember, to be mustered upon the square in front of the city hall, forthe protection of that building and of the magistracy. He had summonedthe senate of the city, the board of ancients, the deans of guilds, theward masters, to consult with him at the council-room. At the peril ofhis life he had again gone before the angry mob in the Mere, advancingagainst their cannon and their outcries, and compelling them to appointeight deputies to treat with him and the magistrates at the town-hall. This done, quickly but deliberately he had drawn up six articles, towhich those deputies gave their assent, and in which the city governmentcordially united. These articles provided that the keys of the cityshould remain in the possession of the Prince and of Hoogstraaten, thatthe watch should be held by burghers and soldiers together, that themagistrates should permit the entrance of no garrison, and that thecitizens should be entrusted with the care of, the charters, especiallywith that of the joyful entrance. 

These arrangements, when laid before the assembly at the Mere by theirdeputies, were not received with favor. The Calvinists demanded the keysof the city. They did not choose to be locked up at the mercy of anyman. They had already threatened to blow the city hall into the air ifthe keys were not delivered to them. They claimed that burghers, withoutdistinction of religion, instead of mercenary troops, should be allowedto guard the market-place in front of the town-hall. 

It was now nightfall, and no definite arrangement had been concluded. Nevertheless, a temporary truce was made, by means of a concession as tothe guard. It was agreed that the burghers, Calvinists and Lutherans, aswell as Catholics, should be employed to protect the city. By subtlety, however, the Calvinists detailed for that service, were posted not in thetown-house square, but on the ramparts and at the gates. 

A night of dreadful expectation was passed. The army of fifteen thousandmutineers remained encamped and barricaded on the Mere, with guns loadedand artillery pointed. Fierce cries of "Long live the beggars, "--"Downwith the papists, " and other significant watchwords, were heard all nightlong, but no more serious outbreak occurred. 

During the whole of the following day, the Calvinists remained in theirencampment, the Catholics and the city guardsmen at their posts near thecity hall. The Prince was occupied in the council-chamber from morningtill night with the municipal authorities, the deputies of "thereligion, " and the guild officers, in framing a new treaty of peace. Towards evening fifteen articles were agreed upon, which were to beproposed forthwith to the insurgents, and in case of nonacceptance to beenforced. The arrangement provided that there should be no garrison;that the September contracts permitting the reformed worship at certainplaces within the city should be maintained; that men of differentparties should refrain from mutual insults; that the two governors, thePrince and Hoogstraaten, should keep the keys; that the city should beguarded by both soldiers and citizens, without distinction of religiouscreed; that a band of four hundred cavalry and a small flotilla ofvessels of war should be maintained for the defence of the place, andthat the expenses to be incurred should be levied upon all classes, clerical and lay, Catholic and Reformed, without any exception. 

It had been intended that the governors, accompanied by the magistrates, should forthwith proceed to the Mere, for the purpose of laying theseterms before the insurgents. Night had, however, already arrived, and itwas understood that the ill-temper of the Calvinists had rather increasedthan diminished, so that it was doubtful whether the arrangement would beaccepted. It was, therefore, necessary to await the issue of anotherday, rather than to provoke a night battle in the streets. 

During the night the Prince labored incessantly to provide against thedangers of the morrow. The Calvinists had fiercely expressed theirdisinclination to any reasonable arrangement. They had threatened, without farther pause, to plunder the religious houses and the mansionsof all the wealthy Catholics, and to drive every papist out of town. They had summoned the Lutherans to join with them in their revolt, andmenaced them, in case of refusal, with the same fate which awaited theCatholics. The Prince, who was himself a Lutheran, not entirely freefrom the universal prejudice against the Calvinists, whose sect heafterwards embraced, was fully aware of the deplorable fact, that theenmity at that day between Calvinists and Lutherans was as fierce as thatbetween Reformers and Catholics. He now made use of this feeling, and ofhis influence with those of the Augsburg Confession, to save the city. During the night he had interviews with the ministers and notable membersof the Lutheran churches, and induced them to form an alliance upon thisoccasion with the Catholics and with all friends of order, against anarmy of outlaws who were threatening to burn and sack the city. TheLutherans, in the silence of night, took arms and encamped, to the numberof three or four thousand, upon the river side, in the neighborhood ofSaint Michael's cloister. The Prince also sent for the deans of all theforeign mercantile associations--Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, English, Hanseatic, engaged their assistance also for the protection of the city, and commanded them to remain in their armor at their respectivefactories, ready to act at a moment's warning. It was agreed that theyshould be informed at frequent intervals as to the progress of events. 

On the morning of the 15th, the city of Antwerp presented a fearfulsight. Three distinct armies were arrayed at different points within itswalls. The Calvinists, fifteen thousand strong, lay in their encampmenton the Mere; the Lutherans, armed, and eager for action, were at St. Michael's; the Catholics and the regulars of the city guard were postedon the square. Between thirty-five and forty thousand men were up, according to the most moderate computation. All parties were excited, and eager for the fray. The fires of religious hatred burned fiercely inevery breast. Many malefactors and outlaws, who had found refuge in thecourse of recent events at Antwerp, were in the ranks of the Calvinists, profaning a sacred cause, and inspiring a fanatical party with bloodyresolutions. Papists, once and forever, were to be hunted down, even asthey had been for years pursuing Reformers. Let the men who had fed faton the spoils of plundered Christians be dealt with in like fashion. Lettheir homes be sacked, their bodies given to the dogs--such were thecries uttered by thousands of armed men. 

On the other hand, the Lutherans, as angry and as rich as the Catholics, saw in every Calvinist a murderer and a robber. They thirsted aftertheir blood; for the spirit of religious frenzy; the characteristic ofthe century, can with difficulty be comprehended in our colder and moresceptical age. There was every probability that a bloody battle was tobe fought that day in the streets of Antwerp--a general engagement, inthe course of which, whoever might be the victors, the city was sure tobe delivered over to fire, sack, and outrage. Such would have been theresult, according to the concurrent testimony of eye-witnesses, andcontemporary historians of every country and creed, but for the courageand wisdom of one man. William of Orange knew what would be theconsequence of a battle, pent up within the walls of Antwerp. He foresawthe horrible havoc which was to be expected, the desolation which wouldbe brought to every hearth in the city. "Never were men so desperate andso willing to fight, " said Sir Thomas Gresham, who had been expectingevery hour his summons to share in the conflict. If the Prince wereunable that morning to avert the impending calamity, no other power, under heaven, could save Antwerp from destruction. 

The articles prepared on the 14th had been already approved by those whorepresented the Catholic and Lutheran interests. They were read early inthe morning to the troops assembled on the square and at St. Michael's, and received with hearty cheers. It was now necessary that theCalvinists should accept them, or that the quarrel should be fought outat once. At ten o'clock, William of Orange, attended by his colleague, Hoogstraaten, together with a committee of the municipal authorities, andfollowed by a hundred troopers, rode to the Mere. They wore red scarfsover their armor, as symbols by which all those who had united to putdown the insurrection were distinguished. The fifteen thousandCalvinists, fierce and disorderly as ever, maintained a threateningaspect. Nevertheless, the Prince was allowed to ride into the midst ofthe square. The articles were then read aloud by his command, afterwhich, with great composure, he made a few observations. He pointed outthat the arrangement offered them was founded upon the Septemberconcessions, that the right of worship was conceded, that the foreigngarrison was forbidden, and that nothing further could be justly demandedor honorably admitted. He told them that a struggle upon their partwould be hopeless, for the Catholics and Lutherans, who were all agreedas to the justice of the treaty, outnumbered them by nearly two to one. He, therefore, most earnestly and affectionately adjured them to testifytheir acceptance to the peace offered by repeating the words with whichhe should conclude. Then, with a firm voice; the Prince exclaimed, "GodSave the King!" It was the last time that those words were ever heardfrom the lips of the man already proscribed by Philip. The crowd ofCalvinists hesitated an instant, and then, unable to resist the tranquilinfluence, convinced by his reasonable language, they raised onetremendous shout of "Vive le Roi!"

The deed was done, the peace accepted, the dreadful battle averted, Antwerp saved. The deputies of the Calvinists now formally accepted andsigned the articles. Kind words were exchanged among the various classesof fellow-citizens, who but an hour before had been thirsting for eachother's blood, the artillery and other weapons of war were restored tothe arsenals, Calvinists, Lutherans, and Catholics, all laid down theirarms, and the city, by three o'clock, was entirely quiet. Fifty thousandarmed men had been up, according to some estimates, yet, after three daysof dreadful expectation, not a single person had been injured, and thetumult was now appeased. 

The Prince had, in truth, used the mutual animosity of Protestant sectsto a good purpose; averting bloodshed by the very weapons with which thebattle was to have been waged. Had it been possible for a man likeWilliam the Silent to occupy the throne where Philip the Prudent sat, how different might have been the history of Spain and the fate of theNetherlands. Gresham was right, however, in his conjecture that theRegent and court would not "take the business well. " Margaret of Parmawas incapable of comprehending such a mind as that of Orange, or ofappreciating its efforts. She was surrounded by unscrupulous andmercenary soldiers, who hailed the coming civil war as the mostprofitable of speculations. "Factotum" Mansfeld; the Counts Aremberg andMeghem, the Duke of Aerschot, the Sanguinary Noircarmes, were alreadycounting their share in the coming confiscations. In the internecineconflict approaching, there would be gold for the gathering, even if nohonorable laurels would wreath their swords. "Meghen with his regimentis desolating the country, " wrote William of Orange to the Landgrave ofHesse, "and reducing many people to poverty. Aremberg is doing the samein Friesland. They are only thinking how, under the pretext of religion, they may grind the poor Christians, and grow rich and powerful upon theirestates and their blood. "

The Seignior de Beauvoir wrote to the Duchess, claiming all the estatesof Tholouse, and of his brother St. Aldegonde, as his reward for theOstrawell victory, while Noircarmes was at this very moment to commenceat Valenciennes that career of murder and spoliation which, continued atMons a few years afterwards, was to load his name with infamy. 

From such a Regent, surrounded by such councillors, was the work ofWilliam de Nassau's hands to gain applause? What was it to them thatcarnage and plunder had been spared in one of the richest and mostpopulous cities in Christendom? Were not carnage and plunder the veryelements in which they disported themselves? And what more dreadfuloffence against God and Philip could be committed than to permit, as thePrince had just permitted, the right of worship in a Christian land toCalvinists and Lutherans? As a matter of course, therefore, Margaret ofParma denounced the terms by which Antwerp had been saved as a "novel andexorbitant capitulation, " and had no intention of signifying herapprobation either to prince or magistrate. 

1567 [CHAPTER X. ]

 Egmont and Aerschot before Valenciennes--Severity of Egmont-- Capitulation of the city--Escape and capture of the ministers-- Execution of La Grange and De Bray--Horrible cruelty at Valenciennes--Effects of the reduction of Valenciennes--The Duchess at Antwerp--Armed invasion of the provinces decided upon in Spain-- Appointment of Alva--Indignation of Margaret--Mission of De Billy-- Pretended visit of Philip--Attempts of the Duchess to gain over Orange--Mission of Berty--Interview between Orange and Egmont at Willebroek--Orange's letters to Philip, to Egmont, and to Horn-- Orange departs from the Netherlands--Philip's letter to Egmont-- Secret intelligence received by Orange--La Torre's mission to Brederode--Brederode's departure and death--Death of Bergen--Despair in the provinces--Great emigration--Cruelties practised upon those of the new religion--Edict of 24th May--Wrath of the King. 

Valenciennes, whose fate depended so closely upon the issue of thesevarious events, was now trembling to her fall. Noircarmes had beendrawing the lines more and more closely about the city, and by arefinement of cruelty had compelled many Calvinists from Tournay to actas pioneers in the trenches against their own brethren in Valenciennes. After the defeat of Tholouse, and the consequent frustration of allBrederode's arrangements to relieve the siege, the Duchess had sent afresh summons to Valenciennes, together with letters acquainting thecitizens with the results of the Ostrawell battle. The intelligence wasnot believed. Egmont and Aerschot, however, to whom Margaret hadentrusted this last mission to the beleaguered town, roundly rebuked thedeputies who came to treat with them, for their insolence in daring todoubt the word of the Regent. The two seigniors had establishedthemselves in the Chateau of Beusnage, at a league's distance fromValenciennes. Here they received commissioners from the city, half ofwhom were Catholics appointed by the magistrates, half Calvinists deputedby the consistories. These envoys were informed that the Duchess wouldpardon the city for its past offences, provided the gates should now beopened, the garrison received, and a complete suppression of all religionexcept that of Rome acquiesced in without a murmur. As nearly the wholepopulation was of the Calvinist faith, these terms could hardly bethought favorable. It was, however, added, that fourteen days should beallowed to the Reformers for the purpose of converting their property, and retiring from the country. 

The deputies, after conferring with their constituents in the, city, returned on the following day with counter-propositions, which were notmore likely to find favor with the government. They offered to acceptthe garrison, provided the soldiers should live at their own expense, without any tax to the citizens for their board, lodging, or pay. Theyclaimed that all property which had been seized should be restored, allpersons accused of treason liberated. They demanded the unconditionalrevocation of the edict by which the city had been declared rebellious, together with a guarantee from the Knights of the Fleece and the statecouncil that the terms of the propose& treaty should be strictlyobserved. 

As soon as these terms had been read to the two seigniors, the Duke ofAerschot burst into an immoderate fit of laughter. He protested thatnothing could be more ludicrous than such propositions, worthy of aconqueror dictating a peace, thus offered by a city closely beleaguered, and entirely at the mercy of the enemy. The Duke's hilarity was notshared by Egmont, who, on the contrary, fell into a furious passion. Heswore that the city should be burned about their ears, and that every oneof the inhabitants should be put to the sword for the insolent languagewhich they had thus dared to address to a most clement sovereign. Heordered the trembling deputies instantly to return with this peremptoryrejection of their terms, and with his command that the proposals ofgovernment should be accepted within three days' delay. 

The commissioners fell upon their knees at Egmont's feet, and begged formercy. They implored him at least to send this imperious message by someother hand than theirs, and to permit them to absent themselves from thecity. They should be torn limb from limb, they said, by the enragedinhabitants, if they dared to present themselves with such instructionsbefore them. Egmont, however, assured them that they should be sent intothe city, bound hand and foot, if they did not instantly obey his orders. The deputies, therefore, with heavy hearts, were fain to return home withthis bitter result to their negotiations. The, terms were rejected, as amatter of course, but the gloomy forebodings of the commissioners, as totheir own fate at the hands of their fellow-citizens, were not fulfilled. 

Instant measures were now taken to cannonade the city. Egmont, at thehazard of his life, descended into the foss, to reconnoitre the works, and to form an opinion as to the most eligible quarter at which to directthe batteries. Having communicated the result of his investigations toNoircarmes, he returned to report all these proceedings to the Regent atBrussels. Certainly the Count had now separated himself far enough fromWilliam of Orange, and was manifesting an energy in the cause of tyrannywhich was sufficiently unscrupulous. Many people who had been deceivedby his more generous demonstrations in former times, tried to persuadethemselves that he was acting a part. Noircarmes, however--and no manwas more competent to decide the question distinctly--expressed hisentire confidence in Egmont's loyalty. Margaret had responded warmly tohis eulogies, had read with approbation secret letters from Egmont toNoircarmes, and had expressed the utmost respect and affection for "theCount. " Egmont had also lost no time in writing to Philip, informing himthat he had selected the most eligible spot for battering down theobstinate city of Valenciennes, regretting that he could not have had theeight or ten military companies, now at his disposal, at an earlier day, in which case he should have been able to suppress many tumults, butcongratulating his sovereign that the preachers were all fugitive, thereformed religion suppressed, and the people disarmed. He assured theKing that he would neglect no effort to prevent any renewal of thetumults, and expressed the hope that his Majesty would be satisfied withhis conduct, notwithstanding the calumnies of which the times were full. 

Noircarmes meanwhile, had unmasked his batteries, and opened his fireexactly according to Egmont's suggestions. 

The artillery played first upon what was called the "White Tower, " whichhappened to bear this ancient, rhyming inscription:

 "When every man receives his own, And justice reigns for strong and weak, Perfect shall be this tower of stone, And all the dumb will learn to speak. "

 "Quand chacun sera satisfaict, Et la justice regnera, Ce boulevard sera parfaict, Et--la muette parlera. "--Valenciennes MS. 

For some unknown reason, the rather insipid quatrain was tortured into abaleful prophecy. It was considered very ominous that the battery shouldbe first opened against this Sibylline tower. The chimes, too, which hadbeen playing, all through the siege, the music of Marot's sacred songs, happened that morning to be sounding forth from every belfry the twenty-second psalm: "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?"

It was Palm Sunday, 23d of March. The women and children were goingmournfully about the streets, bearing green branches in their hands, andpraying upon their knees, in every part of the city. Despair andsuperstition had taken possession of citizens, who up to that period hadjustified La Noue's assertion, that none could endure a siege likeHuguenots. As soon as the cannonading began, the spirit of theinhabitants seemed to depart. The ministers exhorted their flocks invain as the tiles and chimneys began to topple into the streets, and theconcussions of the artillery were responded to by the universal wailingof affrighted women. 

Upon the very first day after the unmasking of the batteries, the citysent to Noircarmes, offering almost an unconditional surrender. Not theslightest breach had been effected--not the least danger of an assaultexisted--yet the citizens, who had earned the respect of theirantagonists by the courageous manner in which they had sallied andskirmished during the siege, now in despair at any hope of eventualsuccor, and completely demoralized by the course of recent events outsidetheir walls, surrendered ignominiously, and at discretion. The onlystipulation agreed to by Noircarmes was, that the city should not besacked, and that the lives of the inhabitants should be spared. 

This pledge was, however, only made to be broken. Noircarmes entered thecity and closed the gates. All the richest citizens, who of course weredeemed the most criminal, were instantly arrested. The soldiers, although not permitted formally to sack the city, were quartered upon theinhabitants, whom they robbed and murdered, according to the testimony ofa Catholic citizen, almost at their pleasure. 

Michael Herlin, a very wealthy and distinguished burgher, was arrestedupon the first day. The two ministers, Guido de Bray and Peregrine dela Grange, together with the son of Herlin, effected their escape by thewater-gate. Having taken refuge in a tavern at Saint Arnaud, they wereobserved, as they sat at supper, by a peasant, who forthwith ran off tothe mayor of the borough with the intelligence that some individuals, who looked like fugitives, had arrived at Saint Arnaud. One of them, said the informer, was richly dressed; and wore a gold-hilted sword withvelvet scabbard. By the description, the mayor recognized Herlin theyounger, --and suspected his companions. They were all arrested, and sentto Noircarmes. The two Herlins, father and son, were immediatelybeheaded. Guido de Bray and Peregrine de la Grange were loaded withchains, and thrown into a filthy dungeon, previously to their beinghanged. Here they were visited by the Countess de Roeulx, who wascurious to see how the Calvinists sustained themselves in theirmartyrdom. She asked them how they could sleep, eat, or drink, whencovered with such heavy fetters. "The cause, and my good conscience, "answered De Bray, "make me eat, drink, and sleep better than those whoare doing me wrong. These shackles are more honorable to me than goldenrings and chains. They are more useful to me, and as I hear their clank, methinks I hear the music of sweet voices and the tinkling of lutes. "

This exultation never deserted these courageous enthusiasts. Theyreceived their condemnation to death "as if it had been an invitation toa marriage feast. " They encouraged the friends who crowded their path tothe scaffold with exhortations to remain true in the Reformed faith. LaGrange, standing upon the ladder, proclaimed with a loud voice, that hewas slain for having preached the pure word of God to a Christian peoplein a Christian land. De Bray, under the same gibbet; testified stoutlythat he, too, had committed that offence alone. He warned his friends toobey the magistrates, and all others in authority, except in matters ofconscience; to abstain from sedition; but to obey the will of God. Theexecutioner threw him from the ladder while he was yet speaking. Soended the lives of two eloquent, learned, and highly-gifted divines. 

Many hundreds of victims were sacrificed in the unfortunate city. "There were a great many other citizens strangled or beheaded, " says anaristocratic Catholic historian of the time, "but they were mostlypersonages of little quality, whose names are quite unknown to me. "--[Pontus Payen]--The franchises of the city were all revoked. There was aprodigious amount of property confiscated to the benefit of Noircarmesand the rest of the "Seven Sleepers. " Many Calvinists were burned, others were hanged. "For--two whole years, " says another Catholic, whowas a citizen of Valenciennes at the time, "there was, scarcely a week inwhich several citizens were not executed and often a great number weredespatched at a time. All this gave so much alarm to the good andinnocent, that many quitted the city as fast as they could. " If the goodand innocent happened to be rich, they might be sure that Noircarmeswould deem that a crime for which no goodness and innocence could atone. 

Upon the fate of Valenciennes had depended, as if by common agreement, the whole destiny of the anti-Catholic party. "People had learned atlast, " says another Walloon, "that the King had long arms, and that hehad not been enlisting soldiers to string beads. So they drew in theirhorns and their evil tempers, meaning to put them forth again, should thegovernment not succeed at the siege of Valenciennes. " The government hadsucceeded, however, and the consternation was extreme, the generalsubmission immediate and even abject. "The capture of Valenciennes, "wrote Noircarmes to Granvelle, "has worked a miracle. The other citiesall come forth to meet me, putting the rope around their own necks. "No opposition was offered any where. Tournay had been crushed;Valenciennes, Bois le Duc, and all other important places, accepted theirgarrisons without a murmur. Even Antwerp had made its last struggle, andas soon as the back of Orange was turned, knelt down in the dust toreceive its bridle. The Prince had been able, by his courage and wisdom, to avert a sanguinary conflict within its walls, but his personalpresence alone could guarantee any thing like religious liberty for theinhabitants, now that the rest of the country was subdued. On the 26thApril, sixteen companies of infantry, under Count Mansfeld, entered thegates. On the 28th the Duchess made a visit to the city, where she wasreceived with respect, but where her eyes were shocked by that which shetermed the "abominable, sad, and hideous spectacle of the desolatedchurches. "

To the eyes of all who loved their fatherland and their race, the sightof a desolate country, with its ancient charters superseded by bruteforce, its industrious population swarming from the land in droves, as ifthe pestilence were raging, with gibbets and scaffolds erected in everyvillage, and with a Sickening and universal apprehension of still darkerdisasters to follow, was a spectacle still more sad, hideous, andabominable. 

For it was now decided that the Duke of Alva, at the head of a Spanisharmy, should forthwith take his departure for the Netherlands. A landalready subjugated was to be crushed, and every vestige of its ancientliberties destroyed. The conquered provinces, once the abode ofmunicipal liberty, of science, art, and literature, and blessed with anunexampled mercantile and manufacturing prosperity, were to be placed inabsolute subjection to the cabinet council at Madrid. A dull andmalignant bigot, assisted by a few Spanish grandees, and residing at theother extremity of Europe, was thenceforth to exercise despotic authorityover countries which for centuries had enjoyed a local administration, and a system nearly approaching to complete self-government. Such wasthe policy devised by Granvelle and Spinosa, which the Duke of Alva, uponthe 15th April, had left Madrid to enforce. 

It was very natural that Margaret of Parma should be indignant at beingthus superseded. She considered herself as having acquired much creditby the manner in which the latter insurrectionary movements had beensuppressed, so soon as Philip, after his endless tergiversations, hadsupplied her with arms and money. Therefore she wrote in a tone of greatasperity to her brother, expressing her discontent. She had always beentrammelled in her action, she said, by his restrictions upon herauthority. She complained that he had no regard for her reputation orher peace of mind. Notwithstanding, all impediments and dangers, she hadat last settled the country, and now another person was to reap thehonor. She also despatched the Seigneur de Billy to Spain, for thepurpose of making verbal representations to his Majesty upon theinexpediency of sending the Duke of Alva to the Netherlands at thatjuncture with a Spanish army. 

Margaret gained nothing, however, by her letters and her envoy, save around rebuke from Philip, who was not accustomed to brook the languageof remonstrance; even from his sister. His purpose was fixed. Absolutesubmission was now to be rendered by all. "He was highly astonished anddissatisfied, " he said, "that she should dare to write to him with somuch passion, and in so resolute a manner. If she received no otherrecompense, save the glory of having restored the service of God, sheought to express her gratitude to the King for having given her theopportunity of so doing. "

The affectation of clement intentions was still maintained, together withthe empty pretence of the royal visit. Alva and his army were comingmerely to prepare the way for the King, who still represented himself as"debonair and gentle, slow to anger, and averse from bloodshed. "Superficial people believed that the King was really coming, and hopedwonders from his advent. The Duchess knew better. The Pope neverbelieved in it, Granvelle never believed in it, the Prince of Orangenever believed in it, Councillor d'Assonleville never believed in it. "His Majesty, " says the Walloon historian, who wrote from Assonleville'spapers, "had many imperative reasons for not coming. He was fond ofquiet, he was a great negotiator, distinguished for phlegm and modesty, disinclined to long journeys, particularly to sea voyages, which werevery painful to him. Moreover, he was then building his Escorial with somuch taste and affection that it was impossible for him to leave home. "These excellent reasons sufficed to detain the monarch, in whose place ageneral was appointed, who, it must be confessed, was neither phlegmaticnor modest, and whose energies were quite equal to the work required. There had in truth never been any thing in the King's project of visitingthe Netherlands but pretence. 

On the other hand, the work of Orange for the time was finished. He hadsaved Antwerp, he had done his best to maintain the liberties of thecountry, the rights of conscience, and the royal authority, so far asthey were compatible with each other. The alternative had now beendistinctly forced upon every man, either to promise blind obedience orto accept the position of a rebel. William of Orange had thus become arebel. He had been requested to sign the new oath, greedily taken by theMansfelds, the Berlaymont, the Aerachot, and the Egmonts, to obey everyorder which he might receive, against every person and in every place, without restriction or limitation, --and he had distinctly and repeatedlydeclined the demand. He had again and again insisted upon resigning allhis offices. The Duchess, more and more anxious to gain over such aninfluential personage to the cause of tyranny, had been most importunatein her requisitions. "A man with so noble a heart, " she wrote to thePrince, "and with a descent from, such illustrious and loyal ancestors, can surely not forget his duties to his Majesty and the country. "

William of Orange knew his duty to both better than the Duchess couldunderstand. He answered this fresh summons by reminding her that he haduniformly refused the new and extraordinary pledge required of him. Hehad been true to his old oaths, and therefore no fresh pledge wasnecessary. Moreover, a pledge without limitation he would never take. The case might happen, he said, that he should be ordered to do thingscontrary to his conscience, prejudicial to his Majesty's service, and inviolation of his oaths to maintain the laws of the country. He thereforeonce more resigned all his offices, and signified his intention ofleaving the provinces. 

Margaret had previously invited him to an interview at Brussels, which hehad declined, because he had discovered a conspiracy in that place to"play him a trick. " Assonleville had already been sent to him withouteffect. He had refused to meet a deputation of Fleece Knights atMechlin, from the same suspicion of foul play. After the termination ofthe Antwerp tumult, Orange again wrote to the Duchess, upon the 19thMarch, repeating his refusal to take the oath, and stating that heconsidered himself as at least suspended from all his functions, sinceshe had refused, upon the ground of incapacity, to accept his formalresignation. Margaret now determined, by the advice of the statecouncil, to send Secretary Berty, provided with an ample letter ofinstructions, upon a special mission to the Prince at Antwerp. Thatrespectable functionary performed his task with credit, going through theusual formalities, and adducing the threadbare arguments in favor of theunlimited oath, with much adroitness and decorum. He mildly pointed outthe impropriety of laying down such responsible posts as those which thePrince now occupied at such a juncture. He alluded to the distress whichthe step must occasion to the debonair sovereign. 

William of Orange became somewhat impatient under the official lectureof this secretary to the privy council, a mere man of sealing-wax andprotocols. The slender stock of platitudes with which he had comeprovided was soon exhausted. His arguments shrivelled at once in thescorn with which the Prince received them. The great statesman, who, itwas hoped, would be entrapped to ruin, dishonor, and death by such veryfeeble artifices, asked indignantly whether it were really expected thathe should acknowledge himself perjured to his old obligations by nowsigning new ones; that he should disgrace himself by an unlimited pledgewhich might require him to break his oaths to the provincial statutes andto the Emperor; that he should consent to administer the religious edictswhich he abhorred; that he should act as executioner of Christians onaccount of their religious opinions, an office against which his soulrevolted; that he should bind himself by an unlimited promise which mightrequire, him to put his own wife to death, because she was a Lutheran?Moreover, was it to be supposed that he would obey without restrictionany orders issued to him in his Majesty's name, when the King'srepresentative might be a person whose supremacy it ill became one ofhis' race to acknowledge? Was William of Orange to receive absolutecommands from the Duke of Alva? Having mentioned that name withindignation, the Prince became silent. 

It was very obvious that no impression was to be made upon the man byformalists. Poor Berty having conjugated his paradigm conscientiouslythrough all its moods and tenses, returned to his green board in thecouncil-room with his proces verbal of the conference. Before he tookhis leave, however, he prevailed upon Orange to hold an interview withthe Duke of Aerschot, Count Mansfeld, and Count Egmont. 

This memorable meeting took place at Willebroek, a village midway betweenAntwerp and Brussels, in the first week of April. The Duke of Aerschotwas prevented from attending, but Mansfeld and Egmont--accompanied bythe faithful Berty, to make another proces verbal--duly made theirappearance. The Prince had never felt much sympathy with Mansfeld, buta tender and honest friendship had always existed between himself andEgmont, notwithstanding the difference of their characters, the incessantartifices employed by the Spanish court to separate them, and theimpassable chasm which now, existed between their respective positionstowards the government. 

The same common-places of argument and rhetoric were now discussedbetween Orange and the other three personages, the, Prince distinctlystating, in conclusion, that he considered himself as discharged from allhis offices, and that he was about to leave the Netherlands for Germany. The interview, had it been confined to such formal conversation, wouldhave but little historic interest. Egmont's choice had been made. Several months before he had signified his determination to hold thosefor enemies who should cease to conduct themselves as faithful vassals, declared himself to be without fear that the country was to be placed inthe hands of Spaniards, and disavowed all intention, in any casewhatever, of taking arms against the King. His subsequent course, as wehave seen, had been entirely in conformity with these solemndeclarations. Nevertheless, the Prince, to whom they had been made, thought it still possible to withdraw his friend from the precipice uponwhich he stood, and to save him from his impending fate. His love forEgmont had, in his own noble; and pathetic language, "struck its rootstoo deeply into his heart" to permit him, in this their partinginterview, to neglect a last effort, even if this solemn warning weredestined to be disregarded. 

By any reasonable construction of history, Philip was an unscrupuloususurper, who was attempting to convert himself from a Duke of Brabant anda Count of Holland into an absolute king. It was William who wasmaintaining, Philip who was destroying; and the monarch who was thusblasting the happiness of the provinces, and about to decimate theirpopulation, was by the same process to undermine his own power forever, and to divest himself of his richest inheritance. The man on whom hemight have leaned for support, had he been capable of comprehending hischaracter, and of understanding the age in which he had himself beencalled upon to reign, was, through Philip's own insanity, converted intothe instrument by which his most valuable provinces were, to be takenfrom him, and eventually re-organized into: an independent commonwealth. Could a vision, like that imagined by the immortal dramatist for anothertyrant and murderer, have revealed the future to Philip, he, too, mighthave beheld his victim, not crowned himself, but pointing to a line ofkings, even to some who 'two-fold balls and treble sceptres carried', andsmiling on them for his. But such considerations as these had no effectupon the Prince of Orange. He knew himself already proscribed, and heknew that the secret condemnation had extended to Egmont also. He wasanxious that his friend should prefer the privations of exile, with thechance of becoming the champion of a struggling country, to the wretchedfate towards which his blind confidence was leading him. Even then itseemed possible that the brave soldier, who had been recently defilinghis sword in the cause of tyranny, might be come mindful of his brighterand earlier fame. Had Egmont been as true to his native land as, until"the long divorce of steel fell on him, " he was faithful to Philip, hemight yet have earned brighter laurels than those gained at St. Quentinand Gravelines. Was he doomed to fall, he might find a glorious deathupon freedom's battle-field, in place of that darker departure then sonear him, which the prophetic language of Orange depicted, but which hewas too sanguine to fear. He spoke with confidence of the royalclemency. "Alas, Egmont, " answered the Prince, "the King's clemency, ofwhich you boast, will destroy you. Would that I might be deceived, but Iforesee too clearly that you are to be the bridge which the Spaniardswill destroy so soon as they have passed over it to invade our country. "With these last, solemn words he concluded his appeal to awaken the Countfrom his fatal security. Then, as if persuaded that he was looking uponhis friend for the last time, William of Orange threw his arms aroundEgmont, and held him for a moment in a close embrace. Tears fell from theeyes of both at this parting moment--and then the brief scene of simpleand lofty pathos terminated--Egmont and Orange separated from each other, never to meet again on earth. 

A few days afterwards, Orange addressed a letter to Philip once moreresigning all his offices, and announcing his intention of departing fromthe Netherlands for Germany. He added, that he should be always ready toplace himself and his property at the King's orders in every thing whichhe believed conducive to the true service of his Majesty. The Prince hadalready received a remarkable warning from old Landgrave Philip of Hesse, who had not forgotten the insidious manner in which his own memorablecaptivity had been brought about by the arts of Granvelle and of Alva. "Let them not smear your mouths with honey, " said the Landgrave. "If thethree seigniors, of whom the Duchess Margaret has had so much to say, areinvited to court by Alva, under pretext of friendly consultation, letthem be wary, and think twice ere they accept. I know the Duke of Alvaand the Spaniards, and how they dealt with me. "

The Prince, before he departed, took a final leave of Horn and Egmont, by letters, which, as if aware of the monumental character they were toassume for posterity, he drew up in Latin. He desired, now that he wasturning his back upon the country, that those two nobles who had refusedto imitate, and had advised against his course, should remember that, hewas acting deliberately, conscientiously, and in pursuance of a long-settled plan. 

To Count Horn he declared himself unable to connive longer at the sinsdaily committed against the country and his own conscience. He assuredhim that the government had been accustoming the country to panniers, in order that it might now accept patiently the saddle and bridle. Forhimself, he said, his back was not strong enough for the weight alreadyimposed upon it, and he preferred to endure any calamity which mighthappen to him in exile, rather than be compelled by those whom they hadall condemned to acquiesce in the object so long and steadily pursued. 

He reminded Egmont, who had been urging him by letter to remain, that hisresolution had been deliberately taken, and long since communicated tohis friends. He could not, in conscience, take the oath required; norwould he, now that all eyes were turned upon him, remain in the land, theonly recusant. He preferred to encounter all that could happen, ratherthan attempt to please others by the sacrifice of liberty, of hisfatherland, of his own conscience. "I hope, therefore, " said he toEgmont in conclusion, "that you, after weighing my reasons, will notdisapprove my departure. The rest I leave to God, who will dispose ofall as may most conduce to the glory of his name. For yourself, I prayyou to believe that you have no more sincere friend than I am. My lovefor you has struck such deep root into my heart, that it can be lessenedby no distance of time or place, and I pray you in return to maintain thesame feelings towards me which you have always cherished. "

The Prince had left Antwerp upon the 11th April, and had written theseletters from Breda, upon the 13th of the same month. Upon the 22d, hetook his departure for Dillenburg, the ancestral seat of his family inGermany, by the way of Grave and Cleves. 

It was not to be supposed that this parting message would influenceEgmont's decision with regard to his own movements, when hisdetermination had not been shaken at his memorable interview with thePrince. The Count's fate was sealed. Had he not been praised byNoircarmes; had he not earned the hypocritical commendations of DuchessMargaret; nay more, had he not just received a most affectionate letterof, thanks and approbation from the King of Spain himself? This letter, one of the most striking monuments of Philip's cold-blooded perfidy, wasdated the 26th of March. "I am pleased, my cousin, " wrote the monarch toEgmont, "that you have taken the new oath, not that I considered it atall necessary so far as regards yourself, but for the example which youhave thus given to others, and which I hope they will all follow. I havereceived not less pleasure in hearing of the excellent manner in whichyou are doing your duty, the assistance you are rendering, and the offerswhich you are making to my sister, for which I thank you, and request youto continue in the same course. "

The words were written by the royal hand which had already signed thedeath-warrant of the man to whom they were addressed. Alva, who cameprovided with full powers to carry out the great scheme resolved upon, unrestrained by provincial laws or by the statutes of the Golden Fleece, had left Madrid to embark for Carthagena, at the very moment when Egmontwas reading the royal letter. "The Spanish honey, " to use once more oldLandgrave Philip's homely metaphor, had done its work, and theunfortunate victim was already entrapped. 

Count Horn remained in gloomy silence in his lair at Weert, awaiting thehunters of men, already on their way. It seemed inconceivable that he, too, who knew himself suspected and disliked, should have thus blindedhimself to his position. It will be seen, however, that the same perfidywas to be employed to ensnare him which proved so successful with Egmont. 

As for the Prince himself, he did not move too soon. Not long after hisarrival in Germany, Vandenesse, the King's private secretary, butOrange's secret agent, wrote him word that he had read letters from theKing to Alva in which the Duke was instructed to "arrest the Prince assoon as he could lay hands upon him, and not to let his trial last morethan twenty-four hours. "

Brederode had remained at Viane, and afterwards at Amsterdam, since theill-starred expedition of Tholouse, which he had organized, but at whichhe had not assisted. He had given much annoyance to the magistracy ofAmsterdam, and to all respectable persons, Calvinist or Catholic. He made much mischief, but excited no hopes in the minds of reformers. He was ever surrounded by a host of pot companions, swaggering noblesdisguised as sailors, bankrupt tradesmen, fugitives and outlaws of everydescription, excellent people to drink the beggars' health and to bawlthe beggars' songs, but quite unfit for any serious enterprise. Peopleof substance were wary of him, for they had no confidence in hiscapacity, and were afraid of his frequent demands for contributions tothe patriotic cause. He spent his time in the pleasure gardens, shootingat the mark with arquebuss or crossbow, drinking with his comrades, andshrieking "Vivent les gueux. "

The Regent, determined to dislodge him, had sent Secretary La Torre tohim in March, with instructions that if Brederode refused to leaveAmsterdam, the magistracy were to call for assistance upon Count Meghem, who had a regiment at Utrecht. This clause made it impossible for LaTorre to exhibit his instructions to Brederode. Upon his refusal, thatpersonage, although he knew the secretary as well as he knew his ownfather, coolly informed him that he knew nothing about him; that he didnot consider him as respectable a person as he pretended to be; that hedid not believe a word of his having any commission from the Duchess, and that he should therefore take no notice whatever of his demands. LaTorre answered meekly, that he was not so presumptuous, nor so destituteof sense as to put himself into comparison with a, gentleman of CountBrederode's quality, but that as he had served as secretary to the privycouncil for twenty-three years, he had thought that he might be believedupon his word. Hereupon La Tome drew up a formal protest, and Brederodedrew up another. La Torre made a proces verbal of their interview, whileBrederode stormed like a madman, and abused the Duchess for a capriciousand unreasonable tyrant. He ended by imprisoning La Torre for a day ortwo, and seizing his papers. By a singular coincidence, these eventstook place on the 13th, 24th, and 15th of March, the very days of thegreat Antwerp tumult. The manner in which the Prince of Orange had beendealing with forty or fifty thousand armed men, anxious to cut eachother's throats, while Brederode was thus occupied in browbeating apragmatical but decent old secretary, illustrated the difference incalibre of the two men. 

This was the Count's last exploit. He remained at Amsterdam some weekslonger, but the events which succeeded changed the Hector into a faithfulvassal. Before the 12th of April, he wrote to Egmont, begging hisintercession with Margaret of Parma, and offering "carte blanche" asto terms, if he might only be allowed to make his peace with government. It was, however, somewhat late in the day for the "great beggar" to makehis submission. No terms were accorded him, but he was allowed by theDuchess to enjoy his revenues provisionally, subject to the King'spleasure. Upon the 25th April, he entertained a select circle of friendsat his hotel in Amsterdam, and then embarked at midnight for Embden. A numerous procession of his adherents escorted him to the ship, bearinglighted torches, and singing bacchanalian songs. He died within a yearafterwards, of disappointment and hard drinking, at Castle Hardenberg, in Germany, after all his fretting and fury, and notwithstanding hisvehement protestations to die a poor soldier at the feet of LouisNassau. 

That "good chevalier and good Christian, " as his brother affectionatelycalled him, was in Germany, girding himself for the manly work whichProvidence had destined him to perform. The life of Brederode, who hadengaged in the early struggle, perhaps from the frivolous expectation ofhearing himself called Count of Holland, as his ancestors had been, hadcontributed nothing to the cause of freedom, nor did his death occasionregret. His disorderly band of followers dispersed in every directionupon the departure of their chief. A vessel in which Batenburg, Galaina, and other nobles, with their men-at-arms, were escaping towards a Germanport, was carried into Harlingen, while those gentlemen, overpowered bysleep and wassail, were unaware of their danger, and delivered over toCount Meghem, by the treachery of their pilot. The soldiers, wereimmediately hanged. The noblemen were reserved to grace the first greatscaffold which Alva was to erect upon the horse-market in Brussels. 

The confederacy was entirely broken to pieces. Of the chieftains to whomthe people had been accustomed to look for support and encouragement, some had rallied to the government, some were in exile, some were inprison. Montigny, closely watched in Spain, was virtually a captive, pining for the young bride to whom he had been wedded amid such brilliantfestivities but a few months before his departure, and for the childwhich was never to look upon its father's face. 

His colleague, Marquis Berghen, more fortunate, was already dead. The excellent Viglius seized the opportunity to put in a good word forNoircarmes, who had been grinding Tournay in the dust, and butchering theinhabitants of Valenciennes. "We have heard of Berghen's death, " wrotethe President to his faithful Joachim. "The Lord of Noircarmes, who hasbeen his substitute in the governorship of Hainault, has given a specimenof what he can do. Although I have no private intimacy with thatnobleman, I can not help embracing him with all my benevolence. Therefore, oh my Hopper, pray do your best to have him appointedgovernor. "

With the departure of Orange, a total eclipse seemed to come over theNetherlands. The country was absolutely helpless, the popular heart coldwith apprehension. All persons at all implicated in the late troubles, or suspected of heresy, fled from their homes. Fugitive soldiers werehunted into rivers, cut to pieces in the fields, hanged, burned, ordrowned, like dogs, without quarter, and without remorse. The mostindustrious and valuable part of the population left the land in droves. The tide swept outwards with such rapidity that the Netherlands seemedfast becoming the desolate waste which they had been before the Christianera. Throughout the country, those Reformers who were unable to effecttheir escape betook themselves to their old lurking-places. The newreligion was banished from all the cities, every conventicle was brokenup by armed men, the preachers and leading members were hanged, theirdisciples beaten with rods, reduced to beggary, or imprisoned, even ifthey sometimes escaped the scaffold. An incredible number, however, wereexecuted for religious causes. Hardly a village so small, says theAntwerp chronicler, --[Meteren]--but that it could furnish one, two, orthree hundred victims to the executioner. The new churches were levelledto the ground, and out of their timbers gallows were constructed. It wasthought an ingenious pleasantry to hang the Reformers upon the beamsunder which they had hoped to worship God. The property of the fugitiveswas confiscated. The beggars in name became beggars in reality. Manywho felt obliged to remain, and who loved their possessions better thantheir creed, were suddenly converted into the most zealous of Catholics. Persons who had for years not gone to mass, never omitted now their dailyand nightly visits to the churches. Persons who had never spoken to anecclesiastic but with contumely, now could not eat their dinners withoutone at their table. Many who were suspected of having participated inCalvinistic rites, were foremost and loudest in putting down anddenouncing all forms and shows of the reformation. The country wasas completely "pacified, " to use the conqueror's expression, as Gaul hadbeen by Caesar. 

The, Regent issued a fresh edict upon the 24th May, to refresh thememories of those who might have forgotten previous statutes, which were, however, not calculated to make men oblivious. By this new proclamation, all ministers and teachers were sentenced to the gallows. All personswho had suffered their houses to be used for religious purposes weresentenced to the gallows. All parents or masters whose children orservants had attended such meetings were sentenced to the gallows, whilethe children and servants were only to be beaten with rods. All peoplewho sang hymns at the burial of their relations were sentenced to thegallows. Parents who allowed their newly-born children to be baptized byother hands than those of the Catholic priest were sentenced to thegallows. The same punishment was denounced against the persons whoshould christen the child or act as its sponsors. Schoolmasters whoshould teach any error or false doctrine were likewise to be punishedwith death. Those who infringed the statutes against the buying andselling of religious books and songs were to receive the same doom;after the first offence. All sneers or insults against priests andecclesiastics were also made capital crimes. Vagabonds, fugitives;apostates, runaway monks, were ordered forthwith to depart from everycity on pain of death. In all cases confiscation of the whole propertyof the criminal was added to the hanging. 

This edict, says a contemporary historian, increased the fear of thoseprofessing the new religion to such an extent that they left the country"in great heaps. " It became necessary, therefore, to issue a subsequentproclamation forbidding all persons, whether foreigners or natives, to leave the land or to send away their property, and prohibiting allshipmasters, wagoners, and other agents of travel, from assisting inthe flight of such fugitives, all upon pain of death. 

Yet will it be credited that the edict of 24th May, the provisions ofwhich have just been sketched, actually excited the wrath of Philip onaccount of their clemency? He wrote to the Duchess, expressing the painand dissatisfaction which he felt, that an edict so indecent, so illegal, so contrary to the Christian religion, should have been published. Nothing, he said, could offend or distress him more deeply, than anyoutrage whatever, even the slightest one, offered to God and to His RomanCatholic Church. He therefore commanded his sister instantly to revokethe edict. One might almost imagine from reading the King's letter thatPhilip was at last appalled at the horrors committed in his name. Alas, he was only indignant that heretics had been suffered to hang who oughtto have been burned, and that a few narrow and almost impossibleloopholes had been left through which those who had offended alighteffect their escape. 

And thus, while the country is paralyzed with present and expected woe, the swiftly advancing trumpets of the Spanish army resound from beyondthe Alps. The curtain is falling upon the prelude to the great tragedywhich the prophetic lips of Orange had foretold. When it is againlifted, scenes of disaster and of bloodshed, battles, sieges, executions, deeds of unfaltering but valiant tyranny, of superhuman and successfulresistance, of heroic self-sacrifice, fanatical courage and insanecruelty, both in the cause of the Wrong and the Right, will be revealedin awful succession--a spectacle of human energy, human suffering, andhuman strength to suffer, such as has not often been displayed upon thestage of the world's events. 

ETEXT EDITOR'S BOOKMARKS:

God Save the King! It was the last timeHaving conjugated his paradigm conscientiouslyIndignant that heretics had been suffered to hangInsane cruelty, both in the cause of the Wrong and the RightSick and wounded wretches were burned over slow firesSlender stock of platitudesThe time for reasoning had passedWho loved their possessions better than their creed