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The Complete Works of

John L. Motley

History of the United Netherlands

From the Death of William the Silent to the Twelve
Years' Truce, 1609

Volume IV
1 590-1 598

SOCIETY OF ENGLISH AND FRENCH
LITERATURE NEW YORK

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year
one thousand eight hundred and sixty, by

John Lothrop Motley,

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the
District of Massachusetts.

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year
one thousand eight hundred and sixty- seven, by

John Lothrop MotLey, t

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the
District of Massachusetts.

Copyright, 1888, 1895, 1900, by ELIZABETH Cabot Vernon Harcourt,

Mary Lothrop .Sheridan, Susan Margaret

Stackpole JIild.mav.

This Edition limited to 1,000 copies
No. - ■

CONTENTS

PAGE

Chapter XXIII.— Philip's scheme of aggrandizement— Pro-
jected invasion of France- Internal condition of Prance-
Character of Henry of Navarre— Preparation for action-
Battle of Ivry— Victory of the French king over the League
— Eeluctanoe of the king to attack the French capital —
Siege of Paris— The pope indisposed toward the League-
Extraordinary demonstration of ecclesiastics— Influence of
the priests— Extremities of the siege— Attempted negotia-
tion-State of Philip's army — Difficult position of Farnese
—March of the allies to the relief of Paris— Lagny taken
and the city relieved— Desertion of the king's army — Siege
of Corheil— Death of Pope Sixtus V.— Recapture of Lagny
and Corheil— Eeturn of Parma to the Netherlands— Result
of the expedition 1

Chapter XXIV.— Prince Maurice- State of the republican
army— Martial science of the period— Reformation of the
military system by Prince Maurice— His military genius-
Campaign in the Netherlands— The fort and town of Zutphen
taken by the states' forces— Attack upon Deventer— Its
capitulation- Advance on Groningen, Delfzyl, Opslag, Ye-
mentil, Steenwyk, and other places— Farnese besieges Fort
Knodsenburg— Prince Maurice hastens to its relief— A
skirmish ensues, resulting in the discomfiture of the Span-
ish and Italian troops— Surrender of Hulst and Nimwegen—
Close of military operations of the year 64

Chapter XXV.— War in Brittany and Normandy— Death of
La Noue— Religious and political persecution in Paris—

X CONTENTS

PAGE

Murder of President Brisson, Lareher, and Tardif— Tlie
scepter of France offered to Philip— The Duke of Mayenne
punishes the murderers of the magistrates— Speech of
Henry's envoy to the States-General— Letter of Queen
Elizabeth to Henry— Siege of Kouen— Parnese leads an
army to its relief— The king is wounded in a skirmish-
Siege of Eue by Parnese— Henry raises the siege of Eouen
—Siege of Caudebeo— Critical position of Parnese and his
army— Victory of the Duke of Merooeur in Brittany ... 99

Chaptek XXVI. —Return of Prince Maurice to the siege of
Steenwyk— Capitulation of the besieged— Effects of the in-
troduction of mining operations— Maurice besieges Coe-
vorden— Verdugo attempts to relieve the city, but fails—
The city capitulates, and Prince Maurice retreats into
winter quarters 144

Chapter XXVH.- Negotiations between Queen Elizabeth and
the states— Aspect of affairs between England and the '
Netherlands— Complaints of the Hollanders on the piratical
acts of the English— The Dutch envoy and the English gov-
ernment— Caron's interview with Elizabeth— The queen
promises redress of grievances 162

Chaptee XXVni.— Influence of the rule and character of
Philip II.— Heroism of the sixteenth century— Contest for
the Prench throne— Character and policy of the Duke of
Mayenne— Escape of the Duke of Guise from Castle Tours
—Propositions for the marriage of the Infanta— Plotting
of the Catholic party— Grounds of Philip's pretensions to
the crown of Prance— Motives of the Duke of Parma ma-
ligned by Commander Moreo— He justifies himself to the
king— View of the private relations between Philip and the
Duke of Mayenne and their sentiments toward each other —
Disposition of the Prench politicians and soldiers toward
Philip— Peculiar commercial pursuits of Philip— Confused
state of affairs in Prance— Treachery of Philip toward the
Duke of Parma— Recall of the duke to Spain— His suffer-
ings and death 184

CONTENTS xi

PAGE

Chapter XXIX. —Effect of the death of Farnese upon Philip's
schemes— Priestly flattery and counsel— Assembly of the
States-General of Prance— Meeting of the Leaguers at the
Louvre — Conference at Sur6ne between the chiefs of the
League and the "Political" leaders — Henry convokes an
assembly of bishops, theologians, and others— Strong feel-
ing on all sides on the subject of the succession— Philip
commands that the Infanta and the Duke of Guise be elected
King and Queen of Prance — Manifesto of the Duke of
Mayenne— Formal readmission of Henry to the Roman
faith— The pope refuses to consent to his reconciliation with
the Church— His consecration with the sacred oil— Entry
of the king into Paris— Departure of the Spanish garrison
from the capital— Dissimulation of the Duke of Mayenne
— He makes terms with Henry — Grief of Queen Elizabeth
on receipt of the communications from Prance 236

Chapter XXX.— Prince Maurice lays siege to Gertruydenberg
—Advantages of the new system of warfare— Progress of
the besieging operations— Superiority of Maurice's manoeu-
vers- Adventure of Count Philip of Nassau— Capitulation
of Gertruydenberg — Mutiny among the Spanish troops-
Attempt of Verdugo to retake Coevorden— Suspicions of
treason in the English garrison at Ostend— Letter of Queen
Elizabeth to Sir Edward Norris on the subject— Second at-
tempt on Coevorden— Assault on Groningen by Maurice-
Second adventure of Philip of Nassau— Narrow escape of
Prince Maurice- Surrender of Groningen— Particulars of
the siege — Question of religious toleration— Progress of
the United Netherlands— Condition of the obedient Nether-
lands—Incompetency of Peter Mansf eld as governor— Arch-
duke Ernest, the successor of Pamese— Difficulties of his
position— His unpopularity— Great achievements of the re-
publicans—Triumphal entry of Ernest into Brussels and
Antwerp— Magnificence of the spectacle— Disaffection of
the Spanish troops — Great military rebellion— Philip's pro-
posal to destroy the English fleet— His assassination plans
—Plot to poison Queen Elizabeth— Conspiracies against
Prince Maurice— Futile attempts at negotiation— Proposal
of a marriage between Henry and the Infanta — Secret

xii CONTENTS

PAGE

mission from Henry to the King of Spain— Special despatch
to England and tlie states— Henry obtains further aid from
Queen Elizabeth and the States-General— Anxiety of the
Protestant countries to bring about a war with Spain-
Aspect of affairs at the close of the year 1594 271

Chapter XXXI. — Formal declaration of war against Spain-
Marriage festivities— Death of Archduke Ernest— His year
of government— Fuentes declared governor-general — Disaf-
fection of the Duke of Aersohot and Covmt Aremberg- Death
of the Duke of Aerschot— Fuentes besieges Le Catelet-
The fortress of Ham, sold to the Spanish by De Qomeron,
besieged and taken by the Duke of Bouillon— Execution
of De Gomeron— Death of Colonel Verdugo— Siege of Dour-
lens by Fuentes— Death of La Motte— Death of Charles
Mansf eld— Total defeat of the French— Murder of Admiral
de Villars- Dourlens captured, and the garrison and citizens
put to the sword— Military operations in eastern Nether-
lands and on the Ehine— Maurice lays siege to Groenlo—
Mondragon hastening to its relief. Prince Maurice raises
the siege— Skirmish between Maurice and Mondragon—
Death of Philip of Nassau— Death of Mondragon— Bom-
bardment and surrender of Weerdt Castle — Maurice retires
into winter quarters— Campaign of Henry IV.— He besieges
Dijon- Surrender of Dijon- Absolution granted to Henry
by the pope— Career of Balagny at Cambray— Progress of
the siege— Capitulation of the town— Suicide of the Princess
of Cambray, wife of Balagny 350

Chapter XXXII. —Archduke Cardinal Albert appointed gov-
ernor of the Netherlands— Eeturn of Philip William from
captivity— His adherence to the King of Spain— Notice of
the Marquis of Varambon, Count Varax, and other new
ofiicers— Henry's communications with Queen Elizabeth—
Madame de Monoeaux— Conversation of Henry with the
English ambassador— Marseilles secured by the Duke of
Guise— The fort of Eysbank taken by De Rosne— Calais
in the hands of the Spanish— Assistance from England
solicited by Henry— Unhandsome conditions proposed by
Elizabeth— Annexation of Calais to the obedient provinces

CONTENTS xiii

PACE

— Pirates of Dunkirk— Uneasiness of the Netherlanders
with regard to the designs of Elizabeth— Her protestations
of sincerity- Expedition of Dutch and English forces to
Spain— Attack on the Spanish war-ships— Victory of the
allies— Flag of the Eepublic planted on the fortress of
Cadiz — Capitidation of the city- Letter of Elizabeth to the
Dutch admiral— State of affairs in France — Proposition of
the Duke of Montpensier for the division of the kingdom —
Successes of the cardinal archduke in Normandy— He
proceeds to Flanders— Siege and capture of Hulst— Pro-
jected alliance against Spain— Interview of De Sancy with
Lord Burghley— Diplomatic conference at Greenwich— For-
mation of a league against Spain— Duplicity of the treaty-
Affairs in Germany— Battle between the emperor and the
Grand Turk — Endeavors of Philip to counteract the in-
fluence of the League — His interference in the affairs of
Germany — Secret intrigue of Henry with Spain— Philip's
second attempt at the conq[uest of England 393

Chaptee XXXni. —Struggle of the Netherlands against Spain
-March to Tumhout— Retreat of the Spanish commander-
Pursuit and attack— Demolition of the Spanish army —
Surrender of the garrison of Turnhout— Improved military
science— Moral effect of the battle — The campaign in
France— Attack on Amiens by the Spaniards— Sack and
burning of the city— De Rosny's plan for reorganization of
the finances— Jobbery and speculation— Philip's repudia-
tion of his debts— Effects of the measure— Renewal of
persecution by the Jesuits— Contention between Turk and
Christian— Envoy from the King of Poland to The Hague to
plead for reconciliation with Philip— His subsequent pres-
entation to Queen Elizabeth- Military events— Recovery
of Amiens— Feeble operations of the confederate powers
agaiust Spain— Marriage of the Princess EmUia, sister of
Maurice- Reduction of the castle and town of Alphen —
Surrender of Rheinberg— Capitulation of Meurs— Surrender
of Grol— Storming and taking of Brevoort— Capitulation
of Ensehede, Ootmarsum, Oldenzaal, and Lingen— Rebel-
lion of the Spanish garrisons in Antwerp and Ghent—

xiv CONTENTS

PAGE

Progress of the peace movement between Henry and
Philip— Eelations of the three confederate powers— Henry's
scheme for reconciliation with Spain— His acceptance of
Philip's offer of peace announced to Elizabeth— Endeavors
for a general peace •.... 479

THE UNITED NETHERLANDS

CHAPTER XXIII

Philip's scheme of aggrandizement— Projected invasion of France
—Internal condition, of France— Character of Henry of Navarre-
Preparation for action — Battle of Ivry — Victory of the French
king over the League— Reluctance of the king to attack the
French capital— Siege of Paris- The pope indisposed toward the
League— Extraordinary demonstration of ecclesiastics- Influence
of the priests — Extremities of the siege— Attempted negotiation
—State of Philip's army— Difficult position of Parnese— March of
the allies to the relief of Paris— Lagny taken and the city relieved
—Desertion of the king's army— Siege of Corbeil— Death of Pope
Sixtus v.— Recapture of Lagny and Corbeil— Return of Parma
to the Netherlands— Result of the expedition.

THE scene of the narrative shifts to France. The
history of the United Netherlands at this epoch is a
world-history. Were it not so, it would have far less of
moral and instruction for all time than it is really capable
of affording. The battle of liberty against despotism was
now fought in the hop-fields of Brabant or the polders
of Friesland, now in the narrow seas which encircle Eng-
land, and now on the sunny plains of Dauphiny, among
the craggy inlets of Brittany, or along the highroads
and rivers which lead to the gates of Paris. But every-
where a noiseless, secret, but ubiquitous negotiation was

VOL. IV.— 1 1

2 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1590

speeding with never an instant's pause to accomplish the
work which lansquenets and riders, pikemen and car-
bineers, were contending for on a hundred battle-fields
and amid a din of arms which for a quarter of a century
had been the regular hum of human industry. For
nearly a generation of mankind, Germans and Holland-
ers, Englishmen, Frenchmen, Scotchmen, Irishmen,
Spaniards, and Italians, seemed to be born into the world
mainly to fight for or against a system of universal
monarchy, conceived for his own benefit by a quiet old
man who passed his days at a writing-desk in a remote
corner of Europe. It must be confessed that Philip II.
gave the world work enough. Whether, had the peo-
ples governed themselves, their energies might not have
been exerted in a different direction, and on the whole
have produced more of good to the human race than
came of all this blood and smoke, may be questioned.

But the divine right of kings, associating itself with
the power supreme of the Church, was struggling to
maintain that old mastery of mankind which awakening
reason was inclined to dispute. Countries and nations
being regarded as private property to be inherited or
bequeathed by a few favored individuals, provided
always that those individuals were obedient to the chief
priest, it had now become right and proper for the
Spanish monarch to annex Scotland, England, and
France to the very considerable possessions which were
already his own. Scotland he claimed by virtue of the
expressed wish of Mary, to the exclusion of her heretic
son. Prance, which had been unjustly usurped by
another family in times past to his detriment, and which
only a mere human invention— a "pleasantry," as Alva
had happily termed it, " called the Salic law "—prevented

1590] SCHEMES OP PHILIP TL 3

from passing quietly to his daughter, as heiress to her
mother, daughter of Henry II., he was now fuUy bent
upon making his own without further loss of time.
England, in consequence of the mishap of the year
'88, he was inclined to defer appropriating untU. the pos-
session of the French coasts, together with those of the
Netherlands, should enable him to risk the adventure
with assured chances of success.

The Netherlands were fast slipping beyond his con-
trol, to be sure, as he engaged in these endless schemes ;
and ill-disposed people of the day said that the king was
like ^sop's dog, lapping the river dry in order to get at
the skins floating on the surface. The Duke of Parma
was driven to his wits' ends for expedients, and beside
himself with vexation, when commanded to withdraw
his ill-paid and mutinous army from the provinces for
the purpose of invading France. ^ Most importunate
were the appeals and potent the arguments by which he
attempted to turn Philip from his purpose. It was in
vain. Spain was the great, aggressive, overshadowing
power at that day, before whose plots and whose vio-
lence the nations alternately trembled, and it was France
that now stood in danger of being conquered or dismem-
bered by the common enemy of all. That unhappy
kingdom, torn by intestine conflict, naturally invited the
ambition and the greediness of foreign powers. Civil
war had been its condition, with brief intervals, for a
whole generation of mankind. During the last few
years the sword had been never sheathed, while the

1 "Con todo, elaro es," said Champagny, with TDitterness, "que
no bastando ya para la guerra que tenemos, mueho meuos para si
nos engolfamos en la de Prancia."— Diseours sur les affaires des
Paya-Bas, MS, before cited.

4 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1590

Holy Confederacy and the Bearnese struggled together
for the mastery. Religion was the mantle under which
the chiefs on both sides concealed their real designs as
they led on their followers year after year to the desper-
ate conflict. And their followers, the masses, were
doubtless in earnest. A great principle— the relation of
man to his Maker, and his condition in a future world, as
laid down by rival priesthoods— has in almost every
stage of history had power to influence the multitude to
fury and to deluge the world in blood. And so long as
the superstitious element of human nature enables indi-
viduals or combinations of them to dictate to their fel-
low-creatures those relations, or to dogmatize concerning
those conditions,— to take possession of their consciences,
in short, and to interpose their mummeries between man
and his Creator,— it is probable that such scenes as
caused the nations to shudder throughout so large a
portion of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries will
continue to repeat themselves at intervals in various
parts of the earth. Nothing can be more sublime than
the self-sacrifice, nothing more demoniac than the crimes,
which human creatures have seemed always ready to
exhibit under the name of religion.

It was and had been reaUy civil war in France ; in
the Netherlands it had become essentially a struggle for
independence against a foreign monarch ; although the
germ out of which both conflicts had grown to their
enormous proportions was an effort of the multitude to
check the growth of papacy. In France, accordingly,
civil war, attended by that gaunt sisterhood, murder,
pestilence, and famine, had swept from the soil almost
everything that makes life valuable. It had not brought
in its train that extraordinary material prosperity and

1590] CLAIMS OP HENRY OF NAVARRE 5

intellectual development at which men wondered in
the Netherlands, and to which allusion has just been
made. But a fortunate conjunction of circumstances
had now placed Henry of Navarre in a position of
vantage. He represented the principle of nationality,
of French unity. It was impossible to deny that he was
in the regular line of succession, now that luckless
Henry of Valois slept with his fathers, and the principle
of nationality might perhaps prove as vital a force as
attachment to the Roman Church. Moreover, the adroit
and unscrupulous Bearnese knew well how to shift the
mantle of religion from one shoulder to the other, to serve
his purposes or the humors of those whom he addressed.

" The King of Spain would exclude me from the king-
dom and heritage of my father because of my religion,"
he said to the Duke of Saxony ; " but in that religion I
am determined to persist so long as I shall live." ^ The
hand was the hand of Henry, but it was the voice of
Duplessis-Mornay.

" Were there thirty crowns to win," said he, at about
the same time, to the states of France, "I would not
change my religion on compulsion, the dagger at my throat.
Instruct me, instruct me ; I am not obstinate." ^ There
spoke the wily free-thinker, determined not to be juggled
out of what he considered his property by fanatics or
priests of either church. Had Henry been a real devo-
tee, the fate of Christendom might have been different.
The world has long known how much misery it is in the
power of crowned bigots to inflict.

On the other hand, the Holy League, the sacred Con-

1 Lettre du Roy an Duo de Saxe, dress^e par Duplessis, M4m.
et Corresp. de Duplessis-Mornay, iv. 491.

2 Lettre du Roy de Navarre aux 6tats de ce royaume, ibid., 322 seq.

6 THE UNITED NETHEELANDS [1590

f ederacy, was Catholic or nothing. Already it was more
papist than the pope, and loudly denounced Sixtus V. as
a Huguenot because he was thought to entertain a weak
admiration both for Henry the heretic and for the Jeze-
bel of England.

But the Holy Confederacy was bent on destroying the
national government of Prance and dismembering the
national domain. To do this the pretext of trampling
out heresy and indefinitely extending the power of Rome
was most influential with the multitude, and entitled the
leaders to enjoy immense power for the time being, while
maturing their schemes for acquiring permanent pos-
session of large fragments of the national territory.
Mayenne, Nemours, Aumale, Mercceur, longed to convert
temporary governments into independent principalities.
The Duke of Lorraine looked with longing eyes on Ver-
dun, Sedan, and the other fair cities within the terri-
tories contiguous to his own domains. The reckless
house of Savoy, with whom freebooting and land-rob-
bery seemed geographical and hereditary necessities, was
busy on the southern borders, while it seemed easy
enough for PhUip II., in right of his daughter, to secure
at least the duchy of Brittany before entering on the
sovereignty of the whole kingdom.

To the eyes of the world at large Prance might well
seem in a condition of hopeless disintegration; the
restoration of its unity and former position among the
nations,, under the government of a single chief, a weak
and wicked dream. Purious and incessant were the
anathemas hurled on the head of the B6arnese for his
persistence in drowning the land in blood, in the hope of
recovering a national capital which never could be his,
and of wresting from the control of the Confederacy

1590] POWER OF THE LEAGUE IN PARIS 7

that power wliich, whether usurped or rightful, was
considered, at least by the peaceably inclined, to have
become a solid fact.

The poor puppet locked in the tower of Fontenay, and
entitled Charles X., deceived and scared no one. Such
money as there was might be coined in its name, but
Madam League reigned supreme in Paris. The Confed-
erates, inspired by the eloquence of a cardinal legate, and
supplied with funds by the faithful, were ready to dare
a thousand deaths rather than submit to the rule of a
tyrant and heretic.

What was an authority derived from the laws of the
land and the history of the race compared with the dog-
mas of Rome and the trained veterans of Spain? It
remained to be seen whether nationality or bigotry
would triumph. But in the early days of 1590 the pros-
pects of nationality were not encouraging.

Francois de Luxembourg, Due de Pincey, was in Rome
at that moment, deputed by such Catholic nobles of
France as were friendly to Henry of Navarre. ^ Sixtus
might perhaps be influenced as to the degree of re-
spect to be accorded to the envoy's representations by
the events of the campaign about to open. Meantime
the legate Gaetano, young, rich, eloquent, unscrupu-
lous, distinguished alike for the splendor of his house
and the brilliancy of his intellect, had arrived in Paris.^

Followed by a great train of adherents, he had gone
down to the House of Parliament, and was about to seat
himself under the dais reserved for the king, when Bris-
son, first president of Parliament, plucked him back by

1 De Thou, t. xi. liv. xevii. 100-103.

2 Dondini, De rebus in Gallia gestis ab Alexandro Eamesio,
i. 131.

8 THE UNITED NETHEELANDS [1590

the arm, and caused him to take a seat immediately
below his own.^

Deeply was the bold president to expiate this defense
of king and law against the Holy League. For the
moment, however, the legate contented himself with a
long harangue setting forth the power of Rome, while
Brisson replied by an oration magnifying the grandeur
of France.

Soon afterward the cardinal addressed himself to the
counteraction of Henry's projects of conversion. For
well did the subtle priest understand that in purging
himself of heresy the B^arnese was about to cut the
ground from beneath his enemies' feet. In a letter to
the archbishops and bishops of France he argued the
matter at length. Especially he denied the necessity or
the legality of an assembly of all the prelates of France,
such as Henry desired, to afford him the requisite "in-
struction " as to the respective merits of the Roman and
the Reformed Church. Certainly, he urged, the Prince
of B6am could hardly require instruction as to the
tenets of either, seeing that at different times he had
faithfully professed both."''

But while benches of bishops and doctors of the Sor-
bonne were burnishing all the arms in ecclesiastical and
legal arsenals for the approaching fray, the sound of
louder if not more potent artillery began to be heard in
the vicinity of Paris. The candid Henry, while seeking
ghostly instruction with eagerness from his papistical
patrons, was equally persevering in applying for the
assistance of heretic musketeers and riders from his
Protestant friends in England, Holland, Germany, and
Switzerland.

1 De Thou, ubi sup. 108. « Ibid.

1590] CHAEACTBE OP HENRY OF NAVARRE 9

Queen Elizabeth and the States-General vied with
each other in generosity to the great champion of Prot-
estantism, who was combating the Holy League so val-
iantly, and rarely has a great historical figure presented
itself to the world so bizarre of aspect, and under such
shifting perplexity of Light and shade, as did the Bear-
nese in the early spring of 1590.

The hope of a considerable portion of the Catholic
nobility of his realm, although himself an excommuni-
cated heretic ; the mainstay of Calvinism, while secretly
bending all his energies to effect his reconciliation with
the pope ; the idol of the austere and grimly puritanical,
while himself a model of profligacy ; the leader of the
earnest and the true, although false as water himself in
every relation in which human beings can stand to each
other ; a standard-bearer of both great branches of the
Christian Church in an age when religion was the atmo-
sphere of men's daily lives, yet finding his sincerest ad-
mirer and one of his most faithful allies in the Grand
Turk ; ^ the representative of national liberty and human

1 A portion of the magnificently protective letter of Sultan
Amuratti, in which he complimented Henry on his religious stead-
fastness, might almost have made the king's cheek tingle :

"... a toi, Henri de Navarre de la race invincible des Bour-
bons, nous avons entendu que Don Philippe, de la maison
d'Autriehe, favorisant aueuns de tes ennemis, tache de te priver
de la succession legitime qui t'appartient au royaume de Prance
qui est de notre alliance et confederation en haine de oe que tu
detestes les faux services des idoles, tres dSplaisantes au grand Dieu,
pour tenir purement ce que tu tiens qui est le meilleur du monde ; je
te fais assavoir qu'ayant en horreur cette cause qui ue tend qu'au
profit particulier de ceux qui se sont 61ev6s centre toi, je veux
prendre ta protection et tellement dompter la folic de tes ennemis
et de I'Espagnol qui t'occupe injustement le royaume de Navarre,
qu'il en sera mSmoire ^ jamais, et te rendant vietorieux, je veux

10 THE UNITED NETHEELANDS [1590

rights against regal and sacerdotal absolutism, while
himself a remorseless despot by nature and education,
and a believer in no rights of the people save in their
privilege to be ruled by himself, it seems strange at first
view that Henry of Navarre should have been for cen-
turies so heroic and popular an image. But he was a
soldier, a wit, a consummate politician ; above all, he was
a man, at a period when to be a king was often to be
something much less or much worse.

To those accustomed to weigh and analyze popular
forces it might well seem that he was now playing an
utterly hopeless game. His capital garrisoned by the
pope and the King of Spain, with its grandees and its
populace scoffing at his pretense of authority and loath-
ing his name ; with an exchequer consisting of what he
could beg or borrow from Queen Elizabeth— most par-
simonious of sovereigns, reigning over the half of a
small island— and from the States-General, governing a
half-born, half-drowned little republic, engaged in a
quarter of a century's warfare with the greatest monarch
in the world ; with a wardrobe consisting of a dozen shirts
and five pocket-handkerchiefs,^ most of them ragged,
and with a commissariat made up of what could be
brought in the saddle-bags of his Huguenot cavaliers,
who came to the charge with him to-day, and to-morrow
were dispersed again to their mountain fastnesses, it did
not seem likely, on any reasonable theory of dynamics,

te rfitablir avec ma puissance redoutable par tout le monde au
grand Spouvantement de tons les roys, ayant moyen de les r^duire
en telle extr6mit6 qu'ils ne te feront jamais ennui."— Arch, de
Sim. (Paris) MS., B. 64, 17. Cited by Capefigue, Hist, de la R6-
forme, de la Ldgue et du r^gne de Henri IV., v. 361.
1 L'Estoile, 203.

1590] RELATIVE POWER OF HENRY AND PHILIP H

that the power of the B6arnese was capable of out-
weighing pope and Spain, and the meaner but massive
populace of France, and the Sorbonne, and the great
chiefs of the Confederacy, wealthy, long descended, allied
to all the sovereigns of Christendom, potent in terri-
torial possessions, and skilful in wielding political influ-
ences.

"The Bearnese is poor, but a gentleman of good
family," ^ said the cheerful Henry, and it remained to
be seen whether nationality, unity, legitimate authority,
history, and law would be able to neutralize the power-
ful combination of opposing elements.

The king had been besieging Dreux, and had made
good progress in reducing the outposts of the city. As
it was known that he was expecting considerable rein-
forcements of English ships, Netherlanders, and Ger-
mans, the chiefs of the League issued orders from Paris
for an attack before he should thus be strengthened.

For Parma, unwillingly obeying the stringent com-
mands of his master, had sent from Flanders eighteen
hundred picked cavalry, under Count Philip Bgmont, to
join the army of Mayenne. This force comprised five
hundred Belgian heavy dragoons, under the chief
nobles of the land, together with a selection, in even
proportions, of "Walloon, German, Spanish, and Italian
troopers.

Mayenne accordingly crossed the Seine at Mantes with
an army of ten thousand foot and, including Egmont's
contingent, about four thousand horse. A force under
Marshal d'Aumont, which lay in Ivry at the passage of
the Eure, fell back on his approach and joined the re-
mainder of the king's army. The siege of Dreux was
1 L'K«tpile, 203.

12 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1590

abandoned, and Henry withdrew to the neighborhood of
Nonancourt. It was obvious that the duke meant to
offer battle, and it was rare that the king under any
circumstances could be induced to decline a combat.^

On the night of the 12th-13th March Henry occupied
St.-Andr6, a village situated on an elevated and exten-
sive plain four leagues from Nonancourt, in the direction
of Ivry, fringed on three sides by villages and by a
wood, and commanding a view of aU the approaches
from the country between the Seine and Eure. It would
have been better had Mayenne been beforehand with
him, as the sequel proved ; but the duke was not famed
for the rapidity of his movements. During the greater
part of the night Henry was employed in distributing
his orders for that conflict which was inevitable on the
following day. His army was drawn up according to a
plan prepared by himself, and submitted to the most
experienced of his generals for their approval. He then
personally visited every portion of the encampment,
speaking words of encouragement to his soldiers, and
perfecting his arrangements for the coming conflict.
Attended by Marshals d'Aumont and Biron, he remained
on horseback during a portion of the night, having
ordered his officers to their tents and reconnoitered as
well as he could the position of the enemy. Toward
morning he retired to his headquarters at Fourainville,
where he threw himseK haK dressed on his truckle-bed,
and, although the night was bitterly cold, with no cover-
ing but his cloak. He was startled from his slumber
before the dawn by a movement of lights in the enemy's

1 De Thou, t. xi. liv. xcvii. 116 seq. Coloma, Guerras de los
Bstados Baxos, iii. 43 seq. Parma to PMlip, March 24, 1590,
Arch, de Sim. MS.

1590] PREPARATION FOR ACTION 13

camp, and lie sprang to his feet, supposing that the duke
was stealing a march upon him despite all his precau-
tions. The alarm proved to be a false one, but Henry
lost no time in ordering his battle. His cavalry he
divided in seven troops or squadrons. The first, form-
ing the left wing, was a body of three hundred, under
Marshal d'Aumont, supported by two regiments of
French infantry. Next, separated by a short interval,
was another troop of three hundred, under the Duke of
Montpensier, supported by two other regiments of foot,
one Swiss and one German. In front of Montpensier
was Baron Biron the younger, at the head of stUl an-
other body of three hundred. Two troops of cuirassiers,
each four hundred strong, were on Biron's left, the one
commanded by the Grand Prior of France, Charles
d'AngoulSme, the other by M. de Givry. Between the
prior and Givry were six pieces of heavy artillery, while
the battalia, formed of eight hundred horse in six squad-
rons, was commanded by the king in person, and cov-
ered on both sides by English and Swiss infantry,
amounting to some four thousand in aU. The right wing
was under the charge of old Marshal Biron, and com-
prised three troops of horse, numbering one hundred and
fifty each, two companies of German riders, and four
regiments of French infantry. These numbers, which
are probably given with as much accuracy as can be
obtained, show a force of about three thousand horse
and twelve thousand foot.

The Duke of Mayenne, seeing too late the advantage
of position which he might have easUy secured the day
before, led his army forth with the early light, and ar-
ranged it in an order not very different from that
adopted by the king, and within cannon-shot of his lines.

14 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1590

The right wing, under Marshal de la Ch^tre, consisted
of three regiments of French and one of Germans, sup-
porting three regiments of Spanish lancers, two cornets
of G-erman riders under the Bastard of Brunswick, and
four hundred cuirassiers. The battalia, which was com-
posed of six hundred splendid cavalry, all noblemen of
Trance, guarding the white banner of the Holy League,
and supported by a column of three thousand Swiss and
two thousand French infantry, was commanded by May-
enne in person, assisted by his half-brother, the Duke of
Nemours. In front of the infantry was a battery of six
cannon and three eulverins. The left wing was com-
manded by Marshal de ESne, with six regiments of
French and Lorrainers, two thousand Germans, six hun-
dred French cuirassiers, and the mounted troopers of
Count Bgmont. It is probable that Mayenne's whole
force, therefore, amounted to nearly four thousand
cavalry and at least thirteen thousand foot.^

Very different was the respective appearance of the
two armies, so far, especially, as regarded the horsemen
on both sides. Gay in their gilded armor and waving
plumes, with silken scarfs across their shoulders, and
the fluttering favors of fair ladies on their arms or in
their helmets, the brilliant champions of the Holy Catho-
lic Confederacy clustered around the chieftains of the
great house of Guise, impatient for the conflict. It was
like a muster for a brilliant and chivalrous tournament.
The Walloon and Flemish nobles, outrivaling even the
self-confidence of their companions in arms, taunted
them with their slowness. The impetuous Egmont,
burning to eclipse the fame of his iU-fated father at

1 De Thou, Coloma, ubi sup. Doudini, i. 140 seq. Meteren,
xvi. 292. Pavma's letters Tsefore cited.

1590] THE ARMIES CONTRASTED 15

GraveKnes and St.-Quentin in the same holy cause, urged
on the battle with unseemly haste, loudly proclaiming
that if the French were faint-hearted he would himself
give a good account of the Navarrese prince without any
assistance from them.

A cannon-shot away, the grim Puritan nobles, who had
come forth from their mountain fastnesses to do battle
for king and law and for the rights of conscience against
the Holy League,— men seasoned in a hundred battle-
fields, clad all in iron, with no dainty ornaments nor
holiday luxury of warfare,— knelt on the ground, smit-
ing their mailed breasts with iron hands, invoking bless-
ings on themselves and curses and confusion on their
enemies in the coming conflict, and chanting a stern
psalm of homage to the God of battles and of wrath.
And Henry of France and Navarre, descendant of Louis
the Holy and of Hugh the Great, beloved chief of the
Calvinist cavaliers, knelt among his heretic brethren,
and prayed and chanted with them. But not the staneh-
est Huguenot of them all, not Duplessis, nor D'Aubign6,
nor De la None with the Iron Arm, was more devoted on
that day to crown and country than were such papist
supporters of the rightful heir as had sworn to conquer
the insolent foreigner on the soil of France or die.

When this brief prelude was over, Henry made an
address to his soldiers, but its language has not been
preserved.^ It is known, however, that he wore that day
his famous snow-white plume, and that he ordered his
soldiers, shoiald his banner go down in the conflict, to
follow wherever and as long as that plume should be
seen waving on any part of the field. He had taken a
position by which his troops had the sun and wind in
I De Thou, ubi sup.

16 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1590

their backs, so that the smoke rolled toward the enemy
and the light shone in their eyes. The combat began
with the play of artillery, which soon became so warm
that Egmont, whose cavalry, suffering and galled, soon
became impatient, ordered a charge. It was a most
brilliant one. The heavy troopers of Flanders and
Hainault, following their spirited chieftain, dashed upon
old Marshal Biron, routing his cavalry, charging clean
up to the Huguenot guns, and sabering the cannoneers.
The shock was square, solid, irresistible, and was fol-
lowed up by the German riders under Eric of Brunswick,
who charged upon the battalia of the royal army, where
the king commanded in person.

There was a panic. The whole royal cavalry wavered,
the supporting infantry reeoHed, the day seemed lost
before the battle was well begun. Yells of " Victory !
Victory ! Up with the Holy League, down with the heretic
B6arnese ! " resounded through the Catholic squadrons.
The king and Marshal Biron, who were near each other,
were furious with rage, but already doubtful of the re-
sult. They exerted themselves to rally the troops under
their immediate command, and to reform the shattered
ranks.^

The Grerman riders and French lancers, under Bruns-
wick and Bassompierre, had, however, not done their
work as thoroughly as Egmont had done. The ground
was so miry and soft that in the brief space which sepa-
rated the hostile lines they had not power to urge their
horses to full speed. Throwing away their useless lances,
they came on at a feeble canter, sword in hand, and were
unable to make a very vigorous impression on the more
heavily armed troopers opposed to them. Meeting with
1 De Thou, Dondini, Coloma, Meteren, ubi sup.

1590] THE BATTLE OF IVEY 17

a firm resistance to their career, they wheeled, faltered a
little, and fell a short distance back.^ Many of the
riders, being of the Reformed religion, refused, moreover,
to fire upon the Huguenots, and discharged their car-
bines in the air.^

The king, whose glance on the battle-field was like
inspiration, saw the blot, and charged upon them in per-
son with his whole battalia of cavalry. The veteran
Biron followed hard upon the snow-white plume. The
scene was changed, victory succeeded to impending de-
feat, and the enemy was routed. The riders and cuiras-
siers, broken into a struggling heap of confusion, strewed
the ground with their dead bodies, or carried dismay
into the ranks of the infantry as they strove to escape.
Brimswick went down in the m^lee, mortally wounded, as
it was believed. Egmont, renewing the charge at the
head of his victorious Belgian troopers, fell dead with a
musket-baU through his heart. The shattered German
and Walloon cavalry, now pricked forward by the lances
of their companions, under the passionate commands of
Mayenne and Aumale, now falling back before the furi-
ous charges of the Huguenots, were completely over-

1 William Lyly to Sir P. Walsingham, Marcli 20, 1590, S. P.
Office MS., a blunt, plain-spoken Englishman and eye-witness,
writing from the spot. M6moires de Sully (ed. Londres, 1747), iii.
168, 169. The Duo de Sully, who fought in the squadron which
sustained Egmont's first onset, and who received seven wounds,
states expressly that the king would have been hopelessly de-
feated had the whole army of the League displayed the same re-
markable valor as was manifested by Egmont's command. The
right of the royal cavalry broke into a panic flight after the hand-
to-hand combat had lasted a quarter of an hour, and the left was
broken and thrown into utter confusion.

2 Sully, ubi sup.

VOL. IV.— 2

18 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1590

thrown and cut to pieces. Seven times did Henry of
Navarre in person lead his troopers to the charge ; but
suddenly, in the midst of the din of battle and the cheers
of victory, a message of despair went from lip to lip
throughout the royal lines. The king had disappeared.
He was killed, and the hopes of Protestantism and of
France were fallen forever with him. The white stan-
dard of his battalia had been seen floating wUdly and
purposelessly over the field ; for his bannerman. Pot de
Rhodes, a young noble of Dauphiny, wounded mortally
in the head, with blood streaming over his face and
blinding his sight, was utterly unable to control his
horse, who galloped hither and thither at his own caprice,
misleading many troopers who followed in his erratic
career. A cavalier, armed in proof, and wearing the
famous snow-white plume, after a hand-to-hand struggle
with a veteran of Count Bossu's regiment, was seen to
fall dead by the side of the bannerman. The Fleming,
not used to boast, loudly asserted that he had slain the
B^arnese, and the news spread rapidly over the battle-
field. The defeated Confederates gained new courage,
the victorious Royalists were beginning to waver, when
suddenly, between the hostile lines, in the very midst of
the battle, the king galloped forward, bareheaded, cov-
ered with blood and dust, but entirely unhurt. A wild
shout of " Vive le Roi ! " rang through the air. Cheerful
as ever, he addressed a few encouraging words to his
soldiers with a smiling face, and again led a charge. It
was all that was necessary to complete the victory. The
enemy broke and ran away on every side in wildest con-
fusion, followed by the Royalist cavalry, who sabered
them as they fled. The panic gain'id the foot-soldiers,
who should have supported the cavalry, but had not been

1590] VICTOEY OF HENRY OVER THE LEAGUE 19

at all engaged in the action. The French infantry threw
away their arms as they rushed from the field and sought
refuge in the woods. The Walloons were so expeditious
in the race that they never stopped till they gained their
own frontier.^ The day was hopelessly lost, and
although Mayenne had conducted himself well in the
early part of the day, it was certain that he was excelled
by none in the celerity of his flight when the rout had
fairly begun. Pausing to draw breath as he gained the
wood, he was seen to deal blows with his own sword
among the mob of fugitives, not that he might rally
them to their flag and drive them back to another en-
counter, but because they encumbered his own retreat.^
The Walloon carbineers, the German riders, and the
French lancers, disputing as to the relative blame to be
attached to each corps, began shooting and sabering each
other almost before they were out of the enemy's sight.
Many were thus killed. The lansquenets were all put to
the sword. The Swiss infantry were allowed to depart
for their own country on pledging themselves not again
to bear arms against Henry IV. It is probable that
eight hundred of the Leaguers were either killed on the
battle-field or drowned in the swollen river in their re-
treat. About one fourth of that number fell in the army

1 Lyly's letter before cited. Compare Coloma, Dondini, De
Thou, Meteren, ubi sup.

2 Decorous chroniclers like Dondini (i. 143) and others repre-
sent the duke as vigorously rallying and rebuking the fugitives ;
but, says honest William Lyly, telling what he saw : "The enemy
thus ran away, Mayenuae to Ivry, where the Walloons and reiters
followed so fast that, there standing, hasting to draw breath, and
not able to speak, he was constrained to draw his sword to strike
the fliers, to make place for his own flight."— MS. letter before
cited.

20 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1590

of the king. It is certain tliat of the contingent from
the obedient Netherlands two hundred and seventy,
including their distinguished general, lost their lives.^
The Bastard of Brunswick, crawling from beneath a
heap of slain, escaped with life.^ Mayenne lost aU his
standards and all the baggage of his army, while the
army itself was for a time hopelessly dissolved.^

Few cavalry actions have attained a wider celebrity in
history than the fight of Ivry. Yet there have been
many hard-fought battles, where the struggle was fiercer
and closer, where the issue was for a longer time doubt-
ful, where far more lives on either side were lost, where
the final victory was immediately productive of very
much greater results, and which, nevertheless, have sunk
into hopeless oblivion. The personal details which re-
main concerning the part enacted by the adventurous
king at this most critical period of his career, the roman-
tic interest which must always gather about that ready-
witted, ready-sworded Gascon, at the moment when, to
contemporaries, the result of all his struggles seemed so
hopeless, or at best so doubtful ; above aU, the numerous
royal and princely names which embellished the roU-call
of that famous passage of arms, and which were sup-
posed, in those days at least, to add such luster to a bat-
tle-field as humbler names, however illustrious by valor
or virtue, could never bestow, have made this combat
forever famous.

Yet it is certain that the most healthy moral, in mili-

1 De Thou says eight hundred, Dondini four hundred, but Far-
nese in his letter to the king says two hundred and seventy.

2 So says Dondini, i. 149. Coloma says he was killed.

^ Dondini, De Thou, Coloma, Meteren, Parma's letters, Lyly's
letter.

1590] FALSE REPORTS OP HENRY'S DEATH 21

tary affairs, to be derived from the event, is that the
importance of a victory depends less upon itself than on
the use to be made of it. Mayenne fled to Mantes, the
Duke of Nemours to Chartres, other leaders of the
League in various directions. Mayenne told everybody
he met that the B^arnese was killed, and that although
his own army was defeated, he should soon have another
one on foot. The same intelligence was communicated
to the Duke of Parma, and by him to Philip. Mendoza
and the other Spanish agents went about Paris spread-
ing the news of Henry's death, but the fact seemed
woefully to lack confirmation, while the proofs of the
utter overthrow and shamefid defeat of the Leaguers
were visible on every side. The Parisians— many of
whom, the year before, had in vain hired windows in the
principal streets, in order to witness the promised en-
trance of the Bearnese, bound hand and foot, and with
a gag in his mouth,i to swell the triumph of Madam
League— were incredulous as to the death now reported
to them of this very lively heretic, by those who had fled
so ignominiously from his troopers.

De la Noue and the other Huguenot chieftains ear-
nestly urged upon Henry the importance of advancing
upon Paris without an instant's delay, and it seems at
least extremely probable that, had he done so, the capi-
tal would have fallen at once into his hands. It is the
concurrent testimony of contemporaries that the panic,
the destitution, the confusion would have made resis-
tance impossible had a determined onslaught been made.^
And Henry had a couple of thousand horsemen flushed

1 L'Estoile, Reg. Journal de Henri IV., 6.

2 Dondini, Coloma, ubi sup. Compare Pe Thou, Meteren, Sully,
et mult, al,

22 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1590

with victory, and a dozen thousand foot who Had been
compelled to look upon a triumph in which they had no
opportunity of sharing. Success and emulation would
have easily triumphed over dissension and despair.

But the king, yielding to the counsels of Biron and
other Catholics, declined attacking the capital, and pre-
ferred waiting the slow, and in his circumstances emi-
nently hazardous, operations of a regular siege. Was it
the fear of giving a signal triumph to the cause of Prot-
estantism that caused the Huguenot leader, so soon to
become a renegade, to pause in his career? Was it
anxiety lest his victorious entrance into Paris might
undo the diplomacy of his Catholic envoy at Rome 1 Or
was it simply the mutinous condition of his army,
especially of the Swiss mercenaries, who refused to
advance a step unless their arrears of pay were at once
furnished them out of the utterly empty exchequer of
the king ? ^ Whatever may have been the cause of the
delay, it is certain that the golden fruit of victory was
not plucked, and that although the Confederate army
had rapidly dissolved, in consequence of their defeat, the
king's own forces manifested as little cohesion.

And now began that slow and painful siege, the
details of which are as terrible, but as universally known,
as those of any chapters in the blood-stained history of
the century. Henry seized upon the towns guarding
the rivers Seine and Marne, twin nurses of Paris. By
controlling the course of those streams as well as that
of the Yonne and Oise,— especially by taking firm pos-
session of Lagny, on the Marne, whence a bridge led
from the Isle of France to the Brie country, great thor-
oughfare of wine and corn, and of Corbeil, at the junc-
1 M6moires de Sully, iv. 177 seq.

1590] SIEGE OP PARIS 23

tion of the little river Essonne with the Seine,— it was
easy in that age to stop the vital circulation of the im-
perial city.

By midsummer, Paris, unquestionably the first city of
Europe at that day,^ was in extremities, and there are
few events in history in which our admiration is more
excited hy the power of mankind to endure almost
preternatural misery, or our indignation more deeply
aroused by the cruelty with which the sublimest prin-
ciples of human nature may be made to serve the pur-
poses of selfish ambition and groveling superstition,
than this famous leaguer.

Rarely have men at any epoch defended their father-
land against foreign oppression with more heroism than
that which was manifested by the Parisians of 1590 in
resisting religious toleration and in obeying a foreign
and priestly despotism. Men, women, and children
cheerfully laid down their hves by thousands in order
that the papal legate and the King of Spain might tram-
ple upon that legitimate sovereign of France who was
one day to become the idol of Paris and of the whole
kingdom.

A census taken at the beginning of the siege had
shown a populace of two hundred thousand souls, with
a sufficiency of provisions, it was thought, to last one
month.2 But before the terrible summer was over, so
completely had the city been invested, the bushel of
wheat was worth three hundred and sixty crowns, rye
and oats being but little cheaper .^ Indeed, grain might
as well have cost three thousand crowns the bushel, for

1 "Aquella vasta ciudad, sindisputa la mayor de Europa," says
Coloma, iii. 45.

2 De Thou, t. xi. liv. xovii. 162. ^ Bor, iii. xviii. 535.

24 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1590

the prices recorded placed it beyond the reach of all but
the extremely wealthy. The flesh of horses, asses, dogs,
cats, rats, had become rare luxuries. There was nothing
cheap, said a citizen bitterly, but sermons.^ And the
priests and monks of every order went daily about the
streets, preaching fortitude in that great resistance to
heresy by which Paris was earning for itself a crown of
glory, and promising the most direct passage to paradise
for the souls of the wretched victims who fell daily,
starved to death, upon the pavements. And the monks
and priests did their work nobly, aiding the general
resolution by the example of their own courage. Better
fed than their fellow-citizens, they did military work in
trench, guard-house, and rampart, as the population
became rapidly unfit, from physical exhaustion, for the
defense of the city.

The young Duke of Nemours, governor of the place,
manifested as much resolution and conduct in bringing
his countrymen to perdition as if the work in which he
was engaged had been the highest and holiest that ever
tasked human energies. He was sustained in his task
by that proud princess, his own and Mayenne's mother,
by Madame Montpensier, by the resident triumvirate of
Spain, Mendoza, Commander Moreo, and John Baptist
Tassis, by the cardinal legate Gaetano, and, more than
all, by the sixteen chiefs of the wards, those municipal
tyrants of the unhappy populace.^

1 L'Estoile, 23 : "Tout ce qui estoit bon marehfi a Paris dtoient
les sermons oii on repaissoit le pauvre monde affam6 de vent, o'est
k dire de menteries . . . persuadalit qu'il valoit mieux tuer ses
propres enf ants, n'ayant de quoi leur donner & manger, que de re-
cevoir et reconnoitre un roy Ii6r6ticque," etc.

2 Ibid., 23 seq. De Thou, ubi sup. 162 seq. Bor, ubi sup.

1590] THE POPE AND THE LEAGUE 25

Pope Sixtus himself was by no means eager for the
success of the League. After the battle of Ivry he had
most seriously inclined his ear to the representatious of
Henry's envoy, and showed much willingness to admit
the victorious heretic once more into the bosom of the
Church. Sixtus was not desirous of contributing to the
advancement of Philip's power. He feared his designs
on Italy, being himself most anxious at that time to
annex Naples to the holy see. He had amassed a large
treasure, but he liked best to spend it in splendid archi-
tecture, in noble fountains, in magnificent collections of
art, science, and literature, and, above all, in building
up fortunes for the children of his sister the washer-
woman, and in allying them all to the most princely
houses of Italy, while never allowing them even to men-
tion the name of their father, so base was his degree;
but he cared not to disburse from his hoarded doUars to
supply the necessities of the League.^

But Gaetano, although he could wring but fifty thou-
sand crowns from his Holiness, after the fatal fight of
Ivry, to further the good cause, was lavish in expendi-
tures from his own purse and from other sources, and
this, too, at a time when thirty-three per cent, interest
was paid to the usurers of Antwerp for one month's loan
of ready money.^ He was indefatigable, too, and most
successful in his exhortations and ghostly consolations
to the people. Those proud priests and great nobles
were playing a reckless game, and the hopes of mankind
beyond the grave were the counters on their table. For
themselves there were rich prizes for the winning.
Should they succeed in dismembering the fair land
where they were enacting their fantastic parts, there

1 De Thou, liv. xovii. ^ Meteren, xvi. 293.

26 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1590

were temporal principalities, great provinces, petty sov-
ereignties, to be carved out of the heritage which the
Bearnese claimed for his own. Obviously, then, their con-
sciences could never permit this shameless heretic, by a
simulated conversion at the critical moment, to block
their game and restore the national unity and laws.
And even should it be necessary to give the whole king-
dom, instead of the mere duchy of Brittany, to Philip of
Spain, still there were mighty guerdons to be bestowed
on his supporters before the foreign monarch could seat
himself on the throne of Henry's ancestors.

As to the people who were fighting, starving, dying by
thousands in this great cause, there were eternal rewards
in another world profusely promised for their heroism
instead of the more substantial bread and beef, for lack
of which they were laying down their lives.

It was estimated that before July twelve thousand
human beings in Paris had died for want of food within
three months. But as there were no signs of the prom-
ised relief by the army of Parma and Mayenne, and as
the starving people at times appeared faint-hearted,
their courage was strengthened one day by a stirring
exhibition.

An astonishing procession marched through the streets
of the city, led by the Bishop of Senlis and the Prior of
Chartreux, each holding a halberd in one hand and a
crucifix in the other, and graced by the presence of the
cardinal legate and of many prelates from Italy. A
lame monk, adroitly manipulating the staff of a drum-
major, went hopping and limping before them, much to
the amazement of the crowd. Then came a long file of
monks,— Capuchins, Bernardists, Minims, Franciscans,
Jacobins, Carmelites, and other orders,— each with his

1590] ECCLESIASTICAL DEMONSTEATIONS 27

cowl thrown back, his long robes trussed up, a helmet
on his head, a cuirass on his breast, and a halberd in his
hand. The elder ones marched first, grinding their teeth,
rolling their eyes, and making other ferocious demon-
strations. Then came the younger friars, similarly
attired, all armed with harquebuses, which they occa-
sionally and accidentally discharged, to the disadvantage
of the spectators, several of whom were killed or
wounded on the spot. Among others a servant of
Cardinal Gaetano was thus slain, and the event caused
much commotion, until the cardinal proclaimed that a
man thus killed in so holy a cause had gone straight to
heaven and had taken his place among the just. It was
impossible, thus argued the people in their simplicity,
that so wise and virtuous a man as the cardinal should
not know what was best.

The procession marched to the church of Our Lady of
Loretto, where they solemnly promised to the Blessed
Virgin a lamp and ship of gold, should she be willing
to use her influence in behalf of the suffering city, to be
placed on her shrine as soon as the siege should be
raised.^

But these demonstrations, however cheering to the
souls, had comparatively little effect upon the bodies of
the sufferers. It was impossible to walk through the
streets of Paris without stumbling over the dead bodies
of the citizens. Trustworthy eye-witnesses of those
dreadful days have placed the number of the dead dur-
ing the summer at thirty thousand.^ A tumultuous
assemblage of the starving and the forlorn rushed at
last to the municipal palace, demanding peace or bread.

1 De Thou, t. xi. liv. xcvii. 161. Herrera, p. iii. lib. v. ol. 210.

2 L'Estoile, 25. Herrera says fifty thousand (loc. cit.).

28 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1590

The rebels were soon dispersed, however, by a charge,
headed by the Chevalier d'Aumale, and assisted by the
chiefs of the wards, and so soon as the riot was quelled,
its ringleader, a leading advocate, Renaud by name, was
hanged.^

Still, but for the energy of the priests, it is doubtful
whether the city could have been held by the Confed-
eracy. The Duke of Nemours confessed that there were
occasions when they never would have been able to sus-
tain a determined onslaught, and they were daily expect-
ing to see the Prince of Beam battering triumphantly
at their gates. But the eloquence of the preachers,
especially of the one-eyed Father Boucher, sustained the
fainting spirits of the people, and consoled the sufferers
in their dying agonies by glimpses of paradise. Sub-
lime was that devotion, superhuman that craft, but it is
only by weapons from the armory of the Unseen that
human creatures can long confront such horrors in a
wicked cause. Superstition, in those days at least, was
a political force absolutely without limitation, and most
adroitly did the agents of Spain and Rome handle its
tremendous enginery against unhappy France. For the
hideous details of the most dreadful sieges recorded in
ancient or modern times were now reproduced in Paris.
Not a revolutionary circumstance at which the world
had shuddered in the accounts of the siege of Jerusalem
was spared. Men devoured such dead vermin as could
be found lying in the streets. They crowded greedily
around stalls in the public squares where the skin, bones,
and offal of such dogs, cats, and unclean beasts as still
remained for the consumption of the wealthier classes
were sold to the populace. Over the doorways of these

1 De Thou, xLbi sup. 177.

1590] SUFFERINGS OF THE BESIEGED 29

flesh-markets might be read: "Haec sunt munera pro
iis qui vitam pro Philippe profuderunt." ^ Men stood in
archways and narrow passages, lying in wait for whatever
stray dogs still remained at large, noosed them, strangled
them, and, like savage beasts of prey, tore them to pieces
and devoured them aUve.^ And it sometimes happened,
too, that the equally hungry dog proved the more suc-
cessful in the foul encounter, and fed upon the man. A
lady visiting the Duchess of Nemours— called, for the
high pretensions of her sons by her two marriages, the
queen mother— complained bitterly that mothers in Paris
had been compelled to kill their own children outright
to save them from starving to death in lingering agony.
" And if you are brought to that extremity," replied the
duchess, "as for the sake of our holy religion to be
forced to kill your own children, do you think that so
great a matter, after all ? What are your children made
of more than other people's children ? What are we aU
but dirt and dust ? " ^ Such was the consolation admin-
istered by the mother of the man who governed Paris
and defended its gates against its lawful sovereign at
the command of a foreigner ; while the priests, in their
turn, persuaded the populace that it was far more right-
eous to kin their own children, if they had no food to
give them, than to obtain food by recognizing a heretic
king.*

It was related, too, and believed, that in some instances
mothers had salted the bodies of their dead children and
fed upon them, day by day, until the hideous repast

1 L'Bstoile, 27. "De ce que j'^cris," adds the journalist, "mes
yeux out veu ime bonne partie."

2 De Thou, ubi sup. 177.

3 L'Estoile, 29. * Ibid., 23.

30 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1590

would no longer support their own life. They died, and
the secret was revealed by servants who had partaken
of the food.i The Spanish ambassador Mendoza ad-
vised recourse to an article of diet which had been used
in some of the Oriental sieges. The counsel at first was
rejected as coming from the agent of Spain, who wished
at aU hazards to save the capital of Prance from falling
out of the hands of his master into those of the heretic.
But dire necessity prevailed, and the bones of the dead
were taken in considerable quantities from the ceme-
teries, ground into flour, baked into bread, and con-
sumed. It was called Madame Montpensier's cake, be-
cause the duchess earnestly proclaimed its merits to the
poor Parisians. " She was never known to taste it her-
self, however," bitterly observed one who lived in Paris
through that horrible summer. She was right to abstain,
for all who ate of it died, and the Montpensier flour fell
into disuse.^

Lansquenets and other soldiers, mad with hunger and
rage, when they could no longer find dogs to feed on,
chased children through the streets, and were known in
several instances to kill and devour them on the spot.^
To those expressing horror at the perpetration of such a
crime, a leading personage, member of the Council of
Nine, maintained that there was less danger to one's soul
in satisfying one's hunger with a dead child, in case of
necessity, than in recognizing the heretic Bearnese, and
he added that aU the best theologians and doctors of
Paris were of his opinion.*

1 L'Estoile, 25.

2 n^id. De Thou, ubi sup. 177. = L'Estoile, 30.

* Ibid.: "Lansquenets, gens de soi barbares et inhumains,
mourans de male rage et faim, eommenoSrent k chasser aux eufans
comme aux oMens, et en mangerent trois, deux k I'hostel Saint

1590] A DEPUTATION APPOINTED 31

As the summer wore on to its close througli all these
horrors, and as there were still no signs of Mayenne and
Parma leading their armies to the relief of the city, it
became necessary to deceive the people by a show of
negotiation with the beleaguering army. Accordingly,
the Spanish ambassador, the legate, and the other chiefs
of the Holy League appointed a deputation, consisting
of the Cardinal Gondy, the Archbishop of Lyons, and
the Abb6 d'Blbene, to Henry.^ It soon became evident
to the king, however, that these commissioners were but
trifling with him in order to amuse the populace. His
attitude was dignified and determined throughout the
interview. The place appointed was St. Anthony's
Abbey, before the gates of Paris. Henry wore a cloak
and the order of the Holy Ghost, and was surrounded by
his council, the princes of the blood, and by more than
four hundred of the chief gentlemen of his army. After
passing the barricade, the deputies were received by old
Marshal Biron, and conducted by him to the king's
chamber of state. When they had made their saluta-
tions, the king led the way to an inner cabinet, but his

Denis et un & I'hdtel de Palaiseau, et fut eommis ce cruel et bar-
bare acte'dans I'eneeinte des imirailles de Paris, taut I'ire de Dieu
estoit embrass6e sur nos testes. Ce qui tenant du commencement
pour une fable pour ce que me sembloit que hoc erat atrooius vero,
j'ai trouv6 depuis que c'estoit verit6, confess^ et temoign6 par les
propres bouclies des lansquenets. De moi j'ai oui tenir eeste
proposition a un grand Catholique de Paris qui estoit du Conseil
des Neuf qu'il y avoit morns de danger de s'accomoder d'un enfant
mort en telle n6cessit6 que de reconnoitre le B6arnais, estant
h^r^ticque comme il estoit, et que de son opinion estoient tons les
meUleuis tli^ologieus et docteurs de Paris." Compare Meteren,
xvi. 293, who relates that eighteen children were said to have
been eaten.

1 De Thou, ubi sup.

32 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1590

progress was much impeded by tlie crowding of the
nobles about him. Wishing to excuse this apparent
rudeness, he said to the envoys : " Gentlemen, these men
thrust me on as fast to the battle against the foreigner
as they now do to my cabinet. Therefore bear with
them." Then turning to the crowd, he said : " Room,
gentlemen, for the love of me," upon which they aU
retired.!

The deputies then stated that they had been sent by
the authorities of Paris to consult as to the means of
obtaining a general peace in Prance. They expressed
the hope that the king's disposition was favorable to this
end, and that he would likewise permit them to confer
with the Duke of Mayenne. This manner of addressing
him excited his choler. He told Cardinal Gondy, who
was spokesman of the deputation, that he had long
since answered such propositions. He alone could deal
with his subjects. He was like the woman before Solo-
mon : he would have all the child or none of it.^ Rather
than dismember his kingdom he would lose the whole.
He asked them what they considered him to be. They
answered that they knew his rights, but that the Pari-
sians had different opinions. If Paris would only
acknowledge him to be king there could be no more
question of war. He asked them if they desired the
King of Spain or the Duke of Mayenne for their king,
and bade them look well to themselves. The King of
Spain could not help them, for he had too much business
on hand, while Mayenne had neither means nor cour-
age, having been within three leagues of them for three
weeks doing nothing. Neither king nor duke should

1 W. Lyly to Sir E. StafEord, July 29 (August 8), 1590, S. P.
Office MS. 2 Ibid.

1590] PRETENDED NEGOTIATIONS 33

have that which belonged to him, of that they might be
assured.! gg j^qJ^ them he loved Paris as his capital,
as his eldest daughter. If the Parisians wished to see
the end of their miseries it was to him they should
appeal, not to the Spaniard nor to the Duke of Mayenne.
By the grace of God and the swords of his brave gentle-
men he would prevent the King of Spain from making
a colony of France as he had done of Brazil. He told
the commissioners that they ought to die of shame that
they, born Frenchmen, should have so forgotten their
love of country and of liberty as thus to bow the head
to the Spaniard, and, while famine was carrying off
thousands of their countrymen before their eyes, to be
so cowardly as not to utter one word for the public wel-
fare from fear of offending Cardinal Gaetano, Mendoza,
and Moreo.2 He said that he longed for a combat to
decide the issue, and that he had charged Count de Bris-
sac to tell Mayenne that he would give a finger of his
right hand for a battle, and two for a general peace.^
He knew and pitied the sufferings of Paris, but the hor-
rors now raging there were to please the King of Spain.
That monarch had told the Duke of Parma to trouble
himself but little about the Netherlands so long as he
could preserve for him his city of Paris. But it was to
lean on a broken reed to expect support from this old,
decrepit king, whose object was to dismember the flour-
ishing kingdom of France, and to divide it among as
many tyrants as he had sent viceroys to the Indies.*
The crown was his own birthright. Were it elective, he

1 W. Lyly to Sir E. Stafford, MS. last cited. Compare De Thov,
t. xi. liv. xovii.

2 De Thou, ubi sup. ^ Ibid.
* Ibid.

VOL. IV.— 3

34 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1590

should receive the suffrages of the great mass of the
electors. He hoped soon to drive those red-crossed for-
eigners out of his kingdom. Should he fail, they would
end by expelling the Duke of Mayenne and aU the rest
who had called them in, and Paris would become the
theater of the bloodiest tragedy ever yet enacted.^ The
king then ordered Sir Roger "Williams to see that a col-
lation was prepared for the deputies, and the veteran
"Welshman took occasion to indulge in much blunt con-
versation with the guests. He informed them that he,
Mr. Sackville, and many other strangers were serving
the kiQg from the hatred they bore the Spaniards and
Mother League, and that his royal mistress had always
eight thousand Enghshmen ready to maintain the cause.
While the conferences were going on, the officers and
soldiers of the besiegiag army thronged to the gate, and
had much talk with the townsmen. Among others
time-honored La None with the Iron Arm stood near the
gate and harangued the Parisians. " We are here," said
he, " five thousand gentlemen ; we desire your good, not
your ruin. We wiU make you rich : let us participate in
your labor and industry. "Undo not yourselves to serve
the ambition of a few men." The townspeople, hearing
the old warrior discoursing' thus earnestly, asked who he
was. "When informed that it was La None, they cheered
him vociferously, and applauded his speech with the
greatest vehemence.^ Yet La Noue was the foremost
Huguenot that the sun shone upon, and the Parisians
were starving themselves to death out of hatred to
heresy. After the collation the commissioners were
permitted to go from the camp in order to consult
Mayenne.

1 De Thou, ubi sup. 2 Lyly's letter before cited.

1590] STATE OF PARIS 35

Sndi, then, was the condition of Paris during that
memorable summer of tortures. What now were its
hopes of deliverance out of this Gehenna ? The trust of
Frenchmen was in Philip of Spain, whose legions, under
command of the great Italian chieftain, were daily longed
for to save them from rendering obedience to their law-
ful prince.

For even the king of straw, the imprisoned cardinal,
was now dead, and there was not even the eflgy of
any other sovereign than Henry of Bourbon to claim
authority in France. Mayenne, in the course of long
interviews with the Duke of Parma at Oonde and Brus-
sels, had expressed his desire to see Philip King of
France, and had promised his best efforts to bring about
such a result. In that case he stipulated for the second
place in the kingdom for himself, together with a good
rich province in perpetual sovereignty, and a large sum
of money in hand. Should this course not run smoothly,
he would be wUling to take the crown himself, in which
event he would cheerfully cede to Philip the sovereignty
of Brittany and Burgundy, besides a selection of cities
to be arranged for at a later day. Although he spoke
of himself with modesty, said Alexander, it was very
plain that he meant to arrive at the crown himself.^
Well had the Bearnese alluded to the judgment of Solo-
mon. Were not children thus ready to dismember their
mother as foul and unnatural as the mother who would
divide her child?

And what was this dependence on a foreign tyrant

really worth ? As we look back upon those dark days

with the light of what was then the almost immediate

future turned full and glaring upon them, we find it

1 Parma to PMlip, May 20, 1590, Areh. de Sim. MS.

36 THE UNITED NETHEELANDS [1590

difficult to exaggerate the folly of the chief actors in
those scenes of crime. Did not the penniless adventurer,
whose keen eyesight and wise recklessness were passing
for hallucination and foolhardiness in the eyes of his
contemporaries, understand the game he was playing
better than did that profound thinker, that mysterious
but infallible politician, who sat in the Escorial and
made the world tremble at every hint of his lips, every
stroke of his pen ?

The Netherlands, that most advanced portion of
Philip's domain, without the possession of which his
conquest of England and his incorporation of France
were but childish visions, even if they were not mon-
strous chimeras at best, were to be in a manner left to
themselves, while theii* consummate governor and gen-
eral was to go forth and conquer France at the head of
a force with which he had been in vain attempting to
hold those provinces to their obedience. At that very
moment the rising young chieftain of the Netherlands
was most successfully inaugurating his career of military
success. His armies, well drilled, well disciplined, well
paid, full of heart and of hope, were threatening their
ancient enemy in every quarter, while the veteran legions
of Spain and Italy, heroes of a hundred Flemish and
Frisian battle-fields, were disorganized, starving, and
mutinous. The famous ancient legion, the Tercio Viejo,
had been disbanded for its obstinate and confirmed
unruliness. The legion of Manrique, sixteen hundred
strong, was in open mutiny at Courtray. Farnese had
sent the Prince of Ascoli to negotiate with them, but
his attempts were all in vain.i Two years' arrearages
—to be paid, not in cloth at four times what the con-

1 Parma to Philip, April 10, 1590, Arch, de Sim. MS.

1590] FALSE COMPLAINTS AGAINST PAENESE 37

tractors had paid for it, but in solid gold— were their
not unreasonable demands after years of as hard fight-
ing and severe suffering as the world has often seen.
But Philip, instead of ducats or cloth, had only sent
orders to go forth and conquer a new kingdom for him.
Verdngo, too, from Friesland, was howling for money,
garroting and hanging his mutinous veterans every
day,i and sending complaints and most dismal forebod-
ings as often as a courier could make his way through
the enemy's lines to Farnese's headquarters. And
Farnese, on his part, was garroting and hanging the
veterans.2

Alexander did not, of course, inform his master that he
was a mischievous lunatic, who upon any healthy prin-
ciple of human government ought long ago to have been
shut up from aU communion with his species. It was
very plain, however, from his letters, that such was his
innermost thought, had it been safe, loyal, or courteous
to express it in plain language.

He was himself stung almost to madness, moreover, by
the presence of Commander Moreo, who hated him,
who was perpetually coming over from France to visit
him, who was a spy upon all his actions, and who was
regularly distilling his calumnies into the ears of Secre-
tary Idiaquez and of Philip himself.^ The king was
informed that Farnese was working for his own ends
and was disgusted with his sovereign ; that there never
had been a petty prince of Italy that did not wish to
become a greater one, or that was not jealous of Philip's
power ; and that there was not a villain in aU Christen-

1 Parma to Philip, June 24, 1590, Arch, de Sim. MS.

2 Same to same, June 26 and July 22, 1590, ibid.

3 Moreo to Idiaquez, January 30, 1590, ibid.

38 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1590

dom but wished for Philip's death. Moreo followed the
prince about to Antwerp, to Brussels, to Spa, whither he
had gone to drink the waters for his failing health, pes-
tered him, lectured him, pried upon him, counseled him,
enraged him. Alexander told him at last that he cared
not if the whole world came to an end so long as Flan-
ders remained, which alone had been intrusted to him,
and that if he was expected to conquer France it would
be as well to give him the means of performing that
exploit. So Moreo told the king that Alexander was
wasting time and wasting money, that he was the cause
of Egmont's overthrow, and that he would be the cause
of the loss of Paris and of the downfall of the whole
French scheme, for that he was determined to do
nothing to assist Mayenne, or that did not conduce to
his private advantage.^

Yet Parnese had been not long before informed, in
sufficiently plain language, and by personages of great
influence, that in case he wished to convert his viceroy-
alty of the Netherlands into a permanent sovereignty he
might rely on the assistance of Henry of Navarre, and
perhaps of Queen Elizabeth.^ The scheme would not
have been impracticable, but the duke never listened to
it for a moment.

If he were slow in advancing to the relief of starving,
agonizing Paris, there were sufficient reasons for his
delay. Most decidedly and bitterly, but loyally, did he
denounce the madness of his master's course in all his
communications to that master's private ear.

He told him that the situation in which he found him-

1 Moreo to Philip, June 22, 1590, Arch, de Sim. MS.

2 Diiplessis to Buzanval, M6ia. et Corresp. de Duplessis-
Momay, iv. 270.

1590] DIFFICULTIES OF FAENESE 39

self was horrible. He had no money for his troops, he
had not even garrison bread to put in their months. He
had not a single stiver to advance them on account.
From Friesland, from the Rhine country, from every
quarter, cries of distress were rising to heaven, and the
lamentations were just. He was in absolute penury.
He could not negotiate a bill on the royal account, but
had borrowed on his own private security a few thou-
sand crowns, which he had given to his soldiers. He was
pledging his jewels and furniture like a bankrupt, but
all was now in vain to stop the mutiny at Courtray. If
that went on it would be of most pernicious example,
for the whole army was disorganized, malcontent, and
of portentous aspect. " These things," said he, " ought
not to surprise people of common understanding, for
without money, without credit, without provisions, and
in an exhausted country, it is impossible to satisfy the
claims or even to support the life of the army." ^ When
he sent the Flemish cavalry to Mayenne in March, it was
under the impression that with it that prince would have
maintained his reputation and checked the progress of
the B6arnese untU greater reinforcements could be for-
warded. He was now glad that no larger number had
been sent, for all would have been sacrificed on the fatal
field of Ivry.2

The country around him was desperate, believed
ItseK abandoned, and was expecting fresh horrors every
day. He had been obliged to remove portions of the
garrisons at Deventer and Zutphen purely to save them
from starving and desperation. Every day he was in-

1 Parma to Philip, January 30, February 20, March. 14, March
24, March 30, April 19, 1590, Arch, de Sim. MS.

2 Ibid.

40 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1590

formed by his garrisons that they could feed no longer
on fine words or hopes, for in them they found no sus-
tenance.^

But Philip told him that he must proceed forthwith
to France, where he was to raise the siege of Paris and
occupy Calais and Boulogne, in order to prevent the
English from sending succor to the B6arnese, and in
order to facilitate his own designs on England. Every
effort was to be made before the B^arnese climbed into
the seat. The Duke of Parma was to talk no more of
difficulties, but to conquer them ^— a noble phrase on
the battle-field, but comparatively easy of utterance at
the writing-desk.

At last, Philip having made some remittances, miser-
ably inadequate for the necessities of the case, but suffi-
cient to repress in part the mutinous demonstrations
throughout the army, Farnese addressed himself with a
heavy heart to the work required of him. He confessed
the deepest apprehensions of the result both in the
Netherlands and in France. He intimated a profound
distrust of the French, who had ever been Philip's ene-
mies, and dwelt on the danger of leaving the provinces
unable to protect themselves, badly garrisoned, and starv-
ing. " It grieves me to the soul, it cuts me to the heart,"
he said, "to see that your Majesty commands things
which are impossible, for it is our Lord alone that can
work miracles. Your Majesty supposes that with the
little money you have sent me I can satisfy all the soldiers
serving in these provinces, settle with the Spanish and
the German mutineers,— because, if they are to be used

1 Parma to Philip, January 30, February 20, March 14, March
24, March 30, April 19, 1590, Arch, de Sim. MS.

2 Philip to Parma, June 20, 1590, ihid.

1590] PARMA COMPLAINS TO PHILIP 41

in the expedition, they must at least be quieted,— give
money to Mayenne and the Parisians, pay retaining-
wages (wartgeld) to the German riders for the protection
of these provinces, and make sure of the maritime places,
where the same mutinous language is held as at Cour-
tray. The poverty, the discontent, and the desperation
of this unhappy country," he added, " have been so often
described to your Majesty that I have nothing to add.
I am hanging and garroting my veterans everywhere,
only because they have rebelled for want of pay, with-
out committing any excess. Yet under these circum-
stances I am to march into France with twenty thousand
troops— the least number to effect anything withal. I
am confused and perplexed, because the whole world is
exclaiming against me, and protesting that through my
desertion the country intrusted to my care will come to
utter perdition. On the other hand, the French cry out
upon me that I am the cause that Paris is going to de-
struction, and with it the Catholic cause in France.
Every one is pursuing his private ends. It is impossible
to collect a force strong enough for the necessary work.
Paris has reached its extreme unction, and neither May-
enne nor any one of the Confederates has given this
invalid the slightest morsel to support her till your Maj-
esty's forces should arrive." ^

He reminded his sovereign that the country around
Paris was eaten bare of food and forage, and yet that it
was quite out of the question for him to undertake the
transportation of supplies for his army all the way—
supplies from the starving Netherlands to starving
France. Since the king was so peremptory, he had
nothing for it but to obey, but he vehemently disclaimed
1 Parma to Philip, July 22, 1590, Arch, de Sim. MS.

42 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1590

all responsibility for the expedition, and, in case of his
death, he called on his Majesty to vindicate his honor,
which his enemies were sure to assail.^

The messages from Mayenne becoming daily more
pressing, Farnese hastened as much as possible those
preparations which at best were so woefully inadequate,
and avowed his determination not to fight the B6aruese
if it were possible to avoid an action. He feared, how-
ever, that with totally insufficient forces he should be
obliged to accept the chances of an engagement.^

With twelve thousand foot and three thousand horse
Farnese left the Netherlands in the beginning of August,
and arrived on the 3d of that month at Valenciennes.
His little army, notwithstanding his bitter complaints,
was of imposing appearance.^ The archers and halber-
diers of his body-guard were magnifl.cent in taffeta and
feathers and surcoats of cramoisie velvet. Four hundred
nobles served in the cavalry. Aremberg and Berlaymont
and Chimay, and other grandees of the Netherlands, in
company with Ascoli and the sons of Terranova and
Pastrana, and many more great lords of Italy and Spain,
were in immediate attendance on the illustrious captain.
The son of Philip's secretary of state Idiaquez and the
nephew of the cardinal legate Gaetano were among
the marshals of the camp.*

Alexander's own natural authority and consummate
powers of organization had for the time triumphed over
the disintegrating tendencies which, it had been seen,

1 Parma to PHlip, MS. before cited.

2 Same to same, July 23, 1590, ibid.

3 Same to same, August 28, 1590, ibid.

* Bor, iii. xviii. 535. Coloma, iii. 47. Bentivoglio, p. ii. lib.
iv. 340 seq.

1590] EXPEDITION FOE THE RELIEF OF PAEIS 43

were everywhere so rapidly destroying the foremost
military establishment of the world. Nearly half his
forces, both cavalry and infantry, were Netherlanders ;
for — as if there were not graves enough in their own
little territory— those Flemings, Walloons, and Hol-
landers were destined to leave their bones on both sides
of every well-stricken field of that age between liberty
and despotism. And thus thousands of them had now
gone forth under the banner of Spain to assist their own
tyrant in carrying out his designs upon the capital of
France, and to struggle to the death with thousands of
their own countrymen who were following the fortunes
of the B6arnese. Truly in that age it was religion that
drew the boundary-line between nations.

The army was divided into three portions. The van-
guard was under the charge of the Netherland general
Marquis of Renty, the battalia was commanded by
Farnese in person, and the rear-guard was intrusted to
that veteran Netherlander, La Motte, now called the
Count of Bverbecq. Twenty pieces of artillery followed
the last division.! At Valenciennes Farnese remained
eight days, and from this place Count Charles Mansfeld
took his departure in a great rage— resigning his post
as chief of artillery because La Motte had received the
appointment of general-marshal of the camp— and re-
turned to his father, old Peter Ernest Mansfeld, who
was lieutenant-governor of the Netherlands in Parma's
absence.'^

1 Bor, Coloma, uM sup. Dondini, ii. 300 seq. De Thou, t. Ixi.
liv. xevii. 183 seq. Bentivoglio, p. ii. lib. iv. 340 seq. Meteren,
rvi. 293 seq.

2 Letters of Mansfeld to Philip and to Parma, August 11, 1590,
Arch, de Sim. MS.

44 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1590

Leaving Valenciennes on the 11th, the army pro-
ceeded by way of Quesnoy, Guise, Soissons, Fritemilon,
to Meaux. At this place, which is ten leagues from
Paris, Farnese made his junction, on the 22d of August,
with Mayenne, who was at the head of six thousand
infantry— one half of them Germans, under Cobalto, and
the other half French— and of two thousand horse.^

On arriving at Meaux, Alexander proceeded straight-
way to the cathedral, and there, in presence of all, he
solemnly swore that he had not come to France in order
to conquer that kingdom, or any portion of it, in the
interests of his master, but only to render succor to the
Catholic cause and to free the friends, and confederates
of his Majesty from violence and heretic oppression.^
Time was to show the value of that oath.

Here the deputation from Paris, the Archbishop of
Lyons and his colleagues, whose interview with Henry
has just been narrated, were received by the two dukes.
They departed, taking with them promises of immediate
relief for the starving city. The allies remained five
days at Meaux, and leaving that place on the 27th,
arrived in the neighborhood of Chelles on the last day
but one of the summer. They had a united force of five
thousand cavalry and eighteen thousand foot.^

The summer of horrors was over, and thus with the
first days of autumn there had come a ray of hope for
the proud city which was lying at its last gasp. "When
the allies came in sight of the monastery of Chelles they

1 Lo sucedido a este felieissimo exercito despues que entro en
Francia hasta el 3 de Octubre, Arch, de Sim. MS. Parma to
Philip, August 28, 1590, ibid.

2 Coloma, iii. 47™.

5 Lo sucedido, etc., ubi sup. Parma's letter last cited.

1590] MEETING OF HENRY AND FAENESE 45

found themselves in the immediate neighborhood of the
B6arnese.

The two great captains of the age had at last met face
to face. They were not only the two first commanders
of their time, but there was not a man in Europe at that
day to be at all compared with either of them. The
youth, concerning whose earliest campaign an account
wiU be given in the following chapter, had hardly yet
struck his first blow. Whether that blow was to reveal
the novice or the master was soon to be seen. Mean-
time in 1590 it would have been considered a foolish
adulation to mention the name of Maurice of Nassau in
the same breath with that of Navarre or of Farnese.

The scientific duel which was now to take place was
likely to task the genius and to bring into fuU display
the peculiar powers and defects of the two chieftains of
Europe. Each might be considered to be still in the
prime of life, but Alexander, who was turned of forty-
five, was already broken in health, while the vigorous
Henry was eight years younger and of an iron constitu-
tion. Both had passed their lives in the field, but the
king, from nature, education, and the force of circum-
stances, preferred pitched battles to scientific combina-
tions, while the duke, having studied and practised his
art in the great Spanish and Italian schools of warfare,
was rather a profound strategist than a professional
fighter, although capable of great promptness and intense
personal energy when his judgment dictated a battle.
Both were born with that invaluable gift which no
human being can acquire, authority, and both were
adored and willingly obeyed by their soldiers, so long
as those soldiers were paid and fed.

The prize now to be contended for was a high one.

46 THE UNITED NETHEELANDS [1590

Alexander's complete success would tear from Henry's
grasp tlie first city of Christendom, now sinking ex-
hausted into his hands, and would place France in the
power of the Holy League and at the feet of Philip.
Another Ivry would shatter the Confederacy and carry
the king in triumph to his capital and his ancestral
throne. On the approach of the combined armies under
Parma and Mayenne, the king had found himself most
reluctantly compelled to suspend the siege of Paris.
His army, which consisted of sixteen thousand foot and
five thousand horse, was not stif&ciently numerous to
confront at the same time the relieving force and to
continue the operations before the city.^ So long, how-
ever, as he held the towns and bridges on the great
rivers, and especially those keys to the Seine and
Marne, Corbeil and Lagny, he still controlled the life-
blood of the capital, which indeed had almost ceased to
flow.

On the 31st August he advanced toward the enemy.
Sir Edward Stafford, Queen Elizabeth's ambassador,
arrived at St.-Denis in the night of the 30th August.
At a very early hour next morning he heard a shout
under his window, and looking down, beheld King Henry
at the head of his troops, cheerfully calling out to his
English friend as he passed his door. "Welcoming
us after his familiar manner," said Stafford, "he de-
sired us, in respect of the battle every hour expected,
to come as his friends to see and help him, and not
to treat of anything which afore we meant, seeing
the present state to require it, and the enemy so
near that we might well have been interrupted in
half an hour's talk, and necessity constrained the
1 De Thou, iibi sup.

1590] ANXIETY FOE A DECISIVE BATTLE 47

king to be in every corner, where for the most part
we follow liim."i That day Henry took up his head-
quarters at the monastery of CheUes, a fortified place
within six leagues of Paris, on the right bank of
the Marne. His army was drawn up in a wide vaUey
somewhat encumbered with wood and water, extend-
ing through a series of beautiful pastures toward two
hills of moderate elevation. Lagny, on the left bank
of the river, was within less than a league of him on
his right hand. On the other side of the hills, hardly
out of cannon-shot, was the camp of the allies. Henry,
whose natural disposition in this respect needed no
prompting, was most eager for a decisive engagement.
The circumstances imperatively required it of him. His
infantry consisted of Frenchmen, Netherlanders, Eng-
lish, Germans, Scotch ; but of his cavalry four thousand
were French nobles, serving at their own expense, who
came to a battle as to a banquet, but who were capable
of riding off almost as rapidly, shoidd the feast be denied
them. They were volunteers, bringing with them rations
for but a few days, and it could hardly be expected that
they would remain as patiently as did Parma's veterans,
who, now that their mutiny had been appeased by pay-
ment of a portion of their arrearages, had become docile
again. All the great chieftains who surrounded Henry,
whether Catholic or Protestant,— Montpensier, Nevers,
Soissons, Conde, the Birons, Lavradin, D'Aumont, Tre-
mouille, Turenne, ChatiIlon,La None,— were urgent for
the conflict, concerning the expediency of which there
could indeed be no doubt, while the king was in raptures
at the opportunity of dealing a decisive blow at the Con-

1 Stafford to BurgMey, August 28 (September 7), 1590, S. P.
Office MS.

48 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1590

f ederacy of foreigners and rebels who had so long defied
his authority and deprived him of his rights.

Stafford came up with the king, according to his
cordial invitation, on the same day, and saw the army
all drawn up in battle array. While Henry was " eating
a morsel in an old house," Turenne joined him with six
or seven hundred horsemen and between four and five
thousand infantry. " They were the likeliest footmen,"
said Stafford, " the best countenanced, the best furnished
that ever I saw in my life ; the most part of them old
soldiers that had served under the king for the religion
aU this whUe."

The envoy was especially enthusiastic, however, in
regard to the French cavaliy. "There are near six
thousand horse," said he, "whereof gentlemen above
four thousand, about twelve hundred other French, and
eight hundred reiters. I never saw, nor I think never
any man saw, in France such a company of gentlemen
together so well horsed and so well armed." ^

Henry sent a herald to the camp of the allies, formally
challenging them to a general engagement, and express-
ing a hope that all differences might now be settled by
the ordeal of battle, rather than that the sufferings of
the innocent people should be longer protracted.^

Farnese, on arriving at Meaux, had resolved to seek
the enemy and take the hazards of a stricken field. He
had misgivings as to the possible result, but he expressly
announced this intention in his letters to Philip, and
Mayenne confirmed him in his determination.^ Never-

1 Stafford to Burghley, August 28 (September 7), 1590, S. P.
Office MS.

2 Bor, Coloma, Dondini, De Thou, Bentivoglio, Meteren, ubi sup.

3 Parma to Philip, August 28, 1590, Areh. de Sim. MS.

1590] PEEPARATION FOR ATTACK 49

theless, finding the enemy so eager and having reflected
more maturely, he saw no reason for accepting the chiv-
alrous cartel. As commander-in-chief —for Mayenne will-
ingly conceded the supremacy which it would have been
absiird in him to dispute— he accordingly replied that it
was his custom to refuse a combat when a refusal seemed
advantageous to himself, and to offer battle whenever it
suited his purposes to fight. When that moment shoidd
arrive the king would find him in the field. And hav-
ing sent this courteous but unsatisfactory answer to the
impatient B^arnese,^ he gave orders to fortify his camp,
which was already sufficiently strong. Seven days long
the two armies lay face to face, — Henry and his chivah-y
chafing in vain for the longed-for engagement,— and
nothing occurred between those forty or fifty thousand
mortal enemies, encamped within a mile or two of each
other, save trifling skirmishes leading to no result.^

At last Farnese gave orders for an advance. Kenty,
commander of the vanguard, consisting of nearly all the
cavalry, was instructed to move slowly forward over the
two hills, and descending on the opposite side, to deploy
Ms forces in two great wings to the right and left. He
was secretly directed in this movement to magnify as
much as possible the apparent dimensions of his force.
Slowly the columns moved over the hills. Squadron
after squadron, nearly all of them lancers, with their
pennons flaunting gaily in the summer wind, displayed
themselves deliberately and ostentatiously in the face of

1 Coloma, Bentivoglio, De Thou, ubi sup.

2 Alexander estimated the forces of Henry at 14,000 foot and
5000 horse. Stafford placed them at 17,000 foot and 6000 horse.
(Letters cited.) The united forces of Mayenne and Farnese, as
we have seen, amounted to 18,000 foot and 5000 horse.

VOL. IV.— 4

50 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1590

the Royalists. The splendid light horse of Basti, the
ponderous troopers of the Flemish bands of ordnance
under Chimay and Berlaymont, and the famous Alba-
nian and Italian cavalry, were mingled with the veteran
Leaguers of France, who had fought under the Balafr6,
and who now followed the fortunes of his brother May-
enne. It was an imposing demonstration.^

Henry could hardly believe his eyes as the much-
coveted opportunity, of which he had been so many days
disappointed, at last presented itself, and he waited with
more than his usual caution until the plan of attack should
be developed by his great antagonist. Parma, on his
side, pressed the hand of Mayenne afe he watched the
movement, saying quietly, "We have already fought
our battle and gained the victory."^ He then issued
orders for the whole battalia— which, since the junction,
had been under command of Mayenne, Farnese reserv-
ing for himself the superintendence of the entire army
—to countermarch rapidly toward the Marne and take
up a position opposite Lagny. La Motte, with the
rear-guard, was directed immediately to follow. The bat-
talia had thus become the van, the rear-guard the battalia,
while the whole cavalry corps by this movement had
been transformed from the vanguard into the rear.
Renty was instructed to protect his manceuvers, to re-
strain the skirmishing as much as possible, and to keep
the commander-in-chief constantly informed of every
occurrence. In the night he was to intrench and fortify
himself rapidly and thoroughly, without changing his
position.

1 Bor, Coloma, Bentivoglio, Dondini, De Thouj Meteren, ubi
sup.

2 Bentivoglio, loo. cit.

1590] FAENESE OTJTGENEEALS HENRY 51

Under cover of this feigned attack, Parnese arrived at
the riverside on the 15th September, 1590, seized an
open village directly opposite Lagny which was con-
nected with it by a stone bridge, and planted a battery
of nine pieces of heavy artillery directly opposite the
town. Lagny was fortified in the old-fashioned manner,
with not very thick walls, and without a terre-plein. Its
position, however, and its command of the bridge,
seemed to render an assault impossible, and De la Fin,
who lay there with a garrison of twelve hundred French,
had no fear for the security of the place. But Farnese,
with the precision and celerity which characterized his
movements on special occasions, had thrown pontoon-
bridges across the river three miles above, and sent a
considerable force of Spanish and Walloon infantry to
the other side. These troops were ordered to hold them-
selves ready for an assault so soon as the batteries
opposite should effect a practicable breach. The next
day Henry, reconnoitering the scene, saw, with intense
indignation, that he had been completely outgeneraled.
Lagny, the key to the Marne, by holding which he had
closed the door on nearly all the food-supplies for Paris,
was about to be wrested from him. What should he
do? Should he throw himself across the river and
rescue the place before it felll This was not to be
thought of even by the audacious B6arnese. In the
attempt to cross the river under the enemy's fire, he
was likely to lose a large portion of his army. Should
he fling himself upon Renty's division, which had so
ostentatiously offered battle the day before? This at
least might be attempted, although not so advanta-
geously as would have been the case on the previous
afternoon. To undertake this was the result of a rapid

52 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1590

council of generals. It was too late. Eenty held the
hills so firmly intrenched and fortified that it was an
idle hope to carry them by assatdt. He might hurl
column after column against those heights, and pass the
day in seeing his men mowed to the earth without result.

His soldiers, magnificent in the open field, could not
be relied upon to carry so strong a position by sudden
storm, and there was no time to be lost. He felt the
enemy a little. There was some small skirmishing, and
while it was going on, Farnese opened a tremendous fire
across the river upon Lagny. The weak walls soon
crumbled, a breach was effected, the signal for assault
was given, and the troops, posted on the other side,
after a brief but sanguinary struggle, overcame all re-
sistance, and were masters of the town. The whole
garrison, twelve hundred strong, was butchered,^ and
the city thoroughly sacked; for Farnese had been
brought up in the old-fashioned school of Alva and
JuUen Romero and Commander Eequesens.

Thus Lagny was seized before the eyes of Henry, who
was forced to look helplessly on his great antagonist's tri-
umph.^ He had come forth in full panoply and abound-
ing confidence to offer battle. He was foiled of his com-
bat, and he had lost the prize. Never was blow more
successfully parried, a counter-stroke more ingeniously
planted. The bridges of Charenton and St.-Maur now
fell into Farnese's hands without a contest. In an in-
credibly short space of time provisions and munitions
were poured into the starving city, two thousand boat-
loads arriving in a single day. Paris was relieved.^

1 Coloma, loo. oit.

- Coloma, De Thou, Dondini, Bentivoglio, Meteren, ubi sup.

3 Ibid.

1590] CAPTURE OP LAGNY 53

Alexander had made his demonstration and solved the
problem. He had left the Netherlands against his judg-
ment, but he had at least accomplished his French work
as none but he could have done it. The king was. now
in worse plight than ever.i His army fell to pieces.
His cavaliers, cheated of their battle, and having neither
food nor forage, rode off by hundreds every day. " Our
state is such," said Stafford, on the 16th September,
" and so far unexpected and wonderful, that I am almost
ashamed to write, because methinks everybody should
think I dream. Myself seeing of it methinketh that I
dream. For, my lord, to see an army— such a one, I think,
as I shall never see again, especially for horsemen and
gentlemen— to take a mind to disband upon the taking
of such a paltry thing as Lagny, a town no better indeed
than Rochester, it is a thing so strange to me that seeing
of it I can scarce believe it. They make their excuses
of their want, which I know indeed is great, for there
were few left with one penny in their purses, but yet
that extremity could not be such but that they might
have tarried ten days, or fifteen at the most, that the

1 "I dare assure you this king runneth as hard a fortune as
ever he did in his life," said Stafford, adding somewhat cynically :
"If with his loss was lost nothing I would care but little, though
somewhat for Christianity, hut it maketh my heart bleed to think
if the Spaniard grow here (as he beginneth to settle, and that
deeplier than I could ever have believed Frenchmen's hearts
would have endured) what mischief will follow to us ; and therefore
in the meantime, while they may be provided for, if there be not
present order given to send men into Flanders to make a present
retractive for the Prince of Parma, I do not only doubt, but I do
assure myself that we shall not have leisure to tarry here, or ex-
pect the good that the helps out of Germany may bring here-
after."—Stafford to Burghley, August 28 (September 7), 1590,
S. P. Office MS.

54 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1590

king desired of them. . . . From six thousand horse
that we were and above, we are come to two thousand ;
and I do not see an end of our leave-takers, for those be
hourly.

" The most I can see we can make account of to tarry
are the Viscount Turenne's troops, and M. de ChatiUon's,
and our Switzers and lansquenets, which make very
near five thousand. The first that went away, though
he sent word to the king an hour before he would tarry,
was the Count Soissons, by whose parting on a sudden
and without leave-taking we judge a discontentment." ^

The king's army seemed fading into air. Making
virtue of necessity, he withdrew to St.-Denis, and decided
to disband his forces, reserving to himself only a flying
camp with which to harass the enemy as often as oppor-
tunity should offer.

It must be confessed that the B6arnese had been thor-
oughly outgeneraled. "It was not God's will," said
Stafford, who had been in constant attendance upon
Henry through the whole business ; " we deserved it not ;
for the king might as easily have had Paris as drunk,
four or five times. And at the last, if he had not com-
mitted those faults that children would not have done,
only with the desire to fight and give the battle (which
the other never meant), he had had it in the Duke of
Parma's sight as he took Lagny in ours."^ He had
been foiled of the battle on which he had set his heart,
and in which he felt confident of overthrowing the great
captain of the age and trampling the League under his
feet. His capital, just ready to sink exhausted into his
hands, had been wrested from his grasp, and was alive

1 Stafford to BurgUey, September 6 (16), 1590, S. P. Office MS.

2 Ibid.

1590] ATTEMPTED ESCALADE 55

witli new hope and new defiance. The League was
triumphant, his own army scattering to the four winds.
Even a man of high courage and sagacity might have
been in despair. Yet never were the magnificent hope-
fulness, the wise audacity, of Henry more signally mani-
fested than now when he seemed most blundering and
most forlorn. His hardy nature ever met disaster with
so cheerful a smile as almost to perplex disaster herself.
Unwilling to relinquish his grip without a last effort,
he resolved on a midnight assault upon Paris. Hoping
that the joy at being relieved, the unwonted feasting
which had succeeded the long fasting, and the conscious-
ness of security from the presence of the combined
armies of the victorious League, would throw garrison
and citizens off their guard, he came into the neighbor-
hood of the Faubourgs St. -Jacques, St.-Germain, St.-
Marcel, and St.-Michel on the night of the 9th September.
A desperate effort was made to escalade the walls be-
tween St.-Jacques and St.-G-ermain. It was foiled, not
by the soldiers nor the citizens, but by the sleepless
Jesuits, who, as often before during this memorable
siege, had kept guard on the ramparts, and who now
gave the alarm.^ The first assailants were hurled from
their ladders, the city was roused, and the Duke of
Nemours was soon on the spot, ordering burning pitch
hoops, stones, and other missiles to be thrown down upon
the invaders. The escalade was baffled ; yet once more
that night, just before dawn, the king in person renewed
the attack on the Faubourg St.-Germain. The faithful
Stafford stood by his side in the trenches, and was wit-

1 "Aoudieron los primeros d, la muralla los padres Jesuitas,
guiados por el padre Praneisoo Xuares Espanol," etc.— Coloma,
iii. 51.

56 THE UNITED NETHEELANDS [1590

ness to his cool determination, his indomitable hope. La
None, too, was there and was wounded in the leg— an ac-
cident the results of which were soon to cause much
weeping through Christendom.^ Had one of those gar-
lands of blazing tar which aU night had been fluttering
from the walls of Paris alighted by chance on the king's
head, there might have been another history of France.
The ladders, too, proved several feet too short, and there
were too few of them. Had they been more numerous
and longer, the tale might have been a different one.
As it was, the king was forced to retire with the ap-
proaching daylight.^

The characteristics of the great commander of the
Huguenots and of the Leaguers' chieftain respectively
were well illustrated in several incidents of this memo-
rable campaign. Farnese had been informed by scouts

1 Meteren, ubi sup.

^ Coloma, Bentivoglio, Dondini, De Thou, Meteren, ubi sup.
" The king to stay awhile, his troops together had an enterprise
on Paris this day sennight at night, and, with some intelligence
that he said he had in it which I could perceive no token of, had
an enterprise to take it by escalade, and to that purpose had six
thousand footmen and twelve hundred horse that passed the
bridge that he had made at Gonfolar with boats. The king him-
self was in the enterprise, and I with him, and in the ditch with
him, though when he told me the manner I saw it impossible, yet
I went with him because he should not say I was against it for
fear. But when we came there our ladders were too short by five
foot, the larme in the town an hour before and no word of any
intelligence, and so we retired without Paris, which I dare assure
you the king might have had about five times within these five
months, but he is too good a king, and loveth his subjects too well
that hate him deadly. There was upon the return of that enter-
prise no stay, but everybody would be gone, and the king, seeing
that there was no remedy, gave them leave on promise of return."
—Stafford to Burghley, September 6 (16), 1590, S. P. OfSce MS.

1590] DEATH OP SIXTUS V. 57

and spies of this intended assault by Henry on the walls
of Paris. With his habitual caution, he discredited the
story.i Had he believed it, he might have followed the
king in overwhelmiug force and taken him captive.
The penalty of Henry's unparalleled boldness was thus
remitted by Alexander's exuberant discretion.

Soon afterward Farnese laid siege to CorbeU. This
little place, owing to the extraordinary skill and de-
termination of its commandant, Rigaut, an old Huguenot
officer, who had fought with La None in Flanders,
resisted for nearly four weeks. It was assaulted at last,
Rigaut killed, the garrison of one thousand French sol-
diers put to the sword, and the town sacked. With the
fall of Corbeil both the Seine and Marne were reopened.^

Alexander then made a visit to Paris, where he was
received with great enthusiasm. The legate, whose
efforts and whose money had so much contributed to the
successful defense of the capital, had returned to Italy
to participate in the election of a new pope. For the
"Huguenot pope,"^ Sixtus V., had died at the end of
August, having never bestowed on the League any of
his vast accumulated treasures to help it in its utmost
need. It was not surprising that Philip was indignant,
and had resorted to menace of various kinds against the
Holy Father, when he found him swaying so perceptibly
in the direction of the hated B6arnese. Of course when
he died his complaint was believed to be Spanish poison.
In those days none but the very obscure were thought

1 Coloma, iii. 51™.

2 Coloma, iii. 51 seq. Bentivoglio, Dondini, De Thou, Meteren,
ubi sup.

2 "At Paris the pope is aceounted a Huguenot."— Lyly to
Walsingham, April 2 (12), 1590, S. P. Office MS.

58 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1590

capable of dying natural deaths, and Philip was esteemed
too consummate an artist to allow so formidable an ad-
versary as Sixtus to pass away in God's time only. Cer-
tainly his death was hailed as matter of great rejoicing
by the Spanish party in Rome, and as much ignominy
bestowed upon his memory as if he had been a heretic,
while in Paris his decease was celebrated with bonfires
and other marks of popular hilarity.^

To circumvent the great Huguenot's reconciliation
with the Roman Church was of course an indispensable
portion of Philip's plan, for none could be so dull as not
to perceive that the resistance of Paris to its heretic sov-
ereign would cease to be very effective so soon as the
sovereign had ceased to be heretic. It was most impor-
tant, therefore, that the successor of Sixtus should be the
tool of Spain. The leading Confederates were well aware
of Henry's intentions to renounce the Reformed faith
and to return to the communion of Rome whenever he
could formally accomplish that measure. The crafty
B6arnese knew full well that the road to Paris lay
through the gates of Rome. Yet it is proof either of the
privacy with which great public matters were then trans-
acted, or of the extraordinary powers of deceit with
which Henry was gifted, that the leaders of Protestan-
tism were still hoodwinked in regard to his attitude.
Notwithstanding the embassy of Luxembourg and the
many other indications of the king's intentions, Queen
Elizabeth continued to regard him as the great champion
of the Reformed faith. She had just sent him an emerald,
which she had herself worn, accompanied by the expres-
sion of her wish that the king in wearing it might never

1 Stafford to Burghley, September 14 (24), 1590, S. P. Office MS.
De Thou, t. xi. liv. xovii. 270-273.

1590] ELENBY'S CONTEMPLATED CONVERSION 59

strike a blow without demolishing an enemy, and that
in his further progress he might put aU his enemies to
rout and confusion. " You wiU remind the king, too,"
she added, " that the emerald has this virtue, never to
break so long as faith remains entire and firm." ^

And the shrewd Stafford, who was in daily attendance
upon him, informed his sovereign that there were no
symptoms of wavering on Henry's part. " The Catholics
here," said he, " cry hard upon the king to be a Catholic
or else that he is lost, and they would persuade him that,
for all their calling in the Spaniards, both Paris and all
other towns will yield to him, if he will but assure them
that he will become a Catholic. For my part, I think
they would laugh at him when he had done so, and so I
find he believeth the same, if he had mind to it, which I
find no disposition in him unto it." ^ The not very dis-
tant future was to show what the disposition of the bold
Gascon really was in this great matter, and whether he
was likely to reap nothing but ridicule from his apostasy,
should it indeed become a fact. Meantime it was the
opinion of the wisest sovereign in Europe and of one of
the most adroit among her diplomatists that there was
really nothing in the rumors as to the king's contem-
plated conversion.

It was, of course, unfortunate for Henry that his
stanch friend and admirer Sixtus was no more. But
English diplomacy could do but little in Rome, and men

1 "Vous ferez souvenir au roi que I'ssmeraude a ceste vertu de
ne point rompre (a ce que I'on diet) tant que la foy demeure
entiere et ferme."— Queen to the French ambassador, "from
Oatlands, on a Saturday night, after her coming from hunting,"
August 13, 1590, S. P. Office MS.

2 Stafford to Burghley, September 14 (24), 1590, ibid.

60 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1590

were trembling with apprehension lest that arch-enemy
of Elizabeth, that devoted friend of Philip, the English
Cardinal Allen, should be elected to the papal throne.
"Great ado is made in Rome," said Stafford, "by the
Spanish ambassador, by all corruptions and ways that
may be, to make a pope that must needs depend and be
altogether at the King of Spain's devotion. If the
princes of Italy put not their hands unto it, no doubt
they win have their wills, and I fear greatly our villai-
nous AUen, for, in my judgment, I can comprehend no
man more with reason to be tied altogether to the King
of Spain's wiU than he. I pray God send him either to
God or the devil first. An evil-minded Englishman, tied
to the King of Spain by necessity, finding almost foiir
mOlions of money, is a dangerous beast for a pope in
this time."^

Cardinal Allen was doomed to disappointment. His
candidacy was not successful, and after the brief reign,
thirteen days long, of Urban VII., Sfondrato wore the
triple tiara, with the title of Gregory XIV. Before
the year closed, that pontiff had issued a brief urging the
necessity of extirpating heresy in Prance and of elect-
ing a Catholic king, and asserting his determination to
send to Paris, that bulwark of the Catholic faith, not
empty words alone, but troops, to be paid fifteen thou-
sand crowns of gold each month, so long as the city should
need assistance.^ It was therefore probable that the
great leader of the Huguenots, now that he had been
defeated by Parnese and that his capital was still loyal
to the League, would obtain less favor, however con-
scientiously he might instruct himself, from Gregory

1 MS. letter last cited.

2 De Thou, t. xi. liv. xcvii. 343.

1590] PAEMA EETUENS TO THE NETHEELANDS 61

XIV. than he had begun to find in the eyes of Sixtus
after the triumph of Ivry.

Parma refreshed his army by a fortnight's repose, and
early in November determined on his return to the
Netherlands. The Leaguers were aghast at his decision,
and earnestly besought him to remain. But the duke
had given them back their capital, and although this had
been accomplished without much bloodshed in their
army or his own, sickness was now making sad ravages
among his troops, and there was small supply of food or
forage for such large forces as had now been accumu-
lated in the neighborhood of Paris. Moreover, dissen-
sions were breaking out between the Spaniards, Italians,
and Netherlanders of the relieving army and their
French allies. The soldiers and peasants hated the for-
eigners who came there as victors, even although to
assist the Leaguers in overthrowing the laws, govern-
ment, and nationality of Prance. The stragglers and
wounded on Parnese's march were kiUed by the country
people in considerable numbers, and it was a pure im-
possibility for him longer to delay his return to the
provinces which so much against his wiU he had deserted.

He marched back by way of Champagne rather than
by that of Picardy, in order to deceive the king.
Scarcely had he arrived in Champagne when he heard
of the retaking of Lagny and CorbeU. So soon as his
back was turned, the League thus showed its impotence
to retain the advantage which his genius had won. Cor-
beil, which had cost him a month of hard work, was
recaptured in two days. Lagny fell almost as quickly.
Earnestly did the Confederates implore him to return to
their rescue, but he declined ahnost contemptuously to
retrace his steps. His march was conducted in the same

62 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1590

order and with the same precision which had marked
his advance. Henry, with his flying camp, hung upon
his track, harassing him now in front, now in rear, now
in flank. None of the skirmishes were of much military
iinportance. A single cavalry combat, however, in which
old Marshal Biron was nearly surrounded and was in
imminent danger of death or capture, until chivalrously
rescued by the king in person at the head of a squadron
of lancers, will always possess romantic interest.^ In a
subsequent encounter, near Baroges on the Vesle, Henry
had sent Biron forward with a few companies of horse
to engage some five hundred carbineers of Farnese on
their march toward the frontier, and had himself fol-
lowed close upon the track with his usual eagerness
to witness or participate in every battle. Suddenly
Alphonse Corse, who rode at Henry's side, poiated out
to him, not more than a hundred paces off, an offlcer
wearing a felt hat, a great ruff, and a little furred cas-
sock, mounted on a horse without armor or caparisons,
galloping up and down and brandishing his sword at the
carbineers to compel them to fall back. This was the
Duke of Parma, and thus the two great champions of
the Huguenots and of the Leaguers, the two foremost
captains of the age, had met face to face.^ At that
moment La Noue, riding up, informed the king that he
had seen the whole of the enemy's horse and foot in bat-
tle array, and Henry, suspecting the retreat of Farnese
to be a feint for the purpose of luring him on with his

1 Bentivoglio, p. ii. lib. v. 348, 349. Dondini, ii. 363 seq. Colo-
ma, iii. 52 seq. Report of tlie king's actions by Q-rimstone, No-
vember 23-28, 1590, S. P. Office MS.

2 Grimstone's letter, MS. last cited. Compare Coloma, Don-
dini, Bentiyoglio, ubi sup.

1590] RESULT OF FARNESE'S EXPEDITION 63

small force to an. attack, gave orders to retire as soon as
possible.^

At Guise, on the frontier, the duke parted with May-
enne, leaving with him an auxiliary force of four thou-
sand foot and five hundred horse, which he could ill
spare. He then returned to Brussels, which city he
reached on the 4th December, filling every hotel and
hospital with his sick soldiers, and having left one third
of his numbers behind him. He had manifested his own
military skill in the adroit and successful manner in
which he had accomplished the relief of Paris, while the
barrenness of the result from the whole expedition vin-
dicated the political sagacity with which he had remon-
strated against his sovereign's infatuation.

Paris, with the renewed pressure on its two great
arteries at Lagny and Corbeil, soon fell into as great
danger as before ; the obedient Netherlands during the
absence of Farnese had been sinking rapidly to ruin,
while, on the other hand, great progress and stiU greater
preparations in aggressive warfare had been made by
the youthful general and stadholder of the Republic.^

1 Grrimstone's letter, MS. last cited.

2 Coloma, Dondini, Bentivoglio, uM sup. De Thou, t. xi. liv.
xevii. 205 seq. Lo suoedido, etc., Areh. de Sim. MS. Parma to
PMlip, October 3 and 21, 1590, ibid. Same to same, November
19, 1590, ibid. Same to same, November 28, 1590, ibid. Same
to same, December 31, 1590, ibid.

CHAPTER XXIV

Prince Maurice— State of the repuWioan army— Martial science of
the period— Reformation of the military system by Prince Maurice
—His military genius— Campaign in the Netherlands— The fort
and town of Zutphen taken by the states' forces— Attack upon De-
venter— Its capitulation- Advance on Grroningen, Delfzyl, Opslag,
Yementil, Steenwyk, and other places- Farnese besieges Fort
Knodsenburg— Prince Maurice hastens to its relief —A skirmish
ensues, resulting in the discomfiture of the Spanish and Italian
troops— Surrender of Hulst and Nimwegen— Close of military
operations of the year.

While the events revealed in the last chapter had been
occupying the energies of Farnese and the resources of
his sovereign, there had been ample room for Prince
Maurice to mature his projects and to make a satisfac-
tory beginning in the field. Although Alexander had
returned to the Netherlands before the end of the year
1590, and did not set forth on his second French cam-
paign untU late in the following year, yet the condition
of his health, the exhaustion of his funds, and the
dwindling of his army made it impossible for him to
render any effectual opposition to the projects of the
youthful general.

For the first time Maurice was ready to put his the-
ories and studies into practice on an extensive scale.
Compared with modern armaments, the warlike machi-

64

1590] CONDITION OP THE STATES' ARMY 65

nery to be used for liberating the Republic from its for-
eign oppressors would seem almost diminutive. But the
science and skill of a commander are to be judged by
the results he can work out with the materials within
reach. His progress is to be measured by a comparison
with the progress of his contemporaries— coheirs with
him of what Time had thus far bequeathed.

The regular army of the Republic, as reconstructed,
was but ten thousand foot and two thousand horse,
but it was capable of being largely expanded by the
train-bands of the cities, well disciplined and inured
to hardship, and by the levies Of G-erman reiters and
other foreign auxiliaries in such numbers as could
be paid for by the hard-pressed exchequer of the
provinces.

To the state council, according to its origiaal consti-
tution, belonged the levying and disbanding of troops,
the conferring of military oflees, and the supervision of
military operations by sea and land. It was its duty
to see that all ofilcers made oath of allegiance to the
United Provinces.

The course of Leicester's administration, and espe-
cially the fatal treason of Stanley and of Yorke, made it
seem important for the true lovers of their country to
wi-est from the state council, where the EngUsh had two
seats, aU political and military power. And this, as has
been seen, was practically but illegally accomplished.
The silent revolution by which at this epoch aU the main
attributes of government passed iato the bands of the
States-G-eneral, acting as a league of sovereignties, has
already been indicated. The period during which the
council exercised functions conferred on it by the States-
General themselves was brief and evanescent. The jeal-

VOL. IV.— 6

66 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1590

ousy of the separate provinces soon prevented the state
council, a supreme executive body intrusted with the
general defense of the commonwealth, from causing
troops to pass into or out of one province or another
without a patent from his Excellency the Prince, not as
chief of the whole army, but as governor and captain-
general of Holland, or Gelderland, or Utrecht, as the
case might be.

The highest military ofilce in the Netherlands was that
of captain-general or supreme commander. This quality
was from earliest times united to that of stadholder,
who stood, as his title implied, in the place of the reign-
ing sovereign, whether count, duke, king, or emperor.
After the foundation of the Republic this dynastic form,
like many others, remained, and thus Prince Maurice
was at first only captain-general of Holland and Zealand,
and subsequently of Gelderland, Utrecht, and Overyssel,
after he had been appointed stadholder of those three
provinces in 1590, on the death of Count Nieuwenaar.
However much in reality he was general-in-chief of the
army, he never in all his life held the appointment of
captain-general of the Union.

To obtain a captain's commission in the army, it was
necessary to have served four years, whUe three years'
service was the necessary preliminary to the post of lieu-
tenant or ensign. Three candidates were presented by
the province for each ofiice, from whom the stadholder
appointed one. The commissions, except those of the
highest commanders, were made out in the name of the
States-General, by advice and consent of the council of
state. The oath of allegiance, exacted from soldiers as
well as officers, mentioned the name of the particular
province to which they belonged, as well as that of the

1590] MILITAEY ORGANIZATION 67

States-General.! j^ tj^^g appears that, especially after
Maurice's first and successful campaigns, the supreme
authority over the army really belonged to the States-
General, and that the powers of the state council in this
regard fell, in the course of four years, more and more
into the background, and at last disappeared almost
entirely. During the active period of the war, however,
the effect of this revolution was in fact rather a greater
concentration of military power than its dispersion, for
the States-General meant simply the province of Hol-
land. Holland was the Republic.

The organization of the infantry was very simple.
The tactical unit was the company. A temporary com-
bination of several companies made a regiment, com-

1 For example, tlie oath for a soldier of Holland was : " I
promise and swear to the States-General of the United Nether-
lands, who remain by the Union and by the maintenance of the
Eeformed religion, and also to the knights, nobles, and regents
[magistrates] of the countship and province of Holland, represent-
ing the states of said province, and therewith to the states of the
other provinces in which I may be employed, and also to the re-
gents of the cities as well within as without the province of Hol-
land where I may be placed in garrison, to be faithful and true.
See Joumaal van Anthonis Duyck (1591-1602) : uitgegeven op
Last van het Departement van Oorlog, met Inleiding en
Aanteekeningen door Lodewijk Mulder, Kapitein der Infanterie
('s Graven Hage, Martinus Nyhoff, 1862), pp. xlvi, xlvii. All lovers
of Dutch history must sincerely rejoice that this valuable con-
temporary manuscript is at last in course of publication, and that
it is in the hands of so accomplished and able an editor. I am
under the deepest obligations to Captain Mulder for the informa-
tion derived, in regard to the military history of this epoch in the
Netherlands, from his learned and lucid introduction, and in
drawing largely and almost exclusively from this source in the
first part of the present chapter, I desire to express my thanks in
the warmest manner.

68 THE UNITED NETHBELANDS [1590

manded by a colonel or lieutenant-colonel, but for such
regiments there was no regular organization. Some-
times six or seven companies were thus combined, some-
times three times that number, but the strength of a
force, however large, was always estimated by the num-
ber of companies, not of regiments.^

The normal strength of an infantry company, at the
beginning of Maurice's career, may be stated at one
hundred and thirteen, commanded by one captaia, one
heutenant, one ensign, and by the usual non-commis-
sioned officers. Each company was composed of muske-
teers, harquebusiers, pikemen, halberdiers, and buckler-
men. Long after portable firearms had come into use,
the greater portion of foot-soldiers continued to be
armed with pikes, until the introduction of the fixed
bayonet enabled the musketeer to do likewise the duty
of pikeman. Maurice was among the first to appreciate
the advantage of portable firearms, and he accordingly
increased the proportion of soldiers armed with the
musket in his companies. In a company of a hundred
and thirteen, including officers, he had sixty-four armed
with firelocks to thirty carrying pikes and halberds. As
before his time the proportion between the arms had
been nearly even, he thus more than doubled the num-
ber of firearms.^

Of these weapons there were two sorts, the musket
and the harquebus. The musket was a long, heavy, un-
manageable instrument. "When fired it was placed upon
an iron gaffle, or fork, which the soldier carried with him
and stuck before him into the ground. The bullets of
the musket were twelve to the pound.'

1 Mulder, Inleiding, 1, li.

2 Ibid., li, lii. 3 Ibid., liv.

1590] IMPROVEMENTS IN MARTIAL SCIENCE 69

The harquebus, or haakbus, " hook-gun," so called be-
cause of the hook in the front part of the barrel to give
steadiness in firing, was much lighter, was discharged
from the hand, and carried bullets of twenty-four to
the pound. Both weapons had matchlocks.^

The pike was eighteen feet long at least, and pikemen
as well as halberdmen carried rapiers.^

There were three bucklermen to each company, intro-
duced by Maurice for the personal protection of the
leader of the company. The prince was often attended
by one himself, and on at least one memorable occasion
was indebted to this shield for the preservation of his
Ufe.3

The cavalry was divided into lancers and carbineers.
The unit was the squadron, varying in number from
sixty to one hundred and fifty, until the year 1591, when
the regular complement of the squadron was fixed at one
hundred and twenty.*

As the use of cavalry on the battle-field at that day,
or at least in the Netherlands, was not in rapidity of
motion nor in severity of shock, the attack usually
taking place on a trot, Maurice gradually displaced
the lance in favor of the carbine.^ His troopers thus
became rather mounted infantry than regular cavalry.

The carbine was at least three feet long, with wheel-
locks, and carried bullets of thirty to the pound.*

The artillery was a peculiar organization. It was a
gild of citizens rather than a strictly military force like
the cavahy and infantry. The arm had but just begun
to develop itself, and it was cultivated as a special trade
by the Gild of the Holy Barbara, existing in all the prin-

1 Mulder, liv-lix. ^ ibid. « ibid.

2 Ibid. * Ibid- ' Il'id.

70 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1590

cipal cities. Thus a municipal artillery gradually
organized itself, under the direction of the gun-masters
(busmeesters), who in secret labored at the perfection of
their art, and who taught it to their apprentices and
journeymen, as the principles of other crafts were con-
veyed by master to pupil. This system furnished a
powerful element of defense at a period when every city
had in great measure to provide for its own saf ety.^

In the earlier campaigns of Maurice three kinds of
artillery were used— the whole cannon (kartouw) of forty-
eight pounds, the half-cannon, or twenty-four pounder,
and the field-piece carrying a ball of twelve pounds. The
two first were called battering-pieces or siege-guns. All
the guns were of bronze.^

The length of the whole cannon was about twelve feet,
its weight one hundred and fifty times that of the ball,
or about seven thousand pounds. It was reckoned that
the whole kartouw could fire from eighty to one hundred
shots in an hour. Wet haircloths were used to cool the
piece after every ten or twelve discharges. The usual
charge was twenty pounds of powder.^

The whole gun was drawn by thirty-one horses, the
half-cannon by twenty-three.*

The field-piece required eleven horses ; but a regular
field-artillery, as an integral part of the army, did not
exist, and was introduced in much later times. In the
greatest pitched battle ever fought by Maurice, that of
Nieuport, he had but six field-pieces.*

The prince also employed mortars in his sieges, from
which were thrown grenades, hot shot, and stones, but
no greater distance was reached than six hundred yards.

1 Mulder, lix-lxxiv. 2 Ibid. s Hji^,

* Ibid. 5 Ibid.

1590] IMPROVEMENTS IN MARTIAL SCIENCE 71

Bombshells were not often used, although they had been
known for a century.^

Before the days of Maurice a special education for
engineers had never been contemplated. Persons who
had privately acquired a knowledge of fortification and
similar branches of the science were employed upon
occasion, but regular corps of engineers there were
none. The prince established a course of instruction in
this profession at the University of Leyden, according
to a system drawn up by the celebrated Stevinus.^

Doubtless the most important innovation of the prince,
and the one which required the most energy to enforce,
was the use of the spade. His soldiers were jeered at by
the enemy as mere boors and day-laborers who were
dishonoring themselves and their profession by the use
of that implement instead of the sword. Such a novelty
was a shock to all the military ideas of the age, and it
was only the determination and vigor of the prince and
of his cousin Louis William that ultimately triumphed
over the universal prejudice.*

The pay of the common soldier varied from ten to
twenty florins the month, but every miner had eighteen
florins, and when actually working in the mines thirty
florins, monthly. Soldiers used in digging trenches re-
ceived, over and above their regular pay, a daily wage
of from ten to fifteen stivers, or nearly a shilling ster-
ling.*

Another most wholesome improvement made by the
prince was in the payment of his troops. The system
prevailing in every European country at that day, by
which governments were defrauded and soldiers starved,

1 Mulder, lix-lxxiv. ^ lbid.,lxxiv-lxxix.

3 Reyd, ix. 180 seq. * Mulder, ubi sup.

72 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1590

was most infamous. The soldiers were paid through
the captain, who received the wages of a full company,
when perhaps not one third of the names on the muster-
roU. were living human beings. Accordingly, two thirds
of all the money stuck to the officer's fingers, and it was
not thought a disgrace to cheat the government by dress-
ing and equipping for the day a set of ragamuffins,
caught up in the streets for the purpose, and made to
pass muster as regular soldiers.^

These passe- volants, or scarecrows, were passed freely
about from one company to another, and the indecency
of the fraud was never thought a disgrace to the colors
of the company.

Thus, in the Armada year, the queen had demanded
that a portion of her auxiliary force in the Netherlands
should be sent to England. The states agreed that
three thousand of these English troops, together with a
few cavalry companies, should go, but stipulated that
two thousand should remain in the provinces. The
queen accepted the proposal, but when the two thousand
had been counted out it appeared that there was scarcely
a man left for the voyage to England. Yet every one of
the English captains had claimed full pay for his com-
pany from her Majesty's exchequer.^

Against this tide of peculation and corruption the
strenuous Maurice set himself with heart and soul, and
there is no doubt that to his reformation in this vital
matter much of his military success was owing. It was
impossible that roguery and venality should ever furnish
a solid foundation for the martial science.

To the student of military history the campaigns and
sieges of Maurice, and especially the earlier ones, are of
1 Mulder, xoiv, xov. 2 Ibid., xcix.

1590] IMPROVEMENTS IN MARTIAL SCIENCE 73

great importance. There is no doubt whatever that the
youth who now, after deep study and careful preparation,
was measuring himself against the first captains of the
age, was founding the great modern school of military
science. It was in this Netherland academy, and under
the tuition of its consummate professor, that the com-
manders of the seventeenth century not only acquired
the rudiments, but perfected themselves in the higher
walks of their art. Therefore the siege operations, in
which aU that had been invented by modern genius, or
rescued from the oblivion which had gathered over
ancient lore during the more vulgar and commonplace
practice of the mercenary commanders of the day, was
brought into successful application, must always engage
the special attention of the military student.

To the general reader, more interested in marking the
progress of civilization and the advance of the people in
the path of development and true liberty, the spectacle
of the young stadholder's triumphs has an interest of
another kind. At the moment when a thorough practi-
cal soldier was most needed by the struggling little
commonwealth, to enable it to preserve liberties partially
secured by its unparalleled sacrifices of blood and trea-
sure during a quarter of a century, and to expel the for-
eign invader from the soil which he had so long profaned,
it was destined that a soldier should appear.

Spade in hand, with his head full of Roman castra-
metation and geometrical problems, a prince, scarce
emerged from boyhood, presents himself on that stage
where grizzled Mansf elds, drunken Hohenlos, and trucu-
lent Verdugos have been so long enacting that artless
military drama which consists of hard knocks and
wholesale massacres. The novice is received with uni-

74 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1590

versal hilarity. But althougli the machinery of war
varies so steadily from age to age that a commonplace
commander of to-day, rich in the spoils of preceding
time, might vanquish the Alexanders and Caesars and
Fredericks, with their antiquated enginery, yet the moral
stuff out of which great captains, great armies, great
victories are created is the simple material it was in the
days of Sesostris or Cyrus. The mor^l and physiologi-
cal elements remain essentially the same as when man
first began to walk up and down the earth and destroy
his f eUow-creatures.

To make an army a thorough mowing-machine, it then
seemed necessary that it should be disciplined into com-
plete mechanical obedience. To secure this, prompt
payment of wages and inexorable punishment of delin-
quencies were indispensable. Long arrearages were now
convertingFamese's veterans into systematic marauders ;
for unpaid soldiers in every age and country have usually
degenerated into highwaymen, and it is an impossibility
for a sovereign, with the strictest intentions, to persist
in starving his soldiers and in killing them for feeding
themselves. In Maurice's little army, on the contrary,
there were no back wages and no thieving. At the siege
of Delf zyl Maurice hung two of his soldiers for stealing,
the one a hat and the other a poniard, from the towns-
folk, after the place had capitulated.^ At the siege of
Hulst he ordered another to be shot before the whole
camp for robbing a woman.^ This seems sufficiently
harsh, but war is not a pastime nor a very humane occu-
pation. The result was that robbery disappeared, and
it is better for all that enlisted men should be soldiers
rather than thieves. To secure the ends which alone can
1 Eeyd, ix. 171. 2 Van der Kemp, 112.

1590] IMPROVEMENTS IN MARTIAL SCIENCE 75

justify war— and if the Netherlanders engaged in de-
fending national existence and human freedom against
foreign tyranny were not justifiable, then a just war has
never been waged — a disciplined army is vastly more
humane in its operations than a band of brigands.
Swift and condign punishment by the law martial, for
even trifling offenses, is the best means of discipline yet
devised.

To bring to utmost perfection the machinery already
in existence, to encourage invention, to ponder the past
with a practical application to the present, to court
fatigue, to scorn pleasure, to concentrate the energies
on the work in hand, to cultivate quickness of eye and
calmness of nerve in the midst of danger, to accelerate
movements, to economize blood even at the expense of
time, to strive after ubiquity and omniscience in the
details of person and place, these were the characteris-
tics of Maurice, and they have been the prominent traits
of all commanders who have stamped themselves upon
their age. Although his method of war-making differed
as far as possible from that of the Bearnese, yet the two
had one quality in common, personal insensibility to
fear. But in the case of Henry to confront danger for
its own sake was in itself a pleasure, while the cahner
spirit of Maurice did not so much seek the joys of the
combat as refuse to desist from scientific combinations
in the interests of his personal safety. Very frequently,
in the course of his early campaigns, the prince was
formally and urgently requested by the States-General
not to expose his life so recklessly, and before he had
passed his twenty-fifth year he had received wounds
which, but for fortunate circumstances, would have
proved mortal, because he was unwiUing to leave special

76 THE UNITED NETHEELANDS [1590

operations on which much was depending to other eyes
than his own. The details of his campaigns are, of
necessity, the less interesting to a general reader from
their very completeness. Desultory or semi-civilized
warfare, where the play of the human passions is dis-
tinctly visible, where individual man, whether in buff
jerkin or Milan coat of proof, meets his fellow-man in
close mortal combat, where men starve by thousands or
are massacred by townfuls, where hamlets or villages
blaze throughout whole districts or are sunk beneath the
ocean— scenes of rage, hatred, vengeance, self-sacrifice,
patriotism, where all the virtues and vices of which
humanity is capable stride to and fro in their most vio-
lent colors and most colossal shape, where man in a
moment rises almost to divinity or sinks beneath the
beasts of the field— such tragical records of which the
sanguinary story of mankind is full — and no portion
of it more so than the Netherland chronicles— appeal
more vividly to the imagination than the neatest solu-
tion of mathematical problems. Yet, if it be the legiti-
mate end of military science to accomplish its largest
purposes at the least expense of human suffering, if it
be progress in civilization to acquire by scientific com-
bination what might be otherwise attempted, and per-
haps vainly attempted, by infinite carnage, then is the
professor with his diagrams, standing unmoved amid
danger, a more truly heroic image than Cceur de Lion
with his battle-ax or Alva with his truncheon.

The system, then a new one, which Maurice intro-
duced to sustain that little commonwealth from sinking
of which he had become at the age of seventeen the pre-
destined chief, was the best under the circumstances that
could have been devised. Patriotism the most passion-

1590] MILITARY GENIUS OF PRINCE MAURICE 77

ate, the most sublime, had created the Republic. To
maintain its existence against perpetual menace required
the exertion of perpetual skill.

Passionless as algebra, the genius of Maurice was
ready for the task. Strategic points of immense value,
important cities and fortresses, vital river-courses and
communications— which foreign tyranny had acquired
during the tragic past with a patient iniquity almost
without a parallel, and which patriotism had for years
vainly struggled to recover— were the earliest trophies
and prizes of his art. But the details of his victories
may be briefly indicated, for they have none of the pic-
turesqueness of crime. The sieges of Naarden, Haarlem,
Leyden, were tragedies of maddening interest, but the
recovery of Zutphen, Deventer, Nimwegen, Grroningen,
and many other places, all-important though they were,
was accomplished with the calmness of a consummate
player, who throws down on the table the best half-dozen
invincible cards, which it thus becomes superfluous to
play.

There were several courses open to the prince before
taking the field. It was desirable to obtain control of
the line of the Waal, by which that heart of the Repub-
lic, Holland, would be made entirely secure. To this
end, Grertruydenberg, — lately surrendered to the enemy
by the perfidy of the Englishman Wingfield, to whom it
had been intrusted,— Bois-le-Duc, and Nimwegen were
to be wrested from Spain.

It was also important to hold the Yssel, the course of
which river led directly through the United Netherlands,
quite to the Zuyder Zee, cutting off Friesland, G-ronin-
gen, and Gelderland from their sister provinces of
Holland and Zealand. And here again the keys to this

78 THE UNITED NETHEELANDS [1590

river had been lost by English treason. The fort of
Zutphen and the city of Deventer had been transferred
to the Spaniard by Eowland Yorke and Sir William Stan-
ley,i in whose honor the Republic had so blindly confided,
and those cities it was now necessary to reduce by regu-
lar siege before the communications between the eastern
and western portions of the httle commonwealth could
ever be established.

Still farther in the ancient Frisian depths, the mem-
orable treason of that native Netherlander, the high-
born Eenneberg, had opened the way for the Spaniard's
foot into the city of Groningen. Thus this whole im-
portant province, with its capital, long subject to the
foreign oppressor, was garrisoned with his troops.

Verdugo, a veteran officer of Portuguese birth, who
had risen from the position of hostler ^ to that of colonel
and royal stadholder, commanded in Friesland. He had
in vain demanded reinforcements and supplies from
Famese, who most reluctantly was obliged to refuse
them in order that he might obey his master's commands
to neglect everything for the sake of the campaign in
France.

And Verdugo, stripped of all adequate forces to pro-
tect his important province, was equally destitute of
means for feeding the troops that were left to him. " I
hope to God that I may do my duty to the king and
your Highness," he cried, "but I find myself sold up
and pledged to such an extent that I am poorer than
when I was a soldier at four crowns a month. And
everybody in the town is as desperate as myself." ^

1 Vol. ii. of this work, chap. xiii.

2 Eeyd, ix. 172.

5 Groen v. Priusterer, Archives, etc., II. S6rie, i. 128.

1591] FOBT OF ZUTPHEN TAKEN 79

Maurice, after making a feint of attacking Gertruy-
denberg and Bois-le-Duc, so that Farnese felt compelled,
with considerable difilculty, to strengthen the garrison
of those places, came unexpectedly to Arnheim with a
force of nine thousand foot and sixteen hundred horse.
He had previously and with great secrecy sent some
companies of infantry under Sir Francis Vere to Does-
burg.

On the 23d May (1591) five peasants and six peasant
women made their appearance at dawn of day before
the chief guard-house of the great fort in the Bad
Meadow (Veluwe), opposite Zutphen, on the west side
of the Yssel. It was not an unusual occurrence. These
boors and their wives had brought baskets of eggs,
butter, and cheese for the garrison, and they now set
themselves quietly down on the ground before the gate,
waiting for the soldiers of the garrison to come out and
traffic with them for their supplies. Very soon several
of the guard made their appearance, and began to
chaffer with the peasants, when suddenly one of the
women plucked a pistol from under her petticoats and
shot dead the soldier who was cheapening her eggs.
The rest of the party, transformed in an instant from
boors to soldiers, then sprang upon the rest of the
guard, overpowered and bound them, and took posses-
sion of the gate. A considerable force, which had been
placed in ambush by Prince Maurice near the spot,, now
rushed forward, and in a few minutes the great fort of
Zutphen was mastered by the states' forces without
loss of a man. It was a neat and perfectly successful
stratagem.^

Next day Maurice began the regular investment of

1 Meteren, xvi. 298. Bor, iii. xxviii. 560, 562.

80 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [159i

the city. On the 26th Count Lotus William arrived
with some Frisian companies. On the 27th Maurice
threw a bridge of boats from the Bad Meadow side
across the river to the Weert, before the city. On the
28th he had got batteries, mounting thirty-two guns,
into position, commanding the place at three points.
On the 30th the town capitulated. Thus within exactly
one week from the firing of the pistol-shot by the sup-
posed butterwoman, this fort and town, which had so
long resisted the efforts of the states and were such
important possessions of the Spaniards, fell into the
hands of Maurice. The terms of surrender were easy.
The city being more important than its garrison, the
soldiers were permitted to depart with bag and baggage.
The citizens were allowed three days to decide whether
to stay under loyal obedience to the States-General or to
take their departure. Those who chose to remain were to
enjoy all the privileges of citizensof theUnitedProvinces.i

But very few substantial citizens were left, for such
had been the tyranny, the misery, and the misrule dur-
ing the long occupation by a foreign soldiery of what
was once a thriving Dutch town that scarcely anybody
but paupers and vagabonds was left. One thousand
houses were ruined and desolate. It is superfluous to
add that the day of its restoration to the authority of
the Union was the beginning of its renewed prosperity.

Maurice, having placed a national garrison in the
place, marched the same evening straight upon Deventer,
seven miles farther down the river, without pausing to
sleep upon his victory. His artillery and munitions
were sent rapidly down the Yssel.

Within five days he had thoroughly invested the city
1 Bor, Meteren, ubi sup. Duyck, 6-14.

1591] ATTACK ON DEVENTEE gj

and brougM twenty-eight guns to bear upon the weak-
est part of its defenses.

It was a large, populous, well-built town, once a
wealthy member of the Hanseatic League, full of fine
buildings, both public and private, the capital of the
rich and fertile province of Overyssel, and protected by
a strong wall and moat— as well fortified a place as
could be found in the Netherlands.^ The garrison con-
sisted of fourteen hundred Spaniards and Walloons,
under the command of Count Hermann van den Berg,
first cousin of Prince Maurice.

No sooner had the states' army come before the city
than a Spanish captain observed : " We shall now have
a droll siege — cousins on the outside, cousins on the
inside. There wiU be a sham fight or two, and then the
cousins wiU make it up and arrange matters to suit
themselves." ^

Such hints had deeply wounded Van den Berg, who
was a fervent Catholic, and as loyal a servant to Philip
II. as he could have been had that monarch deserved,
by the laws of nature and by his personal services and
virtues, to govern aU the swamps of Friesland. He
slept on the gibe, having ordered aU the colonels and
captains of the garrison to attend at solemn mass in the
great church the next morning. He there declared to
them aU publicly that he felt outraged at the suspicions
concerning his fidelity, and after mass he took the sacra-
ment, solemnly swearing never to give up the city or
even to speak of it until he had made such resistance
that he must be carried from the breach. So long as he
could stand or sit he would defend the city intrusted to
his care.^
1 Gruieeiardini, in voce. ^ Keyd, ix. 169. * Ibid.

VOL. IV.— 6

82 THE UNITED NETHBELANDS [1591

The whole council, who had come from Zutphen to
Maurice's camp, were allowed to deliberate concerning
the siege. The enemy had been seen hovering about
the neighborhood in considerable numbers, but had not
ventured an attempt to throw reinforcements into the
place. Many of the councilors argued against the siege.
It was urged that the resistance would be determined
and protracted, and that the Duke of Parma was sure to
take the field in person to relieve so important a city
before its reduction could be effected.

But Maurice had thrown a bridge across the Tssel
above and another below the town, had carefully and
rapidly taken measures in the success of which he felt
confident, and now declared that it would be cowardly
and shameful to abandon an enterprise so well begun.

The city had been formally summoned to surrender,
and a calm but most decided refusal had been returned.

On the 9th June the batteries began playing, and after
four thousand six hundred shots a good breach had been
effected in the defenses along the Kaye— an earthen
work lying between two strong walls of masonry.

The breach being deemed practicable, a storm was
ordered. To reach the Kaye it was necessary to cross a
piece of water called the Haven, over which a pontoon-
bridge was hastily thrown. There was now a dispute
among the English, Scotch, and Netherlanders for pre-
cedence in the assault. It was ultimately given to the
English, in order that the bravery of that nation might
now on the same spot wipe out the disgrace inflicted
upon its name by the treason of Sir William Stanley.
The English did their duty well and rushed forward
merrily, but the bridge proved too short. Some sprang
over and pushed boldly for the breach. Some feU into

1591] ATTACK ON DEVENTEE 83

the moat and were drowned. Others, sustained by the
Netherlanders under Solms, Meetkerken, and Brederode,
effected their passage by swimming, leaping, or wading,
so that a resolute attack was made. Hermann van den
Berg met them in the breach at the head of seven com-
panies. The defenders were most ferocious in their
resistance. They were also very drunk. The count had
placed many casks of Rhenish and of strong beer within
reach, and ordered his soldiers to drink their fill as they
fought.^ He was himself as vigorous iu his potations
as he was chivalrous with sword and buckler. Two
pages and two lieutenants feU at his side, but stUl he
fought at the head of his men with a desperation worthy
of his vow, until he fell wounded in the eye and was
carried from the place. Notwithstanding this disaster
to the commander of the town, the assailants were re-
pulsed, losing two hundred and twenty-five iu kiUed and
wounded— Colonel Meetkerken and his brother, two
most valuable Dutch officers, among them.^

During the whole of the assault a vigorous cannonade
had been kept up upon other parts of the town, and
houses and church towers were toppling down in all
directions. Meanwhile the inhabitants,— for it was Sun-

1 Eeyd, ix. 169.

2 Ibid. Bor, iii. xxviii. 563, 564. Meteren, xvi. 298. Duyek,
20, 21. Colonel Nicholas Meetkerken died of Ms wounds in this
assault. He was less than thirty years of age, but already a
veteran soldier, and had distinguished himself in the English-
Dutch expedition, under Essex, against Portugal in 1587. His
elder brother Anthony had been killed before Zutphen fort in 1586.
His two younger brothers, Baldwin and Adolph, were both in the
army. Adolph was shot through the body in this same storming-
party in which Nicholas was killed, but seems to have recovered.
They were the sons of Adolph Meetkerken, formerly president of

84 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1591

day,— instead of going to service, were driven toward
the breach by the sergeant-major, a truculent Spaniard,
next in command to Van den Berg, who ran about the
place with a great stick, summoning the Dutch burghers
to assist the Spanish garrison on the wall.^ It was
thought afterward that this warrior would have been
better occupied among the soldiers, at the side of his
commander.

A chivalrous incident in the open field occurred dur-
ing the assault. A gigantic Albanian cavalry officer
came prancing out of Deventer into the spaces between
the trenches, defying any officer in the states' army to
break a lance with him. Prince Maurice forbade any
acceptance of the challenge, but Louis van der CathuUe,
son of the famous Ryhove of Grhent, unable to endure
the taunts and bravado of this champion, at last obtained
permission to encounter him in single combat. They
met accordingly with much ceremony, tilted against each
other, and shivered their lances in good style, but with-
out much effect. The Albanian then drew a pistol.
Cathulle had no weapon save a cutlass, but with this
weapon he succeeded in nearly cutting off the hand
which held the pistol. He then took his enemy prisoner,
the vainglorious challenger throwing his gold chain
around his conqueror's neck in token of his victory.
Prince Maurice caused his wound to be bound up and

Flanders, who, on aeeotmt of his participation in Leicester's at-
tempt upon Leyden (see vol. iii. of this work, chap, xvii.), was a
refugee in England. See Mulder's note to Duyck, p. 20.

How mnoh does the brief martial record of these four brothers
in this war of Dutch burghers for national existence remind us of
the simple but heroic annals of many a family of our own coun-
trymen in the great war now waging for the same object ! (1863.)

1 Eeyd, ubi sup.

1591] CAPITULATION OF DEVENTER 35

then liberated him, sending him into the city with a
message to the governor.^

During the following night the bridge, over which the
assailants had nearly forced their way into the town,
was vigorously attacked by the garrison; but Count
Louis William, in person, with a chosen band, defended
it stoutly tUl morning, beating back the Spaniards with
heavy loss in a sanguinary midnight contest.^

Next morning there was a unanimous outcry on the
part of the besieged for a capitulation. It was obvious
that, with the walls shot to ruins as they had been, the
place was no longer tenable against Maurice's superior
forces. A trumpet was sent to the prince before the
dawn of day, and on the 10th of June, accordingly, the
place capitulated.*

It was arranged that the garrison should retire with
arms and baggage whithersoever they chose. Van den
Berg stipulated nothing in favor of the citizens, whether
through forgetfulness or spite does not distinctly appear.
But the burghers were received like brothers. No plun-
der was permitted, no ransom demanded, and the city
took its place among its sisterhood of the United Prov-
inces.* Van den Berg himself was received at the
prince's headquarters with much cordiality. He was
quite blind; but his wound seemed to be the effect of
exterior contusions, and he ultimately recovered the
sight of one eye. There was much free conversation
between himself and his cousins during the brief inter-
val in which he was their guest.

1 Meteren, ubi sup. 2 Bor, ubi sup.

3 Ibid. Meteren, Eeyd, ubi sup. Duyck, 20-25. Parma to
Philip, June 10, 1591, Arch, de Sim. MS.
* Ibid.

86 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1591

" I Ve often told Verdugo/' said he, " that the states
had no power to make a regular siege, nor to come with
proper artillery into the field, and he agreed with me.
But we were both wrong, for I now see the contrary."

To which Count Louis WiUiam replied, with a laugh :
" My dear cousin, I 've observed that in all your actions
you were in the habit of despising us Beggars, and I
have said that you would one day draw the shortest
straw in consequence. I 'm glad to hear this avowal
from your own lips."

Hermann attempted no reply, but let the subject
drop, seeming to regret having said so much.^

Soon afterward he was forwarded by Maurice in his
own coach to Ulffi, where he was attended by the prince's
body-physician tiU he was reestablished in health.^

Thus within ten days of his first appearance before
its walls the city of Deventer, and with it a whole
province, had fallen into the hands of Maurice. It
began to be understood that the young pedant knew
something about his profession, and that he had not been
fagging so hard at the science of war for nothing.^

The city was in a sorry plight when the states took
possession of it. As at Zutphen, the substantial bur-
ghers had wandered away, and the foreign soldiers biv-
ouacking there so long had turned the stately old Han-
seatic city into a brick-and-mortar wilderness. Hundreds

1 Eeyd, ubi sup. 2 Bor, ubi sup.

s Turenne (Duo de Bouillon) was excessively entlmsiastic.
" Je ne vous s9auroy dire la joie," he wrote to Count John the
Elder, " que j'ay de I'honneur que Monsieur le Comte Maurice votre
nepveu a acquis en la prise de Zutphen et Deventer. n a effae^
en huiot jours la reputation que le Duo de Parme a acquis en dix
ans, et faiot Men paraistre que la vertu et g6n6rosit6 de sa Maison
est immortelle."— Groen v. Priusterer, Archives, II. S. i. 169.

1591] SIEGE OP GEONINGEN 87

of houses had been demolished by the garrison, that the
iron might be sold and the woodwork burned for fuel ;
for the enemy had conducted himself as if feeling in his
heart that the occupation could not be a permanent one,
and as if desirous to make the place as desolate as pos-
sible for the Beggars when they should return .^

The dead body of the traitor Yorke, who had died and
been buried in Deventer, was taken from the tomb, after
the capture of the city, and, with the vulgar ferocity so
characteristic of the times, was hung, coffin and all, on
the gibbet for the delectation of the states' soldiery .^

Maurice, having thus in less than three weeks recov-
ered two most important cities, paused not an instant in
his career, but moved at once on Groningen. There was
a strong pressure put upon him to attempt the capture
of Nimwegen, but the understanding with the Frisian
stadholder and his troops had been that the enterprise
upon Groningen should follow the reduction of Deventer.

On the 26th June Maurice appeared before Gronin-
gen. Next day, as a precautionary step, he moved to
the right and attacked the strong city of DeUzyl. This
place capitulated to him on the 2d July. The fort of
Opslag surrendered on the 7th July. He then moved to
the west of Groningen, and attacked the forts of Yemen-
til and Lettebaest, which fell into his hands on the 11th
July. He then moved along the Nyenoort through the
Seven Wolds and Drenthe to Steenwyk, before which
strongly fortified city he arrived on the 15th July.^

Meantime he received intercepted letters from Ver-
dugo to the Duke of Parma, dated 19th June from

1 Keyd, ubi sup. ^ Bor, Keyd, Meteren, ubi sup.

3 Bor, iii. xxviii. 566-569. Meteren, xvi. 298, 299. Eeyd, ix.
169-172. Duyck, 25-34.

88 THE UNITED NETHEELANDS [1591

Groningen. In these the Spanish stadholder informed
Parnese that the enemy was hovering about his neigh-
borhood, and that it would be necessary for the duke to
take the field in person in considerable force, or that
Grroningen would be lost, and with it the Spanish forces
in the province. He inclosed a memorial of the course
proper to be adopted by the duke for his relief.^

Notwithstanding the strictness by which Philip had
tied his great general's hands, Farnese felt the urgency
of the situation.^ By the end of June, accordingly,
although full of his measures for marching to the rehef
of the Leaguers in Normandy, he moved into Gelderland,
coming by way of Xanten, Rees, and neighboring places.
Here he paused for a moment perplexed, doubting
whether to take the aggressive in Gelderland or to march
straight to the relief of Groningen. He decided that it
was better for the moment to protect the line of the
Waal. Shipping his army accordingly into the Batavian
Island or Good Meadow (Betuwe), which lies between
the two great horns of the Rhine, he laid siege to Fort
Knodsenburg, which Maurice had built the year before,
on the right bank of the Waal, for the purpose of attack-
ing Nimwegen. Farnese, knowing that the general of
the states was occupied with his whole army far away to
the north, and separated from him by two great rivers,
wide and deep, and by the whole breadth of that dan-
gerous district called the Foul Meadow (Veluwe), and
by the vast quagmire known as the Rouvenian morass,
which no artillery nor even any organized forces had
ever traversed ^ since the beginning of the world, had

1 Bor, Tibi sup. 568.

2 Bor, ubi sup. 570 seq. Meteren, ubi sup.
^ Van der Kemp, i. 111.

1591] FARNESE BESIEGES POET KNODSENBURG 89

felt no hesitation in throwing his army in boats across
the Waal. He had no doubt of reducing a not very
powerful fortress long before relief could be brought to
it, and at the same time of disturbing by his presence in
Batavia the combinations of his young antagonist in
Friesland and Groningen.^

So with six thousand foot and one thousand horse ^
Alexander came before Knodsenburg. The news reached
Maurice at Steenwyk on the 15th July. Instantly
changing his plans, the prince decided that Farnese
must be faced at once, and, if possible, driven from the
ground, thinking it more important to maintain, by
concentration, that which had already been gained, than
to weaken and diffuse his forces in insufficient attempts
to acquire more. Before two days had passed he was
on the march southward, having left Louis William with
a sufficient force to threaten Groningen. Coming by
way of Hasselt ZwoUe to Deventer, he crossed the Yssel
on a bridge of boats on the 18th of July, and proceeded
to Arnheim.^ His army, although excessively fatigued
by forced marches in very hot weather over nearly im-
passable roads, was full of courage and cheerfulness,
having learned implicit confidence in its commander.
On the 20th he was at Arnheim. On the 22d his bridge
of boats was made, and he had thrown his little army
across the Rhine into Batavia, and intrenched himself
with his six thousand foot and fourteen hundred horse
in the immediate neighborhood of Farnese. Foul
Meadow and Good Meadow, dike, bog, wold, and quag-

1 Bor, Meteren, ubi sup. Parma to PMlip, July 24, 1591, Arch,
de Sim. MS.

2 Parma's letter last cited.
* Bor, Meteren, uM sup.

90 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1591

mire, had been successfully traversed, and within one
week of his learning that the great viceroy of Philip had
reached the Batavian Island Maurice stood confronting
that famous chieftain in battle array.

On the 22d July, Farnese, after firing two hundred
and eighty-five shots at Fort Knodsenburg, ordered an
assault, expecting that so trifling a work could hardly
withstand a determined onslaught by his veterans.
To his surprise, they were so warmly received that two
hundred of the assailants fell at the first onset, and the
attack was most conclusively repulsed.^

And now Maurice had appeared upon the scene, de-
termined to relieve a place so important for his ulterior
designs. On the 24th July he sent out a small but
picked force of cavalry to reconnoiter the enemy. They
were attacked by a considerable body of Italian and
Spanish horse from the camp before Knodsenburg, in-
cluding Alexander's own company of lancers under
NiceUi. The states' troops fled before them in apparent
dismay for a little distance, hotly pursued by the Royal-
ists, until, making a sudden halt, they turned to the
attack, accompanied by five fresh companies of cavalry
and a thousand musketeers, who feU upon the foe from
all directions. It was an ambush, which had been neatly
prepared by Maurice in person, assisted by Sir Francis
Vere. Sixty of the Spaniards and Italians were killed,
and one hundred and fifty prisoners, including Captain
NiceUi, taken, while the rest of the party sought safety
in ignominious fiight.^ This little skirmish, in which ten
companies of the picked veterans of Alexander Farnese
had thus been utterly routed before his eyes, did much

1 Bor, Meteren, ubi sup.

2 Ibid. Groen v. Prinsterer, Archives, II. S. i. 172.

1591] RETREAT OF FARNESE 91

to inspire the states' troops witli confidence in them-
selves and their leader.^

Parma was too experienced a campaigner, and had
too quick an eye, not to recognize the error which he
had committed in placing the dangerous river Waal,
without a bridge, between himself and his supplies. He
had not dreamed that his antagonist would be capable
of such celerity of movement as he had thus displayed,
and his first business now was to extricate himself from
a position which might soon become fatal. Without
hesitation, he did his best to amuse the enemy in front
of the fort, and then passed the night in planting bat-
teries upon the banks of the river, under cover of which
he succeeded next day in transporting in ferry-boats his
whole force, artUlery, and baggage to the opposite
shore, without loss, and with his usual skiU.^

He remained but a short time in Nimwegen, but he was
hampered by the express commands of the king. More-
over, his broken health imperatively required that he
should once more seek the healing infiuence of the
waters of Spa before setting forth on his new French
expedition. Meanwhile, although he had for a time pro-
tected the Spanish possessions in the north by his de-
monstration in Grelderland, it must be confessed that the
diversion thus given to the plans of Maurice was but a
feeble one.

Having assured the inhabitants of Nimwegen that he

1 Duyek, 38, 39. Bor, Meteren, ubi sup.

2 Duyck, 41. "We may thank God Almighty," says, under
date of July 27, the faithful joiirnalist of these transactions, "that
he has so guided our affairs that the Duke of Parma, whom hardly
any cities or provinces could hitherto resist, and who therefore
has usurped the title of the great Alexander, now with great

92 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1591

would -watcli over the city like the apple of his eye,i he
took his departui'e on the 4th of August for Spa. He
was accompanied on his journey by his son, Prince Ranuc-
cio, just arrived from Italy.

After the retreat of Farnese, Maurice mustered his
forces at Arnheim, and found himself at the head of seven
thousand foot and fifteen hundred horse. It was ex-
pected by all the world that, being thus on the very spot,
he would forthwith proceed to reduce the ancient,
wealthy, imperial city of Nimwegen. The garrison and
burghers accordingly made every preparation to resist
the attack, disconcerted as they were, however, by the
departure of Parma and by the apparent incapacity of
Verdugo to bring them effectual relief.

But, to the surprise of all men, the states' forces sud-
denly disappeared from the scene, having been, as it
were, spirited away by night-time, along those silent
watery highways and crossways of canal, river, and
estuary, the military advantages of which to the Neth-
erlands Maurice was the first thoroughly to demon-
strate. Having previously made great preparations of
munitions and provisions in Zealand, the young gen-
eral, who was thought hard at work in Gelderland, sud-
denly presented himself, on the 19th September, before
the gates of Hulst, on the border of Zealand and Bra-
bant. It was a place of importance from its situation,
its possession by the enemy being a perpetual thorn in
the side of the states, and a constant obstacle to the plans
of Maurice. His arrangements having been made with

shame and loss has been obliged to retreat from before the single
fort of Knodsenburg." Compare Bor, Meteren, ubi sup. Van
der Kemp, i. 111. Coloma, iv. 74to.
1 Meteren, xvi. 299, 300.

1591] SURRENDER OF HTJLST 93

the customary neatness, celerity, and completeness, he
received the surrender of the city on the fifth day after
his arrival.^

Its commander, Castillo, could offer no resistance, and
was subsequently, it is said, beheaded by order of the
Duke of Parma for his negligence.^ The place is but a
dozen miles from Antwerp, which city was at the very
moment keeping great holiday and outdoing itself in
magnificent festivals in honor of young Ranuccio.^
The capture of Hulst before his eyes was a demonstra-
tion quite unexpected by the prince, and great was the
wrath of old Mondragon, governor of Antwerp, thus
bearded in his den. The veteran made immediate prepa-
rations for chastising the audacious Beggars of Zealand
and their pedantic young commander, but no sooner had
the Spaniards taken the field than the wUy foe had dis-
appeared as magically as he had come.

The Flemish earth seemed to have bubbles as the
water hath, and while Mondragon was beating the air in
vaia on the margin of the Schelde, Maurice was back
again upon the Waal, horse, foot, and artillery, bag, bag-
gage, and munition, and had fairly set himself down in
earnest to besiege Nimwegen, before the honest burghers
and the garrison had finished drawing long breaths at
their recent escape. Between the 14th and 16th October
he had bridged the deep, wide, and rapid river, had
transported eight thousand five hundred infantry and
sixteen companies of cavalry to the southern side, had
intrenched his camp and made his approaches, and had
got sixty-eight pieces of artillery into three positions
commanding the weakest part of the defenses of the city

1 Meteren, ubi sup. Bor, uW sup. 574. Duyok, 48-58.

2 Ibid. 2 IWd.

94 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1591

between the Falcon Tower and the Hoender Gate.^ The
fort of Knodsenburg was also ready to throw hot shot
across the river into the town. Not a detail in all these
preparations escaped the vigilant eye of the commander-
in-chief, and again and again was he implored not so
recklessly to expose a life already become precious to his
country. On the 20th October Maurice sent to demand
the surrender of the city. The reply was facetious but
decisive.

The prince was but a young suitor, it was said, and
the city a spinster not so lightly to be won. A longer
courtship and more trouble would be necessary.^

Whereupon the suitor opened all his batteries without
further delay, and the spinster gave a fresh example of
the inevitable fate of talking castles and listening ladies.

Nimwegen, despite her saucy answer on the 20th,
sun-endered on the 21st. Relief was impossible. Neither
Parma, now on his way to France, nor Verdugo, shut
up in Friesland, could come to the rescue of the place,
and the combinations of Maurice were an inexorable
demonstration.

The terms of the surrender were similar to those
accorded to Zutphen and Deventer. In regard to the
religious point it was expressly laid down by Maurice
that the demand for permission to exercise publicly the
Roman Catholic religion should be left to the decision
of the States-G-eneral.8

And thus another most important city had been added
to the domains of the Republic. Another triumph was
inscribed on the record of the young commander. The

1 Meteren, xvi. 300. Bor, xxviii. 575. Duyok, 59-67.

2 Meteren, ubi sup.

3 Meteren, Bor, Duyck, ubi sup. Van der Kemp, i. 113.

1591] CAPTURE OF NIMWEGEN 95

exultation was very great througlioiit the United Neth-
erlands, and heartfelt was the homage rendered by all
classes of his countrymen to the son of William the Silent.

Queen Elizabeth wrote to congratulate him in warm-
est terms on his great successes, and even the Span-
iards began to recognize the merits of the new chieftain.
An intercepted letter from Verdugo, who had been foiled
in his efforts to arrest the career of Maurice, indicated
great respect for his prowess. " I have been informed,"
said the veteran, " that Count Maurice of Nassau wishes
to fight me. Had I the opportunity I assure you that I
should not fail him, for even if ill luck were my portion,
I should at least not escape the honor of being beaten
by such a personage. I beg you to tell him so with my
affectionate compliments. Yours, Feancis Verdugo." ^

These chivalrous sentiments toward Prince Maurice
had not, however, prevented Verdugo from doing his best
to assassinate Count Louis William. Two Spaniards
had been arrested in the states' camp tliis summer, who
came in as deserters, but who confessed, " with little or
mostly without torture," that they had been sent by
their governor and colonel with instructions to seize a
favorable opportunity to shoot Louis William and set
fire to his camp. But such practices were so common
on the part of the Spanish commanders as to occasion
no surprise whatever.^

It wiU be remembered that, two years before, the
famous Martin Schenok had come to a tragic end at
Nimwegen.^ He had been drowned, fished up, hanged,
drawn, and quartered, after which his scattered frag-

1 Bor, Tibi sup. 578.

2 Groen v. Priisterer, Archives, II. S. i. 148.

3 Vol. iii. of this work, chap. xx.

96 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1591

ments, having been exposed on all the principal towers
of the city, had been put in pickle and deposited in a
chest. They were now collected and buried trium-
phantly in the tomb of the dukes of Gelderland. Thus
the shade of the grim freebooter was at last appeased.^
The government of the city was conferred upon Count
Louis William, with Gerard de Jonge as his lieutenant.
A substantial garrison was placed in the city, and, the
season being now far advanced, Maurice brought the
military operations of the year, saving a slight prelimi-
nary demonstration against Gertruydenberg, to a close.^
He had deserved and attained considerable renown. He
had astonished the leisurely war-makers and phlegmatic
veterans of the time, both among friends and foes, by
the unexampled rapidity of his movements and the con-
centration of his attacks. He had carried great wagon-
trains and whole parks of siege-artillery— the heaviest
then known— over roads and swamps which had been
deemed impassable even for infantry. He had trav-
ersed the length and breadth of the Republic in a single
campaign, taken two great cities in Overyssel, picked up
cities and fortresses in the province of Groningen and
threatened its capital, menaced Steenwyk, relieved Knod-
senburg, though besieged in person by the greatest com-
mander of the age, beaten the most famous cavalry of
Spain and Italy under the eyes of their chieftain,
swooped, as it were, through the air upon Brabant, and
carried off an important city almost in the sight of Ant-
werp, and sped back again in the freezing weather of
early autumn, with his splendidly served and invincible
artillery, to the imperial city of Nimwegen, which Far-
nese had sworn to guard like the apple of his eye, and
1 Bor, ubi sup. 2 Bor, Meteren, Duyok, ubi sup.

1591] SUCCESSFUL CAMPAIGN OF PRINCE MAURICE 97

which, with consummate skill, was forced out of his
grasp in five days.

" Some might attribute these things to blind fortune,"
says an honest chronicler who had occupied important
posts in the service of the prince and of his cousin Louis
William, "but they who knew the prince's constant
study and laborious attention to detail, who were aware
that he never committed to another what he could do
himself, who saw his sobriety, vigilance, his perpetual
study and holding of counsel with Count Louis William
(himself possessed of all these good gifts, perhaps even
in greater degree), and who never found him seeking,
like so many other commanders, his own ease and com-
fort, would think differently." ^

1 Reyd, ix. 175.

It is indeed impossible to regard the simple, earnest, genial,
valorous, and studious character of Louis William without affec-
tion. His private letters are charming. In the intervals of his
busy campaignings he found time not only for his own studies,
but also for superintending the education of his two younger
brothers. It had at first been proposed that they should go to an
English university, but old Count John objected to the expense,
and to the luxurious habits which they would encounter there.
He liked not the "mores" of the young English nobles, he said,
while he denounced in vehement language the drunkenness and
profligacy of the Germans. It was now decided that Count Louis
William should take charge of them himself. "As there is no good
opportunity for them at Dillenburg," he wrote to his father, "and
as the expense of Leyden seems too great, it is better that they
should remain with me. Although living is very dear here, and
my housekeeping is very hard upon me, yet are my young
brothers, and their good education, on which their weal and woe
depend, so dear to me that I will take charge of them with all my
heart. In this case your Grace will please send them a learned
preceptor, and pay for his salary and for my brothers' clothing.
For the rest I will provide ; and I will myself be their tutor in
VOL. IV.— 7

98 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1591

reading and studying, in which I exercise myself as much as I
have opportunity to do, and I will taKe them with me to the field
whenever there is anything to see there, and anything going on
against the enemy."— Groen v. Prinsterer, Archives, II. S. i. 149,
227, 131, 144.

This was the stuff out of which the Nassaus were made.
William the Silent and his three brethren had already laid down
their lives for the commonwealth which he had founded, and now
there were his son and nine more of the race in arms for its
defense, or devoting all their energies and their means to emulate
the example set them hy their predecessors. Nor can I refrain in
this connection from citing the noble language in which the
patriarch of the Nassaus, Count John the Elder, urged upon his
sons and nephews the necessity of establishing a system of
common schools in the United Provinces— an institution which,
when adopted in that commonwealth, became a source of in-
calculable good, and which, transplanted in the next generation
by English Pilgrims from Leyden to Massachusetts, and vastly
developed in the virgin soil of America, has long been the chief
safeguard and the peculiar glory of our own republic. "You
must urge upon the States-General," said the only surviving
brother of William the Silent, "that they, according to the ex-
ample of the pope and the Jesuits, should establish free schools
where children of quality as well as of poor families, for a very
small sum, could be well and Christianly educated and brought up.
This would be the greatest and most useful work and the highest
service that you could ever accomplish for God and Christianity,
and especially for the Netherlands themselves. ... In summa,
one may jeer at this as popish trickery, and undervalue it as one
will, there still remains in the work an inexpressible benefit.
Soldiers a7id patriots thus educated, with a true Icnoicledge of God
and a Christian conscience; item, churches and schools, good
libraries, books and printing-presses, are better than all armies,
arsenals, armories, munitions, alliances, and treaties that can be had
or imagined in the world. . . . Pray urge upon his Grace [Prince
Maurice], in cousinly and friendly manner, that he should not
shrink from nor find shame or difficulty in these things, nor cease,
under invocation of divine aid, from reflecting on them and
furthering them with earnest diligence." — Groen v. Prinsterer,
Archives, II. S. i. Letter 95, p. 210 seq.

CHAPTER XXV

War in Brittany and Normandy— Death of La None— Eeligious
and political persecution in Paris— Murder of President Brisson,
Larcher, and Tardif — The scepter of France offered to Philip—
The Duke of Mayenne punishes the murderers of the magistrates
—Speech of Henry's envoy to the States-General— Letter of
Queen Elizabeth to Henry— Siege of Eouen— Parnese leads an
army to its relief —The king is wounded in a skirmish— Siege of
Kue by Parnese— Henry raises the siege of Rouen— Siege of
Caudebec— Critical position of Parnese and his army— Victory of
the Duke of Mercoour in Brittany.

Again the central point toward which the complicated
events to be described in this history gravitate is found
on the son of France. Movements apparently desultory
and disconnected— as they may have seemed to the con-
temporaneous observer, necessarily occupied with the
local and daily details which make up individual human
life — are found to be necessary parts of a whole, when
regarded with that breadth and clearness of vision which
is permitted to human beings only when they can look
backward upon that long sequence of events which
make up the life of nations and which we call the Past.
It is only by the anatomical study of what has ceased to
exist that we can come thoroughly to comprehend the
framework and the vital conditions of that which lived.
It is only by patiently lifting the shroud from the Past
that we can enable ourselves to make even wide guesses

99

100 THK UNITED NETHERLANDS [1591

at the meaning of the dim Present and the veiled Future.
It is only thus that the continuity of human history
reveals itself to us as the most important of scientific
facts.

If ever commonwealth was apparently doomed to lose
that national existence which it had maintained for a
brief period at the expense of infinite sacrifice of blood
and treasure, it was the Republic of the United Nether-
lands in the period immediately succeeding the death of
William the Silent. Domestic treason, secession of im-
portant provinces, religious hatred, foreign intrigue, and
foreign invasion — in such a sea of troubles was the Re-
public destined generations long to struggle. Who but
the fanatical, the shallow-minded, or the corrupt could
doubt the inevitable issue of the conflict ? Did not great
sages and statesmen, whose teachings seemed so much
wiser in their generation than the untaught impulses of
the great popular heart, condemn over and over again
the hopeless struggles and the atrocious bloodshed which
were thought to disgrace the age, and by which it was
held impossible that the cause of human liberty should
ever be advanced?

To us who look back from the vantage summit which
humanity has reached, thanks to the toil and sacrifices
of those who have preceded us, it may seem doubtful
whether a premature peace in the Netherlands, France,
and England would have been an unmitigated blessing,
however easily it might have been purchased by the
establishment all over Europe of that holy institution
called the Inquisition, and by the tranquil acceptance of
the foreign domination of Spain.

If, too, ever country seemed destined to the painful
process of national vivisection and final dismember-

1591] . PROSPECTS OP THE REPUBLIC 101

ment, it was France. Its natural guardians and mas-
ters, save one, were in secret negotiation with foreign
powers to obtain with their assistance a portion of the
national territory under acknowledgment of foreign
supremacy. There was hardly an inch of French soil
that had not two possessors. In Burgundy Baron Biron
was battling against the Viscount Tavannes; in the
Lyonnais and Dauphiny Marshal des Digiueres was fight-
ing with the Dukes of Savoy and Nemours ; in Provence
Epergnon was resisting Savoy ; in Languedoc Constable
Montmorency contended with the Duke of Joyeuse ; in
Brittany the Prince of Dombes was struggling with the
Duke of Mercosur.

But there was one adventurer who thought he could
show a better legal title to the throne of France than all
the doctors of the Sorbonne could furnish to Philip II.
and his daughter, and who still trusted, through all the
disasters which pursued him, and despite the machina-
tions of venal warriors and mendicant princes, to his
good right and his good sword, and to something more
potent than both, the cause of national unity. His re-
buke to the intriguing priests at the interview of St.-
Denis, and his reference to the judgment of Solomon,
formed the text to his whole career.

The brunt of the war now fell upon Brittany and
Normandy. Three thousand Spaniards under Don John
de Aquila had landed in the port of Blavet, which they
had fortified as a stronghold on the coast.^ And thither,
to defend the integrity of that portion of France, which,
in Spanish hands, was a perpetual menace to her realm,
her crown, even to her life. Queen Elizabeth had sent
some three thousand Englishmen, under commanders
1 Coloma, iv. 61™.

102 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1591

well known to France and the Netherlands. There was
Black Norris, again dealing death among the Spaniards
and renewing his perpetual squabbles with Sir Eoger
Williams. There was that doughty Welshman himself,
truculent and caustic as ever and as ready with sword or
pen, foremost in every mad adventure or every forlorn
hope, criticizing with sharpest tongue the blunders and
shortcomings of friend and foe, and devoting the last
drop in his veins with chivalrous devotion to his queen.
"The world cannot deny," said he, "that any carcass
living ventured himself freer and oftener for his prince,
state, and friends than I did mine. There is no more
to be had of a poor beast than his skin, and for want of
other means I never respected mine in the least respect
toward my sovereign's service or country."^ And so

1 Williams to Burghley, February 15, 1592, S. P. Office MS.

A most brilliant combat had recently occurred before Dieppe,
in which Sir Eoger, at the head of six hundred men, — four hundred
of them English,— had attacked two fuU regiments of the League
in their intrenchments, and routed them utterly, with the loss of
five hundred killed and wounded, four hundred prisoners, and
sustaining but little loss himself. The achievement seems an ex-
traordinary one, but is vouched for by the governor of Dieppe, on
whose authority it was communicated by the French ambassador
in London to the queen. "Glory to G-od and to the said Sir
Williams," said the ambassador, "who has not belied by this
action the good opinion that all good people of both nations had
of him this long time, and has shown us that the English of our
day have not degenerated from the ancient virtue of their
fathers."— Beauvoir la Node to Burghley, May 24, 1591, S. P.
Office MS.

No one gave better or blunter advice to both queen and king
than this hard-fighting, sharp-writing Welshman. No one in-
sisted more earnestly than he did on the entire union in interest
and danger of Elizabeth, Henry, and the Dutch Eepublic, and
that every battle gained in Brittany, Normandy, or the Nether-

1591] SIE EOGEE WILLIAMS 103

passing his life in the saddle and under fire, yet finding
leisure to collect the materials for, and to complete the
execution of, one of the most valuable and attractive
histories of the age, the bold Welshman again and again
appears, wearing the same humorous but truculent
aspect that belonged to him when he was wont to run
up and down in a great morion and feathers on Flemish
battle-fields, a mark for the Spanish sharp-shooters.
There, too, under the banner of the B6arnese, that

lands was a blow struck in immediate defense of England's very
existence. "Therefore, sacred Majesty," wrote Williams, "if you
can, help the king to take Eouen. If he he in Eouen, your
Majesty may he assured this king is on his horseback in such sort
that all Spain and their confederators will shake and dare think
on nothing else but how to prevent him. Then shall he be well
able to maintain himself, and your Majesty's purse be well
spared ; but doth he not take Eouen, and the Spaniards enter into
these parts, as Villars and Tavannes doth demand them, then be
assured all the charges of these wars must be on your Majesty,
for the poor king shall not be able to pay five hundred soldiers.
If he should be beaten, be assured in few months to fight for the
English ports, in such sort that I pray God I may never see it. I
fear I angered the king. If he be doing me right, your Majesty
and the world found me ever his servant to the uttermost of my
power. I found him sometimes speaking he would besiege
Pontoise, sometimes Saney in Champagne, and how he should join
with the Almayn army. Besides other speeches, although not
flattering, I am assured honest, I told his Majesty, ' Sir, if you will
have the world to confess you as great a captain as yourself and
all we here think you to be, you must recover or at least save your
seaports, rather than those bicoques, or places of small impor-
tance in respect of them, else your best friends will despair of
your government, and in short time not able to succor you for
want of ports to land your necessaries.' "—Williams to the queen,
from Dieppe, June 4, 1591, S. P. Office MS.

And again: "Doth the king prosper, your Majesty and estate
must needs flourish, for the wars will rest all on him. Doth he

104 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1591

other historian of those sanguinary times, who had
fought on almost every battle-field where tyranny and
liberty had sought to smite each other dead, on French
or Flemish soU, and who had prepared his famous polit-
ical and military discourses in a foul dungeon swarming
with toads and rats and other villainous reptiles, to which
the worse than infernal tyranny of Philip II. had eon-
signed him for seven years long as a prisoner of war—
the brave and good La Noue with the Iron Arm, hero of a
hundred combats, was fighting his last fight. At the siege
of Lamballe, in Brittany, he had taken off his casque and
climbed a ladder to examine the breach effected by the
batteries. A harquebus-shot from the town grazed his
forehead, and, without inflicting a severe wound, stunned
him so much that he lost his balance and feU head fore-
most toward the ground. His leg, which had been
wounded at the midnight assault upon Paris, where he
stood at the side of King Henry, caught in the ladder
and held him suspended. His head was severely bruised,
and the contusions and shock to his war-worn frame
were so great that he died after lingering eighteen days.
His son De Teligny, who in his turn had just been

decay, your Majesty must needs maintain his wars, or in a short
time fight of yourself, not only against the Spanish, but against
all the League, the which will increase daily, for all the
mercenaries will follow the fortunate, I mean the victorious.
Doth the Spanish ruin this king, Holland and Zealand will he
found good cheap, and England in that case I pray God never to
see it. Therefore, most sacred Sovereign, a penny to save a
pound is well bestowed, and to ruin a suburb to save a city is
done to good purpose. My meaning is better to spend part of
your wealth and subjects than to hazard the whole. This king is
on making or marring, resolving only on your Majesty's succor.
Having it, he doubts nothing to take Eouen."— Williams to the
queen, June 9, 1591, S. P. Oflace MS.

1591] DEATH OF LA NOUE 105

exchanged and released from the prison where he had
lain since his capture before Antwerp, had hastened
with joy to join his father in the camp, but came to close
his eyes. The veteran caused the chapter in Job on the
resurrection of the body to be read to him on his death-
bed, and died expressing his fibrm faith in a hereafter.
Thus passed away, at the age of sixty, on the 4th August,
1591, one of the most heroic spirits of France. Pru-
dence, courage, experience, military knowledge both
theoretic and practical, made him one of the first cap-
tains of the age, and he was not more distinguished for
his valor than for the purity of his life and the mod-
eration, temperance, and justice of his character.^ The
Prince of Dombes, in despair at his death, raised the
siege of LambaUe.

There was yet another chronicler, fighting among the
Spaniards, now in Brittany, now in Normandy, and now
in Flanders, and doing his work as thoroughly with his
sword as afterward with his pen, Don Carlos Coloma,
captain of cavalry, afterward financier, envoy, and his-
torian. For it was thus that those writers prepared
themselves for their work. They were all actors in the
great epic the episodes of which they have preserved.
They lived and fought and wrought and suffered and
wrote. Rude in tongue, aflame with passion, twisted aU
awry by prejudice, violent in love and hate, they have
left us narratives which are at least full of color and
thrilling with life.

Thus Netherlanders, Englishmen, and Frenchmen
were again mingling their blood and exhausting their
energies on a hundred petty battle-fields of Brittany and
Normandy ; but perhaps to few of those hard fighters

1 De Thou, t. xi. liv. xovii. 397, 398.

106 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1591

was it given to discern the great work which they were
slowly and painfully achieving.

In Paris the League stiU maintained its ascendancy.
Henry, having again withdrawn from his attempts to
reduce the capital, had left the sixteen tyrants who
governed it more leisure to occupy themselves with
internal politics. A network of intrigue was spread
through the whole atmosphere of the place. The Six-
teen, sustained by the power of Spain and Eome, and
fearing nothing so much as the return of peace, by which
their system of plunder would come to an end, proceeded
with their persecution of all heretics, real or supposed,
who were rich enough to offer a reasonable chance of
spoil. The soul of all these intrigues was the new legate,
Sega, Bishop of Piacenza. Letters from him to Alex-
ander Farnese, intercepted by Henry, showed a deter-
mination to ruin the Duke of Mayenne and Count Belin,
governor of Paris, whom he designated as Colossus and
Renard, to extirpate the magistrates and to put Spanish
partizans in their places, and in general to perfect the
machinery by which the authority of Philip was to be
established in Prance. He was perpetually urging upon
that monarch the necessity of spending more money
among his creatures in order to carry out these projects.^

Accordingly, the attention of the Sixteen had been
directed to President Brisson, who had already made
himself so dangerously conspicuous by his resistance to
the insolent assumption of the cardinal legate. This
eminent jurisconsult had succeeded Pomponne de Bel-
lifevre as first president of the Parliament of Paris. He
had been distinguished for talent, learning, and elo-
quence as an advocate, and was the author of several
1 De Thou, 438, 439.

1591] EXECUTION OF BEISSON 107

important legal works. His ambition to fill the place of
first president had caused him to remain in Paris after
its revolt against Henry III. He was no Leaguer, and
since his open defiance of the ultra- Catholic party he
had been a marked man — doomed secretly by the Con-
federates who ruled the capital. He had fondly ima-
gined that he could govern the Parisian populace as
easily as he had been in the habit of influencing the
Parliament or directing his clients. He expected to
restore the city to its obedience to the constituted au-
thorities. He hoped to be himself the means of bring-
ing Henry IV. in triumph to the throne of his ancestors.
He found, however, that a revolution was more difficult
to manage than a law case, and that the Confederates of
the Holy League were less tractable than his clients had
usually been found.

On the night of the 14th November, 1591, he was
seized on the Bridge St.-Michel, while on his way to
Parliament, and was told that he was expected at the
H6tel de ViUe. He was then brought to the prison of
the Little Chitelet.

Hardly had he been made secure in the dimly lighted
dungeon when Crom6, a leader among the Parisian
populace, made his appearance, accompanied by some of
his confederates, and dressed in a complete suit of mail.
He ordered the magistrate to take off his hat and
to kneel. He then read a sentence condemning him
to death. Profoundly astonished, Brisson demanded to
know of what crime he was accused, and under what
authority. The answer was a laugh, and an assurance
that he had no time to lose. He then begged that at
least he might be imprisoned long enough to enable him
to complete a legal work on which he was engaged, and

108 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1591

whicli, by his premature deatli, would be lost to the
commonwealth. This request produced, no doubt, more
merriment than his previous demands. His judges were
inflexible, and allowed him hardly time to confess him-
self. He was then hanged in his dungeon.^

Two other magistrates, Larcher and Tardif, were
executed in the same way, in the same place, and on the
same night. The crime charged against them was hav-
ing spoken in a public assembly somewhat freely against
the Sixteen, and having aided in the circulation in Paris
of a paper drawn up by the Duke of Nevers, filled with
bitterness against the Lorraine princes and the League,
and addressed to the late Pope Sixtus.^

The three bodies were afterward gibbeted on the
Gr^ve in front of the H6tel de Ville, and exposed for
two days to the insults and fury of the populace.

This was the culminating point of the reign of terror
in Paris. Never had the sixteen tyrants, lords of the
market-halls, who governed the capital by favor of and
in the name of the populace, seemed more omnipotent.
As representatives or plenipotentiaries of Madam League
they had laid the crown at the feet of the King of Spain,
hoping by still further drafts on his exchequer and his
credulity to prolong indefinitely their own ignoble reign.
The extreme democratic party, which had hitherto sup-
ported the house of Lorraine and had seemed to idohze
that family in the person of the great Balafre, now be-
lieved themselves possessed of sufficient power to con-
trol the Duke of Mayenne and all his adherents. They
sent the Jesuit Claude Mathieu with a special memorial
to Philip II. That monarch was implored to take the
scepter of France and to reign over them, inasmuch as
1 De Thou, 442, 443. 2 iiajd.

1591] SCEPTER OP FRANCE OFFERED TO PHILIP 109

they most willingly threw themselves into his arms.^
They assured him that all reasonable people, and espe-
cially the Holy League, wished him to take the reins of
government, on condition of exterminating heresy
throughout the kingdom by force of arms, of publishing
the Council of Trent, and of establishing everywhere
the Holy Inquisition— an institution formidable only to
the wicked and desirable for the good. It was suggested
that Philip should not call himself any longer King of
Spain nor adopt the title of King of France, but that he
should proclaim himseK the Great King, or make use of
some similar designation, not indicating any specialty,
but importing universal dominion.^

Should Philip, however, be disinclined himself to
accept the monarchy, it was suggested that the young
Duke of Guise, son of the first martyr of France, would
be the most appropriate personage to be honored with
the hand of the legitimate Queen of France, the Infanta
Clara Isabella.

But the Sixteen were reckoning without the Duke of
Mayenne. That great personage, although an indiffer-
ent warrior and an utterly unprincipled and venal states-
man, was by no means despicable as a fisherman in the
troubled waters of revolution. He knew how to manage
intrigues with both sides for his own benefit. Had he
been a bachelor he might have obtained the Infanta and
shared her prospective throne. Being encumbered with
a wife, he had no hope of becoming the son-ia-law of
Philip, and was determined that his nephew Guise should
not enjoy a piece of good fortune denied to himself.

1 Arch, de Sim. (Paris), B. 71, 124, cited by Capefigue, Hist, de
la Ligue, etc., vi. 64 seq.

2 Arch, de Sim. (Paris), B. 72, 13-16, ibid., vi. 123.

110 THE UNITED NETHEELANDS [1591

The escape of the young duke from prison had been the
signal for the outbreak of jealousies between uncle and
nephew, which Parma and other agents had been in-
structed by their master to foster to the utmost. " They
must be maintained in such disposition in regard to me,"
he said, " that, the one being ignorant of my relations to
the other, both may without knowing it do my will." i

But Mayenne, in this groveling career of self-seeking,
in this perpetual loading of dice and marking of cards,
which formed the main occupation of so many kings and
princes of the period, and which passed for Machiavel-
lian politics, was a fair match for the Spanish king and
his Italian viceroy. He sent President Jeannin on spe-
cial mission to Philip, asking for two armies, one to be
under his command, the other under that of Farnese,
and assured him that he should be king himself, or
appoint any man he liked to the vacant throne. Thus
he had secured one hundred thousand crowns a month
to carry on his own game withal. " The maintenance
of these two armies costs me two hundred and sixty-one
thousand crowns a month," said Philip to his envoy
Tbarra.2

And what was the result of all this expenditure of
money, of all this lying and counter-lying, of aU this
frantic effort on the part of the most powerful monarch
of the age to obtain property which did not belong to
him,— the sovereignty of a great kingdom, stocked with
a dozen millions of human beings,— of aU this endless
bloodshed of the people in the interests of a high-born
family or two, of all this infamous brokerage charged
by great nobles for their attempts to transfer kingdoms

1 Arch, de Sim. (Paris), B. 57, 503, cited by Capefigue, vi. 193.

2 Ibid., 57, 366, ibid.

DUKE OF MAYENNE

1591] POLICY OP MAYENNE m

like private farms from one owner to another? Time
was to show. Meanwhile men trembled at the name of
Philip II., and groveled before him as the incarnation
of sagacity, high policy, and kingcraft.

But Mayenne, while taking the brokerage, was less
anxious about the transfer. He had fine instinct enough
to suspect that the B^arnese, outcast though he seemed,
might, after all, not be playing so desperate a game
against the League as it was the fashion to suppose.
He knew whether or not Henry was likely to prove a
more fanatical Huguenot in 1592 than he had shown
himself twenty years before at the Bartholomew festi-
val. And he had wit enough to foresee that the "in-
struction " which the gay free-thinker held so cautiously
in his fingers might perhaps tui*n out the trump card.
A bold, valorous Frenchman with a flawless title, and
washed whiter than snow by the freshet of holy water,
might prove a more formidable claimant to the alle-
giance of Frenchmen than a foreign potentate, even
though backed by aU the doctors of the Sorbonne.

The murder of President Brisson and his colleagues
by the confederates of the sixteen quarters was in truth
the beginning of the end. "What seemed a proof of
supreme power was the precursor of a counter-revolu-
tion, destined ere long to lead further than men
dreamed. The Sixteen believed themselves omnipotent.
Mayenne being in their power, it was for them to bestow
the crown at their will, or to hold it suspended in air as
long as seemed best to them. They felt no doubt that
all the other great cities in the kingdom would foUow
the example of Paris.

But the lieutenant-general of the realm felt it time for
biTti to show that his authority was not a shadow— that

112 THK UNITED NETHERLANDS [1591

he was not a pasteboard functionary like the deceased
cardinal king, Charles X. The letters intrusted by the
Sixteen to Claude Mathieu were intercepted by Henry,
and very probably an intimation of their contents was
furnished to Mayenne. At any rate, the duke, who
lacked not courage nor promptness when his own inter-
ests were concerned, who felt his authority slipping away
from him, now that it seemed the object of the Span-
iards to bind the democratic party to themselves by a
complicity in crime, hastened at once to Paris, deter-
mined to crush these intrigues and to punish the mur-
derers of the judges.^ The Spanish envoy Ybarra,
proud, excitable, violent, who had been privy to the
assassinations, and was astonished that the deeds had
excited indignation and fury instead of the terror
counted upon, remonstrated with Mayenne, intimating
that in times of civil commotion it was often necessary
to be blind and deaf.

In vain. The duke carried it with a high and firm
hand. He arrested the ringleaders, and hanged four of
them in the basement of the Louvre within twenty days
after the commission of their crime. The energj'^ was
well-timed and perfectly successful. The power of the
Sixteen was struck to the earth at a blow. The ignoble
tyrants became in a moment as despicable as they had
been formidable and insolent. Crom6, more fortunate
than many of his fellows, contrived to make his escape
out of the kingdom.^

Thus Mayenne had formally broken with the demo-
cratic party, so called— with the market-halls oligarchy.
In thus doing, his ultimate rupture with the Spaniards
was foreshadowed. The next combination for him to
1 De Thou, xi. 446. 2 Ibid., xi. 447, 448.

1591] HENEY'S ENVOY AT THE HAGUE II3

strive for would be one to unite the moderate Catholics
and the B6arnese. Ah, if Henry would but "instruct"
himself out of hand, what a game the duke might play !

The burgess party, the mild Royalists, the disgusted
portion of the Leaguers, coalescing with those of the
Huguenots whose fidelity might prove stanch even
against the religious apostasy contemplated by their
chief —this combination might prove an overmatch for
the ultra-Leaguers, the democrats, and the Spaniards.
The king's name would be a tower of strength for. that
" third party " which began to rear its head very boldly
and to call itself " PoUtica." Madam League might suc-
cumb to this new rival in the fickle hearts of the French.

At the beginning of the year 1591 Buzanval had
presented his credentials to the States-General at The
Hague as envoy of Henry IV. In the speech which he
made on this occasion he expressed the hope that the
mission of the Viscount Turenne, his Majesty's envoy to
England and to the Netherlands, had made known the
royal sentiments toward the states and the great satis-
faction of the king with their energetic sympathy and
assistance. It was notorious, said Buzanval, that the
King of Spain for many years had been governed by no
other motive than to bring all the rest of Christendom
under his dominion, while at the same time he forced
upon those already placed under his scepter a violent
tyranny, passing beyond all the bounds that God, nature,
and reason had set to lawful forms of government. In
regard to nations born under other laws than his, he
had used the pretext of religion for reducing them to
servitude. The wars stirred up by his family in Ger-
many, and his recent invasion of England, were proofs
of this intention, still fresh in the memory of all men.

VOL. IV.— 8

114 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1591

Still more flagrant were his machinations in the present
troubles of France. Of his dealings with his hereditary-
realms, the condition of the noble provinces of the
Netherlands, once so blooming under reasonable laws,
furnished a sufficient illustration. " You see, my mas-
ters," continued the envoy, " the subtle plans of the Span-
ish king and his councilors to reach with certainty the
object of their ambition. They have reflected that
Spain, which is the outermost corner of Europe, cannot
conveniently make war upon other Christian realms.
They have seen that a central position is necessary to
enable them to stretch their arms to every side. They
have remembered that princes who in earlier days were
able to spread their wings over all Christendom had
their throne in France, like Charles the Great and his
descendants. Therefore the king is now earnestly bent
on seizing this occasion to make himself master of
France. The death of the late king [Henry III.] had no
sooner occurred than, as the blood through great terror
rushes from the extremities and overflows the heart,
they here also, fearing to lose their opportunity and as-
tonished at the valor of our present king, abandoned all
their other enterprises in order to pour themselves upon
France." i

Buzanval further reminded the states that Henry had
received the most encouraging promises from the Prot-
estant princes of Germany, and that so great a person-
age as the Viscount Turenne, who had now gone thither
to reap the fruit of those promises, would not have been
sent on such a mission except that its result was certain.
The Queen of England, too, had promised his Majesty
most liberal assistance.

1 Bor, iii. xxviii. 551, 552.

1591] SPEECH OP HENEY'S ENVOY 115

It was not necessary to argue as to the close connec-
tion between the cause of the Netherlands and that of
France. The king had beaten down the mutiny of his
own subjects and repulsed the invasion of the Dukes of
Savoy and of Lorraine. In consideration of the assis-
tance promised by Germany and England— for a power-
ful army would be at the command of Henry in the
spring— it might be said that the Netherlands might
repose for a time and recruit their exhausted energies
under the shadow of these mighty preparations.^

" I do not believe, however," said the minister, " that
you will all answer me thusi The faint-hearted and
the inexperienced might flatter themselves with such
thoughts and seek thus to cover their cowardice, but
the zealous and the courageous wiU see that it is time to
set saU on the ship, now that the wind is rising so
freshly and favorably.

" For there are many occasions when an army might
be ruined for want of twenty thousand crowns. What
a pity if a noble edifice, furnished to the roof -tree, should
fall to decay for Want of a few tiles ! No doubt your
own interests are deeply connected with our own. Men
may say that our proposals should be rejected on the
principle that the shirt is nearer to the skin than the
coat, but it can be easily proved that our cause is one.
The mere rumor of this army will prevent the Duke of
Parma from attacking you. His forces wUl be drawn to
Prance. He will be obliged to intercept the crash of
this thunderbolt. The assistance of this army is worth
millions to you, and has cost you nothing. To bring
France into hostility with Spain is the very policy that
you have always pursued and always should pursue in

1 Bor, iii. xxviii. 551, 552.

116 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1591

order to protect your freedom. You have always desired
a war between France and Spain, and here is a fierce
and cruel one in which you have hazarded nothing. It
cannot come to an end without bringing signal advan-
tages to yourselves.

"You have always desired an alliance with a French
sovereign, and here is a firm friendship offered you by
our king, a natural alliance.

"You know how unstable are most treaties that are
founded on shifting interests and do not concern the
freedom of bodies and souls. The first are written with
pen upon paper, and are generally as light as paper.
They have no roots in the heart. Those founded on
mutual assistance on trying occasions have the perpet-
ual strength of nature. They bring always good and
endurhig fruit in a rich soil like the heart of our king
—that heart which is as beautiful and as pure from all
untruth as the lily upon his shield.

" You will derive the first profits from the army thus
raised. From the moment of its mustering under a
chief of such experience as Turenne, it wiU absorb the
whole attention of Spain, and wiU draw her thoughts
from the Netherlands to France."

AU this and more in the same earnest manner did the
envoy urge upon the consideration of the States-General,
concluding with a demand of one hundred thousand fiorins
as their contribution toward the French campaign.^

His eloquence did not f aU upon unwilling ears ; for
the States-General, after taking time to deliberate, re-
plied to the propositions by an expression of the strong-
est sympathy with, and admiration for, the heroic efforts
of the King of France. Accordingly, notwithstanding

1 Bor, iii. xxviii. 551, 552.

1591] ELIZABETH'S ADVICE TO HENRY II7

their own enormous expenses, past and present, and
their strenuous exertions at that very moment to form
an army of foot and horse for the campaign, the bril-
liant results of which have already been narrated, they
agreed to furnish the required loan of one hundred thou-
sand florins, to be repaid in a year, besides six or seven
good ships of war to cooperate with the fleets of England
and France upon the coasts of Normandy.^ And the
states were even better than their word.

Before the end of autumn of the year 1591 Henry
had laid siege to Eouen, then the second city of the
kingdom. To leave much longer so important a place
—dominating, as it did, not only Normandy, but a prin-
cipal portion of the maritime borders of France— under
the control of the League and of Spain was likely to be
fatal to Henry's success. It was perfectly sound in
Queen Elizabeth to insist as she did, with more than hor
usual imperiousness toward her excellent brother, that
he should lose no more time before reducing that city.
It was obvious that Eouen in the hands of her arch-
enemy was a perpetual menace to the safety of her own
kingdom. It was therefore with correct judgment, as
weU as with that high-flown gallantry so dear to the
heart of Elizabeth, that her royal champion and devoted
slave assured her of his determination no longer to defer
obeying her commands in this respect.

The queen had repeatedly warned him of the necessity
of defending the maritime frontier of his kingdom, and
she was not sparing of her reproaches that the large
sums which she expended in his cause had been often
ill bestowed. Her criticisms on what she considered his
military mistakes were not few, her threats to withdraw
1 Bor, iii. xxviii. 552, 553.

118 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1591

her subsidies frequent. " Owning neither the Bast nor
the West Indies," she said, " we are unable to supply the
constant demands upon us ; and although we have the
reputation of being a good housewife, it does not f oUow
that we can be a housewife for aU the world." ^ She
was persistently warning the king of an attack upon
Dieppe, and rebuking him for occupying himself with
petty enterprises to the neglect of vital points. She
expressed her surprise that after the departure of Parma
he had not driven the Spaniards out of Brittany, without
allowing them to fortify themselves in that country. " I
am astonished," she said to him, " that your eyes are so
blinded as not to see this danger. Remember, my dear
brother," she frankly added, " that it is not only France
that I am aiding, nor are my own natural realms of lit-
tle consequence to me. Believe me, if I see that you
have no more regard to the ports and maritime places
nearest to us, it will be necessary that my prayers should
serve you in place of any other assistance, because it
does not please me to send my people to the shambles,
where they may perish before having rendered you any
assistance. I am sure the Spaniards will soon besiege
Dieppe. Beware of it, and excuse my bluntness, for if
in the beginning you had taken the maritime forts,
which are the very gates of your kingdom, Paris would
not have been so well furnished, and other places nearer
the heart of the kingdom would not have received so
much foreign assistance, without which the others would
iave soon been vanquished. Pardon my simplicity, as
belonging to my own sex, wishing to give a lesson to one
who knows better, but my experience in government

1 Queen to the Duie d'Espernon, February 19, 1592, 8. P. Office
MS.

1591] CONTROL OF THE SEIKE OBTAINED HQ

makes me a little obstinate in believing that I am not
ignorant of that wMcli belongs to a king, and I persuade
myself that in following my advice you will not fail to
conquer your assailants." ^

Before the end of the year Henry had obtained con-
trol of the Seine, both above and below the city, holding
Pont de I'Aj-che on the north— where was the last bridge
across the river, that of Rouen, built by the English
when they governed Normandy, being now in ruins—
and Caudebec on the south in an iron grasp. Several
war-vessels sent by the Hollanders, according to the
agreement with Buzanval, cruised in the north of the
river below Caudebec, and rendered much service to

1 Queen to the King of France, March 7, 1592, S. P. Office MS.,
in French, in her own hand. "The poor king," said Umton,
"must be miraenlously defended by Grod, or else he cannot long
subsist. He wanteth means and has need of miracles, and with-
out her Majesty's upholding would quickly perish. She only
giveth life to his actions and terror to his enemies."— To
Burghley, from Dieppe, March 15, 1592, S. P. Office MS.

"Knowing," said Sir Robert Cecil, "that no place in all Prance,
no, not Paris itself, was of more importance to be recovered than
Rouen and Newhaven, the queen levied and sent over troops with
such speed as the like has seldom been seen, being performed,
within twenty days, sending also a nobleman of her own realm to
conduct them ; but how eontrarily the king took another course to
seek other towns and places, and to permit her M.'s forces to re-
main about Dieppe almost two months without any use but to
. spend her M.'s money and to waste her people, and instead of
besieging of Rouen, suffered it to be victualed, manned, and
fortified in such sort as experience hath taught the king how
difficult, or rather how desperate, it hath been as yet to recover it.
. . . And of this error hath followed the opportunity of the Duke
of Parma's entering with so mighty an army, and the king's
professed disability to fight with him."— Mr. Wilkes's Instruc-
tions to the French King, the whole in Sir R. Cecil's handwriting,
March 19, 1592, S. P. Office MS.

120 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1591

the king in cutting off supplies from the beleaguered
place, while the investing army of Henry, numbering
twenty-five thousand foot— inclusive of the English con-
tingent and three thousand Netherlanders— and ten
thousand cavalry, nearly all French, was fast reducing
the place to extremities.

Parma, as usual, in obedience to his master's orders,
but entirely against his own judgment, had again left
the rising young general of the Netherlands to proceed
from one triumph to another, while he transferred be-
yond the borders of that land, which it was his first busi-
ness to protect, the whole weight of his military genius
and the better portion of his well-disciplined forces.

Most bitterly and indignantly did he express himself,
both at the outset and during the whole progress of the
expedition, concerning the utter disproportions between
the king's means and aims. The want of money was the
cause of wholesale disease, desertion, mutiny, and death
in his slender army. Such great schemes as his mas-
ter's required, as he perpetually urged, liberality of ex-
penditure and measures of breadth. He protested that
he was not to blame for the ruin likely to come upon
the whole enterprise. He had besought, remonstrated,
reasoned with the king in vain. He had seen his beard
first grow, he said, in the king's service, and he had
grown gray in that service, but rather than be kept
longer in such a position, without money, men, or means
to accomplish the great purposes on which he was sent,
he protested that he would abandon his ofllce and retire
into the woods to feed on roots.^ Eepeatedly did he

1 Parma to Philip, March 11, 1592: "Que antes me
determinaria a reco germe en un bosque & comer raices."— Arch,
de Sim. MS.

1592] FOECES OF ALEXANDER AND MAYENNE 121

implore his master for a large and powerful army, for
money and again money. The royal plans should be
enforced adequately or abandoned entirely. To spend
money in small sums, as heretofore, was only throwing
it into the sea.^

It was deep in the winter, however, before he could
fairly come to the rescue of the besieged city. Toward
the end of January, 1592, he moved out of Hainault, and
once more made his junction at Guise with the Duke of
Mayenne. At a review of his forces on 16th January,
1592, Alexander found himself at the head of thirteen
thousand Ave hundred and sixteen infantry and four
thousand and sixty-one cavalry. The Duke of May-
enne's army, for payment of which that personage
received from Philip one hundred thousand doUars a
month, besides ten thousand doUars a month for his own
pocket, ought to have numbered ten thousand foot and
three thousand horse, according to contract, but was in
reality much less.^

1 Parma to Philip, MS. last cited.

2 From a statement in the Archives of Simaneas, dated No-
vember 25, 1591, it appears that the force called the "greater
army of Prance" ("el ejeroito mayor de Praneia"), provided by
Philip, and under command of Farnese, was composed of —

Infantry 23,512 men, costing per montli $115,981

Cavalry 4,969 " " " 44,505

Other expenses of the army,
including $12,629 per
month for artillery; sala-
ries, of wliieh the Diike of
Parma's was $3600 per
month, and other contin-
gencies " " " 42,321

Besides a large monthly sum
for secret roilitary service.

Thus the whole force was. . . 28,481 men, costing per month $202,807

But there were 7681 wanting
to the niunber determined
upon, wliieh added would
grsretotalof 7,681

36,162 men, costing per month $250,871

122 THE UNITED NETHEELANDS [1592

The Duke of Montemarciano, nephew of Grregory
XIV., had brought two thousand Swiss, furnished by
the pontiff to the cause of the League, and the Duke of
Lorraine had sent his kinsmen, the Counts Chaligny and
Vaudemont, with a force of seven hundred lancers and
cuirassiers.^

The town of Ffere was assigned in pledge to Farnese
to hold as a convenient mustering-place and station in
proximity to his own borders, and, as usual, the chief
command over the united armies was placed in his
hands. These arrangements concluded, the allies moved
slowly forward, much in the same order as in the pre-
vious year. The young Duke of Gruise, who had just
made his escape from the prison of Tours, where he had
been held in durance since the famous assassination of
his father and uncle, and had now come to join his uncle
Mayenne, led the vanguard. Ranuccio, son of the duke.

The force included — of Spanisli infantry 6,078 men

German " 11,518 "

The rest "being Walloons and Italians.

The "lesser army of Prance" ("ejeroito menor de Francia")
was stated at—

10,000 foot costing per month $49,912

3,000 horse " " 49,750

Total $99,662

and was commanded by the Duke of Mayenne, but paid by the
King of Spain.

" To the Duke of Mayenne, in person, according to order, $10,000
per month." ("A la persona del Duque de Umena eonforme la
orden.")

The total of the king's army in the Netherlands was stated at
29,233 men, at a monthly cost of $149,187 ; but there was a large
number wanting. The total force of the three armies paid for
by Philip was intended to be 86,561 men, at a monthly cost of
$542,428.

1 De Thou, t. xi. 452 seq. BentivogHo, p. ii. lib. vi. 356-369.

1592] SIEGE OF EOUEN 123

rode also in the advance, while two experienced com-
manders, Vitry and De la Chatre, as well as the famous
Marquis del Vasto, formerly general of cavalry in the
Netherlands, who had been transferred to Italy, but was
now serving in the League's army as a volunteer, were
associated with the young princes. Parma, Mayenne,
and Montemareiano rode in the battalia, the rear being
under command of the Duke of Aumale and the Count
Chaligny. Wings of cavalry protected the long trains
of wagons which were arranged on each flank of the in-
vading army. The march was very slow, it being Far-
nese's iiniform practice to guard himself scrupulously
against any possibility of surprise and to intrench him-
self thoroughly at nightfall.^

By the middle of February they reached the vicinity
of Aumale, in Picardy. Meantime Henry, on the news
of the advance of the relieving army, had again the same
problem to solve that had been presented to him before
Paris in the summer of 1590. Should he continue in
the trenches, pressing more and more closely the city,
already reduced to great straits? Should he take the
open field against the invaders and once more attempt
to crush the League and its most redoubtable com-
mander in a general engagement? Biron strenuously
advised the continuance of the siege. Turenne, now,
through his recent marriage with the heiress, called Due
de Bouillon, great head of the Huguenot party in Prance,
counseled as warmly the open attack. Henry, hesitating
more than was customary with him, at last decided on a
middle course. The resolution did not seem a very
wise one, but the king, who had been so signally out-

1 Bentivoglio, ubi sup. De Thou, ubi siip. Dondiui, iii. 474
seq.

124 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1592

generaled in tlie preceding campaign by the great Italian,
was anxious to avoid his former errors, and might per-
haps fall into as great ones by attempting two incon-
sistent lines of action. Leaving Biron, in command of
the infantry and a portion of the horse, to continue the
siege, he took the field himself with the greater part of
the cavalry, intending to intercept and harass the enemy
and to prevent his manifest purpose of throwing rein-
forcements and supplies into the invested city.

Proceeding to Neuf ch&tel and Aumale, he soon found
himself in the neighborhood of the Leaguers, and it was
not long before skirmishing began. At this time, on a
memorable occasion, Henry, forgetting, as usual, in his
eagerness for the joys of the combat, that he was not a
young captain of cavalry with his spurs to win by dash-
ing into every mad adventure that might present itself,
but a king fighting for his crown, with the welfare of a
whole people depending on his fortunes, thought proper
to place himself at the head of a handful of troopers to
reconnoiter in person the camp of the Leaguers. Start-
ing with five hundred horse, and ordering Lavardin and
Givry to follow with a larger body, while the Dukes of
Nevers and Longueville were to move out, should it
prove necessary, in force, the king rode forth as merrily
as to a hunting-party, drove in the scouts and pickets of
the confederated armies, and, advancing still farther in
his investigations, soon found himself attacked by a
cavalry force of the enemy much superior to his own. A
skirmish began, and it was necessary for the little troop
to beat a hasty retreat, fighting as it ran. It was not
long before Henry was recognized by the enemy, and
the chase became all the more lively, G-eorge Basti, the
famous Albanian trooper, commanding the force which

1J92] NAEEOW ESCAPE OF THE KING 125

pressed most closely upon the king. The news spread
to the camp of the League that the B6arnese was the
leader of the skirmishers. Mayenne believed it, and
urged the instant advance of the flying squadron and of
the whole vanguard. Farnese refused. It was impos-
sible that the king should be there, he said, doing picket
duty at the head of a company. It was a clumsy am-
bush to bring on a general engagement in the open field,
and he was not to be drawn out of his trenches into a
trap by such a shallow device. A French captain, who
by command of Henry had purposely allowed himself to
be taken, informed his captors that the skirmishers were
in reality supported by a heavy force of infantry. This
suggestion of the ready B6arnese confirmed the doubts
of Alexander. Meantime the skirmishing steeplechase
went on before his eyes. The king, dashing down a hill,
received a harquebus-shot in his side, but still rode for
his life. Lavardin and Givry came to the rescue, but a
panic seized their followers as the rumor flew that the
king was mortally wounded,— was already dead,— so that
they hardly brought a sufficient force to beat back the
Leaguers. Givry's horse was soon killed under him,
and his own thigh crushed ; Lavardin was himself dan-
gerously wounded. The king was more hard pressed
than ever, men were falling on every side of him, when
four hundred French dragoons— as a kind of muske-
teers who rode on hacks to the scene of action, but did
their work on foot, were called at that day — now dis-
mounted and threw themselves between Henry and his
pursuers. Nearly every man of them laid down his life,
but they saved the king's. Their vigorous hand-to-hand
fighting kept off the assailants until Nevers and Longue-
ville received the king at the gates of Aumale with a

126 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1592

force before which the Leaguers were fain to retreat as
rapidly as they had come.^

In this remarkable skirmish of Aumale the opposite
qualities of Alexander and of Henry were signally illus-
trated. The king, by his constitutional temerity, by his
almost puerile love of confronting danger for the dan-
ger's sake, was on the verge of sacrificing himself, with
all the hopes of his house and of the nobler portion of
his people, for an absolute nothing ; while the duke, out
of his superabundant caution, peremptorily refused to
stretch out his hand and seize the person of his great
enemy when directly within his grasp. Dead or alive,
the B^arnese was unquestionably on that day in the
power of Farnese, and with him the whole issue of the
campaign and of the war. Never were the narrow limits
that separate valor on the one side and discretion on
the other from unpardonable lunacy more nearly effaced
than on that occasion.

When would such an opportunity occur again ?

The king's wound proved not very dangerous, although

1 Bentivoglio, ubi sup. Dondini, iii. 480-494. Coloma, v. 81
seq., wlio gives the date of this remarkable skirmish as February
16, while Umton furnishes a description of the affair in his letter
of January 27 (February 6). Both were present on the groimd.

" The king was most unhappily shot into the lowest part of his
reins, which did nothing amaze him, and he notwithstanding,
with great resolution, comforted the rest, and made his retreat.
. . . The shot entered with obliquity downward into the flesh,
and not directly into the body, so that great hope is received of
his short recovery, and the surgeon is of opinion that no vital
part is offended."— Umton (who made the whole campaign with
the king) to Burghley, January 27 (February 6), 1592, S. P. Office
MS.

Sir E. Stafford, who died toward the end of 1590, was succeeded
as ambassador to Henry IV. by Sir Henry Umton, or Umpton, son

1592] PAEMA ADVANCED TOWARD ROUEN 127

for many days troublesome, and it required, on account
of his general state of health, a thorough cure. Mean-
time the Royalists fell back from Aumale and NeufchS,-
tel, both of which places were at once occupied by the
Leaguers.

In pursuance of his original plan, the Duke of Parma
advanced with his customary steadiness and deliberation
toward Rouen. It was his intention to assault the king's
army in its intrenchments in combination with a deter-
mined sortie to be made by the besieged garrison. His
preparations for the attack were ready on the 26th Feb-
ruary, when he suddenly received a communication from
De Villars, who had thus far most ably and gallantly
conducted the defense of the place, informing him that
it was no longer necessary to make a general attack.
On the day before he had made a sally from the four
gates of the city, had fallen upon the besiegers in great
force, had wounded Biron and killed six hundred of his
soldiers, had spiked several pieces of artillery and cap-
tured others which he had successfully brought into the

of Sir Edward Umpton, by Anne, relict of John Dudley, Earl of
Warwick, and eldest daughter of Edward Seymour, Duke of
Somerset. In the spring of this year he challenged the Duke of
Guise for speaking of Queen Elizaheth "impudently, lightly, and
overboldly, whose sacred person he represented." He proposed
to meet the duke with whatever arms he should choose, and on
horseback or foot. "Nor would I have you to think," said the
envoy, " any inequality of person between us, I being issued of as
great a race and noble house every way as yourself. ... If you
consent not to meet me, I will hold you, and cause you to be
generally held, for the errantest coward and most slanderous
slave that lives in all Prance." Nothing came of the challenge.
Umton died four years afterward in the French king's camp at
La PSre, July 8, 1596. Vide Fuller's Worthies, vol. i. pp. 91, 92
(ed. 1811).

128 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1592

town, and had, in short, so damaged the enemy's works
and disconcerted him in all his plans that he was confi-
dent of holding the place longer than the king could
afford to stay in front of him.^ All he wished was a
moderate reinforcement of men and munitions. Farnese
by no means sympathized with the confident tone of Vil-
lars nor approved of his proposition. He had come to
relieve Eouen and to raise the siege, and he preferred to
do his work thoroughly. Mayenne was, however, most
heartily in favor of taking the advice of VUlars. He
urged that it was difficult for the BSarnese to keep an
army long in the field, still more so in the trenches.
Let them provide for the immediate wants of the city ;
then the usual process of decomposition would soon be
witnessed in the ill-paid, ill-fed, desultory forces of the
heretic pretender.

Alexander deferred to the wishes of Mayenne, al-
though against his better judgment. Eight hundred
infantry were successfully sent into Rouen. The army
of the League then countermarched into Picardy, near
the conflhes of Artois.^

They were closely followed by Henry at the head of
his cavalry, and lively skirmishes were of frequent oc-
currence. In a military point of view none of these
affairs were of consequence, but there was one which
partook at once of the comic and the pathetic. For it
chanced that in a cavalry action of more than common
vivacity the Count Chaligny found himself engaged in
a hand-to-hand conflict with a very dashing swordsman,

1 Parma to Philip, Marcli 11, 1592, Aj-cli. de Sim. MS. Com-
pare Bentivoglio, ixM sup ; De Thou, xi. 470 seq.

2 Bentivoglio, ubi sup. Dondini, iii. 497-630. Coloma, v. 85-
95. Meteren, xvi. 302, 303. Bor, iii. xxviii. 616-620.

1592] COUNT CHALIGNY MADE PRISONER 129

who, after dealing and receiving many severe blows, at
last succeeded in disarming the count and taking him
prisoner. It was the fortune of war, and, but a few
days before, might have been the fate of the great Henry
himself. But ChaKgny's mortification at his captivity
became intense when he discovered that the knight to
whom he had surrendered was no other than the king's
jester.^ That he, a chieftain of the Holy League, the
long-descended scion of the illustrious house of Lor-
raine, brother of the great Duke of Mercceur, should
become the captive of a Huguenot buffoon, seemed the
most stinging jest yet perpetrated since fools had come
in fashion. The famous Chicot, who was as fond of a
battle as of a gibe, and who was almost as reckless a
rider as his master, proved on this occasion that the
cap and bells could cover as much magnanimity as
did the most chivalrous crest. Although desperately
wounded iu the struggle which had resulted in his tri-
umph, he generously granted to the count his freedom
without ransom. The proud Lorrainer returned to his
Leaguers, and the poor fool died afterward of his
wounds.^

The army of the allies moved through Picardy toward
the confines of Artois, and sat down leisurely to be-
leaguer Rue, a low-lying place on the banks and near
the mouth of the Somme, the only town in the province
which stUl held for the king. It was sufficiently forti-
fied to withstand a good deal of battering, and it cer-
tainly seemed mere trifling for the great Duke of Parma
to leave the Netherlands in such confusion, with young

1 De Thou, ubi sup. 468. Umton to Burghley, February 8,
1592, S. P. Office MS.

2 De Thou, loc. cit.

VOL. IV.— 9

130 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1592

Maurice of Nassau carrying everything before him, and
to come all the way into Normandy in order, with the
united armies of Spain and the League, to besiege the
insignificant town of Rue.

And this was the opinion of Famese, but he had
chosen throughout the campaign to show great defer-
ence to the judgment of Mayenne. Meantime the
month of March wore away, and what had been predicted
came to pass. Henry's forces dwindled away as usual.
His cavaliers rode off to forage for themselves when
their battles were denied them, and the king was now at
the head of not more than sixteen thousand foot and five
thousand horse. On the other hand, the Leaguers' army
had been melting quite as rapidly. With the death of
Pope Sfondrato, his nephew Montemarciano had disap-
peared with his two thousand Swiss, while the French
cavalry and infantry, ill fed and uncomfortable, were
diminishing daily. Especially the Walloons, Flemings,
and other Netherlanders of Parma's army took advan-
tage of their proximity to the borders and escaped in
large numbers to their own homes. It was but meager
and profitless campaigning on both sides during those
wretched months of winter and early spring, although
there was again an opportunity for Sir Roger Williams,
at the head of two hundred musketeers and one hundred
and fifty pikemen, to make one of his brilliant skir-
mishes under the eye of the Bearnese. Surprised and
without armor, he jumped, in doublet and hose, on
horseback, and led his men merrily against five squad-
rons of Spanish and Italian horse and six companies of
Spanish iafantry, singled out and unhorsed the leader
of the Spanish troopers, and nearly cut off the head of
the famous Albanian chief George Basti with one swing-

1592] SIEGE OF ETJE 131

ing blow of his sword. Then, being reinforced by some
other English companies, he succeeded in driving the
whole body of Italians and Spaniards, with great loss,
quite into their intrenchments. " The king doth com-
mend him very highly," said Umton, "and doth more
than wonder at the valor of our nation. I never heard
him give more honor to any service nor to any man
than he doth to Sir Roger Williams and the rest, whom
he held as lost men, and for which he has caused public
thanks to be given to God." ^

At last ViUars, who had so peremptorily rejected
assistance at the end of February, sent to say that if he
were not relieved by the middle of April he should be
obliged to surrender the city. If the siege were not
raised by the 20th of the month he informed Parma, to his
profound astonishment, that Rouen would be in Henry's
hands.2

In effecting this result the strict blockade maintained
by the Dutch squadron at the mouth of the river, and
the resolute manner in which those cruisers dashed at
every vessel attempting to bring relief to Rouen, were
mainly instrumental. As usual with the stern Hol-
landers and Zealanders when engaged at sea with the
Spaniards, it was war to the knife. Early in April
twelve large vessels, well armed and manned, attempted
to break the blockade. A combat ensued, at the end of
which eight of the Spanish ships were captured, two
were sunk, and two were set on fire in token of victory,
every man on board of all being kiUed and thrown into
the sea. Queen Elizabeth herself gave the first news of
this achievement to the Dutch envoy in London. " And

1 Umton to Burghley, April 21, 1592, S. P. Office MS.

2 BentivogUo, Dondini, Coloma, Meteren, Bor, ubi sup.

132 THE UNITED NETHEELANDS [1592

in truth," said he, "her Majesty expressed herself, in
communicating these tidings, with such affection and
extravagant joy, to the glory and honor of our nation
and men-of-war's-men, that it wonderfully delighted me,
and did me good into my very heart to hear it from her." ^

Instantly Farnese set himself to the work which, had
he followed his own judgment, would already have been
accomplished. Henry with his cavalry had established
himself at Dieppe and Arques, within a distance of five
or six leagues from the infantry engaged in the siege of
Rouen. Alexander saw the profit to be derived from the
separation between the different portions of the enemy's
forces, and marched straight upon the enemy's intreneh-
ments. He knew the disadvantage of assailing a
strongly fortified camp, but believed that, by a well-
concerted, simultaneous assaidt by VUlars from within
and the Leaguers from without, the king's forces would
be compelled to raise the siege or be cut up in their
trenches.

But Henry did not wait for the attack. He had
changed his plan, and, for once in his life, substituted
extreme caution for his constitutional temerity. Neither
awaiting: the assault upon his intrenchments nor seeking
his enemy in the open field, he ordered the whole camp
to be broken up, and on the 20th of April raised the siege.^

Farnese marched into Rouen, where the Leaguers were
received with tumultuous joy, and this city, most im-
portant for the purposes of the League and for Philip's
ulterior designs, was thus wrested from the grasp just

1 Noel de Carom to the States-General, April 22, 1592, Hague
Archives MS.

2 Ibid. Parma to PhiUp, April 25, 1592, Arch, de Sim. MS.
Same to same, June 2, 1592, ibid.

1592] RELIEF OP ROUEN I33

closing upon it. Henry's main army now concentrated
itself in the neighborhood of Dieppe, but the cavalry,
under his immediate superintendence, continued to
harass the Leaguers. It was now determined to lay
siege to Caudebec, on the right bank of the Seine, three
leagues below Rouen, the possession of this place by the
enemy being a constant danger and difflculty to Rouen,
whose supplies by the Seine were thus cut off.

Alexander, as usual, superintended the planting of
the batteries against the place. He had been suffering
during the whole campaign with those dropsical ailments
which were making life a torture to him ; yet his indomi-
table spirit rose superior to his physical disorders, and
he wrought aU day long on foot or on horseback, when
he seemed only fit to be placed on his bed as a rapid
passage to his grave. On this occasion, in company
with the Italian engineer Properzio, he had been for
some time examining with critical nicety the prelimi-
naries for the siege, when it was suddenly observed by
those around him that he was growing pale. It then
appeared that he had received a musket-ball between
the wrist and the elbow, and had been bleeding profusely,
but had not indicated by a word or the movement of a
muscle that he had been wounded, so intent was he upon
carrying out the immediate task to which he had set
himself. It was indispensable, however, that he should
now take to his couch. The wound was not trifling,
and to one in his damaged and dropsical condition it
was dangerous. Fever set in, with symptoms of gan-
grene, and it became necessary to intrust the command
of the League to Mayenne.^ But it was hardly concealed

1 Bentivoglio, Dondifli, Coloma, De Thou, Meteren, Bor, ubi
sup. Letter of Parma last cited.

134 THE UNITED NETHEBLANDS [1592

from Parma that the duke was playing a double game.
Prince Ranuccio, according to his father's express wish,
was placed provisionally at the head of the Flemish
forces. This was conceded, however, with much heart-
burning, and with consequences easily to be imagined.

Meantime Oaudebec feU at once. Henry did nothing
to relieve it, and the place could offer but slight resis-
tance to the force arrayed against it. The bulk of the
king's army was in the neighborhood of Dieppe, where
they had been recently strengthened by twenty com-
panies of Netherlanders and Scotchmen brought by
Count Philip Nassau.^ The League's headquarters were
in the village of Yvetot, capital of the reahn of the
whimsical little potentate so long renowned under that
name.^

The king, in pursuance of the plan he had marked out
for himself, restrained his skirmishing more than was
his wont. Nevertheless, he lay close to Tvetot. His
cavalry, swelling and falling as usual like an Alpine
torrent, had now filled up its old channels again, for
once more the mountain chivalry had poured themselves
around their king. With ten thousand horsemen he
was now pressing the Leaguers, from time to time, very
hard, and on one occasion the skirmishing became so
close and so lively that a general, engagement seemed
imminent. Young Ranuccio had a horse shot under
him, and his father, suffering as he was, had himself
dragged out of bed and brought on a litter into the field,
where he was set on horseback, trampling on wounds
and disease, and, as it were, on death itself, that he might
by his own unsurpassed keenness of eye and quickness
of resource protect the army which had been intrusted

1 Bor, iii. xxviii. 604. s De Thou, xi. 481 seq.

1592] DANGEEOUS POSITION OF FARNESE I35

to his care. The action continued all day, young Benti-
voglio, nephew of the famous cardinal, historian, and
diplomatist, receiving a bad wound in the leg, as he
fought gallantly at the side of Ranuccio. Carlo Coloma
also distinguished himself in the engagement. Night
separated the combatants before either side had gained
a manifest advantage, and on the morrow it seemed for
the interest of neither to resume the struggle.^

The field where this campaign was to be fought was a
narrow peninsula inclosed between the sea and the
rivers Seine and Dieppe.''^ In this peninsula, called the
Land of Caux, it was Henry's intention to shut up his
enemy. Farnese had finished the work that he had been
sent to do, and was anxious, as Henry was aware, to
return to the Netherlands. Eouen was relieved, Caude-
bec had fallen. There was not food or forage enough
in the little peninsula to feed both the city and the
whole army of the League. Shut up in this narrow
area, Alexander must starve or surrender. His only
egress was into Picardy and so home to Artois, through
the base of the isosceles triangle between the two rivers
and on the borders of Picardy. On this base Henry had
posted his whole army. Should Farnese assail him,
thus provided with a strong position and superiority of
force, defeat was certain. Should he remain where he
was, he must inevitably starve. He had no communica-
tions with the outside. The Hollanders lay with their
ships below Caudebec, blockading the river's mouth and
the coast. His only chance of extrication lay across the

1 Bentivoglio, Dondini, Coloma, Meteren, Bor, De Thou, ubi
sup.

2 The stream, the mouth of which is at Dieppe, was then called
by the same name as the town.

136 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1592

Seine. But Alexander was neither a bird nor a fish, and
it was necessary, so Henry thought, to be either the one
or the other to cross that broad, deep, and rapid river,
where there were no bridges, and where the constant
ebb and flow of the tide made transportation almost im-
possible in face of a powerful army in rear and flank.
Farnese's situation seemed desperate, while the shrewd
Bearnese sat smiling serenely, carefully watching at the
mouth of the trap into which he had at last inveigled his
mighty adversary. Secure of his triumph, he seemed to
have changed his nature, and to have become as sedate
and wary as, by habit, he was impetuous and hot.

And in truth Farnese found himself in very narrow
quarters. There was no hay for his horses, no bread
for his men. A penny loaf was sold for two shillings.
A jug of water was worth a crown. As for meat or
wine, they were hardly to be dreamed of.^ His men
were becoming furious at their position. They had en-
listed to flght, not to starve, and they murmured that it
was better for an army to fall with weapons in its hands
■ than to drop to pieces hourly with the enemy looking on
and enjoying their agony.

It was obvious to Farnese that there were but two
ways out of his dilemma. He might throw himself upon
Henry,— strongly intrenched as he was, and with much
superior forces to his own, upon ground deliberately
chosen for himself,— defeat him utterly, and march over
him back to the Netherlands. This would be an agree-
able result, but the undertaking seemed difficult, to say
the least. Or he might throw his army across the Seine
and make his escape through the Isle of France and
southern Picardy back to the so-called obedient prov-
1 Bor, iii. xxviii. 619.

1592] ESCAPE OP FARNESE AND HIS ARMY I37

inees. But it seemed hopeless without bridges or pon-
toons to attempt the passage of the Seine.

There was, however, no time left for hesitation.
Secretly he took his resolution and communicated it in
strict confidence to Mayenne, to Eanuccio, and to one or
two other chiefs. He came to Caudebec, and there, close
to the margin of the river, he threw up a redout. On
the opposite bank he constructed another. On both he
planted artillery, placing a force of eight hundred Neth-
erlanders, under Count Bossu, in the one, and an equal
number of the same nation, Walloons chiefly, under
Barlotte, in the other. He collected all the vessels, flat-
boats, wherries, and rafts that could be found or put
together at Rouen, and then under cover of his forts he
transported all the Flemish infantry, and the Spanish,
French, and ItaUan cavalry, during the night of 22d
May, to the opposite bank of the Seine. Next morning
he sent up all the artillery together with the Flemish
cavalry to Rouen, where, making what use he could by
temporary contrivances of the broken arches of the
broken bridge, in order to shorten the distance from
shore to shore, he managed to convey his whole army
with all its trains across the river.^

A force was left behind, up to the last moment, to
engage in the customary skirmishes, and to display
themselves as largely as possible for the purpose of im-
posing upon the enemy. The young Prince of Parma
had command of this rear-guard. The device was per-
fectly successful. The news of the movement was not
brought to the ears of Henry until after it had been
accomplished. When the king reached the shore of the

1 Bentivoglio, Dondini, Coloma, De Thou, Bor, Meteren, ubi
sup. Letter of Parma last cited.

138 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1592

Seine, lie saw to Ms infinite chagrin and indignation that
the last stragglers of the army, including the garrison
of the fort on the right bank, were just ferrying them-
selves across under command of Ranuccio.'-

Furious with disappointment, he brought some pieces
of artillery to bear upon the triumphant fugitives. Not
a shot told, and the Leaguers had the satisfaction of
making a bonfire in the king's face of the boats which
had brought them over. Then, taking up their line of
march rapidly inland, they placed themselves completely
out of the reach of the Huguenot guns.

Henry had a bridge at Pont de I'Arche, and his first
impulse was to pursue with his cavalry; but it was
obvious that his infantry could never march by so cir-
cuitous a route fast enough to come up with the enemy,
who had already so prodigious a stride in advance.^

There was no need to disguise it to himself. Henry
saw himself for the second time outgeneraled by the
consummate Farnese. The trap was broken, the game
had given him the sUp. The manner in which the duke
had thus extricated himself from a profound dilemma,
in which his fortunes seemed hopelessly sunk, has usu-
ally been considered one of the most extraordinary ex-
ploits of Ms life.^

Precisely at tMs time, too, ill news reached Henry
from Brittany and the neighboring country. The
Princes Cond6 and Dombes had been obliged, on the 13th
May, 1592, to raise the siege of Craon, in consequence of
the advance of the Duke of MerccBur with a force of
seven thousand men.* They numbered, including lans-

1 Bentivoglio, IDondini, Coloma, De Thou, Bor, Meteren, ubi
sup. 2 Ibid. 3 Ibid.

* Umton to Burghley, May 24 (O. S.), 1592, S. P. Office MS.

1592] HENRY KETIRES TO VERNON 139

quenets and the English contingent, about half as many,
and, before they could effect their retreat, were attacked
by Mercoeur and utterly routed. The English, who
alone stood to their colors, were nearly aU cut to pieces.
The rest made a disorderly retreat,^ but were ultimately,
with few exceptions, captured or slain. The duke, fol-
lowing up his victory, seized Chi,teau Gontier and La
Val, important crossing-places on the river Mayenne,
and laid siege to Mayenne, capital city of that region.
The panic, spreading through Brittany and Maine,
threatened the king's cause there with complete over-
throw, hampered his operations in Normandy, and vastly
encouraged the Leaguers. It became necessary for
Henry to renounce his designs upon Rouen and the
pursuit of Parma, and to retire to Vernon, there to
occupy himself with plans for the relief of Brittany.
In vain had the Earl of Essex, whose brother had already
been killed in the campaign, manifested such headlong
gallantry in that country as to call forth the sharpest
rebukes from the adniiring but anxious Elizabeth. The
handful of brave Englishmen who had been withdrawn
from the Netherlands, much to the dissatisfaction of the
States-General, in order to defend the coasts of Brittany,
would have been better employed under Maurice of
Nassau. So soon as the heavy news reached the king,
the faithful Umton was sent for. "He imparted the
same unto me," said the envoy, "with extraordinary
passion and discontent. He discoursed at large of his
miserable estate, of the factions of his servants, and of
their ill dispositions, and then required my opinion
touching his course for Brittany, as also what further
aid he might expect from her Majesty; alleging that
1 Umton to Bm-ghley, May 24 (O. S.), 1592, S. P. Office MS.

140 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1592

unless he were presently strengthened by England it
was impossible for him longer to resist the greatness of
the King of Spain, who assailed his country by Brittany,
Languedoc, the Low Countries, by the Duke of Saxony
and the Duke of Lorraine, and so ended his speech pas-
sionately." ^ Thus adjured. Sir Henry spoke to the king
firmly but courteously, reminding him how, contrary to
English advice, he had followed other councilors to the
neglect of Brittany, and had broken his promises to the
queen. He concluded by urging him to advance into
that country in person, but did not pledge himself on
behalf of her Majesty to any further assistance. "To
this," said Umton, "the king gave a willing ear, and
replied, with many thanks, and without disallowing of
anything that I alleged, yielding many excuses of his
want of means, not of disposition, to provide a remedy,
not forgetting to acknowledge her Majesty's care of him
and his country, and especially of Brittany, excusing
much the bad disposition of his councilors, and inclin-
ing much to my motion to go in person thither, espe-
cially because he might thereby give her Majesty better
satisfaction, . . . and protesting that he would either
immediately himself make war there in those parts or
send an army thither. I do not doubt," added the am-
bassador, "but with good handling her Majesty may
now obtain any reasonable matter for the conservation
of Brittany, as also for a place of retreat for the Eng-
lish, and I urge continually the yielding of Brest into
her Majesty's hands, whereunto I find the king well
inclined, if he might bring it to pass." ^
Alexander passed a few days in Paris, where he was

1 Umton to Burghley, May 24 (O. S.), 1592, S. P. Office MS.

2 Ibid.

1592] ALEXANDER'S MILITARY REPUTATION 141

welcomed with much cordiality, recruiting his army for
a brief period in the land of Brie, and then, broken in
health but entirely successful, he dragged himself once
more to Spa to drink the waters. He left an auxiliary
force with Mayenne, and promised, infinitely against
his own wishes, to obey his master's commands and
return again before the winter to do the League's work.^

And thus Alexander had again solved a difiicult prob-
lem. He had saved for his master and for the League
the second city of France and the whole coast of Nor-
mandy. Rouen had been relieved in masterly manner,
even as Paris had been succored the year before. He had
done this, although opposed by the sleepless energy and
the exuberant valor of the quick-witted Navarre, and
although encumbered by the assistance of the ponderous
Duke of Mayenne. His military reputation, through
these two famous reliefs and retreats, grew greater than
ever.

No commander of the age was thought capable of
doing what he had thus done. Yet, after aU, what had
he accomplished ? Did he not feel in his heart of hearts
that he was but a strong and most skilful swimmer
struggling for a little while against an ocean tide which
was steadily sweeping him and his master and all their
fortunes far out into the infinite depths?

Something of this breathed ever in his most secret
utterances. But, so long as life was in him, his sword
and his genius were at the disposal of his sovereign, to
carry out a series of schemes as futile as they were
nefarious.

For us, looking back upon the Past, which was then
the Future, it is easy to see how remorselessly the great
1 Umton to Burghley, MS. before cited.

142 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1592

current of events was washing away tlie system and the
personages seeking to resist its power and to oppose
the great moral principles by which human affairs in the
long run are invariably governed. Spain and Rome
were endeavoring to obliterate the landmarks of race,
nationality, historical institutions, and the tendencies of
awakened popular conscience throughout Christendom,
and to substitute for them a dead level of conformity to
one regal and sacerdotal despotism.

England, Holland, the Navarre party in France, and
a considerable part of Germany were contending for
national unity and independence, for vested and recorded
rights. Much further than they themselves or their
chieftains dreamed those millions of men were fighting
for a system of temperate human freedom; for that
emancipation under just laws from arbitrary human con-
trol, which is the right, however frequently trampled
upon, of all classes, conditions, and races of men, and
for which it is the instinct of the human race to continue
to struggle under every disadvantage, and often against
aU hope, throughout the ages, so long as the very prin-
ciple of humanity shall not be extinguished in those who
have been created after their Maker's image.

It may safely be doubted whether the great queen,
the Bearnese, Alexander Farnese, or his master, with
many of their respective adherents, differed very essen-
tially from each other in their notions of the right divine
and the right of the people. But history has shown us
which of them best understood the spirit of the age and
had the keenest instinct to keep themselves in the ad-
vance by moving fastest in the direction whither it was
marshaling all men. There were many earnest, hard-
toiling men in those days, men who believed in the work

1592] PROGRESS OF THE STRUGGLE FOR FREEDOM 143

to which they devoted their lives. Perhaps, too, the
devil-worshipers did their master's work as strenuously
and heartily as any, and got fame and pelf for their
pains. Fortunately, a good portion of what they so
laboriously wrought for has vanished into air, while
humanity has at least gained something from those who
deliberately or instinctively conformed themselves to her
eternal laws.

CHAPTER XXVI

Eetum of Prince Maurice to the siege of Steenwyk— Capitulation
of the besieged— Effects of the introduction of mining operations
—Maurice besieges Coevorden— Verdugo attempts to relieve the
city, but fails— The city capitulates, and Prince Maurice retreats
into winter quarters.

While Famese had tlius been strengthening the bul-
warks of Philip's universal monarchy in that portion of
his proposed French dominions which looked toward
England, there had been opportunity for Prince Maurice
to make an assault upon the Frisian defenses of this
vast realm. It was dif&cult to make half Europe into
one great Spanish fortification, guarding its every bas-
tion and every point of the curtain, without far more
extensive armaments than the " Great King," as the
Leaguersproposed that Phihp should entitle himself,had
ever had at his disposal. It might be a colossal scheme
to stretch the rod of empire over so large a portion of
the earth, but the dwarfish attempts to carry the design
into execution hardly reveal the hand of genius. It is
astonishing to contemplate the meager numbers and the
slender funds with which this world-empire was to be
asserted and maintained. The armies arrayed at any
important point hardly exceeded a modern division or
two, while the resources furnished for a year would
hardly pay in later days for a few weeks' campaign.

144

1592] EETUEN OP MAURICE TO STEENWYK I45

When Alexander, the first commander of his time,
moved out of Flanders into France with less than twenty-
thousand men, he left most vital portions of his master's
hereditary dominions so utterly unprotected that it was
possible to attack them with a handful of troops. The
young disciple of Simon Stevinus now resumed that
practical demonstration of his principles which had been
in the previous year so well begun.

On the 28th May, 1592, Maurice, taking the field with
six thousand foot and two thousand horse, came once
more before Steenwyk. It wiU be remembered that he
had been obliged to relinquish the siege of this place in
order to confront the Duke of Parma in July, 1591, at
Nimwegen.

The city— very important from its position, being the
key to the province of Drenthe as well as one of the safe-
guards of Friesland— had been besieged in vain by
Count Renneberg after his treasonable surrender of
Groningen, of which he was governor, to the Spaniards,
but had been subsequently surprised by Tassis. Since
that time it had held for the king. Its fortifications
were strong, and of the best description known at that
day. Its regular garrison was sixteen companies of foot
and some cavalry under Antoine de Quocqueville, mili-
tary governor. Besides these troops were twelve hun-
dred Walloon infantry, commanded by Louis, youngest
Count van den Berg, a brave lad of eighteen years, with
whom were the Lord of Waterdyck and other Netherland
nobles.^

To the military student the siege may possess impor-
tance as marking a transitional epoch in the history of

1 Bor, iii. xxviii. 628-633. Meteren, xvi. 304, 305. Reyd, ix.
177-180. Coloma, v. 99, 100.
VOL. IV.— 10

146 THE UNITED NETHEELANDS [1592

the beleaguering science. To the general reader, as in
most of the exploits of the young Poliorcetes, its details
have but slender interest. Perhaps it was here that the
spade first vindicated its dignity, and entitled itself to
be classed as a military weapon of value along with pike
and harquebus. It was here that the soldiers of Maurice,
burrowing in the ground at ten stivers a day, were
jeered at by the enemy from the battlements as boors
and ditchers, who had forfeited their right to be consid-
ered soldiers— but jeered at for the last time.

From 30th May to 9th June the prince was occupied
in throwing up earthworks on the low grounds in order
to bring his guns into position. On the 13th June he
began to batter with forty-five pieces, but effected little
more than to demolish some of the breastworks. He
threw hot shot into the town very diligently, too, but
did small damage. The cannonading went on for nearly
a week, but the practice was so very indifferent, not-
withstanding the protection of the blessed Barbara and
the tuition of the busmasters, that the besieged began
to amuse themselves with these empty and monotonous
salvos of the honorable Artillery Gild. When aU this
blazing and thundering had led to no better result than
to convert a hundred thousand good Flemish fiorins into
noise and smoke, the thrifty Netherlanders on both sides
of the walls began to disparage the young general's
reputation. After all, they said, the Spaniards were
right when they called artillery mere espanta-vellacos, or
scare- cowards.^ This burrowing and bellowing must at
last give place to the old-fashioned push of pike, and
then it would be seen who the soldiers were. ObservEi-
tions like these were freely made under a flag of truce ;
1 Keyd, ubi sup.

1592] CANNONADING AND MINING 147

for on the 19th June, notwithstanding their contempt
for the espanta-vellacos, the besieged had sent out a
deputation to treat for an honorable surrender. Mau-
rice entertained the negotiators hospitably in his own
tent, but the terms suggested to him were inadmissible.
Nothing came of the conference, therefore, but mutual
criticisms, friendly enough, although suflQciently caustic.

Maurice now ceased cannonading, and burrowed again
for ten days without interruption. Four mines, leading
to different points of the defenses, were patiently con-
structed, and two large chambers at the terminations,
neatly finished off and filled respectively with five
thousand and twenty-five hundred pounds of powder,
were at last established under two of the principal
bastions.^

During all this digging there had been a couple of
sorties, in which the besieged had inflicted great damage
on their enemy, and got back into the town with a few
prisoners, having lost but six of their own men.^ Sir
Francis Vere had been severely wounded in the leg, so
that he was obliged to keep his bed during the rest of
the siege. Verdugo, too, had made a feeble attempt to
reinforce the place with three hundred men, siKty or
seventy of whom had entered, while the rest had been
killed or captured.^ On such a small scale was Philip's
world-empire contended for by his stadholder in Fries-
land ; yet it was certainly not the fault of the stout old
Portuguese. Verdugo would rather have sent thirty
thousand men to save the front door of his greatprovince

1 Bor, Meteren, Keyd, Coloma, ubi sup.

2 Ibid. Coloma says that thiee hundred of the besiegers were
killed in this sally.

3 Ibid.

148 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1592

than three hundred. But every available man— and few
enough of them they were— had been sent out of the
Netherlands, to defend the worlgl-empire in its outposts
of Normandy and Brittany.

This was Philip the Prudent's system for conquering
the world, and men looked upon him as the consumma-
tion of kingcraft.

On the 3d July Maurice ordered his whole force to be
in readiness for the assault. The mines were then
sprung. The bastion of the east gate was blown to
ruins. The mine under the Gast-Huys bulwark burst
outwardly, and buried alive many Hollanders standing
ready for the assault.^ At this untoward accident Mau-
rice hesitated to give the signal for storming the breach,
but the panic within the town was so evident that Louis
William lost no time in seizing the overthrown eastern
bulwark, from the ruins of which he looked over the
whole city.^ The other broken bastion was likewise
easily mastered, and the besieged, seeing the storm about
to burst upon them with irresistible fury, sent a trumpet.
Meantime Maurice, inspecting the effects of the explosion
and preparing for the assault, had been shot through
the left cheek. The wound was not dangerous, and the
prince extracted the bullet with his own hand,^ but the
change of half an inch would have made it fatal. He
was not incapacitated— after his wound had been
dressed, amid the remonstrances of his friends for his
temerity— from listening to the propositions of the city.
They were refused, for the prince was sure of having his
town on his own terms.

1 Bor, Meteren, Eeyd, Coloma, ubi sup. 2 j-bid.

' Ibid. Letter of John the Younger to his father, in Groen v.
Prinsterer, Archives, II. S. i. 198.

1592] EFFECTS OF MINING OPERATIONS I49

Next day lie permitted the garrison to depart, the
officers and soldiers promising not to serve the King of
Spain on the Netherland side of the Rhine for six
months. They were to take theu- baggage, but to leave
arms, flags, munitions, and provisions. Both Maurice
and Louis WiUiam were for insisting on sterner condi-
tions, but the states' deputies and members of the coun-
cil who were present, as usual, in camp urged the
building of the golden bridge. After all, a fortified
city, the second in importance after Groningen of aU
those regions, was the real prize contended for. The
garrison was meager and much reduced during the siege.
The fortifications, of masonry and earthwork combined,
were nearly as strong as ever. St. Barbara had done
them but little damage, but the town itself was in a
sorry plight. Churches and houses were nearly all shot
to pieces, and the inhabitants had long been dwelling in
the cellars. Two hundred of the garrison remained,
severely wounded, in the town ; three hundred and fifty
had been kiUed, among others the young cousin of the
Nassaus, Count Louis van den Berg. The remainder of
the royalists marched out, and were treated with cour-
tesy by Maurice, who gave them an escort, permitting
the soldiers to retain their side-arms, and furnishing
horses to the governor.

In the besieging army five or six hundred had been
killed and many wounded, but not in numbers bearing
the same proportion to the slain as in modem battles.^

1 At least this ia the testimony of all the Dutch historians, but,
as has been the ease in all sieges and battles since men began
to besiege and to fight battles, the evidence given by the two
sides is in almost direct conflict.

According to Coloma, thirteen hundred of the besiegers had

150 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1592

The siege had lasted forty-four days. When it was
over, and men came out from the town to examine at
leisure the prince's camp and his field of operations, they
were astounded at the amount of labor performed in so
short a time. The oldest campaigners confessed that
they never before had understood what a siege really
was, and they began to conceive a higher respect for the
art of the engineer than they had ever done before.
" Even those who were wont to rail at science and labor,"
said one who was present in the camp of Maurice, " de-
clared that the siege would have been a far more ardu-
ous undertaking had it not been for those two engineers,
Joost Matthes of Alost and Jacob Kemp of Gorcum.
It is high time to take from soldiers the false notion
that it is shameful to work with the spade— an error
which was long prevalent among the Netherlanders,
and still prevails among the French, to the great
detriment of the king's affairs, as may be seen in his
sieges." ^

Certainly the result of Henry's recent campaign before
Eouen had proved sufi&ciently how much better it would
have been for him had there been some Dutch Joosts
and Jacobs with their picks and shovels in his army at
that critical period. They might perhaps have baffled
Parma as they had done Verdugo.

"Without letting the grass grow under his feet, Mau-

been killed outright during the assaults, and there were so many
wounded that not five thousand were left unhurt in their camp,
out of ten thousand with which the siege began. On the other
hand, according to the same authority, the besieged had lost but
one hundred and fifty killed and a few more than that number
wounded (f. 99™). But we have seen that the whole of the
besieging army amounted only to eight thousand.
1 Reyd, ubi sup.

1592] SIEGE OF COEVOEDEN 151

rice now led Ms army from Steenwyk to Zwolle, and ar-
rived on the 26th July before Coevorden.

TMs place, very strong by art and still stronger by
nature, was the other key to all North Netherland—
Friesland, Groningen, and Drenthe. Should it fall into
the hands of the Republic it would be impossible for the
Spaniards to retain much longer the rich and important
capital of all that country, the city of Groningen. Coe-
vorden lay between two vast morasses, one of which,
the Bourtange swamp, extended some thirty miles to
the bay of the DoUart, while the other spread nearly as
far in a westerly direction to the Zuyder Zee. Thus
these two great marshes were a frame— an almost im-
passable barrier— by which the northern third of the
whole territory of the Repubhe was encircled and de-
fended. Throughout this great morass there was not a
handbreadth of solid ground, not a resting-place for a
human foot, save the road which led through Coevorden.
This passage lay upon a natural deposit of hard, dry
sand, interposed as if by a caprice of nature between the
two swamps, and was about half a mile in width.i

The town itself was well fortified, and Verdugo had
been recently strengthening the position with additional
earthworks.^ A thousand veterans formed the garrison,
under command of another Van den Berg, the Count
Frederick.^ It was the fate of these sister's-children of
the great founder of the Republic to serve the cause of
foreign despotism with remarkable tenacity against their
own countrymen and against their nearest blood-rela-
tions. On many conspicuous occasions they were almost

1 Gruicoiardini, in voce. Eeyd, ix. 186 seq.

2 Ibid.

3 Keyd, ubi sup. Meteren, xvi. 306. Bor, iii. xxviii. 639 seq.

152 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1592

as useful to Spain and the Inquisition as the son and
nearly all the other kinsmen of William the Silent had
rendered themselves to the cause of Holland and of
freedom.

Having thoroughly intrenched his camp before Coe-
vorden and begun the regular approaches, Maurice left
his cousin Louis William to superintend the siege opera-
tions for the moment, and advanced toward Ootmarsum,
a frontier town which might give him trouble if in the
hands of a relieving force. The place fell at once, with
the loss of but one life to the states' army, but that a
very valuable one ; General de Famars, one of the origi-
nal signers of the famous Compromisp^ and a most dis-
tinguished soldier of the Republic, having been killed
before the gates.

On the 31st July Maurice returned to his intrench-
ments. The enemy professed unbounded confidence.
Van den Berg not doubting that he should be relieved
by Verdugo, and Verdugo being sure that Van den
Berg would need no relief. The Portuguese veteran,
indeed, was inclined to wonder at Maurice's presumption
in attacking so impregnable a fortress. " If Coevorden
does not hold," said he, " there is no place in the world
that can hold." ^

Count Peter Ernest was still acting as governor-
general ; for Alexander Parnese, on returning from his
second French campaign, had again betaken himself,
shattered and melancholy, to the waters of Spa, leaving
the responsibility for Netherland affairs upon the Ger-
man octogenarian.2 To him, and to the nonagenarian

1 Reyd, ubi sup.

2 Parma to P. E. Mansfeld, August 16, 1592. Same to Philip,
August 24, 1592. Arch, de Sim. MSS.

1592] POEMAL SUMMONS TO SUERENDER 153

Mondragon at Antwerp, the veteran Verdugo now called
loudly for aid against the youtMul pedant, whom all
men had been laughing at a twelvemonth or so before.
The Macedonian phalanx, Simon Stevinus and delving
Dutch boors, unworthy of the name of soldiers, seemed
to be steadily digging the ground from under Philip's
feet in his hereditary domains.

What would become of the world-empire, where was
the Great King— not of Spain alone, nor of France alone,
but the great monarch of all Christendom— to plant his
throne securely, if his Frisian strongholds, his most im-
portant Northern outposts, were to fall before an almost
beardless youth at the head of a handful of republican
militia?

Verdugo did his best, but the best was little. The
Spanish and Italian legions had been sent out of the
Netherlands into France. Many had died there, many
were in hospital after their return, nearly all the rest
were mutinous for want of pay.

On the 16th August Maurice formally summoned
Coevorden to surrender. After the trumpeter had blown
thrice. Count Van den Berg, forbidding all others, came
alone upon the walls and demanded his message. " To
claim this city in the name of Prince Maurice of Nassau
and of the States-General," was the reply.

" Tell him first to beat down my walls as flat as the
ditch," said Van den Berg, " and then to bring five or six
storms. Six months after that I will think whether I
will send a trumpet." ^

The prince proceeded steadily with his approaches,
but he was infinitely chagrined by the departure out of
his camp of Sir Francis Vere with his English contingent

1 Bor, Reyd, Meteren, ubi sup.

154 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1592

of three regiments, whom Queen Elizabeth had peremp-
torily ordered to the relief of King Henry in Brittany.

Nothing amazes the modern mind so much as the ex-
quisite paucity of forces and of funds by which the
world-empire was fought for and resisted in France,
Holland, Spain, and England. The scenes of war were
rapidly shifted— almost like the slides of a magic lan-
tern—from one country to another; the same conspicu-
ous personages, almost the same individual armies,
perpetually reappearing in different places, as if a wild
phantasmagoria were capriciously repeating itself to
bewilder the imagination. Essex and Vere and Roger
Williams and Black Norris, Van der Does and Admiral
Nassau, the Meetkerkens and Count Philip, Parnese and
Mansfeld, George Basti, Aremberg, Berlaymont, La
None and Teligny, Aquila and Coloma, were seen
alternately fighting, retreating, triumphant, beleaguer-
ing, campaigning, all along the great territory which
extends from the Bay of Biscay to the crags of Brittany,
and across the narrow seas to the bogs of Ireland, and
thence through the plains of Picardy and Flanders to
the swamps of Groningen and the frontiers of the
Rhine.

This was the arena in which the great struggle was
ever going on, but the champions were so few in num-
ber that their individual shapes become familiar to us
like the figures of an oft-repeated pageant. And now
the withdrawal of certain companies of infantry and
squadrons of cavalry from the Spanish armies into
France had left obedient Netherland too weak to resist
rebellious Netherland, while, on the other hand, the
withdrawal of some twenty or thirty companies of Eng-
lish auxiliaries— most hard-fighting veterans, it is true.

1592] EFFECT OF WITHDRAWAL OF FORCES 155

but very few in number— was likely to imperil the enter-
prise of Maurice in Priesland.

The removal of these companies from the Low Coun-
tries to strengthen the B6arnese in the north of France
formed the subject of much bitter diplomatic conference
between the states and England, the order having been
communicated by the great queen herself in many a
vehement epistle and caustic speech, enforced by big,
manly oaths.^

1 The cautionary towns required to be held at this season with
a firm hand. The days were gone when the states looked up to
the representative of the queen as a "Messiah," and felt that she
alone sustained them from sinking into ruin. A series of victories
over the Spaniards, and the amazing fatuity of the Spanish policy,
had given them vast confidence in themselves, and a growing
contempt for their great enemy. They did not feel themselves
entirely dependent on England, but considered the services
rendered by each country to the other as fairly equal, and they
therefore the more keenly resented the withdrawal of troops to
which they believed themselves thoroughly entitled by their con-
tract. It was an infraction of the treaty, in their opinion, to hold
their cities, yet to send the English auxiliaries into France.
There were rising commotions in Flushing and Ostend, while at
the same time it was felt that the foreign enemy at any moment
was capable of making a sudden assault on those most vital
places. "It is advertised me out of England," said Sir Robert
Sydney, governor of Flushing, "that there be some men of war
that say that Flushing may be kept with a white rod. I know not
whether they have the caduceus which the poets write that
Mercury had, which was of force to bring sleep upon all men.
If they have not, truly they little know this town, or perhaps will
not say what indeed they think, being not in their own particular
interested in the good or ill of it. . . . The burghers, I confess,
carry themselves very honestly, and I persuade myself that the
queen hath many true servants among them, notwithstanding the
chief way to keep them still honest is to have such a garrison as may
pay them at any time the price of doing ill." The governor pro-

156 THE UNITED NETHEELANDS [1592

Verdugo, although confident in the strength of the
place, had represented to Parma and to Mansfeld the
immense importance of relieving Coevorden. The city,
he said, was more valuable than aU the towns taken the
year before. AU Friesland hung upon it, and it would
be impossible to save Groningen should Coevorden fall.

tested that twenty-two companies of one hundred and thirty-five
men each were not a stronger garrison for his town than five com-
panies had been a few years before. The republican sentiment had
so much displaced the feeling of dependence on a foreign sovereign
that the protectors were grown to appear almost like enemies.
Formerly matters were very different. " T)ien was the name of the
queen reverenced in all these countries," he said, "as of another
savior ; and there was love unto her, and unto her subjects, such
as if they had been all of one nation. The Earl of Leicester, in
name and effect, was governor-general of the whole country. My
brother [Sir Philip Sydney] had, joined to the government which
now I have, the regiment of Zealand, which are the troops from
which this garrison has to fear most any sudden harm. The prov-
inces then were poor, and ill order among them, and the states
generally hated of the people. Every day a town lost, the King of
Spain's army mighty, himself entangled with no other wars, and
to all these harms there was no show of hope but from the queen,
all other princes directly shunning their alliance. The people saw
that the queen's taking the cause in hand, and the succor she
sent, had been the only pillar which, after the loss of Antwerp,
had held up their state from utter ruin, which bred a love for the
queen, and a fear of displeasing her. . . . All this has since been
changed : there is a new face on the state and people ; the gov-
ernor-general has lost all authority ; all the commandment of the
armies is in their hands." The governor then assigned many
pregnant reasons for the withdrawing of love from the English
and their queen on the part of the Netherlanders, prominent among
which were the malpractices of the English in Campveer, Medem-
blik, and Gertruydenberg, but especially the interference by the
English cruisers with their sea-going ships, and the frequent
piracies committed on their merchantmen by her Majesty's navy.
"The hindrance of their free traffic," he said, "and the despoiling

1592] TROOPS SENT TO MAURICE 157

Meantime Count Philip Nassau arrived from the cam-
paign in France with his three regiments, which he threw
into garrison, and thus set free an equal number of fresh
troops, which were forthwith sent to the camp of Mau-

of many of their sMps lay such as have commission by the queen
to go to sea, are what they exclaim against extremely." He paid
an honest tribute to the national unity which had grown up in the
Republic, and to the good administration of their affairs. "Now
are the states and the people firmly united, "he said, "the soldiers
thoroughly contented by the good government of the count and
the good payment made to them. . . . The fear of the King of
Spain is almost worn out, their army having now, the third year,
almost without opposition kept the field." It was Sydney's opin-
ion that Coevorden would soon fall, after which Groningen would
become untenable. Then, without additional expense, the states
would be able to take the field with twenty-five thousand men, with
which they thought themselves quite capable of holding the King of
Spain in play, especially embarked as he was with England and
Trance. "Yet do I not think," he added, "that the states will be
willing to have the English companies drawn away, they being,
although but few, a great part of the reputation of the army ; neither
do I think that they would yet be willing to have the contract with
her Majesty broken off, because it is one of the principal chains
that hold these provinces in union together, and one of the best
graces they have with the princes abroad ; and because, by the amity
with England, they have the free use of the sea, by which they
live. Though these men be her Majesty's subjects, yet in respect
that by the contract they were lent unto them, and that to have
them they put their towns into her Majesty's hands, they think
they may challenge a great right unto them ; and truly I was in a
manner asked whether the queen, withdrawing her forces, would
still retain the cautionary towns." Truly the question seemed a
pertinent one, and it would have been difficult for an honest man
to explain why the mortgage should remain when the loan was
withdrawn. It needed no Solomon or Daniel to decide so plain a
matter, and the states had an uncomfortable habit of insisting on
their rights, even in the very face of the English queen. " These
men, how simple show soever they bear outwardly, have hearts

158 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1592

rice.i The prince at the same time was made aware that
Verdugo was about to receive important succor, and he
was advised by the deputies of the States-General pres-
ent at his headquarters to send out his German reiters
to intercept them. Maurice refused. Should his cav-
alry be defeated, he said, his whole army would be
endangered. He determined to await within his forti-
fied camp the attack of the relieving force.

During the whole month of August he proceeded
steadily with his sapping and mining. By the middle
of the month his lines had come through the ditch,
which he drained of water into the counterscarp. By
the beginning of September he had got beneath the
principal fort, which, in the course of three or four
days, he expected to blow into the air. The rainy
weather had impeded his operations and the march of
the relieving army. Nevertheless, that army was at last
approaching. The regiments of Mondragon, Charles
Mansfeld, Gonzaga, Berlaymont, and Aremberg had been
despatched to reinforce Verdugo. On the 23d August,
having crossed the Rhine at Rheinberg, they reached
Olfen, in the country of Bentheim, ten miles from Coe-
vorden. Here they threw up rockets and made other

high enough," said Sydney, "and look to be respected as they
which hold themselves chief rulers of the provinces, which have
so long maintained war against the King of Spain, and truly I do
not think that secretly anything is so much indigested by them as
the little respect as they imagine is had of them in England, and
herein they did look that her Majesty should have proceeded by
way of intreating with them, as was done two years ago, when Sir
John Norris led the first troops into Brittany."— Sydney to
Burghley, July 14, 1592, S. P. Ofdce MS. Same to same, August
4, 1592, ibid.

1 Bor, Eeyd, Meteren, ubi sup.

1592] ATTACK ON MAUEICE'S CAMP 159

signals that relief was approacHng the town. On the
3d of September Verdugo, with the whole force at his
disposal, amounting to four thousand foot and eighteen
hundred horse, was at the village of Emblichen, within
a league of the besieged city. That night a peasant
was captured with letters from Verdugo to the gov-
ernor of Coevorden, giving information that he intended
to make an assault on the besiegers on the night of 6th-
7th September.

Thus forewarned, Maurice took the best precautions
and calmly within his intrenchments awaited the on-
slaught. Punctual to his appointment, Verdugo, with
his whole force, yelling " Victoria ! Victoria ! " made a
shirt-attack, or camiciata,— the men wearing their shirts
outside their armor to distinguish each other in the
darkness,— upon that portion of the camp which was
under command of Hohenlo. They were met with de-
termination and repulsed, after fighting all night, with
a loss of three hundred killed and a proportionate num-
ber of wounded. The Netherl anders had but three killed
and six wounded. Among the latter, however, was
Louis William, who received a musket-baU in the belly,
but remained on the ground until the enemy had re-
treated. It was then discovered that his wound was
not mortal, the intestines not having been injured,
and he was soon about his work again. ^ Prince Mau-

1 Bor, Eeyd, Meteren, ubi sup. " My brother William," wrote
Count Jolm to Ms father, "was shot iu the right side, so that the
ball eame out again near the navel ; but, thank God, there is no
danger of his life, as all the barbers agree. . . . After he had re-
ceived the shot he remained more than an hour fighting on horse-
back and afoot before his wound was bound up, and he could not
be induced by any persuasion to leave the groimd."— Groen
V. Prinsterer, Archives, II. S. i. 207, 208.

160 THE UNITED NBTHEELANDg [1592

riee, too, as usual, incurred the remonstrances of the
deputies and others for the reckless manner in which he
exposed himself wherever the fire was hottest.^ He
resolutely refused, however, to permit his cayalry to fol-
low the retreating enemy. His object was Coevorden,—
a prize more important than a new victory over the
already defeated Spaniards would prove,— and this ob-
ject he kept ever before his eyes.

This was Verdugo's first and last attempt to relieve
the city. He had seen enough of the young prince's
tactics and had no further wish to break his teeth against
those scientific intrenchments. The Spaniards at last,
whether they wore their shirts inside or outside their
doublets, could no longer handle the Dutchmen at plea-
sure. That people of butter, as the iron Duke of Alva
was fond of calling the Netherlanders, were grown
harder with the pressure of a twenty-five years' war.

Five days after the sanguinary camiciata the besieged
offered to capitulate. The trumpet at which the proud
Van den Berg had hinted for six months later arrived on
the 12th September. Maurice was glad to get his town.
His "little soldiers" did not insist, as the Spaniards
and Italians were used to do in the good old days, on
unlimited murder, rape, and fire, as the natural solace
and reward of their labors in the trenches. Civilization
had made some progress, at least in the Netherlands.
Maurice granted good terms, such as he had been in the
habit of conceding to aU captured towns. Van den Berg
was courteously received by his cousins, as he rode forth
from the place at the head of what remained of his gar-
rison, five hundred in number, with colors flying,
matches burning, bullet in mouth, and with all their
1 Bor, Eeyd, Meteren, uW sup.

1592] CAPITULATION OF COEVORDEN 161

arms and baggage except artillery and ammunition, and
the heroic little Louis, notwithstanding the wound in
his belly, got on horseback and greeted him with a
cousinly welcome in the camp.^

The city was a most important acquisition, as already
sufficiently set forth, but Queen Elizabeth, much misin-
formed on this occasion, was inclined to undervalue it.
She wrote accordingly to the states, reproaching them
for using all that artiUery and that royal force against
a mere castle and earth-heap, instead of attempting some
considerable capital, or going in force to the relief of
Brittany.2 The day was to come when she would ac-
knowledge the advantage of not leaving this earth-heap
in the hands of the Spaniard. Meantime Prince Mau-
rice, the season being so far advanced, gave the world
no further practical lessons in the engineering science,
and sent his troops into winter quarters.

These were the chief military phenomena in Prance
and Flanders during three years of the great struggle to
establish Philip's universal dominion.

1 Bor, Keyd, Meteren.

2 " Hasardants vos gens es entreprinses inoertaines et de peu
de consequenee eu esgard que le poids des affaires qui consoement
le bien de notre estat et du votre consiste plus tost a empeolier la
perte de Bretagne, le recouvrement vous devroit estre beauooup
plus recommaud^ que de vous attaquer a ung petit chateau tel
qu'est Coevorden ou aultre semblable."— Queen to the States-
General, July 23, 1592, Hague Archives MS.

VOL. IV.— 11

CHAPTER XXVII

Negotiations between Queen Elizabeth and the states— Aspect of
affairs between England and the Netherlands— Complaints of the
Hollanders on the piratical acts of the English— The Dutch envoy
and the English government— Caron's interview with Elizabeth
—The queen promises redress of grievances.

It is now necessary to cast a glance at certain negotia-
tions on delicate topics which had meantime been occur-
ring between Queen Elizabeth and the states.

England and the Republic were bound together by ties
so close that it was impossible for either to injure the
other without inflicting a corresponding damage on
itself. Nevertheless, this very community of interest,
combined with a close national relationship,— for in the
European family the Netherlanders and English were
but cousins twice removed,— with similarity of pursuits,
with commercial jealousy, with an intense and ever-
growing rivalry for that supremacy on the ocean toward
which the Monarchy and the Republic were so earnestly
struggling, with a common passion for civil and re-
ligious freedom, and with that inveterate habit of self-
assertion— the healthful but not engaging attribute of
all vigorous nations— which strongly marked them both,
was rapidly producing an antipathy between the two
countries which time was Ukely rather to deepen than

162

1592] ELIZABETH AND HEE COURTIERS 163

efface. And the national divergences were as potent as
the traits of resemblance in creating this antagonism.

The democratic element was expanding itself in the
Republic so rapidly as to stifle for a time the oligarchical
principle which might one day be developed out of the
same matrix ; while, despite the hardy and adventurous
spirit which characterized the English nation throughout
all its grades, there was never a more intensely aristo-
cratic influence in the world than the governing and
directing spirit of the England of that age.

It was impossible that the courtiers of Elizabeth and
the burgher statesmen of HoUand and Friesland should
sympathize with each other in sentiment or in manner.
The republicans, in their exuberant consciousness of
having at last got rid of kings and kingly paraphernalia
in their own land,— for since the rejection of the sover-
eignty offered to Prance and England in 1585 this feel-
ing had become so predominant as to make it difficult to
believe that those offers had been in reality so recent,—
were insensibly adopting a frankness, perhaps a rough-
ness, of political and social demeanor which was far
from palatable to the euphuistic formalists of other
countries.

Especially the English statesmen, trained to approach
their sovereign with almost Oriental humility, and accus-
tomed to exact for themselves a large amount of defer-
ence,! oould ill brook the free-and-easy tone occasionally
adopted in diplomatic and official intercourse by these
upstart republicans. A queen who, to loose morals,
imperious disposition, and violent temper. United as inor-

1 The Venetian ambassador Contarmi relates that in the reign
of James I. the great nobles of England were served at table by
lackeys on their knees.

164 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1592

dinate a personal vanity as was ever vouchsafed to
woman, and who up to the verge of decrepitude was
addressed by her courtiers in the language of love-lorn
swain to blooming shepherdess,^ could naturally find but
little to her taste in the hierarchy of Hans Brewer and
Hans Baker. Thus her Majesty and her courtiers,
accustomed to the faded gallantries with which the
serious affairs of state were so grotesquely intermingled,
took it iU when they were bluntly informed, for instance,
that the state council of the Netherlands, negotiating on

1 Take, for example, among a thousand similar effusions, the
language used by Sir Walter Kaleigh at exactly the period with
which we are now occupied :

" I that was wont to behold her riding like Alexander, walking
like Venus, the gentle wind blowing her fair hair about her pure
cheeks, like a nymph ; sometimes sitting in the shade like a god-
dess, sometimes singing like an angel, sometimes playing like
Orpheus. All wounds have sears but those of fantasy, all affec-
tions their relenting but those of womankind. All those times
past, the loves, the sighs, the sorrows, the desires, can they not
weigh down one frail misfortune? Cannot one drop of gaU he
hidden in so great heaps of sweetness?" etc. "Do with me now,
therefore, what you list— I am weary of life," etc.— Sir W. Ealeigh
to Sir K. Cecil, July, 1592, Murdin State Papers, ii. 657. Let
it be remembered that the Venus, .nymph, goddess, angel, thus
adjured for pity, had just turned her sixtieth year.

The Chevalier du Maurier relates in his Memoirs a little inci-
dent which he witnessed when residing as a boy near The Hague,
his father being then French envoy to the states, and which in-
dicates that the rustic and uneourtly independence of the re-
publicans had not diminished with the lapse of a few more years,
and with the corresponding increase of popular wealth and
strength throughout the commonwealth. The unlucky Elector
Palatine, ex-King of Bohemia, a refugee in Holland since the
battle of Prague, was hunting hares in the neighborhood of Du
Maurier's house. In the ardor of the oha,S6, Frederick, having
intruded with dogs and horses upon the turnip-field of a wealthy

1592] INDEPENDENCE OF NETHERLANDS 165

Netherland affairs, could not permit a veto to the rep-
resentatives of the queen, and that this same body of
Dutchmen, discussing their own business, insisted upon
talking Dutch and not Latin.

It was impossible to deny that the young stadholder
was a gentleman of a good house, but how could the
insolence of a common citizen like John of Olden-
Barneveldt be digested? It was certain that behind
those shaggy, overhanging brows there was a powerful
brain stored with legal and historic lore, which supplied
eloquence to an ever-ready tongue and pen. Yet these
facts, difQcult to gainsay, did not make the demands so

peasant, saw himself pursued with loud cries by the incensed pro-
prietor, aeeompanied by a very big farm-servant. Both were
armed with pitchforks, and the farmer himself presented a truly
respectable as well as formidable appearance, dressed as he
happened to be in his holiday suit of black Spanish broadcloth,
with an underjacket of Florence ratinet, adorned with massive
silver buttons. Flourishing his pitchfork, and making no other
salutation, he bawled out : " King of Bohemia, King of Bohemia,
what do you mean by trampling on my turnips ? Don't you know
how much pains it costs to plant and to weed them?" The luck-
less son-in-law of the British sovereign had nothing for it but to
apologize for the trespass, and to beat as rapid a retreat before
the Dutch farmer as he had recently done before the Duke of
Lorraine and the Emperor Ferdinand. (M6moires de Messire
Aubrey du Maurier, 252, 253.)

Perhaps it was as well for the progress of mankind— even at
the oeeasional sacrifice of courtesy to royalty in difficulties— that
there should have been a corner of the earth where the theory of
natural masters and guardians for the people had already received
so rude a shock as in Holland, and where not only the boor but
the boor's turnips were safe from being trampled upon. What
more poignant satire on human nature than is contained in this
very English word " boor " ! The builder, the planter, the creator,
—the Bauer, in short,— is made to be identical with the vulgar
clown.

166 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1592

frequently urged by the States-General upon the Eng-
lish government for the enforcement of Dutch rights
and the redress of English wrongs the more acceptable.

Bodley, Grilpin, and the rest were in a chronic state of
exasperation with the Hollanders, not only because of
their perpetual complaints, but because their complaints
were perpetually just.

The States-General were dissatisfied, aU the Nether-
landers were dissatisfied,— and not entirely without
reason,~thattheEnglish, with whom the Repubhe wason
terms not only of friendship but of alliance, should burn
their ships on the high seas, plunder their merchants, and
torture their sea-captains in order to extort information
as to the most precious portions of their cargoes.^

1 "Nommement que pardessus ung nombre infini de pilleries,
forces et outrages, certain navire de Pierre Piateoz, au commence-
ment de ee mois venant d'Espaigne vers ces Provinces Unies
charg6 d'une grande somme d'argent et marchandises prdcieuses
a 6t6 fore6, prins et men6 a Plymouth par le subject de V. M. le
Capitaine Martin Frobisher avec ung aultre navire charge de sel.
Lesquels navires sout tenus eomme pour bonne prinse soubs
pretexte premi&rement, comme nous entendons, que le diet Pierre
se seroit mis en defence contre le navire de V. M. lequel il na cognu
ny peu oognoistre pour le grand nombre de la diversitfi des navires
mesmes des pirates qui joumellement s'aydant en mer du nom des
navires et gens de V. M. forcent et pillent les navires et marohan-
dises des inhabitants de ee pays soubs toute couleur et pretexte
traiotans les mariniers de toutes sortes de tourments. Et seconde-
ment qu'ils disent qu'en ieeux deux navires auroient este quelques
biens et marchandises appartenans aux Espagnols ou autres sub-
jects et tenants le parti des ennemis : le tout centre la verity et dont
il n'apparoistra jamais ainsi que le les propri6taires et mariniers
disent. Ces practiques et traverses dont ils usent journellement
mfime par menaces, concussions et violences pour fair eonfesser
aux bons gens ce qu'on veuille ou de les constraindre a abandonner
lews biens et marchandises ainsi prinses, sent si notoires et en si

1592] DISSATISFACTION AMONG NETHEELANDERS 167

Sharp language against suet malpractices was consid-
ered but proof of democratic vulgarity. Yet it would be
hard to maintain that Martin Frobisher, Mansfield,
Grenfell, and the rest of the sea-kings, with all their
dash and daring and patriotism, were not as unscrupu-
lous pirates as ever sailed blue water, or that they were
not apt to commit their depredations upon friend and
foe alike.

On the other hand, by a liberality of commerce in ex-
grand nombre que nous tenons tout certain qu'elles sont assez eog-
nues et dficouvertes et indubitablement apparoistront encores avec
le temps plus clairement a V. M.," etc.— States-General to the
queen, November 1, 1590, Hague Archives MS.

" II n'y a, chose que nous f aisons avecq plus de regret que de
molester si souventes fois V. M. par nos plainctes a I'endroict des
doleances des marohants de ces pays, des pllleries, dommages et
exces que leur font continueUement en mer les subjects d'Icelle
par pure force et violence sans cause ny aulcune raison, au lieu
de I'ordre et remede qui leur avoit este promis et asseurS.
D'aultant que s^avons combien cela doibt desplaire a une Prin-
cesse Chr^tienne et droicturiere dont V. M. est si renommde par
tout le monde. Mais comme voyons les diets exces s'aceroistre
joumellement en teUes exorbitances et plus ni moings si les
Anglais s'estoient declares ennemis de ces pays et faisoient leur
equippaige tout expres pour quant nos marchands ruiner, aussi du
tout nostre estat, ou du moins par ce moyen le mettre en rage et
desespoir du peuple ; si comme nous est apparu par verifications
legitimes et auotentiques que le 24^ du mois de Mai dernier une
pinasse nomm6 le Jeune Lion oil estoit capitaine ung appell6
Manser et deux aultres navires Anglois dont I'ung avoit uom Susan
et estoit command^ par le capitaine Henry, ont sans mot sonner
furieusement attaqu^ par coups d'artillerie et investie ung navire
de la Veere appell^ le Griphon, qui avoit pour marinier Gole
Adrianszoen, parti auparavant de St. Lucas et estoit charg6 de
grande quantity d'argent, perles et conchenille le quel ils ont
entierement spoli6 et pill6 apres qu'ils avoient faict prisonniers et
gehenn6 inhumainement plusieurs de ceulx qui y estoient dedans,

168 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1592

traordinary contrast with the practice of modem times,
the Netherlanders were in the habit of trading directly
with the arch-enemy of both Holland and England, even
in the midst of their conflict with him, and it was com-
plained of that even the munitions of war and the
implements of navigation by which Spain had been
enabled to effect its foothold in Brittany, and thus to

les eontraignants de signer qu'ils n'avoient prins que dix-sept
saoqs d'argent et huiot tonneaux de la diote oonolieiillle en lieu de
cent et quinze saoqs, toutes les perles et conehenille ; non obstant
que le dit maistre marinier leur fait voir qu'ils estoient de la Vere
et que le tout appartenoit a des marohands de Zelande," etc.—
States-General to the queen, June 26, 1592, Hague AroMves MS.

" Outre le meseontement que les peuples out par les oon-
tinuelles larcins et pilleries de la mer par oil ils sont entierement
ali^nez de I'aflfection quils souloient porter S, la nation Anglaise,"
etc.— Noel de Caron to the lord treasurer, July, 1592, Hague
Archives MS.

"The merchants of Middelburg have of late received such
losses, as they say, by our countrymen that her M. 's letter whereby
she signifies the release of four ships is not medicine strong
enough any way to appease their griefs. They complain of two
ships taken on the coast of Portugal worth £30,000 sterling, and
the same day I did deliver the queen's letter they had already had
news of the taking of four ships more going out of this river,
worth, as they say, as much as the other two. These actions make
them almost desperate, as I will write more at large unto y"' Lo. :
upon the return of the deputies, which they of Zealand did send
unto HoU* to let them know of these prisals, and to take some
course for it. ... I am assured that before this happened all the
country except Amsterdam were resolved to give contentment unto
the queen touching the articles of the traflo. "What they will
now do I know not, for these things have greatly stirred the
humors here, and if it be continued, not unlikely that some
inconvenience may happen, which in my opinion were good for
her M. to foresee, since the profit comes little, as far as I can see,
to herself, and the merchants and committee of these towns, who
are the men that most affect her M. and her service, will have

1092] COMMERCE BETWEEN BELLIGERENT POWERS 169

threaten the English coast, were derived from this very-
traffic. ^

The Hollanders replied that, according to their con-
tract with England, they were at liberty to send as many
as forty or fifty vessels at a time to Spain and Portugal,
that they had never exceeded the stipulated number,
that England freely engaged in the same traffic herself
with the common enemy, that it was not reasonable to

their hearts alienated from her if they see their goods, which is
their life, taken from them by her M.'s subjects, where they look
to be protected by her."— Sir R. Sydney to Burghley, October 29,
1590, S. P. Office MS.

1 " Touohant oe que vous debvriez prohiber le commerce et
transportement de vivres et munitions d'icy en Espagne. Qui est
une chose praetiqu6 aus si ouvertement et hardiment par certains
marohands de Hollande et Zelande que s'il ny avoit point
d'inimitie entre les Espaignols et eux. Tellement que si les
navires du Roy en Biscaye et Gallice Cales et aultres parties
m6ridionales d'Espagne n'eussent point este fournis I'an pass6 et
oe printems de poudre et de cordage par les marchands de ces
pays cy, n'auroit peu envoyer aulounes forces en Bretagne. Or
sur ces vostres procedures et aultres semblables le roy de France
et ses conseillers, le Prince Dombes son lieutenant en Bretagne et
son ambassadeur en Angleterre, et de faict tons hommes en
general taut princes qu'aultres qui ont la commune cause en re-
commendation, se plaignent grandement tous les jours et ad-
dressent leurs plaintes a S. M. presumans qu'elle ayant pris la
protection de ces pays cy pourroit et debvroit par ses moyens et
authority redresser ung si notoire desordre pour la preservation
d'elle mesme et de tous ceux qui sont touchez en mesme cas.
Mesmes dans oe peu de jours lediot Ambassadeur a inf orm6 S. M.
d'une grande quantity de munitions port6 a S. Malo et Nantes en
Bretagne et de plus de 20 navires charges de hl6 et de quelque
provision de poudre. . . . Ces actions illicites rendent S. M.
tellement offens^e qu'elle pense avoir cause de se repentir d'avoir
oncques pris la defence de ces pays contre le Eoy d'Espagne, oon-
siderant que les armes et les forces d'loelluy par beauooup

170 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1592

consider cordage or dried flsli or shocks and staves, but-
ter, eggs, and corn, as contraband of war, that if they
■were illegitimate the English trade was vitiated to the
same degree, and that it would be utterly hopeless for
the provinces to attempt to carry on the war except by
enabling themselves, through the widest and most unre-
stricted foreign commerce, even including the enemy's
realms, to provide their nation with the necessary wealth
to sustain so gigantic a conflict.^

d'ann6es ont 6t& entretenues et maintemies en ces Pays Bas par le
commtm transportement de vivres et fournittire de guerre k icelles
qui s'est faict par permission et licence d'icy," etc.— Bodley to the
States-General, June 2, 1591, Hague Archives MS.

"Quand vous aultres pour vos advantages partiouUerg laissez
fournir de toutes sortes de oommodites le diet ennemi commun et
puissant, et a ceste henre mesme que pour I'amour de vous nous
sommes foreclose de tout commerce k la ruine totale de plusieurs
de nos subjects, lesquels comme ils nous ont este plus chers que
la vie ainsi ne pouvons que nous ressentir de leurs plaintes
touohant les traffiques qui se font journellement soubz des noms
empruntfis et simul^z, oe qui s'est directement d^oouvert," etc.—
Queen to the States-Greneral, February 13, 1593, Hague Archives
MS.

1 "Nous n'avons encore peu persuader k V. M. oombien le
transport de quelques vivres ensemble la navigation et trafSoq
avecq et vers le pays de West importent au bien et conservation
de nostre estat. Car ny ayant mine d'or ni d'autre metal es diets
pays dont I'on pourroit tirer les frais d'icelle guerre, d'aultre part
I'aflueuce annuelle que Dieu y donne de beurre, fromage et
quelques autres vivres, y eatant par Sa divine grace si abondante
que la dixieme part ny peult estre consumiSe, et la multitude du
peuple addonn6 au traf&eque et manufacture y estant grande et
si independante que faisant tant seulement le moindre semblant
de les y vouloir empesoher, la plus grande partie d'iceux s'en de-
partiroit vers les pays voisins tirant quand a eulx une infinite de
navires et mariniers oomme l'exp6rienoe k assez montr6 mesme du
tems du dit fen Mons^ le Comte de Leycester que nous peult on

1592] SEITISH GOVERNMENT AND THE STATES 171

Here were ever-flowing fountains of bitterest discus-
sion and recrimination. It must be admitted, however,
that there was occasionally an advantage in the despotic
and summary manner in which the queen took matters
into her own hands. It was refreshing to see this great
sovereign— who was so well able to grapple with ques-
tions of state, and whose very imperiousness of temper
impelled her to trample on shallow sophistries and
specious technicalities— dealing du-ectly with cases of
piracy and turning a deaf ear to the councilors, who, in
that as in every age, were too prone to shove by inter-
national justice in order to fulfil municipal forms.

It was, however, with much difificulty that the envoy
of the Republic was able to obtain a direct hearing from
her Majesty in order to press the long Ust of complaints
on account of the English piratical proceedings upon
her attention. He intimated that there seemed to be

imputer que les beneficions et en tirons les moyens de nostre con-
servation? L'on nous oljjeote que les notres vont querir les grains
en Oostlande et les meinent vers les pays de West subjects a
I'ennemy, qu'ioelluy s'en nourrit et fortifie. Nous le oroions, mais
l'on ne nous sauroit persuader (encores que la traffioq des nostres
cessat) que ceulx d'Oostlande vouldroient ou pourraient laisser
perir I'abondanee des grains y croissant annuellemente (qui sent
presque I'unieque moyen de leur trafficq et soutien de leur vie) et
que saebant qu'ailleurs y en auroit disette et traitte, eux et autres
marcbants et mariniers de divers royaumes et pays ne les y trans-
portent et ny a apparence de la leur pouvoir empescber (quant ce
ne servit que poxir le gaing exorbitant et eommoditez qu'ils en
tirent) non plus que d'empeseber le Roy d'Espagne de s'en faire
pouvoir i, quelque prix que oe fust d'illecq ou d'ailleurs. Et
dependant le transport de grains estrangers d'icy, que deviendra
si grande quantity qui y est? puisque par le grace de Dieu ces
pays en produisent aultant et plus qu'il en fault pour la nourriture
des manans d'iceulx. Et qui croira qu'on y ameuera d'aultres
pour y demourer establiz comme en ung sacq en peril de sy gaster.

172 THE UNITED NBTHEELANDS [1592

special reasons why the great ones about her throne
"were disposed to deny him access to the queen, knowing
as they did in what intent he asked for interviews.
They described in strong language the royal wrath at
the opposition recently made by the states to detaching
the English auxiliaries in the Netherlands for the service
of the French king in Normandy, hoping thereby to
deter him from venturing into her presence with a list
of grievances on the part of his government. "I did
my best to indicate the danger incurred by such trans-
ferring of troops at so critical a moment," said Noel de
Caron, " showing that it was directly in opposition to
the contract made with her Majesty. But I got no an-
swer save very high words from the lord treasurer, to
the effect that the States-General were never willing

. . . Cependant cesseroient les convois et licentes d'entrfee et
issue (prineipal revenu de oes pays) et les marchants et mariniers
qui n'ont aultre moyen de vivre et nourrir leurs f emmes et enfans
se transporteroient avec leur navires en Danemark, Norweghen,
Hamljourg, Dansig, voire memes en Pologne et ailleurs. . . .
Dont ensuivroit non seulement tres grande diminution des imports
et autres moyens destines pour I'entretien de la guerre, mais aussi
transport et alienation des nayires et mariniers (principale force
de ces pays). ... II faut que oe n'est pas par gaiety de ooeur que
toutes nos terres, maisons rentes et aultres bien immeubles,
mesmes aussi du bestail, nous paions liberalement une grande
partie du fruit et revenu d'ioeulx et que de nostre manger, boire,
vestemens, chaufEage et autres consumptions pardessus le prix nous
payons pour impots presque la valeur d'icelles. Et toutes foistout
oela n'est bastant pour en foumir la moiti6 des frais de notre
guerre sans y comprendre rnie infinite de dettes es quelles le pays
demeure obligfi pardessus toutes autres charges, que les provinces
supportent a I'entretien de leurs dieques escluses et dependanoes
centre les mondations des rwieres et de la mer contre lesquels Us
soutiennent aussi comme une contiivuelle guerre. ... II est evident
qu'il importe singulierement pour la conservation de oes dits pays

1592] GABON SEEKS AN AUDIENCE I73

to agree to any of her Majesty's propositions, and that
this matter was as necessary to the states' service as to
that of the French king. In effect, he said peremptorily
that her Majesty wUled it and would not recede from
her resolution." ^

The envoy then requested an interview with the queen
before her departure into the country.

Next day, at noon, Lord Burghley sent word that she
was to leave between five and sis o'clock that evening,
and that the minister would be welcome meantime at
any hour.

" But notwithstanding that I presented myself," said
Caron, " at two o'clock in the afternoon, I was unable to
speak to her Majesty until a moment before she was

et service de la cause comnmne que la navigation et trafficque des
dits vivres demeurent libres. Et supplions tres humblement qu'il
plaise a V. M. donner I'ordre que convient k ee que au dehors et
contra ioelluy plaecart ladite navigation trafficq et transport ne
soient par ses subjects aucunement empeschez ou soubs quelque
pretexte que ce soit retard^s, mesmes aussy de vouloir relaxer et
indemner ceux qui sont encore empesches et endonunagfis," etc.
—States-General to the queen, May 4, 1592, Hague Archives MS.

"Dat de staten ecus met haer geaccordeert waren dat zy maer
veertig ofte vyftig schepen teffens en zouden zenden. . . .
Nochtaens dat iek haere Mat. moohte verzekeren datter geen vyftig
schepen in alle de vlote naer Spagnien en wilden, etc. . . . Want
ick haer verzekerde dat ons Land (Got lof ) treffelycke Coepluyden
hadde die t' in alien eeoken van der werelt besochten. Dat selfs
haere natie met donse in Spaignien trafficqueerde eude dat donse
onder de namen van de Oosterlinghen Deynen ende andersints
moesten traffiequeren, anders dat zy in groot peryckel waren als
zy ontdekt wierden," etc.— Caron to the States-General, Novem-
ber 18, 1592, Hague Archives MS.

1 "In effecte zeyde absolutelycken dat Haer Mat. die begeerde,
ende van der resolutie niet soude afstaen."- Same to same, July
30, 1592, Hague Archives MS.

174 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1592

about to mount her horse. Her language was then very
curt. She persisted in demanding her troops, and
strongly expressed her dissatisfaction that we should
have refused them on what she called so good an occa-
sion for using them. I was obliged to cut my replies
very short, as it was already between six and seven
o'clock, and she was to ride nine English miles to the
place where she was to pass the night. I was quite sen-
sible, however, that the audience was arranged to be
thus brief in order that I should not be able to stop
long enough to give trouble, and perhaps to find occa-
sion to renew our complaints touching the plunderings
and robberies committed upon us at sea. This is what
some of the great personages here, without doubt, are
afraid of, for they were wonderfully well overhauled in
my last audience. I shall attempt to speak to her again
before she goes very deep into the country." ^

It was not, however, before the end of the year, after
Caron had made a voyage to Holland and had returned,
that he was able to bring the subject thoroughly before
her Majesty. On the 14th November he had prelimi-
nary interviews with the lord high admiral and the lord
treasurer at Hampton Court, where the queen was then
residing. The plundering business was warmly dis-
cussed between himself and the admiral, and there was
much quibbling and special pleading in defense of the
practices which had created so much irritation and

1 Caron to the States-General, July 30, 1592: "Emmers iok
hebbe wel gevoelt dat deze audientie voor my zoo cort geapposteert
was omme dat ick haer niet te lange zoude blyven troubleren ende
miacHen oooasie orygen om onse clagten nopende de plonderingen
ende roverien ter zee te vernyeuwen twelok sommige groote
allhier zonder twyffel vreesen. Want zy wonderlycken zoer over-
haelt wierden in myne leste audientie," etc.

1592] DISCUSSION OP COMPLAINTS 175

pecuniary loss in Holland. There was a good deal of
talk about want of evidence and conflict of evidence,
which, to a man who felt as sure of the facts and of the
law as the Dutch envoy did,— unless it were according to
public law for one friend and ally to plunder and burn
the vessels of another friend and aUy,— was not encour-
aging as to the probable issue of his interview with her
Majesty. It would be tedious to report the conversation
as fully as it was laid by Noel de Caron before the
States-G-eneral ; but at last the admiral expressed a hope
that the injured parties would be able to make good
their case. At any rate, he assured the envoy that he
would take care of Captain Mansfield for the present,
who was in prison with two other captains, so that pro-
ceedings might be had against them if it was thought
worth while. ^

Caron answered with Dutch bluntness. "I recom-
mended him very earnestly to do this," he said, "and
told him roundly that this was by aU means necessary
for the sake of his own honor. Otherwise no man could
ever be made to believe that his Excellency was not seek-
ing to get his own profit out of the affair. But he
vehemently swore and protested that this was not the
case." ^

He then went to the lord treasurer's apartment, where
a long and stormy interview followed on the subject of

1 Caron to the States-General, November 18, 1592, Hague
Archives MS.

2 "Ick hebbe hem tzelve zeer emstelycken gereoommandeert
ende dem rondelyek uitgeseyt dat zulcx cm zjn eerewille allesints
betaemde anders dat men nyemant en sonde oonnen doen gelooven
oft zyne E. en zonde ■willen in dese zaecke zyne prouffit gedoen.
Zoo hy hoochelyken swoer ende protesteerde dat hy niet en hadde
noohte oook en zoude willen doen."— Ibid.

176 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS • [1592

the withdrawal of the English troops. Caron warmly-
insisted that the measure had been full of danger for
the states; that they had been ordered out of Prince
Maurice's camp at a most critical moment ; that, had it
not been for the stadholder's promptness and military
skill, very great disasters to the common cause must have
ensued ; and that, after aU, nothing had been done by
the contingent in any other field, for they had been for
sis months idle and sick, without ever reaching Brittany
at aU.

"The lord treasurer, who, contrary to his custom,"
said the envoy, " had been listening thus long to what I
had to say, now observed that the states had treated her
Majesty very ill, that they had kept her running after
her own troops nearly half a year, and had offered no
excuse for their proceedings." ^

It would be superfluous to repeat the arguments by
which Caron endeavored to set forth that the English
troops, sent to the Netherlands according to a special
compact, for a special service, and for a special consid-
eration and equivalent, could not honestly be employed,
contrary to the wishes of the States-General, upon a
totally difl'erent service and in another country. The
queen wiQed it, he was informed, and it was ill-treat-
ment of her Majesty on the part of the Hollanders to
oppose her will. This argument was unanswerable.

Soon afterward Caron was admitted to the presence
of Elizabeth. He delivered, at first, a letter from the
States-General, touching the withdrawal of the troops.
The queen instantly broke the seal and read the letter
to the end. Coming to the concluding passage, in which

1 Caron to the States-General, November 18, 1592, Hague
Archives MS

1592] GABON'S INTERVIEW WITH ELIZABETH I77

the states observed that they had great and just cause
highly to complain on that subject, she paused, reading
the sentences over twice or thrice, and then remarked :
"Truly these are comical people.^ I have so often
been complaining that they refused to send my troops,
and now the states complain that they are obliged to let
them go. Yet my intention is only to borrow them for
a little while, because I can give my brother of Prance
no better succor than by sending him these soldiers,
and this I consider better than if I should send him four
thousand men. I say again, I am only borrowing them,
and surely the states ought never to make such com-
plaints, when the occasion was such a favorable one, and
they had received already sufficient aid from these
troops, and had liberated their whole country. I don't
comprehend these grievances. They complain that I
withdraw my people, and meantime they are still hold-
ing them and have brought them ashore again. They
send me frivolous excuses that the skippers don't know
the road to my islands, which is, after all, as easy to find
as the way to Caen, for it is all one. I have also sent
my own pilots, and I complain bitterly that by making
this difficulty they will cause the loss of all Brittany.
They run with their people far away from me, and mean-
time they allow the enemy to become master of all the
coasts lying opposite me. But if it goes badly with me
they will rue it deeply themselves." ^

1 "Voor waer zy zyn sohaeke luyden."— Caron to the States-
General, MS. last cited. The conversation was of course in
French, but as the envoy made his report to the States-G-eneral
in Dutch, it is not possible to give the exact word which the
queen used. It may fee rendered crafty, queer, droll, cunning,
or funny.

2 Caron to the States-General, MS. last cited.

VOL. IV.— 12

178 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1592

There was considerable reason, even if there were but
little justice, in this strain of remarks. Her Majesty-
continued it for some little time longer, and it is interest-
ing to see the direct and personal manner in which this
great princess handled the weightiest affairs of state.
The transfer of a dozen companies of English infantry
from Priesland to Brittany was supposed to be big with
the fate of Prance, England, and the Dutch Republic,
and was the subject of long and angry controversy, not
as a contested point of principle, in regard to which
numbers, of course, are nothing, but as a matter of
practical and pressing importance.

"Her Majesty made many more observations of this
nature," said Caron, "but without getting at all into a
passion, and, in my opinion, her discourse was sensible,
and she spoke with more moderation than she is wont
at other times." ^

The envoy then presented the second letter from the
States-General in regard to the outrages inflicted on
the Dutch merchantmen. The queen read it at once,
and expressed herself as very much displeased with her
people. She said that she had received similar in-
formation from Councilor Bodley, who had openly
given her to understand that the enormous outrages
which her people were committing at sea upon the Neth-
erlanders were a public scandal. It had made her so
angry, she said, that she knew not which way to turn.
She would take it in hand at once, for she would rather
make oath nevermore to permit a single ship of war to

1 "Dooh sonder haer eeniglisiiLts te moveren, dan naer myns
bedTinkens disoours gewys ende veel meerder moderatie dan zy op
ander tyden wel was gewoon."— Caron to the States-General, MS.
last cited.

1592] GABON'S INTEKVIEW WITH ELIZABETH 179

leave her ports than consent to such thieveries and vil-
lainies. She told Caron that he ■would do well to have
his ease in regard to these matters verified, and then to
give it into her own hands, since otherwise it would all
be denied her, and she would find herself unable to get
at the truth.i

" I have all the proofs and documents of the mer-
chants by me," replied the envoy, " and, moreover, sev-
eral of the sea-captains who have been robbed and
outraged have come over with me, as likewise some
merchants who were tortured by burning of the thumbs
and other kinds of torments." ^

This disturbed the queen very much, and she expressed
her wish that Caron should not allow himself to be put
off with delays by the council, but should insist upon
all due criminal punishment, the infliction of which she

1 "Ende haer zeer tonvreden gehouden jegens haer volck,
seyde oook diergelyck verstaen te helDben van den Eaetsheer
Bodley die haer opentlyeken adverteerde dat het een open
schandael was te verstaen d'enorme stukken die haer volok ter
zee op de onsen waren doende, twelck (soo sy seyde) haer zoo
tornieh gemaeekt hadde datse niet wiste waer haer keeren, datse
oock eens voor haer zoude nemen ende liever versweren nimmer-
meer meer te consenteren eenich sehip van oorlogen te laten
uitgaen dan oecasie van zulkee dievereyen ende sohelmeryen te
consenteren, dat ick daeromme wel zoude doen myn zaecke in dit
regard te doen verifieren, ende t'zelve haer in handen te geven,
want anders men tzelve haer al ontkende ende daer geensints
tuschen en oonste geraeken."— Caron to the States-General, No-
vember 18, 1592, Hague Archives MS.

2 "Ick zedye aen haere Ma' dat ick alle de bewyaen ende
doonmenten van de coopluyden by my hadde, oyck mede datter
eenige schippers die men berooft ende geoultrageert hadde met
my waren gecommen, oock coopluyden die men de duymen hadde
gebrant ende andere tormenten van pynigen aen hadde gedaen,
twelck haer oook zeer ontstelde," etc.— Ibid.

180 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1592

promised in the strongest terms to order ; for she coidd
never enjoy peace of mind, she said, so long as such
scoundrels were tolerated in her kingdom.^

The envoy had brought with him a summary of the
cases, with the names of all the merchants interested,
and a list of aU the marks on the sacks of money which
had been stolen. The queen looked over it very care-
fully, declaring it to be her intention that there should
be no delays interposed in the conduct of this affair by
forms of special pleading, but that speedy cognizance
should be taken of the whole, and that the property
should forthwith be restored.^

She then sent for Sir Robert Cecil, whom she directed
to go at once and tell his father, the lord treasurer, that
he was to assist Caron in this affair exactly as if it were
her own. It was her intention, she said, that her peo-
ple were in no wise to trouble the Hollanders in legiti-
mate mercantile pursuits. She added that it was not
enough for her people to say that they had only been
seizing Spaniards' goods and money, but she meant that
they should prove it, too, or else they should swing
for it.'

1 " Seggende dat zy ingertistiehe yt niet conde geleven als men
.zulcke sohelmen in haer Eyoke langer zoude verdragen."— Caron
to the States-General, November 18, 1592, Hague Archives MS.

2 Ibid.

^ " Dede dien volgende roupen Sir Robert Cecil die zy belaste
aen den Trcsorier zynen vader te gaen zeggen dat hy my hierinne
zoude assisteren al oft haer eygen zaecke waere, want haere in-
tentie (zoo zy zeyde) niet en was dat men ons eenigsins in onse
coophandelinge soude troubleren als wy daerinne op reeht han-
delden. Seyde ooek dat haer niet genoeck en was dat haer volck
zeyde dat se Spaignaerts gelt ende goet geattrapeert hadden, maer
verstont dat zy tzelve zouden doeu blycken ofte met haren hals
betaelen."— Ibid.

1592] THE QUEEN'S PROMISE OF REDKESS 181

Caron assured her Majesty that he had no other com-
mission from his masters than to ask for justice, and that
he had no instructions to claim Spanish property or
enemy's goods. He had brought sufilcient evidence
with him, he said, to give her Majesty entire satis-
faction.

It is not necessary to pursue the subject any further.
The great nobles still endeavored to interpose delays,
and urged the propriety of taking the case before the
common courts of law. Caron, strong in the support of
the queen, insisted that it should be settled, as her Maj-
esty had commanded, by the council, and it was finally
arranged that the judge of admiralty should examine
the evidence on both sides, and then communicate the
documents at once to the lord treasurer. Meantime the
money was to be deposited with certain aldermen of
London, and the accused parties kept in prison. The
ultimate decision was then to be made by the council,
"not by form of process, but by commission thereto
ordained." ^ In the course of the many interviews which
followed between the Dutch envoy and the privy coun-
cilors, the lord admiral stated that an English mer-
chant residing in the Netherlands had sent to offer him
a present of two thousand pounds sterling in case the
affair should be decided against the Hollanders. He
communicated the name of the individual to Caron,
under seal of secrecy, and reminded the lord treasurer
that he, too, had seen the letter of the Englishman. Lord
Burghley observed that he remembered the fact that
certain letters had been communicated to him by the
lord admiral, but that he did not know from whence

1 Caron to the States-General, November 18, 1592, Hague
Arebives MS. Also same to same, December 12, 1592.

182 THE UNITED NETHEELAND8 [1692

they came, nor anything about the person of the
writer.^

The case of the plundered merchants was destined to
drag almost as slowly before the council as it might
have done in the ordinary tribunals, and Caron was
"kept running," as he expressed it, "from the court to
London, and from London to the court," and it was long
before justice was done to the sufferers.'^ Yet the ener-
getic manner in which the queen took the case into her
own hands, and the intense indignation with which she
denounced the robberies and outrages which had been
committed by her subjects upon her friends and allies,
were effective in restraining such wholesale piracy in
the future.

On the whole, however, if the internal machinery is

1 "Den grooten Admirael began wederomme te eeggen van
zyne advertentieu die hy op dit stuek selfs hadde georygen uit
Zeelant, dat eenige Coopluyden hem hadden doen presenteren
twee duysent pond steriinex, seggende totten grooten Tresorier
dat hy hem selfs de brieven hadde geoommimioeert die darop
antwoorde wel brieven gesien te hebben, maer wiste niet van
■wiens die quamen doerdien hy den persoon die dezelve gescreven
hadde niet en kende, vraegde daeromme van wat natie hywas,
den Admirael zeyde dat het een Engelsoh Coopman was die hy
oock noemde. Dooh dede my erst belooven dat iek hem niet en
zonde willen ontdecken, zal daeromme synen naem hier naergelaten
worden, ter wylen iek oock tzelve alsoo beloof de, maer hoeht ans
adviseren zulcke ordre daerinno te stellen als den dienat van
den lande wel is verheysohende. Den Admirael zeyde oock dat
hy wel wiste dat den zelven Coopman alreede derwaerts over in
dangiere hadde geweest, twelek my dede antwoorden dat hy
dan voer dees tyt voor sulcx most wesen bekant."— Report of
Caron to the States-General, December 10, 1592, Hague Archives
MS.

2 Letters and reports of Caron, passim, ibid.

1592] TAEDINESS OF JUSTICE 183

examined by which the masses of manMnd were moved
at this epoch in various parts of Christendom, we shall
not find much reason to applaud the conformity of
governments to the principles of justice, reason, or
wisdom.

CHAPTER XXVIII

InflueBoe of the rule and character of Philip II.— Heroism of the
sixteenth century— Contest for the French throne— Character and
policy of the Duke of Mayenne — Escape of the Duke of Guise
from Castle Tours— Propositions for the marriage of the Infanta
—Plotting of the Catholic party- Grounds of Philip's pretensions
to the crown of France — Motives of the Duke of Parma maligned
by Commander Moreo— He justifies himself to the king— View of
the private relations between Philip and the Duke of Mayenne and
their sentiments toward each other— Disposition of the French
politicians and soldiers toward Philip— Peculiar commercial
pursuits of Philip— Confused state of affairs in France-
Treachery of Philip toward the Duke of Parma— Beeall of the
duke to Spain — His sufferings and death.

The People— which has been generally regarded as
something naturally below its rulers, and as born to be
protected and governed, paternally or otherwise, by an
accidental selection from its own species, which by some
mysterious process has shot up much nearer to heaven
than itself —is often described as brutal, depraved, self-
seeking, ignorant, passionate, licentious, and greedy.

It is fitting, therefore, that its protectors should be
distinguished, at great epochs of the world's history, by
an absence of such objectionable qualities.

It must be confessed, however, that if the world had
waited for heroes, during the dreary period which fol-
lowed the expulsion of something that was called Henry

184

1592] INFLUENCE OF RULE OF PHILIP II. 185

III. of Prance from the gates of his capital, and espe-
cially during the time that followed hard upon the de-
cease of that embodiment of royalty, its axis must have
ceased to turn for a long succession of years. The Bear-
nese was at least alive and a man ; he played his part
with consummate audacity and skUl; but alas for an
epoch or a country in which such a shape, notwith-
standing all its engaging and even commanding quali-
ties, is looked upon as an incarnation of human great-
ness!

But the chief mover of all things, so far as one man
can be prime mover, was still the diligent scribe who
lived in the Escorial. It was he whose high mission it
was to blow the bellows of civil war, and to scatter
curses over what had once been the smiling abodes of
human creatures, throughout the leading countries of
Christendom. The throne of France was vacant, nomi-
nally as well as actually, since the year 1589. During two-
and-twenty years preceding that epoch he had scourged
the provinces, once constituting the richest and most
enlightened portions of his hereditary domains, upon
the theory that without the Spanish Inquisition no
material prosperity was possible on earth, nor any en-
trance permitted to the realms of bliss beyond the grave.
Had every Netherlander consented to burn his Bible,
and to be burned himself should he be found listening
to its holy precepts if read to him in shop, cottage,
farm-house, or castle, and had he, furthermore, consented
to renounce all the liberal institutions which his ances-
tors had earned, in the struggle of centuries, by the
sweat of their brows and the blood of their hearts, his
benignant proprietor and master, who lived at the ends
of the earth, would have consented at almost any

186 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1592

moment to peace. His arms were ever open. Let it
not be supposed that this is the language of sarcasm or
epigram. Stripped of the decorous sophistications by
which human beings are so fond of concealing their
naked thoughts from each other, this was the one simple
dogma always propounded by Philip. Grimace had done
its worst, however, and it was long since it had exercised
any power in the Netherlands. The king and the Dutch-
men understood each other, and the plain truths with
which those republicans answered the imperial proffers
of mediation, so frequently renewed, were something
new and perhaps not entirely unwholesome in diplomacy.

It is not an inviting task to abandon the comparatively
healthy atmosphere of the battle-field, the blood-stained
swamp, the murderous trench,— where human beings,
even if communing only by bullets and push of pike,
were at least dealing truthfully with each other,— and to
descend into those subterranean regions where the efflu-
via of falsehood become almost too foul for ordinary
human organization.

Heroes in those days, in any country, there were few.
William the Silent was dead. De la None was dead.
Duplessis-Mornay was living, but his influence over his
royal master was rapidly diminishing. Cecil, Hatton,
Essex, Howard, Raleigh, James Croft, Valentine Dale,
John Norris, Roger Williams, the "Virgin Queen" her-
self—does one of these chief agents in public affairs, or
do all of them together, furnish a thousandth part of
that heroic whole which the England of the sixteenth
century presents to every imagination? Maurice of
Nassau, excellent soldier and engineer as he had already
proved himself, had certainly not developed much of
the heroic element, although thus far he was walking

1592] HEROISM OF THE SIXTEENTH CENTUEY 187

straight forward, like a man, in the path of duty, with
the pithy and substantial Louis WiUiam ever at his side.
Olden-Barneveldt, tough burgher statesman, hard-
headed, indomitable man of granite, was doing more
work, and doing it more thoroughly, than any living
politician, but he was certainly not of the mythological
brotherhood who inhabit the serene regions of space be-
yond the moon. He was not the son of god or goddess,
destined, after removal from this sphere, to shine with
planetary luster, among other constellations, upon the
scenes of mortal action. Those of us who are willing to
rise— or to descend, if the phrase seems wiser— to the
idea of a self-governing people must content oxirselves,
for this epoch, with the fancy of a hero-people and a
people-king.

A plain little republic, thrusting itself uninvited into
the great political family party of heaven-anointed sov-
ereigns and long-descended nobles, seemed a somewhat
repulsive phenomenon. It became odious and danger-
ous when by the blows it could deal in battle, the logic
it could chop in council, it indicated a remote future for
the world in which right divine and regal paraphernalia
might cease to be as effective stage-properties as they
had always been considered.

Yet it will be difficult for us to find the heroic indi-
vidualized very perceptibly at this period, look where
we may. Already there seemed ground for questioning
the comfortable fiction that the accidentally dominant
families and castes were by nature wiser, better, braver
than that much-contemned entity, the People. "What if
the fearful heresy should gain ground that the People
was at least as wise, honest, and brave as its masters?
What if it should become a recognized fact that the great

188 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1592

individuals and castes, whose wealth and station fur-
nished them with ample time and means for perfecting
themselves in the science of government, were rather
devoting their leisure to the systematic filling of their
own pockets than to the hiving up of knowledge for the
good of their fellow-creatures ? "What if the whole the-
ory of hereditary superiority should suddenly exhale?
What if it were found out that we were all fellow- worms
together, and that those which had crawled highest were
not necessarily the least slimy ?

Meantime it will be well for us, in order to understand
what is called the Past, to scrutinize somewhat closely
that which was never meant to be revealed. To know
the springs which once controlled the world's movements,
one must ponder the secret thoughts, purposes, aspira-
tions, and baffled attempts of the few dozen individuals
who once claimed that world in fee simple. Such re-
searches are not in a cheerful field ; for the sources of
history are rarely fountains of crystal, bubbling through
meadows of asphodel. Vast and noisome are the many
sewers which have ever run beneath decorous Christen-
dom.

Some of the leading military events in Prance and
Flanders, patent to aU the world, which grouped them-
selves about the contest for the French throne, as the
central point in the history of Philip's proposed world-
empire, have already been indicated.

It was a species of triangular contest, so far as the
chief actors were concerned, for that vacant throne.
Philip, Mayenne, Henry of Navarre, with all the adroit-
ness which each possessed, were playing for the splendid
prize.

Of Philip it is not necessary to speak. The preceding

1592] CONTEST FOR THE THEONE OF FRANCE 189

volumes of this work have been written in vain if the
reader has not obtained from irrefragable testimony—
the monarch's own especially— a sufficient knowledge of
that human fetish before which so much of contempo-
rary humanity groveled.

The figure of Navarre is also one of the most familiar
shapes in history.

As for the Duke of Mayenne, he had been, since the
death of his brother the Balaf r6, ostensible leader of the
League, and was playing, not without skill, a triple
game.

Firstly, he hoped for the throne for himself.

Secondly, he was assisting the King of Spain to obtain
that dignity.

Thirdly, he was manceuvering in dull, dumb, but not
ineffective manner in favor of Navarre.

So comprehensive and self-contradictory a scheme
would seem to indicate an elasticity of principle and a
fertility of resource not often vouchsafed to man.

Certainly one of the most pregnant lessons of history
is furnished in the development of these cabals, nor is
it, in this regard, of great importance whether the issue
was to prove them futile or judicious. It is sufficient
for us now that when those vanished days constituted
■ the Present— the vital atmosphere of Christendom— the
world's affairs were controlled by those plotters and
their subordinates, and it is therefore desirable for us to
know what manner of men they were, and how they
played their parts.

Nor should it ever be forgotten that the leading
motive with all was supposed to be religion. It was to
maintain the supremacy of the Roman Church, or to
vindicate, to a certain extent, liberty of conscience

190 THE UNITED NETHEBLANDS [1592

through the establishment of a heterodox organization,
that all these human beings of various lineage and lan-
guage throughout Christendom had been cutting each
other's throats for a quarter of a century.

Mayenne was not without courage in the field when
he found himself there, but it was observed of him that
he spent more time at table than the B^arnese in sleep,
and that he was so fat as to require the assistance of
twelve men to put him in the saddle again whenever he
f eU from his horse. Yet, slow fighter as he was, he was
a most nimble intriguer. As for his private character,
it was notoriously stained with every vice, nor was there
enough of natural intelligence or of superior acquire-
ment to atone for his crapulous, licentious, shameless
life. His military ef&eiency at important emergencies
was impaired and his life endangered by vile diseases.
He was covetous and greedy beyond what was considered
decent even in that cynical age. He received subsidies
and alms with both hands from those who distrusted and
despised him, but who could not eject him from his
advantageous position.

He wished to arrive at the throne of France. As son
of Francis of Guise, as brother of the great Balafr6, he
considered himself entitled to the homage of the fish-
women and the butchers' halls. The constitution of the
country in that age making a People impossible, the subtle
connection between a high-born intriguer and the dregs
of a populace, which can only exist in societies of deep
chasms and precipitous contrasts, was easily established.

The duke's summary dealing with the sixteen tyrants
of Paris in the matter of the president's murder had,
however, loosened his hold on what was considered the
democracy ; but this was at the time when his schemes

1592] CHARACTER OP MAYENNE 191

were silently swinging toward the Protestant aristoc-
racy, at the moment when Politica was taking the place
of Madam League in his secret affections. Nevertheless,
so long as there seemed a chance, he was disposed to
work the mines for his own benefit. His position as
lieutenant-general gave him an immense advantage for
intriguing with both sides, and, in case his aspirations
for royalty were bafled, for obtaining the highest pos-
sible price for himself in that auction in which Philip
and the Bearnese were likely to strain all their resources
in outbidding each other.

On one thing his heart was fixed. His brother's son
should at least not secure the golden prize if he could
prevent it. The young Duke of Guise, who had been
immured ia Castle Tours since the famous murder of
his father and uncle, had made his escape by a rather
neat stratagem. Having been allowed some liberty for
amusing himself in the corridors in the neighborhood of
his apartment, he had invented a game of hop, skip, and
jump up stairs and down, which he was wont to play
with the soldiers of the guard, as a solace to the tedious-
ness of confinement. One day he hopped and skipped
up the staircase with a rapidity which excited the ad-
miration of the companions of his sport, slipped into his
room, slammed and bolted the doors, and when the
guard, after in vain waiting a considerable time for him
to return and resume the game, at last forced an en-
trance, they found the bird flown out of window. Rope-
ladders, confederates, fast-galloping post-horses did the
rest, and at last the young duke joined his affectionate
uncle in camp, much to that eminent relative's discom-
fiture.i Philip gave alternately conflicting instructions
1 De Thou, xi.

192 THE UNITED NETHEELANDS [1592

to Farnese : sometimes that lie should encourage the nat-
ural jealousy between the pair ; sometimes that he should
cause them to work harmoniously together for the com-
mon good, that common good being the attainment by
the King of Spain of the sovereignty of France.

But it was impossible, as already intimated, for May-
enne to work harmoniously with his nephew. The Duke
of Guise might marry with the Infanta and thus become
King of France by the grace of God and Philip. To
such a consummation in the case of his uncle there stood,
as we know, an insuperable obstacle in the shape of the
Duchess of Mayenne. Should it come to this at last, it
was certain that the duke would make any and every
combination to frustrate such a scheme. Meantime he
kept his own counsel, worked amicably with Phihp,
Parma, and the young duke, and received money in
overflowing measure, and poured into his bosom, from
that Spanish monarch whose veterans in the Netherlands
were maddened by starvation into mutiny.

Philip's plans were a series of alternatives. France
he regarded as the property of his family. Of that there
could be no doubt at aU. He meant to put the crown
upon his own head, unless the difficulties in the way
should prove absolutely insuperable. In that case he
claimed France and all its inhabitants as the property
of his daughter. The Salic law was simply a pleasantry,
a bit of foolish pedantry, an absurdity. If Clara Isa-
bella, as daughter of Isabella of France, as grandchild
of Henry II., were not manifestly the owner of France,—
queen proprietary, as the Spanish doctors called it,— then
there was no such thing, so he thought, as inheritance
of castle, farm-house, or hovel— no such thing as prop-
erty anywhere in the world. If the heiress of the Valois

1592] PLANS FOR MARRIAGE OP INFANTA 193

could not take that kingdom as her private estate, what
security could there ever be for any possessions, public
or private ?

This was logical reasoning enough for kings and their
councilors. There was much that might be said, how-
ever, in regard to special laws. There was no doubt that
great countries, with all their live stock, human or other-
wise, belonged to an individual, but it was not always
so clear who that individual was. This doubt gave
much work and comfortable fees to the lawyers. There
was much learned lore concerning statutes of descent,
cutting off of entails, actions for ejectment, difftculties
of enforcing processes, and the like, to occupy the atten-
tion of diplomatists, politicians, and other sages. It
would have caused general hilarity, however, could it
have been suggested that the live stock had art or part
in the matter; that sheep, swine, or men could claim a
choice of their shepherds and butchers.

Philip, humbly satisfied, as he always expressed him-
self, so long as the purity of the Roman dogmas and the
supremacy of the Romish Church over the whole earth
were maintained, affected a comparative indifference as
to whether he should put the crown of St. Louis and of
Hugh Capet upon his own gray head, or whether he
should govern France through his daughter and her
husband. Happy the man who might exchange the sym-
bols of mutual affection with Philip's daughter.

The king had various plans in regard to the bestowal
of the hand thus richly endowed. First and foremost it
was suggested— and the idea was not held too monstrous
to be even believed in by some conspicuous individuals—
that he proposed espousing his daughter himself. The
pope was to be relied on, in this case, to give a special

vol/. IV.— 13

194 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1592

dispensation. Such a marriage, between parties too
closely related to be usually united in wedlock, might
otherwise shock the prejudices of the orthodox. His
late niece and wife was dead, so that there was no incon-
venience on that score, should the interests of his
dynasty, his family, and, above all, of the Church, impel
him, on mature reflection, to take for his fourth mar-
riage one step farther within the forbidden degrees than
he had done in his third. Here is the statement which,
if it have no other value, serves to show the hideous
designs of which the enemies of Philip sincerely believed
that monarch capable.

"But God is a just God," wrote Sir Edward Stafford,
" and if, with all things past, that be true that the Mng
(videlicet, Henry IV.) yesterday assured me to he true, and
that both his ambassador from Venice writ to him and
M. de Luxembourg from Kome, that the Count Olivarez
had made a great instance to the pope (Sixtus V.), a little
afore his death, to permit his master to marry his
daughter, no doubt God will not leave it long unpun-
ished." 1

Such was the horrible tale which was circulated and
believed in by Henry the Great of France and by emi-
nent nobles and ambassadors, and at least thought pos-
sible by the English envoy. By such a family arrange-
ment it was obvious that the conflicting claims of father
and daughter to the proprietorship of Prance would be
ingeniously adjusted, and the children of so well-assorted
a marriage might reign in undisputed legitimacy over
Prance and Spain and the rest of the world-monarchy.
Should the king decide on the whole against this matri-
monial project, should Innocent or Clement prove as
1 Stafford to Burghley, October 14, 1590, S. P. Office MS.

1592] INFLUENCE OF THE INDIVIDUAX, I95

intractable as Sixtus, then it would be necessary to de-
cide among various candidates for the Infanta's hand.

In Mayenne's opinion the Duke of Guise was likely to
be the man ; but there is little doubt that Philip, in case
these more cherished schemes should fail, had made up
his miad — so far as he ever did make up his mind upon
anything— to select his nephew the Archduke Ernest,
brother of the Emperor Eudolph, for his son-in-law.
But it was not necessary to make an immediate choice.
His quiver was full of archdukes, any one of whom
would be an eligible candidate, while not one of them
would be likely to reject the Infanta with France on her
wedding-finger. Meantime there was a lion in the path
in the shape of Henry of Navarre.

Those who disbelieve in the influence of the individual
on the fate of mankind may ponder the possible results to
history and humanity had the dagger of Jacques Clement
entered the stomach of Henry IV. rather than of Henry
III. in the summer of 1589, or the perturbations in the
world's movements that might have puzzled philosophers
had there been an unsuspected mass of religious convic-
tion revolving unseen in the mental depths of the Bear-
nese. Conscience, as it has from time to time exhibited
itself on this planet of ours, is a powerful agent in con-
trolling political combinations; but the instances are
unfortunately not rare, so far as sublunary progress is
concerned, in which the absence of this dominant influ-
ence permits a prosperous rapidity to individual careers.
Eternal honor to the noble beings, true chieftains among
men, who have forfeited worldly power or sacrificed life
itself at the dictate of religious or moral conviction, even
should the basis of such conviction appear to some of us
unsafe or unreal. Shame on the tongue which would

196 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1592

malign or ridicule the martyr or the honest convert to
any form of Christian faith ! But who can discover
aught that is inspiring to the sons of men in conver-
sions—whether of princes or of peasants— wrought, not
at risk of life and pelf, but for the sake of securing and
increasing the one and the other ?

Certainly the Bearnese was the most candid of men.
It was this very candor, this freedom from bigotry, this
want of conviction, and this openness to conviction, that
made him so dangerous and caused so much anxiety to
Philip. The Roman Church might or might not be
strengthened by the reconversion of the legitimate heir
of France, but it was certain that the claims of Phihp
and the Infanta to the proprietorship of that kingdom
woidd be weakened by the process. While the Spanish
king knew himself to be inspired in all his actions by a
single motive, the maintenance of the supremacy of the
Roman Church, he was perfectly aware that the Prince
of Beam was not so single-hearted nor so conscientious
as himself.

The Prince of B6arn, heretic, son of heretics, great
chieftain of heretics, was supposed capable of becoming
orthodox whenever the pope would accept his conver-
sion. Against this possibility Philip struggled with all
his strength.

Since Pope Sixtus V., who had a weakness for Henry,
there had been several popes. Urban VII., his immedi-
ate successor, had reigned but thirteen days. Gregory
XIV. (Sfondrato) had died 15th October, 1591, ten
months after his election. Facchinetti, with the title of
Innocent IX., had reigned two months, from 29th Octo-
ber to 29th December, 1591. He died of " Spanish poi-
son," said Envoy Umton, as coolly as if speaking of

1592] INTIMIDATION OF THE POPE 197

gout, or typhus, or any other recognized disorder.
Clement VIII. (Aldobrandini) was elected 30th January,
1592. He was no lover of Henry, and lived in. mortal
fear of Philip, while it must be conceded that the Span-
ish ambassador at Rome was much given to browbeat-
ing his Holiness. Should he dare to grant that absolu-
tion which was the secret object of the Bearnese, there
was no vengeance, hinted the envoy, that Philip would
not wreak on the Holy Father. He would cut off his
supplies from Naples and Sicily, and starve him and aU
his subjects ; he would frustrate all his family schemes,
he would renounce him, he would unpope him, he would
do anything that man and despot could do, should the
great shepherd dare to readmit this lost sheep, and this
very black sheep, into the fold of the faithful.

As for Henry himself, his game — for in his eyes it
was nothing but a game — lay every day plainer and
plainer before him. He was indispensable to the heretics.
Neither England, nor Holland, nor Protestant Germany
could renounce him, even should he renounce " the re-
ligion." Nor could the French Huguenots exist without
that protection which, even although Catholic, he could
still extend to them when he should be accepted as king
by the Catholics.

Hereditary monarch by French law and history, re-
leased from his heresy by the authority that could bind
and loose, purged as with hyssop and washed whiter than
snow, it should go hard with him if PhOip and Farnese
and Mayenne, and all the pikemen and reiters they
might muster, could keep him very long from the throne
of his ancestors.

Nothing could match the ingenuousness with which he
demanded the instruction whenever the fitting time for

198 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1592

it should arrive ; as if, instead of having been a professor
both of the Calvinist and Catholic persuasion, and hav-
ing relapsed from both, he had been some innocent Peru-
vian or Hindu, who was invited to listen to preachings and
to examine dogmas for the very first time in his life.

Yet Philip had good grounds for hoping a favorable
result from his political and military manceuver. He
entertained little doubt that France belonged to him or
to his daughter ; that the most powerful party in the
country was in favor of his claims, provided he would
pay the voters liberally enough for their support ; and
that if the worst came to the worst it would always be
in his power to dismember the kingdom, and to reserve
the lion's share for himself, while distributing some of
the provinces to the most prominent of his confederates.

The sixteen tyrants of Paris had already, as we have
seen, urged the crown upon him, provided he would
establish in France the Inquisition, the Council of Trent,
and other acceptable institutions, besides distributing
judiciously a good many lucrative offices among various
classes of his adherents.

The Duke of Mayenne, in his own name and that of
all the Catholics of Prance, formally demanded of him
to maintain two armies, forty thousand men in all, to be
respectively under command of the duke himself and of
Alexander Parnese, and regularly to pay for them.
These propositions, as has been seen, were carried into
effect as nearly as possible, at enormous expense to
Philip's exchequer, and he naturally expected as good
faith on the part of Mayenne.

In the same paper in which the demand was made
Philip was urged to declare himself King of Prance. He
was assured that the measure could be accomphshed

1592] PLOTTINa OF THE CATHOLIC PARTY I99

" by freely bestowing marquisates, baronies, and peer-
ages, in order to content the avarice and ambition of
many persons, without at the same time dissipating the
greatness from which all these members depended.
Pepin and Charlemagne," said the memorialists, "who
were foreigners and Saxons by nation, did as much in
order to get possession of a kingdom to which they had
no other right except that which they acquired there by
their prudence and force, and after them Hugh Capet,
much inferior to them in force and authority, following
their example, had the same good fortune for himself
and his posterity, and one which still endures.

"If the authority of the holy see could support the
scheme at the same time," continued Mayenne and his
friends, " it would be a great help. But it being perilous
to ask for that assistance before striking the blow, it
would be better to obtain it after the execution." ^

That these wholesome opinions were not entirely
original on the part of Mayenne, nor produced spon-
taneously, was plain from the secret instructions given
by Philip to his envoys, Don Bernardino de Mendoza,
John Baptist de Tassis, and the Commander Moreo,
whom he had sent soon after the death of Henry III. to
confer with Cardinal Gaetano in Paris.

They were told, of course, to do everything in their
power to prevent the election of the Prince of B6arn,
" being as he was a heretic, obstinate and confirmed, who
had sucked heresy with his mother's milk." The legate
was warned that " if the Bearnese should make a show of
converting himself, it would be frigid and fabricated." 2

1 Arcli. de Sim. (Paris), A. 57, 133, MS.

2 Instniooion que se di6 & Don B. de Mendoza, J. B. de Tassis,
y el Com. Moreo, anno 1589, Areli. de Sim. MS.

200 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1592

If they were asked whom Philip desired for king— a
question which certainly seemed probable under the
circumstances— they were to reply that his foremost wish
was to establish the Catholic religion in the kingdom,
and that whatever was most conducive to that end would
be most agreeable to him. " As it is, however, desirable,
in order to arrange matters, that you should be in-
formed of everything," said his Majesty, " it is proper
that you should know that I have two kinds of right to
all that there is over there : firstly, because the crown
of France has been usurped from me, my ancestors hav-
ing been unjustly excluded by foreign occupation of it ;
and, secondly, because I claim the same crown as first
male of the house of Valois." ^

Here certainly were comprehensive pretensions, and
it was obvious that the king's desire for the estabUsh-
ment of the Catholic religion must have been very lively
to enable him to invent or accept such astonishing fic-
tions.

But his own claims were but a portion of the case.
His daughter and possible spouse had rights of her own,
hard, in his opinion, to be gainsaid. " Over and above
all this," said Philip, " my eldest daughter, the Infanta,
has two other rights— one to all the states which as
dower property are joined by matrimony and through
females to this crown, which now come to her in direct
line, and the other to the crown itself, which belongs

1 " Es buen que sepays que yo tengo dos maneras de dereeho a
lo de ay ; por una parte a lo que me tiene usurpado essa corona
aviendo lo ocupado injustamente a mios pasados, y por otra a la
misma corona oomo Varon mayor de dias de la easa Valesia— y
que de mas desto tiene otros dos derechos la Infanta mi Mja
mayor," etc. — Instrucoion, etc., MS. last cited.

1592] CLAIMS OF PHILIP TO FRENCH CROWN 201

directly to the said Infanta, the matter of the Salic law
being a mere invention." ^

Thus it would appear that Philip was the legitimate
representative not only of the ancient races of French
monarchs, whether Merovingians, Carlovingians, or other-
wise was not stated, but also of the usurping houses
themselves, by whose intrusion those earlier dynasties
had been ejected, being the eldest male heir of the
extinct line of Valois, while his daughter was, if possi-
ble, even more legitimately the sovereign and proprietor
of France than he was himself.

Nevertheless, in his magnanimous desire for the peace
of the world and the advancement of the interests of
the Church, he was, if reduced to extremities, willing to
forego his own individual rights— when it should appear
that they could by no possibility be enforced— in favor
of his daughter and of the husband whom he should
select for her.

" Thus it may be seen," said the self-denying man,
" that I know how, for the sake of the public repose, to
strip myself of my private property." ^

Afterward, when secretly instructing the Duke of
Feria, about to proceed to Paris for the sake of settling
the sovereignty of the kingdom, he reviewed the whole
subject, setting forth substantially the same intentions.

1 Instruoeion, etc., MS. last cited.

2 " Tras esto, como yo tiro el suave reparo desse reyno mas que
a interesses proprios facilmente me absterria de las preteuciones
que me tocan, con saber que son muy bien ftmdadas si viesse
abrirse puerta a que consiguiendo las suyas la Infanta y por via
de casamiento que estuviesse bien a todos— que meuos sombras y
§elos oausaria los invidiosos de fuera— assi para que se vea que
sabe por el sossiego publico desnudarme de mi particular."— MS.
last cited.

202 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1592

That the Prince of B^arn could ever possibly succeed
to the throne of his ancestors was an idea to be treated
only with sublime scorn by all right-minded and sensible
men. "The members of the house of Bourbon," said
he, " pretend that by right of blood the crown belongs
to them, and hence is derived the pretension made by
the Prince of B6arn; but if there were wanting other
very sufficient causes to prevent this claim— which, how-
ever, are not wanting— it is quite enough that he is a
relapsed heretic, declared to be such by the apostolic
see, and pronounced incompetent, as weU as the other
members of his house, all of them, to say the least, en-
couragers of heresy ; so that not one of them can ever be
King of France, where there have been such religious
princes in time past, who have justly merited the name
of Most Christian ; and so there is no possibility of per-
mitting him or any of his house to aspire to the throne,
or to have the subject even treated of in the estates.
It should, on the contrary, be entirely excluded as preju-
dicial to the realm and unworthy to be even mentioned
among persons so Catholic as those about to meet in that
assembly." i

The claims of the man whom his supporters already
called Henry IV. of France being thus disposed of,
Philip then again alluded with his usual minuteness to
the various combinations which he had formed for the
tranquillity and good government of that kingdom and
of the other provinces of his world-empire.

It must, moreover, be never forgotten that what he said
passed with his contemporaries almost for oracular dis-
pensations. What he did or ordered to be done was like

1 Instruecion general para el Duque de Feria, Madrid, 2 Enero,
1592, A. 57, 151, MS.

1592] CLAIMS OF PHILIP TO FRENCH CROWN 203

the achievements or behests of a superhuman being.
Time, as it rolls by, leaves the wrecks of many a stranded
reputation to bleach in the sunshine of after ages. It is
sometimes as profitable to learn what was not done by
the great ones of the earth, in spite of all their efforts,
as to ponder those actual deeds which are patent to man-
kind. The Past was once the Present, and once the
Future, bright with rainbows or black with impending
storm ; for history is a continuous whole of which we
see only fragments.

He who at the epoch with which we are now occupied
was deemed greatest and wisest among the sons of
earth, at whose threats men quailed, at whose vast and
intricate schemes men gasped in pale-faced awe, has left
behind him the record of his interior being. Let us
consider whether he was so potent as his fellow-mortals
believed, or whether his greatness was merely, their little-
ness—whether it was carved out of the inexhaustible but
artificial quarry of human degradation. Let us see
whether the execution was consonant with the inordinate
plotting; whether the price in money and blood— and
certainly few human beings have squandered so much
of either as did Philip the Prudent in his long career-
was high or low for the work achieved.

Were after generations to learn, only after curious
research, of a pretender who once called himself, to the
amusement of his contemporaries, Henry IV. of France,
or was the world-empire for which so many armies were
marshaled, so many ducats expended, so many false-
hoods told, to prove a bubble after aU ? Time was to
show. Meantime wise men of the day, who, like the
sages of every generation, read the future like a printed
scroU, were pitying the delusion and rebuking the

!04 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1592

vickedness of Henry the B^arnese, persisting as he did
n his cruel, sanguinary, hopeless attempt to establish a
vanished and impossible authority over a land distracted
)y civil war.

Nothing could be calmer or more reasonable than the
anguage of the great champion of the Inquisition.

"And as President Jeannin informs me," he said,
' that the Catholics have the intention of electing me king,
hat appearing to them the gentlest and safest method
o smooth all rivalries likely to arise among the princes
Lspiring to the crown, I reply, as you will see by the
!opy herewith sent. You will observe that after not
•ef using myself to that which may be the wUl of our
Jord, should there be no other mode of serving him,
ibove all I desire that which concerns my daughter,
lince to her belongs the kingdom. I desire nothing else,
lor anything for myself, nor for anybody else, except
IS a means for her to arrive at her right." ^

He had taken particular pains to secure his daughter's
•ight in Brittany, while the Duchess of Mercceur, by the
;ecret orders of her husband, had sent a certain ecclesi-
istic to Spain to make over the sovereignty of this
province to the Infanta. Philip directed that the utmost

1 " Y por que dixo que avia voluntad en los Catolioos de nom-
jrarme a mi por su rey, pareeiendoles esto mas suave y seguro
)ara allanar laa competencias que puede aver entre los mismos
jrincipes que aspiran a estos, se le respondio lo que vereys per la
iopia que eon esta se embia por donde entendereys que tras no
legarme a lo que fuessa voluntad de n™ Senor quando no huviesse
)tro medio para su servieio, lo que sobre todo desseo es lo que
;oea a mi hija, pu'es a ella venga el reyno ; yo no quiero otra cosa
li nada para mi ni para otro, sino es por tor^edor y medio para
jue ella eonsiga su dereeho."— Instruocion general para el Duque
le Feria, etc., MS. before cited.

1592] BRITTANY ASSIGNED TO THE INFANTA 205

secrecy shoidd be observed in regard to this transaction
with the duke and duchess, and promised the duke, as
his reward for these proposed services in dismembering
his country, the government of the province for himself
and his heirs.^

For the king was quite determined, in case his efforts
to obtain the crown for himself or for his daughter were
unsuccessful, to dismember France, with the assistance
of those eminent Frenchmen who were now so indus-
triously aiding him in his projects.

"And in the third place," said he, in his secret in-
structions to Feria, "if, for the sins of all, we don't
manage to make any election, and if therefore the king-
dom of [France] has to come to separation and to be
divided into many hands, in this case we must propose
to the Duke of Mayenne to assist him in getting posses-
sion of Normandy for himself, and as to the rest of the
kingdom, I shall take for myself that which seems good
to me, all of us assisting each other." ^

But unfortunately it was difficult for any of these
fellow-laborers to assist each other very thoroughly
while they detested each other so cordially and suspected
each other with such good reason.

1 Instrucoion secreta para Don Mendo de la Desma, 2 Marzo,
1591, Arch, de Sim., A. 57, 134, MS.

2 "El tereero si por peoados de todos no se aeertasse a hazer
election ninguna, y assi huviesse de venir a quel reyno en
disipacion, y dividirse en muclios manos, y en este caso se ofrecio
al Duque de Umena de asistirle para que se apodere de Normandia
para si, y que de lo demas tome yo para mi lo que me pareoiere,
ayudando nos bien uno a otro."— Instrucoion secreta lo que vos
Don Lorenzo Suarez de Figueroa, Duque de Feria, mi primo aveys
de Uevar entendido de mas que eontiene la instruccion general
que Uevays, 2 Enero, 1592, Arch, de Sim. (Paris) MS., A. 57, 151.

206 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1592

Moreo, Ybarra, Peria, Parma, all assured their master
that Mayenne was taking Spanish money as fast as he
conld get it, but with the sole purpose of making him-
self king. As to any of the house of Lorraine obtain-
ing the hand of the Infanta and the throne with it,
Feria assured Philip that Mayenne " would sooner give
the crown to the Grand Turk." ^

Nevertheless, PhUip thought it necessary to continue
making use of the duke. Both were indefatigable, there-
fore, in expressing feelings of boundless confidence each
in the other.

It has been seen, too, how entirely the king relied on
the genius and devotion of Alexander Farnese to carry
out his great schemes ; and certainly never had monarch
a more faithful, unscrupulous, and dexterous servant.
Remonstrating, advising, but still obeying,— entirely
without conscience, unless it were conscience to carry out
his master's commands, even when most puerile or most
diabolical,— he was, nevertheless, the object of Phihp's
constant suspicion, and felt himself placed under per-
petual though secret supervision.

Commander Moreo was unwearied in blackening the
duke's character and in maligning his every motive
and action, and greedUy did the king incline his ear
to the calumnies steadily instilled by the chivalrous

spy-

"He has caused all the evil we are suffering," said
Moreo. " When he sent Bgmont to France 't was with-
out infantry, although Egmont begged hard for it, as
did likewise the legate, Don Bernardino, and Tassis.
Had he done this there is no doubt at all that the Catho-

1 Duke of Feria to Philip, Arch, de Sim. (Paris), B. 75, 26-
30, cited by Capefigue, vi. 259.

1592] CALUMNIES AGAINST FAENESE 207

lie cause in France would have been safe, and your Maj-
esty would now have the control over that kingdom
which you desire. This is the opinion of friends and
foes. I went to the Duke of Parma and made free to
teU him that the whole world would blame him for the
damage done to Christianity, since your Majesty had
exonerated yourself by ordering him to go to the assis-
tance of the French Catholics with aU the zeal possible.
Upon this he was so disgusted that he has never shown
me a civil face since. I doubt whether he wUl send or
go to France at aU, and although the Duke of Mayenne
despatches couriers every day with protestations and
words that would soften rocks, I see no indications of a
movement." ^

Thus, while the duke was making great military prep-
arations for invading France without means, pawning
his own property to get bread for his starving veterans,
and hanging those veterans whom starving had made
mutinous, he was depicted, to the most suspicious and
imforgiving mortal that ever wore a crown, as a traitor
and a rebel, and this while he was renouncing his own
judicious and well-considered policy in obedience to the
wild schemes of his master.

" I must make bold to remind your Majesty," again
whispered the spy, "that there never was an Italian
prince who failed to pursue his own ends, and that there
are few in the world that are not wishing to become
greater than they are. This man here could strike a
greater blow than aU the rest of them put together.
Remember that there is not a villain anywhere that does
not desire the death of your Majesty. Believe me, and
send to cut off my head if it shall be found that I am
1 Moreo to PMlip, June 22, 1590, Areh. de Sim. MS.

208 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1592

speaking from passion, or from other motive than pm-e
zeal for your royal service." ^

The reader will remember into what a paroxysm of
rage Alexander was thrown on a former occasion, when
secretly invited to listen to propositions by which the
sovereignty over the Netherlands was to be secured to
himself, and how near he was to inflicting mortal pun-
ishment with his own hand on the man who had ven-
tured to broach that treasonable matter.^

Such projects and propositions were ever floating, as
it were, in the atmosphere, and it was impossible for the
most just men to escape suspicion in the mind of a king
who fed upon suspicion as his daily bread. Yet nothing
could be fouler or falser than the calumny which de-
scribed Alexander as unfaithful to Philip. Had he
served his God as he served his master perhaps his
record before the highest tribunal would have been a
clearer one.

And in the same vein in which he wrote to the mon-
arch in person did the crafty Moreo write to the princi-
pal secretary of state, Idiaquez, whose mind, as well as
his master's, it was useful to poison, and who was in
daily communication with Philip.

" Let us make sure of Flanders," said he, " otherwise
we shall all of us be well cheated. 1 will tell you some-
thing of that which I have already told his Majesty, only

1 Moreo to Philip, June 22, 1590 : " Me atrevere a deoir que se
aouerde V. M., que no hay prinoipe in Italia qui deje de tener sus
fines, y que hay pooos en el mundo qui no tengan puesta la mira
a ser mas— y el de aqul podria si quiere dar mayor golpe que todos
los demas— y que no hay hombre malo qui no dessee la muerte de
V. M*. Crealo y mandame cortar la cabeza si hallare que digo
por pasion ni otro que 9elo limpio del servicio de V. M.'^."

2 See vol iii. of this work, p. 416.

1592] CALUMNIES AGAINST FAENESE 209

not all, referring you to Tassis, who, as a personal wit-
ness to many things, wiU have it in his power to unde-
ceive his Majesty. I have seen very clearly that the
duke is disgusted with his Majesty, and one day he told
me that he cared not if the whole world went to destruc-
tion, only not Flanders.^

"Another day he told me that there was a report
abroad that his Majesty was sending to arrest him by
means of the Duke of Pastrana, and looking at me, he
said : ' See here, seignior commander, no threats, as if
it were in the power of mortal man to arrest me, much
less of such fellows as these.' ^

" But this is but a small part of what I could say,"
continued the detective knight commander, " for I don't
like to trust these ciphers. But be certain that nobody
in Flanders wishes well to these estates or to the Catho-
lic cause, and the associates of the Duke of Parma go
about saying that it does not suit the Italian potentates
to have his Majesty as great a monarch as he is trying
to be." 3

This is but a sample of the dangerous stuff with which
the royal mind was steadily drugged, day after day, by
those to whom Farnese was especially enjoined to give
his confidence. Later on it will be seen how much effect
was thus produced both upon the king and upon the
duke. Moreo, Mendoza, and Tassis were placed about
the governor-general, nominally as his councilors, in
reality as police officers.

1 Moreo to Don I. de Idiaquez, January 30, 1590, Aroli. de Sim.
MS.

2 Ibid: "Y viendome dixo, mire Sefior Com*"' que oaUe de
amenazas, como si fuese en poder de liombre liumauo que me
pudiese prender, quanto mas semejante gente," etc.

3 Ibid.

VOL. IV.— 14

210 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1592

" You are to confer regularly with Mendoza, Tassis,
and Moreo," said Philip to Farnese.^

"You are to assist, correspond, and harmonize in
every way with the Duke of Parma," wrote Philip to
Mendoza, Tassis, and Moreo.^ And thus cordially and
harmoniously were the trio assisting and corresponding
with the duke.

But Moreo was right in not wishing to trust the ci-
phers, and indeed he had trusted them too much, for
Farnese was very well aware of his intrigues, and com-
plained bitterly of them to the king and to Idiaquez.

Most eloquently and indignantly did he complain of the
calumnies, ever renewing themselves, of which he was
the subject. " 'T is this good Moreo who is the author
of the last falsehoods," said he to the secretary ; " and
this is but poor payment for my having neglected my
family, my parents and children for so many years in
the king's service, and put my life ever on the hazard,
that these fellows should be allowed to revile me and
make game of me now, instead of assisting me." ^

He was at that time, after almost superhuman exer-
tions, engaged in the famous relief of Paris. He had
gone there, he said, against his judgment and remon-
strating with his Majesty on the insufficiency of men and
money for such an enterprise. His army was half mu-
tinous, and unprovided with food, artillery, or muni-
tions ; and then he found himself slandered, ridiculed,
his life's life lied away. 'T was poor payment for his
services, he exclaimed, if his Majesty should give ear to

1 Philip to Parma, January 30, 1590, Arch, de Sim. MS.

2 Instruooion que S. M. dio a J. B. Tassis, para Don B. de
Mendoza y Com*^°' Moreo, May 3, 1590, Arch, de Sim. MS.

3 Parma to Idiaquez, October 20, 1590, Arch, de Sim. MS.

1592] PE0TESTATI0N8 OF FAENESE 211

these calumniators, and should give him no chance of
confronting his accusers and clearing his reputation.
Moreo detested him, as he knew, and Prince Doria said
that the commander once spoke so ill of Farnese in Genoa
that he was on the point of beating him, while Moreo
afterward told the story as if he had been maltreated
because of defending Farnese against Doria's slanders.^

And still more vehemently did he inveigh against
Moreo in his direct appeals to Philip.^ He had intended
to pass over his calumnies, of which he was well aware,
because he did not care to trouble the dead,— for Moreo
meantime had suddenly died, and the gossips, of course,
said it was of Farnese poison,^— but he had just discov-
ered by documents that the commander had been steadily
and constantly pouring these his calumnies into the
monarch's ears. He denounced every charge as lies, and
demanded proof. Moreo had further been endeavoring
to prejudice the Duke of Mayenne against the King of
Spain and himself, saying that he, Farnese, had been
commissioned to take Mayenne into custody, with plenty
of similar lies.

" But what I most feel," said Alexander, with honest
wrath, "is to see that your Majesty gives ear to them
without making the demonstration which my services

1 Parma to PMHp, October 20, 1590, Aroh. de Sim. MS.

2 Ibid.

s "Murio en Miaux a los treynta de Agosto (1590) el Co-
mendador Juan Moreo," says Col' ma (iii. 47, 48), "hombre de
ingenio prompto j artificioso, que de moderados prineipios de un
pobre Caballero de Malta, Uego & ser primer Mobil de las furiosas
guerras que abrasaron tantos anos a Francia, excessive gastador
de la hazienda del rey, y atrevidissimo comprador de voluntades ;
este gano la del Duque de Guisa de manera que le hizo Espanol de
oorazon, y le oonfirm6 en el aborrecimiento contra los herejes, y

212 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1592

merit, and has not sent to inform me of them, seeing
that they may involve my reputation and honor. Peo-
ple have made more account of these calumnies than of
my actions performed upon the theater of the world. I
complain, after aU my toils and dangers in your Maj-
esty's service, just when I stood with my soul in my
mouth and death in my teeth, forgetting children, house,
and friends, to be treated thus, instead of receiving re-
wards and honor, and being enabled to leave to my chil-
dren, what was better than aU the riches the royal hand
could bestow, an unsullied and honorable name." ^

He protested that his reputation had so much suffered
that he would prefer to retire to some remote corner as
a humble servant of the king, and leave a post which
had made him so odious to all. Above all, he entreated
his Majesty to look upon this whole affair "not only
like a king, but like a gentleman." ^

Philip answered these complaints and reproaches
benignantly, expressed unbounded confidence in tie
duke, assured him that the calumnies of his supposed
enemies could produce no effect upon the royal mind,
and coolly professed to have entirely forgotten having
received any such letter as that of which his nephew
complained. " At any rate, I have mislaid it," he said,
" so that you see how much account it was with me." '

sus fautores sin excepoion de persona, tan a la descubierta que le
oosto la vlda : & el se dixo que le oost6 la suya lo que esorivio al
rey contra el Duque de Farm „ ; murio casi al imprpviso despues
de cierto banquete, que ooasion6 esta fama, y en que le trajo no
menos iufamia que aereeeutamiento."

1 Parma to Philip, October 20, 1590, Arch, de Sim. MS.

2 Ibid. : "Sea servido V. M^ considerar no tan solamente con
ojos de rey mas de eavallero esto negocio."

3 Philip to Parma, December 5, 1590, Arch, de Sim. MS.

1592] MEANING AND MOTIVES OP PUBLIC AFFAIRS 213

As the king was in the habit of receiving such letters
every week, not only from the commander, since de-
ceased, but from Ybarra and others, his memory, to say
the least, seemed to have grown remarkably feeble.
But the sequel will very soon show that he had kept the
letters by him and pondered them to much purpose.
To expect frankness and sincerity from him, however,
even in his most intimate communications to his most
trusted servants, would have been to " swim with fins of
lead."

Such being the private relations between the conspira-
tors, it is instructive to observe how they dealt with each
other in the great game they were playing for the first
throne in Christendom. The military events have been
sufficiently sketched in the preceding pages, but the
meaning and motives of public affairs can be best under-
stood by occasional glances behind the scenes. It is well
for those who would maintain their faith in popular
governments to study the workings of the secret, irre-
sponsible, arbitrary system; for every government, as
every individual, must be judged at last by those moral
laws which no man born of woman can evade.

During the first French expedition— in the course of
which Farnese had saved Paris from falling into the
hands of Henry, and had been doing his best to convert
it prospectively into the capital of his master's empire
—it was his duty, of course, to represent as accurately
as possible the true state of France. He submitted his
actions to his master's will, but he never withheld from
him the advantage that he might have derived, had he
so chosen, from his nephew's luminous intelligence and
patient observation.

With the chief personage he had to deal with he pro-

214 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1592

fessed himself, at first, well satisfied. "The Duke of
Mayenne," said he to Philip, "persists in desiring your
Majesty only as King of Prance, and wiU hear of no
other candidate, which gives me satisfaction such as
can't be exaggerated." ^ Although there were difficulties
in the way, Parnese thought that the two together with
God's help might conquer them. " Certainly it is not
impossible that your Majesty may succeed," he said, " al-
though very problematical ; and in case your Majesty
does succeed in that which we all desire and are strug-
gling for, Mayenne not only demands the second place
in the kingdom for himself, but the fief of some great
province for his family." ^

Should it not be possible for Philip to obtain the
crown, Parnese was, on the whole, of opinion that May-
enne had better be elected. In that event he would
make over Brittany and Burgundy to Philip, together
with the cities opposite the English coast. If they were
obliged to make the duke king, as was to be feared,
they should at any rate exclude the Prince of B6arn,
and secure, what was the chief point, the Catholic re-
ligion. " This," said Alexander, " is about what I can
gather of Mayenne's views, and perhaps he will put them
down in a despatch to your Majesty." ^

After aU, the duke was explicit enough. He was for
taking all he could get,— the whole kingdom if possible,
— but if foiled, then as large a slice of it as Philip would
give him as the price of his services. And Philip's ideas

1 Parma to Philip, October 21, 1590, Arch, de Sim. MS. : "Que
es persistir el D. de Umena en no pretender otro rey que V. M* en
este reyno lo cual nos viene tan a cuento que no hay para que
enoarescello."

2 Ibid. 8 Ibid.

1592] EELATIONS BETWEEN PHILIP AND MAYENNE 215

were not materially different from those of the other
conspirator.

Both were agreed on one thing: the true heir must
be kept out of his rights, and the Catholic religion be
maintained in its purity. As to the inclination of the
majority of the inhabitants, they could hardly be in the
dark. They knew that the Bearnese was instinctively
demanded by the nation, for his accession to the throne
would furnish the only possible solution to the entangle-
ments which had so long existed.^

As to the true sentiments of the other politicians and
soldiers of the League with whom Farnese came in con-
tact in Prance, he did not disguise from his master that
they were anything but favorable.

"That you may know the humor of this kingdom,"
said he, "and the difficulties in which I am placed, I
must tell you that I am by large experience much con-
firmed in that which I have always suspected. Men
don't love nor esteem the royal name of your Majesty ;
and whatever the benefits and assistance they get from
you,'they have no idea of anything redounding to your
benefit and royal service, except so far as implied in
maintaining the Catholic religion and keeping out the
Beam. These two things, however, they hold to be so
entirely to your Majesty's profit that all you are doing
appears the fulfilment of a simple obligation. They are
filled with fear, jealousy, and suspicion of your Majesty.
They dread your acquiring power here. Whatever nego-
tiations they pretend in regard to putting the kingdom
or any of their cities under your protection, they have
never had any real intention of doing it, but their only
object is to keep up our vain hopes whUe they are carry-
1 Parma to Philip, October 3, 1590, Aroh. de Sim. MS.

216 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1592

ing out their own ends. If to-day they seem to have
agi-eed upon any measure, to-morrow they are sure to
get out of it again. This has always been the case, and
all your Majesty's ministers that have had dealings here
would say so, if they chose to tell the truth. Men are
disgusted with the entrance of the army, and if they
were not expecting a more advantageous peace in the
kingdom with my assistance than without it, I don't
know what they would do ; for I have heard what I have
heard and seen what I have seen. They are afraid of
our army, but they want its assistance and our money." i

Certainly if Philip desired enlightenment as to the real
condition of the country he had detei'mined to appro-
priate, and the true sentiments of its most influential
inhabitants, here was the man most competent of all the
world to advise him, describing the situation for him,
day by day, in the most faithful manner. And at every
step the absolutely puerile inadequacy of the means
employed by the king to accomplish his gigantic pur-
poses became apparent. If the crime of subjugating, or
at least dismembering, the great kingdom of France were
to be attempted with any hope of success, at least it
might have been expected that the man employed to
consummate the deed would be furnished with more
troops and money than would be required to appropri-
ate a savage island in the Caribbean, or a German prin-
cipality. But Philip expected miracles to be accom-
plished by the mere private assertion of his will. It
was so easy to conquer realms at the writing-table.

"I don't say," continued Parnese, "if I could have
entered France with a competent army, well paid and
disciplined, with plenty of artillery and munitions, and
1 Parma to Philip, October 3, 1590, Arch, de Sim. MS.

1592] FRENCH HOSTILITY TO PHILIP 217

with funds enougli to enable Mayenne to buy up the
nobles of bis party and to conciliate the leaders gener-
ally with presents and promises, that perhaps they might
not have softened. Perhaps interest and fear would
have made that name agreeable which pleases them so
little, now that the very reverse of all this has occurred.
My want of means is causing a thousand disgusts among
the natives of the country, and it is this penury that
wiU be the chief cause of the disasters which may
occur." 1

Here was sufficiently plain speaking. To conquer a
warlike nation without an army, to purchase a rapa-
cious nobility with an empty purse, were tasks which
might break the stoutest heart. They were breaking
Alexander's.

Yet Philip had funds enough, if he had possessed
financial ability himself, or any talent for selecting good
financiers. The richest countries of the Old World and
the New were under his scepter ; the mines of Peru and
Mexico, the wealth of farthest Ind, were at his disposi-
tion ; and, moreover, he drove a lucrative traffic in the
sale of papal bulls and mass-books, which were furnished
to him at a very low figure, and which he compelled the
wild Indians of America and the savages of the Pacific
to purchase of him at an enormous advance. That very
year a Spanish carack had been captured by the Eng-
lish off the Barbary coast, with an assorted cargo, the
miscellaneous nature of which gives an idea of royal
commercial pursuits at that period. Besides wine in
large quantities there were fourteen hundred chests of
quicksilver, an article indispensable to the working of
the silver-mines, and which no one but the king could,
1 Parma to Philip, MS. last cited.

218 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1592

upon pain of death, send to America. He received,
according to contract, for every pound of quicksilver
thus delivered a pound of pure silver, weight for weight.
The ship likewise contained ten cases of gilded mass-
books and papal bulls. The bulls, two million and sev-
enty thousand in number, for the dead and the living,
were intended for the provinces of New Spain, Yucatan,
Guatemala, Honduras, and the Philippines. The quick-
silver and the bulls cost the king three hundred thou-
sand florins, but he sold them for five million. The
price at which the buUs were to be sold varied, accord-
ing to the letters of advice found in the ships, from
two to four reals apiece, and the inhabitants of those
conquered regions were obliged to buy them.^ " From
all this," says a contemporary chronicler, " is to be seen
what a thrifty trader was the king." ^

The affairs of France were in such confusion that it
was impossible for them, according to Farnese, to remain
in such condition much longer without bringing about
entire decomposition. Every man was doing as he chose,
whether governor of a city, commainder of a district,
or gentleman in his castle. Many important nobles and
prelates followed the Bearnese party, and Mayenne was
entitled to credit for doing as well as he did. There
was no pretense, however, that his creditable conduct
was due to anything but the hope of being well paid.
" If your Majesty should decide to keep Mayenne," said
Alexander, "you can only do it with large sums of
money. He is a good Catholic and very firm in his pur-
pose, but is so much opposed by his own party that if I
had not so stimulated him by hopes of his own grandeur
he would have grown desperate,— such small means has
1 Meteren, xvi. 300. 2 ibid.

1592] STATE OF AFFAIRS IN FEANCE 219

he of maintainmg his party,— and, it is to be feared, he
would have made arrangements with B6arn, who offers
him carte blanche." ^

The disinterested man had expressed his assent to the
views of Philip in regard to the assembly of the estates
and the election of king, but had claimed the sum of six
hundred thousand dollars as absolutely necessary to the
support of himself and followers until those events
should occur.^ Alexander, not having that sum at his
disposal, was inclined to defer matters, but was more
and more confirmed in his opinion that the duke was a
" man of truth, faith, and his word." ^ He had distinctly
agreed that no king should be elected not satisfactory
to Philip, and had " stipulated in return that he should
have in this case not only the second place in the king-
dom, but some very great and special reward in f uU
property."*

Thus the man of truth, faith, and his word had no
idea of selling himself cheap, but manifested as much
commercial genius as the Puggers themselves could have
displayed, had they been employed as brokers in these
mercantile transactions.

Above all things, Alexander implored the king to be
expeditious, resolute, and liberal, for, after aU, the
Beamese might prove a more formidable competitor than
he was deemed. "These matters must be arranged
while the iron is hot," he said, "in order that the name
and memory of the B6arn and of all his family may be
excluded at once and forever; for your Majesty must

1 Panua to Philip, October 3, 1590, Arch, de Sim. MS.

2 Ibid.

3 "Hombre de verdad, t6 y palabra." — Ibid.
* Ibid.

220 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1592

not doubt that the whole kingdom inclines to him, both
because he is natural successor to the crown, and because
in this way the civil war would cease. The only thing
that gives trouble is the religious defect, so that if this
should be remedied in appearance, even if falsely, men
would spare no pains nor expense in his cause." ^

No human being at that moment, assuredly, could look
into the immediate future accurately enough to see
whether the name and memory of the man whom his
adherents called Henry IV. of France, and whom Span-
iards, legitimists, and enthusiastic papists called the
Prince of B6arn, were to be forever excluded from the
archives of France ; whether Henry, after spending the
whole of his life as a pretender, was destined to bequeath
the same empty part to his descendants, should they
think it worth their whUe to play it. Meantime the
sages smiled superior at his delusion, while Alexander
Farnese, on the contrary, better understanding the
chances of the great game which they were all playing,
made bold to tell his master that all hearts in France
were inclining to their natural lord. " Differing from
your Majesty," said he, " I am of opinion that there is no
better means of excluding him than to make choice of
the Duke of Mayenne, as a person agreeable to the peo-
ple, and who could only reign by your permission and
support." 2

Thus, after much hesitation and circumlocution, the
nephew made up his mind to chill his uncle's hopes of

1 Parma to Philip, October 3, 1590, Arch, de Sim. MS. : "Que
con esto quedara escluido totalmente el nombre y memoria de
B6ame y de los de su oasa a quien no dude V. M* de que el reyno
todo incUna, asi por ser naturalemente suoesores del," etc.

2 Ibid.

1592] REMONSTRANCES OF PARNESE 221

the crown, and to speak a decided opinion in behalf of
the man of his word, faith, and truth.

And thus through the whole of the two memorable
campaigns made by Alexander in France he never failed
to give his master the most accurate pictures of the
country and an interior view of its politics, urging
above all the absolute necessity of providing much more
liberal supplies for the colossal adventure in which he
was engaged. "Money and again money is what is
required," he said. " The principal matter is to be ac-
complished with money, and the particular individuals
must be bought with money. The good will of every
French city must be bought with money. Mayenne
must be humored. He is getting dissatisfied. Very
probably he is intriguing with Beam. Everybody is
pursuing his private ends. Mayenne has never aban-
doned his own wish to be king, although he sees the
difficulties in the way ; and while he has not the power
to do us as much good as is thought, it is certainly in
his hands to do us a great deal of injury." ^

When his army was rapidly diminishing by disease,
desertion, mutiny, and death, he vehemently and per-
petually denounced the utter inadequacy of the king's
means to his vast projects. He protested that he was
not to blame for the ruin likely to come upon the whole
enterprise. He had besought, remonstrated, reasoned
with Philip— in vain.^ He assured his master that in
the condition of weakness in which they found them-
selves not very triumphant negotiations could be ex-
pected, but that he would do his best. " The French-
men," he said, " are getting tired of our disorders, and

1 Parma to Philip, March 11, 1592, Arch, de Sim. MS.
a Ibid.

222 THE UNITED NETHEELANDS [1592

scandalized by our weakness, misery, and poverty. They
disbelieve the possibility of being liberated through us." ^

He was also most diligent in setting before the king's
eyes the dangerous condition of the obedient Nether-
lands, the poverty of the finances, the mutinous degen-
eration of the once magnificent Spanish army, the
misery of the country, the ruin of the people, the dis-
content of the nobles, the rapid strides made by the
Republic, the vast improvement in its military organiza-
tion, the rising fame of its young stadholder, the thrift
of its exchequer, the rapid development of its commerce,
the menacing aspect which it assumed toward all that
was left of Spanish power in those regions.

Moreover, in the midst of the toils and anxieties of
war-making and negotiation, he had found time to dis-
cover and to send to his master the left leg of the glori-
ous apostle St. Philip and the head of the glorious
martyr St. Lawrence, to enrich his collection of relics ;
and it may be doubted whether these treasures were not
as welcome to the king as would have been the news of
a decisive victory.^

During the absence of Farnese in his expeditions
against the B6arnese, the government of his provinces
was temporarily in the hands of Peter Ernest Mansfeld.

This grizzled old fighter, testy, choleric, superannu-

1 Parma to Philip, June 2, 1592, Arch, de Sim. MS.

2 Parma to Philip, July 4, 1592, Arch, de Sim. MS. Philip to
Parma, August 1, 1592, ibid. "Quanto a la cabeza del glorioso
San Lorenzo agradezeo os el cuydado que mostrais de haberla j os
encargo que lo Ueveis adelante hasta salir eon ello que os tendr^
en muoho particular servioio que se haga por vuestro medio."—
Parma to Philip, August 24, 1592, ibid. Philip to Parma, Sep-
tember 11, 1592. Letter to Parma, Arch, de Sim. (Paris) MS., A.
56, 33, MS.

1592] HATEED TO FAENESB 223

ated, was utterly incompetent for his post. He was a
mere tool in tlie hands of his son. Count Charles hated
Parma very cordially, and old Count Peter was made to
believe himself in danger of being poisoned or poniarded
by the duke. He was perpetually wrangling with, im-
portuning and insulting him in consequence, and writ-
ing malicious letters to the king in regard to him.i The
great nobles, Aerschot, Chimay, Berlaymont, Champagny,
Aremberg, and the rest, were aU bickering among them-
selves, and agreeing in nothing save in hatred to Parnese.

A tight rein, a full exchequer, a well-ordered and weU-
paid army, and his own constant patience, were neces-
sary, as Alexander too well knew, to make head against
the Republic and to hold what was left of the Nether-
lands. But with a monthly allowance and a military
force not equal to his own estimates for the Netherland
work, he was ordered to go forth from the Netherlands
to conquer France— and with it the dominion of the
world — for the recluse of the Bscorial.

Very soon it was his duty to lay bare to his master,
stiU more unequivocally than ever, the real heart of
Mayenne. No one could surpass Alexander in this
skilful vivisection of political characters, and he soon

1 Parma to Philip, July 31, 1592, Arch, de Sim. MS. Parma to
Peter Ernest Mansfeld, August 6, 1592. Mansfeld to Philip,
August 8, 1592. Parma to Mansfeld, August 16, 1592. Parma
to Philip, August 24, 1592. "Porque eon su larga vejez," said
Fuentes of Peter Ernest, "se halla muy decrepito y desaoordado
que esto y ver quan sugeto estA al hijo qui le govierna oomo a una
oriatura."— Fuentes to Philip, December 13, 1592, Arch, de Sim.

MS. Esteven de Ybarra to , April 9, 1593, ibid. Fuentes to

PhUip, April 28, 1593, ibid. Ybarra to , May 2, 1593, ibid.

Same to Philip, July 26, 1593, ibid. Fuentes to the secretaries
of state, September 2, 1593, ibid.

224 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1592

sent the information tliat the diike was in reality very
near closing his bargain with the Bearnese, while amus-
ing Philip and drawing largely from his funds.

Thus, while faithfully doing his master's work with
sword and pen, with an adroitness such as no other man
could have matched, it was a necessary consequence that
Philip should suspect, should detest, should resolve to
sacrifice him. While assuring his nephew, as we have
seen, that elaborate slanderous reports and protocols
concerning him, sent with such regularity by the chiv-
alrous Moreo and the other spies, had been totally dis-
regarded, even if they had ever met his eye, he was
quietly preparing— in the midst of all these most strenu-
ous efforts of Alexander, in the field at peril of his life,
in the cabinet at the risk of his soul— to deprive him of
his ofiBee, and to bring him, by stratagem if possible, but
otherwise by main force, from the Netherlands to Spain.

This project, once resolved upon, the king proceeded
to execute with that elaborate attention to detail, with
that feline stealth, which distinguished him above all
kings or chiefs of police that have ever existed. Had
there been a murder at the end of the plot, as perhaps
there was to be, Philip could not have enjoyed himself
more. Nothing surpassed the industry for mischief of
this royal invalid.

The first thing to be done was of course the inditing
of a most affectionate epistle to his nephew.

"Nephew," said he, "you know the confidence which
I have always placed in you, and all that I have put in
your hands ; and I know how much you are to me, and
how earnestly you work in my service, and so, if I could
have you at the same time in several places, it would be
a great relief to me. Since this cannot be, however, I

1592] PLOT AGAmST FARNESE 225

wish to make use of your assistance, according to the
times and occasions, in order that I may have some cer-
tainty as to the manner in which all this business is to
be managed, may see why the settlement of affairs in
France is thus delayed, and what the state of things in
Christendom generally is, and may consult with you
about an army which I am getting levied here, and
about certain schemes now on foot in regard to the
remedy for aU this; all which makes me desire your
presence here for some time, even if a short time, in
order to resolve upon and arrange, with the aid of your
advice and opinion, many affairs concerning the public
good, and facilitate their execution by means of your
encouragement and presence, and to obtain the repose
which I hope for in putting them into your hands. And
so I charge and command you that, if you desire to con-
tent me, you use all possible diligence to let me see you
here as soon as possible, and that you start at once for
Genoa." ^

He was further directed to leave Count Mansfeld at
the head of affairs during this temporary absence,— as
had been the case so often before,— instructing him to
make use of the Marquis of Cerralbo, who was already
there, to lighten labors that might prove too much for a
man of Mansfeld's advanced age.

"I am writing to the marquis," continued the king,
" telling him that he is to obey aU your orders. As to
the reasons of your going away, you will give out that
it is a decision of your own, founded on good cause, or
that it is a summons of mine, but full of confidence and
good will toward you, as you see that it is." ^

1 Philip to Parma, February, 20, 1592, Aioli. de Sim. MS.

2 Ibid.

VOL. IV.— 15

226 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1592

The date of this letter was 20th February, 1592.

The secret instructions to the man who was thus to
obey all the duke's orders were explicit enough upon that
point, although they were wrapped in the usual closely
twisted phraseology which distinguished Phihp's style
when his purpose was most direct.

Cerralbo was intrusted with general directions as to
the French matter, and as to peace negotiations with
" the islands " ; but the main purport of his mission was
to remove Alexander Farnese. This was to be done by
fair means, if possible; if not, he was to be deposed and
sent home by force.

This was to be the reward of all the toil and danger
through which he had grown gray and broken in the
king's service.

" When you get to the Netherlands " (for the instruc-
tions were older than the letter to Alexander just cited),
"you are," said the king, "to treat of the other two
matters until the exact time arrives for the third, taking
good care not to cut the thread of good progress in the
affairs of France if by chance they are going on well
there.

" When the time arrives to treat of commission num-
ber three," continued his Majesty, " you will take occa-
sion of the arrival of the courier of 20th February, and
will give with much secrecy the letter of that date to the
duke, showing him at the same time the fii'st of the two
which you will have received."

If the duke showed the letter addressed to him by his
uncle— which the reader has already seen— then the
marquis was to discuss with him the details of the jour-
ney, and comment upon the benefits and increased repu-
tation which would be the result of his return to Spain,

1592] RECALL OF FARNESE TO SPAIN 227

" But if the duke should not show you the letter,"
proceeded Philip, "and you suspect that he means to
conceal and equivocate about the particulars of it, yoii
can show him your letter number two, in which it is
stated that you have received a copy of the letter to the
duke. This wiU make the step easier."

Should the duke declare himself ready to proceed to
Spain on the ground indicated— that the king had need
of his services— the marquis was then to hasten his de-
parture as earnestly as possible. Every pains was to
be taken to overcome any objections that might be made
by the duke on the score of ill health, while the great
credit which attached to this summons to consult with
the king in such arduous affairs was to be duly enlarged
upon. Should Count Mansfeld meantime die of old age,
and shoidd Farnese insist the more vehemently, on that
account, upon leaving his son the Prince Ranuccio in
his post as governor, the marquis was authorized to
accept the proposition for the moment, — although
secretly instructed that such an appointment was really
quite out of the question,— if by so doing the father
could be torn from the place immediately.

But if all would not do, and if it shoidd become cer-
tain that the duke would definitively refuse to take his
departure, it would then become necessary to tell him
clearly, but secretly, that no excuse would be accepted,
but that go he must, and that if he did not depart vol-
untarily within a fixed time, he would be publicly de-
prived of office and conducted to Spain by force.^

But all these things were to be managed with the

1 Sumario de lo que S. M* es servido que haga V. en su eo-
mision principal oomo mas partioularmente se le ha dicho de
palalira, December 31, 1591, Arch, de Sim. MS.

228 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1592

secrecy and mystery so dear to the heart of Philip. The
marquis was instructed to go first to the castle of Ant-
werp, as if upon financial business, and there begin his
operations. Should he find at last all his private nego-
tiations and coaxings of no avail, he was then to make
use of his secret letters from the king to the army com-
manders, the leading nobles of the country, and to the
neighboring princes, aU of whom were to be undeceived
in regard to the duke, and to be informed of the will of
his Majesty.!

The real successor of Farnese was to be the Archduke
Albert, Cardinal of Austria, son of Archduke Ferdinand,
and the letters on this subject were to be sent by a
" decent and confidential person " so soon as it should
become obvious that force would be necessary in order
to compel the departure of Alexander. For if it came
to open rupture, it would be necessary to have the cardi-
nal ready to take the place. If the affair were arranged
amicably, then the new governor might proceed more
at leisure. The marquis was especially enjoined, in case
the duke should be in France, and even if it should be
necessary for him to follow him there on account of
commissions number one and two, not to say a word to
him then of his recaU, for fear of damaging matters in
that kingdom. He was to do his best to induce him to
return to Flanders, and when they were both there, he
was to begin his operations.^

Thus, with minute and artistic treachery, did Philip
provide for the disgrace and ruin of the man who was

1 Sumario, etc., MS. last cited.

2 Ibid. Also PMlip to the Duke of Sessa, ambassador at Rome,
November 3, 1592, Arch, de Sim. MS. Philip to Parma, same date,
ibid.

1592] TREACHERY OF PHILIP TOWARD PARNESE 229

his near blood-relation, and who had served him most
faithfully from earliest youth. It was not possible to
carry out the project immediately, for, as it has already
been narrated, Farnese, after achieving, in spite of great
obstacles due to the dullness of the king alone, an ex-
traordinary triumph, had been dangerously wounded,
and was unable for a brief interval to attend to public
affairs.

On the conclusion of his Rouen campaign he had re-
turned to the Netherlands, almost immediately betaking
himself to the waters of Spa. The Marquis de Cerralbo
meanwhile had been superseded in his important secret
mission by the Count of Puentes, who received the same
instructions as had been provided for the marquis.

But ere long it seemed to become unnecessary to push
matters to extremities. Farnese, although nominally
the governor, felt himself unequal to take the field
against the vigorous young commander who was carry-
ing everything before him in the north and east. Upon
the Mansf elds was the responsibility for saving Steenwyk
and Coevorden, and to the Mansfelds did Verdugo send
piteously, but in vain, for efficient help. For the Mans-
felds and other leading personages in the obedient Neth-
erlands were mainly occupied at that time in annoying
Farnese, calumniating his actions, laying obstacles in
the way of his administration, military and civil, and
bringing him into contempt with the populace. When
the weary soldier— broken in health, wounded and
harassed with obtaining triumphs for his master such as
no other living man could have gained with the means
placed at his disposal— returned to drink the waters
previously to setting forth anew upon the task of
achieving the impossible, he was made the mark of petty

230 THE UNITED NETHEELANDS [1592

insults on the part of both the Mansfelds. Neither of
them paid their respects to him, ill as he was, untU four
days after his arrival. When the duke subsequently
called a council. Count Peter refused to attend it on
account of having slept iU the night before. Cham-
pagny, who was one of the chief mischief-makers, had
been banished by Parma to his house in Burgundy. He
became very much alarmed, and was afraid of losing his
head. He tried to conciliate the duke, but finding it
difficult, he resolved to turn monk, and so went to the
convent of Capuchins, and begged hard to be admitted
a member. They refused him on account of his age and
infirmities. He tried a Franciscan monastery with not
much better success, and then obeyed orders and went
to his Burgundy mansion, having been assured by Par-
nese that he was not to lose his head. Alexander was
satisfied with that arrangement, feeling sure, he said,
that so soon as his back was turned Champagny would
come out of his convent before the term of probation
had expired, and begin to make mischief again. A once
valiant soldier like Champagny, whose conduct in the
famous Fury of Antwerp was so memorable, and
whose services both in field and cabinet had been so
distinguished, fallen so low as to be used as a tool by
the Mansfelds against a man like Farnese, and to be
rejected as unfit company by Flemish friars, is not a
cheerful spectacle to contemplate.

The walls of the Mansfeld house and gardens, too,
were decorated by Count Charles with caricatures, in-
tending to illustrate the indignities put upon his father
and himself. Among others, one picture represented
Count Peter Ijdng tied hand and foot, while people were
throwing filth upon him ; Count Charles being portrayed

m$

ALEXANDER FARNESE, DUKE OF PARMA
Gallery of Versailles, France.

1592] SUFFERINGS AND DEATH OF FAENESE 231

as meantime being kicked away from the command of a
battery of cannon by De la Motte. It seemed strange
that the Mansfelds should make themselves thus elabo-
rately ridiculous in order to irritate Farnese ; but thus it
was. There was so much stir about these works of art
that Alexander transmitted copies of them to the king,
whereupon Charles Mansfeld, being somewhat alarmed,
endeavored to prove that they had been entirely mis-
understood. The venerable personage lying on the
ground, he explained, was not his father, but Socrates.
He found it diflcult, however, to account for the appear-
ance of La Motte, with his one arm wanting and with
artillery by his side, because, as Farnese justly remarked,
artillery had not been invented in the time of Socrates,^
nor was it recorded that the sage had lost an arm.

Thus passed the autumn of 1592, and Alexander, hav-
ing, as he supposed, somewhat recruited his failing
strength, prepared, according to his master's orders, for
a new campaign in France. For with almost preter-
human malice Philip was employing the man whom he
had doomed to disgrace, perhaps to death, and whom he
kept under constant secret supervision, in those labori-
ous efforts to conquer without an army and to purchase
a kingdom with an empty purse, in which, as it was des-
tined, the very last sands of Parma's life were to run
away.

Suffering from a badly healed wound, from water on
the chest, degeneration of the heart, and gout in the
limbs, dropsical, enfeebled, broken down into an old man
before his time, Alexander still confronted disease and
death with as heroic a front as he had ever manifested
in the field to embattled Hollanders and Englishmen, or

1 Parma to Philip, October 28, 1592, Aroh. de Sim. MS.

232 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1592

to the still more formidable array of learned pedants
and diplomatists in the hall of negotiation. This wreck
of a man was still fitter to lead armies and guide councils
than any soldier or statesman that Philip could call into
his service, yet the king's cruel hand was ready to stab
the dying man in the dark.

Nothing could surpass the spirit with which the sol-
dier was ready to do battle with his best friend, coming
in the guise of an enemy. To the last moment, lifted
into the saddle, he attended personally, as usual, to the
details of his new campaign, and was dead before he
would confess himself mortal.^ On the 3d of Decem-
ber, 1592, in the city of Arras, he fainted after retiring
at his usual hour to bed, and thus breathed his last.

According to the instructions in his last wUl, he was
laid out barefoot in the robe and cowl of a Capuchin
monk. Subsequently his remains were taken to Parma,
and buried under the pavement of the little Franciscan
church.2 A pompous funeral, in which the Italians and

'^ Bentivoglio, t. ii. lib. vi. 370 : " E prima oonoseiuto si morto
che volesse oonfesarsi mortale." Compare Coloma, v. 106;
Meteren, xvi. 306; Bor, iii. xxix. 661; Reyd, ix. 195; Dondini,
iii. 639 seq.

2 Ibid. The inscription over his tomb was as follows :

Alexander Famesius,

Belgis Devictis

Et Francis obsidione levatis

Ut humili hoe loco

Ejus cadaver reponeretur

Maudavit ilii. Non Decemi).

An. MDXOii.

(Dondini, iii. 642.)

It appears by a letter of Marquis d'Havrfi to Philip that the
death of Famese took place on the 3d December. (Arch, de
Sim. MS.)

So soon as his decease was known at Madrid, the first thought

1592] DEATH OP ALEXANDER PAENESE 233

Spaniards quarreled and came to blows for precedence,
was celebrated in Brussels, and a statue of the hero was
erected in the Capitol at Rome.

The first soldier and most unscrupulous diplomatist of
his age, he died when scarcely past his prime, a wearied,
broken-hearted old man. His triumphs, military and
civil, have been recorded in these pages, and his charac-
ter has been elaborately portrayed. Were it possible to
conceive of an Italian or Spaniard of Olustrious birth in
the sixteenth century, educated in the school of Machi-
avelli, at the feet of Philip, as anything but the supple
slave of a master and the blind instrument of a church,
one might for a moment regret that so many gifts of
genius and valor had been thrown away, or at least lost
to mankind. Could the light of truth ever pierce the
atmosphere in which such men have their being, could
the sad music of humanity ever penetrate to their ears,
could visions of a world— on this earth or beyond it—
not exclusively the property of kings and high priests be

of Philip was to conceal from the pope that it had been his inten-
tion forcibly to recall him from the Netherlands. The Spanish
ambassador at Rome was accordingly instructed to burn the papers
which had been sent to him, and to suppress all the communica-
tions which he had been on the point of making to the pope.

"Don Cristoval and Don Juan are of opinion," said their
minute laid before the king, "that since the notification sent to
Rome was to remedy the damage that the report of the recall
might cause at that court, now that all this has ceased with the
death of the recalled, . . . it is best to conceal that intention from
the pope and from all others, and that it is sufficient for the Duke
of Sessa to be informed of the truth," etc.

Philip noted on this memorandum with his own hand a decided
approval of the suggestion, ordering it to be carried into effect,
adding, "Let the Duke of Sessa be told to bum the letter and the
copy that was sent with it," etc. (Arch, de Sim. MS.)

234 THE UNITED NETHEELANDS [1592

revealed to them, one might lament that one so eminent
among the sons of women had not been a great man.
But it is a weakness to hanker for any possible connec-
tion between truth and Italian or Spanish statecraft of
that day. The truth was not in it nor in him, and high
above his heroic achievements, his fortitude, his sagacity,
his chivalrous self-sacrifice, shines forth the baleful light
of his perpetual falsehood.^

1 I pass over as beneatli the level of history a great variety of
censorious and probably calumnious reports as to the private
character of Farnese, with which the secret archives of the times
are filled. Especially Champagny, the man by whom the duke
was most hated and feared, made himself busy in compiling the
slanderous chronicle in which the enemies of Farnese, both in
Spain and the Netherlands, took so much delight. According to
the secret history thus prepared for the enlightenment of the king
and his ministers, the whole administration of the Netherlands—
especially the financial department, with the distribution of offices
—was in the hands of two favorites, a beardless secretary named
Cosmo de' Massi, and a lady of easy virtue called Pranceline, who
seems to have had a numerous host of relatives and friends to
provide for at the public expense. Toward the latter end of the
duke's life it was even said that the seal of the fimanoe depart-
ment was in the hands of his valet de chambre, who, in his master's
frequent absences, was in the habit of issuing drafts upon the re-
ceiver-general. As the valet de chambre was described as an idiot
who did not know how to read, it may be believed that the
finances fell into confusion. Certainly, if such statements were
to be accepted, it would be natural enough that for every million
dollars expended by the king in the provinces not more than one
hundred thousand were laid out for the public service ; and this
is the estimate made by Champagny, who, as a distinguished
financier and once chief of the treasury in the provinces, might
certainly be thought to know something of the subject. But
Champagny was so beside himself with rage, hatred, and terror,
where Alexander was concerned, that he is as unfit a guide for
those who wish the truth as Commander Moreo or Ybarra.

1592] DEATH OF ALEXANDER FAENESE 235

"Juan Baptista ayuda de camera, Italiano— para mas vilipen-
dioia de finanzas el sello dellas, que sella guardar uno de los chefs,
a estado en manos de Juan Baptista— se sellan sin el [Famese]
mas al alvidrlo de Baptista idiota que no seave leer o de Einaldi.
. . . En siima es todo confusion y desorden y reduzir solo apro-
vecho destos y tales quanto se haze. . . . Demas las mohatras de
los usureros y meroaderes que con sus camhios y reoambios pagas
en panos y sedas y otras trampas, entendiendose con estos re-
forzando el dinero en diversos partes hay en que no viene a
resultar al rey su milion quasi en cienmil eseudos," etc.— Diseours
du Seigneur de Champagny sur les Affaires des Pays-Bas, De-
cemher 21, 1589, BibHothfeque de Bourgogne MS. No. 12,962.

CHAPTER XXIX

Effect of the death of Pamese upon Philip's schemes— Priestly
flattery and counsel— Assembly of the States-General of France
—Meeting of the Leaguers at the Louvre— Conference at Sur^ne
between the chiefs of the League and the " Political " leaders-
Henry convokes an assembly of bishops, theologians, and others
—Strong feeling on aU sides on the subject of the succession-
Philip commands that the Lifanta and the Duke of Guise be
elected King and Queen of France- Manifesto of the Duke of
Mayenne— Formal readmission of Henry to the Roman faith—
The pope refuses to consent to his reconciliation with the Church
—His consecration with the sacred oil— Entry of the king into
Paris— Departure of the Spanish garrison from the capital-
Dissimulation of the Duke of Mayenne— He makes terms with
Henry— Grief of Queen Elizabeth on receipt of the oommxmioa-
tions from France.

During the past quarter of a century there had been
tragic scenes enough in France, but now the only man
who could have conducted Philip's schemes to a tragic,
if not a successful, issue was gone. Friendly death had
been swifter than Philip, and had removed Alexander
from the scene before his master had found fitting op-
portunity to inflict the disgrace on which he was resolved.
Meantime Charles Mansfeld made a feeble attempt to
lead an army from the Netherlands into France to sup-
port the sinking fortunes of the League ; but it was not
for that general of artillery to attempt the well-graced

236

1593] FAENESE'S DEATH AND PHILIP'S SCHEMES 237

part of the all-accomplished Farnese with much hope of
success. A considerable force of Spanish infantry, too,
had been sent to Paris, where they had been received
with much enthusiasm ; a very violent and determined
churchman, Sega, Archbishop of Piacenza and cardinal
legate, having arrived to check on the part of the Holy
Father any attempt by the great wavering heretic to get
himself readmitted into the fold of the faithful.^

The King of Spain considered it his duty, as well as
his unquestionable right, to interfere in the affairs of
France, and to save the cause of religion, civilization,
and humanity, in the manner so dear to the civilization-
savers, by reducing that distracted country, utterly
xmable to govern itself, under his scepter. To achieve
this noble end no bribery was too wholesale, no violence
too brutal, no intrigue too paltry. It was his sacred and
special mission to save France from herself. If he
should fail, he could at least carve her in pieces, and dis-
tribute her among himself and friends. Frenchmen
might assist him in either of these arrangements, but it
was absurd to doubt that on him devolved the work and
the responsibility. Yet among his advisers were some
who doubted whether the purchase of the grandees of
France was really the most judicious course to pursue.
There was a general and uneasy feeling that the grandees
were making sport of the Spanish monarch, and that
they would be inclined to remain his stipendiaries for an
indefinite period, without doing their share of the work.
A keen Jesuit, who had been much in France, often
whispered to Philip that he was going astray. " Those
who best understand the fit remedy for this unfortunate
kingdom, and know the tastes and temper of the nation,"
1 De Thou, xi. 675.

238 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1593

said he, " doubt giving these vast presents and rewards
in order that the nobles of France may affect your cause
and further your schemes. It is the greatest delusion,
because they love nothing but their own interest, and
for this reason wish for no king at all, but prefer that
the kingdom should remain topsy-turvy in order that
they may enjoy the Spanish doubloons, as they say
themselves almost publicly, dancing and feasting ; that
they may take a castle to-day, and to-morrow a city, and
the day after a province, and so on indefinitely. What
matters it to them that blood flows, and that the miser-
able people are destroyed who alone are good for any-
thing? "^

" The immediate cause of the ruin of France," con-
tinued the Jesuit, " comes from two roots which must
be torn up ; the one is the extreme ignorance and scan-
dalous life of the ecclesiastics, the other is the tyranny
and the abominable life of the nobility, who with sac-
rilege and insatiable avarice have entered upon the
property of the Church. This nobility is divided into
three factions. The first, and not the least, is heretic ;
the second and the most pernicious is Politic or atheist ;
the third and last is Catholic. All these, although they
differ in opinion, are the same thing in corruption of life
and manners, so that there is no choice among them."
He then proceeded to set forth how entirely the salvation
of France depended on the King of Spain. "Morally
speaking," he said, " it is impossible for any Frenchman
to apply the remedy. For this two things are wanting—
intense zeal for the honor of God, and power. I ask

1 Relaoion del Padre An*" Crespo aoeroa de las oosas de Flandes
y Franoia (citing tlie oonversations and statements of John de
Zelander and Father Odo), 1593, Arch, de Sim. MS.

1593] JESUITICAL C0T7NSEL 239

now what Frenchman has both these, or either of them.
No one certainly that we know. It is the King of Spain
who alone in the world has the zeal and the power. No
man who knows the insolence and arrogance of the
French nature will believe that even if a king should be
elected out of France he would be obeyed by the others.
The first to oppose him would be Mayenne, even if a
king were chosen from his family, unless everything
should be given him that he asked, which would be im-
possible." ^

Thus did the wily priest instil into the ready ears of
Philip additional reasons for believing himself the incar-
nate providence of God. When were priestly flatterers
ever wanting to pour this poison into the souls of
tyrants ? It is in vain for us to ask why it is permitted
that so much power for evil should be within the grasp
of one wretched human creature, but it is at least always
instructive to ponder the career of these crowned con-
spirators, and sometimes consoling to find its conclusion
different from the goal intended. So the Jesuit advised
the king not to be throwing away his money upon par-
ticular individuals, but with the funds which they were
so unprofitably consuming to form a joUy army [gallardo
egercito) of fifteen thousand foot and five thousand horse,
all Spaniards, under a Spanish general,— not a French-
man being admitted into it,— and then to march forward,
occupy all the chief towns, putting Spanish garrisons
into them, but sparing the people, who now considered
the war eternal, and who were eaten up by both armies.
In a short time the king might accomplish all he wished,
for it was not in the power of the Bearnese to make
considerable resistance for any length of time.i
1 MS. last cited.

240 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1593

This was the plan of Father Odo for putting Philip on
the throne of France, and at the same time lifting up
the downtrodden Church, whose priests, according to
his statement, were so profligate, and whose tenets were
rejected by all but a small minority of the governing
classes of the country. Certainly it did not lack preci-
sion, but it remained to be seen whether the Bearnese
was to prove so very insignificant an antagonist as the
sanguine priest supposed.

For the third party— the moderate Catholics— had
been making immense progress in France, while the
diplomacy of Philip had thus far steadily counteracted
their efforts at Rome. In vain had the Marquis Pisani,
envoy of the Politicians' party, endeavored to soften the
heart of Clement toward Henry. The pope lived in
mortal fear of Spain, and the Duke of Sessa, Philip's
ambassador to the holy see, denouncing all these at-
tempts on the part of the heretic and his friends, and
urging that it was much better for Rome that the per-
nicious kingdom of France should be dismembered and
subdivided, assured his Holiness that Rome should be
starved, occupied, annihilated, if such abominable
schemes should be for an instant favored.

Clement took to his bed with sickness brought on by
all this violence, but had nothing for it but to meet
Pisani and other agents of the same cause with a per-
emptory denial, and send most stringent messages to
his legate in Paris, who needed no prompting.^

There had already been much issuing of bulls by the
pope, and much burning of bulls by the hangman, ac-
cording to decrees of the Parliament of ChSJons and
other friendly tribunals, and burning of Ch&lons decrees
I De Thou, xii. 120.

1593] AEEANGEMBNTS FOE ELECTION OF KINa 241

by Paris hangmen, and edicts in favor of Protestants at
Nantes and other places ^—measures the enactment, re-
peal, and reenactment of which were to mark the ebb
and flow of the great tide of human opinion on the most
important of subjects, and the traces of which were to
be for a long time visible on the shores of time.

Early in 1593 Mayenne, yielding to the pressure of
the Spanish party, reluctantly consented to assemble the
States-General of France, in order that a king might be
chosen.^ The duke, who came to be thoroughly known
to Alexander Parnese before the death of that subtle
Italian, relied on his capacity to outwit aU the other
champions of the League and agents of Philip now that
the master spirit had been removed. As firmly opposed
as ever to the election of any other candidate but him-
self, or possibly his son, according to a secret proposition
which he had lately made to the pope,^ he felt himself
obliged to confront the army of Spanish diplomatists,
Roman prelates, and learned doctors by whom it was
proposed to exclude the Prince of Beam from his pre-
tended rights. But he did not, after all, deceive them
as thoroughly as he imagined. The Spaniards shrewdly

1 De Thou, xi. 369, 370 seq.

2 Ibid., xi. 665-670.

3 "Entrando en platicas con el oomisario del papa qvii vino de
Francia ha venido deolararme en gran secreto que el Duoa de
Umena le dixo con el mismo no vendria en la election sino fuese
en su hijo como lo escrivia al papa y a el pidio lo hiziesse y dixesse
convenia para el bien de aquel reyno."— Fuentes to Philip, June
9, 1593, Arch, de Sim. MS.

" Mostrome algo de lo que le eseriven en esto y demas de lo que
de Eoma le avisa que el de Umena haze instancia para que la
gente del papa se de a su hijo y que anda separada de la de V.
M'^."— Same to same, June 20, 1593, ibid.

VOL. IV.— 16

242 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1593

suspected the French tactics, and the whole business
was but a round game of deception, in which no one
was much deceived, whoever might be destined ulti-
mately to pocket the stakes. " I know from a very good
source," said Fuentes, " that Mayenne, Guise, and the
rest of them are struggling hard in order not to submit
to B4arn, and wiU suffer everything your Majesty may
do to them, even if you kick them in the mouth ; but
still there is no conclusion on the road we are traveling,
at least not the one which your Majesty desires. They
will go on procrastinating and gaining time, making
authority for themselves out of your Majesty's grandeur,
until the condition of things comes which they are desir-
ing. Feria teUs me that they are stiU taking your Maj-
esty's money, but I warn your Majesty that it is only to
fight off B^arn, and that they are only pursuing their
own ends at your Majesty's expense." ^

Perhaps Mayenne had already a sufficiently clear in-
sight into the not far-distant future, but he stiU pre-
sented himself in Spanish cloak and most ultramontane
physiognomy. His pockets were indeed full of Spanish
coin at that moment, for he had just claimed and re-
ceived eighty-eight thousand nine hundred dollars for
back debts, together with one hundred and eighty thou-
sand dollars more to distribute among the deputies of

1 " Tambien he sabido de buen original que el D. de Umena,
Guisa y los demas por no venir al partido con el de Blame,
aiinque vioareen, sufriran todo lo que V. M* Mziere con ellos
aunque lea pise la boea, y que en quanto se fuere por el oamino
que agora, no habra, conclusion, a lo menos la que V. M'^ dessea,
y que iran dando muchas largas para dar tiempo al tiempo,
authorizandose en tanto con la grandeza de V. Ma liasta Uegar el
estado que dessean."— Fuentes to Philip, June 9, 1593, Arch, de
Sim. MS. Same to same, June 20, 1593, ibid.

1593] ASSEMBLY OP ESTATES OF FRANCE 243

the estates.^ " All I can say about France," said Fuentes,
" is that it is one great thirst for money. The Duke of
Feria believes in a good result, but I think that May-
enne is only trying to pocket as much money as he can." ^

Thus fortified, the Duke of Mayenne issued the ad-
dress to the States-General of the kingdom to meet at
an early day in order to make arrangements to secure
religion and peace, and to throw off the possible yoke of
the heretic pretender. The great seal affixed to the
document represented an empty throne, instead of the
usual eflSgy of a king.^

The cardinal legate issued a thundering manifesto at
the same time, sustaining Mayenne and virulently de-
nouncing the B6arnese.*

The Politicians' party now seized the opportunity to
impress upon Henry that the decisive moment was come.

The Spaniard, the priest, and the League had heated
the furnace. The iron was at a white heat. Now was
the time to strike. Secretary of State RSvol, Gaspar de
Schomberg, Jacques Auguste de Thou, the eminent his-
torian, and other influential personages urged the king
to give to the great question the only possible solution.

Said the king, with much meekness : " If I am in error,
let those who attack me with so much fury instruct me
and show me the way of salvation. I hate those who
act against their conscience. I pardon all those who are
inspired by truly religious motives, and I am ready to

1 Feria to Philip, Mareli 20, 1593, Arch, de Sim. MS.

2 " Lo que puedo dezir de Francia es todo sed de dinero— el de
Umena oomo se espera sacarle quanto dinero pudiere, temo tan

ruyn suceso como en todo," etc.— Fuentes to , May 22, 1593,

Arch, de Sim. MS.

3 De Thou, ubi sup. * Ibid., xi. 675.

244 THE UNITED NETHBELANDS [1593

receive all into favor whoin the love of peace, not the
chagrin of ill wUl, has disgusted with the war." ^

There was a great meeting of Leaguers at the Louvre
to listen to Mayenne, the cardinal legate, Cardinal Pel-
lev6, the Duke of Guise, and other chieftains. The
Duke of Feria made a long speech in Latin, setting forth
the Spanish policy, veiled as usual, but already suf&-
ciently well known, and assuring the assembly that the
King of Spain desired nothing so much as the peace of
France and of all the world, together with the suprem-
acy of the Roman Church. Whether these objects
could best be attained by the election of Philip or of his
daughter as sovereign, with the Archduke Ernest as
king consort, or with perhaps the Duke of Guise or some
other eligible husband, were fair subjects for discussion.
No selfish motive influenced the king, and he placed all
his wealth and all his armies at the disposal of the
League to carry out these great projects.^

Then there was a conference at Sur^ne between the
chiefs of the League - and the Political leaders : the
Archbishop of Lyons, the cardinal legate, ViUars, ad-
miral of France and defender of Rouen, B^lin, governor
of Paris, President Jeannin, and others upon one side ;
upon the other, the Archbishop of Bourges, Belli^vre,
Schomberg, RIvol, and De Thou.^

The Archbishop of Lyons said that their party would
do nothing either to frustrate or to support the mission
of Pisani, and that the pope would, as ever, do all that
could be done to maintain the interests of the true
religion.*

The Archbishop of Bourges, knowing well the mean-

1 De Thou, xi. 683. 2 Ibid., xi. 703-705.

3 Ibid., xi. 719-755. * Ibid.

1593] ASSEMBLY OF ESTATES OP FRANCE 245

ing of such fine phrases, replied that he had much
respect for the Holy Father, but that popes had now
become the slaves and tools of the King of Spain, who,
because he was powerful, held them subject to his
caprice. 1

At an adjourned meeting at the same place, the Arch-
bishop of Lyons said that all questions had been asked
and answered. All now depended on the pope, whom
the League would always obey. If the pope would
accept the reconciliation of the Prince of Beam it was
weU. He hoped that his conversion would be sincere.^

The Political archbishop (of Bourges) replied to the
League's archbishop that there was no time for delays
and for journeys by land and sea to Rome. The least
obstruction might prove fatal to both parties. Let the
Leaguers now show that the serenity of their faces was
but the mirror of their minds.

But the Leaguers' archbishop said that he could make
no further advances. So ended the conference.^

The chiefs of the Politicians now went to the king and
informed him that the decisive moment had arrived.*

Henry had preserved his coolness throughout. Amid
all the hubbub of learned doctors of law, archbish-
ops. Leaguer and Political, Sorbonne pedants, solemn
grandees from Spain with Latin orations in their
pockets, intriguing Guises, huckstering Mayennes,
wrathful Huguenots, sanguinary cardinal legates,
threatening world-monarchs,— heralded by Spanish
musketeers, Italian lancers, and German reiters,— shrill
screams of warning from the English queen, grim de-
nunciations from Dutch Calvinists, scornful repulses

1 De Thou, xi, 719-755. ^ n^id.

3 Ibid. ^ Ibid., xi. 748.

246 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1593

from the Holy Father, he kept his temper and his eye-
sight as perfectly as he had ever done through the
smoke and din of the wildest battle-field. None knew
better than he how to detect the weakness of the
adversary and to sound the charge upon his wavering
line.

He blew the blast, sure that loyal Catholics and Prot-
estants alike would now follow him pell-meU.

On the 16th May, 1593, he gave notice that he con-
sented to get himself instructed, and that he summoned
an assembly at Mantes on the 15th July, of bishops,
theologians, princes, lords, and courts of Parliament, to
hold council, and to advise him what was best to do for
rehgion and the state.^

Meantime he returned to the siege of Dreux, made an
assault on the place, was repulsed, and then hung nine
prisoners of war in full sight of the garrison as a pun-
ishment for their temerity in resisting him.^ The place
soon after capitulated (8th July, 1593).

The interval between the summons and the assem-
bling of the clerical and lay notables at Mantes was
employed by the Leaguers in frantic and contradictory
efforts to retrieve a game which the most sagacious knew
to be lost. But the Politicians were equal to the occa-
sion, and baffled them at every point.

The Leaguers' archbishop inveighed bitterly against
the abominable edicts recently issued in favor of the
Protestants.

The Political archbishop (of Bourges) replied, not by

defending, but by warmly disapproving those decrees

of toleration, by excusing the king for having granted

them for a temporary purpose, and by asserting posi-

1 De Thou, xi. 751. 2 Ibid., xii. 6.

1593] HENRY'S COUNCIL OP ADVISEES 247

tively that, so soon as the king should be converted, he
would no longer countenance such measures.^

It is superfluous to observe that very different lan-
guage was held on the part of Henry to the English and
Dutch Protestants and to the Huguenots of his own
kingdom.

And there were many meetings of the Leaguers in
Paris, many belligerent speeches by the cardinal legate,
proclaiming war to the knife rather than that the name
of Henry the heretic should ever be heard of again as
candidate for the throne, various propositions spasmodi-
cally made in full assembly by Feria, Ybarra, Tassis, the
jurisconsult Mendoza, and other Spanish agents in favor
of the Infanta as Queen of France, with Archduke Ernest
or the Duke of Guise, or any other eligible prince, for
her husband.

The League issued a formal and furious invective in
answer to Henry's announcement, proving by copious
citations from Jeremiah, St. Epiphany, St. Jerome, St.
Cyprian, and St. Bernard that it was easier for a leop-
ard to change his spots or for a blackamoor to be
washed white than for a heretic to be converted, and
that the king was thinking rather of the crown of
Prance than of a heavenly crown in his approaching
conversion — an opinion which there were few to gain-
say.^

And the Duke of Nemours wrote to his half-brother,
the Duke of Mayenne, offering to use all his influence to
bring about Mayenne's election as king on condition
that if these efforts failed Mayenne should do his best
to procure the election of Nemours.'

1 De Thou, xi. 753. 2 njjd., xi. 761.

3 Ibid., xi. 779.

248 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1593

And the Parliament of Paris formally and prospec-
tively proclaimed any election of a foreigner nidi and
void, and sent deputies to Mayenne urging him never to
consent to the election of the Infanta.

What help, said they, can the League expect from the
old and broken PhOip, from a king who in thirty years
has not been able, with all the resources of his king-
doms, to subdue the revolted provinces of the Nether-
lands ? How can he hope to conquer France ? Pay no
further heed to the legate, they said, who is laughing in
his sleeve at the miseries and distractions of our coun-
try.i So spake the deputies of the League Parliament
to the great captain of the League, the Duke of May-
enne. It was obvious that the Great and Holy Confed-
eracy was becoming less confident of its invincibUity.
Madam League was suddenly grown decrepit in the
eyes of her adorers.

Mayenne was angry at the action of the Parliament,
and vehemently swore that he would annul their decree.
Parliament met his threats with dignity, and resolved to
stand by the decree, even if they all died in their places.^

At the same time the Duke of Feria suddenly produced
in full assembly of Leaguers a written order from PhUip
that the Duke of Guise and the Infanta should at once
be elected king and queen.^ Taken by surprise, May-
enne dissembled his rage in masterly fashion, promised
Feria to support the election, and at once began to hig-
gle for conditions. He stipulated that he should have
for himself the governments of Champagne, Burgundy,
and La Brie, and that they should be hereditary in his
family. He furthermore demanded that Guise should

1 De Thou, xi. 784. 2 Ibid., xi. 787.

3 Ibid., xii. 8.

1593] PHILIPS OEDEE EESPECTING CEOWN 249

cede to him the principality of Joinville, and that they
shoiild pay him on the spot in hard money two hundred
thousand crowns in gold, six hundred thousand more in
different payments, together with an annual pajonent of
fifty thousand crowns.^

It was obvious that the duke did not undervalue him-
self, but he had, after all, no intention of f aUing into the
trap set for him. "He has made these promises [as
above given] in writing," said the Duke of Savoy's envoy
to his master, "but he will never keep them.. The
Duchess of Mayenne could not help telling me that her
husband will never consent that the Duke of Gruise
should have the throne."^ From this resolve he had
never wavered, and was not likely to do so now. Accord-
ingly, the man " of his word, of faith and truth," whom
even the astute Farnese had at times half believed in,
and who had received millions of Philip's money, now
thought it time to break with Philip.

He issued a manifesto,^ in which he observed that the
States-General of France had desired that Philip should
be elected King of France, and carry out his design of a
universal monarchy, as the only means of insuring the
safety of the Catholic religion and the pacification of the
world. It was feared, however, said Mayenne, that the
king might come to the same misfortunes which befell
his father, who, when it was supposed that he was in-
spired only by private ambition and by the hope of
placing a hereditary universal crown in his family, had
excited the animosity of the princes of the empire. " If
a mere suspicion had caused so great a misfortune in

1 De Thou, xii. 10.

2 MS. de Mesmes, t. xi. 893, cited by Capeflgue, vi. 268.

3 De Thou, xii. 13-24.

250 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1593

the empire," continued the man of his word, " what wUl
the princes of all Europe do when they jB.nd his Majesty
elected King of France and grown by increase of power
so formidaUe to the world? Can it be doubted that
they will fly to arms at once, and give all their support
to the King of Navarre, heretic though he be? What
motive had so many princes to traverse Philip's designs
in the Netherlands, but desire to destroy the enormous
power which they feared ? Therefore had the Queen of
England, although refusing the sovereignty, defended
the independence of the Netherlands these fifteen years.

"However desirable," continued Mayenne, "that this
universal monarchy, for which the house of Austria has
so long been working, should be established, yet the
king is too prudent not to see the difficulties in his way.
Although he has conquered Portugal, he is prevented by
the fleets of Holland and England from taking posses-
sion of the richest of the Portuguese possessions, the
island and the Indies. He will find in France insuper-
able objections to his election as king, for he could in
this case well reproach the Leaguers with having been
changed from Frenchmen into Spaniards. He must see
that his case is hopeless in France, he who for thirty years
has been in vain endeavoring to reestablish his authority
in the Netherlands. It would be impossible in the pres-
ent position of affairs to become either the king or the
protector of France. The dignity of France allows it not." ^

Mayenne then insisted on the necessity of a truce with
the EoyaUsts or Politicians, and, assembling the estates
at the Louvre on the 4th July, he read a written paper
declining for the moment to hold an election for king.^

John Baptist Tassis, next day, replied by declaring
1 De Thou, xii. 13-24. 2 Ibid., xii. 24.

1593] "INSTRUCTION" OF HENRY 251

that in this case Philip would send no more succors of
men or money, for that the only effectual counter-poison
to the pretended conversion of the Prince of B6arn was
the immediate election of a king.^

Thus did Mayenne escape from the snare in which the
Spaniards thought to catch the man who, as they now
knew, was changing every day, and was true to nothing
save his own interests.

And now the great day had come. The conversion of
Henry to the Roman faith, fixed long before for the 23d
July, 1593, formally took place at the time appointed.^
From six in the morning till the stroke of noon did
Henry listen to the exhortations and expoundings of the
learned prelates and doctors whom he had convoked, the
Politic Archbishop of Bourges taking the lead in this
long-expected instruction. After six mortal hours had
come to an end, the king rose from his knees, somewhat
wearied, but entirely instructed and convinced. He
thanked the bishops for having taught him that of which
he was before quite ignorant, and assured them that,
after having invoked the light of the Holy Ghost upon
his musings, he should think seriously over what they
had just taught him, in order to come to a resolution
salutary to himself and to the state.^

Nothing could be more candid. Next day, at eight in
the morning, there was a great show in the Cathedral of
St. Denis, and the population of Paris, notwithstand-
ing the prohibition of the League authorities, rushed
thither in immense crowds to witness the ceremony of
the reconciliation of the king. Henry went to the church,
clothed, as became a freshly purified heretic, in white

1 De Thou, xii. 24. 2 ibid., xii. 30-35.

3 Ibid.

252 THE UNITKD NETHERLANDS [1593

satin doublet and hose, white silk stockings, and white
silk shoes with white roses in them, but with a black
hat and a black mantle.^ There was a great procession,
with blare of trumpet and beat of drum. The streets
were strewn with flowers.

As Henry entered the great portal of the church, he
found the Archbishop of Bourges seated in state, efful-
gent in miter and chasuble, and surrounded by other
magnificent prelates in gorgeous attire.

"Who are you, and what do you want?" said the
archbishop.

" I am the king," meekly replied Henry, " and I de-
mand to be received into the bosom of the Roman
Catholic Church."

" Do you wish it sincerely ? " asked the prelate.

" I wish it with aU my heart," said the king.^

Then throwing himself on his knees, the B6arn,
great champion of the Huguenots, protested before God
that he would live and die in the Catholic faith, and that
he renounced all heresy. A passage was with difficulty
opened through the crowd, and he was then led to the
high altar, amid the acclamations of the people. Here
he knelt devoutly and repeated his protestations. His
unction and contrition were most impressive, and the
people, of course, wept piteously. The king, during the
progress of the ceremony, with hands clasped together
and adoring the eucharist with his eyes, or, as the host
was elevated, smiting himself thrice upon the breast, was
a model of passionate devotion.^

1 Fontanieu portefeuilles, Nos. 416, 417, cited by Capefigue, -n.
325. 2 Ibid. De Thou, ubi sup.

' "La devotion fut remarqu6e tres grande en sa Maj. laquelle
pendant la consecration et elevation de I'Eucharistie eut

1593] HENRY'S SUBMISSION TO THE POPE 253

Afterward he retired to a pavilion behind the altar,
where the archbishop confessed and absolved him.
Then the Te Deum sounded, and high mass was cele-
brated by the Bishop of Nantes. Then, amid acclama-
tions and blessings, and with largess to the crowd, the
king returned to the monastery of St. Denis, where
he dined amid a multitude of spectators, who thronged
so thickly around him that his dinner-table was nearly
overset. These were the very Parisians who, but three
years before, had been feeding on rats and dogs and
dead men's bones and the bodies of their own children
rather than open their gates to this same Prince of
B6arn.

Now, although Mayenne had set strong guards at
those gates and had most strictly prohibited all egress,
the city was emptied of its populace, which pressed in
transports of adoration ^ around the man so lately the
object of their hate. Yet few could seriously believe
that much change had been effected in the inner soul of
him whom the legate and the Spaniard and the Holy
Father at Rome still continued to denounce as the vilest
of heretics and the most infamous of impostors.

The comedy was admirably played out and was en-
tirely successful. It may be supposed that the chief
actor was, however, somewhat wearied. In private he
mocked at aU this ecclesiastical mummery, and described
himself as heartily sick of the business. "I arrived
here last evening," he wrote to the beautiful GabrieUe,
"and was importuned with 'G-od save you' tUl bedtime.

perpetuellement les mains jointes, les yenx adorant I'Euoharistie,
ayant frapp6 sa poitrine trois f ois tant a I'elevation de Eueharistie
que du oalioe."— Pont. portefeuiUes, ubi sup.
1 De Thou, xii. 35.

254 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1593

In regard to the Leaguers I am of the Order of St.
Thomas. I am beginning to-morrow morning to talk to
the bishops, besides those I told you about yesterday.
At this moment of writing I have a hundred of these im-
portunates on my shoulders, who will make me hate
St. Denis as much as you hate Mantes. 'T is to-
morrow that I take the perilous leap. I kiss a miUion
times the beautiful hands of my angel and the mouth of
my dear mistress." ^

A truce, renewed at intervals, with the Leaguers lasted
till the end of the year. The Duke of Nevers was sent
on special mission to Eome to procure the Holy Father's
consent to the great heretic's reconciliation to the
Church, and he was instructed to make the king's sub-
mission in terms so wholesale and so abject that even
some of the lifelong papists of France were disgusted,
while every honest Protestant in Europe shrank into
himself for shame.^ But Clement, overawed by Philip
and his ambassador, was deaf to all the representations
of the French envoy. He protested that he would not
believe in the sincerity of the B6arn's conversion unless

1 M6m. de M. de I'Estoile, MS. Cot. P. No. 30, cited by
Capefigue, vi. 354.

2 "Herewith inclosed," wrote the English envoy, "your Lord-
ship shall receive a copy of the request which M. de Nevers
presented to the pope on the king's behalf, by the sight whereof
it will apj ear to your Lo. how abjectly he doth therein debase the
king's authority and dignity, wherewith the most superstitious
Catholics here are so despited as they promise to procure the same
to be disavowed by the courts of Parliament as derogating from
the dignity of the Gallican Church."— Edmonds (who was secretary
to Sir H. tJmton, and in his absence agent or oharg6 d'affaires)
to Burghley, December 30, 1593, S. P. Office MS. Compare De
Thou, xii. 38, and Bor, b. xxxii. 151.

1593] HENRY'S SUBMISSION TO THE POPE 255

an angel from heaven should reveal it to him. So
Nevers left Rome highly exasperated, and professing
that he would rather have lost a leg, that he would
rather have been sewn in a sack and tossed into the
Tiber, than bear back such a message. The pope
ordered the prelates who had accompanied Nevers to
remain in Rome and be tried by the Inquisition for mis-
prision of heresy ; but the duke placed them by his side
and marched out of the Porta del Popolo with them,
threatening to kill any man who should attempt to en-
force the command.!

Meantime it became necessary to follow up the St.
Denis comedy with a still more exhilarating popular
spectacle. The heretic had been purified, confessed,
absolved. It was time for a consecration. But there
was a difficulty. Although the fever of loyalty to the
ancient house of Bourbon, now redeemed from its wor-
ship of the false gods, was spreading contagiously
through the provinces ; although all the white sOk in
Lyons had been cut into scarfs and banners to cele-
brate the reconciliation of the candid king with Mother
Church ; although that ancient city was ablaze with bon-
fires and illuminations, while its streets ran red, with
blood no longer, but with wine ; and although Madam
League, so lately the object of fondest adoration, was now
publicly burned in the ef&gy of a grizzly hag,^ yet Paris
stUl held for that decrepit beldam, and closed its gates
to the B6arnese.

The city of Rheims, too, had not acknowledged the

former Huguenot, and it was at Rheims, in the Church

of St. Remy, that the holy bottle was preserved.

With what chrism, by what prelate, should the consecra-

1 De Thou, xii. 83-94 2 Ibid., xii. 114.

256 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1593

tion of Henry be performed? Five years before, the
League had proposed in the estates of Blois to place
among the fundamental laws of the kingdom that no
kmg should be considered a legitimate sovereign whose
head had not been anointed by the bishop at Rheims
with oil from that holy bottle. But it was now decided
that to ascribe a monopoly of sanctity to that prelate
and to that bottle would be to make a schism in the
Church.i

Moreover, it was discovered that there was a chrism in
existence still more eflcacious than the famous oil of St.
Remy. One hundred and twelve years before the bap-
tism of Clovis, St. Martin had accidentally tumbled
down-stairs, and lay desperately bruised and at the point
of death. But, according to Sulpicius Severus, an angel
had straightway descended from heaven, and with a
miraculous balsam had anointed the contusions of the
saint, who next day felt no further inconveniences from
his fall. The balsam had ever since been preserved in
the church of Marmoutier, near Tours. Here, then, was
the most potent of unguents, brought directly from
heaven. To mix a portion thereof with the chrism of
consecration was clearly more judicious than to make
use of the holy bottle, especially as the holy bottle was
not within reach. The monks of Marmoutier consented
to lend the sacred phial containing the famous oil of St.
Martin for the grand occasion of the royal consecration.

Accompanied by a strong military escort provided by
Giles de Souvri, governor of Touraine, a deputation of
friars brought the phial to Chartres, where the conse-
cration was to take place. Prayers were offered up,
without ceasing, in the monastery during their absence

1 De Thou, xii. 120-129.

1594] THE HOLY OH, AT RHEIMS 257

that no misliap should befall the sacred treasiire. When
the monks arrived at Chartres, four young barons of the
first nobility were assigned to them as hostages for the
safe restoration of the phial, which was then borne in
triumph to the cathedral, the streets through which it
was carried being covered with tapestry. There was a
great ceremony, a splendid consecration, six bishops,
with miters on their heads and in gala robes, officiating,
after which the king knelt before the altar and took the
customary oath.^

Thus the champion of the fierce Huguenots, the well
beloved of the dead La None and the living Duplessis-
Mornay, the devoted knight of the heretic Queen Eliza-
beth, the sworn ally of the stout Dutch Calvinists, was
pompously reconciled to that Rome which was the object
of their hatred and their fear.

The admirably arranged spectacles of the instruction
at St. Denis and the consecration at Chartres were fol-
lowed on the day of the vernal equinox by a third and
most conclusive ceremony.

A secret arrangement had been made with De Cosse-
Brissac, governor of Paris, by the king, according to
which the gates of Paris were at last to be opened to
him.^ The governor obtained a high price for his ser-
vices—three hundred thousand livres in hard cash, thirty
thousand a year for his life, and the truncheon of mar-
shal of Prance.^ Thus purchased, Brissac made his
preparations with remarkable secrecy and skill. Envoy
Ybarra, who had scented something suspicious in the
air, had gone straight to the governor for information,
but the keen Spaniard was thrown out by the governor's

1 De Thou, xii. 120-129. 2 Ibid., xii. 138-141.

' Capefigue, vii. 122.
VOL. IV.— 17

258 THE UNITED NETHEELANDS [1594

ingenuous protestations of ignorance. The next morn-
ing, March 22, was sformy and rainy, and long before
daylight Tbarra, stUl uneasy despite the statements of
Brissac, was wandering about the streets of Paris, when
he became the involuntary witness of an extraordinary
spectacle.!

Through the wind and the rain came trampling along
the dark streets of the capital a body of four thou-
sand troopers and lansquenets. Many torch-bearers at-
tended on the procession, whose flambeaux threw a
lurid light upon the scene. There, surrounded by the
swart and grizzly bearded visages of these strange men-
at-arms, who were discharging their harquebuses, as they
advanced, upon any bystanders likely to oppose then-
progress, in the very midst of this sea of helmed heads,
the envoy was enabled to recognize the martial figure of
the Prince of Beam. Armed to the teeth, with sword
in hand and dagger at side, the hero of Ivry rode at last
through the barriers which had so long kept him from
his capital. "'T was like enchantment," said Ybarra.^
The first Bourbon entered the city through the same
gate out of which the last Valois had, five years before,
so ignominiously fled. It was a midnight surprise, al-
though not fully accomplished until near the dawn of
day. It was not a triumphal entrance, nor did Henry
come as the victorious standard-bearer of a great prin-
ciple. He had defeated the League in many battle-fields,
but the League stiU hissed defiance at him from the
very hearthstone of his ancestral palace. He had now
crept, in order to conquer, even lower than the League

1 Ybarra to — -, March 28, 1594, Arch, de Sim., B. 70, 222,
cited hy Capefigue, vii. 151.

2 Ibid.

1594] HENRY'S ENTRY INTO PARIS 259

itself ; and easting off his Huguenot skin at last, lie had
soared over the heads of all men, the presiding genius
of the Holy Catholic Church.

Twenty-one years before, he had entered the same
city on the conclusion of one of the truces which had
varied the long monotony of the religious wars of Prance.
The youthful son of Antony Bourbon and Joan of
Albret had then appeared as the champion and the idol
of the Huguenots. In the same year had come the fatal
nuptials with the bride of St. Bartholomew, the first
Catholic conversion of Henry, and the massacre at which
the world still shudders.

Now he was chief of the PoKticians, and sworn
supporter of the Council of Trent. Earnest Huguenots
were hanging their heads in despair.

He represented the principle of national unity against
national dismemberment by domestic treason and for-
eign violence. Had that principle been his real inspira-
tion, as it was in truth his sole support, history might
judge him more leniently. Had he relied upon it en-
tirely it might have been strong enough to restore him
to the throne of his ancestors without the famous re-
ligious apostasy with which his name is forever associ-
ated. It is by no means certain that permanent religious
toleration might not have been the result of his mount-
ing the throne only when he could do so without re-
nouncing the faith of his fathers. A day of civilization
may come, perhaps, sooner or later, when it will be of no
earthly consequence to their fellow-creatures to what
creed, what Christian church, what religious dogma
kings or humbler individuals may be partial ; when the
relations between man and his Maker shall be iindeflled
by political or social intrusion. But the day will never

260 THE UNITED NETHEELANDS [1594

come when it will be otherwise than damaging to public
morality and humiliating to human dignity to forswear
principle for a price, and to make the most awful of
mysteries the subject of political legerdemain and the-
atrical buffoonery.

The so-called conversion of the king marks an epoch
in human history. It strengthened the Roman Church
and gave it an indefinite renewal of life, but it sapped
the foundations of religious faith. The appearance of
Henry the Huguenot as the champion of the Council of
Trent was of itself too biting an epigram not to be ex-
tensively destructive. Whether for good or Ol, religion
was fast ceasing to be the mainspring of political com-
binations, the motive of great wars and national convul-
sions. The age of religion was to be succeeded by the
age of commerce.

But the king was now on his throne. All Paris was
in rapture. There was Te Deum with high mass in
Notre Dame, and the populace was howling itself hoarse
with rapture in honor of him so lately the object of the
general curse. Even the Sorbonne declared in favor of
the reclaimed heretic,^ and the decision of those sages
had vast influence with less enlightened mortals. There
was nothing left for the Duke of Peria but to take him-
self off and make Latin orations in favor of the Infanta
elsewhere, if fit audience elsewhere could be found.
A week after the entrance of Henry the Spanish garri-
son accordingly was allowed to leave Paris with the hon-
ors of war.

"We marched out at 2 p.m.," wrote the duke to his
master, " with closed ranks, colors displayed, and drums
beating. First came the Italians and then the Spaniards,
1 April 22, 1594. Capefigue, vu. 183, 184.

1594] DEPARTUEE OP THE SPANISH GARRISON 261

in the midst of wliom was myself on horseback, with the
Walloons marching near me. The Prince of Beam"
—it was a solace to the duke's heart, of which he never
could be deprived, to call the king by that title— "was
at a window over the Gate of St. Denis, through which
we took our departure. He was dressed in light gray,
with a black hat surmounted by a great white feather.
Our displayed standards rendered him no courteous
salute as we passed." '■

Here was another solace !

Thus had the game been lost and won, but Philip, as
usual, did not acknowledge "himself beaten. Mayenne,
too, continued to make the most fervent promises to all
that was left of the Confederates. He betook himself to
Brussels, and by the king's orders was courteously re-
ceived by the Spanish authorities in the Netherlands.
In the midst of the tempest now rapidly destroying all
rational hopes, Philip still clung to Mayenne as to a spar
in the shipwreck. For the king ever possessed the vir-
tue, if it be one, of continuing to believe himself invin-
cible and infallible, when he had been defeated in every
quarter, and when his calculations had all proved ridicu-
lous mistakes.

When his famous Armada had been shattered and
sunk, have we not seen him peevishly requiring Alex-
ander Farnese to construct a new one immediately and
to proceed therewith to conquer England out of hand ?
Was it to be expected that he would renounce his con-
quest of France, although the legitimate king had entered
his capital, had reconciled himself to the Church, and
was on the point of obtaining forgiveness of the pope ?

1 Feria to Philip, Ajrcii. de Sim. (Paris), B. 78, 62, in Capefigue,
■rii. 161.

262 THE UMTED NETHERLANDS [1594

If the Prmce of B^arn had already destroyed the Holy
League, why should not the Duke of Mayenne and Arch-
duke Ernest make another for him, and so conquer
France without further delay ?

But although it was still possible to deceive the king,
who in the universality of his deceptive powers was so
prone to delude himself, it was difficult even for so
accomplished an intriguer as Mayenne to hoodwink
much longer the shrewd Spaniards who were playing so
losing a game against him.

" Our affairs in France," said Ybarra, " are in such
condition that we are losing money and character there,
and are likely to lose all the provinces here, if things are
not soon taken up in a large and energetic manner.
Money and troops are what is wanted on a great scale
for France. The king's agents are mightily discon-
tented with Mayenne, and with reason; but they are
obliged to dissimulate and to hold their tongues. We
can send them no assistance from these regions, unless
from down yonder you send us the cloth and the scissors
to cut it with." 1

And the Archduke Ernest, although he invited May-
enne to confer with him at Brussels, under the impres-
sion that he could still keep him and the Duke of Guise
from coming to an arrangement with Beam, hardly felt
more confidence in the man than did Feria or Ybarra.
" Since the loss of Paris," said Ernest, " I have had a
letter from Mayenne, in which, deeply affected by that

1 Ybarra to the secretaries, January 18, 1594, Aroh. de Sim.
MS. Charles Mansfeld, too, held the same language. "I have
had a talk with Tassis," he •wrote to the king, "and we both
agree that Mayenne has always been managing affairs for his
own ends, cheating your Majesty, and this opinion I have always
held."

1594] DISSIMULATION OF MAYENNE 263

event, he makes me great offers, even to the last drop of
his blood, vowing never to abandon the cause of the
League. But of the intentions and inner mind of this
man I find such vague information that I don't dare to
expect more stability from him than may be founded
upon his own interest." ^

And so Mayenne came to Brussels and passed three
days with the archduke. " He avows himself ready to
die in our cause," said Ernest. " If your Majesty will
give men and money enough, he will undertake so to
deal with Beam that he shall not think himself safe in
his own house." The archduke expressed his dissatis-
faction to Mayenne that with the money he had already
received so little had been accomplished, but he still
affected a confidence which he was far from feeling,
" because," said he, " it is known that Mayenne is already
treating with B6arn. If he has not concluded those
arrangements, it is because B4arn now offers him less
money than before." ^ The amount of dissimulation,

1 Ernest to PWlip, March 30, 1594, Arch, de Sim. MS. The legate
had at last informed Mayenne that "the actions of Navarre were not
of men, bnt the works of God's hand, and that the forces of Spain
were not sufficient to prevent him establishing himself absolute
King of France, and so it would be better that he should be
established by means of a general peace."— Sum4rio de una re-
lacion que hize Ascano Solferini, April 27, 1594, Arch, de Sim.
MS. Philip replied to the archduke that Mayenne coTild scarcely
be acquitted of evil intentions in regard to the loss of Paris, but
that nevertheless it was necessary to affect confidence in him.
The war would be carried on, and the king had so informed the
pope. The salaries paid to personages in France before the loss
of Paris would be continued. (Philip to Ernest, June 4, 1594, Arch,
de Sim. MS.)

2 Eelacion de cartas del Arehiduque, para S. M* sobre las cosas
de Pranoia, Arch, de Sim. MS.

264 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1594

politely so called, practised by the grandees of that age,
to say nothing of their infinite capacity for pecuniary
absorption, makes the brain reel and enlarges one's ideas
of the human faculties as exerted in certain directions.
It is doubtful whether plain Hans Miller or Hans Baker
could have risen to such a level.^

The Duke of Peria and the other Spanish envoys had
long since thoroughly understood the character of May-
enne, that great broker between Philip, the Bearnese,
and the League.

Feria wrote a despatch to the king, denouncing May-
enne as false, pernicious to the cause of Spain and of
Catholicism, thoroughly self-seeking and vile, and as
now most traitorous to the cause of the Confederacy,
engaged in surrendering its strong places to the enemy,
and preparing to go over to the Prince of B6arn.

" If," said he, " I were to recount all his base tricks, I

1 Even so late as the winter of this year Mayenne wrote in a
deeply injured tone to the archduke, expressing siirprise that
"pledges should be demanded of him, and suspicions entertained
concerning him, after all the proofs he had given of his fidelity
and constancy."— Mayenne to Ernest, September 1, 1594, Arch,
de Sim. MS. "He offers very magnificently to die for the cause,"
said Ernest, "but his deeds resolve themselves into remote and
general offers, and into begging for ready money in present pay-
ment for what he is to do for your M^ in future."— Ernest to
Philip, September 6, 1594, ibid. And to the very last moment
Philip persisted in endeavoring to keep Mayenne about his hook
by allowing him to nibble at very small bait. " You must try to
keep him dependent on me," he said to Ernest, "not giving him
any more money than is necessary to prevent him from falling
away entirely, for to content his appetite completely there is not a
fortime in the world that would suffice."— Philip to Ernest, De-
cember 2, 1594, ibid. Compare paper of Diego de Pimentel, No-
vember 23, 1594, ibid.

1594] TREATY BETWEEN HENRY AND MAYENNE 265

should go on till midnight, and perhaps tUl to-morrow
morning." ^

This letter, being intercepted, was sent with great
glee by Henry IV., not to the royal hands for which it
was destined, but to the Duke of Mayenne. Great was
the wrath of that injured personage as he read such
libelous truths. He forthwith fulminated a scathing
reply, addressed to Philip II., in which he denounced
the Duke of Feria as " a dirty ignoramus, an impudent
coward, an impostor, and a bMnd thief," adding, after
many other unsavory epithets : " But I will do him an
honor which he has not merited, proving him a liar with
my sword ; and I humbly pray your Majesty to grant me
this favor and to pardon my just grief, which causes me
to depart from the respect due to your Majesty when I
speak of this impostor who has thus wickedly torn my
reputation." ^

His invectives were, however, much stronger than his
arguments in defense of that tattered reputation. The
defiance to mortal combat went for nothing, and in the
course of the next year the injured Mayenne turned his
back on Philip and his Spaniards, and concluded his
bargain with the Prince of B6arn. He obtained good
terms— the government of Burgundy, payment of his
debts, and a hundred and twenty thousand crowns in
hard cash.' It is not on record that the man of his
word, of credit, and of truth ever restored a penny of
the vast sums which he had received from Philip to
carry on the business of the League.

Subsequently the duke came one very hot summer's

1 Peria to Philip, August, 1594, MSS. de Colbert, vol. xxxiii., in
Capefigue, vii. 229.

2 Capefigue, vii. 229 seq. ^ n^id., vii. 333-335.

266 THE UNITED NETHEELANDS [1594

day to Monceaux to thank the king, as he expressed it,
for " delivering him from Spanish arrogance and Italian
■wUes," and having got with much difficulty upon his
knees, was allowed to kiss the royal hand. Henry then
insisted upon walking about with him through the park
at a prodigious rate, to show him all the improvements,
while the duke panted, groaned, and perspired in his
vain efforts to keep pace with his new sovereign.

" If I keep this fat fellow walking about iu the sun
much longer," whispered the king to De B6thune, who
was third in the party, " I shall be suflciently avenged
for all the mischief he has done us."

At last, when the duke was forced to admit himself to
be on the point of expiring with fatigue, he was dis-
missed to the palace with orders to solace himself with
a couple of bottles of excellent wine of Arbois, expressly
provided for him by the king's direction. And this
was all the punishment ever inflicted by the good-
humored monarch on the corpulent conspirator.^

The Duke of Gruise made his arrangements with the
ex-Huguenot on even better terms and at a still earlier
day,^ while Joyeuse and Mercoeur stood out a good
while and higgled hard for conditions. " These people
put such a high price on themselves," said one of
Henry's diplomatists, " that one loses almost more than
one gains in buying them. They strip and plunder us

1 M6moires de Sully, liv. viii. 454. This interview was in the
spring of 1596, while Henry was oooupied with the siege of La
F6re. At the very same time, possibly on the selfsame day,
Mayenne was sending an emissary to Philip, begging to have his
aUowanoe continued, and the king left it to his governor-general
to decide whether to do so or not. (Philip to Archduke Albert,
April 24, 1596, Arch, de Sim. MS.)

a Capefigue, vii. 321, 322.

1594] "WAIL OF HUGXJENOT LEADERS 267

even in our nakedness, and we are obliged, in order to
conciliate such harpies, to employ all that we can scrape
out of our substance and our blood. I think, however,
that we ought to gain them by whatever means and at
whatever price." ^

Thus Henry IV., the man whom so many contempo-
rary sages had for years been rebuking or ridiculing for
his persistency in a hopeless attempt to save his country
from dismemberment, to restore legitimate authority,
and to resist the Holy Confederacy of domestic trai-
tors, aided by foreign despots and sympathizers, was at
last successful, and the fratricidal war in Prance was
approaching its only possible conclusion.

But alas T the hopes of those who loved the Reformed
Church as well as they loved their country were sadly
blasted by the apostasy of their leader. Prom the most
eminent leaders of the Huguenots there came a wail
which must have penetrated even to the well-steeled
heart of the cheerful Gascon. " It will be difficult," they
said, " to efface very soon from your memory the names
of the men whom the sentiment of a common religion,
association in the same perils and persecutions, a com-
mon joy in the same deliverance, and the long experi-
ence of so many faithful services, have engraved there
with a pencil of diamond. The remembrance of these

1 " Je ne doute point que I'aceomodement de M. de Mayenne
ne soit fait et j'espfere que oeluy de M. de Joyeuse se fera encore.
M. de Mercoeur se rend plus difficile. Ces gens la se mettent k si
haut prix qu'on perd presque plus qu'on ne gagne a les aeheter.
Us nous d6pouillent dans notre nudity mesme, et il faut employer
pour reconoilier ces harpies tout oe que nous pouvons tirer de
notre substance et de notre sang. Je crois neantmoins que nous
les devons gaigner par quelque moyeu et k quelque prix que ce
puisse §tre."— Bongars, Lettres, pp. 331, 332.

268 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1594

things pursues you and accompanies you everywhere ; it
interrupts your most important affairs, your most ardent
pleasures, your most profound slumber, to represent to
you, as in a picture, yourself to yourself : yourself not
as you are to-day, but such as you were when, pursued
to the death by the greatest princes of Europe, you went
on conducting to the harbor of safety the little vessel
against which so many tempests were beating." ^

The states of the Dutch Republic, where the affair of
Henry's conversion was as much a matter of domestic
personal interest as it could be in France,— for rehgion
up to that epoch was the true frontier between nation
and nation,— debated the question most earnestly while
it was yet doubtful. It was proposed to send a formal
deputation to the king, in order to divert him, if possi-
ble, from the fatal step which he was about to take.
After ripe deliberation, however, it was decided to leave
the matter " in the hands of God Almighty, and to pray
him earnestly to guide the issue to his glory and the
welfare of the churches." ^

The Queen of England was, as might be supposed,
beside herself with indignation, and, in consequence of

1 EequSte an Roy par ceux de la religion, 1593, Colbert MSS.,
vol. xxxi., apud Capefigue, vi. 317.

" Je plains et pleurs an fond de mon ame la gehenne de S.
Maj.," wrote Duplessis-Mornay, August 11, 1593, to De Lomenie,
"je vous prie de lui dire que s'il Ini prend jamais envie de sortir
de oette captivity et spirituelle et temporelle, je ne puis croistre
de fidelity mais je donblerai de courage. ... lis ne lui donnent
pas la paix de I'estat et lui ostent la paix de la oonscienee. . . .
lis ne lui rendent point son royaume, car o'est & Dieu et non au
diable & le donner, et lui faut renoncer autant qu'en eulx est le
royaume des oieux."— M6m. et Correspond, de Duplessis-Mornay,
iv. 511.

2 Bor, iii. 706.

1594] INDIGNATION OF ELIZABETH 269

the great apostasy and of her chronic dissatisfaction
•with the manner in which her contingent of troops had
been handled in France, she determined to withdraw
every English soldier from the support of Henry's cause.
The unfortunate French ambassador in London was at
his wits' ends. He vowed that he could not sleep of
nights, and that the gout and the colic, to which he
was always a martyr, were nothing to the anguish which
had now come upon his soul and brain, such as he had
never suffered since the bloody day of St. Bartholomew.^

" Ah, my God ! " said he to Burghley, "is it possible
that her just choler has so suddenly passed over the
great glory which she has acquired by so many benefits
and liberalities?"^ But he persuaded himself that her
Majesty would, after all, not persist in her fell resolution.
To do so, he vowed, would only be boiling milk for the
French papists, who would be sure to make the most of
the occasion in order to precipitate the king into the
abyss to the border of which they had already brought
him. He so dreaded the ire of the queen that he pro-
tested he was trembling all over merely to see the pen
of his secretary waggiag as he dictated his despatch.*
Nevertheless, it was his terrible duty to face her in her
wrath, and he implored the lord treasurer to accompany
him and to shield him at the approaching interview.
" Protect me," he cried, " by your wisdom from the ire of
this great princess ; for, by the living God, when I see
her enraged against any person whatever, I wish myself
in Calcutta, fearing her anger like death itself." *

When all was over, Henry sent De Morlans as special

1 Beauvoir la Node to BurgUey, August 24, 1593, S. P. Office
MS.

2 Ibid. 3 Ibid. « Ibid.

270 THE UNITED NETHEELANDS [1594

envoy to communicate the issue to the governments of
England and of Holland. But the queen, although no
longer so violent, was less phlegmatic than the States-
General, and refused to be comforted. She subsequently
receded, however, from her determination to withdraw
her troops from France.

"Ah, what grief, ah, what regrets, ah, what groans,
have I felt in my soul," she wrote, " at the sound of the
news brought to me by Morlans! My God! is it
possible that any wordly respect can efface the terror of
divine wrath 1 Can we by reason even expect a good
sequel to such iniquitous acts ? He who has maintained
and preserved you by his mercy, can you imagine that
he permits you to walk alone in your utmost need?
'T is bad to do evil that good may come of it. Mean-
time I shall not cease to put you in the first rank of my
devotions, in order that the hands of Esau may not spoil
the blessings of Jacob. As to your promises to me of
friendship and fidelity, I confess to have dearly deserved
them, nor do I repent, provided you do not change your
Father,— otherwise I shall be your bastard sister by the
father's side,— for I shall ever love a natural better than
an adopted one. I desire that God may guide you in a
straight road and a better path. Your most sincere
sister in the old fashion. As to the new, I have nothing
to do with it. Elizabeth R." '■

1 Bibl. du Eoi, MSS. Colbert in fol. M. E. D., vol. rvi. fol. 329,
apud Capefigue, ^d. 352.

CHAPTER XXX

Prinoe Matirioe lays siege to Gertruydenberg— Advantages of the
new system of warfare— Progress of the besieging operations-
Superiority of Maurice's manoeuvers- Adventure of Count Philip
of Nassau— Capitulation of Grertruydenberg— Mutiny among the
Spanish troops— Attempt of Verdugo to retake Coevorden—
Suspicions of treason in the English garrison at Ostend— Letter
of Queen Elizabeth to Sir Edward Norris on the subject— Second
attempt on Coevorden— Assault on G-roningen by Maurice-
Second adventure of Philip of Nassau— Narrow escape of Prince
Maurice— Surrender of Groningen — Particulars of the siege —
Question of religious toleration— Progress of the United Nether-
lands—Condition of the obedient Netherlands— Incompetency
of Peter Mansfeld as governor— Archduke Ernest, the successor
of Parnese— Difficulties of his position — His unpopularity— Great
achievements of the repubUeans— Triumphal entry of Ernest into
Brussels and Antwerp— Magnificence of the spectacle- Disaffec-
tion of the Spanish troops — Great military rebellion— Philip's
proposal to destroy the English fleet— His assassination plans-
Plot to poison Queen Elizabeth— Conspiracies against Prince
Maurice— Futile attempts at negotiation — Proposal of a marriage
between Henry and the Infanta — Secret mission from Henry to
the King of Spain— Special despatch to England and the states-
Henry obtains further aid from Queen Elizabeth and the States-
General— Anxiety of the Protestant countries to bring about a
war with Spain — Aspect of affairs at the close of the year 1594.

Whtlb Philip's world-empire seemed in one direction to
be so rapidly fading into cloud-land, there were substan-
tial possessions of the Spanish crown which had been
neglected in Brabant and Friesland.

271

272 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1593

Two very important cities still held for the King of
Spain within the territories of what could now be fairly-
considered the United Dutch Republic— Grertruydenberg
and Groningen.

Early in the spring of 1593 Maurice had completed
his preparations for a siege, and on the 24th March ap-
peared before Gertruydenberg.

It was a stately, ancient city, important for its wealth,
its strength, and especially for its position. For with-
out its possession even the province of Holland could
hardly consider itself mistress of its own little domains.
It was seated on the ancient Mouse, swollen as it ap-
proached the sea almost to the dimensions of a gulf, while
from the south another stream, called the Donge, very
brief in its course, but with considerable depth of water,
came to mingle itself with the Mouse, exactly under the
walls of the city.

The site of the place was so low that it was almost
hidden and protected by its surrounding dikes. These
afforded means of fortification, which had been well im-
proved. Both by nature and art the city was one of the
strongholds of the Netherlands.

Maurice had given the world a lesson in the beleaguer-
ing science at the siege of Steenwyk such as had never
before been dreamed of, but he was resolved that the
operations before Grertruydenberg should constitute a
masterpiece.

Nothing could be more beautiful as a production of
military art, nothing, to the general reader, more insipid
than its details.

On the land side, Hohenlo's headquarters were at
Ramsdonck, a village about a German mile to the east
of Gertruydenberg. Maurice himself was established on

1593] SIEGE OP GERTEUYDENBEEG 273

the west side of the city.^ Two bridges constructed
across the Donge facilitated the comnmnications between
the two camps, while great quantities of planks and
brush were laid down across the swampy roads to make
them passable for wagon-trains and artillery. The first
care of the young general, whose force was not more
than twenty thousand men, was to protect himself rather
than to assail the town.

His lines extended many miles in a circuit around the
place, and his forts, breastworks, and trenches were very
numerous.

The river was made use of as a natural and almost
impassable ditch of defense, and windmills were freely
employed to pump water into the shallows in one direc-
tion, whUe in others the outer -fields, in quarters whence
a relieving force might be expected, were turned into
lakes by the same machinery. Farther outside, a system
of palisade- work of caltrops and man -traps— sometimes,
in the slang of the day, called Turkish ambassadors-
made the country for miles around impenetrable or very
disagreeable to cavalry.^ In a shorter interval than
would have seemed possible, the battlements and forti-
fications of the besieging army had risen like an exhala-
tion out of the morass. The city of Gertruydenberg was
encompassed by another city as extensive and apparently
as impregnable as itself. Then, for the first time in that
age, men thoroughly learned the meaning of that potent
implement, the spade.

1 See, for the details of this remarkable siege, Meteren, xvi.
321, 322; Bor, iii. 690-698; Reyd, x. 198-205; Mulder's Duyck,
194r-245, especially ; Bentivoglio, p. iii. lib. i. 383-387 ; Coloma, vi.
119-122.

2 Reyd, ubi sup.

VOL. IV.— 18

274 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1593

Three thousand pioneers worked night and day with
pickax and shovel. The soldiers liked the business;
for every man so employed received his ten stivers a day
additional wages, punctually paid, and felt, moreover,
that every stroke was bringing the work nearer to its
conclusion.

The Spaniards no longer railed at Maurice as a hedger
and ditcher. When he had succeeded in bringing a
hundred great guns to bear upon the beleaguered city
they likewise ceased to sneer at heavy artillery.

The kartouwen and half-kartouwen were no longer
considered espanta-vellacos.

Meantime, from all the country round, the peasants
flocked within the lines. Nowhere in Europe were pro-
visions so plentiful and cheap as in the Dutch camp.
Nowhere was a readier market for agricultural products,
prompter payment, or more perfect security for the life
and property of non-combatants. Not so much as a
hen's egg was taken unlawfully.^ The country people
found themselves more at ease within Maurice's liues
than within any other part of the provinces, obedient or
revolted ; they plowed and sowed and reaped at their
pleasure ; and no more striking example was ever afforded
of the humanizing effect of science upon the barbarism of
war than in this siege of Gertruydenberg.^ Certainly
it was the intention of the prince to take his city, and
when he fought the enemy it was his object to kiU; but,
as compared with the bloody work which Alva and
Romero and Requesens and so many others had done
in those doomed provinces, such war-making as this
seemed almost like an institution for beneficent and
charitable purposes.

1 Duyck, 201. 2 Meteren,. Bor, Eeyd, ubi sup.

1593] SUPERIORITY OP MAURICE'S MANCEUVERS 275

Visitors from the neighborhood, from other provinces,
from foreign countries, came to witness the extraordi-
nary spectacle, and foreign generals repaired to the camp
of Maurice to take practical lessons in the new art of war.^

Old Peter Ernest Mansfeld, who was nominal gov-
ernor of the Spanish Netherlands since the death of
Farnese, rubbed his eyes and stared aghast when the
completeness of the preparations for reducing the city
at last broke in upon his mind. Count Puentes was
the true and confidential regent, however, until the des-
tined successor to Parma should arrive; but Fuentes,
although he had considerable genius for assassination,
as will hereafter appear, and was an experienced and
able commander of the old-fashioned school, was no
match for Maurice in the scientific combinations on
which the new system was founded.

In vain did the superannuated Peter call aloud upon
his son and governor, Count Charles, to assist him in
this dire dilemma. That artOlery general had gone with
a handful of Germans, Walloons, and other obedient
Netherlanders— too few to accomplish anything abroad,
too many to be spared from the provinces— to besiege
Noyon, in France.^ But what signified the winning or

1 " Un des mes amis, " wrote Bongars, envoy of Henry IV. , " qui
est all6 dans le eamp des HoUandois par la seule curiosity de le
voir, m'a ecrit qu'il n'a jamais ni vu ni entendu parler d'lme arm6e
cample ou il parut plus de courage et en meme temps plus de
discipline. II dit que les fortifications sont si elev6es qu'elles
egalent les ouvrages des anoiens Remains et que tout s'y conduit
aveo tant d'ordre et de silence qu'on croirait plut6t voir I'etat
paisible d'une ville que se conserve I'etat par le soin de ses
magistrats et par I'obeissanoe de ses citoyens qu'une troupe con-
fuse de gens arm^s."— Lettres, 65, p. 223.

2 He had but forty-three hundred foot and eight hundred horse.
(Charles Mansfeld to Fuentes, April 5, 1593, Arch, de Sim. MS.)

276 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1593

losing of such a place as Noyon at exactly the moment
■when the Prince of B6arn, assisted by the able general-
ship of the Archbishop of Bourges, had just executed
those famous flanking movements in the churches of St.
Denis and Chartres, by which the world-empire had been
effectually shattered, and Philip and the pope com-
pletely outmanoeuvered ?

Better that the five thousand fighters under Charles
Mansfeld had been around Gertruydenberg. His aged
father did what he could. As many men as could be
spared from the garrison of Antwerp and its neighbor-
hood were collected, but the Spaniards were reluctant to
march, except under old Mondragon. That hero, who
had done much of the hardest work and had fought in
most of the battles of the century, was nearly as old as
the century. Being now turned of ninety, he thought
best to keep house in Antwerp Castle. Accordingly,
twelve thousand foot and three thousand horse took the
field under the more youthful Peter Ernest.'^ But
Peter Ernest, when his son was not there to superintend
his operations, was nothing but a testy octogenarian,
while the two together were not equal to the little finger
of Farnese, whom PhiUp would have displaced, had he
not fortunately died.

" Nothing is to be expected out of this place biit toads
and poison," wrote Ybarra, in infinite disgust, to the two
secretaries of state at Madrid. " I have done my best
to induce Fuentes to accept that which the patent
secured him, and Count Peter is complaining that

1 Eelacion de la gente effectiva de S. M'' para el sooorro de S'
Gertruydenberg. With levies expected, the number is stated at
thirteen thousand foot and twenty-six hundred horse, besides the
forces under Verdugo. (Arch, de Sim. MS.)

1593] SKIRMISH NEAR TURNHOUT 277

Fuentes showed him the patent so late only to play Iiitti
a trick. There is a rascally pack of meddlers here, and
the worst of them all are the women, whom I particu-
larly give to the devil. There is no end to the squabbles
as to who shall take the lead in relieving Gertruyden-
berg." ^

Mansfeld at last came ponderously up in the neigh-
borhood of Turnhout. There was a brilliant little
skirmish in the neighborhood of this place, in which a
hundred and fifty Dutch cavalry under the famous
brothers Bax defeated four hundred picked lancers of
Spain and Italy.^ But Mansfeld could get nothing but
skirmishes. In vain he plunged about among the cal-
trops and man-traps. In vain he knocked at the fortifi-
cations of Hohenlo on the east and of Maurice on the
west. He found them impracticable, impregnable,
obdurate. It was Maurice's intention to take his town
at as small sacrifice of life as possible. A trumpet was
sent on some trifling business to Mansfeld, in reply to a
communication made by the general to Maurice.

" Why does your master," said the choleric veteran to
the trumpeter, "why does Prince Maurice, being a lusty
young commander as he is, not come out of his trenches
into the open field and fight me like a man, where honor
and fame await him ? "

"Because my master," answered the trumpeter,
" means to live to be a lusty old commander like your
Excellency, and sees no reason to-day to give you an
advantage."

1 Ybarra to Don Cristoval Moura and Don Juan Idiaquez, from
Antwerp, May 22, 1593, Arch., de Sim. MS.

2 Bor, Meteren, Reyd, ubi sup. Duyek, 214, 215. Compare
Coloma, BentivogUo, ubi sup.

278 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1593

At this the bystanders laughed, rather at the expense
of the veteran.^

Meantime there were not many incidents vdthin the
lines or within the city to vary the monotony of the
scientific siege.

On the land side, as has been seen, the city was in-
closed and built out of human sight by another Ger-
truydenberg. On the wide estuary of the Meuse a
chain of war-ships encircled the sea-front, in shape of a
half-moon, lying so close to each other that it was
scarcely possible even for a messenger to swim out of a
dark night.

The hardy adventurers who attempted that feat with
tidings of despair were almost invariably captured.

This blockading fleet took regular part in the daily
cannonade, while, on the other hand, the artillery-prac-
tice from the land batteries of Maurice and Hohenlo was
more perfect than anything ever known before in the
Netherlands or France.

And the result was that in the course of the cannon-
ade, which lasted nearly ninety days, not more than four
houses in the city escaped injury. The approaches
were brought, every hour, nearer and nearer to the walls.
With subterranean lines converging in the form of the
letter T, the prince had gradually burrowed his way
beneath the principal bastion.^

Hohenlo, representative of the older school of strategy,
had on one occasion ventured to resist the authority of
the commander-in-chief. He had constructed a fort at
Ramsdonck. Maurice then commanded the erection of
another, fifteen hundred yards farther back. It was as

1 Meteren, xvi. 322.

2 Bor, Meteren, Eeyd, Duyok, uW sup.

1593] COUNT PHILIPS ADVENTURE 279

much a part of Ms purpose to defend himself against the
attempts of Mansfeld's relieving force as to go forward
against the city. Hohenlo objected that it would be
impossible to sustain himself against a sudden attack in
so isolated a position. Maurice insisted. In the midst
of the altercation Hohenlo called to the men engaged in
throwing up the new fortifications. "Here, you cap-
tains and soldiers," he cried, "you are delivered up here
to be butchered. You may drop work and follow me to
the old fort."

" And I swear to you," said Maurice, quietly, " that the
first man who moves from this spot shall be hanged."

No one moved. The fort was completed and held to
the end, Hohenlo sulkily acquiescing in the superiority
which this stripling, his former pupil, had at last vin-
dicated over all old-fashioned men-at-arms.'

From the same cause which was apt to render Ho-
henlo's serArices inefficient, the prince was apt to suffer
inconvenience in the persons placed in stiU nearer rela-
tion to himself. Count Philip of Nassau, brother of the
wise and valiant Louis William, had already done much
brilliant campaigning against the Spaniards both in
Prance and the provinces. Unluckily, he was not only
a desperate fighter, but a mighty drinker, and one day,
after a dinner-party and potent carouse at Colonel Bre-
derode's quarters, he thought proper, in doublet and
hose, without armor of any kind, to mount his horse, in
order to take a solitary survey of the enemy's works.
Not satisfied with this piece of reconnoitering,— which he
effected with much tipsy gravity, but probably without
deriving any information likely to be of value to the
commanding general,— he then proceeded to charge in
1 Eeyd, x. 203.

280 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1593

person a distant battery. The deed was not commenda-
ble in a military point of view. A fire was opened upon
him at long range so soon as he was discovered, and at
the same time the sergeant-major of his regiment and
an equery of Prince Maurice started in pursuit, deter-
mined to bring him off, if possible, before his hfe had
been thus absurdly sacrificed. Fortunately for him,
they came to the rescue in time, pulled him from his
horse, and succeeded in bringing him away unharmed.
The sergeant-major, however, Sinisky by name, while
thus occupied in preserving the count's hfe, was badly
wounded in the leg by a musket-shot from the fort, which
casualty was the only result of this after-dinner assault.^

As the siege proceeded, and as the hopes of reUef died
away, great confusion began to reign within the city.
The garrison, originally of a thousand veterans, besides
burgher militia, had been much diminished. Two com-
mandants of the place, one after another, had lost their
lives. On the 1st of June Governor de Masieres, Captain
Mongyn, the father confessor of the garrison, and two
soldiers, being on the top of the great church tower tak-
ing observations, were all brought down with one can-
non-shot.- Thus the uses of artillery were again proved
to be something more than to scare cowards.

The final result seemed to have been brought about
almost by accident, if accident could be admitted as a
factor in such accurate calculations as those of Maurice.
On the 24th June Captains Haen and Bievry were re-
lieving watch in the trenches near the great north
ravelin of the town— a bulwark which had already been
much undermined from below and weakened above.

1 Duyok, 180. Compare Bor, Meteren, Reyd, ubi sup.

2 Duyok.

1593] CAPITULATION OP GERTRUYDENBEEG 281

Being adventurous officers, it occurred to tliem suddenly
to scale the wall of the fort and reconnoiter what was
going on in the town. It was hardly probable that they
would come back alive from the expedition, but they
nevertheless threw some planks across the ditch, and
taking a few soldiers with them, climbed cautiously up.
Somewhat to his own surprise, still more to that of the
Spanish sentinels, Bievry in a few minutes found him-
self within the ravelin. He was closely followed by
Captain Haen, Captain Kalf, and by half a company of
soldiers. The alarm was given. There was a fierce
hand-to-hand struggle. Sixteen of the bold stormers
fell, and nine of the garrison of the fort. The rest fled
into the city. The governor of the place. Captain
Gysant, rushing to the rescue without staying to put on
his armor, was kiUed. Count Solms, on the other hand,
came from the besieging camp into the ravelin to inves-
tigate the sudden uproar. To his profound astonish-
ment, he was met there, after a brief interval, by a depu-
tation from the city, asking for terms of surrender.
The envoys had already been for some little time look-
ing in vain for a responsible person with whom to treat.
When Maurice was informed of the propositions he
thought it at first a trick, for he had known nothing of
the little adventure of the three captains. Soon after-
ward he came into a battery whither the deputies had
been brought, and the terms of capitulation were soon
agreed upon.i

Next day the garrison were allowed to go out with
side-arms and personal baggage, and fiity wagons were
lent them by the victor to bring their wounded men to
Antwerp.

1 Duyck, 234 seq. Meteren, Bor, Eeyd, ubi sup.

282 THE UNITED NETHEELAND8 [1593

Thus was Gertruydenberg surrendered in the very face
of Peter Mansf eld, who only became aware of the fact by
the salvos of artillery fired in honor of the triumph, and
by the blaze of illumination which broke forth over camp
and city.

The sudden result was an illustration of the prince's
perfect arrangements. When Maurice rode into the
town, he found it strong enough and sufficiently well
provisioned to have held out many a long day. But it
had been demonstrated to the besieged that relief was
impossible, and that the surrender on one day or an-
other, after the siege operations should be brought to
their close, was certain. The inexorable genius of the
commander, skilled in a science which to the coarser
war-makers of that age seemed almost superhuman,
hovered above them like a fate. It was as well to suc-
cumb on the 24th June as to wait till the 24th July.^

1 TliTis modestly did Louis William, to wliom so large a part of
tlie glory of all these achievements belongs, express himself in a
congratulatory letter to his cousin Maurice : " J'estime de ne
faire que mon devoir de congratuler V. E. d'une victoire si
sigual^e, en ce qu'avez faict una preuve tant remarquable, que la
conduite et travail en la guerre domiue la force, dont ee sidge
peut estre nomm6 & droiot la seconde Alexia et une grande re-
stauration en partie de la vieille art et science militaire, laquelle a
est6 mooqu6e, voire n'a sceu 6stre comprehendSe, ou pour le moins
praotiqu6e des plus grands capitaines modernes ; par oti I'ennemi
a ce coup plus perdu de sa reputation que regu de dommage par
les autres plusieurs belles et grandes victoires ; tellement que si
Messieurs les Etats seconderoient en forces ce que la guerre a
augments en experience k bon droit, se pourroit on promettre une
bonne et heureuse issue de laquelle je prie Dieu de faire k oe
pauvre Pays Bas une fois jouir, et a votre Exo° I'honneur en re-
compense de ses genereux et he roioque desseings et grands
travaulx de bientost triumpher."— Groen v. Prinsterer, Archives,
II. S. i. 245.

1593] EFFECTS OP THE STJEEENDER 283

Moreover, the great sustaining principle, resistance to
the foreigner, which had inspired the deeds of daring,
the wonders of endurance, in the Dutch cities beleaguered
so remorselessly by the Spaniard twenty years earlier in
the century, was wanting.

In surrendering to the born Netherlander, the heroic
chieftain of the illustrious house of Nassau, these Neth-
erlanders were neither sullying their flag nor injuring
their country. Enough had been done for military
honor in the gaUant resistance, in which a large portion
of the garrison had fallen. Nor was that religious
superstition so active within the city which three years
before had made miracles possible in Paris when a
heretic sovereign was to be defied by his own subjects.
It was known that even if the public ceremonies of the
Catholic Church were likely to be suspended for a time
after the surrender, at least the rights of individual
conscience and private worship withia individual house-
holds would be tolerated, and there was no papal legate
with fiery eloquence persuading a city full of heroics
dupes that it was more virtuous for men or women to
eat their own children than to forego one high mass or
to wink at a single conventicle.

After all, it was no such bitter hardship for the citi-
zens of Gertruydenberg to participate in the prosperity
of the rising and thriving young Republic, and to enjoy
those municipal and national liberties which her sister
cities had found so sweet.

Nothing could be calmer or more reasonable than such
a triumph, nothing less humiliating or less disastrous
than such a surrender.

The problem was solved, the demonstration was made.
To open their gates to the soldiers of the Union was not

284 THE UNITED NETHEELANDS [1593

to admit the hordes of a Spanish commander, with the
avenging furies of murder, pillage, rape, which ever
followed in their train over the breach of a captured
city.

To an enemy hated or dreaded to the uttermost mor-
tal capacity, that well-fortified and opulent city might
have held out for months, and only when the arms and
the fraud of the foe without, and famine within, had
done their work, could it have bowed its head to the
conqueror, and submitted to the ineffable tortures which
would be the necessary punishment of its courage.

Four thousand shots had been fired from the siege-
guns upon the city, and three hundred upon the rehev-
ing force.

The besieging army numbered in aU nine thousand
one hundred and fifty men of all arms, and they lost
during the eighty-five days' siege three hundred killed
and four hundred wounded.^

After the conclusion of these operations, and the
thorough remodeling of the municipal government of
the important city thus regained to the Republic, Maurice
occupied himself with recruiting and refreshing his some-
what exhausted little army. On the other hand, old
Count Mansfeld, dissatisfied with the impotent conclu-
sion to his attempts, retired to Brussels, to be much
taunted by the insolent Fuentes. He at least escaped
very violent censure on the part of his son Charles, for
that general, after his superfiuous conquest of Noyon,
while returning toward the Netherlands, far too tardily
to succor Gertruydenberg, had been paralyzed in all his

1 Duyck, 241. There were six hundred and fifty English and
seven hundred German riders in Maurice's camp. The rest of his
army were Netherlanders.

1593] MUTINY IN ARTOIS 285

movements by a very extensive mutiny whicli broke out
among tbe Spanish troops in the province of Artois.^
The disorder went through all its regular forms. A
town was taken, an eletto was appointed. The coun-
try-side was blackmailed or plundered, and the rebel-
lion lasted some thirteen months. Before it was con-
cluded there was another similar outbreak among the
Italians, together with the Walloons and other obedient
Netherlanders in Hainault, who obliged the city of Mons
to collect nine hundred florins a day for them.^ The
consequence of these military rebellions was to render
the Spanish crown almost powerless during the whole
year within the provinces nominally subject to its sway.
The cause, as always, was the non-payment of these
veterans' wages year after year. It was impossible for
Philip, with all the wealth of the Indies and Mexico
pouring through the Danaid sieve of the Holy League
in Prance, to find the necessary funds to save the
bronzed and war-worn instruments of his crimes in the
Netherlands from starving and from revolt.

Meantime there was much desultory campaigning in
Priesland. Verdugo and Frederick van den Berg picked
up a few cities and strong places which had thrown
off their allegiance to the king,— Auerzyl, Slochteren,
Winschoten, Wedde, Ootmarsum,— and invested the
much more important town of Coevorden, which Mau-
rice had so recently reduced to the authority of the
Union. Verdugo's force was insufiicient, however, and
he had neither munitions nor provisions for a long siege.
Winter was coming on, and the states, aware that he
would soon be obliged to retire from before the well-

1 Meteren, xvi. 323. Coloma, vi. 123™. Bor, iii. 710.

2 Meteren, xvi. 323.

286 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1593

garrisoned and fortified place, thought it unnecessary
to interfere with him. After a very brief demonstration
the Portuguese veteran was obliged to raise the siege.^
There were also certain vague attempts made by the
enemy to repossess himself of those most important
seaports which had been pledged to the English queen.
On a previous page the anxiety has been indicated with
■which Sir Eobert Sydney regarded the withdrawal of the
English troops in the Netherlands for the sake of assist-
ing the French king. This palpable breach of the treaty
had necessarily weakened England's hold on the affeC'
tions of the Netherlanders, and awakened dark sus-
picions that treason might be impending at Flushing or
Ostend. The suspicions were unjust, so far as the
governors of those places were concerned, for Sydney
and Norris were as loyal as they were intelligent and
brave ; but the trust in their characters was not more
implicit than it had been in that of Sir William Stanley
before the commission of his crime. It was now be-
lieved that the enemy was preparing for a sudden
assault upon Ostend, with the connivance, it was feared,
of a certain portion of the English garrison. The in-
telligence was at once conveyed to her Majesty's gov-
ernment by Sir Edward Norris, and they determined to
take a lesson from past experience. Norris was at once
informed that, in view of the attack which he appre-
hended, his garrison should be strengthened by five hun-
dred men under Sir Conyers Clifford from certain com-
panies in Flushing, and that other reinforcements should
be sent from the English troops in Normandy. The
governor was ordered to look weU after his captains and
soldiers, to remind them, in the queen's name, of their
1 Bor, iii. 714-718.

1593] SUSPICIONS OF TREASON 287

duty to herself and to the states, to bid all beware of
sullying the English name, to make close investigations
into any possible intrigues of the garrison with the
enemy, and should any culprits be found, to bring them
at once to condign punishment. '^

The queen, too, determined that there should be no
blighting of English honor, if she could prevent it by
her warnings, indited with her own hand a characteris-
tic letter to Sir Edward Norris, to accompany the more
formal despatch of Lord Burghley. Thus it ran :

" Ned : Though you have some tainted sheep among
your flock, let not that serve for excuse for the rest.
We trust you are so carefully regarded as naught shall
be left for your excuses, but either ye lack heart or want
win ; for of fear we will not make mention, as that our
Boul abhors, and we assure ourselves you will never dis-
cern suspicion of it. Now or never let, for the honor of
us and our nation, each man be so much of bolder heart
as their cause is good, and their honor must be accord-
ing, remembering the old goodness of our God, who
never yet made us fail his needful help, who ever bless
you, as I with my prince's hand beseech him." ^

The warnings and preparations proved sufilciently
effective, and the great schemes with which the new
royal governor of the Netherlands was supposed to be
fuU— a mere episode in which was the conquest of
Ostend— seemed not so formidable as their shadows had
indicated. There was, in the not very distant future, to
be a siege of Ostend, which the world would not soon

1 The queen's miniite to Sir Edward Norris, partly in Burghley's
hand, October, 1593, S. P. Office MS.

2 "A clause written in the letter to Sir Edward Norris, with
her Majesty's own hand," S. P. Office MS.

288 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1594

forget, but perhaps the place would not yield to a sudden
assault. Its resistance, on the contrary, might prove
more protracted than was then thought possible. But
the chronicle of events must not be anticipated. Tor
the present, Ostend was safe.^

Early in the following spring Verdugo again appeared
before Coevorden in force. It was obvious that the great
city of Groningen, the mistress of aU the northeastern
provinces, would soon be attacked, and Coevorden was
the necessary base of any operations against the place.
Fortunately for the states, Louis William had in the
preceding autumn occupied and fortified the only avenue
through the Bourtange morass, so that when Verdugo
sat down before Coevorden it was possible for Maurice,
by moving rapidly, to take the royal governor at a dis-
advantage.^

Verdugo had eight thousand picked troops, including
two thousand Walloon cavalry, troopers who must have
been very formidable, i£ they were to be judged by the

1 " It appears by those advertisements that come unto me out of
the land," wrote Sir Edward Norris to Lord Burghley, "that the
great expectation which was had of the coming of this new great
governor is almost gone, who neither for peace nor war doth seem
likely to perform that which he promised. ... It appears that his
intention was by all means to settle those parts in some sort of
peace, truce, or quiet by the taking of Ostend, whilst he might
employ his whole forces upon greater enterprises. I think he is
now out of hope of any, for he finds no likelihood of peace, and as
for the taking of this place [Ostend], which the people flattered
themselves so much withal, methinks the hope of it is delayed;
for the great works which were in hand at Nieuport and Bruges
are laid aside, and all the workmen licensed to go home, but to be
ready at a day's warning."— Norris to Btirghley, March 6, 1594,
S. P. Office MS.

2 Bor, iii. 794-798. Meteren, xvi. 328-330.

1594] SIEGE OF COEVOEDEN RESUMED 289

prowess of one of their captains, Gaucier by name.
This obedient Netherlander was in the habit of boasting
that he had slain four hundred and ten men with his
own hand, including several prisoners and three preach-
ers ; 1 but the rest of those warriors were not so famed
for their martial achievements.

The peril, however, was great, and Prince Maurice,
trifling not a moment, threw himself with twelve thou-
sand infantry, Germans, Frisians, Scotch, English, and
Hollanders, and nearly two thousand horse, at once upon
the road between the Vecht and the Bourtange morass.
On the 6th of May Verdugo found the states' com-
mander-in-chief intrenched and impregnable, squarely
established upon his line of communications. He recon-
noitered, called a council of war, and decided that to as-
sail him were madness ; to remain, destruction. On the
night of the 6th of May he broke up his camp and stole
away in the darkness, without sound of drum or trum-
pet, leaving aU his fortifications and burning all his
huts.^

Thus had Maurice, after showing the world how strong
places were to be reduced, given a striking exhibition of
the manner in which they were to be saved.

Coevorden, after thirty-one weeks' investment, was
relieved.

The stadholder now marched upon Groningen. This
city was one of the most splendid and opulent of all the
Netherland towns. Certainly it should have been one
of the most ancient in Europe, since it derived its name
—according to that painstaking banker, Francis Guic-
ciardini — " from Grun, a Trojan gentleman," who, never-
theless, according to Munster, was " a Frenchman by
1 Meteren. Eeyd, ix. 231. ^ i^j^.

VOL. IV.— 19

290 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1584

birth." " Botli theories, however, might be true," added
the GonscientioTis Florentine, " as the French have always
claimed to be descended from the relics of Troy." ^ A
simpler-minded antiquary might have babbled of green
fields, since groenighe, or greenness, was a sufficiently
natural appellation for a town surrounded, as was Gro-
ningen on the east and west, by the greenest and fattest
of pastures. In population it was only exceeded by
Antwerp and Amsterdam.^ Situate on the line where
upper and nether Grermany blend into one, the capital of
a great province whose very name was synonymous with
liberty, and whose hardy sons had done fierce battle
with despotism in every age, so long as there had been
human record of despotism and of battles, Groningen
had fallen into the hands of the foreign foe, not through
the prowess of the Spaniard, but the treason of the Neth-
erlander. The baseness of the brilliant, trusted, vaUant,
treacherous young Renneberg has been recorded on a
previous page of these volumes.^ For thirteen years
long the Republic had chafed at this acquisition of the
hated enemy within its very heart. And now the day
had come when a blow should be struck for its deliver-
ance by the ablest soldier that had ever shown himself
in those regions, one whom the commonwealth had
watched over from his cradle.

For in Groningen there was still a considerable party
in favor of the Union, although the treason of Renne-
berg had hitherto prevented both city and province from
incorporating themselves in the body politic of the

1 Guieciardini, in voce.

2 Guioeiardmi, in 1585, says that no Netlierland city exceeded
it in population.

' Rise of the Dutch Republic, vol. v. part vi. chap, iij.

1594] SIEGE OF G-RONINGBN 291

United Netherlands. Within the precincts were five
hundred of Verdugo's veterans, tinder George Lanckema,
stationed at a faubourg called Schuytendiess.^ In the
city there was, properly speaking, no garrison,^ for the
citizens in the last few years had come to value them-
selves on their fidelity to church and king, and to take a
sorry pride in being false to all that was noble in their
past. Their ancestors had wrested privilege after privi-
lege at the sword's point from the mailed hands of dukes
and emperors, until they were almost a self-governing
republic, their courts of justice recognizing no appeal
to higher powers, even under the despotic sway of
Charles V. And now, under the reign of his son, and
in the feebler days of that reign, the capital of the free
Frisians— the men whom their ancient pagan statutes
had once declared to be " free so long as the wind blew
out of the clouds "—relied upon the trained bands of her
burghers, inured to arms and well provided with all
munitions of war, to protect her, not against foreign
tyranny nor domestic sedition, but against liberty and
against law.

For the representative of the most ancient of the
princely houses of Europe, a youth whose ancestors had
been emperors when the forefathers of Philip, long de-
scended as he was, were but country squires, was now
knocking at their gates. Not as a conqueror and a
despot, but as the elected first magistrate and com-
mander-in-chief of the freest commonwealth in the world,
Maurice of Nassau, at the head of fifteen thousand Neth-
erlanders, countrymen of their own, now summoned the
inhabitants of the town and province to participate with

1 Meteren, xvi. 330 seq. Bor, iii. 808 seq.
8 Ibid.

292 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1594

their fellow-citizens in all the privileges and duties of
the prosperous Republic.

It seemed impossible that such an appeal could be
resisted by force of arms. Rather it would seem that
the very walls should have fallen at his feet at the first
blast of the trumpet ; but there was military honor,
there was religious hatred, there was the obstinacy of
party. More than all, there were half a dozen Jesuits
within the town, and to those ablest of generals in times
of civil war it was mainly owing that the siege of Gro-
ningen was protracted longer than under other circum-
stances would have been possible.^

It is not my purpose to describe in detail the scientific
operations during the sixty-five days between the 20th
May and the 24th July. Again the commander-in-chief
enlightened the world by an exhibition of a more artis-
tic and humane style of warfare than previously to his
appearance on the military stage had been known. But
the daily phenomena of the leaguer, although they
have been minutely preserved by most competent eye-
witnesses, are hardly entitled to a place except in spe-
cial military histories, where, however, they should claim
the foremost rank.^

The fortifications of the city were of the most splen-
did and substantial character known to the age. The
ditches, the ravelins, the curtains, the towers, were as
thoroughly constructed as the defenses of any place in
Europe. It was therefore necessary that Maurice and
his cousin Louis should employ all their learning, all

1 Meteren, ubi sup.

2 See, in particular, Journaal van Duyok, ed. Mulder, 394-465,
in whicli every daily incident of the siege is minutely and
scientifically recorded. Bor, iii. 826-835. Meteren, xvi. 330 seq.

1594] SECOND ADVENTURE OF COUNT PHILIP 293

their skill, and their best artillery to reduce this great
capital of the eastern Netherlands. Again the scientific
coil of approaches wound itself around and around the
doomed stronghold; again were constructed the gal-
leries, the covered ways, the hidden mines, where sol-
diers, transformed to gnomes, burrowed and fought
within the bowels of the earth ; again that fatal letter T
advanced slowly underground, stretching its deadly
prongs nearer and nearer up to the walls; and again
the system of defenses against a relieving force was so
perfectly established that Verdugo or Mansfeld, with
what troops they could muster, seemed as powerless as
the pewter soldiers with which Maurice in his boyhood
—not yet so long passed away— was wont to puzzle over
the problems which now practically engaged his early
manhood. Again, too, strangely enough, it is recorded
that Philip Nassau, at almost the same period of the
siege as in that of Gertruydenberg, signalized himself by
a deed of drunken and superfluous daring. This time
the dinner-party was at the quarters of Count Solms, in
honor of the Prince of Anhalt, where, after potations
pottle-deep, Count Philip rushed from the dinner-table
to the breach, not yet thoroughly practicable, of the
north ravelin, and, entirely without armor, mounted
pike in hand to the assault, proposing to carry the fort
by his own xmaided exertions. Another officer, one
Captain Vaillant, still more beside himself than was the
count, inspired him to these deeds of valor by assuring
him that the mine was to be sprung under the ravelin
that afternoon, and that it was a plot on the part of the
Holland boatmen to prevent the soldiers who had been
working so hard and so long in the mines from taking
part in the honors of the assault. The count was with

294 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1594

difficulty brought off with a whole skin and put to bed.^
Yet despite these disgraceful pranks there is no doubt
that a better and braver ofScer than he was hardly to be
found even among the ten noble Nassaus who at that
moment were fighting for the cause of Dutch liberty—
fortunately with more sobriety than he at aU times
displayed.

On the following day Prince Maurice, making a recon-
naissance of the works with his usual calmness, yet with
the habitual contempt of personal danger which made
so singular a contrast with the cautious and painstaking
characteristics of his strategy, very narrowly escaped
death. A shot from the fort struck so hard upon the
buckler under cover of which he was taking his observa-
tions as to fell him to the gi-ound.^ Sir Francis Vere,
who was with the prince under the same buckler, like-
wise measured his length in the trench, but both escaped
serious injury.^ Pauli, one of the states' commissioners
present in the camp, wrote to Barneveldt that it was to
be hoped that the accident might prove a warning to his
Excellency. He had repeatedly remonstrated with him,
he said, against Ms reckless exposure of himself to un-
necessary danger, but he was so energetic and so f uU of
courage that it was impossible to restrain him from
being everywhere every day.*

Three days later the letter Y did its work. At ten
o'clock of the night of the 15th July Prince Maurice
ordered the mines to be sprimg, when the north ravehn
was blown into the air, and some forty of the garrison

1 Duyok, 448. Bor, iii. 832.

2 Bor, uloi sup. Duyck, 448. Meteren, 330.

3 Bor, ubi sup. But Duyok makes no mention of Vere in this
connection. * Ibid,

15943 GRONINGEN ADDED 'TO THE TJNION 295

with it.i Two of them came flying into the besiegers'
camp, aQd, strange to say, one was alive and sound.^
The catastrophe finished the sixty-five days' siege, the
breach was no longer defensible, the obstinacy of the
burghers was exhausted, and capitulation followed. In
truth, there had been a subterranean intrigue going on
for many weeks, which was almost as effective as the
mine. A certain Jan te Boer had been going back and
forth between camp and city, under various pretexts
and safe-conducts, and it had at last appeared that the
Jesuits and the five hundred of Verdugo's veterans were
all that prevented Groningen from returning to the
Union. There had been severe fighting within the city
itself, for the Jesuits had procured the transfer of the
veterans from the faubourg to the town itself, and the
result of all these operations, political, military, and
Jesuitical, was that on the 22d July articles of surrender
were finally agreed upon between Maurice and a deputa-
tion from the magistrates, the gUds, and Commander
Lanckema.^

The city was to take its place thenceforth as a mem-
ber of the Union. Louis William, already stadholder of
Priesland for the United States, was to be recognized as
chief magistrate of the whole province, which was thus
to retain all its ancient privileges, laws, and rights of
self-government, while it exchanged its dependence on
a distant, foreign, and decaying despotism for incor-
poration with a young and vigorous commonwealth.

It was arranged that no religion but the Reformed re-
ligion, as then practised in the United Republic, should

1 Duyck, 452, 453. Bor. Meteren.

2 Meteren, 330.

* Bor. Meteren. Duyok, 456-464.

296 THE UNITED NETHEELANDS [1594

be publicly exercised in the province, but that no man
should be questioned as to his faith, or troubled in his
conscience. Cloisters and ecclesiastical property were to
remain in statu quo until the States-General should come '
to a definite conclusion on these subjects.^

Universal amnesty was proclaimed for all offenses and
quarrels. Every citizen or resident foreigner was free
to remain in or to retire from the town or province, with
full protection to his person and property, and it was
expressly provided in the articles granted to Lanckema
that his soldiers should depart with arms and baggage,
leaving to Prince Maurice their colors only, while the
prince furnished sufficient transportation for their
women and their wounded. The property of Verdugo,

1 Art. VI. Meteren, 331. Bor, 835. The intelUgenee of the
capture of Groningen excited great enthusiasm in the court of the
French king, causing " the power of the states and the name of
the prince to be extolled to heaven," according to Calvaert. "The
entire suspension of Catholic worship, however, and the introduc-
tion of the Eeformed religion in the city, were reprehended by
many. The king sensibly answered, said the envoy, that the
townspeople had themselves been the cause of this, never having
been willing to permit a church for the Reformed faith. Now they
were tripped up in the same way since they found themselves
conquered. His Majesty added that your Highnesses, when the
Spaniards had been completely driven out of the country, would
willingly reopen the Catholic churches in your provinces, if the
others would do the same toward the Eeformed ones, asking me if
it were not so. I answered yes, enlarging on the topic in such
wise as I thought suited the occasion, and my language seemed to
mitigate the said offense."— Deveuter, Gedenkstukken, ii. 32.

Here certainly seemed progress in the history of civilization.
The French king and the republican envoy agreeing that
Catholics and Protestants ought to have and were to have equal
rights of public worship showed an advance on the doctrine of
Philip and of the German Protestant princes that the vassal was

1594] GEONINGEN ADDED TO THE UNION 297

royal stadholder of the province, was to be respected
and to remain in the city, or to be taken thence under
safe-conduct, as might be preferred. ^ Ten thousand
cannon-shot had been fired against the city. The cost of
powder and shot consumed was estimated at a hundred
thousand florins. Four hundred of the besiegers had
been killed, and a much larger number wounded. The
army had been further weakened by sickness and numer-
ous desertions. Of the besieged, three hundred soldiers
in all were killed, and a few citizens.

Thirty-six cannon were taken, besides mortars, and it
was said that eight hundred tons of powder and plenty
of other ammunition and provisions were found in the
place.2

On the 23d July Maurice and Louis William entered
the city. Some of the soldiers were disappointed at the

to have no opinion but his master's. Nevertheless, the States-
General were not pleased that their envoy should have answered
the newly converted Henry so glibly on the great subject of pro-
tection to Catholics. He was asked by what authority he had
given so categorical an answer, and he was directed in future to
think twice, and ask for instructions in such emergencies. To
promise public worship of a religion professed mainly in the
Netherlands by the adherents of the Spanish king and the
enemies of the states was pronounced altogether too rash. It was
inferred from the eagerness manifested on this occasion that the
French king would be easily induced to make war on those of the
Eeformed religion in case they were not willing to submit them-
selves to his discretion, and the Queen of England was
perpetually intimating such a suspicion to the states. (Duyck,
475.)

1 Bor, Meteren, ubi sup.

2 Duyok, 464, 465. Yet Coloma (vi. 133 and ™) ascribes the loss
of the city mainly to two causes— ffee want of powder, and the
flatteries and vile persuasions of the wives of the burghers, any
one of which artful women was equal, he says, to three dissem-

298 THE UNITED NETHEELANDS [1594

inexorable prohibition of pillage ; but it was the purpose
of Maurice, as of the States-General, to place the sister
province at once in the unsullied possession of the lib-
erty and the order for which the struggle with Spain
had been carried on so long. If the limitation of public
religious worship seemed harsh, it should be remembered
that Romanism in a city occupied by Spanish troops had
come to mean unmitigated hostility to the Republic. In
the midst of civU war, the hour for that religious liberty
which was the necessary issue of the great conflict had not
yet struck. It was surely something gained for humanity
that no man should be questioned at aU as to his creed
in countries where it was so recently the time-honored
practice to question him on the rack, and to burn him
if the answer was objectionable to the inquirer.

It was something that the Holy Inquisition had been
forever suppressed in the land. It must be admitted,
likewise, that the terms of surrender and the spectacle
of reestablished law and order which succeeded the cap-
ture of Groningen furnished a wholesome contrast to
the scenes of ineffable horror that had been displayed
whenever a Dutch town had fallen into the hands of
Philip,

And thus the commonwealth of the United Nether-
lands, through the practical military genius and per-
severance of Maurice and Louis William, and the
substantial statesmanship of Barneveldt and his col-
leagues, had at last rounded itself into definite shape;
while in all directions toward which men turned their

bling men. As in every part of the Netherlatids, he adds, women
exercise great influence, even in the most grave affairs, so there is
no doubt that in Groningen they are, and have always heen, more
powerful than elsewhere.

1594] PEOGEESS OF THE EEPTJBLIC 299

eyes, world-empire, imposing and gorgeous as it had
seemed for an interval, was vanishing before its votaries
like a mirage. The Republic, placed on the solid founda-
tions of civil liberty, self-government, and reasonable
law, was steadily consolidating itself.

No very prominent movements were undertaken by
the forces of the Union during the remainder of the
year. According to the agreements with Henry IV., it
had been necessary to provide that monarch with con-
siderable assistance to carry on his new campaigns, and
it was therefore diflcult for Maurice to begin for the
moment upon the larger schemes which he had con-
templated.

Meantime the condition of the obedient Netherlands
demands a hasty glance.

On the death of Brother Alexander, the Capuchin,
Fuentes produced a patent by which Peter Ernest Mans-
feld was provisionally appointed governor, in case the
post should become vacant. During the year which fol-
lowed, that testy old campaigner had indulged himself
in many petty feuds with all around him, but had
effected, as we have seen, very little to maintain the
king's authority either in the obedient or disobedient
provinces.

His utter incompetency soon became most painfully
apparent. His more than puerile dependence upon his
son, and the more than paternal severity exercised over
him by Count Charles, were made manifest to all the
world. The son ruled the trembling but peevish old
warrior with an iron rod, and endless was their wran-
gling with Fuentes and all the other Spaniards. Between
the querulousness of the one and the ferocity of the
other, poor Fuentes became sick of his life. '"T is a

300 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1594

diabolical genius, this Count Charles," said Ybarra, " and
so full of ambition that he insists on governing every-
body just as he rules his father. As for me, until the
archduke comes I am a fish out of water." ^

The true successor to Farnese was to be the Archduke
Ernest, one of the many candidates for the hand of the
Infanta, and for the throne of that department of the
Spanish dominions which was commonly called France.
Should Philip not appropriate the throne, without fur-
ther scruple, in person, it was on the whole decided that
his favorite nephew should be the satrap of that outlying
district of the Spanish empire. In such case obedient
France might be annexed to obedient Netherlands, and
united under the sway of Archduke Ernest.

But these dreams had proved in the cold air of reality
but midsummer madness. When the name of the arch-
duke was presented to the estates as King Ernest I. of
France, even the most unscrupulous and impassioned
Leaguers of that country fairly hung their heads.^ That
a foreign prince, whose very name had never been be-
fore heard of by the vast bulk of the French population,
should be deliberately placed upon the throne of St.
Louis and Hugh Capet, was a humiliation hard to de-
fend, profusely as Philip had scattered the Peruvian and
Mexican dollars among the great ones of the nation in
order to accomplish his purpose.

So Archduke Ernest, early in the year 1594, came to
Brussels, but he came as a gloomy, disappointed man.

1 Ybarra to the secretaries, October 5, 1593, Arch, de Sim. MS.

2 "lis furent presque tous frapp6s d'horreur en considerant
l'extremit6 ou etaient reduits les Franjais de penser ohoisir pour
Roy Tin homme qu'ils ne seavaient seulement qu'il fust au monde,"
— Lettres de Bongars, July 24, 1593, p. 235.

1594] THE SUCCESSOK OF PARNESE 301

To be a bachelor governor of the impoverished, ex-
hausted, half -rebellious, and utterly forlorn little rem-
nant of the Spanish Netherlands was a different posi-
tion from that of husband of Clara Isabella and Kiag of
France, on which his imagination had been feeding so
long.

For nearly the whole twelvemonth subsequent to the
death of Farnese, the Spanish envoy to the imperial
court had been endeavoring to arrange for the departure
of the archduke to his seat of government in the Neth-
erlands. The prince himself was willing enough, but
there were many obstacles on the part of the emperor
and his advisers. "Especially there is one very great
impossibility," said San Clemente, " and that is the pov-
erty of his Highness, which is so great that my own is
not greater in my estate. So I don't see how he can stir
a step without money. Here they '11 not furnish him
with a penny, and for himself he possesses nothing but
debts." ^ The emperor was so little pleased with the ad-
venture that in truth, according to the same authority,
he looked upon the new viceroy's embarrassments with
considerable satisfaction, so that it was necessary for
Philip to provide for his traveling expenses.^

Ernest was next brother of the Emperor Rudolph, and
as intensely devoted to the interests of the Roman
Church as was that potentate himself, or even his uncle
Philip.

1 "Una imposibilidad muy grande es su pobreza que est^ de
manera que no es mayor la mia en mi estado, y assi no 86 yo como
podra dar un passo sin dinero y de aqui no socorreren con un real,
ni el tiene sino deudas."— G. de San Clemente to Fuentes, March.
14, 1593, Arch, de Sim. MS.

2 San Clemente to Fuentes, May 2, 1593, Arch, de Sim. MS.
Same to same, August 3, 1593, iMd.

302 THE UNITED NETHEELAJ!^DS [1594

He was gentle, weak, melancholy, addicted to pleasure,
a martyr to the gout. He brought no soldiers to the
provinces, for the emperor, threatened with another
world-empire on his pagan flank, had no funds nor
troops to send to the assistance of his Christian brother-
in-law and uncle. Moreover, it may be imagined that
Rudolph, despite the bonds of religion and consan-
guinity, was disposed to look coldly on the colossal
projects of Philip.

So Ernest brought no troops, but he brought six hun-
dred and seventy gentlemen, pages, and cooks, and five
hundred and thirty-four horses, not to charge upon the
rebellious Dutchmen withal, but to draw coaches and

srs,

1

There was trouble enough prepared for the new gov-
ernor at his arrival. The great Flemish and Walloon
nobles were quarreling fiercely with the Spaniards
and among themselves for offlce and for precedence.
Aersehot and his brother Havre both desired the govern-
ment of Flanders ; so did Aremberg. All three, as well
as other gentlemen, were scrambling for the major-
domo's office in Ernest's palace. Havr6 wanted the
finance department as well, but Ybarra, who was a
financier, thought the public funds in his hands would
be in a perilous condition, inasmuch as he was accounted
the most covetous man in all the provinces.^

So soon as the archduke was known to be approaching
the capital there was a most ludicrous race run by all
these grandees, in order to be the first to greet his High-
ness. While Mansfeld and Fuentes were squabbling, as
usual, Aersehot got the start of both, and arrived at

1 Bor, iii. 782. Reyd, ix. 220.

2 Ybarra to , November 22, 1593, Areh. de Sim. MS.

EMPEROR RUDOLPH II.
After the painting' by J. Heinz.

1594] QUAREELS FOE OFFICE AND PEECEDENCE 303

Treves. Then the decrepit Peter Ernest struggled as far
as Luxemburg, while Fuentes posted on to Namur.^
The archduke was much perplexed as to the arranging
of all these personages on the day of his entrance into
Brussels. In the council of state it was still worse.
Aerschot claimed the first place as duke and as senior
member; Peter Ernest demanded it as late governor-
general and because of his gray hairs. ^ Never was im-
perial highness more disturbed, never was clamor for
loaves and fishes more deafening. The caustic financier,
whose mind was just then occupied with the graver
matter of assassination on a considerable scale, looked
with profound contempt at the spectacle thus presented
to him. " There has been the devil's own row," said he,
"between these counts about oflces, and also about
going out to receive the most serene archduke. I have
had such work with them that by the salvation of my
soul I swear if it were to last a fortnight longer I would
go oflf afoot to Spain, even if I were sure of dying in jail
after I got there. I have reconciled the two counts
[Fuentes andMansfeld] with each other a hundred times,
and another hundred times they have fallen out again,
and behaved themselves with such vulgarity that I
blushed for them.^ They are both to blame, but at any

1 Ybarra to , November 22, 1593, Arch, de Sim. MS.

2 "Papel sobre las precedenoias."— Ibid.

^ " Ha pasado aqui tma baraunda del diablo entre estos senores
Condes sobre la reformacion y despues sobre el salir a reoibir al
Ser"° Archiduque, y tanto trabajo mio, que por la salvacion de
mi alma juro que si bubiera de durar esto 15 dias mas me fuera a
pie a Espana aunque supiera morir en la caroel. Tuve los oon-
certados oien vezes y otras eiento se ban deseoncertado y tratado
por un termiuo tan vulgar que yo estoy oorrido," etc.— Arch, de
Sim. MS.

304 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1594

rate we have now got the archduke housed, and he will
get us out of this embarrassment."

The archduke came with rather a prejudice against
the Spaniards,— the result doubtless of his disappoint-
ment in regard to France,— and he manifested at first
an extreme haughtiness to those of that nation with
whom he came in contact. A Castilian noble of high
rank, having audience with him on one occasion, replaced
his hat after salutation, as he had been accustomed to
do, according to the manner of grandees of Spain,
during the government of Farnese. The hat was rudely
struck from his head by the archduke's chamberlain,
and he was himself ignominiously thrust out of the
presence.^ At another time an interview was granted to
two Spanish gentlemen who had business to transact.
They made their appearance in magnificent national cos-
tume, splendidly embroidered in gold. After a brief
hearing they were dismissed, with appointment of another
audience for a few days later. When they again pre-
sented themselves they found the archduke with his
court jester standing at his side, the buffoon being
attired in a suit precisely similar to their own, which in
the interval had been prepared by the court taUor.^

Such amenities as these did not increase the popularity
of Ernest with, the high-spirited Spaniards, nor was it
palatable to them that it should be proposed to supersede
the old fighting Portuguese Verdugo, as governor and
commander-in-chief for the king in Friesland, by Fred-
erick van den Berg, a renegade Netherlander, unworthy
cousin of the Nassaus, who had never shown either mUi-
tary or administrative genius.

Nor did he succeed in conciliating the Flemings or the

1 Reyd, ix. 222. 2 Ibid.

1594] UNPOPULARITY OF ERNEST 305

Germans by these measures. In tmtli he was, almost
without his own knowledge, under the controlling influ-
ence of Fuentes,! the most unscrupulous and dangerous
Spaniard of them aU, while his every proceeding was
closely watched not only by Diego and Stephen Tbarra,
but even by Cristoval de Moura, one of Philip's two
secretaries of state, who at this crisis made a visit to
Brussels.^

These men were indignant at the imbecility of the
course pursued in the obedient provinces. They knew
that the incapacity of the government to relieve the
sieges of Gertruydenberg and Groningen had excited
the contempt of Europe and was producing a most
damaging effect on Spanish authority throughout Chris-
tendom.' They were especially irritated by the presence
of the arch-intriguer Mayenne in Brussels, even after
all his double-dealings had been so completely exposed
that a blind man could have r^ad them. Yet there was
Mayenne consorting with the archduke, and running up

1 Puentes was not a favorite with Queen Elizabeth. When in-
formed that he was to suooeed to the government of the provinces
after the death of Parma, she remarked to Noel de Caron that it
was the same Count Fuentes who had so shamefully run away
when Earl Essex and her people were before Lisbon, that he was
a timid old woman, but none the less a great tyrant, and that
therefore he had been sent, after the death of the Duke of Alva,
to Portugal, and appointed lieutenant-general of the Cardinal of
Austria, in order to carry out what had been left unfinished by the
duke. She doubted not, she said, that he would attempt the same
practices in the Netherlands, but she hoped that a Spanish gov-
ernor would never be tolerated there. (Noel de Caron to the
States-General, December 10, 1592, Hague Archives MS. Com-
pare Duyok, 465.)

2 Litercepted letters of San Clemente, in Bor, iii. 852-855.
s Ibid.

VOL. IV.— 20

306 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1594

a great bill of sixteen thousand florins at the hotel, which
the royal paymaster declined to settle for want of funds,
notwithstanding Ernest's order to that effect,^ and there
was no possibility of inducing the viceroy to arrest him,
much as he had injured and defrauded the king.

How severely Tbarra and Feria denounced Mayenne
has been seen ; but remonstrances about this and other
grave mistakes of administration were lost upon Ernest,
or made almost impossible by his peculiar temper. " If
I speak of these things to his Highness," said Ybarra,
" he will begin to cry, as he always does." ^

Ybarra, however, thought it his duty secretly to give
the king frequent information as to the blasted and for-
lorn condition of the provinces. " This sick man will
die in our arms," he said, " without our wishing to kill
him." ^ He also left no doubt in the royal mind as to the
utter incompetency of the archduke for his oflee. Al-
though he had much Christianity, amiability, and good
intentions, he was so unused to business, so slow and so
lazy, so easily persuaded by those around him, as to be
always faUing into errors. He was the servant of his
own servants, particularly of those least disposed to the
king's service and most attentive to their own interests.
He had endeavored to make himself beloved by the
natives of the country, while the very reverse of this
had been the result. " As to his agility and the strength
of his body," said the Spaniard, as if he were thinking
of certain allegories which were to mark the archduke's
triumphal entry, "they are so deficient as to leave him

1 Eeyd, ix. 243. 2 Ibid., ix. 242.

s Ybarra to Philip, June 21, 1594, Arch, de Sim. MS. : "La en-
fermedad de esto ouerpo es muy aparejado para que se le muera
en los brazos sin quererle matar," etc.

1594] ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE REPUBLICANS 307

unfit for arms. I consider him incapable of accom-
panying an army to the field, and we find him so new to
aU such affairs as constitute government and the con-
duct of warlike business that he could not steer his way
without some one to enlighten and direct him." ^

It was sometimes complained of in those days— and
the thought has even prolonged itself until later times
—that those republicans of the United Netherlands had
done and could do great things, but that, after all, there
was no grandeur about them. Certainly they had done
great things. It was something to fight the Ocean for
ages, and patiently and firmly to shut him out from his
own domain. It was something to extinguish the Span-
ish Inquisition — a stiU more cruel and devouring enemy
than the sea. It was something that the fugitive spirit
of civil and religious liberty had found at last its most
substantial and steadfast home upon those storm- washed
shoals and shifting sand-banks. It was something to
come to the rescue of England in her great agony and
help to save her from invasion. It was something to do
more than any nation but England, and as much as she,
to assist Henry the Huguenot to the throne of his ances-
tors and to preserve the national unity of France, which
its own great ones had imperiled. It was something to
found two magnificent universities, cherished abodes of
science and of antique lore, in the midst of civU com-
motions and of resistance to foreign oppression. It was
something, at the same period, to lay the foundation of
a system of common schools— so cheap as to be nearly
free— for rich and poor alike, which, in the words of
one of the greatest benefactors to the young Republic,
"would be worth all the soldiers, arsenals, armories,

1 Ybarra to PHlip, MS. last cited.

308 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1594

munitions, and alliances in the world." It was some-
thing to make a revolution, as humane as it was effec-
tive, in military affairs, and to create an army whose
camps were European academies. It was something to
organize, at the same critical period, on the most skilful
and liberal scale, and to carry out with unexampled dar-
ing, sagacity, and fortitude, great voyages of discovery
to the polar regions, and to open new highways for com-
merce, new treasures for science. Many things of this
nature had been done by the new commonwealth ; but
alas ! she did not drape herself melodramatically, nor
stalk about with heroic wreath and cothurn. She was
altogether without grandeur.

When Alva had gained his signal victories, and fol-
lowed them up by those prodigious massacres which,
but for his own and other irrefragable testimony, would
seem too monstrous for belief, he had erected a colos-
sal statue to himself, attired in the most classical of cos-
tumes, and surrounded with the most mythological of
attributes. Here was grandeur. But William the Silent,
after he had saved the Republic, for which he had labored
during his whole lifetime and was destined to pour out
his heart's blood, went about among the brewers and
burghers with unbuttoned doublet and woolen barge-
man's waistcoat. It was justly objected to his clothes,
by the euphuistie Fulke G-revUle, that a mean-born stu-
dent of the Inns of Court would have been ashamed to
walk about London streets in them.i

And now the engineering son of that shabbily dressed

personage had been giving the whole world lessons in

the science of war, and was fairly perfecting the work

which William and his great contemporaries had so well

1 Vol. ii. of this work, p. 9. Brooke's Sydney, 16 seq.

1594] JOHN BAPTIST HOUWAEETS 309

begun. But if all this had been merely doing great
things without greatness, there was one man in the
Netherlands who knew what grandeur was. He was not
a citizen of the disobedient Kepublic, however, but a loyal
subject of the obedient provinces, and his name was
John Baptist Houwaerts, an eminent schoolmaster of
Brussels. He was still more eminent as a votary of
what was called " Rhetoric " and as an arranger of tri-
umphal processions and living pictures.

The arrival of Archduke Ernest at the seat of the
provincial government offered an opportunity, which
had long been wanting, for a display of John Baptist's
genius. The new viceroy was in so shattered a condition
of health, so crippled with the gout, as to be quite unable
to stand, and it required the services of several lackeys
to lift him into and out of his carriage.^ A few days of
repose, therefore, were indispensable to him before he
could make his " joyous entrance" into the capital. But
the day came at last, and the exhibition was a masterpiece.

It might have seemed that the abject condition of the
Spanish provinces— desolate, mendicant, despairiug—
would render holiday-making impossible. But although
almost every vestige of the ancient institutions had van-
ished from the obedient Netherlands as a reward for
their obedience ; although to civil and religious liberty,
law, order, and a thriving commercial and manufactur-
ing existence, such as had been rarely witnessed in the
world, had succeeded the absolute tyranny of Jesuits,
universal beggary, and a perennial military mutiny,
setting government at defiance and plundering the peo-
ple, there was one faithful comforter who never deserted
Belgica, and that was Rhetoric.

1 Eeyd, ix. 220-222. Bor, iii. 782.

310 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1594

Neither the magnificence nor the pedantry of the spec-
tacles by which the entry of the mild and inefBeient
Ernest into Brussels and Antwerp was now solemnized
had ever been surpassed. The town councils, stimulated
by hopes absolutely without foundation as to great
results to follow the advent of the emperor's brother,
had voted large sums and consumed many days in anx-
ious deliberation upon the manner in which they should
be expended so as most to redound to the honor of
Ernest and the reputation of the country.

In place of the " bloody tragedies of burning, murder-
ing, and ravishing," of which the provinces had so long
been the theater, it was resolved that " Rhetoric's sweet
comedies, amorous jests, and farces " should gladden aU
eyes and hearts.^ A stately procession of knights and ,
burghers in historical and mythological costumes, fol-
lowed by ships, dromedaries, elephants, whales, giants,
dragons, and other wonders of the sea and shore, es-
corted the archduke into the city. Every street and
square was filled with triumphal arches, statues, and
platforms, on which the most ingenious and thoroughly
classical living pictures were exhibited. There was
hardly an eminent deity of Olympus, or hero of ancient
history, that was not revived and made visible to mortal
eyes in the person of Ernestus of Austria.

On a framework fifty-five feet high and thirty-three
feet in breadth he was represented as Apollo hurling his
darts at an enormous python, under one of whose fore

1 Desoriptio et Explieatio pegmatorum. et spectaculoram quse
BruxellsB exhibita fuere sub ingressum Sere™' principis Ernesti,
etc. (Bruxellse, 1593, S. V.). Houwaerts's Moralisatie op de Komst
van de hooghgeboren, maehtigen en seer doorlugtigen Vorst
Ernesto, etc. (Brussel, by Jan Mommaert, 1594).

1594] PAGEANT IN HONOR OP ERNEST 311

paws struggled an unfortunate burgher, while the other
clutched a whole city ; Tellus, meantime, with her tower
on her head, kneeling anxious and imploring at the feet
of her deliverer. On another stage Ernest assumed the
shape of Perseus, Belgica that of the bound and despair-
ing Andromeda. On a third the interior of Etna was
revealed, when Vulcan was seen urging his Cyclopes to
forge for Ernest their most tremendous thunderbolts
with which to smite the foes of the provinces, those
enemies being of course the English and the Hollanders.
Venus, the while, timidly presented an arrow to her hus-
band, which he was requested to sharpen, in order that
when the wars were over Cupid therewith might pierce
the heart of some beautiful virgin, whose charms should
reward Ernest— fortunately for the female world, still a
bachelor— for his victories and his toils.^

The walls of every house were hung with classic em-
blems and inscribed with Latin verses. All the peda-
gogues of Brussels and Antwerp had been at work for
months, determined to amaze the world with their dithy-
rambics and acrostics, and they had outdone themselves.

Moreover, in addition to aU these theatrical spectacles
and pompous processions,— accompanied as they were by
blazing tar-barrels, flying dragons, and leagues of flar-
ing torches,— John Baptist, who had been director-in-
chief of all the shows successively arranged to welcome
Don John of Austria, Archduke Matthias, Francis of
Alen^on, and even WUliam of Orange, into the capital,
had prepared a feast of a specially intellectual charac-
ter for the new governor-general.

The pedant, according to his own account, so soon as
the approach of Ernest had been announced, fell straight-

1 Houwaerts'a Moralisatie, etc., ubi sup.

312 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1594

way into a trance.^ While he was in that condition, a
beautiful female apparition floated before his eyes, and,
on being questioned, announced her name to be Morah-
zation. John Baptist begged her to inform him whether
it were true, as had been stated, that Jupiter had just
sent Mercury to the Netherlands. The phantom, cor-
recting his mistake, observed that the king of gods and
men had not sent Hermes, but the Archduke Brnestus,
beloved of the three Graces, favorite of the nine Muses,
and, in addition to these advantages, nephew and
brother-in-law of the King of Spain, to the relief of the
suffering provinces. The Netherlands, it was true, for
their religious infidelity, had justly incurred great disas-
ters and misery ; but benignant Jove, who, to the ima-
gination of this excited Fleming, seemed to have been
converted to Catholicism while still governing the uni-
verse, had now sent them in mercy a deliverer. The
archduke would speedily relieve " bleeding Belgica" from
her sufferings, bind up her wounds, and annihilate her
enemies. The spirit further informed the poet that the
forests of the Low Countries— so long infested by brig-
ands, wood-beggars, and malefactors of all kinds-
would thenceforth swarm with " nymphs, rabbits, hares,
and animals of that nature." ^

A vision of the conquering Ernest, attended by " eight-
and-twenty noble and pleasant females, marching two
and two, half naked, each holding a torch in one hand
and a laurel wreath in the other," now swept before the

1 Houwaerts's Moralisatie, etc., uM sup.

2 "In plaetse dat de bossohen placliteii te sijne

Vol knevelaers en ro overs in alle quartieren
Soo waren sy wederom ten selven termijne
Vol Nymphen, hasen, conijnen en ghelijcke Dieren."

(Ibid.)

1594] VISION OF JOHN BAPTIST HOUWAEETS 313

dreamer's eyes.^ He naturally requested the " discreet
spirit " to mention the names of this bevy of imperfectly
attired ladies thronging so lovingly around the fortunate
archduke, and was told that " they were the eight- and-
twenty virtues which chiefly characterized his Serene
Highness." ^ Prominent in this long list— and they wei-e
all faithfully enumerated— were Philosophy, Audacity,
Acrimony, Virility, Equity, Piety, Velocity, and Alac-
rity.^ The two last-mentioned qualities could hardly be
attributed to the archduke in his decrepit condition, ex-
cept in an intensely mythological sense. Certainly they
would have been highly useful virtues to him at that
moment. The prince who had just taken Gertruyden-
berg, and was then besieging Groningen, was manifest-
ing his share of audacity, velocity, and other good gifts

1 Houwaerts's Moralisatie, eto.

2 " Aeht en twintig edel Nymplien playsant

Saoh ioh voor den prinoe haer vertoonen

Toen spraeek iek, O Vrindinne, mlt my nooh bedien

De namen van die nymphen weirt gehonoreert,

Die iek voort, by, en aohter Ernestum geslen,

En warom dat sy hern hebben geconvoyeert?

Drom de Nymphe heeft gerespondeert

De agt en twintig Nymphen die met vreughden

Twee en twee tegader hebben gemarsolieert

Dat sijn des doolugtigen Princen deughden," etc.

(Ibid.)
^ "En i dese denghtlijcke Nymphen dit sijn genaempt
Philosophia en Intelligentia
Audaeia en Magnanimitas unbeschaempt
Aerimonia en Virilitas
Seenritas en Clementia
Firmitudo en Velocitas
Alaoritas en Pietatis abundantia
Potentia en Opportunitas gheheesen," etc. (Ibid.)

314 THE UNITEDi NETHBELANDS [1594

on even a wider platform than that erected for Ernest
by John Baptist Houwaerts, and there was an admi-
rable opportunity for both to develop their respective
characteristics for the world's judgment.

Meantime the impersonation of the gentle and very
gouty invalid as Apollo, as Perseus, as the feather-
heeled Mercury, was highly applauded by the burghers
of Brussels.

And so the dreamer dreamed on, and the discreet
nymph continued to discourse, until John Baptist, start-
ing suddenly from his trance, beheld that it was all a
truth and no vision. Ernest was really about to enter
the Netherlands, and with him the millennium. The
pedant therefore proceeded to his desk, and straightway
composed the very worst poem that had ever been
written in any language, even Flemish.

There were thousands of lines in it, and not a line
without a god or a goddess.

Mars, Nemesis, and Ate, Pluto, Rhadamanthus, and
Minos, the Fates and the Furies, together with Charon,
Calumnia, Bellona, and all such objectionable divinities,
were requested to disappear forever from the Low
Countries, while in their stead were confidently invoked
Jupiter, Apollo, Triptolemus, and last, though not least,
Rhetorica.i

Enough has been said of this raree-show to weary the
reader's patience, but not more than enough to show the
docile and enervated nature of this portion of a people
who had lost everything for which men cherish their
fatherland, but who could still find relief, after thirty
years of horrible civU war, in painted pageantry, Latin
versification, and the classical dictionary.

1 Houwaerts's Moralisatie, etc.

1594] MISERY OP OBEDIENT PROVINCES 315

Yet there was notMng much more important achieved
by the archduke in the brief period for which his admin-
istration was destined to endure. Three phenomena
chiefly marked his reign, but his own part in the three
was rather a passive than an active one— mutiny, assas-
sination, and negotiation, the two last attempted on a
considerable scale, but ending abortively.

It is impossible to exaggerate the misery of the obedi-
ent provinces at this epoch. The insane attempt of the
King of Spain, with such utterly inadequate machinery,
to conquer the world has been sufficiently dilated upon.
The Spanish and Italian and Walloon soldiers were
starving in Brabant and Flanders in order that Spanish
gold might be poured into the bottomless pit of the
Holy League in France.^

1 It is instructive to know the exact sums of money regularly
expended by the King of Spain each month, at this period, in
France and the Netherlands.

In Flanders and Friesland was an
army of 23,952 men, costing per month $206,431

The army of France was esti-
mated at 18,921 " " " 175,370

Total 42,873

Certain individuals, very few in
number, maintained in France* " " 42,360

Besides the above, all supplied
fi'om Spain, there were main-
tained by contributions, aids,
and licenses in the provinces.. 6,715 " " " 38,239

Expenses of navy " " 10,958

Total per month $473,358

* These favored personages were :

Duke of Mayenne per month, $12,000

Duke of Guise.

BaJagny

Duke of Aumale

M. de Rosne

M. de Saint-Pol and his cavalry. .
Certain gentlemen in Picardy —
Governor of La F6re

6,000
7,200
1,800
1,800
9,960
2,400
1,200

$42,360

316 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1594

The mutiny that had broken forth the preceding year
in Artois and Hainault was now continued on a vast
scale in Brabant. Never had that national institution,
a Spanish mutiny, been more thoroughly organized,
more completely carried out in all its details. All that
was left of the famous Spanish discipline and military
science in this their period of rapid decay seemed mo-
nopolized by the mutineers. Some two thousand choice
troops (horse and foot), Italians and Spanish, took pos-
session of two considerable cities, Sichem and Aerschot,
and ultimately concentrated themselves at Sichem, which
they thoroughly fortified. Having chosen their eletto
and other officers, they proceeded regularly to business.
To the rallying-point came disaffected troops of aU na-
tions from far and near. Never since the beginning of
the great war had there been so extensive a mOitary
rebellion, nor one in which so many veteran officers,
colonels, captains, and subalterns, took part. The army
of Philip had at last grown more dangerous to himself
than to the Hollanders.

(Relaoion de lo que monta la paga de los exeroitos que su Mag*
entretiene en Flandes, Brabante, Prisia, y Francia, 1593, Arch, de
Sim. MS.)

By another paper it appears at this time there were serving the
King of Spain in France and the Netherlands—

Gennan infantry — Soldiers 14,994

Officers 1,298

16,292

Italian infantry— Soldiers 3,397

Officers 423

3,820
(Arch, de Sim., anno 1594, MS.)

1594] MUTINY OF SPANISH TEOOPS 317

The council at Brussels deliberated anxiously upon the
course to be pursued, and it was decided at last to nego-
tiate with instead of attacking them. But it was soon
found that the mutineers were as hard to deal with as
were the republicans on the other side the border. They
refused to hear of anything short of complete payment
of the enormous arrears due to them, with thorough
guaranties and hostages that any agreement made be-
tween themselves and the archduke should be punctually
carried out. Meanwhile they ravaged the country far
and near, and levied their contributions on towns and
villages, up to the very walls of Brussels, and before the
very eyes of the viceroy.

Moreover, they entered into negotiation with Prince
Maurice of Nassau, not offering to enlist under his flag,
but asking for protection against the king in exchange
for a pledge meanwhile not to serve his cause. At last
the archduke plucked up a heart and sent some troops
against the rebels, who had constructed two forts on the
river Demer, near the city of Sichem. In vain Velasco,
commander of the expedition, endeavored to cut off the
supplies for these redouts. The vigor and audacity of
the rebel cavalry made the process impossible. Velasco
then attempted to storm the lesser stronghold of the
two, but was repulsed with the loss of two hundred
kiUed. Among these were many ofllcers, one of whom,
Captain Porto Carrero, was a near relative of Fuentes.
After a siege, Velasco, who was a marshal of the camp
of considerable distinction, succeeded in driving the
mutineers out of the forts, who, finding their position
thus weakened, renewed their negotiations with Maurice.
They at last obtained permission from the prince to
remain under the protection of Gertruydenberg and

318 THE UNITED NETHEELANDS [1594

Breda until they could ascertain what decision the arch-
duke would take. More they did not ask of Maurice,
nor did he require more of them.

The mutiny, thus described in a few lines, had occu-
pied nearly a year, and had done much to paralyze for
that period all the royal operations in the Netherlands.
In December the rebellious troops marched out of
Sichem in perfect order, and came to Langstraet, within
the territory of the Eepublic.i

The archduke, now finding himself fairly obliged to
treat with them, sent an offer of the same terms which
had been proposed to mutineers on previous occasions.
At first they flatly refused to negotiate at all, but at last,
with the permission of Maurice, who conducted himself
throughout with scrupulous delicacy, and made no
attempts to induce them to violate their allegiance to
the king, they received Count Belgioso, the envoy of
the archduke. They held out for payment of all their
arrears up to the last farthing, and insisted on a hostage
of rank until the debt should be discharged. PuU for-
giveness of their rebellious proceedings was added as a
matter of course. Their terms were accepted, and Fran-
cisco Padiglia was assigned as a hostage. They then
established themselves, according to agreement, at Tirle-
mont, which they were allowed to fortify at the expense
of the province and to hold until the money for their
back wages could be scraped together. Meantime they
received daily wages and rations from the government
at Brussels, including thirty stivers a day for each horse-
man, thirteen crowns a day for the eletto, and ten
crowns a day for each councilor, making in all five

1 Bentivoglio, p. iii. lib. 1. 399, 400. Meteren, 340, 341.
Coloma, vil. 150™ seq.

1594] PHILIP'S DESIGNS ON THE ENGLISH FLEET 319

hundred crowns a day. And here they remained, hv-
ing exceedingly at their ease and enjoying a life of
leisure for eighteen months, and until long after the
death of the archduke, for it was not until the admin-
istration of Cardinal Albert that the funds, amounting
to three hundred and sixty thousand crowns, could be
collected.^

These were the chief military exploits of the podagric
Perseus in behalf of the Flemish Andromeda.

A very daring adventure was, however, proposed to
the archduke. Philip calmly suggested that an expedi-
tion should be rapidly fitted out in Dunkirk, which
should cross the Channel, ascend the Thames as far as
Rochester, and burn the English fleet. " I am informed
by persons well acquainted with the English coast," said
the king, "that it would be an easy matter for a few
quick-sailing vessels to accomplish this. Two or three
thousand soldiers might be landed at Rochester, who
might burn or sink all the unarmed vessels they could
find there, and the expedition could return and sail off
again before the people of the country could collect in
sufficient numbers to do them any damage." The arch-
duke was instructed to consult with Puentes and Ybarra
as to whether this little matter, thus parenthetically
indicated, could be accomplished without too much risk
and trouble.^

Certainly it would seem as if the king believed in the
audacity, virility, velocity, alacrity, and the rest of the
twenty-eight virtues of his governor-general, even more
seriously than did John Baptist Houwaerts. The un-
fortunate archduke would have needed to be, in aU ear-

1 Bentivoglio, et al., ubi sup.

2 Philip to Ernest, February 19, 1594, Areli. de Sim. MS.

320 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1594

nestness, a mythological demigod to do the work required
of him. With the best part of his army formally main-
tained by him in recognized mutiny, with the great cities
of the Netherlands yielding themselves to the Republic
with hardly an attempt on the part of the royal forces to
relieve them, and with the country which he was sup-
posed to govern, the very center of the obedient prov-
inces, ruined, sacked, eaten up by the soldiers of Spain,—
villages, farm-houses, gentlemen's castles, churches plun-
dered, the male population exposed to daily butchery,
and the women to outrages worse than death,i— it
seemed like the bitterest irony to propose that he
should seize that moment to outwit the English and
Dutch sea-kings who were perpetually cruising in the
Channel, and to undertake a " beard-singeing " expedi-
tion such as even the dare-devil Drake would hardly
have attempted.

Such madcap experiments might perhaps one day, in

1 Sucli pictures are painted not only by republican contempo-
raries, but by the governors and grandees of the obedient prov-
inces. " Como va arruiuado," wrote the royal governor of Hainault,
Prince Chimay, to the king, "comido, saqueado, saquearan las
aldeas, oasas de gentiles hombres y iglesias, se matan los hom-
bres, se desvirgen las mozas y mugeres y otros mil maldades que
se cometen oada dia a mi pesar y sin que de ellas se ha heeho
alguna justioia aunque me soy quejado y lamentado muchas veoes."
—Chimay to Philip, March 17, 1594, Arch, de Sim. MS.

"As to getting a good deal of money out of the provinces here
by gentleness and persuasion, according to your Majesty's sugges-
tion," wrote the archduke, "your Majesty must be undeceived.
Nothing can be got from the provinces, because the whole patri-
mony thereof is consumed, the private fortunes are destroyed, and
everything is in such a brittle condition that nothing whatever can
be undertaken in these regions."— Instruceion que el Arch*"" Er-
nesto dio al B™ Max Dietrichstein, April 12, 1594, ibid.

1594] PHILIP'S ASSASSINATION PROJECTS 321

the distant future, be tried with reasonable success, but
hardly at the beck of a Spanish king sitting in his easy-
chair a thousand miles off, nor indeed by the servants of
any king whatever.

The plots of murder arranged in Brussels during this
administration were on a far more extensive scale than
were the military plans.

The Count of Fuentes, general superintendent of for-
eign affairs, was especially charged with the department
of assassination. This office was no sinecure, for it in-
volved much correspondence and required great per-
sonal attention to miaute details. Philip, a consummate
artist in this branch of industry, had laid out a good
deal of such work which he thought could best be carried
out in and from the Netherlands. Especially it was
desirable to take off, by poison or otherwise, Henry IV.,
Queen Elizabeth, Maurice of Nassau, Olden-Bameveldt,
Sainte-Aldegonde, and other less conspicuous personages.

Henry's physician-in-chief, De la Riviere, was at that
time mainly occupied with devising antidotes to poison,
which he well knew was offered to his master on fre-
quent occasions and in the most insidious ways. An-
drada, the famous Portuguese poisoner, among others,
is said, under direction of Fuentes and Ybarra, to have
attempted his life by a nosegay of roses impregnated
with so subtle a powder that its smell alone was relied
upon to cause death,i and De la Rivifere was doing his
best to search for a famous Saxon drug, called fable-
powder, as a counter-poison. "The Turk alarms us,
and well he may," said a diplomatic agent of Henry,
" but the Spaniard allows us not to think of the Turk.
And what a strange manner is this to exercise one's en-

1 Meteren, xvi. 334.
VOL. IV.— 21

322 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1594

mities and vengeance by having recourse to such dam-
nable artifices, after force and arms have not succeeded,
and to attack the person of princes by poisonings and
assassinations ! " ^

A most elaborate attempt upon the life of Queen
Elizabeth early in this year came near being successful.
A certain Portuguese Jew, Dr. Lopez, had for some time
been her physician in ordinary. He had first been re-
ceived into her service on the recommendation of Don
Antonio, the Pretender, and had the reputation of great
learning and skill. With this man Count Fuentes and
Stephen Ybarra, chief of the financial department at
Brussels, had a secret understanding. Their chief agent
was Emanuel Andrada, who was also in close communi-
cation with Bernardino de Mendoza and other leading
personages of the Spanish court. Two years previously,
Philip, by the hands of Andrada, had sent a very valu-
able ring of rubies and diamonds as a present to Lopez,
and the doctor had bound himself to do any service for
the King of Spain that might be required of him. An-
drada accordingly wrote to Mendoza that he had gained
over this eminent physician, but that, as Lopez was poor
and laden with debt, a high price would be required for
his work. Hereupon Fuentes received orders from the
King of Spain to give the Jew all that he could in rea-
son demand, if he would undertake to poison the queen.^

It now became necessary to handle the matter with
great delicacy, and Fuentes and Ybarra entered accord-
ingly into a correspondence, not with Lopez, but with a

1 Bongars, Lettres, p. 271.

2 AoooTint of Dr. Lopez's treason, doubtless by Lord Burghley,
in Murdin's State Papers, ii. 669-675. Meteren, xvi. 334 seq.
Eeyd, ix. 247, 248.

1594] ATTEMPT TO POISON ELIZABETH 323

certain Ferrara de Gama. These letters were intrusted
to one Emanuel Louis de Tinoco, secretly informed of
the plot, for delivery to Ferrara. Fuentes charged
Tiaoco to cause Ferrara to encourage Lopez to poison
her Majesty of England, that they might aU. have " a
merry Easter." ^ Lopez was Mkewise requested to inform
the King of Spain when he thought he could accomplish
the task. The doctor ultimately agreed to do the deed
for fifty thousand crowns, but as he had daughters and
was an affectionate parent, he stipulated for a handsome
provision in marriage for those young ladies.^ The
terms were accepted, but Lopez wished to be assured of
the money first.

"Having once undertaken the work," said Lord
Burghley, if he it were, " he was so greedy to perform it
that he would ask Ferrara every day, 'When wiU the
money come ? I am ready to do the service if the an-
swer were come out of Spain.' " ^

But Philip, as has been often seen, was on principle
averse to paying for work before it had been done.
Some delay occurring, and the secret, thus confided to so
many, having floated as it were imperceptibly into the
air, Tinoco was arrested on suspicion before he had been
able to deliver the letters of Fuentes and Tbarra to Fer-
rara, for Ferrara, too, had been imprisoned before the
arrival of Tinoco. The whole correspondence was dis-
covered, and both Ferrara and Tinoco confessed the
plot. Lopez, when first arrested, denied his guilt very

1 Aooomit of Dr. Lopez's treason, etc.

2 "And further to set him on, he was to he put in mind that he
had daughters to 'marry, for whom the king would provide, and
what great honors and rewards he should have." — Ibid.

3 Ibid.

324 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1594

stoutly, but being confronted with Ferrara, who told
the whole story to his face in presence of the judges,
he at last avowed the crime.^

They were all condemned, executed, and quartered at
London in the spring of 1594. The queen wished to
send a special envoy to the archduke at Brussels, to com-
plain that Secretary of State Cristoval de Moura, Count
Fuentes, and Finance Minister Ybarra— all three then
immediately about his person— were thus implicated in
the plot against her life, to demand their punishment,
or else, in case of refusal, to convict the king and the
archduke as accomplices in the crime.^ Safe-conduct
was requested for such an envoy, which was refused by
Ernest as an insulting proposition both to his uncle and
himself. The queen accordingly sent word to President
Eichardot, by one of her council, that the whole story
would be published, and this was accordingly done.'

1 Account of Dr. Lopez's treason. Meteren, Eeyd, ubi sup.

2 Eeyd, 248.

3 Ibid. "But because by fame and hearsay," says the writer
of the account, no doubt Lord Burghley, "things take not always
a true report, and I know the quality of those treasons are of the
sort so heinous as all sorts of men desire to be truly informed of
the same, I have set down a plain and short declaration of the
treason of this perjured murthering traitor, without alleging
proofs, which may be done hereafter at large, . . . and also that
the practices were set at work, as manifestly appeared to
authentioal proof, by him who, either in respect of his calling or of
her Majesty's deserving, should least of- all others have consented
to so unprinoely an act. Yet it is a strange thing to consider
that in so evident a matter, touching as virtuous and sovereign a
princess as ever the world did enjoy, we are loath, in reverent re-
gard of the name and title of royal and supreme dignity, to have
him named, otherwise than cannot he avoided in the simple narration
of the came, and indeed, if I may utter my conceit, a greater
indignity nor breach of honor never was given to that high degree.

1594] PLOT AGAmST PRINCE MAURICE 325

Early in tlie spring of this same year, a certain Reni-
clion, priest and schoolmaster of Namnr, was summoned
from his school to a private inter\dew with Count Ber-
laymont. That nobleman very secretly informed the
priest that the King of Spain wished to make use of him
in an affair of great importance, and one which would
be very profitable to himself. The pair then went together
to Brussels, and proceeded straightway to the palace.
They were secretly admitted to the apartments of the
archduke, but the priest, meaning to follow his conductor
into the private chamber, where he pretended to recog-
nize the person of Ernest, was refused admittance. The
door was, however, not entirely closed, and he heard, as
he declared, the conversation between his Highness and
Berlaymont, which was carried on partly in Latin and
partly in Spanish. He heard them discussing the ques-
tion—so he stated — of the recompense to be awarded for
the business about to be undertaken, and after a brief
conversation distinctly understood the archduke to say,
as the count was approaching the door, "I wiU satisfy
him abundantly and with interest." ^

Berlaymont then invited his clerical guest to supper,—
so ran his statement,— and, after that repast was finished,
informed him that he was requested by the archduke to

violated by the hands of him who should chiefly sustain that calling.
I leave him to tlie judgment of God, the King of kings, who taketh
account of their doings. . . . What may be thought of them who
use so high, so holy, so reverend a thing [the profession of re-
ligion] to cloke ambition, revenge, and wicked practices ? Truly
the age wherein we are born shall endure hereafter note of re-
proach for this kind of impiety and profanation." Most truly, O
Lord High Treasurer !

1 Bor, iii. 815, 817. Reyd, ix. 223-228. Meteren, xvi. 335.
"Cumulate et largo foenore satisfaoiam."

326 THE UNITED NETHEELAJTOS [1594

kill Prince Maurice of Nassau. For this piece of work
he was to receive one hundred Philip-dollars in hand,
and fifteen thousand more, which were lying ready for
him, so soon as the deed should be done.

The schoolmaster at first objected to the enterprise,
but ultimately yielded to the persuasions of the count.
He was informed that Maurice was a friendly, famihar
gentleman, and that there would be opportunities enough
for carrying out the project if he took his time. He was
to buy a good pair of pistols and remove to The Hague,
where he was to set up a school, and wait for the arrival
of his accomplices, of whom there were six. Berlay-
mont then caused to be summoned and introduced to the
pedagogue a man whom he described as one of the six.
The newcomer, hearing that Renichon had agreed to
the propositions made to him, hailed him cordially as
comrade and promised to follow him very soon into
Holland. Berlaymont then observed that there were
several personages to be made away with besides Prince
Maurice,— especially Barneveldt and Saiute-AIdegonde,—
and that the six assassins had, since the time of the Duke
of Parma, been kept in the pay of the King of Spain as
nobles, to be employed as occasion should serve.

His new comrade accompanied Renichon to the canal-
boat, conversing by the way, and informed him that they
were both to be sent to Leyden in order to entice away
and murder the young brother of Maurice, Frederick
Henry, then at school at that place, even as PhUip Wil-
liam, eldest of all the brothers, had been kidnapped five-
and-twenty years before from the same town.

Renichon then disguised himself as a soldier, pro-
ceeded to Antwerp, where he called himself Michael de
Triviere, and thence made his way to Breda, provided

1594] PLOT AGAINST tBINCE MAURICE 327

with letters from Berlaymont. He was, however, ar-
rested on STispicion not long after Ms arrival there, and
upon trial the whole plot was discovered. Having un-
successfully attempted to hang himseK, he subsequently,
without torture, made a full and minute confession, and
was executed on the 3d June, 1594.^

Later in the year, one Pierre du Four, who had been
a soldier both in the states' and the French service, was
engaged by General La Motte and Councilor Assonle-

1 Bor, Eeyd, Meteren, ubi sup. " I have been, with others of
the council of state, twice or thrice at the examination of the
prisoner. He declareth his coming to have been about an attempt
against Breda (which is taken to be but a made and colored
thing), and withal to see if he could kiU the Count Maurice ; that
Berlaymont was the mover and Ernestus privy to all ; but as yet
the truth of the practice and circumstances he openeth not flatly,
which will be drawn from him ere he be left. Of profession he is
a priest, and bom in Namur, having named six others employed
about the same mischief ; but the fellow is subtle and ready in his
words to color and answer anything, so that all is not to be
credited that cometh from him."— Gilpin to Burghley, April 2,
1594, S. P. Ofaee MS.

The commissioner alluded to the forthcoming answer of the
States-General in regard to the proposed negotiations for peace,
in which these murderous attempts of the Spanish king and his
representatives were to be hurled in his face with terrible
emphasis, and spoke of them with the indignation of an honest
Englishman: "The States-General not doubting but that the
discovery of the said murder, when it shall be made known and
published (whereby it may appear to the world what a most
barbarous and abominable course the King of Spain and his do
hold by practices against the persons of kings and princes), will
not only strengthen and confirm the people here in their resolu-
tion to continue their defense and wars, but make all other
potentates and countries dislike and detest such heathenish and
wicked attempts and proceedings, to the perpetual dishonor, re-
proach, and infamy of the authors and dealers."— Ibid.

328 THE UNITED NETHEELANDS [1594

ville to attempt the assassination of Prince Maurice.^
La Motte took the man to the palace, and pretended at
least to introduce him to the chamber of the archduke,
who was said to be lying ill in bed. Du Pour was ad-
vised to enrol himself in the body-guard at The Hague,
and to seek an opportunity when the prince went hunt-
ing, or was mounting his horse, or was coming from
church, or at some such unguarded moment, to take a
shot at him. " WiU you do what I ask ? " demanded from
the bed the voice of him who was said to be Ernest.
" Will you kill this tyrant 1" "I will," replied the soldier.
" Then, my son," was the parting benediction of the sup-
posed archduke, "you wiU go straight to paradise."^

Afterward he received good advice from Assonleville,
and was assured that if he would come and hear a mass
in the royal chapel next morning, that religious cere-
mony woidd make him invisible when he should make
his attempt on the life of Maurice, and while he should
be eflfeeting his escape.^ The poor wretch accordingly
came next morning to chapel, where this miraculous
mass was duly performed, and he then received a certain
portion of his promised reward in ready money. He was
also especially charged, in case he should be arrested, not
to make a confession, as had been done bythose previously
employed in such work, as all complicity with him on
part of his employers would certainly be denied.*

The naiserable dupe was arrested, convicted, executed,
and of course the denial was duly made on the part of
the archduke. La Motte, and Assonleville. It was also

1 Meteren, xvi. 335. Bor, iii. 882, 883. Eeyd, ix. 247.

2 Ibid. "Figliol mio, se f arete quelle che m' avete promesso
d' amazzar quel tyranno, andarete diritto in Paradise."

' Bor, ubi sup. * Ibid.

1594] ATTEMPTED NEGOTIATION 329

announced, on behalf of Ernest, that some one else,
fraudulently impersonating his Highness, had lain in
the bed to which the culprit had been taken, and every
one must hope that the statement was a true one.^

Enough has been given to show the peculiar school of
statesmanship according to the precepts of which the
internal concerns and foreign affairs of the obedient
Netherlands were now administered. Poison and pis-
tols in the hands of obscure priests and deserters were
rehed on to bring about great political triumphs, while
the mutinous royal armies, intrenched and defiant, were
extorting capitulations from their own generals and
their own sovereign upon his own soil.

Such a record as this seems rather like the exaggera-
tion of a diseased fancy, seeking to pander to a corrupt
public taste which feeds greedily upon horrors ; but, un-
fortunately, it is derived from the register of high courts
of justice, from diplomatic correspondence, and from
the confessions, without torture or hope of free pardon,
of criminals. For a crowned king and his high func-
tionaries and generals to devote so much of their time,
their energies, and their money to the murder of brother
and sister sovereigns and other illustrious personages
was not to make after ages in love with the monarchic
and aristocratic system, at least as thus administered.
Popular governments may be deficient in polish, but a
system resting for its chief support upon bribery and
murder cannot be considered lovely by any healthy mind.
And this is one of the lessons to be derived from the
history of Philip II. and of the Holy League.

But besides mutiny and assassination there were also
some feeble attempts at negotiation to characterize the
1 Bor, ubi sup.

330 THE UNITED NETHBELANDS [1594

Ernestian epocli at Brussels. The subject hardly needs
more than a passing allusion.

Two Flemish jurisconsults, Otto Hertius and Jerome
Comans, oflfered their services to the archduke in the
peacemaking department. Ernest accepted the proposi-
tion,—although it was strongly opposed by Fuentes,
who relied upon the more practical agency of Dr. Lopez,
Andrada, Renichon, and the rest,— and the peacemakers
accordingly made their appearance at The Hague, under
safe-conduct, and provided with very conciliatory letters
from his Highness to the States-General.^ In all ages
and under all circumstances it is safe to enlarge, with
whatever eloquence may be at command, upon the bless-
ings of peace and upon the horrors of war ; for the appeal
is not diflcult to make, and a response is certain in al-
most every human breast. But it is another matter to
descend from the general to the particular, and to de-
monstrate how the desirable may be attained and the
horrible averted. The letters of Ernest were fuU of
benignity and affection, breathing a most ardent desire
that the miserable war, now a quarter of a century old,
should be then and there terminated. But not one
atom of concession was offered, no whisper breathed
that the Republic, if it should choose to lay down its
victorious arms and renounce its dearly gained inde-
pendence, should share any different fate from that
under which it saw the obedient provinces gasping be-
fore its eyes. To renounce religious and political liberty
and self-government, and to submit unconditionally to
the authority of Philip II. as administered by Ernest
and Fuentes, was hardly to be expected as the result of
the three years' campaigns of Maurice of Nassau.

1 Bentivoglio, p. iii. lib. i. 390. Bor, iii. 810-812.

1594] EEPLT OP THE STATES-GENERAL 331

The two doctors of law laid the affectionate common-
places of the archduke before the States-General, each
of them making, moreover, a long and flowery oration
in which the same protestations of good will and hopes
of future good fellowship were distended to formidable
dimensions by much windy rhetoric. The accusations
which had been made against the government of Brus-
sels of complicity in certain projects of assassination
were repelled with virtuous indignation.^

The answer of the States- General was wrathful and
decided.^ They informed the commissioners that they
had taken up arms for a good cause and meant to retain
them in their hands. They expressed their thanks for
the expressions of good wUl which had been offered, but
avowed their right to complain before God and the
world of those who, under pretext of peace, were attempt-
ing to shed the innocent blood of Christians, and to pro-
cure the ruin and destruction of the Netherlands. To
this end the state council of Spain was more than ever
devoted, being guilty of the most cruel and infamous
proceedings and projects. They threw out a rapid and
stinging summary of their wrongs, and denounced with
scorn the various hollow attempts at negotiation during
the preceding twenty-five years. Coming down to the
famous years 1587 and 1588, they alluded in vehement
terms to the fraudulent peace propositions which had
been thrown as a veil over the Spanish invasion of Eng-
land and the Armada, and they glanced at the mediation
projects of the emperor in 1591, at the desire of Spain,
while armies were moving in force from Germany, Italy,
and the Netherlands to crush the "King of France, in

1 Bor, iii. 810-812.

2 See the document in full in Bor, iii. 813-815.

332 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1594

order that Philip might establish his tyranny over all
kings, princes, provinces, and republics. That the Span-
ish government was secretly dealing with the emperor
and other German potentates for the extension of his
universal empire appeared from intercepted letters of
the king, copies of which were communicated, from
which it was sufflciently plain that the purpose of his
Majesty was not to bestow peace and tranquillity upon
the Netherlands. The names of Fuentes, Clemente,
Ybarra, were sufficient in themselves to destroy any such
illusion. They spoke in blunt terms of the attempt of
Dr. Lopez to poison Queen Elizabeth, at the instigation
of Count Fuentes, for fifty thousand crowns to be paid
by the King of Spain; they charged upon the same
Fuentes and upon Ybarra that they had employed the
same Andrada to murder the King of France with a
nosegay of roses ; and they alluded further to the revela-
tions of Michael Reniehon, who was to murder Maurice
of Nassau and kidnap Frederick Henry, even as their
father and brother had been already murdered and kid-
napped.1

For such reasons the archduke might understand by
what persons and what means the good people of the
Netherlands were deceived, and how difficult it was for
the states to forget such lessons, or to imagine anything
honest in the present propositions.

The states declared themselves, on the contrary, more
called upon than ever before to be upon the watch
against the stealthy proceedings of the Spanish council
of state, bearing in mind the late execrable attempts at
assassination, and the open war which was still carried
on against the King of France.

1 Bor, iii. 813-815.

1594] LA VAEENNE SENT TO SPAIN 333

And although it was said that his Highness was dis-
pleased with such murderous and hostile proceedings,
still it was necessary for the states to beware of the
nefarious projects of the King of Spain and his counciL.i

After the conversion of Henry IV. to the Roman
Church had been duly accomplished that monarch had
sent a secret envoy to Spain. The mission of this agent,
La Varenne by name, excited intense anxiety and sus-
picion in England and Holland and among the Prot-
estants of France and Germany. It was believed that
Henry had not only made a proposition of a separate
peace with Philip, but that he had formally but mys-
teriously demanded the hand of the Infanta in marriage.
Such a catastrophe as this seemed to the heated imagina-
tions of the great body of Calvinists throughout Europe,
who had so faithfully supported the King of Navarre up
to the moment of his great apostasy, the most cruel and
deadly treachery of all. That the princess with the
many suitors should come to reign over Prance after all
—not as the bride of her own father, not as the queen
consort of Ernest the Hapsburger or of Guise the Lor-
rainer, but as the lawful wife of Henry the Huguenot-
seemed almost too astounding for belief, even amid the
chances and changes of that astonishing epoch. Yet
Duplessis-Mornay avowed that the project was enter-
tained, and that he had it from the very lips of the secret
envoy who was to negotiate the marriage. "La Varenne

1 Bor, iii. 813-815. Tlie aroliduke, as might be supposed, was
not pleased witli the reply of the states, and characterized it as so
arrogant and outrageous that he would not have allowed his
Majesty's ears to he offended by it had not the states, like
insolent people as they were, already caused it to be printed and
published. (Ernest to Philip, September 4, 1594, Arch, de Sim.
MS.)

334 THE UNITED NETHEELA^rDS [1594

is on his way to Spain," wrote Duplessis to the Duke of
Bouillon, " in company with a gentleman of Don Ber-
nardino de Mendoza, who brought the first overtures.
He is to bring back the portrait of the Infanta. 'T is
said that the marriage is to be on condition that the
queen and the Netherlands are comprised in the peace,
but you know that this cannot be satisfactorily arranged
for those two parties. All this was once guesswork,
but is now history." ^

That eminent diplomatist and soldier, Mendoza, had
already, on his return from France, given the King of
Spain to understand that there were no hopes of his ob-
taining the French crown either for himself or for his
daughter, that all the money lavished on the chiefs of
the League was thrown away, and that all their promises
were idle wind. Mendoza, in consequence, had fallen into
contempt at court ; but Philip, observing apparently that
there might have been something correct in his state-
ments, had recently recalled him, and, notwithstanding
his blindness and other infirmities, was disposed to make
use of him in secret negotiations. Mendoza had accord-
ingly sent a confidential agent to Henry IV., offering his
good offices, now that the king had returned to the bosom
of the Church.

This individual, whose name was Nunez, was admitted
by De B^thune (afterward the famous Due de Sully) to
the presence of the king ; but De B^thune, believing it
probable that the Spaniard had been sent to assassinate
Henry, held both the hands of the emissary during the

1 " Je le sais de la bouolie du porteur qui ne le m'osa deguiser
parceque je monstrai en Itre adverti, . . . o'etait alors devina-
tion, maintenant histoire."— M6m. et Corresp., iv. 563, September
18, 1593.

1594] SECRET NEGOTIATIONS WITH PHILIP 335

whole interview, besides subjecting him to a strict per-
sonal visitation beforeliand. Nunez stated that he was
authorized to propose to his Majesty a marriage with the
Infanta Clara Isabella, and Henry, much to the discon-
tent of De Bethune, listened eagerly to the suggestion,
and promised to send a secret agent to Spain to confer
on the subject with Mendoza.

The choice he made of La Varenne, whose real name
was Guillaume Fouquet, for this mission was still more
offensive to De B6thune. Fouquet had originally been
a cook in the service of Madame Catherine, and was
famous for his talent for larding poultry; but he had
subsequently entered the household of Henry, where he
had been employed in the most degrading service which
one man can render to another.^

On his appointment to this of&ce of secret diplomacy
he assumed aU the airs of an ambassador, while Henry
took great pains to contradict the reports which were
spread as to the true nature of this mission to Spain.^

Duplessis was, in truth, not very far wrong in his con-
jectures, but, as might be supposed, Henry was most
anxious to conceal these secret negotiations with his

1 "La Varenne," said Madame Catherine on one occasion, "tu as
plus gagn4 k porter les ponlets de mon frfere, qu'k piquer les
miens."— M6moires de Sully, liv. vi. 296, note 6. He accumulated
a large fortune in these dignified pursuits, having, according
to Winwood, landed estates to the annual amount of sixty thou-
sand francs a year, and gave large dowries to his daughters,
whom he married into noblest families ; " which is the more re-
markable," adds Winwood, "considering the services wherein he
is employed about the king, which is to be the meszano for his
loves ; the place from whence he came, which is out of the kitchen
of Madame, the king's sister."— Memorials, i. 380.

2 M6m. de Sully, ubi sup.

336 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1594

Catholic Majesty from the Huguenot chiefs whom he had
so recently deserted. "This is all done without the
knowledge of the Duke of Bouillon," said Calvaert, " or
at least under a very close disguise, as he himself keenly
feels and confesses to me." ^ The envoy of the Eepublic,
as well as the leaders of the Protestant party in France,
were resolved if possible to break off these dark and
dangerous intrigues, the nature of which they so shrewdly
suspected, and to substitute for them an open rupture
of Henry with the Bang of Spain, and a formal declara-
tion of war against him. None of the diplomatists or
political personages engaged in these great affairs, in
which the whole world was so deeply interested, mani-
fested more sagacity and insight on this occasion than
did the Dutch statesmen. We have seen that even Sir
Edward Stafford was deceived up to a very late moment
as to the rumored intentions of Henry to enter the Catho-
lic Church. Envoy Bdmondes was now equally and com-
pletely in the dark as to the mission of Varenne, and
informed his government that the only result of it was
that the secret agent to Spain was favored, through the
kindness of Mendoza, with a distant view of Philip II.,
with his son and daughter, at their devotions in the
chapel of the Bscorial. This was the tale generally re-
counted and believed after the agent's return from Spain,
so that Varenne was somewhat laughed at as having

1 Deventer, Gedenkstukken, etc., ii. 37. In this most val-
uable oontrilDiition to the history of the Netherlands and of
Europe, the learned editor has been the first to give, so far as I
am aware, the true history of this remarkable negotiation. The
aoeounts by contemporary historians show the writers to have
been kept as much in the dark as the English envoy was, an ex-
tract fi'om whose private letter to Lord Burghley will be found in
note 2, p. 339. Compare Bor, iii. 759-763.

1594] CALVAERT'S SECRET DESPATCH 337

gone to Spain on a fool's errand, and as having got
nothing from Mendoza but a disavowal of his former
propositions. But the shrewd Calvaert, who had enter-
tained familiar relations with La Varenne, received from
that personage after his return a very different account
of his excursion to the Escorial from the one generally-
circulated. " Coming from Monceaux to Paris in his
company," wrote Calvaert in a secret despatch to the
states, " I had the whole story from him. The chief part
of his negotiations with Don Bernardino de Mendoza
was that if his Majesty [the French kingj would aban-
don the Queen of England and your Highnesses [the
states of the Netherlands] there were no conditions that
would be refused the king, including the hand of the
Infanta, together with a good recompense for the king-
dom of Navarre. La Varenne maintained that the King
of Spain had caused these negotiations to be entered upon
at this time with him in the certain hope and intention of
a definite conclusion, alleging to me many pertinent rea-
sons, and among others that he, having been lodged at
Madrid, through the adroitness of Don Bernardino,
among all the agents of the League, and hearing all
their secrets and negotiations, had never been discovered,
but had always been supposed to be one of the League
himself. He said also that he was well assured that the
Infanta in her heart had an affection for the French
king, and, notwithstanding any resolutions that might be
taken (to which I referred, meaning the projects for
bestowing her on the house of Austria), that she, with her
father's consent or in case of his death, would not fail to
carry out this marriage. You may from all this, even
out of the proposal for compensation for the kingdom of
Navarre (of which his Majesty also let out something to
VOL. IV.— 22

338 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1594

me inadvertently), collect the reasons why such feeble
progress is made in so great an occasion as now presents
itself for a declaration of war and an open alliance with
your Highnesses. I shall not fail to watch these events,
even in case of the progress of the said resolutions, not-
withstanding the effects of which it is my opinion that
this secret intrigue is not to be abandoned. To this end,
besides the good intelligence which one gets by means
of good friends, a continual and agreeable presentation
of one's self to his Majesty, in order to see and hear every-
thing, is necessary." ^

Certainly here were reasons more than sufficient why
Henry should be making but feeble preparations for open
war in alliance with England and the Eepublic against
Philip, as such a step was hardly compatible with the
abandonment of England and the Republic and the
espousal of Philip's daughter — projects which Henry's
commissioner had just been discussing with Philip's
agent at Madrid and the Escorial.

Truly it was well for the republican envoy to watch
events as closely as possible, to make the most of intelli-
gence from his good friends, and to present himself as
frequently and as agreeably as possible to his Majesty,
that he might hear and see everything. There was
much to see and to hear, and it needed adroitness and
courage not to slip or stumble in such dark ways, where
the very ground seemed often to be sliding from beneath
the feet.

To avoid the catastrophe of an alliance between Henry,
Philip, and the pope against Holland and England, it
was a pressing necessity for Holland and England to
force Henry into open war against Philip. To this end

1 Deventer, ubi sup.

1594] MISSION OF VARENNE TO SPAIN 339

the Dutch statesmen were bending all their energies.
Meantime Elizabeth regarded the campaign in Artois
and Hainault with little favor.

As he took leave on departing for France, La Varenne
had requested Mendoza to write to King Henry, but the
Spaniard excused himself— although professing the
warmest friendship for his Majesty— on the ground of
the impossibility of addressing him correctly. "If I
call him here King of Navarre, I might as well put my
head on the block at once," he observed ; " if I call him
King of France, my master has not yet recognized him
as such ; if I call him anything else, he will himself be
offended."!

And the vision of Philip in black on his knees, with
his children about him, and a rapier at his side, passed
with the contemporary world as the only phenomenon
of this famous secret mission.^

1 Bor, iii. 759-763.

2 Ibid. Envoy Edmondes gave a detailed account of the
matter, so far as he understood it, from Dieppe : " Don
Bernardino," he says, "asked to hear what he [La Varenne] had
in charge, to which the other made answer to have nothing, only to
have brought eyes to see and ears to hear what he would propound.
. . . Whereupon Bernardino made him answer that he was to
avow nothing that his said servant had delivered, which he said
to be in liim a less shame than in Mens, de Mayne having dis-
avowed a person of the quality of Mens, de Villeroy. La Varenne,
therefore, seeing he could draw no other payment from him,
prayed him, to the end his journey might not be to him altogether
fruitless, to procure that he might have a sight of the king and
the beauties of the Scuriall, his house, which he accordingly
performed, causing him to be secretly brought into the chapeh
where he saw the king at mass, of purpose attired in extraordinary
demonstration of liveliness, wearing the sword and cape, which
he had not before done in two years ; with also the young prince
and the Infanta in like color, was brought another time to see him

340 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1594

But Henry, besides this demonstration toward Spain,
lost no time in despatching a special minister to the
Republic and to England, who was instructed to make
the most profuse, elaborate, and conciUatory explana-
tions as to his recent conversion and as to his future

walking in tlie garden, but witliout speaking at all Tinto Mm.
Being therein so satisfied, and therewith dismissed, Don
Bernardino prayed him at his departure to excuse him to the king
for not writing unto him, which he said he could not do in qualify-
ing him as appertained without disproving the justness of his
master's quarrel, and thereby incur peril; and to give him an
undue title, that he was too much his servant, and only therefore
to let him know that, so as the pope would speak in the king's
favor, there is very good reason to make the King of Spain to
understand to a union with him, and that is all the return he
bringeth of his negotiation; but the king, to cover the shame
thereof, doth pay himself with great contentment of the good
service which by that occasion he hath otherwise done him, in
discovering, by haunting unknown divers French there of the
League, a dangerous enterprise upon Bordeaux, which having on
his return declared to Marshal Matignon, he hath thereupon ap-
prehended certain of the principal of the town conspirators there-
in," etc. — Bdmondes to Burghley, November 13, 1593, S. P. Office
MS. Compare Bor, ubi sup.

La Varenne was subsequently sent to England to give a report,
more or less ingenuous, of his Spanish mission to the queen.
She at first refused to receive him, on the ground that he had
formerly used disrespectful language concerning herself, but she
subsequently relented. He reported that he had found the king
remarkably jolly (gaillard) and healthy for his years, and had also
seen the rest of the royal family. Don Bernardino, he said, who
had given the king to understand, now that he was Catholic, that
he could find means to reconcile him with the king his master,
whereby he might maintain himself peaceably in his kingdom, had
nevertheless professed ignorance of any such matter when he
found that Varenne had no commission except to see and to hear.
So the agent was fain, according to his public statement, to con-
tent himself with a distant view of the Most Catholic King at his

1594] ORATIONS OF DE MORLANS 34I

intentions.! Never -would he make peace, he said, with
Spain without the full consent of the states and of Eng-
land, the dearest object of his heart in making his peace
with Rome having been to restore peace to his own dis-
tracted realm, to bring all Christians into one brother-
hood, and to make a united attack upon the Grand Turk
—a vision which the cheerful monarch hardly intended
should ever go beyond the ivory gate of dreams, but
which furnished substance enough for several well-
rounded periods in the orations of De Morlans.

That diplomatist, after making the strongest repre-
sentations to Queen Elizabeth as to the faithful friend-
ship of his master, and the necessity he was under of
pecuniary and military assistance, had received generous
promises of aid both in men and money— three thousand
men besides the troops actually serving in Brittany—
from that sagacious sovereign, notwithstanding the
vehement language in which she had rebuked her royal
brother's apostasy.^ He now came for the same purpose
to The Hague, where he made very eloquent harangues
to the States-G-eneral, acknowledging that the Republic
had ever been the most upright, perfect, and undisguised
friend to his master and to France in their darkest days
and deepest afiliction ; that she had loved the king and
kingdom for themselves, not merely hanging on to their
prosperity, but, on the contrary, doing her best to pro-
duce that prosperity by her contributions in soldiers,

devotions. (Noel de Caron to the States-General, December 4,
1593, Hague Archives.) No one but Calvaert seems to have
succeeded in pumping the secret envoy, but by Calvaert the
States-General were enlightened and put thoroughly on their
guard as to the possible designs of Henry.

1 De Morlans to the States-General, in Bor, iii. 721-726, August
26, 1593. 2 Bor, iii. 719.

342 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1594

ships, and subsidies. " The king," said De Morlans, "is
deeply grieved that he can prove his gratitude only in
words for so many benefits conferred, which are abso-
lutely without example, but he has commissioned me to
declare that if Gfod should ever give him the occasion,
he will prove how highly he places your friendship."

The envoy assured the states that all fears entertained
by those of the Reformed religion on account of the con-
version of his Majesty were groundless. Nothing was
further from the king's thoughts than to injure those
noble spirits with whom his soul had lived so long, and
whom he so much loved and honored. No man knew
better than the king did the character of those who pro-
fessed the religion, their virtue, valor, resolution, and
patience in adversity. Their numbers had increased in
war, their virtues had been purified by affliction, they
had never changed their position, whether battles had
been won or lost. Should ever an attempt be made to
take up arms against them within his realms, and should
there be but five hundred of them against ten thousand,
the king, remembering their faithful and ancient ser-
vices, would leave the greater number in order to die at
the head of his old friends. He was determined that
they should participate in aU the honors of the kingdom,
and with regard to a peace with Spain, he would have as
much care for the interests of the United Provinces as
for his own. But a peace was impossible with that mon-
arch, whose object was to maintain his own realms in
peace while he kept France in perpetual revolt against
the king whom God had given her. The King of Spain
had trembled at Henry's cradle, at his youth, at the bloom
of his manhood, and knew that he had inflicted too much
injury upon him ever to be on friendly terms with him.

1594] REPLY OF STATES-GENERAL 343

The envoy was instructed to say that his master never
expected to be in amity with one who had ruined his house,
confiscated his property, and caused so much misery to
France ; and he earnestly hoped, without presuming to
dictate, that the States-General would in this critical
emergency manifest their generosity. If the king were
not assisted now, both king and kingdom would perish.
If he were assisted, the succor would bear double fruit.^

The sentiments expressed on the part of Henry toward
his faithful subjects of the religion, the heretic Queen
of England, and the stout Dutch Calvinists who had so
long stood by him, were most noble. It was pity that,
at the same moment, he was proposing to espouse the
Infanta and to publish the Council of Trent.

The reply of the States-General to these propositions
of the French envoy was favorable, and it was agreed
that a force of three thousand foot and five hundred
horse should be sent to the assistance of the king.
Moreover, the state paper drawn up on this occasion was
conceived with so much sagacity and expressed with so
much eloquence as particularly to charm the English
queen when it was communicated to her Majesty. She
protested very loudly and vehemently to Noel de Caron,
envoy from the provinces at London, that this response
on the part of his government to De Morlans was one of
the wisest documents that she had ever seen. " In all
their actions," said she, " the States-General show their
sagacity, and, indeed, it is the wisest government ever
known among republics. I would show you," she added
to the gentlemen around her, " the whole of the paper if
it were this moment at hand." ^

After some delays it was agreed between the French

1 Address of Morlans, ubi sup. ^ Bor, iii. 726.

344 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1594

government and that of the United Provinces that the
king should divide his army into three parts, and renew
the military operations against Spain with the expira-
tion of the truce at the end of the year (1593).

One body, composed of the English contingent, to-
gether with three thousand French horse, three thousand
Swiss, and four thousand French harquebusmen, was
to be under his own immediate command, and was to
act against the enemy wherever it should appear to his
Majesty most advantageous. A second army was to
expel the rebels and their foreign allies from Normandy
and reduce Rouen to obedience. A third was to make a
campaign in the provinces of Artois and Hainault, under
the Duke of Bouillon (more commonly called the Vis-
count Turenne), in conjunction with the forces to be sup-
plied by the Republic. "Any treaty of peace on our
part with the King of Spain/' said the States- General,
" is our certain ruin. This is an axiom. That monarch's
object is to incorporate into his own realms not only aU
the states and possessions of neighboring kings, princi-
palities, and powers, but also all Christendom, aye, the whole
world, were it possible. We joyfully concur, then, in your
Majesty's resolution to carry on the war in Artois and
Hainault, and agree to your suggestion of diversions on
our part by sieges and succor by contingents." ^

Balagny, meantime, who had so long led an indepen-
dent existence at Cambray, now agreed to recognize
Henry's authority, in consideration of sixty-seven thou-
sand crowns' yearly pension and the dignity of Marshal
of France.^

1 Bor, iii. 766.

2 Buzanval to the States-General, December 8, 1593, apud Bor,
iii. 765, 766.

1594] CAMPAiaN OF COUNT PHILIP 345

Toward the end of the year 1594, Buzanval, the regu-
lar French envoy at The Hague, began to insist more
warmly than seemed becoming that the campaign in
Artois and Hainault— so often the base of mUitaiy
operations on the part of Spain against France— should
begin. Further achievements on the part of Maurice
after the fall of Groningen were therefore renounced for
that year, and his troops went into garrison and winter
quarters.^ The States-General, who had also been send-
ing supplies, troops, and ships to Brittany to assist the
king, now, after soundly rebuking Buzanval for his
intemperate language, intrusted their contingent for
the proposed frontier campaign to Count Philip Nassau,
who accordingly took the field toward the end of the
year at the head of twenty-eight companies of foot and
five squadrons of cavalry. He made his junction with
Turenne-BouOlon, but the duke, although provided with
a tremendous proclamation, was but indifferently sup-
plied with troops. The German levies, long expected,
were slow in moving, and on the whole it seemed that
the operations might have been continued by Maurice
with more effect according to his original plan, than in
this rather desultory f ashion.^ The late winter campaign
on the border was feeble and a failure.

The bonds of alliance, however, were becoming very
close between Henry and the Republic. Despite the
change in religion on the part of the king, and the pangs
which it had occasioned in the hearts of leading Nether-
landers, there was still the traditional attraction between
France and the states, which had been so remarkably
manifested during the administration of William the
SUent. The Republic was more restive than ever under
1 Bor, 846-859. ^ ibid.

346 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1594

the imperious and exacting friendship of Elizabeth, and,
feeling more and more its own strength, was making
itself more and more liable to the charge of ingratitude,
so constantly hurled in its face by the queen. And
Henry, now that he felt himself really King of Prance,
was not slow to manifest a similar ingratitude or an
equal love of independence. Both monarch and R.epub;
lie, chafing under the protection of Elizabeth, were
drawn into so close a union as to excite her anger and
jealousy— sentiments which in succeeding years were to
become yet more apparent. And now, while Henry still
retained the chivalrous and flowery phraseology, so
sweet to her ears, in his personal communications to the
queen, his ministers were in the habit of using much
plainer language. " Mr. de Sancy said to me," wrote
the Netherland minister in France, Calvaert, "that his
Majesty and your Highnesses [the States-General] must
without long delay conclude an alliance offensive and de-
fensive. In regard to England, which perhaps might
look askance at this matter, he told me it would be in-
vited also by his Majesty into the same alliance ; but if,
according to custom, it shiUy-shaUied, and, without com-
ing to deeds or to succor, should put him off with
words, he should in that case proceed with our alliance
without England, not doubting that many other poten-
tates in Italy and Germany would join in it likewise.
He said, too, that he, the day before the departure of the
English ambassador, had said these words to him in the
presence of his Majesty, namely, that England had en-
tertained his Majesty sixteen months long with far-
fetched and often-repeated questions and discontents;
that one had submitted to this sort of thing so long as
his Majesty was only king of Mantes, Dieppe, and Lou-

1594] ASPECT 0¥ AFFAIKS 347

viers, but that his Majesty, being now king of Paris,
would be no longer a servant of those who should advise
him to suffer it any longer or accept it as good payment ;
that England must treat his Majesty according to his
quality, and with deeds, not words. He added that the
ambassador had very anxiously made answer to these
words, and had promised that when he got back to Eng-
land he would so arrange that his Majesty should be
fuUy satisfied, insisting to the last on the alliance then
proposed." ^

In Germany, meanwhile, there was much protocolling,
and more hard drinking, at the Diet of Ratisbon. The
Protestant princes did little for their cause against the
new designs of Spain and the moribund League, while
the Catholics did less to assist Philip. In truth, the Holy
Roman Empire, threatened with a Turkish invasion, had
neither power nor inchnation to help the new universal
Empire of the West into existence. So the princes and
grandees of Germany, while Amurath was knocking at
the imperial gates, busied themselves with banqueting
and other diplomatic work, but sent few reiters either to
the East or West.^

1 M. L. van Deventer, Gedenkstiikkeii van Jolian van Olden-
Bameveldt en zign Tijd, ii. 20, 21, April 22, 1594. De Sancy
expressed himself in still stronger language a few weeks later.
"Should England delayer interpose difficulties," said he, "then
the king will at once go into company with the States-General ;
aye, he will bring this alliance forward principally in considera-
tion and respect for the states, whose authority he wishes to
establish, . . . declaring with many words that your Highnesses
are exactly the power in the whole world to which the king is
under the greatest obligation, and in which he places his chief
confidence."— Ibid., 24, 25, May 11, 1594.

2 Bor, iii. 852-854.

348 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1594

Philip's envoys were indignant at the apathy displayed
toward the great Catholic cause, and felt humbled at
the imbecility exhibited by Spain in its efforts against
the Netherlands and France. San Clemente, who was
attending the diet at Ratisbon, was shocked at the
scenes he witnessed. " In less than three months," said
that temperate Spaniard, " they have drunk more than
five miUion florins' worth of wine, at a time when the
Turk has invaded the frontiers of Germany ; and among
those who have done the most of this consumption of
wine there is not one who is going to give any assistance
on the frontier. In consequence of these disorders my
purse is drained so low that unless the king helps me I
am ruined. You must tell our master that the reputa-
tion of his grandeur and strength has never been so low
as it is now in Germany. The events in France and
those which followed in the Netherlands have thrown
such impediments in the negotiations here that not only
our enemies make sport of Marquis Havre and myself,
but even our friends— who are very few— dare not go to
public feasts, weddings, and dinners, because they are
obliged to apologize for us." ^

Truly the world-empire was beginning to crumble.
"The emperor has been desiring twenty times," con-
tinued the envoy, " to get back to Prague from the diet,
but the people hold him fast like a steer. As I think
over all that passes, I lose all judgment, for I have no
money, nor influence, nor reputation. Meantime I see
this rump of an empire keeping itself with difficulty
upon its legs. 'T is full of wrangling and discord about
religion, and yet there is the Turk with two hundred

1 Intercepted letters of San Clemente to Idiaquez, August 30,
1594, apud Bor, ubi sup.

1594] ASPECT OF AFFAIRS 349

thousand men besieging a place forty miles from Vienna,
which is the last outpost. God grant it may last." ^

Such was the aspect of the Christian world at the close
of the year 1594.

1 Intercepted letters of San Clemente to Idiaquez, ubi sup.

CHAPTER XXXI

Formal declaration of war against Spain— Marriage festivities-
Death of Archduke Ernest— His year of government— Fuentes
declared governor-general — Disaffection of the Duke of Aersohot
and Count Aremherg- Death of the Duke of Aerschot— Fuentes
besieges Le Catelet— The fortress of Ham, sold to the Spanish
hy'De Gomeron, besieged and taken by the Duke of Bouillon—
Execution of De Gomeron— Death of Colonel Verdugo— Siege of
Dourlens by Puentes— Death of La Motte— Death of Charles
Mansfeld- Total defeat of the French— Murder of Admiral de
ViUars- Dourlens captured, and the garrison and citizens put to
the sword— Military operations in eastern Netherlands and on
the Rhine — Maurice lays siege to Groenlo — Mondragon hastening
to its relief, Prince Maurice raises the siege— Skirmish between
Maurice and Mondragon— Death of Philip of Nassau— Death of
Mondragon— Bombardment and surrender of Weerdt Castle—
Maurice retires into winter quarters— Campaign of Henry IV.—
He besieges Dijon— Surrender of Dijon— Absolution granted to
Henry by the pope— Career of Balagny at Cambray— Progress of
the siege— Capitulation of the town— Suicide of the Princess of
Cambray, wife of Balagny.

The year 1595 opened witli a formal declaration of war
by the King of France against the King of Spain.^ It
would be difficult to say for exactly how many years the
war now declared had already been waged, but it was a
considerable advantage to the United Netherlands that
the manifesto had been at last regularly issued. And

1 Bor, iv. XXX. 2 seq. De Thou, t. xii. liv. iii. 342 seq.
350

1595] HENRY'S DECLARATION OF WAR 351

tlie manifesto was certainly not deficient in bitterness.
Not often in Christian history has a monarch been sol-
emnly and ofleially accused by a brother sovereign of
suborning assassins against his Hfe. Bribery, strata-
gem, and murder were, however, so entirely the com-
monplace machinery of Philip's administration as to
make an allusion to the late attempt of Chastel appear
quite natural in Henry's declaration of war. The king
further stigmatized in energetic language the long suc-
cession of intrigues by which the monarch of Spain, as
chief of the Holy League, had been making war upon
him, by means of his own subjects, for the last half-dozen
years. Certainly there was hardly need of an elaborate
statement of grievances. The deeds of Philip required
no herald, unless Henry was prepared to abdicate his
hardly earned title to the throne of France.

Nevertheless, the politic Gascon subsequently regretted
the fierce style in which he had fulminated his challenge.
He was accustomed to observe that no state paper re-
quired so much careful pondering as a declaration of
war,' and that it was scarcely possible to draw up such
a document without committing many errors in the
phraseology. The man who never knew fear, despon-
dency, nor resentment was already instinctively acting
on the principle that a king should deal with his enemy
as if sure to become his friend, and with his friends as
if they might easily change to foes.^

The answer to the declaration was delayed for two
months. When the reply came, it of course breathed
nothing but the most benignant sentiments in regard to
Prance, while it expressed regret that it was necessary
to carry fire and sword through that country in order to

1 Bor, De Thou, ubi sup. 2 Sully, i. liy. vij. 412.

352 THE TJNITED NETHERLANDS [1595

avert the unutterable woe which the crimes of the here-
tic Prince of B6am were bringing upon all mankind.^

It was a solace for Philip to call the legitimate Mng
by the title borne by him when heir presumptive, and to
persist in denying to him that absolution which, as the
whole world was aware, the Vicar of Christ was at that
very moment in the most solemn manner about to bestow
upon him.

More devoted to the welfare of France than were the
French themselves, he was determined that a foreign
prince— himself, his daughter, or one of his nephews-
should supplant the descendant of St. Louis on the
French throne. More Catholic than the pope, he could
not permit the heretic, whom his Holiness was just wash-
ing whiter than snow, to intrude himself into the society
of Christian sovereigns.

The winter movements by Bouillon in Luxemburg,
sustained by Philip Nassau campaigning with a meager
force on the French frontier, were not very brilliant.
The Netherland regiments quartered at Tssoire, La
Ferte, and in the neighborhood accomplished very little,
and their numbers were sadly thinned by dysentery
A sudden and successful stroke, too, by which that dar.
ing soldier Heraugiere, who had been the chief captor of
Breda, obtained possession of the town and castle of
Huy, produced no permanent advantage. This place,
belonging to the Bishop of Lifege, with its stone bridge
over the Meuse, was an advantageous position from
which to aid the operations of Bouillon in Luxemburg.
Heraugiere was, however, not sufficiently reinforced, and
Huy was a month later recaptured by La Motte.^ The
campaigning was languid during that winter in the

1 Bor, De Thou, ubi sup. « Bor, iv. 8, 10.

1595] MAEEIAGE FESTIVITIES 353

United Netherlands, but the merrymaking was energetic.
The nuptials of Hohenlo with Mary, eldest daughter
of William the Silent and own sister of the captive Philip
WiUiam ; of the Duke of Bouillon with Elizabeth, one of
the daughters of the same illustrious prince by his third
wife, Charlotte of Bourbon; and of Count Bverard
Solms, the famous general of the Zealand troops, with
Sabiiia, daughter of the unfortunate Lamoral Egmont,
were celebrated with much pomp during, the months of
February and March.i The states of Holland and of
Zealand made magniflcent presents of diamonds to the
brides, the Countess Hohenlo receiving besides a yearly
income of three thousand florins for the lives of herself
and her husband.^

In the midst of these merry marriage bells at The
Hague a funeral knell was sounding in Brussels. On the
20th February the governor-general of the obedient
Netherlands, Archduke Ernest, breathed his last. His
career had not been so Ulustrious as the promises of the
Spanish king and the allegories of Schoolmaster Hou-
waerts had led him to expect. He had not espoused the
Infanta nor been crowned King of France. He had not
blasted the rebellious Netherlands with Cyclopean thun-
derbolts, nor unbound the Belgic Andromeda from the
rock of doom. His brief year of government had really
been as dismal as, according to the announcement of
his sycophants, it should have been amazing. He had
accomplished nothing, and all that was left him was to
die at the age of forty- two, over head and ears in debt,
a disappointed, melancholy man. He was very indo-
lent, enormously fat, very chaste, very expensive, fond
of fine liveries and fine clothes, so solemn and stately as
1 Bor, iv. 13. 2 Ibid.

VOL. IV.— 23

354 THE UNITED NETHEKLANDS [1595

never to be known to laugh, but utterly without capacity
either as a statesman or a soldier.^ He would have
shone as a portly abbot ruling over peaceful friars, but
he was not born to ride a revolutionary whirlwind, nor
to evoke order out of chaos. Past and Present were
contending with each other in fierce elemental strife
within his domain. A world was in dying agony, an-
other world was coming, fuU-armed, into existence
within the handbreadth of time and of space where he
played his little part, but he dreamed not of it. He
passed away like a shadow, and was soon forgotten.

An effort was made, during the last iUness of Ernest,
to procure from him the appointment of the Elector of
Cologne as temporary successor to the government, but
Count Fuentes was on the spot and was a man of action.
He produced a power in the French language from
Philip, with a blank for the name. This had been in-
tended for the ease of Peter Ernest Mansfeld's possible
death during his provisional administration, and Fuentes
now claimed the right of inserting his own name.^

The dying Ernest consented, and upon his death
Fuentes was declared governor-general until the king's
further pleasure should be known.

Pedro de' Guzman, Count of Fuentes, a Spaniard of the
hard and antique type, was now in his sixty-fourth year,
The pupil and near relative of the Duke of Alva, he was
already as odious to the Netherlanders as might have
been inferred from such education and such kin. A
dark, grizzled, baldish man, with high, steep forehead,
long, haggard, leathern visage, sweeping beard, and

1 Bor, iv. 12. Coloma, viii, 162.

2 Diego de Ybarra to PMlip, February 19, 1595. Est. de Ybarra
to tlie secretaries, same date, Aroli. de Sim. MS.

1595] PUBNTES NAMED GOVEENOR-&ENERAL 355

large, stern, commanding, menacing eyes, with his Brus-
sels riiff of point-lace and his Milan coat of proof, he was
in personal appearance not unlike the terrible duke
whom men never named without a shudder, although a
quarter of a century had passed since he had ceased to
curse the Netherlands with his presence. Elizabeth of
England was accustomed to sneer at Fuentes because he
had retreated before Essex in that daring commander's
famous foray into Portugal.^ The queen called the
Spanish general a timid old woman. If her gibe were
true, it was fortunate for her, for Henry of France, and
for the Republic that there were not many more such
old women to come from Spain to take the place of the
veteran chieftains who were destined to disappear so
rapidly during this year in Flanders. He was a soldier
of fortune, loved fighting, not only for the fighting's
sake, but for the prize-money which was to be accumu-
lated by campaigning, and he was wont to say that he
meant to enter paradise sword in hand.^

Meantime his appointment excited the wrath of the
provincial magnates. The Duke of Aerschot was beside
himself with frenzy, and swore that he would never serve
under Fuentes nor sit at his council-board. The duke's
brother. Marquis Havre, and his son-in-law. Count Arem-
berg, shared in the hatred, although they tried to miti-
gate the vehemence of its expression. But Aerschot
swore that no man had the right to take precedence of him
in the council of state, and that the appointment of this
or any Spaniard was a violation of the charters of the
provinces and of the promises of his Majesty.^ As if it

1 Vol. iii. of this work, p. 437.

2 Fruin, Tien Jaaren, etc., 192, note.

3 Est. de Ybarra to PhiUp, Marcli 6, 1595, Arch, de Sim. MS.

356 THE UNITED NETHEELANDS [1595

were for the nobles of the obedient provinces to prate
of charters and of oaths ! Their brethren under the
banner of the Republic had been teaching Philip for a
whole generation how they could deal with the privileges
of freemen and with the perjury of tyrants. It was late
in the day for the obedient Netherlanders to remember
their rights. Havr6 and Aremberg, dissembling their
own wrath, were abused and insulted by the duke when
they tried to pacify him. They proposed a compromise,
according to which Aerschot should be allowed to preside
in the council of state, while Fuentes should content
himself with the absolute control of the army. This
would be putting a bit of fat in the duke's mouth, they
said.i Fuentes would hear of no such arrangement.
After much talk and daily attempts to pacify this great
Netherlander, his relatives at last persuaded him to go
home to his country place. He even promised Aremberg
and his wife that he would go to Italy, in pursuance of
a vow made to Our Lady of Loretto. Aremberg privately
intimated to Stephen Ybarra that there was a certain
oil, very apt to be ef&cacious in similar cases of irrita-
tion, which might be applied with prospect of success.
If his father-in-law could only receive some ten thousand
florins which he claimed as due to him from government,
this would do more to quiet him than a regiment of sol-
diers could. He also suggested that Fuentes should call
upon the duke, while Secretary Ybarra should excuse him-
self by sickness for not having already paid his respects.
This was done. Fuentes called. The duke returned the
call, and the two conversed amicably about the death of
the archduke, but entered into no political discussion.

1 Ybarra to Philip, March 6, 1595, Arch, de Sim. MS.: "Una
pella de sebo en la boca para aoquietarle."

1595] DISAFFECTION OF AEESCHOT 357

Aerschot then invited the whole council of state, except
John Baptist Tassis, to a great dinner. He had pre-
pared a paper to read to them, in which he represented
the great dangers likely to ensue from such an appoint-
ment as this of Fuentes, but declared that he washed his
hands of the consequences, and that he had determined
to leave a country where he was of so little account.
He would then close his eyes and ears to everything
that might occur, and thus escape the infamy of remain-
ing in a country where so little account was made of
him. He was urged to refrain from reading this paper
and to invite Tassis. After a time he consented to sup-
press the document, but he manfully refused to bid the
objectionable diplomatist to his banquet.^

The dinner took place and passed off pleasantly enough.
Aerschot did not read his manifesto, but, as he warmed
with wine, he talked a great deal of nonsense which, ac-
cording to Stephen Tbarra, much resembled it, and he
vowed that thenceforth he would be blind and dumb to
all that might occur.''^ A few days later he paid a visit
to the new governor-general, and took a peaceful fare-
well of him. " Your Majesty knows very well what he
is," wrote Fuentes : " he is nothing but talk." ^ Before
leaving the country he sent a bitter complaint to Ybarra,
to the effect that the king had entirely forgotten him,
and imploring that financier's influence to procure for
him some gratuity from his Majesty. He was in such
necessity, he said, that it was no longer possible for him
to maintain his household.*

1 Ybarra to Philip, March 6, 1595, Arch, de Sim. MS. 2 ibid.
3 Fuentes to Philip, March 28, 1595, Arch, de Sim. MS. : " Es
el que V. Mag* sabe, eontentaiidose con hablar."
* Letters of Ybarra, ubi sup.

358 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1595

And with this petition the grandee of the obedient
provinces shook the dust from his shoes and left his
natal soil forever. He died on the 11th December of
the same year in Venice.

His son the Prince of Chimay, his brother and son-in-
law, and the other obedient nobles soon accommodated
themselves to the new administration, much as they had
been inclined to bluster at first about their privileges.
The governor soon reported that matters were proceed-
ing very smoothly.^ There was a general return to the
former docility now that such a disciplinarian as Fuentes
held the reins.

The opening scenes of the campaign between the
Spanish governor and France were, as usual, in Picardy.
The Marquis of Varambon made a demonstration in the
neighborhood of Dourlens, a fortified town on the river
Authie, lying in an open plain, very deep in that prov-
ince, while Fuentes took the field with eight thousand
men and laid siege to Le Oatelet. He had his eye, how-
ever, upon Ham. That important stronghold was in the
hands of a certain nobleman called De Gomeron, who
had been an energetic Leaguer, and was now disposed,
for a handsome consideration, to sell himself to the King
of Spain. In the auction of governors and generals then
going on in every part of France it had been generally
found that Henry's money was more to be depended
upon in the long run, although Philip's bids were often
very high, and, for a considerable period, the payments
regular. Gomeron's upset price for himself was twenty-
five thousand crowns in cash and a pension of eight
thousand a year. Upon these terms he agreed to receive
a Spanish garrison into the town, and to cause the
1 Ybarra to Philip, March 16, 1595.

1595] TEEACHEEY OF DB GOMEEON 359

French in the citadel to be sworn into the service of the
Spanish king. Puentes agreed to the bargain, and paid
the adroit tradesman, who knew so well how to turn a
penny for himself, a large portion of the twenty-five
thousand crowns upon the naU.

De Gomeron was to proceed to Brussels to receive the
residue. His brother-in-law, M. d'OrvUle, commanded
in the citadel, and so soon as the Spanish troops had
taken possession of the town its governor claimed full
payment of his services.

But difi&culties awaited him in Brussels. He was in-
formed that a French garrison could not be depended
upon for securing the fortress, but that town and citadel
must both be placed in Spanish hands. De Gomeron, .
loudly protesting that this was not according to contract,
was calmly assured, by command of Fuentes, that unless
the citadel were at once evacuated and surrendered he
would not receive the balance of his twenty-five thou-
sand crowns, and that he should instantly lose his head.
Here was more than De Gomeron had bargained for;
but this particular branch of commerce in revolutionary
times, although lucrative, has always its risks. De
Gomeron, thus driven to the wall, sent a letter by a
Spanish messenger to his brother-in-law, ordering him
to surrender the fortress. D'Orville, who meantime
had been making his little arrangements with the other
party, protested that the note had been written under
duress, and refused to comply with its directions.

Time was pressing, for the Duke of Bouillon and the
Count of Saint-Pol lay with a considerable force in the
neighborhood, obviously menacing Ham.

Fuentes accordingly sent that distinguished soldier
and historian, Don Carlos Coloma, with a detachment of

360 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1595

soldiers to Brussels, with orders to bring Gromeron into
camp. He was found seated at supper with his two
young brothers, aged respectively siKteen and eighteen
years, and was just putting a cherry into his mouth as
Coloma entered the room. He remained absorbed in
thought, trifling with the cherry without eating it, which
Don Carlos set down as a proof of guilt. The three
brothers were at once put in a coach, together with their
sister, a nun of the age of twenty, and conveyed to the
headquarters of Fuentes, who lay before Le Catelet, but
six leagues from Ham.

Meantime D'Orville had completed his negotiations
with Bouillon, and had agreed to surrender the fortress
so soon as the Spanish troops should be driven from the
town. The duke, knowing that there was no time to lose,
came with three thousand men before the place. His
summons to surrender was answered by a volley of can-
non-shot from the town defenses. An assault was made
and repulsed, D'Humi^res, a most gallant officer and a
favorite of King Henry, being killed, besides at least
two hundred soldiers. The next attack was successful ;
the town was carried, and the Spanish garrison put to
the sword.

D'Orville then, before giving up the citadel, demanded
three hostages for the lives of his three brothers-in-law.

The hostages availed him little. Fuentes had already
sent word to Gomeron's mother that if the bargain were
not fulfilled he would send her the heads of her three
sons on three separate dishes. The distracted woman
made her way to D'Oi^rille, and fell at his feet with tears
and entreaties. It was too late, and D'Orville, unable
to bear her lamentations, suddenly rushed from the
castle, and nearly fell into the hands of the Spaniards as

15951 DEATH OF VEEDUGO 361

he fled from the scene. Two of the four cuirassiers who
alone of the whole garrison accompanied him were taken
prisoners. The governor escaped to unknown regions.
Madame de Gomeron then appeared before Fuentes,
and tried in vain to soften him. De Gomeron was at
once beheaded in the sight of the whole camp. The two
younger sons were retained in prison, but ultimately set
at liberty.! The town and citadel were thus permanently
acquired by theii' lawful king, who was said to be more
afflicted at the death of D'Humi&res than rejoiced at the
capture of Ham.

Meantime Colonel Verdugo, royal governor of Fries-
land, whose occupation in those provinces, now so nearly
recovered by the Republic, was gone, had led a force of
six thousand foot and twelve hundred horse across the
French border, and was besieging La Fert6, on the Cher,
The siege was relieved by Bouillon on the 26th May, and
the Spanish veteran was then ordered to take command
in Burgundy. But his days were numbered. He had
been sick of dysentery at Luxemburg during the siun-
mer, but after apparent recovery died suddenly on the
2d September, and of course was supposed to have been
poisoned.^ He was identified with the whole history of
the Netherland wars. Born at Talavera de la Reina, of
noble parentage, as he asserted, although his mother
was said to have sold dogs' meat, and he himself when
a youth was a private soldier, he rose by steady con-
duct and hard fighting to considerable eminence in his
profession. He was governor of Haarlem after the
famous siege, and exerted himself with some success to

1 Bor, iv. 18, 19, 27. Meteren, 355, 356. De Thou, xii. 382 seq.
Coloma, 173.

2 Duyck, 662. Compare Bor, iv. 29.

362 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1595

mitigate tlie ferocity of the Spaniards toward the Nether-
landers at that epoch. He was marshal-general of the
camp under Don John of Austria, and distinguished
himself at the battle of Gembloux. He succeeded Count
Renneberg as governor of Friesland and Groningen, and
bore a manful part in most of the rough business that had
been going on for a generation of mankind among those
blood-stained wolds and morasses. He was often vic-
torious, and quite as often soundly defeated ; but he en-
joyed campaigning, and was a glutton of work. He
cared little for parade and ceremony, but was fond of
recalling with pleasure the days when he was a soldier
at^ four crowns a month, with an undivided fourth of
one cloak, which he and three companions wore by turns
on holidays. Although accused of having attempted to
procure the assassination of Louis William Nassau, he
was not considered ill-natured, and he possessed much
admiration for Prince Maurice. An iron-clad man, who
had scarcely taken harness from his back all his life, he
was a type of the Spanish commanders who had im-
planted international hatred deeply in the Netherland
soul, and who, now that this result and no other had
been accomplished, were rapidly passing away. He had
been baptized Franco, and his family appellation of Ver-
dugo meant executioner. Punning on these names, he
was wont to say that he was frank for all good people,
but a hangman for heretics; and he acted up to his
gibe.i

Foiled at Ham, Fuentes had returned to the siege of

Catelet, and had soon reduced the place. He then

turned his attention again to Dourlens, and invested

that city. During the preliminary operations another

1 Coloma, 168™.

1595] DEATH OF LA MOTTE 363

veteran commander in these wars, Valentin Pardieu de
la Motte, recently created Count of Bverbecq by-
Philip, who had been for a long time general-in-chief of
the artillery, and was one of the most famous and ex-
perienced officers in the Spanish service, went out one
fine moonlight night to reconnoiter the enemy and to
superintend the erection of batteries. As he was usu-
ally rather careless of his personal safety, and rarely
known to put on his armor when going for such pur-
poses into the trenches, it was remarked with some sur-
prise, on this occasion, that he ordered his page to bring
his accoutrements, and that he armed himself cap-a-pie
before leaving his quarters. Nevertheless, before he
had reached the redout a bullet from the town struck
him between the fold of his morion and the edge of his
buckler, and he fell dead without uttering a sound.^

Here again was a great loss to the king's service. La
Motte, of a noble family in Burgundy, had been educated
in the old fierce traditions of the Spanish system of war-
fare in the Netherlands, and had been one of the very
hardest instruments that the despot could use for his
bloody work. He had commanded a company of horse
at the famous battle of St.-Quentin, and since that open-
ing event in Philip's reign he had been unceasingly en-
gaged in the Flemish wars. Alva made him a colonel of
a Walloon regiment ; the Grand Commander Requesens
appointed him governor of Grravelines. On the whole,
he had been tolerably faithful to his colors, having
changed sides but twice. After the Pacification of Ghent
he swore allegiance to the States- General, and assisted
in the bombardment of the citadel of that place. Soon
afterward he went over to Don John of Austria, and

1 Bor, xii. 39. Meteren, 356. Coloma, 176.

364 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1595

surrendered to him the town and fortress of Gravelines,
of which he then continued governor in the name of the
king. He was fortunate in the accumulation of oface
and of money, rather unlucky in his campaigning. He
was often wounded in action, and usually defeated when
commanding in chief. He lost an arm at the siege of
Sluis, and had now lost his life almost by an accident.
Although twice married, he left no children to inherit his
great estates, while the civil and military offices left
vacant by his death were sufficient to satisfy the claims
of five aspiring individuals. The Count of Varax suc-
ceeded him as general of artillery ; but it was difficult to
find a man to replace La Motte, possessing exactly the
qualities which had made that warrior so valuable to his
king. The type was rapidly disappearing, and most
fortunately for humanity, if half the stories told of him
by grave chroniclers, accustomed to discriminate between
history and gossip, are to be believed. He had com-
mitted more than one cool homicide. Although not re-
joicing in the same patronjonic as his Spanish colleague
of Friesland, he, too, was ready on occasion to perform
hangman's work. When sergeant-major in Flanders, he
had himself volunteered— -so ran the chronicle— to do
execution on a poor wretch found guilty of professing
the faith of Calvin, and with his own hands had pre-
pared a fire of straw, tied his victim to the stake, and
burned him to cinders.^ Another Netherlander for the
same crime of heresy had been condemned to be torn to
death by horses. No one could be found to carry out
the sentence. The soldiers under La Motte's command
broke into mutiny rather than permit themselves to be
used for such foul purposes ; but the ardent young ser-
1 Meteren, ubi sup.

1595] CHARLES MANSFELD DISAPPEARS 365

geant-major came forward, tied the culprit by the arpas
and legs to two horses, and himself whipped them to
their work tiU it was duly accomplished.^ Was it
strange that in Philip's reign such energy should be
rewarded by wealth, rank, and honor ? Was not such a
laborer in the vineyard worthy of his hire ?

Still another eminent chieftain in the king's service
disappeared at this time— one who, although unscrupu-
lous and mischievous enough in his day, was, however,
not stained by any suspicion of crimes like these. Count
Charles Mansf eld, tired of governing his decrepit parent
Peter Ernest, who, since the appointment of Fuentes,
had lost all further chance of governing the Netherlands,
had now left Philip's service and gone to the Turkish
wars. For Amurath III., who had died in the early
days of the year, had been succeeded by a sultan as war-
like as himself. Mohammed III., having strangled his
nineteen brothers on his accession, handsomely buried
them in cypress coffins by the side of their father, and
having subsequently sacked and drowned ten infant
princes posthumously born to Amurath,^ was at leisure
to carry the war through Transylvania and Hungary, up
to the gates of Vienna, with renewed energy. The Turk,
who could enforce the strenuous rules of despotism by
which aU secundogenitures and collateral claimants in
the Ottoman family were thus provided for, was a foe to
be dealt with seriously. The power of the Moslems at
that day was a full match for the Holy Roman Empire.
The days were far distant when the grim Turk's head
was to become a mockery and a show, and when a pagan

1 Meteren, ubi sup.

2 j)e Thou, t. xii. liv. cxiv. 500 seq. Compare Herrera, iii. 476,

477.

366 THE UNITED NETHEELANDS [1595

empire, born of carnage and barbarism, was to be kept
alive in Europe, when it was ready to die, by tbe collec-
tive efforts of Christian princes. Charles Mansf eld had
been received with great enthusiasm at the court of
Eudolph, where he was created a prince of the empire
and appointed to the chief command of the imperial
armies under the Archduke Matthias. But his warfare
was over. At the siege of Gran he was stricken with
sickness and removed to Comorn, where he lingered
some weeks. There, on the 24th August, as he lay half
dozing on his couch, he was told that the siege was at
last successful, upon which he called for a goblet of
wine, drained it eagerly, and then lay resting his head
on his hand, like one absorbed in thought. When they
came to arouse him from his reverie they found that he
was dead.^ His father still remained superfluous in the
Netherlands, hating and hated by Fuentes, but no
longer able to give that governor so much annoyance as
during his son's lifetime the two had been able to create
for Alexander Farnese. The octogenarian was past
work and past mischief now ; but there was one older
soldier than he stiU left upon the stage, the grandest
veteran in Philip's service, and now the last survivor,
except the decrepit Peter Ernest, of the grim comman-
ders of Alva's school. Christopher Mondragon— that
miracle of human endurance, who had been an old man
when the great duke arrived in the Netherlands— was
stm governor of Antwerp citadel, and men were to
speak of him yet once more before he passed from the
stage.

I return from this digression to the siege of Dourlens.
The death of La Motte made no difference in the plans

1 Bor, iv. 30. Meteren, 349™. De Thou, xii. 523.

1595] SIE&E OF DOURLENS 367

of Fuentes. He was determined to reduce the place
preparatively to more important operations. Bouillon
was disposed to relieve it, and to that end had assembled
a force of eight thousand men within the city of Amiens.
By midsummer the Spaniards had advanced with their
mines and galleries close to the walls of the city. Mean-
time Admiral ViUars, who had gained so much renown
by defending Rouen against Henry IV., and who had
subsequently made such an excellent bargain with that
monarch before entering his service,^ arrived at Amiens.
On the 24th July an expedition was sent from that city
toward Dourlens. Bouillon and Saint-Pol commanded
in person a force of six hundred picked cavalry. Villars
and Sanseval each led half as many and there was a
supporting body of twelve hundred musketeers. This
little army convoyed a train of wagons containing am-
munition and other supplies for the beleaguered town.
But Fuentes, having sufficiently strengthened his works,
sallied forth with two thousand infantry and a flying
squadron of Spanish horse to intercept them. It was
the eve of St. James, the patron saint of Spain, at the
sound of whose name as a war-cry so many battle-fields
had been won in the Netherlands, so many cities sacked,
so many wholesale massacres perpetrated. Fuentes
rode in the midst of his troops, with the royal standard
of Spain floating above him. On the other hand, Vil-

* He had been reoeiying six thousand per month from the King
of Spain, but on reeonoiling himself with Henry after the sur-
render of Paris he received a sum of three hundred thousand
ducats secured by estates in Normandy, and a yearly pension of
thirty thousand ducats, together with the office of Admiral of
Prance. For these considerations he had surrendered Eouen,
Havre de Gran, and the castle of Pont de I'Arohe. (Herrera, Hist,
gen. del Mundo, iii. 423.)

368 THE UNITED NETHEELANDS [1595

lars, glittering in magnificent armor and mounted on a
superbly caparisoned cliarger,i came on, with his three
hundred troopers, as if about to ride a course in a
tournament. The battle which ensued was one of the
most bloody for the numbers engaged, and the victory
one of the most decisive recorded in this war. Villars
charged prematurely, furiously, foolishly. He seemed
jealous of Bouillon, and disposed to show the sovereign
to whom he had so recently given his allegiance that an
ancient Leaguer and papist was a better soldier for his
purpose than the most grizzled Huguenot in his army.
On the other hand, the friends of Villars accused the
duke of faint-heartedness, or at least of an excessive
desire to save himself and his own command. The first
impetuous onset of the admiral was successful, and he
drove half a dozen companies of Spaniards before him.
But he had ventured too far from his supports. Bouil-
lon had only intended a feint, instead of a desperate
charge ; the Spaniards were rallied, and the day was
saved by that cool and ready soldier, Carlos Coloma. In
less than an hour the French were utterly defeated and
cut to pieces. Bouillon escaped to Amiens with five
hundred men ; this was all that was left of the expedi-
tion. The horse of Villars was shot under him, and the
admiral's leg was broken as he fell. He was then taken
prisoner by two lieutenants of Carlos Coloma ; but while
these warriors were enjoying, by anticipation, the enor-
mous ransom they should derive from so illustrious a
captive, two other lieutenants in the service of Marshal
de Rosne came up and claimed their share in the prize.
While the four were wrangling, the admiral called out
to them in excellent Spanish not to dispute, for he had

1 "Muy vistoso y galan y en gallardo cavallo."— Coloma, 180.

1595] ASSASSINATION OP DE VILLARS 369

money enough to satisfy them all. Meantime the Span-
ish commissary-general of cavalry, Contreras, came up,
rebuked this unseemly dispute before the enemy had
been fairly routed, and, in order to arrange the quarrel
impartially, ordered his page to despatch De VUlars on
the spot. The page, without a word, placed his harque-
bus to the admiral's forehead and shot him dead.

So perished a bold and brilliant soldier and a most
unscrupulous politician. Whether the cause of his mur-
der was mere envy on the part of the commissary at hav-
ing lost a splendid opportunity for prize-money, or
hatred to an ancient Leaguer thus turned renegade, it is
fruitless now to inquire. VUlars would have paid two
hundred thousand crowns for his ransom, so that the
assassination was bad as a mercantile speculation ; but
it was pretended by the friends of Contreras that rescue
was at hand. It is certain, however, that nothing was
attempted by the French to redeem their total overthrow.
Count Belin was wounded and fell into the hands of
Coloma. Sanseval was killed, and a long list of some
of the most brilliant nobles in Prance was published by
the Spaniards as having perished on that bloody field.
This did not prevent a large number of these victims,
however, from enjoying excellent health for many long
years afterward, although their deaths have been duly
recorded in chronicle from that day to our own times.^

1 Bor, iv. 28-30. Meteren, 356 seq. Coloma, 180 seq.
BentivogUo, 411, 412, 413. De Thou, xii. 403 seq.

Count Louis Nassau wrote to his brother John that besides the
admiral (ViUars) not more than three or at most four nobles of
distinction perished. He also ascribes the defeat entirely to the
foolhardiness of the French, who, according to his statement,
charged up-hill and through a narrow road, with a force of one
thousand foot and three hundred cavalry, against the enemy's whole

VOL. IV,— 24

370' THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1595

But Villars and Sanseval were certainly slain, and
Fnentes sent their bodies, with a courteous letter, to the
Duke of Nevers, at Amiens, who honored them with a
stately funeral.^

There was much censure cast on both BouiUon and
Villars respectively by the antagonists of each chieftain,
and the contest as to the cause of the defeat was almost
as animated as the skirmish itself. BouUlon was cen-
sured for grudging a victory to the Catholics, and thus
leaving the admiral to his fate; yet it is certain that
the Huguenot duke himself commanded a squadron
composed almost entirely of papists. Villars, on the
other hand, was censured for rashness, obstinacy, and
greediness for distinction ; yet it is probable that Fuentes
might have been defeated had the charges of Bouillon
been as determined and frequent as were those of his
colleague. Savigny de Rosne, too, the ancient Leaguer,
who commanded under Fuentes, was accused of not hav-
ing sufficiently followed up the victory, because unwill-
ing that his Spanish friends should entirely trample
upon his own countrymen ; yet there is no doubt what-
ever that De Rosne was as bitter an enemy to his own
country as the most ferocious Spaniard of them aU. It
has rarely been found in civU war that the man who

army, drawn up in battle array, and consisting of two thousand
torse and ten thousand infantry, well provided with artillery.
Certainly the result of such an encounter could hardly he doubt-
ful, but Count Louis was not in the battle, nor in France at the
time, and the news received by him was probably inaccurate.

I have preferred to rely mainly on Carlos Coloma, who fought
in the action, upon De Thou, and upon the Dutch chroniclers,
Bor, Meteren, and others.

See Groen v. Prinsterer, Archives, II. S. i. 342.

1 Ibid.

1595] DOURLENS CAPTURED 371

draws his sword against his fatherland, under the ban-
ner of the foreigner, is actuated by any lingering ten-
derness for the nation he betrays, and the renegade
Frenchman was in truth the animating spirit of Fuentes
during the whole of his brilliant campaign. The Span-
iard's victories were, indeed, mainly attributable to the
experience, the genius, and the rancor of De Rosne.^

But debates over a lost battle are apt to be barren.
Meantime Fuentes, losing no time in controversy, ad-
vanced upon the city of Dourlens, was repulsed twice,
and carried it on the third assault, exactly one week after
the action just recounted. The Spaniards and Leaguers,
howling " Remember Ham ! " butchered without mercy
the garrison and all the citizens, save a small number of
prisoners likely to be lucrative. Six hundred of the
townspeople and two thousand five hundred French sol-
diers were killed within a few hours. "Well had Fuentes
profited by the relationship and tuition of Alva !

The Count of Dinant and his brother De Ronsoy were
both slain, and two or three hundred thousand florins
were paid in ransom by those who escaped with life.
The victims were aU buried outside of the town in one
vast trench, and the effluvia bred a fever which carried
off most of the surviving inhabitants. Dourlens became
for the time a desert.^

Fuentes now received deputies with congratulations
from the obedient provinces, especially from Hainault,
Artois, and LUle. He was also strongly urged to at-
tempt the immediate reduction of Cambray, to which
end those envoys were empowered to offer contributions
of four hundred and fifty thousand florins and a contin-

1 De Thioii, Bor, Coloma, Bentivoglio, et al., ubi sup.
a Ibid.

372 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1595

gent of seven thousand infantry. Berlaymont, too,
Bishop of ToTirnay and Archbishop of Cambray, was
ready to advance forty thousand florins in the same
cause.

Puentes, in the highest possible spirits at his success,
and having just been reinforced by Count Bucquoy with
a fresh Walloon regiment of fifteen hundred foot and
with eight hundred and fifty of the mutineers from
Tiflemont and Chapelle, who were among the choicest
of Spanish veterans, was not disposed to let the grass
grow under his feet. Within four days after the sack
of Dourlens he broke up his camp, and came before
Cambray with an army of twelve thousand foot and
nearly four thousand horse. But before narrating the
further movements of the vigorous new governor-gen-
eral it is necessary to glance at the military operations
in the eastern part of the Netherlands and upon the
Rhine.

The States-General had reclaimed to their authority
nearly all that important region lying beyond the Yssel,
—the solid Frisian bulwark of the Eepublic,— but there
were certain points nearer the line where Upper and
Nether Germany almost blend into one which yet
acknowledged the name of the king. The city of
Groenlo, or Grol, not a place of much interest or impor-
tance in itself, but close to the frontier and to that des-
tined land of debate, the duchies of Cleves, Juliers, and
Berg, still retained its Spanish garrison. On the 14th
July Prince Maurice of Nassau came before the city with
six thousand infantry, some companies of cavalry, and
sixteen pieces of artillery. He made his approaches in
form, and after a week's operations he fired three vol-
leys, according to his custom, and summoned the place

1595] MAUEICE LAYS SIEGE TO GEOL 373

to capitulate.^ Governor Jan van Stirum replied stoutly
that lie would hold the place for God and the king to
the last drop of his blood. Meantime there was hope of
help from the outside.

Maurice was a vigorous young commander, but there
was a man to be dealt with who had been called the
"good old Mondragon" when the prince was in his
cradle, and who still governed the citadel of Antwerp,
and was still ready for an active campaign.

Christopher Mondragon was now ninety-two years
old. Not often in the world's history has a man of that
age been capable of personal participation in the joys of
the battle-field, whatever natural reluctance veterans are
apt to manifest at relinquishing high military control.

But Mondragon looked, not with envy, but with ad-
miration on the growing fame of the Nassau chieftain,
and was disposed, before he himself left the stage, to
match himself with the young champion.

So soon as he heard of the intended demonstration of
Maurice against Grol, the ancient governor of Antwerp
collected a little army by throwing together all the
troops that could be spared from the various garrisons
within his command. With two Spanish regiments,
two thousand Swiss, the Walloon troops of De Grisons,
and the Irish regiment of Stanley,— in all seven thousand
foot and thirteen hundred horse,— Mondragon marched
straight across Brabant and Gelderland to the Rhine.
At Kaiserswerth he reviewed his forces, and announced
his intention of immediately crossing the river. There
was a murmur of disapprobation among of&cers and
men at what they considered the foolhardy scheme of
mad old Mondragon. But the general had not cam-

1 Bor, xii. 42.

374 THE UNITED NETHEBLANDS [1595

paigned a generation before, at the age of sixty-nine, in
the bottom of the sea, and waded chin-deep for six hours
long of an October night, in the face of a rising tide
from the German Ocean and of an army of Zealanders,
to be frightened now at the summer aspect of the peace-
ful Rhine.

The wizened little old man, walking with difficulty by
the aid of a staff, but armed in proof, with plumes wav-
ing gallantly from his iron headpiece, and with his
rapier at his side, ordered a chair to be brought to the
river's edge. Then calmly seating himself in the pres-
ence of his host, he stated that he should not rise from
that chair untO. the last man had crossed the river.^
Furthermore, he observed that it was not only his pur-
pose to relieve the city of G-rol, but to bring Maurice to
an action, and to defeat him, unless he retired. The
soldiers ceased to murmur, the pontoons were laid, the
river was passed, and on the 25th July Maurice, hearing
of the veteran's approach, and not feeling safe in his
position, raised the siege of the city.^ Burning his camp
and everything that could not be taken with him on his
march, the prince came in perfect order to Borkulo, two
Dutch miles from Grol. Here he occupied himself for
some time in clearing the country of brigands who in the
guise of soldiers infested that region and made thehttle
cities of Doetinchem, Anholt, and Heerenberg unsafe.
He ordered the inhabitants of these places to send out
detachments to beat the bushes for his cavalry, while
Hohenlo was ordered to hunt the heaths and wolds thor-
oughly with packs of bloodhounds until every mar. and
beast to be found lurking in those wild regions should

1 Carnero, lib. xi. cap. xri. 374.

2 Ibid. Compare Bor, xii. 42.

1595] RELIEF OF GEOL 375

be extirpated. By these vigorous and cruel, but per-
haps necessary, measures the brigands were at last ex-
tirpated, and honest people began to sleep in their beds.^

On the 18th August Maurice took up a strong position
at Bisslieh, not far from Wesel, where the river Lippe
empties itself into the Rhine. Mondragon, with his
army strengthened by reinforcements from garrisons
in Gelderland and by four hundred men brought by
Frederick van den Berg from Grol, had advanced to a
place called Walston in den Ham, in the neighborhood
of Wesel. The Lippe flowed between the two hostile
forces. Although he had broken up his siege, the prince
was not disposed to renounce his whole campaign before
trying conclusions with his veteran antagonist. He
accordingly arranged an ambush with much skill, by
means of which he hoped to bring on a general engage-
ment and destroy Mondragon and his little army.

His cousin and favorite lieutenant Philip Nassau was
intrusted with the preliminaries. That adventurous
commander, with a picked force of seven hundred cav-
alry, moved quietly from the camp on the evening of
the 1st September. He took with him his two younger
brothers, Ernest and Louis Gunther, who, as has been
seen, had received the promise of the eldest brother of
the family, Louis William, that they should be employed
from time to time in any practical work that might be
going forward. Besides these young gentlemen, several
of the most famous English and Dutch commanders were
on the expedition, the brothers Paul and MarceUus Bax,
Captains Parker, Cutler, and Robert Vere, brother of Sir
Francis, among the number.

Early in the morning of the 2d September the force
» Bor, iv. 43.

376 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1595

crossed the Lippe, according to orders, keeping a pon-
toon across tlie stream to secure their retreat. They
had instructions thus to feel the enemy at early dawn,
and, as he was known to have foraging parties out every
morning along the margin of the river, to make a sud-
den descent upon their pickets, and to capture those
companies before they could effect their escape or be
reinforced. Afterward they were to retreat across the
Lippe, followed, as it was hoped would be the case, by the
troops of Mondragon, anxious to punish this piece of
audacity. Meantime Maurice, with five thousand infan-
try, the rest of his cavalry, and several pieces of artillery,
awaited their coming, posted behind some hUls in the
neighborhood of Wesel.

The plot of the young commander was an excellent
one, but the ancient campaigner on the other side of the
river had not come all the way from his comfortable
quarters in Antwerp to be caught napping on that Sep-
tember morning. Mondragon had received accurate
information from his scouts as to what was going on
in the enemy's camp, and as to the exact position of
Maurice. He was up long before daybreak,— the "good
old Christopher,"— and himself personally arranged a
counter-ambush. In the fields lying a little back from
the immediate neighborhood of the Lippe he posted the
mass of his cavalry, supported by a well-concealed force
of infantry. The pickets on the stream and the forag-
ing companies were left to do their usual work as if
nothing were likely to happen.

Philip Nassau galloped cheerfully forward, according
to the well-concerted plan, sending Cutler and Marcellus
Bax with a handful of troopers to pounce upon the
enemy's pickets. When those officers got to the usual

1595] EXPLOIT OF MONDEAGON 377

foraging-ground they came upon a much larger cavalry
force than they had looked for, and, suspecting some-
thing wrong, dashed back again to give information to
Count Philip. That impatient commander, feeling sure
of his game unless this foolish delay should give the
foraging companies time to escape, ordered an immedi-
ate advance with his whole cavalry force. The sheriff
of ZaUant was ordered to lead the way. He objected
that the pass, leading through a narrow lane and open-
ing by a gate into an open field, was impassable for
more than two troopers abreast, and that the enemy was
in force beyond. Philip, scorning these words of cau-
tion, and exclaiming that seventy-five lancers were
enough to put fifty carbineers to rout, put on his casque,
drew his sword, and sending his brother Louis to sum-
mon Kinski and Donek, dashed into the pass, accom-
panied by the two counts and a couple of other nobles.
The sheriff, seeing this, followed him at full gallop, and
after him came the troopers of Barchon, of Du Bois, and
of Paul Bax, riding single file, but in much disorder.
When they had aU entered inextricably into the lane,
with the foremost of the lancers already passing through
the gate, they discovered the enemy's cavalry and infan-
try drawn up in force upon the watery, heathery pas-
tures beyond. There was at once a scene of confusion.
To use lances was impossible, while they were all strug-
gling together through the narrow passage, offering
themselves an easy prey to the enemy as they slowly
emerged into the fields. The foremost defended them-
selves with saber and pistol as well as they could. The
hindmost did their best to escape, and rode for their
lives to the other side of the river. All trampled upon
each other and impeded each other's movements. There

378 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1595

was a brief engagement, bloody, desperate, hand to
hand, and many Spaniards fell before the entrapped
Netherlanders. But there could not be a moment's
doubt as to the issue. Count Philip went down in the
beginning of the action, shot through the body by an
harquebus, discharged so close to him that his clothes
were set on fire. As there was no water within reach,
the flames could be extinguished at last only by rolling
him over and over, wounded as he was, among the sand
and heather. Count Ernest Solms was desperately
wounded at the same time. For a moment both gentle-
men attempted to effect their escape by mounting on
one horse, but both fell to the ground exhausted and
were taken prisoners. Ernest Nassau was also captured.
His young brother, Louis Gunther, saved himself by
swimming the river. Count Kinski was mortally
wounded. Eobert Vere, too, fell into the enemy's hands,
and was afterward murdered in cold blood. Marcellus
Bax, who had returned to the field by a circuitous path,
still under the delusion that he was about handsomely
to cut off the retreat of the foraging companies, saved
himself and a handful of cavalry by a rapid flight so
soon as he discovered the enemy drawn up in line of
battle. Cutler and Parker were equally fortunate.
There were less than a hundred of the states' troops
killed, and it is probable that a larger number of the
Spaniards fell. But -the loss of Philip Nassau, despite
the debauched life and somewhat reckless valor of that
soldier, was a very severe one to the army and to his
family. He was conveyed to Rheinberg, where his
wounds were dressed. As he lay dying, he was cour-
teously visited by Mondragon and by many other Span-
ish oflcers, anxious to pay their respects to so distin-

1595] DEATH OF PHILIP NASSAU 379

guished and warlike a member of an illnstrious house.
He received them with dignity, and concealed his
physical agony so as to respond to their conversation as
became a Nassau. His cousin, Frederick van den Berg,
who was among the visitors, indecently taunted him
with his position, asking him what he had expected by
serving the cause of the Beggars. Philip turned from
him with impatience and bade him hold his peace. At
midnight he died.

William of Orange and his three brethren had already
laid down their lives for the Republic, and now his eldest
brother's son had died in the same cause. "He has
carried the name of Nassau with honor into the grave,"
said his brother, Louis William, to their father.^ Ten
others of the house, besides many collateral relations,
were still in arms for their adopted country. Rarely in
history has a single noble race so entirely identified it-
self with a nation's record in its most heroic epoch as
did that of Orange-Nassau with the liberation of
Holland.

Young Ernest Sohns, brother of Count Everard, lay in
the same chamber with Philip Nassau, and died on the
following day. Their bodies were sent by Mondragon
with a courteous letter to Maurice at Bisslich. Ernest
Nassau was subsequently ransomed for ten thousand
florins.^

This skirmish on the Lippe has no special significance
in a military point of view, but it derives more than a
passing interest not. only from the death of many a

1 Groen v. Prinsterer, Archives, II. S. i. 345.

2 Bor (iv. 42-44), Metereii (361'°), Eeyd (xi. 271), Coloma
(192), Carnero (xi. xvi. 574 seq), Bentivoglio (422, 423), Duyck
(652-659), are chief authorities for the incidents of this skirmish.

380 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1595

brave and distinguished soldier, but for the illustration
of human vigor triumphing, both physically and men-
tally, over the infirmities of old age, given by the achieve-
ment of Christopher Mondragon. Alone he had planned
his expedition across the country from Antwerp ; alone
he had insisted on crossing the Rhine, while younger
soldiers hesitated ; alone, with his own active brain and
busy hands, he had outwitted the famous young chief-
tain of the Netherlands, counteracted his subtle policy,
and set the counter-ambush by which his choicest cavalry
were cut to pieces and one of his bravest generals slain.
So far could the icy blood of ninety-two prevail against
the vigor of twenty-eight.

The two armies lay over against each other, with the
river between them, for some days longer, but it was
obvious that nothing further would be attempted on
either side. Mondragon had accomplished the object
for which he had marched from Brabant. He had
spoiled the autumn campaign of Maurice, and was now
disposed to return before winter to his own quarters. He
sent a trumpet accordingly to his antagonist, begging
him, half in jest, to have more consideration for Ms in-
firmities than to keep him out in his old age in such
foul weather, but to allow him the military honor of
being last to break up camp. Should Maurice consent
to move away, Mondragon was ready to pledge himself
not to pursue him, and within three days to leave his
own intrenchments.

The proposition was not granted, and very soon after-
ward the Spaniard, deciding to retire, crossed the Rhine
on the 11th October. Maurice made a slight attempt at
pursuit, sending Count Louis William with some cav-
alry, who succeeded in cutting ofE a few wagons. The

1595] DEATH OF MONDEAGON 381

army, however, returned safely, to be dispersed into
various garrisons.^

This was Mondragon's last feat of arms. Less than
three months afterward, in Antwerp citadel, as the
veteran was washing his hands previously to going to
the dinner-table, he sat down and died.^ Strange to say,
this man, who had spent almost a century on the battle-
field, who had been a soldier in nearly every war that
had been waged in any part of Europe during that most
belligerent age, who had come an old man to the Nether-
lands before Alva's arrival, and had ever since been
constantly and personally engaged in the vast Flemish
tragedy which had now lasted well-nigh thirty years,
had never himself lost a drop of blood. His battle-fields
had been on land and water, on ice, in fire, and at the
bottom of the sea, but he had never received a wound.
Nay, more ; he had been blown up in a fortress, — the
castle of DanvilKers in Luxemburg, of which he was
governor,— where all perished save his wife and himself,
and when they came to dig among the ruins they ex-
cavated at last the ancient couple, protected by the
framework of a window in the embrasure of which they
had been seated, without a scratch or a bruise.^ He
was a Biscayan by descent, but born in Medina del
Campo. A strict disciplinarian, very resolute and per-
tinacious, he had the good fortune to be beloved by his
inferiors, his equals, and his superiors. He was called
the father of his soldiers, the good Mondragon, and his
name was unstained by any of those deeds of ferocity
which make the chronicles of the time resemble rather

1 Bor, Meteren, Eeyd, Coloma, Camero, Bentivoglio, Duyck,
ubi sup.

2 Bor, iv. 167. s ibid. Camero, 378, 379.

382 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1595

the history of wolves than of men. To amarried daughter,
mother of several children, he left a considerable f ortune.i

Maurice broke up his camp soon after the departure
of his antagonist, and paused for a few days at Arnheim
to give honorable burial to his cousin Philip and Count
Solms. Meantime Sir Francis Vere was detached, with
three regiments, which were to winter in Overyssel,
toward Weerdt Castle, situate at a league's distance from
Ysselsburg, and defended by a garrison of twenty-sis
men under Captain Pruys. That doughty commandant,
on being summoned to surrender, obstinately refused.
Vere, according to Maurice's orders, then opened with
his artillery against the place, which soon capitulated in
great panic and confusion. The captain demanded the
honors of war. Vere told him in reply that the honors
of war were halters for the garrison who had dared to
defend such a hovel against artillery. The twenty-six
were accordingly ordered to draw black and white
straws. This was done, and the twelve drawing white
straws were immediately hanged, the thirteenth receiv-
ing his life on consenting to act as executioner for his
comrades. The commandant was despatched first of all.
The rope broke, but the English soldiers held him under
the water of the ditch until he was drowned. The castle
was then thoroughly sacked, the women being sent un-
harmed to Tsselsburg.2

Maurice then shipped the remainder of his troops

1 Bor, iy. 167.

In the Ambras Museum in the Imperial Belvedere Palace at
Vienna may still be seen a blaok, battered old iron corselet of
Mondragon, with many an indentation, looking plain and practi-
cal enough among the holiday suits of steel inlaid with gold, which,
make this collection of old armor the most remarkable in the
world. 2 Bor, iv. 47, 131.

1595] CAMPAIGN OF HENEY IV. 383

along the RMne and Waal to their winter quarters, and
returned to The Hague. It was the feeblest year's
work yet done by the stadholder.

Meantime his great ally, the Huguenot-Catholic
Prince of Beam, was making a dashing and, on the
whole, successful campaign in the heart of his own king-
dom. The constable of Castile, Don Fernando de Ve-
lasco, one of Spain's richest grandees and poorest
generals, had been sent with an army of ten thousand
men to take the field in Burgundy against the man with
whom the great Farnese had been measuring swords so
lately, and with not unmingled success, in Picardy.
Biron, with a sudden sweep, took possession of Aussone,
Autun, and Beaune, but on one adventurous day found
himself so deeply engaged with a superior force of the
enemy in the neighborhood of Fontaine Frangaise, or
St.-Seine, where France's great river takes its rise, as to
be nearly cut ofE and captured. But Henry himself was
already in the field, and by one of those mad, reckless
impulses which made him so adorable as a soldier and
yet so profoundly censurable as a commander-in-chief,
he flung himself, like a young lieutenant, with a mere
handful of cavalry, into the midst of the fight, and at
the imminent peril of his own life succeeded in rescuing
the marshal and getting off again unscathed. On other
occasions Henry said he had fought for victory, but on
that for dear life ; and, even as in the famous and fool-
ish skirmish at Aumale three years before, it was absence
of enterprise or lack of cordiality on the part of his an-
tagonists that alone prevented a captive king from being
exhibited as a trophy of triumph for the expiring League. ^

1 Bor, iv. 52 seq. De Thou, t. xii. liv. oxii. 359-364 seq.
P6r6fixe, 191, 192.

384 THE UNITED NETHEELANDS [1595

But the constable of Castile was not born to cheer the
heai't of his prudent master with such a magnificent
spectacle. Velasco fell back to Gray and obstinately
refused to stir from his intrenchments, while Henry
before his eyes laid siege to Dijon. On the 28th June
the capital of Burgundy surrendered to its sovereign,
but no temptations could induce the constable to try the
chance of a battle.^ Henry's movements in the interior
were more successful than were the operations nearer
the frontier, but while the monarch was thus cheerfully
fighting for his crown in France his envoys were win-
ning a still more decisive campaign for him in Rome.

D'Ossat and Perron had accomplished their diplomatic
task with consummate ability, and, notwithstanding the
efforts and the threats of the Spanish ambassador and
the intrigues of his master, the absolution was granted.
The pope arose early on the morning of the 5th August,
and walked barefoot from his palace of Mount Cavallo
to the Church of Maria Maggiore, with his eyes fixed on
the ground, weeping loudly and praying fervently. He
celebrated mass in the church, and then returned as he
went, saluting no one on the road and shutting himself
up in his palace afterward. The same ceremony was
performed ten days later, on the festival of Our Lady's
Ascension. In vain, however, had been the struggle on
the part of his Holiness to procure from the ambassador
the deposition of the crown of France in his hands, in
oi-der that the king might receive it back again as a free
gift and concession from the chief pontiff. Such a tri-
umph was not for Rome, nor could even the publication
of the CounoU of Trent in France be conceded except
with a saving clause " as to matters which could not be

1 Bor, ubi sup.

1595] ABSOLUTION GEANTED TO HENRY 385

put into operation witliGTit troubling the repose of the
kingdom " ; and to obtain this clause the envoys declared
" that they had been obliged to sweat blood and water." ^

On the seventeenth day of September the absolution
was proclaimed with great pomp and circumstance from
the gallery of St. Peter's, the Holy Father seated on the
highest throne of majesty, with his triple crown on his
head, and all his cardinals and bishops about him in their
most effulgent robes.^

The silver trumpets were blown, while artillery roared
from the castle of St. Angelo, and for two successive
nights Kome was in a blaze of bonfires and illumination,
in a whirl of beU-ringing, feasting, and singing of hosan-
nas. There had not been such a merrymaking in the Eter-
nal City since the pope had celebrated solemn thanks-
giving for the massacre of St. Bartholomew. The king
was almost beside himself with rapture when the great
news reached him, and he straightway wrote letters,
overflowing with gratitude and religious enthusiasm, to
the pontiff, and expressed his regret that military opera-
tions did not allow him to proceed at once to Rome in
person to kiss the Holy Father's f eet.^

The narrative returns to Fuentes, who was left before
the walls of Cambray.

That venerable ecclesiastical city, pleasantly seated
amid gardens, orchards, and green pastures, watered by
the winding Schelde, was well fortified after the old
manner, but it was especially defended and dominated

1 Letters of D'Ossat, in Bor, iv. 107 seq. De Thou, t. xii. liv.
oxiii. 468-479.

^ Letters of D'Ossat, ubi sup.

3 MS. B^thmie, Bibl. Imp., No. 8967, fols. 10 and 20, cited in
Capefigue, vii. 292 seq. Feria to Philip, September 17, 1595,
Areh. de Sim. (Paris), B. 84, 20, cited by Capefigue, ubi sup.

VOL. IV.— 26

386 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1595

by a splendid pentagonal citadel built by Charles V. It
was flUed with fine churches, among which the magnifi-
cent cathedral was preeminent, and with many other
stately edifices. The population was thrifty, active, and
turbulent, like that of all those Flemish and Walloon
cities which the spirit of medieval industry had warmed
for a time into vehement little republics.

But, as has already been depicted in these pages, the
Celtic element had been more apt to receive than con-
sistent to retain the generous impress which had once
been stamped on aU the Netherlands. The Walloon
provinces had fallen away from their Flemish sisters
and seemed likely to accept a permanent yoke, while in
the territory of the United States, as John Baptist Tassis
was at that very moment pathetically observing in a
private letter to Philip, " with the coming up of a new
generation educated as heretics from childhood, who had
never heard what the word ' king ' means, it was likely to
happen at last that, the king's memory being wholly for-
gotten, nothing would remain in the land but heresy
alone." ^ From this sad fate Cambray had been saved.
Gavre d'Inehy had seventeen years before surrendered
the city to the Duke of Alen^on during that unlucky
personage's brief and base career in the Netherlands, all
that was left of his visit being the semi-sovereignty
which the notorious Balagny had since that time enjoyed
in the archiepiscopal city. This personage, a natural
son of Montluc, Bishop of Valence, and nephew of the
distinguished Marshal Montluc, was one of the most for-
tunate and the most ignoble of all the soldiers of fortune
who had played their part at this epoch in the Nether-
lands. A poor creature himself, he had a heroine for a

1 Letter of Tassis, in Bor, iv. 126.

1595] BALAGNY AT CAMBEAY 387

wife. Renee, the sister of Bussy d'Amboise, had vowed
to unite herself to a man who would avenge the assas-
sination of her brother by the Count Montsoreau.^ Ba-
lagny readily agreed to perform the deed, and accord-
ingly espoused the high-born dame, but it does not
appear that he ever wreaked her vengeance on the mur-
derer. He had now governed Cambray until the citizens
and the whole country-side were galled and exhausted
by his grinding tyranny, his inordinate pride, and his
infamous extortions.^ His latest achievement had been
to force upon his subjects a copper currency bearing the
nominal value of silver, with the same blasting effects
which such experiments in political economy are apt to
produce on princes and peoples. He had been a Royal-
ist, a Guislst, a Leaguer, a Dutch republican, by turns,
and had betrayed aU the parties at whose expense he
had alternately filled his coffers. During the past year
he had made up his mind, like most of the conspicuous
politicians and campaigners of Prance, that the mori-
bund League was only fit to be trampled upon by its
recent worshipers, and he had made, accordingly, one of
the very best bargains with Henry IV. that had yet been
made, even at that epoch of self-vending grandees.

Henry, by treaty ratified in August, 1594, had created
him Prince of Cambray and Marshal of Prance, so that
the man who had been receiving up to that very moment
a monthly subsidy of seven thousand two hundred dol-
lars from the King of Spain was now gratified with a
pension to about the same yearly amount by the King
of Prance.^ During the autumn Henry had visited

1 De Thou, xii 414, 415. 2 it,id.

3 Ibid., xii. 291 seq. Seventy thousand crowns a year were
to be paid, aeoording to agreement, by Henry IV. to Balagny,

388 THE UNITED NETHEELANDS [1595

Cambray, and the new prince had made wondrous ex-
hibitions of loyalty to the sovereign whom he had done
his best aU his life to exclude from his kingdom. There
had been a ceaseless round of tournaments, festivals,
and masquerades ^ in the city in honor of the Huguenot
chieftain, now changed into the most orthodox and most
legitimate of monarehs, but it was not until midsummer
of the present year that Balagny was called on to defend
his old possessions and his new principality against a
well-seasoned army and a vigorous commander. Mean-
while his new patron was so warmly occupied in other
directions that it might be difficult for him to send assis-
tance to the beleaguered city.

On the 14th August Fuentes began his siege opera-
tions. Before the investment had been completed the
young Prince of Rhetelois, only fifteen years of age, son
of the Duke of Nevers, made his entrance into the city,
attended by thirty of his father's archers. De Vich, too,
an experienced and faithful commander, succeeded in
bringing four or five hundred dragoons through the
enemy's lines. These meager reinforcements were all
that reached the place ; for although the States-General
sent two or three thousand Scotchmen and Zealanders,
under Justinus of Nassau, to Henry, that he might be
the better enabled to relieve this important frontier city,
the king's movements were not sufficiently prompt to

to maintain city and citadel of Cambray, by treaty made No-
vember 29, 1593, but ratified in August, 1594. Besides this,
Balagny received property |in France equal in value to twenty
thousand livres a year, to reimbm'se him for expenses in fortify-
ing and defending Cambray.

The sums paid to him simultaneously by Philip II. for opposing
Henry have been already mentioned.

1 De Thou, ubi sup.

1595] SIEGE OF CAMBRAY 389

turn the force to good account. Balagny was left witli a
garrison of three thousand French and Walloons in the
city, besides five hundred French in the fortress.

After six weeks' steady drawing of parallels and dig-
ging of mines Fuentes was ready to open his batteries.
On the 26th Septe^nber the news, very much exagger-
ated, of Mondragon's brUliant victory near Wesel, and
of the deaths of Philip Nassau and Ernest Solms, reached
the Spanish camp. Immense was the rejoicing. Tri-
umphant salutes from eighty-seven cannon and many
thousand muskets shook the earth and excited bewilder-
ment and anxiety within the walls of the city. Almost
immediately afterward a tremendous cannonade was
begun, and so vigorously sustained that the burghers
and part of the garrison, already half rebellious with
hatred to Balagny, began loudly to murmur as the balls
came flying into their streets. A few days later an in-
surrection broke out. Three thousand citizens, with red
flags flying and armed to the teeth, were discovered at
daylight drawn up in the market-place. Balagny came
down from the citadel and endeavored to calm the
tumult, but was received with execrations. They had
been promised, shouted the insurgents, that every road
about Cambray was to swarm with French soldiers under
their formidable king, kicking the heads of the Span-
iards ^ in all directions. And what had they got ? A child
with thirty archers, sent by his father, and half a man
at the head of four hundred dragoons.^ To stand a siege
under such circumstances against an army of fifteen
thousand Spaniards, and to take Balagny's copper as if

1 Coloma, 195 : "Surey formidabile pisando las cabejas de los
Espafioles," etc.

2 Ibid.

390 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1595

it were gold, was more than could be asked of respec-
table burghers.

The allusion to the young Prince of Rhetelois and to
De Vich, who had lost a leg in the wars, was received with
much enthusiasm. Balagny, appalled at the fury of the
people, whom he had so long been tramphng upon while
their docility lasted, shrank back before their scornful
denunciations into the citadel.

But his wife was not appalled. This princess had
from the beginning of the siege shown a courage and
an energy worthy of her race. Night and day she had
gone the rounds of the ramparts, encouraging and direct-
ing the efforts of the garrison. She had pointed batter-
ies against the enemy's works, and with her own hands
had fired the cannon. She now made her appearance in
the market-place, after her husband had fled, and did
her best to assuage the tumult and to arouse the muti-
neers to a sense of duty or of shame. She plucked from
her bosom whole handfuls of gold which she threw
among the bystanders, and she was followed by a num-
ber of carts filled with sacks of coin ready to be ex-
changed for the debased currency.

Expressing contempt for the progress made by the
besieging army, and for the slight impression so far pro-
duced upon the defenses of the city, she snatched a pike
from a soldier and offered in person to lead the garrison
to the breach. Her audience knew full weU that this
was no theatrical display, but that the princess was
ready as the boldest warrior to lead a forlorn hope or to
repel the bloodiest assault. Nor, from a military point
of view, was their situation desperate. But their hatred
and scorn for Balagny could not be overcome by any
passing sentiment of admiration for his valiant though

1595] CAPITTJLATION OF CAMBEAT 391

imperious wife. No one followed lier to the breach.
Exclaiming that she at least would never surrender, and
that she would die a sovereign princess rather than live
a subject, Ren6e de Balagny returned to the citadel.

The town soon afterward capitulated, and as the
Spanish soldiers, on entering, observed the slight dam-
age that had been caused by their batteries, they were
most grateful to the faint-hearted or mutinous condition
by which they had been spared the expense of an assault.

The citadel was now summoned to surrender, and Ba-
lagny agreed, in case he should not be relieved within
six days, to accept what were considered honorable terms.
It proved too late to expect succor from Henry, and
Balagny, but lately a reigning prince, was fain to go
forth on the appointed day and salute his conqueror.
But the princess kept her vow. She had done her best
to defend her dominions and to live a sovereign, and
now there was nothing left her but to die. With bitter
reproaches on her husband's pusillanimity, with tears
and sobs of rage and shame, she refused food, spurned
the idea of capitulation, and expired before the 9th of
October.!

On that day a procession moved out of the citadel
gates. Balagny, with a son of eleven years of age, the
Prince of Rhetelois, the Commander De Vich, and many
other distinguished personages, all magnificently attired,
came forth at the head of what remained of the garrison.
The soldiers, numbering thirteen hundred foot and two
hundred and forty horse, marched with colors flying,

1 Bor, iv. 54-56 ; Bentivoglio, 416^21 ; De Thou, xii. 414-436 ;
Coloma, 185-198, et mult, al., for the siege of Cambray.

All the historians, French, Italian, Spanish, Flemish, give the
same aeeount of the conduct and death of the princess.

392 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1595

drums beating, bullet in mouth, and all the other recog-
nized palliatives of military disaster. Last of all came
a hearse bearing the cofln of the Princess of Cambray.
Fuentes saluted the living leaders of the procession, and
the dead heroine, with stately courtesy, and ordered an
escort as far as Peronne.^

Balagny met with a cool reception from Henry at St-
Quentin, but subsequently made his peace, and espoused
the sister of the king's mistress, GabrieUe d'Estr^es.^
The body of Gavre d'Inehy, which had been buried for
years, was dug up and thrown into a gutter.^

1 Authorities last cited. ^ Dg Thou, ubi sup.

3 Ibid.

CHAPTER XXXII

Aroliduke Cardinal Albert appointed governor of the Netherlands
— Eeturn of Philip William from captivity— His adherence to
the King of Spain— Notice of the Marquis of Varambon, Count
Varax, and other new officers — Henry's communications with
Queen Elizabeth— Madame de Moneeaux— Conversation of Henry
with the English ambassador— Marseilles secured by the Duke of
Guise— The fort of Eysbank taken by De Eosne— Calais in the
hands of the Spanish — Assistance from England solicited by
Henry— Unhandsome conditions proposed by Elizabeth-
Annexation of Calais to the obedient provinces — Pirates of
Dunkirk— Uneasiness of the Netherlanders with regard to the
designs of Elizabeth— Her protestations of sincerity— Expedition
of Dutch and English forces to Spain — Attack on the Spanish
war-ships— Victory of the allies— Flag of the Eepublio planted
on the fortress of Cadiz— Capitulation of the city — Letter of
Elizabeth to the Dutch admiral— State of affairs in France— Prop-
osition of the Duke of Montpensier for the division of the king-
dom— Successes of the cardinal archduke in Normandy— He
proceeds to Flanders — Siege and capture of Hulst— Projected
alliance against Spain— Interview of De Sancy with Lord
Burghley — Diplomatic conference at Greenwich — Formation of a
league against Spain— Duplicity of the treaty— Affairs in Ger-
many—Battle between the emperor and the Grand Turk-
Endeavors of Philip to counteract the influence of the League—
His interference in the affairs of Germany— Secret intrigue of
Henry with Spain— Philip's second attempt at the conquest of
England.

Another governor-general arrived in the early days of
the year 1596 to take charge of the obedient provinces.

393

394 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1596

It had been rumored for many months that Philip's
choice was at last fixed upon the Archduke Cardinal
Albert, Archbishop of Toledo, youngest of the three sur-
viving brothers of the Emperor Rudolph, as the candi-
date for many honors. He was to espouse the Infanta,
he was to govern the Netherlands, and, as it was sup-
posed, there were wider and wilder schemes for the
aggrandizement of this fortunate ecclesiastic brooding
in the mind of Philip than yet had seen the light.

Meantime the cardinal's first care was to unfrock him-
self. He had also been obliged to lay down the most
lucrative episcopate in Christendom, that of Toledo, the
revenues of which amounted to the enormous sum of
three hundred thousand dollars a year.i Of this annual
income, however, he prudently reserved to himself fifty
thousand dollars by contract with his destined suc-
cessor.

The cardinal reached the Netherlands before the end
of January. He brought with him three thousand Span-
ish infantry and some companies of cavalry, while his
personal baggage was transported on three hundred and
fifty mules.^ Of course there was a triumphal procession
when, on the 11th February, the new satrap entered the
obedient Netherlands, and there was the usual amount
of bell-ringing, cannon-firing, trumpet-blowing, with
torch-light processions, blazing tar-barrels, and bediz-
ened platforms, where Allegory, in an advanced state
of lunacy, performed its wonderful antics. It was
scarcely possible for human creatures to bestow more
adulation, or to abase theiiiselves more thoroughly, than

1 Soranzo, Kelazione apud Barozzi et Berohet, Le Eelazioni
degli Ambaseiatori Veneti, i. 45.

2 Bor, iv. 167.

1596] EETURN OF PHILIP WILLIAM 395

the honest citizens of Brussels had so recently done in
honor of the gentle, gouty Ernest, but they did their
best. That mythological conqueror and demigod had
sunk into an unhonored grave, despite the loud hosan-
nas sung to him on his arrival in Belgica, and the
same nobles, pedants, and burghers were now ready and
happy to grovel at the feet of Albert. But as it proved
impossible to surpass the glories of the holiday which
had been culled out for his brother, so it would be super-
fluous now to recall the pageant which thus again de-
lighted the capital.

But there was one personage who graced this joyous
entrance whose presence excited perhaps more interest
than did that of the archduke himself. The procession
was headed by three grandees riding abreast. There
was the Duke of Aumale, pensionary of Philip, and one
of the last of the Leaguers, who had just been condemned
to death and executed in eflgy at Paris as a traitor to
his king and country ; there was the Prince of Chimay,
now since the recent death of his father at Venice become
Duke of Aerschot ; and between the two rode a gentleman
forty-two years of age, whose grave, melancholy features,
although wearing a painfid expression of habitual
restraint and distrust, suggested, more than did those
of the rest of his family, the physiognomy of William
the Silent ^ to aU who remembered that illustrious rebel.

It was the eldest son of the great founder of the
Dutch Republic. PhUip William, Prince of Orange, had
at last, after twenty-eight years of captivity in Spain,
returned to the Netherlands, whence he had been kid-
napped while a school-boy at Louvain, by order of the
Duke of Alva. Rarely has there been a more dreary

1 Pruin, 207, uote.

396 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1596

fate, a more broken existence than his. His almost life-
long confinement, not close nor cruel, but strict and in-
exorable, together with the devilish arts of the Jesuits,
had produced nearly as blighting an effect upon his
moral nature as a closer dungeon might have done on
his physical constitution. Although under perpetual
arrest in Madrid, he had been allowed to ride and to
hunt, to go to mass, and to enjoy many of the pleasures
of youth. But he had been always a prisoner, and his
soul, a hopeless captive, could no longer be liberated
now that the tyrant, in order to further his own secret
purposes, had at last released his body from jail. Al-
though the eldest-born of his father, and the inheritor
of the great estates of Orange and of Buren, he was no
longer a Nassau except in name. The change wrought
by the pressure of the Spanish atmosphere was complete.
All that was left of his youthful seK was a passionate
reverence for his father's memory, strangely combined
with a total indifference to all that his father held dear,
all for which his father had labored his whole lifetime,
and for which his heart's blood had been shed. On
being at last set free from bondage he had been taken
to the Escorial and permitted to kiss the hand of the
king— that hand stUl reeking with his father's murder.
He had been well received by the Infante and the
Infanta, and by the empress mother, daughter of Charles
v., while the artistic treasures of the palace and cloister
were benignantly pointed out to him. It was also sig-
nified to htm that he was to receive the order of the
Golden Fleece and to enter into possession of his pater-
nal and maternal estates. And Philip William, had ac-
cepted these conditions as if a born loyal subject of his
Most Catholic Majesty.

1596] PHILIP WILLIAM, PEINCE OF ORANGE 397

Could better proof be wanting that in that age religion
was the only fatherland, and that a true papist could
sustain no injury at the hands of his Most Catholic Maj-
esty ? If to be kidnapped in boyhood, to be imprisoned
during a whole generation of mankind, to be deprived
of vast estates, and to be made orphan by the foulest of
assassinations, could not engender resentment against
the royal perpetrator of these crimes in the bosom of his
victim, was it strange that Philip should deem himself
something far more than man, and should placidly ac-
cept the worship rendered to him by inferior beings, as
to the holy impersonation of Almighty Wrath 1

Yet there is no doubt that the prince had a sincere
respect for his father and had bitterly sorrowed at his
death. When a Spanish officer, playing chess with him
in prison, had ventured to speak lightly of that father,
Philip WUliam had seized him bodily, thrown him from
the window, and thus killed him on the spot.^ And
when on his arrival in Brussels it was suggested to him
by President Eichardot that it was the king's intention
to reinstate him in the possession of his estates, but that
a rent-charge of eighteen thousand florins a year was
still to be paid from them to the heirs of Balthazar Gerard,
his father's assassin, he flamed into a violent rage, drew
his poniard, and would have stabbed the president had
not the bystanders forcibly interf ered.^ In consequence
of this refusal— called magnanimous by contemporary
writers — to accept his property under such conditions,
the estates were detained from him for a considerable
time longer. During the period of his captivity he had

1 De la Pise, in voce. The anecdote has already been
mentioned in The Rise of the Dutch Republic.

2 Ibid.

398 THE UNITED NETHERLANBS [1596

been allowed an income of fifteen thousand livres, but
after his restoration his household, gentlemen, and ser-
vants alone cost him eighty thousand livres annually.
It was supposed that the name of Orange-Nassau might
now be of service to the king's designs in the Nether-
lands. Philip WUliam had come by way of Rome,
where he had been allowed to kiss the pope's feet and
had received many demonstrations of favor, and it was
fondly thought that he would now prove an instrument
with which king and pontiff might pipe back the rebel-
lious Republic to its ancient allegiance. But the Dutch-
men and Frisians were deaf. They had tasted liberty
too long, they had dealt too many hard blows on the
head of regal and sacerdotal despotism, to be deceived
by coarse artifices. Especially the king thought that
something might be done with Count Hohenlo. That
turbulent personage, having recently married the fuU
sister of Philip William, and being already at variance
with Count Maurice, both for military and political
causes and on account of family and pecuniary disputes,
might, it was thought, be purchased by the king, and
perhaps a few towns and castles in the United Nether-
lands might be thrown into the bargain. In that huck-
stering age, when the loftiest and most valiant nobles of
Europe were the most shameless sellers of themselves,
the most cynical mendicants for alms, and the most infi-
nite absorbers of bribes in exchange for their temporary
fealty, when Mayenne, MerecBur, Guise, Villars, Bgmont,
and innumerable other possessors of ancient and illus-
trious names alternately and even simultaneously drew
pensions from both sides in the great European conflict,
it was not wonderful that Philip should think that the
boisterous Hohenlo might be bought as well as another.

1596] THE KING'S DESIGNS 399

The prudent king, however, gave his usual order that
nothing was to be paid beforehand, but that the service
was to be rendered first, and the price received after-
ward.^

The cardinal applied himself to the task on his first
arrival, but was soon obliged to report that he could
make but Kttle progress in the negotiation.^

The king thought, too, that Heraugiere, who had com-
manded the memorable expedition against Breda, and
who was now governor of that stronghold, might be
purchased, and he accordingly instructed the cardinal
to make use of the Prince of Orange in the negotiations
to be made for that purpose. The cardinal, in effect,
received an offer from Heraugiere in the course of a few
months not only to surrender Breda, without previous
recompense, but Mkewise to place Grertruydenberg, the
governor of which city was his relative, in the king's
possession. But the cardinal was afraid of a trick, for
Heraugiere was known to be as artful as he was brave,
and there can be little doubt that the Netherlander was
only disposed to lay an ambush for the governor-general.^

And thus the son of William the Silent made his reap-
pearance in the streets of Brussels, after twenty-eight
years of imprisonment, riding in the procession of the
new viceroy. The cardinal archduke came next, with
Fuentes riding at his left hand. That vigorous soldier
and politician soon afterward left the Netherlands to
assume the government of Milan.

1 " Que en todas platicas semejantes ha de preeeder el servicio
a la reoompensa que se ofreoiere a trueoo de el."— Philip to
Archdiike Albert, January 13, 1596, Arch, de Sim. MS.

2 Albert to Philip, March 28, 1596, Areh. de Sim. MS.

3 Same to same, July 18, 1596, Arch, de Sim. MS.

400 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1596

There was a correspondence between the Prince of
Orange and the States-General, in which the republican
authorities, after expressing themselves toward him with
great propriety and affectionate respect, gave him plainly
but delicately to understand that his presence at that
time in the United Provinces would neither be desirable,
nor, without their passports, possible.^ They were quite
aware of the uses to which the king was hoping to turn
their reverence for the memory and the family of the
great martyr, and were determined to foil such idle pro-
jects on the threshold.

The Archduke Albert, born on the 3d of November,
1560, was nowin his thirty-sixth year. A small, thin, pale-
faced man, with fair hair and beard, commonplace fea-
tures, and the hereditary underhanging Burgandian jaw
prominently developed, he was not without a certain
nobility of presence. His manners were distant to
haughtiness and grave to solemnity. He spoke very
little and very slowly. He had resided long in Spain,
.where he had been a favorite with his uncle, as much as
any man could be a favorite with Philip, and he had
carefully formed himself on that royal model. He
looked upon the King of Spain as the greatest, wisest,
and best of created beings, as the most illustrious speci-
men of kingcraft ever yet vouchsafed to the world. He
did his best to look somber and Spanish, to turn his
visage into a mask, to conceal his thoughts and emo-
tions not only by the expression of his features but by
direct misstatements of his tongue, and in all things to
present to the obedient Flemings as elaborate a repro-
duction of his great prototype as copy can ever recall
inimitable original. Old men in the Netherlands, who

1 Bor, iv. 153, 154 seq.

1596] NOTICE OP THE CARDINAL ARCHDUKE 401

remembered in how short a time Philip had succeeded,
by the baleful effect of his personal presence, in lighting
up a hatred which not the previous twenty years of his
father's burnings, hangings, and butcherings in those
provinces had been able to excite, and which forty sub-
sequent years of bloodshed had not begun to allay,
might well shake their heads when they saw this new
representative of Spanish authority. It would have been
wiser, so many astute politicians thought, for Albert
to take the Emperor Charles for his model, who had
always the power of making his tyranny acceptable to
the Flemings, through the adroitness with which he
seemed to be entirely a Fleming himself .1

But Albert, although a German, valued himself on
appearing like a Spaniard. He was industrious, regular
in his habits, moderate in eating and drinking, fond of
giving audiences on business. He spoke German, Span-
ish, and Latin, and understood French and Italian. He
had at times been a student, and especially had some
knowledge of mathematics. He was disposed to do his
duty— so far as a man can do his duty who imagines
himself so entirely lifted above his f eUow-creatures as to
owe no obligation except to exact their obedience and to
personify to them the will of the Almighty. To Philip
and the pope he was ever faithful. He was not without
pretensions to military talents, but his gravity, slowness,
and silence made him fitter to shine in the cabinet than
in the field. Henrjr IV., who loved his jest, whether at his
own expense or that of friend or foe, was wont to observe
that there were three things which nobody would ever
beheve, and which yet were very true — that Queen

1 Bentivoglio, Eelazione delle Provinoie ubbedienti di Fiandra.
Soranzo, Relazione.

VOL. IV.— 26

402 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1596

Elizabeth deserved her title of the throned vestal, that
he was himself a good Catholic, and that Cardinal Albert
was a good general. It is probable that the assertions
were all equally accurate.

The new governor did not find a very able group of
generals or statesmen assembled about him to assist in
the diflcult task which he had undertaken. There were
plenty of fine gentlemen, with ancient names and lofty
pretensions, but the working men in field or council had
mostly disappeared. Mondragon, La Motte, Charles
Mansfeld, Frank Verdugo, were all dead. Fuentes was
just taking his departure for Italy. Old Peter Ernest
was a cipher, and his son's place was filled by the Mar-
quis of Varambon, as principal commander in active
military operations. This was a Burgundian of con-
siderable military ability, but with an inordinate opinion
of himself and of his family. " Accept the fact that his
lineage is the highest possible, and that he has better
connections than those of anybody else in the whole
world, and he will be perfectly contented," said a sharp,
splenetic Spaniard in the cardinal's confidence. " 'T is a
faithful and loyal cavalier, but full of impertinences." ^
The brother of Varambon, Count Varax, had succeeded
La Motte as general of artillery, and of his doings there
was a tale ere long to be told. On the whole, the best
soldier in the archduke's service for the moment was
the Frenchman Savigny de Rosne, an ancient Leaguer,
and a passionate hater of the Bearnese, of heretics, and
of France as then constituted. He had once made a
contract with Henry by which he bound himself to his

1 Relaeion de los Senores de titulo y otras personas de qualidad
que hay en estos estados;— di6se a su Alta en Valenciennes,
2 AbrU, 1596, Arch, de Sim. MS.

1596] OPPICEES OF THE NEW GOVERNOR 403

service ; but after occasioning a good deal of injury by
his deceitful attitude, he had accepted a large amount
of Spanish dollars, and had then thrown off the mask
and proclaimed himself the deadliest foe of his lawful
sovereign. "He was foremost," said Carlos Coloma,
" among those who were successfully angled for by the
Commander Moreo with golden hooks." ^ Although
prodigiously fat, this renegade was an active and experi-
enced campaigner, while his personal knowledge of his
own country made his assistance of much value to those
who were attempting its destruction.

The other great nobles, who were pressing themselves
about the new viceroy with enthusiastic words of wel-
come, were as like to give him embarrassment as sup-
port. All wanted office, emoluments, distinctions, nor
could much dependence be placed on the abUity or the
character of any of them. The new Duke of Aerschot
had in times past, as Prince of Chimay, fought against
the king, and had even imagined himself a Calvinist,
while his wife was still a determined heretic. It is true
that she was separated from her husband. He was a
man of more quickness and acuteness than his father
had been, but if possible more mischievous both to
friend and foe, being subtle, restless, intriguing, fickle,
ambitious, and deceitful. The Prince of Orange was
considered a man of very ordinary inteUigenee, not more
than half witted, according to Queen Elizabeth,^ and it
was probable that the peculiar circumstances of his
Me would extinguish any influence that he might other-
wise have attained with either party. He was likely to

1 Coloma, 229. Calvaert's letter, in Deventer, ii. 108.

2 "Ende niet halff wys."— Caron to States-General, in De-
venter, ii. 12.

404 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1596

affect a neutral position, and in times of civil war to be
neutral is to be nothing.

Aremberg, unlike the great general on the Catholic
side who had made the name illustrious in the opening
scenes of the mighty contest, was disposed to quiet
obscurity so far as was compatible with his rank. Hav-
ing inherited neither fortune nor talent with his ancient
name, he was chiefly occupied with providing for the
wants of his numerous family. A good papist, well in-
clined and docile, he was strongly recommended for the
post of admiral, not because he had naval acquirements,
but because he had a great many children.^ The Mar-
quis of Havr6, uncle to the Duke of Aerschot, had played
in his time many prominent parts in the long Nether-
land tragedy. Although older than he was when Re-
quesens and Don John of Austria had been governors,
he was not much wiser, being to the full as vociferous,
as false, as insolent, as self-seeking, and as mischievous
as in his youth. Alternately making appeals to popular
passions in his capacity of high-born demagogue, or
seeking crumbs of bounty as the supple slave of his sov-
ereign, he was not more likely to acquire the confidence
of the cardinal than he had done that of his predecessors.

The most important and opulent grandee of all the
provinces was the Count de Ligne, who had become by
marriage or inheritance Prince of Bspinoy, Seneschal of
Hainault, and Viscount of Ghent. But it was only his
enormous estates that gave him consideration, for he
was not thought capable of either good or bad intentions.
He had, however, in times past, succeeded in the chief
object of his ambition, which was to keep out of trouble
and to preserve his estates from confiscation. His wife,
I Eelacion de los Senores, etc., ubi sup.

1596] OFFICERS OF THE NEW GOVEENOE 405

who governed him, and had thus far guided him safely,
hoped to do so to the end. The cardinal was informed
that the Golden Fleece would be all-sufScient to keep
Tiim upon the right track.^

Of the Egmonts, one had died on the famous field of
Ivry ; another was an outlaw, and had been accused of
participation in plots of assassination against WiUiam
of Orange; the third was now about the archduke's
court, and was supposed to be as dull a man as Ligne,
but likely to be serviceable so long as he could keep his
elder brother out of his inheritance. Thus devoted to
church and king were the sons of the man whose head
Philip had taken off on a senseless charge of treason.
The two Counts van den Berg, Frederick and Hermann,
sons of the sister of "William the Silent, were, on the
whole, as brave, efiScient, and trustworthy servants of
the king and cardinal as were to be found in the obedi-
ent provinces.

The new governor had come well provided with funds,
being supplied for the first three quarters of the year
with a monthly allowance of one million one hundred
thousand florins.^ For reasons soon to appear, it was
not probable that the States-General would be able very
soon to make a vigorous campaign, and it was thought
best for the cardinal to turn his immediate attention to
France.

The negotiations for effecting an alliance, offensive
and defensive, between the three powers most interested
in opposing the projects of Spain for universal empire
were not yet begun, and will be reserved for a subse-
quent chapter. Meantime there had been much informal
discussion and diplomatic trifling between France and

1 Eelacion de los Sefiores, etc. ^ Reyd, 275.

406 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS

England for the purpose of bringing about a sincere
cooperation of the two crowns against the Fifth Mon-
archy, as it was much the fashion to denominate Philip's
proposed dominion.

Henry had suggested at different times to Sir Robert
Sydney, during his frequent presence in Prance as spe-
cial envoy for the queen, the necessity of such a step,
but had not always found a hearty sympathy. But as
the king began to cool in his hatred to Spain, after his
declaration of war against that power, it seemed desir-
able to Elizabeth to fan his resentment afresh, and to
revert to those propositions "which had been so coolly
received when made. Sir Henry Umton, ambassador
from her Majesty, was accordingly provided with espe-
cial letters on the subject from the queen's own hand,
and presented them early in the year at Coucy (Febru-
ary 13, 1596). No man in the world knew better the
tone to adopt in his communications with Elizabeth
than did the chivalrous king. No man knew better than
he how impossible it was to invent terms of adulation
too gross for her to accept as spontaneous and natural
effusions of the heart. He received the letters from the
hands of Sir Henry, read them with rapture, heaved
a deep sigh, and exclaimed: "Ah, Mr. Ambassador,
what shall I say to you ? This letter of the queen, my
sister, is full of sweetness and affection. I see that she
loves me, while that I love her is not to be doubted.
Yet your commission shows me the contrary, and this
proceeds from her ministers. How else can these ob-
liquities stand with her professions of love? I am
forced, as a king, to take a course which, as Henry, her
loving brother, I could never adopt."

They then walked out into the park, and the king fell

1596] PBOPOSED ANGLO-FRENCH ALLIANCE 407

into frivolous discourse, on purpose to keep the envoy
from the important subject which had been discussed
in the cabinet. Sir Henry brought him back to busi-
ness, and insisted that there was no disagreement be-
tween her Majesty and her councilors, all being anxious
to do what she wished. The envoy, who shared in the
prevailing suspicions that Henry was about to make a
truce with Spain, vehemently protested against such a
step, complaining that his ministers, whose minds were
distempered with jealousy, were inducing him to sacri-
fice her friendship to a false and hollow reconciliation
with Spain. Henry protested that his preference would
be for England's amity, but regretted that the English
delays were so great, and that such dangers were ever
impending over his head, as to make it impossible for
him, as a king, to follow the inclinations of his heart.

They then met Madame de Monceaux, the beautiful
G-abrielle, who was invited to join in the walk, the king
saying that she was no meddler in politics, but of a
tractable spirit.

This remark, in Sir Henry's opinion, was just, for, said
he to Burghley, she is thought incapable of affairs, and
very simple. The duchess unmasked very graciously as
the ambassador was presented ; but, said the splenetic
diplomatist, " I took no pleasure in it, nor held it any
grace at all." " She was attired in a plain satin gown,"
he continued, " with a velvet hood to keep her from the
weather, which became her very iU. In my opinion, she
is altered very much for the worse, and was very grossly
painted." The three walked together, discoui-sing of
trifles, much to the annoyance of Umton. At last a
shower forced the lady into the house, and the king soon
afterward took the ambassador to his cabinet. "He

408 THE UNITED NETHEELANDS [1596

asked me how I liked his mistress," wrote Sir Henry to
Burghley, " and I answered sparingly in her praise, and
told him that, if without offense I might speak it, I had
the picture of a far more excellent mistress, and yet did
her picture come far from the perfection of her beauty."

" As you love me," cried the king, " show it me, if you
have it about you ! "

"I made some difficulty," continued Sir Henry, "yet
upon his importunity I offered it to his view very
secretly, stiU holding it in my hand. He beheld it with
passion and admiration, saying that I was in the right."

"I give in," said the king (" Je me rends").

Then, protesting that he had never seen such beauty
all his life, he kissed it reverently twice or thrice, Sir
Henry still holding the miniature firmly in his hand.

The king then insisted upon seizing the picture, and
there was a charming struggle between the two, ending
in his Majesty's triumph. He then told Sir Henry that
he might take his leave of the portrait, for he would
never give it up again for any treasure, and that to
possess the favor of the original he would forsake all
the world. He fell into many more such passionate and
incoherent expressions of rhapsody, as of one suddenly
smitten and spellbound with hapless love, bitterly re-
proaching the ambassador for never having brought him
any answers to the many affectionate letters which he
had written to the queen, whose silence had made him
so wretched. Sir Henry, perhaps somewhat confounded
at being beaten at his own fantastic game, answered as
well as he could. " But I found," said he, " that the dumb
picture did draw on more speech and affection from him
than all my best arguments and eloquence. This was
the effect of our conference, and, if infiniteness of vows

1596] HENRY AND THE ENGLISH AMBASSADOR 409

and outward professions be a strong argument of inward
affection, there is good likelihood of the king's continu-
ance of amity with her Majesty ; only I fear lest his
necessities may inconsiderately draw him into some
hazardous treaty with Spain, which I hope confidently
it is yet in the power of her Majesty to prevent." ^

The king, while performing these apish tricks about
the picture of a lady with beady black eyes, a hooked
nose, black teeth, and a red wig, who was now in the
sixty-fourth year of her age, knew very well that the
whole scene would be at once repeated to the fair object
of his passion by her faithful envoy ; but what must have
been the opinion entertained of Elizabeth by contem-
porary sovereigns and statesmen when such fantastic
foUy could be rehearsed and related every day in the
year!

And the king knew, after all, and was destined very
soon to acquire proof of it which there was no gainsay-
ing, that the beautiful BUzabeth had exactly as much
affection for him as he had for her, and was as capable
of sacrificing his interests for her own, or of taking ad-
vantage of his dii'cct necessities as cynically and as
remorselessly, as the King of Spain, or the Duke of May-
enne, or the pope had ever done.

Henry had made considerable progress in reestablish-
ing his authority over a large portion of the howling
wilderness to which forty years of civil war had reduced
his hereditary kingdom. There was still great danger,
however, at its two opposite extremities. Calais, key to
the Norman gate of France, was feebly held, while Mar-
seilles, seated in such dangerous proximity to Spain on
the one side, and to the republic of Genoa, that alert

1 Sir Henry Umton to her Majesty, Couoy, February 3, 1595-96.

410 THE UNITED NETHEELANDS [1596

vassal of Spain, on the other, was stiU in the possession
of the League. A concerted action was undertaken hy
means of John Andrew Doria, with a Spanish fleet from
Genoa on the outside and a well-organized conspiracy
from within, to carry the city bodily over to Philip. Had
it succeeded, this great Mediterranean seaport would
have become as much a Spanish possession as Barcelona
or Naples, and infinite might have been the damage to
Henry's future prospects in consequence. But there
was a man in Marseilles, Petrus Libertas by name, whose
ancestors had gained this wholesome family appellation
by a successful effort once made by them to rescue the
little town of Calvi, in Corsica, from the tyranny of
Genoa. Peter Liberty needed no prompting to vindi-
cate, on a fitting occasion, his right to his patronymic.
In conjunction with men in Marseilles who hated oppres-
sion, whether of kings, priests, or renegade republics, as
much as he did, and with a secret and well-arranged
understanding with the Duke of Guise, who was burn-
ing with ambition to render a signal benefit to the cause
which he had just espoused, this bold tribune of the
people succeeded in stirring the population to mutiny at
exactly the right moment, and in opening the gates of
Marseilles to the Duke of Guise and his forces before it
was possible for the Leaguers to admit the fleet of Doria
into its harbor. Thus was the capital of Mediterranean
France lost and won.^ Guise gained great favor in
Henry's eyes, and with reason ; for the son of the great
Balafre, who was himself the League, had now given
the League the stroke of mercy. Peter Liberty became
consul of Marseilles, and received a patent of nobility.
It was difficult, however, for any diploma to confer any-

I De Thou, t. xii. liv. cxvi. 613 seq. Bor, iv. 177-179.

1596] ATTACK ON CALAIS 4H

thing more noble upon Mm than the name which he had
inherited^ and to which he had so well established his
right.

But while Henry's cause had thus been so well served
in the south, there was danger impending in the north.
The king had been besieging, since autumn, the town of
La Ffere, an important military and strategic position,
which had been Farnese's basis of operations during his
memorable campaigns in France, and which had ever
since remained in the hands of the League.

The cardinal had taken the field with an army of fif-
teen thousand foot and three thousand horse, assembled
at Valenciennes, and after hesitating some time whether
or not he should attempt to relieve La Ffere, he decided
instead on a diversion. In the second week of April
De Rosne was detached at the head of four thousand men,
and suddenly appeared before Calais.^ The city had
been long governed by De Gordan, but this wary and
experienced commander had unfortunately been for two
years dead. Still more unfortunately, it had been in his
power to bequeath not only his fortune, which was very
large, but the government of Calais, considered the most
valuable command in France, to his nephew, De Vidosan.
He had, however, not bequeathed to him his adminis-
trative and military genius.

The fortress called the Risban, or Rysbank, which
entirely governed the harbor, and the possession of
which made Calais nearly impregnable, as inexhaustible
supplies could thus be poured into it by sea, had fallen
into comparative decay. De Gordan had been occupied
in strengthening the work, but since his death the nephew
had entirely neglected the task. On the land side, the
1 De Thou, xii. 631.

412 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1596

bridge of Nivelet was the key to the place. The f aubotirg
was held by two Dutch companies, under Captains Le
Gros and Dominique, who undertook to prevent the
entrance of the archduke's forces. Vidosan, however,
ordered these faithful auxiliaries into the citadel.

De Eosne, acting with great promptness, seized both
the bridge of Nivelet and the fort of Rysbank by a sud-
den and well-concerted movement. This having been
accomplished, the city was in his power, and after sus-
taining a brief cannonade it surrendered. Vidosan,
with his garrison, however, retired into the citadel, and
it was agreed between himself and De Rosne that unless
succor should be received from the French king before
the expiration of six days the citadel should also be
evacuated.

Meantime Henry, who was at Boulogne, much dis-
gusted at this, unexpected disaster, had sent couriers to
the Netherlands, demanding assistance of the States-
General and of the stadholder. Maurice had speedily
responded to the appeal. Proceeding himself to Zea-
land, he had shipped fifteen companies of picked troops
from Middelburg, together with a flotilla laden with muni-
tions and provisions enough to withstand a siege of
several weeks. When the arrangements were completed,
he went himself on board of a ship of war to take com-
mand of the expedition in person.^ On the 17th of
April he arrived with his succors off the harbor of Cal-
ais, and found, to his infinite disappointment, that the
Kysbank fort was in the hands of the enemy.^ As not
a vessel could pass the bar without almost touching that
fortress, the entrance to Calais was now impossible.'
Had the incompetent Vidosan heeded the advice of his

1 Bor, iv. 188. 2 Ibid. ^ Ibid.

1596] ASSISTANCE SOLICITED BY HENRY 413

brave Dutch officers, the place might still have been
saved, for it had surrendered in a panic on the very day
when the fleet of Maurice arrived off the port.

Henry had lost no time in sending, also, to his English
allies for succor. The possession of Calais by the Span-
iards might vreU seem alarming to Elizabeth, who could
not well forget that up to the time of her sister this im-
portant position had been for two centuries an English
stronghold. The defeat of the Spanish husband of an
English queen had torn from England the last trophies
of the Black Prince, and now the prize had again fallen
into the hands of Spain, but of Spain no longer in alli-
ance, but at war, with England. Obviously it was most
dangerous to the interests and to the safety of the Eng-
lish realm that this threatening position, so near the
gates of London, should be in the hands of the most
powerful potentate in the world and the dire enemy of
England. In response to Henry's appeal, the Earl of
Essex was despatched with a force of six thousand men
—raised by express command of the queen on Sunday,
when the people were all at church — to Dover, where
shipping was in readiness to transport the troops at once
across the Channel. At the same time the politic queen
and some of her councilors thought the opening a good
one to profit by the calamity of their dear ally. Cer-
tainly it was desirable to prevent Calais from falling
into the grasp of Philip. But it was perhaps equally
desirable, now that the place without the assistance of
Elizabeth could no longer be preserved by Henry, that
Elizabeth, and not Henry, should henceforth be its pos-
sessor. To make this proposition as clear to the French
king as it seemed to the English queen. Sir Robert Syd-
ney was despatched in all haste to Boulogne, even while

414 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1596

the guns of De Rosne were pointed at Calais citadel, and
while Maurice's fleet, baffled by the cowardly surrender
of the Rysbank, was on its retreat from the harbor.

At two o'clock in the afternoon of the 21st of April
Sydney landed at Boulogne. Henry, who had been in-
tensely impatient to hear from England, and who sus-
pected that the delay was boding no good to his cause,
went down to the strand to meet the envoy, with whom
then and there he engaged instantly in the most ani-
mated discourse.

As there was little time to be lost, and as Sydney on
getting out of the vessel found himself thus confronted
with the soldier king in person, he at once made the
demand which he had been sent across the Channel to
make. He requested the king to deliver up the town
and citadel of Calais to the Queen of England as soon
as, with her assistance, he should succeed in reeoveriag
the place. He assigned as her Majesty's reasons for this
peremptory summons that she would on no other terms
find it in her power to furnish the required succor. Her
subjects, she said, would never consent to it except on
these conditions. It was perhaps not very common with
the queen to exhibit so much deference to the popular
will, but on this occasion the supposed inclinations of
the nation furnished her with an excellent pretext for
carrying out her own. Sydney urged, moreover, that her
Majesty felt certain of being obliged, in case she did
not take Calais into her own safe-keeping and protection,
to come to the rescue again within four or six months
to prevent it once more from being besieged, conquered,
and sacked by the enemy.

The king had feared some such proposition as this,'
and had intimated as much to the states' envoy, Cal-

1596] PROPOSAL OF QUEEN ELIZABETH 415

vaert, who had walked with him down to the strand, and
had left him when the conference began. Henry was not
easily thrown from his equanimity, nor wont to exhibit
passion on any occasion, least of aU in his discussions with
the ambassadors of England, but the cool and insolent
egotism of this communication was too much for him.

He could never have believed, he said in reply, that,
after the repeated assurances of her Majesty's affection
for him which he had received from the late Sir Henry
Umton 1 in their recent negotiations, her Majesty would
now so discourteously seek to make her profit out of his
misery. He had come to Boulogne, he continued, on
the pledge given by the Earl of Essex to assist him with
seven or eight thousand men in the recovery of Calais.
If this, after aU, shoidd fail him— although his own repu-
tation would be more injured by the capture of the place
thus before his eyes than if it had happened in his ab-
sence—he would rather a hundred times endure the loss
of the place than have it succored with such injurious
and dishonorable conditions. After all, he said, the loss
of Calais was substantially of more importance to the
queen than to himself. To him the chief detriment
would be in the breaking up of his easy and regular
communications with his neighbors through this posi-
tion, and especially with her Majesty. But as her affec-
tion for him was now proved to be so slender as to allow
her to seek a profit from his misfortune and dishonor, it
would be better for him to dispense with her friendship
altogether and to strengthen his connections with truer
and more honorable friends. Should the worst come to

1 Sir Henry Umton had died in France soon after the interview
with Henry IV. mentioned on a previous page of this volume.
(Meteren, 371.)

416 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1596

the worst, he doubted not that he should be able, being
what he was and much more than he was of old, to make
a satisfactory arrangement with the King of Spain. He
was ready to save Calais at the perO. of his life, to con-
quer it in person, and not by the hands of any of his
lieutenants ; but having done so, he was not willing, at
so great a loss of reputation without and at so much
peril within, to deliver it to her Majesty or to any one
else. He would far rather see it fall into the hands of
the Spaniards.

Thus warmly and frankly did Henry denounce the
unhandsome proposition made in the name of the queen,
while, during his vehement expostulations, Sydney grew
red with shame, and did not venture to look the king for
one moment in the f ace.^ He then sought to mitigate
the effect of his demand by intimating, with much em-
barrassment of demeanor, that perhaps her Majesty
would be satisfied with the possession of Calais for her
own lifetime, and, as this was at once plumply refused,
by the suggestion of a pledge of it for the term of one
year. But the king only grew the more indignant as
the bargaining became more paltry, and he continued to
heap bitter reproaches upon the queen, who, without
having any children or known inheritor of her posses-
sions, should nevertheless be so desirous of compassing
his eternal disgrace and of exciting the discontent of his
subjects for the sake of an evanescent gain for herself.
At such a price, he avowed, he had no wish to purchase
her Majesty's friendship.

1 "Deur dewelke 8. M. den voors. Ambassadeur soo
sohaemroot maekte, dat hy (soo S. M* my gheseyt heeft) S. M.
niet in't aensicltt dorste te sien," etc.— Calvaert's despatch, in
Deventer, ii. 166.

1596] ASSISTANCE ASSUBED 417

After this explosion the conference became more ami-
cable. The English envoy assured the king that there
could be, at all events, no doubt of the arrival of Essex
with eight thousand men on the following Thursday to
assist in the relief of the citadel, notwithstanding the
answer which he had received to the demand of her
Majesty.

He furthermore expressed the strong desire which he
felt that the king might be induced to make a personal
visit to the queen at Dover, whither she would gladly
come to receive him, so soon as Calais should have been
saved. To this the king replied, with gallantry, that it
was one of the things iu the world that he had most at
heart. The envoy rejoined that her Majesty would con-
sider such a visit a special honor and favor. She had
said that she could leave this world more cheerfully,
when God should ordain, after she had enjoyed two
hours' conversation with his Majesty.

Sydney, on taking his departure, repeated the assur-
ance that the troops under Essex would arrive before Cal-
ais by Thursday, and that they were fast marching to the
English coast ; forgetting, apparently, that at the begin-
ning of the interview he had stated, according to the
queen's instructions, that the troops had been forbidden
to march until a favorable answer had been returned by
the king to her proposal.

Henry then retired to his headquarters for the purpose
of drawing up information for his minister in England,
De Sancy, who had not yet been received by the queen,
and who had been kept in complete ignorance of this
mission of Sydney and of its purport.

While the king was thus occupied, the English envoy
was left in the company of Calvaert, who endeavored,

VOL. IV.— 27

418 THE UNITED NETHEKLANDS [1596

■without much success, to obtain from him the result of
the conference which had just taken place. Sydney was
not to be pumped by the Dutch diplomatist, adroit as he
unquestionably was, but, so soon as the queen's ambas-
sador was fairly afloat again on his homeward track,
which was the case within three hours after his arrival
at Boulogne, Calvaert received from the king a minute
account of the whole conversation. ^

Henry expressed unbounded gratitude to the States-
General of the Republic for their prompt and liberal as-
sistance, and he eagerly contrasted the conduct of Prince
Maurice, sailing forth in person so chivalrously to his
rescue, with the sharp bargainings and shortcomings of
the queen. He despatched a special messenger to con-
vey his thanks to the prince, and he expressed his hope
to Calvaert that the states might be wiUing that their
troops should return to the besieged place under the com-
mand of Maurice, whose presence alone, as he loudly and
publicly protested, was worth four thousand men.

But it was too late. The six days were rapidly pass-
ing away. The governor of Boulogne, Campagnolo,
succeeded, by Henry's command, in bringing a small
reinforcement of two or three hundred men into the
citadel of Calais during the night of the 22d of April.
This devoted little band made their way, when the tide
was low, along the flats which stretched between the
fort of Rysbank and the sea. Sometimes wading up to
the neck in water, sometimes swimming for their lives,
and during a greater part of their perilous march cling-
ing so close to the hostile fortress as almost to touch its

^ Calvaert's letter of April 22, 1596, recounting this remark-
able interview, is given at length in Van Deventer's valuable
publication, ii. 105-110,

1596] CALAIS TAKEN BY STORM 419

guns, the gallant adventurers succeeded in getting into
the citadel in time to be butchered with the rest of the
garrison on the following day. For so soon as the hand-
ful of men had gained admittance to the gates, although
otherwise the aspect of affairs was quite unchanged,
the rash and weak De Vidosan proclaimed that, the rein-
forcements stipulated in his conditional capitulation
having arrived, he should now resume hostilities.
Whereupon he opened fire upon the town, and a sentry
was killed. De Eosne, furious at what he considered a
breach of faith, directed a severe cannonade against the
not very formidable walls of the castle. During the
artillery engagement which ensued the Prince of Orange,
who had accompanied De Rosne to the siege, had a very
narrow escape. A cannon-ball from the town took off
the heads of two Spaniards standing near him, bespat-
tering him with their blood and brains. He was urged
to retire, but assured those about him that he came of
too good a house to be afraid. His courage was com-
mendable, but it seems not to have occurred to him that
the place for his father's son was not by the side of the
general who was doing the work of his father's murderer.
While his brother Maurice, with a fleet of twenty Dutch
war-ships, was attempting in vain to rescue Calais from
the grasp of the Spanish king, Philip William of Nassau
was looking on, a pleased and passive spectator of the
desperate and unsuccessful efforts at defense. The as-
satdt was then ordered.^ The first storm was repulsed,
mainly by the Dutch companies, who fought in the
breach until most of their numbers were killed or
wounded, their captains Dominique and Le Gros having
both fallen. The next attack was successful, the citadel
1 Meteren, 370. De la Pise.

420 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1596

was carried, and the whole garrison, with exception of
what remained of the Hollanders and Zealanders, put to
the sword. De Vidosan himself perished. Thus Calais
was once more a Spanish city, and was reannexed to
the obedient provinces of Flanders. Of five thousand
persons, soldiers and citizens, who had taken refuge in
the castle, all were killed or reduced to captivity.^

The conversion of this important naval position into
a Spanish-Flemish station was almost as disastrous to
the Eepublic as it was mortifying to France and dan-
gerous to England. The neighboring Dunkirk had long
been a nest of pirates, whence small, fast-sailing vessels
issued, daily and nightly, to prey indiscriminately upon
the commerce of all nations. These corsairs neither gave
nor took quarter, and were in the habit, after they had
plundered their prizes, of setting them adrift, with the
sailors nailed to the deck or chained to the riggrag,
while the oflcers were held for ransom. In case the
vessels themselves were wanted, the crews were indis-
criminately tossed overboard, whUe, on the other hand,
the bucaneers rarely hesitated to blow up their own
ships when unable to escape from superior force. Cap-
ture was followed by speedy execution, and it was but
recently that, one of these freebooters having been
brought into Rotterdam, the whole crew, forty-four in
number, were hangbd on the day of their arrival, while
some five-and-twenty merchant captains held for ransom
by the pirates thus obtained their liberty.^

And now Calais was likely to become a second and

1 Bor, iv. 184-188. De Thou, xii. 631-637. Meteren, 369, 370.
Bentivoglio, 439, 440. Coloma, 211-217. Albert to Philip, April
24, 1596, Arch, de Sim. MS.

a Bor, iv. 50, 129. Meteren. Reyd.

1596] SCAECITY OF PROVISIONS 421

more dangerous sea-robbers' cave than even Dunkirk
had been.

Notwithstanding this unlucky beginning of the cam-
paign for the three allies, it was determined to proceed
with a considerable undertaking wmcn had been ar-
ranged between England and the Republic. For the
time, therefore, the importunate demands of the queen
for repayment by the states of her disbursements dur-
ing the past ten years were suspended. It had, indeed,
never been more difficult than at that moment for the
Republic to furnish extraordinary sums of money. The
year 1595 had not been prosperous. Although the gen-
eral advance in commerce, manufactures, and in every
department of national development had been very
remarkable, yet there had recently been, for exceptional
causes, an apparent falling off,^ while, on the other
hand, there had been a bad harvest in the north of Europe.
In Holland, where no grain was grown, and which yet
was the granary of the world, the prices were trebled.
One hundred and eight bushels (a last) of rye, which
ordinarily were worth fifty florins, now sold for one hun-
dred and fifty fiorins, and other objects of consumption
were equally enhanced in value.^ On the other hand,
the expenses of the war were steadily iucreasing, and
were fixed for this year at five millions of florins. The
Republic, and especially the states of Holland, never
hesitated to tax heroically. The commonwealth had no
income except that which the several provinces chose to
impose upon themselves in order to fill the quota as-
signed to them by the States-General ; but this defect in
their political organization was not sensibly felt so long
as the enthusiasm for the war continued in full force.

1 Eeyd, 300. 2 Bor, iv. 152.

422 THE UNITED NETHEELANDS [1596

The people of the Netherlands knew f uU well that there
was no liberty for them without fighting, no fighting
without an army, no army without wages, and no wages
without taxation ; and although by the end of the cen-
tury the imposts had become so high that, in the lan-
guage of that keen observer, Cardinal Bentivogho, nuncio
at Brussels, they could scarcely be imagined higher, yet,
according to the same authority, they were laid unflinch-
ingly and paid by the people without a murmur.^ Dur-
ing this year and the next the states of Holland, whose
proportion often amounted to fiity per cent, of the whole
contribution of the United Provinces, and who ever set
a wholesome example in taxation, raised the duty on
imports and aU internal taxes by one eighth, and laid a
fresh impost on such articles of luxury as velvets and
satins, pleas and processes. Starch, too, became a source
of considerable revenue. With the fast-rising prosperity
of the country luxury had risen likewise, and, as in all
ages and countries of the world of which there is record,
woman's dress signalized itself by extravagant and very
often tasteless conceptions. In a country where, before
the doctrine of popular sovereignty had been broached
in any part of the world by the most speculative theo-
rists, very vigorous and practical examples of democracy
had been afforded to Europe ; in a country where, ages
before the science of political economy had been dreamed
of, lessons of free trade on the largest scale had been
taught to mankind by republican traders instinctively
breaking in many directions through the nets by which
monarchs and oligarchs, gilds and corporations, had
hampered the movements of commerce, it was natural
that fashion should instinctively rebel against restraint.

1 Belazione delle Provinoie Unite,

1596] RESTRICTION IN THE USE OP STARCH 423

The honest burgher's vrouw of Middelburg or Enkhuizen
claimed the right to make herself as grotesque as Queen
Elizabeth in all her glory. Sumptuary laws were an un-
wholesome part of feudal tyranny, and, as such, were
natxirally dropping into oblivion on the free soil of the
Netherlands. It was the complaint, therefore, of moral-
ists that unproductive consumption was alarmingly in-
creasing. Formerly starch had been made of the refuse
parts of corn, but now the manufacturers of that article
made use of the bloom of the wheat and consumed as
much of it as would have fed great cities. In the little
village of Wormer the starch-makers used between three
and four thousand bushels a week. Thus a substantial
gentlewoman in fashionable array might bear the food
of a parish upon her ample bosom. A single manufac-
turer in Amsterdam required four hundred weekly
bushels. Such was the demand for the stiffening of the
vast ruffs, the wonderful head-gear, the elaborate lace-
work, stomachers, and streamers, without which no lady
who respected herself could possibly go abroad to make
her daily purchases of eggs and poultry in the market-
place.

"May God preserve us," exclaimed a contemporary
chronicler, unreasonably excited on the starch question,
"from further luxury and wantonness, and abuse of his
blessings and good gifts, that the punishment of Jero-
boam, which followed upon Solomon's fortunate reign
and the gold-ships of Ophir, may not come upon us." ^

The states of HoUand, not confounding— as so often
has been the case— the precepts of moral philosophy with
those of political economy, did not, out of fear for the
doom of Jeroboam, forbid the use of starch. They sim-

1 Reyd, 351.

424 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1596

ply laid a tax of a stiver a pound on tlie commodity,^ or
about six per cent, ad valorem; and this was a more
wholesome way of serving the state than by abridging
the liberty of the people in the choice of personal attire.
Meantime the preachers were left to thunder from their
pulpits upon the sinfulness of starched ruffles and ornar
mental topknots, and to threaten their fair hearers with
the wrath to come, with as much success as usually at-
tends such eloquence.

There had been uneasiness in the provinces in regard
to the designs of the queen, especially since the states
had expressed their inability to comply in full with her
demands for repayment. Spanish emissaries had been
busily circulating calumnious reports that her Majesty
was on the eve of concluding a secret peace with Philip,
and that it was her intention to deliver the cautionary
towns to the king. The government attached little cre-
dence to such statements, but it was natural that Envoy
Caron should be anxious at their perpetual recurrence
both in England and in the provinces. So one day he
had a long conversation with the Earl of Essex on the
subject; for it will be recollected that Lord Leicester
had strenuously attempted at an earlier day to get com-
plete possession not only of the pledged cities, but of
Leyden also, in order to control the whole country
Essex was aflame with indignation at once, and ex-
pressed himself with his customary recklessness. He
swore that if her Majesty were so far forsaken of God
and so forgetful of her own glory as through evil coun-
sel to think of making any treaty with Spain without
the knowledge of the States-General and in order to
cheat them, he would himself make the matter as public
1 Keyd, 351.

1596] INTERVIEW OP CARON WITH ELIZABETH 425

as it was possible to do, and would place himself in direct
opposition to such a measure, so as to show the whole
world that his heart and soul were foreign at least to
any vUe counsel of the kind that might have been given
to his sovereign.^ Caron and Essex conversed much in
this vein, and although the envoy especially requested
him not to do so, the earl, who was not distinguished
for his powers of dissimulation, and who suspected
Burghley of again tampering, as he had often before
tampered, with secret agents of Philip, went straight to
the queen with the story. Nest day Essex invited Caron
to dine and to go with him after dinner to the queen.
This was done, and so soon as the states' envoy was
admitted to the royal presence her Majesty at once
opened the subject. She had heard, she said, that the
reports in question had been spread through the prov-
iuces, and she expressed much indignation in regard to
them. She swore very vehemently, as usual, and pro-
tested that she had better never have been born than
prove so miserable a princess as these tales would make
her. The histories of England, she said, should never
describe her as guilty of such falsehood. She could
find a more honorable and fitting means of making peace
than by delivering up cities and strongholds so sincerely
and confidingly placed in her hands. She hoped to re-
store them as faithfully as they had loyally been in-
trusted to her keeping. She begged Caron to acquaint
the States-G-eneral with these asseverations, declaring
that never since she had sent troops to the Netherlands
had she lent her ear to those who had made such under-
hand propositions. She was aware that Cardinal Albert
had propositions to make, and that he was desirous of
1 Letter of Caron, December 3, 1595, apud Bor, iv. 150, 151.

426 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1596

iadueing both the French king and herself to consent
to a peace with Spain; but she promised the states'
envoy solemnly before God to apprise him of any such
overtures so soon as they should be made known to her-
self.i

Much more in this strain, with her usual vehemence
and mighty oaths, did the great queen aver, and the
republican envoy, to whom she was on this Occasion
very gracious, was fain to believe in her sincerity. Yet
the remembrance of the amazing negotiations between
the queen's ministers and the agents of Alexander Far-
nese, by which the invasion of the Armada had been
masked, could not but have left an uneasy feeling in
the mind of every Dutch statesman. " I trust in God,"
said Caron, " that he may never so abandon her as to
permit her to do the reverse of what she now protests
with so much passion. Should it be otherwise,— which
God forbid,— I should think that he would send such
chastisement upon her and her people that other princes
would see their fate therein as in a mirror, should they
make and break such oaths and promises. I tell you
these things as they occur, because, as I often feel uneasi-
ness myself, I imagine that my friends on the other side
the water may be subject to the same anxiety. Never-
theless, beat the bush as I may, I can obtain no better
information than this which I am now sending you." ^

It had been agreed that for a time the queen should
desist from her demands for repayment,— which, accord-
ing to the treaty of 1585, was to be made only after
conclusion of peace between Spain and the provinces,
but which Elizabeth was frequently urging on the ground
that the states could now make that peace when they

1 Letter of Caron, ubi sup. 2 ibidi.

1596] EXPEDITION AGAINST SPAIN 427

chose,— and in return for such remission the Republic
promised to furnish twenty-four ships of war and four
tenders for a naval expedition which was now projected
against the Spanish coast. These war-ships were to be
of four hundred, three hundred, and two hundred tons,
eight of each dimension, and the estimated expense of
their fitting out for five months was 512,796 florins.^

Before the end of April, notwithstanding the disap-
pointment occasioned in the Netherlands by the loss of
Calais, which the states had so energetically striven to
prevent, the fleet under Admiral John of Duvenwoord,
Seigneur of Warmond, and Vice-Admirals Jan Ger-
brantz and Cornelius Leusen, had arrived at Plymouth,
ready to sail with their English allies.^ There were
three thousand sailors of Holland and Zealand on board,
the best mariners in the world, and two thousand two
hundred picked veterans from the garrisons of the Neth-
erlands.^ These land troops were English, but they be-
longed to the states' army, which was composed of Dutch,
German, Walloon, Scotch, and Irish soldiers, and it was
a liberal concession on the part of the republican gov-
ernment to allow them to serve on the present expedi-
tion. By the terms of the treaty the queen had no more
power to send these companies to invade Spain than to
campaign against Tyr Owen in Ireland, while, at a mo-
ment when the cardinal archduke had a stronger and
better appointed army in Flanders than had been seen
for many years in the provinces, it was a most hazard-
ous experiment for the states to send so considerable a
portion of their land and naval forces upon a distant
adventure. It was also a serious blow to them to be
deprived for the whole season of that valiant and ex-

1 Bor, iT. 148, 182, 2 Ibid., iv. 191. » Ibid.

428 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1596

perienced commander, Sir Francis Vere, the most valu-
able lieutenant, save Louis WUliam, that Maurice had at
his disposition. Yet Vere was to take command of this
contingent thus sent to the coast of Spain, at the very-
moment when the republican army ought to issue from
their winter quarters and begin active operations in the
field. The consequence of this diminution of their
strength and drain upon their resources was that the
states were unable to put an army in the field during the
current year, or make any attempt at a campaign.

The queen wrote a warm letter of thanks to Admiral
Warmond for the promptness and efficiency with which
he had brought his fleet to the place of rendezvous, and
now all was bustle and preparation in the English ports
for the exciting expedition resolved upon. Never during
Philip's lifetime, nor for several years before his birth,
had a hostile foot trod the soil of Spain, except during
the brief landing at Coruna in 1590, and although the
king's beard had been well singed ten years previously
by Sir Francis Drake, and although the coast of Portu-
gal had still more recently been invaded by Essex and
Vere, yet the present adventure was on a larger scale
and held out brighter prospects of success than any pre-
ceding expedition had done. In an age when the line
between the land and sea service, between regular cam-
paigners and volunteers, between public and private
warfare, between chivalrous knights errant and buca-
neers, was not very distinctly drawn, there could be
nothing more exciting to adventurous spirits, more
tempting to the imagination of those who hated the
pope and Philip, who loved fighting, prize-money, and
the queen, than a foray into Spain.

It was time to return the visit of the Armada. Some

1596] EXPEDITION AGAINST SPAIN 429

of the sea-kings were gone. Those magnificent free-
hooters, Drake and Hawkins, had jnst died in the West
Indies, and doughty Sir Roger WiUianis had left the
world in which he had bustled so effectively, bequeathing
to posterity a classic memorial of near a half -century of
hard fighting, written, one might almost imagine, in his
demi-pike saddle. But that most genial, valiant, im-
practicable, reckless, fascinating hero of romance, the
Earl of Essex, stiU a youth although a veteran in ser-
vice, was in the springtide of favor and glory, and was
to command the land forces now assembled at Plymouth.
That other corsair,^ as the Spaniards called him, that
other charming and heroic shape in England's checkered
chronicle of chivalry and crime, famous in arts and
arms, politics, science, literature, endowed with so many
of the gifts by which men confer luster on their age and
country, whose name was already a part of England's
eternal glory, whose tragic destiuy was to be her undy-
ing shame, Raleigh, the soldier, sailor, scholar, states-
man, poet, historian, geographical discoverer, planter of
empires yet unborn, was also present, helping to organ-
ize the somewhat chaotic elements of which the chief
Anglo-Dutch enterprise for this year against the Span-
ish world-dominion was compounded.

And, again, it is not superfluous to recall the com-
paratively slender materials, both in bulk and numbers,
over which the vivid intelligence and restless energy of
the two leading Protestant powers, the Kingdom and
the Republic, disposed. Their contest against the over-
shadowing empire which was so obstinately striving to

1 "Otro eorsario llamado Guateral," says the historian Herrera,
ingeniously fusing into one the Christian and family names of Sir
Walter Kaleigh (iii. 585).

430 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1596

become the Fifth Monarchy of history was waged by
land and naval forces which in their aggregate numbers
would scarce make a startling list of killed and wounded
in a single modem battle ; by ships such that a whole
fleet of them might be swept out of existence with half
a dozen modern broadsides; by weapons which would
seem to modern eyes like clumsy toys for children. Such
was the machinery by which the world was to be lost
and won less than three centuries ago. Could science,
which even in that age had made gigantic strides out of
the preceding darkness, have revealed its later miracles
and have presented its terrible powers to the despotism
which was seeking to crush aU Christendom beneath its
feet, the possible result might have been most tragical
to humanity. While there are few inventions in morals,
the demon Intellect is ever at his work, knowing no
fatigue and scorning contentment in his restless de-
mands upon the infinite Unknown. Yet moral truth
remains unchanged, gradually through the ages extend-
ing its influence, and it is only by conformity to its sim-
ple and eternal dictates that nations, like individuals,
can preserve a healthful existence. In the unending
warfare between right and wrong, between liberty and
despotism, Evil has the advantage of rapidly assuming
many shapes. It has been well said that constant vigi-
lance is the price of liberty. The tendency of our own
times, stimulated by scientific discoveries and their prac-
tical application, is to political consolidation, to the ab-
sorption of lesser communities in greater, just as disin-
tegration was the leading characteristic of the darker
ages. The scheme of Charlemagne to organize Europe
into a single despotism was a brilliant failure because
the forces which were driving human society into local

1596] LIBERTY AND DESPOTISM 431

and gradual reconstruction around various centers of
crystallization were irresistible to any countervailing
enginery which the emperor had at his disposal. The
attempt of Philip, eight centuries later, at universal mon-
archy was frivolous, although he could dispose of ma-
terial agencies which in the hands of Charlemagne might
have made the dreams of Charlemagne possible. It was
frivolous because the rising instinct of the age was for
religious, political, and commercial freedom in a far
intenser degree than those who lived in that age were
themselves aware. A considerable republic had been
evolved as it were involuntarily out of the necessities of
the time, almost without self -consciousness that it was a
republic, and even against the desire of many who were
guiding its destinies. And it found itself in constant
combination with two monarchs, despotic at heart and
of enigmatical or indifferent religious convictions, who
yet reigned over peoples largely influenced by enthusiasm
for freedom. Thus liberty was preserved for the world ;
but, as the law of human progress would seem to be ever
by a spiral movement, it seems strange to the superficial
observer not prone to generalizing that Calvinism,
which unquestionably was the hard receptacle in which
the germ of human freedom was preserved in various
countries and at different epochs, should have so often
degenerated into tyranny. Yet notwithstanding the
burning of Servetus at Geneva and the hanging of Mary
Dyer at Boston, it is certain that Prance, England, the
Netherlands, and America owe a large share of such
political liberty as they have enjoyed to Calvinism. It
may be possible for large masses of humanity to accept
for ages the idea of one infallible church, however
tyrannical ; but the idea once admitted that there may

432 THE UNITED NETHEELANDS [1596

be many churches, that what is called the state can be
separated from what is called the church, the plea of
infallibility and of authority soon becomes ridiculous—
a mere fiction of political or fashionable quackery to im-
pose upon the uneducated or the unreflecting.

And now Essex, Raleigh, and Howard, Vere, Warmond,
and Nassau, were about to invade the shores of the despot
who sat in his study plotting to annex England, Scot-
land, Ireland, France, the Dutch EepubUc, and the Ger-
man Empire to the realms of Spain, Portugal, Naples,
Milan, and the Eastern and Western Indies, over which
he already reigned.

The fleet consisted of fifty-seven ships of war, of which
twenty-four were Dutch vessels under Admiral "War-
mond, with three thousand sailors of Holland and Zea-
land. Besides the sailors there was a force of six thou-
sand foot-soldiers, including the English veterans from
the Netherlands under Sir Francis Vere. There were
also fifty transports laden with ammunition and stores.
The expedition was under the joint command of Lord
High Admiral Howard and of the Earl of Essex. Many
noble and knightly volunteers, both from England and
the Republic, were on board, including, besides those al-
ready mentioned, Lord Thomas Howard, son of the Duke
of Norfolk ; Sir John Wingfield, who had commanded at
Gertruydenberg when it had been so treacherously sur-
rendered to Famese ; Count Louis Gunther of Nassau,
who had so recently escaped from the disastrous fight
■with Mondragon in the Lippe, and was now continuing
his education according to the plan laid down for him
by his elder brother Louis William ; Nicholas Meetker-
ken, Peter Regesmortes, Don Christopher of Portugal,
son of Don Antonio, and a host of other adventurers.

1596] ATTACK ON THE SPANISH FLEET 433

On the last day of June the expedition arrived off
Cadiz. Next morning they found a splendid Spanish
fleet in the harbor of that city, including four of the
famous apostolic great galleons, St. Philip, 8t. Matthew,
8t. Thomas, and St. Andrew, with twenty or thirty great
war-ships besides, and fifty-seven well-armed Indiamen,
which were to be convoyed on their outward voyage,
with a cargo estimated at twelve millions of ducats.

The St. Philip was the phenomenon of naval architec-
ture of that day, larger and stronger than any ship
before known. She was two thousand tons burden,
carried eighty-two bronze cannon, and had a crew of
twelve hundred men. The other three apostles carried
each fifty guns and four hundred men. The armament
of the other war-ships varied from fifty-two to eighteen
guns each. The presence of such a formidable force
might have seemed a motive for discouragement, or at
least for caution. On the contrary, the adventurers
dashed at once upon their prey, thus finding a larger
booty than they had dared to expect. There was but a
brief engagement. At the outset a Dutch ship acciden-
tally blew up, and gave much encouragement to the
Spaniards. Their joy was but short-lived. Two of the
great galleons were soon captured ; the other two, the St.
Philip and the St. Thomas, were run aground and
burned. The rest of the war-ships were driven within
the harbor, but were unable to prevent a landing of the
enemy's forces. In the eagerness of the allies to seize the
city, they unluckily allowed many of the Indiamen to
effect their escape through the puente del Zuazzo, which
had not been supposed a navigable passage for ships of
such burden. Nine hundred soldiers under Essex and
four hundred noble volunteers under Louis Gunther of

VOL. IV.— 28

434 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1596

Nassau now sprang on shore, and drove some eleven
hundred Spanish skirmishers back within the gates of the
city, or into a bastion recently raised to fortify the point
when the troops had landed. Young Nassau stormed
the bulwark sword in hand, carried it at the first assault,
and planted his colors on its battlement. It was the flag
of William the Silent, for the republican banner was
composed of the family colors of the founder of the new
commonwealth.! The blazonry of the proscribed and
assassinated rebel waved at last defiantly over one of the
chief cities of Spain. Essex and Nassau and aU the rest
then entered the city. There was little fighting.
Twenty-five English and Hollanders were killed, and
about as many Spaniards. Essex knighted about fifty
gentlemen, Englishmen and Hollanders, in the square
of Cadiz for their gallantry. Among the number were
Louis Q-unther of Nassau, Admiral Warmond, and Peter
Regesmortes. Colonel Nicholas Meetkerken ^ was killed
in the brief action, and Sir John "Wiugfield, who insisted
on prancing about on horseback without his armor, defy-
ing the townspeople and neglecting the urgent appeal
of Sir Francis Vere, was also slain. The Spanish sol-
diers, discouraged by the defeat of the ships on which
they had relied for protection of the town, retreated with
a great portion of the inhabitants into the citadel.
Next morning the citadel capitulated without striking a
blow, although there were six thousand able-bodied,
well-armed men within its walls. It was one of the
most astonishing panics ever recorded. The great fleet,
making a third of the king's navy, the city of Cadiz and
its fortress, were surrendered to this audacious little
force, which had only arrived off the harbor thirty-six

1 Fruln, 357. a gee note, p. 543.

1596] SACK OF CADIZ 435

hours before. The invaders had, however, committed a
great mistake. They had routed and, as it were, cap-
tured the Spanish galleons, but they had not taken pos-
session of them, such had been their eagerness to enter
the city. It was now agreed that the fleet should be
ransomed for two million ducats ; but the proud Duke of
Medina Sidonia, who had already witnessed the destruc-
tion of one mighty armada, preferred that these splen-
did ships, too, should perish rather than that they should
pay tribute to the enemy. Scorning the capitulation of
the commandant of the citadel, he ordered the fleet to be
set on fire. Thirty-two ships, most of them vessels of
war of the highest class, were burned, with all then-
equipments. Twelve hundred cannon sank at once to
the bottom of the Bay of Cadiz, besides arms for five or
six thousand men. At least one third of Philip's efEec-
tive navy was thus destroyed.

The victors now sacked the city very thoroughly, but
the results were disappointing. A large portion of the
portable wealth of the inhabitants, their gold and their
jewelry, had been so cunningly concealed that, although
half a dozen persons were tortured tiU they should reveal
hidden treasures, not more than five hundred thousand
ducats' worth of plunder was obtained. Another sum
of equal amount having been levied upon the citizens,
forty notable personages, among them eighteen ecclesi-
astical dignitaries, were carried off as hostages for its
payment. The city was now set on fire by command of
Essex in four different quarters. Especially the cathe-
dral and other churches, the convents and the hospitals,
were burned. It was perhaps not unnatural that both
Englishmen and Hollanders should be disposed to wreak
a barbarous vengeance on everything representative of

436 THE UNITED NETHEELANDS [1596

the church which they abhorred, and from which such
endless misery had issued to the uttermost comers of
their own countries. But it is at any rate refreshing to
record amid these acts of piQage and destruction, in
which, as must ever be the case, the innocent and the
lowly were made to suffer for the crimes of crowned and
mitered culprits, that not many special acts of cruelty
were committed upon individuals. No man was mur-
dered in cold blood, no woman was outraged.^ The
beautiful city was left a desolate and blackened ruin,
and a general levy of spoil was made for the benefit of
the victors, but there was no infringement of the theory
and practice of the laws of war as understood in that
day or in later ages. It is even recorded that Essex
ordered one of his soldiers, who was found stealing a
woman's gown, to be hanged on the spot, but that,
wearied by the intercession of an ecclesiastic of Cadiz,
the canon Quesada, he consented at last to pardon the
marauder.^

It was the earnest desire of Essex to hold Cadiz in-
stead of destroying it. With three thousand men, and
with temporary supplies from the fleet, the place could
be maintained against all comers, Holland and Eng-
land together commanding the seas. Admiral Warmond
and all the Netherlanders seconded the scheme, and offered
at once to put ashore from their vessels food and muni-

1 This is the express testimony of the Spanish historian
Heirera, whose evidence will hardly be disputed. (Herrera, iii.
645.)

2 The chief authorities consulted for this expedition are Bor,
iv. 232-235; Meteren, 374-377; Eeyd, 278-281; Herrera, iii. 632-
645 ; De Thou, t. xii. liv. oxvi. 671-674 ; Camden, 517-523 ; Pruin,
353-360.

1596] THE ALLIED FLEET SAILS FROM CADIZ 437

tions enough to serve two thousand men for two months.
If the English admiral would do as much, the place
might be afterward supplied without limit and held
tDl doomsday, a perpetual thorn in Philip's side. Sir
Francis Vere was likewise warmly in favor of the project,
but he stood alone. All the other Englishmen opposed
it as hazardous, extravagant, and in direct contravention
of the minute instructions of the queen. "With a sigh or
a curse for what he considered the superfluous caution of
his royal mistress and the exaggerated docility of Lord
High Admiral Howard, Essex was fain to content him-
self with the sack and the conflagration, and the allied
fleet sailed away from Cadiz.

On their way toward Lisbon they anchored off Faro,
and landed a force, chiefly of Netherlanders, who expedi-
tiously burned and plundered the place. When they
reached the neighborhood of Lisbon they received in-
formation that a great fleet of Indiamen, richly laden,
was daily expected from the Flemish Islands, as the
Azores were then denominated. Again Essex was
vehemently disposed to steer at once for that station in
order to grasp so tempting a prize, again he was strenu-
ously supported by the Dutch admiral and Vere, and
again Lord Howard peremptorily interdicted the plan.
It was contrary to his instructions and to his ideas of
duty, he said, to risk so valuable a portion of her Maj-
esty's fleet on so doubtful a venture. His ships were
not fitted for a winter's cruise, he urged. Thus, although
it was the very heart of midsummer, the fleet was
ordered to sail homeward. The usual result of a divided
command was made manifest, and it proved in the
sequel that, had they sailed for the islands, they would
have pounced at exactly the right moment upon an un-

438 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1596

protected fleet of merchantmen, with cargoes valued at
seven millions of ducats. Essex, not being willing to
undertake the foray to the Azores with the Dutch ships
alone, was obliged to digest his spleen as best he could.
Meantime the English fleet bore away for England, leav-
ing Essex in his own ship, together with the two cap-
tured Spanish galleons, to his fate. That fate might
have been a disastrous one, for his prizes were not fully
manned, his own vessel was far from powerful, and there
were many rovers and cruisers upon the seas. The
Dutch admiral, with all his ships, however, remained in
company, and safely convoyed him to Plymouth, where
they arrived only a day or two later than Howard and
his fleet.^ Warmond, who had been disposed to sail
up the Thames in order to pay his respects to the
queen, was informed that his presence would not be
desirable, but rather an embarrassment. He, how-
ever, received the following letter from the hand of
Elizabeth :

"Monsieur Duvenwooed: The report made to me
by the generals of our fleet, just happily arrived from
the coast of Spain, of the devoirs of those who have been
partakers in so famous a victory, ascribes so much of it
to the valor, skill, and readiness exhibited by yourself
and our other friends from the Netherlands under your
command, during the whole course of the expedition, as
to flU our mind Avith special joy and satisfaction, and
with a desire to impart these feelings to you. No other
means presenting themselves at this moment than that
of a letter (in some sense darkening the picture of the
conceptions of our soul), we are willing to make use of
1 Bor, Meteren, Beyd, De Thou, ubi sup.

1596] LETTER OF ELIZABETH TO WAEMOND 439

it while waiting for means more effectual. Wishing
thus to disburden ourselves, we find ourselves confused,
not knowing where to begin, the greatness of each part
exceeding the merit of the other. For the vigor and
promptness with which my lords the States-General
stepped into the enterprise made us acknowledge that
the good favor which we have always borne the United
Provinces, and the proofs thereof which we have given
in the benefits conferred by us upon them, had not been
iU bestowed. The valor, skill, and discipline manifested
by you in this enterprise show that you and your whole
nation are worthy the favor and protection of princes
against those who wish to tyrannize over you. But the
honorableness and the valor shown by you. Sir Admiral,
toward our cousin the Earl of Essex on his return, when
he unfortunately was cut off from the fleet, and deep in
the night was deprived of all support, when you kept
company with him and gave him escort into the harbor
of Pljonouth, demonstrate, on the one hand, your fore-
sight in providing thus by your pains and patience
against all disasters, which through an accident falling
upon one of the chiefs of our armada might have dark-
ened the great victory, and, on the other hand, the fervor
and fire of the affection which you bear us, increasing
thus, through a double bond, the obligation we are
owing you, which is so great in our hearts that we have
felt bound to discharge a part of it by means of this
writing, which we beg you to communicate to the whole
company of our friends under your command, saying
to them besides that they may feel assured that even
as we have before given proof of our good will to their
fatherland, so henceforth, incited by their devoirs and
merits, we are ready to extend our bounty and affection

440 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1596

in all ways wliicli may become a princess recompensing
the virtues and gratitude of a nation so worthy as
yours. " Elizabeth E.

"14th August, 1596." 1

This letter was transmitted by the admiral to the
States-General, who furnished him with a copy of it,
but enrolled the original in their archives, recording as
it did, in the hand of the great English queen, so strik-
ing a testimony to the valor and the good conduct of
Netherlanders.2

The results of this expedition were considerable, for
the king's navy was crippled, a great city was destroyed,
and some millions of plunder had been obtained. But
the permanent possession of Cadiz, which, in such case,
Essex hoped to exchange for Calais, and the destruction
of the fleet at the Azores,— possible achievements both,
and unwisely neglected,— would have been far more
profitable, at least to England. It was also matter of
deep regret that there was much quarreling between
the Netherlanders and the Englishmen as to their re-

1 The letter, translated, of oourse, into Flemish, is given in fuU
by Bor, iv. 235. Incredible as it may seem, Camden not only
makes no allusion to this special and memorable service of the
Dutch admiral, and to the enthusiastic approbation bestowed upon
him and his comrades by the queen, but he never once mentions
him in his account, save that toward the end of a list of persons
knighted after the taking of the city the name of John van
Duvenvord appears. The English historian, indeed, carefully
suppresses the share taken by the sailors and soldiers of the
Dutch Republic in the expedition, scarcely the faintest allusion
being made to them from the beginning to the end of his nar-
rative. The whole affair is represented as a purely English
adventure and English triumph.

2 Bor, ubi sup.

1596] PROPOSED DISMEMBERMENT OF FRANCE 441

spective share of the spoils, the Netherlanders com-
plaining loudly that they had been defrauded. Moreover,
the merchants of Middelburg, Amsterdam, and other
commercial cities of Holland and Zealand were, as it
proved, the real owners of a large portion of the property
destroyed or pillaged at Cadiz, so that a loss estimated
as high as three hundred thousand florins fell upon those
unfortunate traders through this triumph of the allies.^
The internal consequences of the fall of Calais had
threatened at the first moment to be as disastrous as
the international results of that misfortune had already
proved. The hour for the definite dismemberment and
partition of the French kingdom, not by foreign con-
querors, but among its own self-seeking and disloyal
grandees, seemed to have struck. The indomitable
Henry, ever most buoyant when most pressed by mis-
fortune, was on the way to his camp at La Ffere, encour-
aging the faint-hearted, and providing as well as he
could for the safety of the places most menaced, when
he was met at St.-Quentin by a solemn deputation of the
principal nobles, military commanders, and provincial
governors of France. The Duke of Montpensier was
spokesman of the assembly, and, in an harangue care-
fully prepared for the occasion, made an elaborate prop-
osition to the king that the provinces, districts, cities,
castles, and other strongholds throughout the kingdom
should now be formally bestowed upon the actual gov-
ernors and commandants thereof in perpetuity and as
hereditary property, on condition of rendering a certain
military service to the king and his descendants. ,It
seemed so amazing that this temporary disaster to the
national arms should be used as a pretext for parceling

1 Bor, Meteren, Reyd, ubi sup.

442 THE UOTTED NETHERLANDS [1596

out France and converting a great empire into a num-
ber of insignificant duchies and petty principalities, that
this movement should be made, not by the partizans of
Spain, but by the adherents of the king, and that its
leader should be his own near relative, a prince of the
blood, and a possible successor to the crown, that Henry
was struck absolutely dumb. Misinterpreting his silence,
the duke proceeded very confidently with his weU-conned
harangue, and was eloquently demonstrating that, under
such a system, Henry, as principal feudal chief, would
have greater military forces at his disposal whenever he
chose to summon his faithful vassals to the field than
could be the case while the mere shadow of royal power
or dignity was allowed to remain, when the king, find-
ing at last a tongue, rebuked his cousin, not angrily, but
with a grave melancholy which was more impressive
than wrath.

He expressed his pity for the duke that designing in-
triguers should have thus taken advantage of his faciUty
of character to cause him to enact a part so entirely un-
worthy a Frenchman, a gentleman, and a prince of the
blood. He had himself, at the outset of his career, been
much farther from the throne than Montpensier was at
that moment, but at no period of his Ufe would he have
consented to disgrace himself by attempting the dismem-
berment of the realm. So far from entering for a mo-
ment into the subject-matter of the duke's discourse, he
gave him and all his colleagues distinctly to understand
that he would rather die a thousand deaths than listen
to suggestions which would cover his family and the
royal dignity with infamy.^

1 Sully, M^moires, t. i. liv. vii. 417, 418. Compare De Thou,
t. xiii. liv. cxviii. 136.

1596] MILITARY PROGRESS IN THE NORTH 443

Earely has political cynicism been displayed in more
revolting shape than in this deliberate demonstration by
the leading patricians and generals of France, to whom
patriotism seemed an unimaginable idea. Thus signally
was their greediness to convert a national disaster into
personal profit rebnked by the king. Henry was no
respecter of the People, which he regarded as something
immeasurably below his feet. On the contrary, he was
the most sublime self-seeker of them aU ; but his cour-
age, his intelligent ambition, his breadth and strength
of purpose, never permitted him to doubt that his own
greatness was inseparable from the greatness of France.
Thus he represented a distinct and wholesome principle
—the national integrity of a great homogeneous people
at a period when that integrity seemed, through domes-
tic treason and foreign hatred, to be hopelessly lost.
Hence it is not xmnatural that he should hold his place
in the national chronicle as Henry the Grreat.

Meantime, while the military events just recorded had
been occurring in the southern peninsula, the progress
of the archduke and his lieutenants in the north against
the king and against the Republic had been gratifying to
the ambition of that martial ecclesiastic. Soon after the
fall of Calais, De Eosne had seized the castles of Gruynes
and Hames, while De Mexia laid siege to the important
stronghold of Ardres. The garrison, commanded by
Count Belin, was sufficiently numerous and well sup-
plied to maintain the place until Henry, whose triumph
at La F6re could hardly be much longer delayed, should
come to its relief. To the king's infinite dissatisfaction,
however, precisely as Don Alvario de Osorio was sur-
rendering La F5re to him, after a seven months' siege,
Ardres was capitulating to De Mexia. The reproaches

444 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1596

upon Belin for cowardice, imbecility, and bad faith were
bitter and general. AU his officers had vehemently pro-
tested against the surrender, and Henry at first talked
of cutting off his head.^ It was hardly probable, how-
ever, had the surrender been really the result of treach-
ery, that the governor would have put himself, as he
did at once, in the king's power; for the garrison
marched out of Ardres with the commandant at then-
head, banners displayed, drums beating, matches lighted,
and buUet in mouth, twelve hundred fighting men strong,
besides invalids. Belin was possessed of too much influ-
ence, and had the means of rendering too many pieces
of service to the politic king, whose rancor against
Spain was perhaps not really so intense as was com-
monly supposed, to meet with the condign punishment
which might have been the fate of humbler knaves.

These successes having been obtained in Normandy,
the cardinal, with a force of nearly fifteen thousand men,
now took the field iu Flanders, and after hesitating for
a time whether he should attack Breda, Bergen, Ostend,
or Gertruydenberg, and after making occasional feints
in various directions, came, toward the end of June,
before Hulst. This rather insignificant place, with a
population of but one thousand inhabitants, was de-
fended by a strong garrison under command of that
eminent and experienced officer. Count Everard Solms.
Its defenses were made more complete by a system of
sluices, through which the country around could be laid
under water ; and Maurice, whose capture of the town
in the year 1591 had been one of his earliest military
achievements, was disposed to hold it at all hazards.
He came in person to inspect the fortifications, and ap-

1 So Justinus of Nassau wrote to Prince Maurioe. (Bor, iv. 194.)

1596] CAPITULATION OF HULST 445

peared to be so eager on the subject, and so likely to
encounter unnecessary hazards, that the states of Hol-
land passed a resolution imploring him " that he would
not, in his heroic enthusiasm and laudable personal ser-
vice, expose a life on which the country so much de-
pended to manifest dangers."^ The place was soon
thoroughly invested, and the usual series of minings and
counterminings, assaults and sorties, followed, in the
course of which that courageous and corpulent renegade,
De Rosne, had his head taken off by a cannon-ball, while
his son, a lad of sixteen, was fighting by his side.^ On
the 16th August the cardinal formally demanded the
surrender of the place, and received the magnanimous
reply that Hulst would be defended to the death. This
did not, however, prevent the opening of negotiations
the very same day. AH the of&cers save one united in
urging Solms to capitulate ; and Solms, for somewhat
mysterious reasons, and, as was stated, in much confu-
sion, gave his consent. The single malcontent was the
well-named Matthew Held, whose family name meant
hero, and who had been one of the chief actors in the
far-famed capture of Breda. He was soon afterward
killed in an unsuccessful attack made by Maurice upon
Venlo.

Hulst capitulated on the 18th August.' The terms
were honorable, but the indignation throughout the
country against Count Sohns was very great. The
states of Zealand, of whose regiment he had been com-

1 Van der Kemp, iii. 162.

2 Bor, iv. 219. Bentivoglio, 440.

^ For the siege and capture of Hulst, see Bor, iv. 213-230;
Meteren, 380 seq; Bentivoglio, 439, 440; Keyd, 285-287;
Coloma, 225-229.

446 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS

mander ever since the death of Sir Philip Sydney, dis-
missed him from their service, while a torrent of wrath
flowed upon him from every part of the country. Mem-
bers of the States-General refused to salute him in the
streets ; eminent personages turned their backs upon him,
and for a time there was no one willing to listen to a
word in his defense. The usual reaction in such cases
followed: Maurice sustained the commander, who had
doubtless committed a grave error, but who had often
rendered honorable service to the Republic; and the
States-General gave him a command as important as
that of which he had been relieved by the Zealand
states. It was mainly on account of the tempest thus
created within the Netherlands that an affair of such
slight importance came to occupy so large a space in
contemporary history. The defenders of Solms told
wild stories about the losses of the besieging army. The
cardinal, who was thought prodigal of blood, and who
was often quoted as sajdng " his soldiers' lives belonged
to God and theii-. bodies to the king,"^ had sacrificed, it
was ridiculously said, according to the statement of the
Spaniards themselves, five thousand soldiers before the
walls of Hulst.^ It was very logically deduced therefrom
that the capture of a few more towns of a thousand in-
habitants each would cost him his whole army. People
told each other, too, that the conqueror had refused a
triumph which the burghers of Brussels wished to pre-
pare for him on his entrance into the capital, and that
he had administered the very proper rebuke that, if they
had more money than they knew what to do with, they
should expend it in aid of the wounded and of the

1 Eeyd, uW sup.

2 Bor, Meteren, Eeyd, Coloma, ubi sup., especially Eeyd.

1596] BLOODSHED IN THE EAST 447

families of the fallen, rather than in velvets and satins
and triumphal arches.^ The humanity of the suggestion
hardly tallied with the bloodthirstiness of which he was
at the same time so unjustly accused, although it nadght
well be doubted whether the commander-in-chief, even
if he could witness unflinchingly the destruction of five
thousand soldiers on the battle-field, would dare to con-
front a new demonstration of Schoolmaster Houwaerts
and his fellow-pedants.

The fact was, however, that the list of casualties in
the cardinal's camp during the six weeks' siege amoimted
to six hundred, while the losses within the city were at
least as many.^ There was no attempt to relieve the
place ; for the states, as before observed, had been too
much cramped by the strain upon their resources and by
the removal of so many veterans for the expedition
against Cadiz to be able to muster any considerable
forces in the field during the whole of this year.

For a vast war in which the four leading powers of
the earth were engaged, the events, to modern eyes, of
the campaign of 1596 seem suf&eiently meager. Mean-
time, during all this campaigning by land and sea in the
West, there had been great but profitless bloodshed in
the East. With difficulty did the Holy Roman Empire
withstand the terrible, ever-renewed assaults of the
unholy realm of Ottoman, then in the full flush of its
power; but the two empires still counterbalanced each
other, and contended with each other at the gates of
Vienna.

1 Keyd.

2 Eelacion de la presa de la villa de Hulst en Flandes, August
17, 1596. There seems no reason why the cardinal in these
private despatches should not have told the truth.

448 THE UNITED NETHEELAISTDS [1596

As the fighting became more languid, however, in the
western part of Christendom, the negotiations and in-
trigues grew only the more active. It was most desir-
able for the Republic to effect, if possible, a formal alli-
ance, offensive and defensive, with France and England
against Spain. The diplomacy of the Netherlands had
been very efficient in bringing about the declaration of
war by Henry against Philip, by which the current year
had opened, after Henry and Philip had been doing
their best to destroy each other and each other's subjects
during the half-dozen previous years. Elizabeth, too,
although she had seen her shores invaded by Philip with
the most tremendous armaments that had ever floated
on the seas, and although she had herself just been
sending fire and sword into the heart of Spain, had
very recently made the observation ^ that she and Philip
were not formally at war with each other. It seemed,
therefore, desirable to the States-G-eneral that this very
practical warfare should be, as it were, reduced to a
theorem. In this case the position of the Republic to
both powers and to Spain itself might perhaps be more
accurately defined.

Calvaert, the states' envoy,— to use his own words,—
haunted Henry like his perpetual shadow, and was ever
doing his best to persuade him of the necessity of this
alliance.^ De Sancy, as we have seen, had just arrived
in England when the cool proposition of the queen to
rescue Calais from Philip on condition of keeping it for
herself had been brought to Boulogne by Sydney. Not-
withstanding the indignation of the king, he had been

1 «>T welok haer Mag. pretendeerde tot uoeli niot gedaen te
hebben."— Calvaert to the States-General, apud' Deventer, ii. 117.

2 Ibid., ii. 114.

1596] PROJECTED ALLIANCE AGAINST SPAIN 449

induced directly afterward to send an additional em-
bassy to Elizabeth, with the Duke of Bouillon at its
head, and he had insisted upon Calvaert's accompanying
the mission. He had, as he frequently observed,^ no
secrets from the States- General, or from Calvaert, who
had been negotiating upon these affiairs for two years
past and was so well acquainted with all their bearings.
The Dutch envoy was reluctant to go,— for he was seri-
ously iU and very poor in purse,— but Henry urged the
point so vehemently that Calvaert found himself on
board ship within six hours of the making of the prop-
osition.2 The incident shows of how much account the
republican diplomatist was held by so keen a judge of
manMnd as the B6arnese; but it will subsequently
appear that the candor of the king toward the States-
General and their representative was by no means with-
out certain convenient limitations.

De Sancy had arrived just as, without his knowledge,
Sydney had been despatched across the Channel with
the brief mission already mentioned. When he was
presented to the queen the next day, she excused her-
self for the propositions by which Henry had been so
much enraged by assuring the envoy that it had been
her intention only to keep Calais out of the enemy's
hand so long as the king's forces were too much occu-
pied at a distance to provide for its safety. As diplo-
matic conferences were about to begin in which, even
more than in that age, at least, was usually the case,
the object of the two conferring powers was to deceive
each other, and at the same time still more decidedly to
defraud other states, Sancy accepted the royal explana-

1 Calvaert to the States-General, apud Deventer, ii. 118.

2 Ibid.

VOL. IV.— 29

450 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1596

tion, althougli Henry's special messenger, Lomenie, had
just brought him from the camp at Boulogne a minute
account of the propositions of Sydney.^

The envoy had, immediately afterward, an interview
with Lord Burghley, and at once perceived that he was
no friend to his master. Cecil observed that the queen
had formerly been much bound to the king for reUgion's
sake. As this tie no longer existed, there was nothing
now to unite them save the proximity of the two states
to each other and their ancient alliances, a bond purely
of interest, which existed only so long as princes found
therein a special advantage.

De Sancy replied that the safety of the two crowns
depended upon their close alliance agaiast a very pow-
erful foe who was equally menacing to them both.
Cecil rejoined that he considered the Spaniards deserv-
ing of the very highest praise for having been able to
plan so important an enterprise, and to have so weU
deceived the King of France by the promptness and the
secrecy of their operations as to allow him to conceive
no suspicion as to their designs.

To this not very friendly sarcasm the envoy, indig-
nant that France should thus be insulted in her misfor-
tunes, exclaimed that he prayed to Grod that the affairs
of Englishmen might never be reduced to such a point
as to induce the world to judge by the result merely, as
to the sagacity of their counsels. He added that there
were many passages through which to enter France, and
that it was difficult to be present everywhere in order to
defend them all against the enemy.

A few days afterward the Duke of Bouillon arrived

1 See especially for these negotiations De Thou, t. xii. liv. oxvi.
247 seq. Compare Bor, iv. 253-257.

1596] THE FEENCH ENVOY AND LOED BTJEGHLEY 451

in London. He had seen Lord Essex at Dover as he
passed, and had endeavored without success to dissuade
him from his expedition against the Spanish coast. The
conferences opened on the 7th May, at Greenwich, be-
tween Burghley, Cobham, the lord chamberlain, and
one or two other commissioners, on the part of the queen,
and Bouillon, Sancy, Du Vair, and Ancel, as plenipo-
tentiaries of Henry.

There was the usual indispensable series of feints at
the outset, as if it were impossible for statesmen to
meet around a green table except as fencers in the field
or pugilists in the ring.

" We have nothing to do," said Burghley, " except to
listen to such propositions as may be made on the part
of the king, and to repeat them to her Highness the
Queen."

" You cannot be ignorant," replied Bouillon, " of the
purpose for which we have been sent hither by his Very
Christian Majesty. You know very well that it is to
conclude a league with England. 'T is necessary, there-
fore, for the English to begin by declaring whether they
are disposed to enter into such an alliance. This point
once settled, the French can make their propositions,
but it would be idle to dispute about the conditions of
a treaty if there is, after all, no treaty to be made."

To this Cecil rejoined that, if the king were reduced
to the necessity of asking succor from the queen and of
begging for her alliance, it was necessary for them, on
the other hand, to see what he was ready to do for the
queen in return, and to learn what advantage she could
expect from the league.

The diike said that the English statesmen were per-
fectly aware of the French intention of proposing a

452 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1596

league against the common enemy of both nations, and
that it would be unquestionably for the advantage of
both to unite their forces for a vigorous attack upon
Spain, in which case it would be more difi&cult for the
Spanish to resist them than if each were acting sepa-
rately. It was no secret that the Spaniards would rather
attack England than France, because their war against
England, being colored by a religious motive, would be
much less odious, and would even have a specious pre-
text. Moreover, the conquest of England would give
them an excellent vantage-ground to recover what they
had lost in the Netherlands. If, on the contrary, the
enemy should throw himself with his whole force upon
Prance, the king, who would perhaps lose many places
at once, and might hardly be able to maintain himself
single-handed against domestic treason and a concen-
trated effort on the part of Spain, would probably find it
necessary to make a peace with that power. Nothing
could be more desirable for Spain than such a result, for
she would then be free to attack England and Holland,
undisturbed by any fear of France. This was a piece
of advice, the duke said, which the king offered, in the
most friendly spirit, and as a proof of his affection, to
her Majesty's earnest consideration.

Burghley replied that all this seemed to him no reason
for making a league. " What more can the queen do,"
he observed, " than she is already doing ? She has in-
vaded Spain by land and sea ; she has sent troops to
Spain, France, and the Netherlands ; she has lent the
king fifteen hundred thousand crowns in gold. In short,
the envoys ought rather to be studying how to repay her
Majesty for her former benefits than to be soliciting
fresh assistance." He added that the king was so much

1596] DE SANCY'S APPEAL FOR ENGLISH AID 453

stronger by the recent gain of Marseilles as to be easily-
able to bear the loss of places of far less importance,
while Ireland, on the contrary, was a constant danger to
the queen. The country was already in a blaze, on
account of the recent landing effected there by the Span-
iards, and it was a very ancient proverb among the Eng-
lish that to attack England it was necessary to take the
road of Ireland.

Bouillon replied that in this war there was much differ-
ence between the position of France and that of Eng-
land. The queen, notwithstanding hostilities, obtained
her annual revenue as usual, while the king was cut off
from his resources and obliged to ruin his kingdom in
order to wage war. Sancy added that it must be ob-
vious to the English ministers that the peril of Holland
was likewise the peril of England and of France, but
that at the same time they could plainly see that the
king, if not succored, would be forced to a peace with
Spain. All his councilors were urging him to this, and
it was the interest of aU his neighbors to prevent such
a step. Moreover, the proposed league could not but be
advantageous to the English, whether by restraining
the Spaniards from entering England, or by facilitating
a combined attack upon the common enemy. The queen
might invade any portion of the Flemish coast at her
pleasure, while the king's fleet could sail with troops from
his ports to prevent any attack upon her realms.

At this Burghley turned to his colleagues and said
in English : " The French are acting according to the
proverb : they wish to sell us the bearskin before they
have killed the bear." ^

1 De Thou, 653. The historian, probably, according to Fruin,
346, took his account from the papers of Du Vair.

454 THE UNITED NETHEELANDS [1596

Sancy, who understood English, rejoined : " We have
no bearskin to sell, but we are giving you a very good
and salutary piece of advice. It is for you to profit by
it as you may."

"Where are these ships of war of which you were
speaking ? " asked Burghley.

" They are at Eochelle, at Bordeaux, and at St.-Malo,"
replied De Sancy.

"And these ports are not in the king's possession,"
said the lord treasurer.

The discussion was growing warm. The Duke of
Bouillon, in order to put an end to it, said that what
England had most to fear was a descent by Spain upon
her coasts, and that the true way to prevent this was to
give occupation to Philip's army in Flanders. The sol-
diers in the fleet then preparing were raw levies with
which he would not venture to assail her kingdom. The
veterans in Flanders were the men on whom he reUed
for that purpose. Moreover, the queen, who had great
influence with the States-General, would procure from
them a prohibition of all commerce between the prov-
inces and Spain; all the Netherlands would be lost to
Philip ; his armies would disperse of their own accord ;
the princes of Italy, to whom the power of Spain was a
perpetual menace, would secretly supply funds to the
allied powers, and the Germans, declared enemies of
PhUip, would furnish troops.

Burghley asserted confidently that this coidd never be
obtained from the Hollanders, who lived by commerce
alone. Upon which Sancy, wearied with aU these diffi-
culties, interrupted the lord treasurer by exclaiming:
" If the king is to expect neither an alliance nor any
succor on your part, he vrill be very much obliged to the

1596] FURTHER CONFERENCE WITH BTJRGHLET 455

queen if she will be good enough to inform him of the
decision taken by her, in order that he may, upon his
side, take the steps most suitable to the present position
of his affairs."

The session then terminated. Two days afterward, in
another conference, Burghley offered three thousand
men on the part of the queen, on condition that they
should be raised at the king's expense, and that they
should not leave England until they had received a
month's pay in advance.

The Duke of Bouillon said this was far from being
what had been expected of the generosity of her Maj-
esty, that if the king had money he would find no difft-
culty in raising troops in Switzerland and Germany, and
that there was a very great difference between hired
princes and allies.^ The English ministers having an-
swered that this was aU the queen could do, the duke
and Sancy rose in much excitement, saying that they
had then no further business than to ask for an audience
of leave, and to return to France as fast as possible.

Before they bade farewell to the queen, however, the
envoys sent a memoir to her Majesty, in which they set
forth that the first proposition as to a league had been
made by Sir Henry Umton, and that now, when the king
had sent commissioners to treat concerning an alliance,
already recommended by the queen's ambassador in
France, they had been received in such a way as to in-
dicate a desire to mock them rather than to treat with
them. They could not believe, they said, that it was her
Majesty's desire to use such language as had been ad-
dressed to them, and they therefore implored her plainly

1 "Beauconp de difference entre des princes &. gages et des
allids."-De Thou, 655.

456 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1596

to declare her intentions, in order that they might waste
no more time unnecessarily, especially as the high offices
with which their sovereign had honored them did not
allow them to remain for a long time absent from France.

The effect of this memoir upon the queen was that
fresh conferences were suggested, which took place at
intervals between the 11th and the 26th of May. They
were characterized by the same mutual complaints of
overreachings and of shortcomings by which all the
previous discussions had been distinguished. On the
17th May the French envoys even insisted on taking
formal farewell of the queen, and were received by her
Majesty for that purpose at a final audience. After they
had left the presence, the preparations for their home-
ward journey being already made, the queen sent Sir
Kobert Cecil, Henry Brooke, son of Lord Cobham, and
La Fontaine, minister of a French church in England,
to say to them how very much mortified she was that
the state of her affairs did not permit her to give the
king as much assistance as he desired, and to express
her wish to speak to them once more before their
departure.

The residt of the audience given accordingly to the
envoys, two days later, was the communication of her
decision to enter into the league proposed, but without
definitely concluding the treaty until it should be ratified
by the king.

On the 26th May articles were finally agreed upon, by
which the king and queen agreed to defend each other's
dominions, to unite in attacking the common enemy, and
to invite other princes and states equally interested with
themselves in resisting the ambitious projects of Spain
to join in the league. It was arranged that an army

1596] FORMATION OP THE ALLIANCE 457

should be put in the field as soon as possible, at the
expense of the king and queen and of such other powers
as should associate themselves in the proposed aUianee ;
that this army shoidd invade the dominions of the Span-
ish monarch ; that the king and queen were never with-
out each other's consent to make peace or truce with
Philip ; that the queen should immediately raise four
thousand infantry to serve six months of every year in
Picardy and Normandy, with the condition that they
were never to be sent to a distance of more than fifty
leagues from Boulogne ; that when the troubles of Ire-
land should be over the queen should be at liberty to
add new troops to the four thousand men thus prom-
ised by her to the league ; that the queen was to furnish
to these four thousand men six months' pay in advance
before they should leave England, and that the king
should agree to repay the amount six months afterward,
sending meanwhile four nobles to England as hostages.
If the dominions of the queen should be attacked it was
stipulated that, at two months' notice, the king should
raise four thousand men at the expense of the queen and
send them to her assistance, and that they were to serve
for six months at her charge, but were not to be sent to
a distance of more than fifty leagues from the coasts of
Prance.i

The English were not willing that the States-General
should be comprehended among the powers to be in-
vited to join the league, because, being under the pro-
tection of the Queen of England, they were supposed to
have no will but hers.^ Burghley insisted accordingly
that, in speaking of those who were thus to be asked, no
mention was to be made of peoples nor of states, for fear

1 De Thou, 647-660 seq. 2 ibid., 660.

458 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1596

lest the States-General might be included under those
terms.i The queen was, however, brought atlastto yield
the point, and consented, in order to satisfy the French
envoys, that to the word " princes " should be added the
general expression " orders or estates." ^ The obstacle
thus interposed to the formation of the league by the
hatred of the queen and of the privileged classes of
England to popular hberty, and by the secret desire en-
tertained of regaining that sovereignty over the prov-
inces which had been refused ten years before by Ehza-
beth, was at length set aside. The Republic, which
might have been stifled at its birth, was now a formida-
ble fact, and could neither be annexed to the Enghsh
dominions nor deprived of its existence as a new mem-
ber of the European family.

It being no longer possible to gainsay the presence of
the young commonwealth among the nations, the next
best thing, so it was thought, was to defraud her in
the treaty to which she was now invited to accede.
This, as it wiU presently appear, the King of France and
the Queen of England succeeded in doing very thor-
oughly, and they accomplished it notwithstanding the
astuteness and the diligence of the states' envoy, who, at
Henry's urgent request, had accompanied the French
mission to England. Calvaert had been very active in
bringing about the arrangement, to assist in which he
had, as we have seen, risen from a sick-bed and made
the journey to England. "The proposition for an
offensive and defensive alliance was agreed to by her
Majesty's council, but under intolerable and impractica-
ble conditions," said he, " and, as such, rejected by the
duke and Sancy, so that they took leave of her Majesty.

I Bor, iv. 256. De Thou, ubi sup. 2 ibid.

1596] DUPLICITY OP THE TREATY 459

At last, after some negotiation in whicli, without boast-
ing, I may say that I did some service, it was again
taken ia hand, and at last, thank God, although with
much difficulty, the league has been concluded." i

When the task was finished the French envoys de-
parted to obtain their master's ratification of the treaty.
Elizabeth expressed herself warmly in regard to her
royal brother, inviting him earnestly to pay her a visit,
in which case she said she would gladly meet him half-
way, for a sight of him would be her only consolation in
the midst of her adversity and annoyance. "He may
see other princesses of a more lovely appearance," she
added, " but he will never make a visit to a more faith-
ful friend." ^

But the treaty thus concluded was for the public.
The real agreement between France and England was
made by the commissioners a few days later, and re-
duced the ostensible arrangement to a sham, a mere
decoy to foreign nations, especially to the Dutch Repub-
lic, to induce them to imitate England in joining the
league, and to emulate her Hkewise in afiEording that
substantial assistance to the league which in reality
England was very far from giving.

" Two contracts were made," said Secretary of State
Villeroy, " the one public, to give credit and reputation
to the said league, the other secret, which destroyed the
effects and the promises of the first. By the first his Maj-
esty was to be succored by four thousand infantry, which
number was limited iy the second contract to two thousand,
who were to reside and to serve only in the cities of Bou-
logne and Montreuil, assisted by an equal number of
French, and not otherwise, and on condition of not

1 Calvaert's report, in Deventer, 117. ^ Ibid.

460 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1596

being removed from those towns unless his Majesty
should be personally present in Picardy with an army,
in which case they might serve in Picardy, but nowhere
else." 1 ,

An English garrison in a couple of French seaports, ,
over against the English coast, woidd hardly have seemed
a sufilcient inducement to other princes and states to
put large armies in the field to sustain the Protestant
league, had they known that this was the meager result
of the protocolling and disputations that had been going
on all the summer at Greenwich.

Nevertheless, the decoy did its work. The envoys re-
turned to Prance, and it was not until three months
later that the Duke of Bouillon again made his appear-
ance in England, bringing the treaty duly ratified by
Henry. The league was then solemnized, on the 26th
August, by the queen with much pomp and ceremony.
Three peers of the realm waited upon the French am-
bassador at his lodgings, and escorted him and his suite
in seventeen royal coaches to the Tower. Seven splen-
did barges then conveyed them along the Thames to
Greenwich. On the pier the ambassador was received by
the Earl of Derby, at the head of a great suite of nobles

1 Fruin, in his masterly "Tien Jaren nit den taohtigjarigen
Oorlog." is the first, so far as I know, that ever called public at-
tention to the exti-aordinary perfidy of these transactions. See,
in particular, pp. 372-374.

Camden, however, alludes to the fact that " shortly after there
was another treaty had, wherein it was agreed that this year no
more than two thousand English should be sent over, which
should serve only in Boulogne and Montreuil, unless the king
should come personally to Picardy," etc. (b. iv. 525). But the
essence of this " other treaty " was that it was kept secret from
those most interested in knowing its existence.

1596] LEAGUE CELEBRATED BY HOLIDAY-MAKING 461

and high functionaries, and conducted to the palace of
Nonesuch.!

There was a religious ceremony in the royal chapel,
where a special pavilion had been constructed. Stand-
ing within this sanctuary, the queen, with her hand on
her breast, swore faithfully to maintain the league just
concluded. She then gave her hand to the Duke of
BouiUon, who held it in both his own, while psalms were
sung and the organ resounded through the chapel.
Afterward there was a splendid banquet in the palace,
the duke sitting in solitary grandeur at the royal table,
being placed at a respectful distance from her Majesty,
and the dishes being placed on the board by the highest
nobles of the realm, who, upon their knees, served the
queen with wine. No one save the ambassador sat at
Elizabeth's table, but in the same hall was spread an-
other, at which the Earl of Essex entertained many dis-
tinguished guests, young Count Louis Grunther of Nassau
among the number.

In the midsummer twilight the briUiantly decorated
barges were again floating on the historic river, the gaily
colored lanterns lighting the sweep of the oars, and the
sound of lute and viol floating merrily across the water.
As the ambassador came into the courtyard of his house,
he found a crowd of several thousand people assembled,
who shouted welcome to the representative of Henry,
and invoked blessiags on the head of Queen Elizabeth
and of her royal brother of Prance. Meanwhile all the
beUs of London were ringing, artillery was thundering,
and bonfires were blazing, until the night was half spent.^

Such was the holiday-making by which the league be-
tween the great Protestant queen and the ex-chief of the
1 Bor, iv. 256, 257. • 2 Md.

462 THE UlSriTED NETHERLANDS [1596

Huguenots of Prance was celebrated witMn a year after
the pope had received him, a repentant sinner, into the
fold of the Church. Truly it might be said that religion
was rapidly ceasing to be the line of demarcation among
the nations, as had been the case for the two last genera-
tions of mankind.

The Duke of Bouillon soon afterward departed for the
Netherlands, where the regular envoy to the common-
wealth, Paul Chouart, Seigneur de Buzanval, had already
been preparing the States- General for their entrance
into the league. Of course it was duly impressed upon
those republicans thatthey should think themselves highly
honored by the privilege of associating themselves with
so august an alliance. The queen wrote an earnest letter
to the states urging them to join the league. " Especially
should you do so," she said, " on account of the reputar
tion which you will thereby gain for your affairs with
the people who are under you, seeing you thus sustained
(besides the certainty which you have of our favor) by
the friendship of other confederated princes, and par-
ticularly by that of the Most Christian King." i

On the 31st October the articles of agreement under
which the Republic acceded to the new confederation
were signed at The Hague. Of course it was not the
exact counterpart of the famous Catholic association.
Madam League, after struggling feebly for the past few
years, a decrepit beldam, was at last dead and buried.
But there had been a time when she was filled with
exuberant and terrible life. She, at least, had known
the object of her creation, and never, so long as life was
in her, had she faltered in her dread purpose. To ex-
tirpate Protestantism, to murder Protestants, to burn,
1 Bor, iv. 260.

1596] OBJECTS OF THE CATHOLIC LEAGUE 463

hang, buteher, bury them alive, to dethrone every Prot-
estant sovereign in Europe, especially to assassinate
the Queen of England, the Prince of Orange, with aU
his race, and Henry of Navarre, and to unite in the ac-
complishment of these simple purposes all the powers of
Christendom under the universal monarchy of Philip of
Spain— for all this, blood was shed in torrents, and the
precious metals of the "Indies" squandered as fast as
the poor savages, who were thus taking their first lessons
in the doctrines of Jesus of Nazareth, could dig them from
the mines. For this America had been summoned, as it
were by almighty flat, out of previous darkness, in order
that it might furnish money with which to massacre aU
the heretics of the earth. For this great purpose was
the sublime discovery of the Genoese sailor to be turned
to accoxmt. These aims were intelligible, and had in
part been attained. William of Orange had fallen, and
a patent of nobility, with a handsome fortune, had been
bestowed upon his assassin. Elizabeth's life had been
frequently attempted. So had those of Henry, of Mau-
rice, of Olden-Barneveldt. Divine Providence might
perhaps guide the hand of future murderers with greater
accuracy, for even if Madam League were dead, her
ghost still walked among the Jesuits and summoned
them to complete the crimes left yet unfinished.

But what was the design of the new confederacy?
It was not a Protestant league. Henry of Navarre could
no longer be the chief of such an association, although it
was to Protestant powers only that he could turn for
assistance. It was to the commonwealth of the Nether-
lands, to the Northern potentates, and to the Calvinist and
Lutheran princes of Germany that the king and queen
could alone appeal in their designs against Philip of Spain.

464 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1596

The position of Henry was essentially a false one
from the beginning. He felt it to be so, and the ink
was scarce dry with which he signed the new treaty
before he was secretly casting about him to make peace
with that power with which he was apparently summon-
ing aU the nations of the earth to do battle. Even the
cautious Elizabeth was deceived by the crafty Bearnese,
while both united to hoodwink the other states and
princes.

On the 31st October, accordingly, the States-General
agreed to go into the league with England and France,
" in order to resist the enterprises and ambitious designs
of the King of Spain against aU the princes and poten-
tates of Christendom." As the queen had engaged,
according to the public treaty or decoy, to furnish four
thousand infantry to the league, the states now agreed
to raise and pay for another four thousand to be main-
tained in the king's service at a cost of four hundred
and fifty thousand florins annually, to be paid by the
month. The king promised, in case the Netherlands
should be invaded by the enemy with the greater part
of his force, that these fouj- thousand soldiers should
return to the Netherlands. The king further bound
himself to carry on a sharp offensive war in Artois and
Hainault.^

The States-General would have liked a condition in-
serted in the treaty that no peace should be made with
Spain by England or France without the consent of the
provinces ; but this was peremptorily refused.

Perhaps the Republic had no special reason to be

1 Articles of agreement between the king and tlie States-
General of the Netherlands, signed by Bouillon and Buzanval,
October 31, 1596, apud Bor, iv. 265-267.

1596] AFFAIRS IN GERMANY 465

grateful for the grudging and almost contemptuous
manner in which it had thus been virtually admitted
into the community of sovereigns ; but the men who
directed its affairs were far too enlightened not to see
how great a step was taken when their political position,
now conceded to them, had been secured. In good
faith they intended to carry out the provisions of the
new treaty, and they immediately turned their attention
to the vital matters of making new levies and of impos-
ing new taxes, by means of which they might render
themselves useful to their new allies.

Meantime Ancel was deputed by Henry to visit the
various courts of Germany and the North in order to
obtain, if possible, new members for the league. ^ But
Germany was difBcult to rouse. The dissensions among
Protestants were ever inviting the assaults of the pa-
pists. Its multitude of sovereigns were passing their
leisure moments in wrangling among themselves, as
usual, on abstruse points of theology, and devoting their
serious hours to banqueting, deep drinking, and the
pleasures of the chase. The jeremiads of old John of
Nassau grew louder than ever, but his voice was of one
crying in the wilderness. The wrath to come of that
horrible Thirty Years' War, which he was not to wit-
ness, seemed to inspire all his prophetic diatribes. But
there were few to heed them. Two great dangers
seemed ever impending over Christendom, and it is diffi-
cidt to decide which fate would have been the more ter-
rible, the establishment of the universal monarchy of
Philip II., or the conquest of Germany by the Grand
Turk. But when Ancel and other emissaries sought to

1 See an acoount of Anoel's missions, speeelies, and negotia-
tions, in De Thou, t. xiii. liv. cxviii. 77-87 ; Bor, iv. 289.
VOL. IV.— 30

466 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1596

obtain succor against tlie danger from the southwest, he
was answered by the clash of arms and the shrieks of
horror which came daily from the southeast.^ In vain
was it urged, and urged with truth, that the Alcoran was
less cruel than the Inquisition, that the soil of Europe
might be overrun by Turks and Tartars, and the cres-
cent planted triumphantly in every village, with less
disaster to the human race, and with better hope that
the germs of civilization and the precepts of Christianity
might survive the invasion, than if the system of Philip,
of Torquemada, and of Alva should become the univer-
sal law. But the Turk was a frank enemy of Chris-
tianity, while Philip murdered Christians in the name of
Christ. The distinction imposed upon the multitudes,
with whom words were things. Moreover, the danger
from the young and enterprising Mohammed seemed
more appalling to the imagination than the menace,
from which experience had taken something of its ter-
rors, of the old and decrepit Philip.

The Ottoman Empire, in its exact discipline, in its ter-

1 " J'ai cru de devoir ioi sur la foi de oeux qui en out 6t6
t^moins ooulaires, afin de donner par Ijl une juste id6e de la
splendeur de I'empire Ottoman, de ses richesses, de sa puissance
et de la discipline exaete qui s'observe au dedans et au dehors,
afin que nos peuples ne soient plus 6tonn6s ni si indign^s, si
taudis que nos princes Chretiens languissent dans I'oisevetS et
dans une moUesse infame et travaillent sans cesse k se d^truire
les uns les autres par leurs haines ou par leurs jalousies, les Turcs
dont les commencements ont 6t6 si peu de chose ont form6 un si
grand empire. Quand on fera reflexion sur la severity de leur
discipline, sur leur 61oignement du luxe et de tons les vices que
traine avec soi la mollesse, et qu'il n'y a point d'autre route parmi
eux pour s'^lever aux grands emplois, et faire de grandes for-
tunes, que les vertus militaires, leurs vaste progrSs n'auront plus
rien qui surprenne." Such are the admiring words of so

1596] WAE BETWEEN EMPEROR AND TURK 467

rible concentration of purpose, in its contempt for all
arts and sciences, and all liuman occupation save the
trade of war and the pursuit of military dominion,
offered a strong contrast to the distracted condition of
the Holy Roman Empire, where an iutellectual and indus-
trious people, distracted by half a century of religious
controversy and groaning under one of the most elab-
orately perverse of aU the political systems ever invented
by man, seemed to offer itself an easy prey to any con-
queror. The Turkish power was in the fullness of its
aggressive strength, and seemed far more formidable
than it would have done had there been clearer percep-
tions of what constitutes the strength and the wealth of
nations. Could the simple truth have been thoroughly
comprehended that a realm founded upon such principles
was the grossest of absurdities, the Eastern might have
seemed less terrible than the Western danger.

But a great campaign, at no considerable distance
from the walls of Vienna, had occupied the attention
of Germany during the autumn. Mohammed had taken
the field in person with a hundred thousand men, and the
emperor's brother Maximilian, in conjunction with the
Prince of Transylvania, at the head of a force of equal

enlightened a statesman and historian as Jacques Augusta de
Thou (t. xii. liv. cxv. 580).

"Wol zu wiinschen wehre," said old John of Nassau, "das
man in Zeiten uffwaohen und uff die wege gedenken wolte, wie
nioht, allein diesem bluthundt dem Tiirken sondern aueh dem
Pahst, welehen D. Luther seliger in seinem ohristliohen Gresang,
'Erhalt uns Herr hei deinem Wort,' vor und den Tiirken naehsetzt,
mit verleihung Gottlicher hiilfEe moge widerstanden, und viel
jamer und ehlendt und blut vergiessen, ja die verherung der
ganzen Teutschen nation sambt andren christliehen Konigreiehen
und Landern vorkonxmen werden," etc.— Groen v. Prinsterer,
Archives, 11. S. i. 330.

468 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1596

magnitude, had gone forth to give him battle. Between
the Theiss and the Danube, at Kovesd, not far from the
city of Erlau, on the 26th October, the terrible encounter
on which the fate of Christendom seemed to hang at
last took place, and Europe held its breath in awful sus-
pense untU its fate should be decided. When the result
at last became known, a horrible blending of the comic
and the tragic, such as has rarely been presented in his-
tory, startled the world. Seventy thousand human
beings, Moslems and Christians, were lying dead or
wounded on the banks of a nameless little stream which
flows into the Theiss, and the commanders-in-chief of
both armies were running away as fast as horses could
carry them. Each army believed itself hopelessly de-
feated, and abandoning tents, baggage, artOlery, am-
munition, the remnants of each betook themselves to
panic-stricken flight. Generalissimo Maximilian never
looked behind him, as he fled, until he had taken refuge
in Kaschau, and had thence made his way, deeply mor-
tified and despondent, to Vienna. The Prince of Tran-
sylvania retreated into the depths of his own principality.
Mohammed, with his principal of&cers, shut himself up
in Buda, after which he returned to Constantinople and
abandoned himself for a time to a voluptuous ease, in-
consistent with the Ottoman projects of conquering the
world. The Turks, less prone to desperation than the
Christians, had been utterly overthrown in the early
part of the action ; but when the victors were, as usual,
greedily bent upon plunder before the victory had been
fairly secured, the tide of battle was turned by the
famous Italian renegade Cicala. The Turks, too, had
the good sense to send two days afterward and recover
their artillery trains and other property, which ever

DON BERNARDINO DE MEND02A

1596] PHILIP'S INTERFEEENCE IN GERMANY 469

since the battle had been left at the mercy of the first
comers.^

So ended the Turkish campaign of the year 1596.^
Ancel, accordingly, fared ill in his negotiations with
Germany. On the other hand, Mendoza, Admiral of
Aragon, had been industriously but secretly canvassing
the same regions as the representative of the Spanish
king.^ It was important for Philip, who put more faith
in the league of the three powers than Henry himself
did, to lose no time in counteracting its influence. The
condition of the Holy Roman Empire had for some time
occupied his most serious thoughts. It seemed plain
that Rudolph would never marry. Certainly he would
never marry the Infanta, although he was very angry
that his brother should aspire to the hand which he him-
self rejected. In case of his death without children,
Philip thought it possible that there might be a Protes-
tant revolution in Germany, and that the house of Haps-
burg might lose the imperial crown altogether. It was
even said that the emperor himself was of that opinion,
and preferred that the empire should end with his own
life.* Philip considered ^ that neither Matthias nor Max-

1 De Thou, t. xii. 1. cxv. 567-594. Meteren, 388. Reyd, 297.

2 Ibid.

3 Bor, iv. 293.

* "Siendo comxin opinion en Alemania que desea que eon su
muerte se aeabe el imperio en estas partes." — Relaoionde lo que el
Almirante de Aragon ha colegido en el tiempo que ha estado en
Alemana y en la oorte Cesarea tratando con personas prudentes
cerea el neg° de Rey de Romanes y sueesion a los estados
eleetivos de Bohemia, Moravia, Silesia y TTngria, Arch, de Sim.
MS.

5 Admiral of Aragon to PhiUp, December 17, 1596, Arch, de
Sim. MS.

470 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1596

imilian was fit to succeed their brother, being both of
them lukewarm in the Catholic faith.i In other words,
he chose that his destined son-in-law, the Cardinal
Albert, shoidd supersede them, and he was anxious to
have him appointed as soon as possible King of the
Eomans.

" His Holiness the Pope and the King of Spain," said
the Admiral of Aragon, "think it necessary to apply
most stringent measures to the emperor to compel him
to appoint a successor, because, in case of his death
without one, the administration during the vacancy
would fall to the Elector Palatine, a most perverse Cal-
vinistie heretic, and as great an enemy of the house of
Austria and of our holy religion as the Turk himself,
as sufficiently appears in those diabolical laws of his
published in the Palatinate a few months since. A
vacancy is so dreadful that in the north of Germany
the world would come to an end ; yet the emperor, being
of rather a timid nature than otherwise, is inclined to
quiet, and shrinks from the discussions and conflicts
likely to be caused by an appointment. Therefore his
Holiness and his Catholic Majesty, not choosing that we
should all live in danger of the world's falling in ruins,
have resolved to provide the remedy. They are to per-
mit the electors to use the faculty which they possess of
suspending the emperor and depriving him of his power,
there being examples of this in other times against em-
perors who governed ill." ^

The admiral further alluded to the great effort made
two years before to elect the King of Denmark emperor,

1 Admiral of Aragon to Philip, December 17, 1596, Arch,
de Sim. MS.

2 Kelaeion del Almirante de Aragon, etc., ubi sup.

1596] PHILIPS INTERPEEENCE IN GERMANY 471

reminding PhUip that in Hamburg they had erected tri-
umphal arches and made other preparations to receive
him. This year, he observed, the Protestants were renew-
ing their schemes. On the occasion of the baptism of the
child of the Elector Palatine, the English envoy being
present, and Queen Elizabeth being godmother, they
had agreed upon nine articles of faith much more hostile
to the Catholic creed than anything ever yet professed.
In case of the death of the emperor, this Elector Pala-
tine would of course make much trouble, and the em-
peror should therefore be induced, by fair means if
possible, on account of the great inconvenience of for-
cing him, but not without a hiat of compulsion, to
acquiesce in the necessary measures. Philip was repre-
sented as willing to assist the empire with considerable
force against the Turk, as there could be no doubt that
Hungary was in great danger, but in recompense it was
necessary to elect a King of the Eomans in all respects
satisfactory to him. There were three objections to the
election of Albert, whose recent victories and great abili-
ties entitled him, in Philip's opinion, to the crown.
Firstly, there was a doubt whether the kingdoms of
Hungary and Bohemia were elective or hereditary, and
it was very important that the King of the Romans
should succeed to those two crowns, because the electors
and other princes having fiefs within those kingdoms
would be unwilling to swear fealty to two suzerains, and
as Albert was younger than his brothers he could
scarcely expect to take by inheritance.

Secondly, Albert had no property of his own, but the
admiral suggested that the emperor might be made to
abandon to him the income of the Tyrol.

Thirdly, it was undesirable for Albert to leave the

472 THE UNITED NETHEELANDS [1596

Netherlands at that juncture. Nevertheless, it was
suggested by the easy-going admiral, with the same tran-
quil insolence which marked all his proposed arrange-
ments, that as Rudolph would retire from the govern-
ment altogether, Albert, as King of the Romans and
acting emperor, could very well take care of the Nether-
lands as part of his whole realm. Albert being, moreover,
about to marry the Infanta, the handsome dowry which
he would receive with her from the king would enable
him to sustain his dignity.^

Thus did Philip, who had been so industrious during
the many past years in his endeavors to expel the here-
tic Queen of England and the Huguenot Henry from the
realms of their ancestors, and to seat himself or his
daughter, or one or another of his nephews, in their
places, now busy himself with schemes to discrown
Rudolph of Hapsburg, and to place the ubiquitous In-
fanta and her future husband on his throne. Time would
show the result.

Meantime, while the Protestant Ancel and other
agents of the new league against Philip were traveUng
about from one court of Europe to another to gain ad-
herents to their cause, the great founder of the confed-
eracy was already secretly intriguing for a peace with
that monarch. The ink was scarce dry on the treaty to
which he had affixed his signature before he was closeted
with the agents of the Archduke Albert and receiving
affectionate messages and splendid presents from that
military ecclesiastic.

In November, 1596, La Balvena, formerly a gentle-
man of the Count de la Fera, came to Rouen. He had

1 Belacion del Almirante, ubi sup. Letter of the admiral,
Deeember 17, 1596, last cited.

1596] HENRY'S INTBIGUE WITH PHH^IP 473

a very secret interview with Henry IV. at three o'clock
one morning, and soon afterward at a very late hour in
the night. The king asked him why the archduke was
not willing to make a general peace, including England
and Holland. Balvena replied that he had no authority
to treat on that subject, it being well known, however,
that the King of Spain would never consent to a peace
with the rebels, except on the ground of the exclusive
maintenance of the Catholic religion.^

He is taking the very course to destroy that religion,
said Henry. The king then avowed himself in favor of
peace for the sake of the poor afflicted people of all
coimtries. He was not tired of arms, he said, which
were so familiar to him, but his wish was to join in a
general crusade against the Turk. This would be better
for the Catholic rehgion than the present occupations of
all parties. He avowed that the Queen of England was
his very good friend, and said he had never yet broken
his faith with her, and never would do so. She had sent
him the Garter, and he had accepted it, as his brother
Henry III. had done before him, and he would negotiate
no peace which did not include her.^ The not very dis-
tant future was to show how much these stout prof es-

1 Eelaeion de lo que ha heoha La Balvena, November, 1596,
Areh. de Sim. MS.

1 am not quite sure as to the orthography of the name of this
secret agent. Van Deventer (ii. 141-146) prints it Vulneve, but as
the B and V in Spanish are nearly identical, I am inclined to
prefer the name given in the text. It is, however, difficult to as-
certain how obscurer men were correctly called in days when
grave historians could designate so illustrious a personage as Sir
Walter Kaleigh as Guateral.

2 2» Eelaeion que Balvena ha hecha & su Alteza volviendo de
Francia, December, 1596, Arch, de Sim. MS.

474 THE UNITED NETHEELANDS [1596

sions of sincerity were worth. Meantime Henry charged
Balvena to keep their interviews a profound secret, es-
pecially from every one in France. The king expressed
great anxiety lest the Huguenots should hear of it, and
the agent observed that any suspicion of peace negotia-
tions would make great disturbance among the heretics,
as one of the conditions of the king's absolution by the
pope was supposed to be that he should make war upon
his Protestant subjects. On his return from Eouen
the emissary made a visit to Monlevet, marshal of the
camp to Henry IV., and a Calvinist. There was much
conversation about peace, in the course of which Mon-
levet observed : " We are much afraid of you in negotia-
tion, for we know that you Spaniards far surpass us in
astuteness."

" Nay," said Balvena ; " I will only repeat the words of
the Emperor Charles V. : ' The Spaniards seem wise,
and are madmen ; the French seem madmen, and are
wise.' " ^

A few weeks later the archduke sent Balvena again to
Rouen. He had another interview with the king, at
which not only ViUeroy and other Catholics were pres-
ent, but Monlevet also. This proved a great obstacle to
freedom of conversation. The result was the same as
before. There were strong professions of a desire on
the part of the king for a peace, but it was for a gen-
eral peace, nothing further.

On the 4th December Balvena was sent for by the king
before daylight, just as he was mounting his horse for
the chase.

" Tell his Highness," said Henry, " that I am all frank-

1 "Los Espafioles pareoen sabios y son looos, ylos franceses
pareoen looos y son sabios."

1596] PHILIP'S DESIGNS AGAINST ENGLAND 475

ness, and incapable of dissimulation, and tliat I believe
him too mucli a man of honor to wish to deceive me.
Go tell him that I am most anxious for peace, and that
I deeply regret the defeat that has been sustained
against the Turk. Had I been there I would have come
out dead or victorious. Let him arrange an agreement
between us, so that presto he may see me there with my
brave nobles, with infantry, and with plenty of Switzers.
Tell him that I am his friend. Begone. Be diligent." ^

On the last day but two of the year, the archduke,
having heard this faithful report of Henry's affectionate
sentiments, sent him a suit of splendid armor, such as
was then made better in Antwerp than anywhere else,
magnificently burnished of a blue color, according to
an entirely new fashion.^

With such secret courtesies between his Most Catho-
lic Majesty's vicegerent and himself was Henry's league
with the two Protestant powers accompanied.

Exactly at the same epoch Philip was again preparing
an invasion of the queen's dominions. An armada of a
hundred and twenty-eight ships, with a force of fourteen
thousand infantry and three thousand horse, had been
assembled during the autumn of this year at Lisbon, not-
withstanding the almost crushing blow that the Eng-
lish and Hollanders had dealt the king's navy so recently
at Cadiz.^ This new expedition was intended for Ire-
land, where it was supposed that the Catholics would be
easily roused. It was also hoped that the King of Scots

1 2° Eelaoion, etc.

2 Albert to Philip, DecemlDer 29, 1596, Areh. de Sim. MS. :
"Armas buenas de las que se labran en Anveres que son pabo-
nadas de cierta labor nueva." Compare Eeyd, 290.

3 Philip to Albert, October 4, 1596, Areh. de Sim. MS.

476 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1596

might be induced to embrace this opportunity of wreak-
ing vengeance on his mother's destroyer. " He was on
the watch the last time that my armada went forth
against the English," said Philip, " and he has now no
reason to do the contrary, especially if he remembers
that here is a chance to requite the cruelty which was
practised on his mother." ^

The fleet sailed on the 5th October, under the command
of the Count Santa Gadea. Its immediate destination
was the coast of Ireland, where they were to find some
favorable point for disembarking the troops. Having
accomplished this, the ships, with the exception of a few
light vessels, were to take their departure and pass the
winter in Ferrol. In case the fleet should be forced by
stress of weather on the English coast, the port of Mil-
ford Haven, in Wales, was to be seized, "because," said
Philip, "there are a great many Catholics there well
affected to our cause, and who have a special enmity to
the English." In case the English fleet should come
forth to give battle, Philip sent directions that it was to
be conquered at once, and that after the victory Milford
Haven was to be firmly held.^

This was easily said. But it was not fated that this
expedition should be more triumphant than that of the
Unconquerable Armada which had been so signally con-
quered eight years before. Scarcely had the fleet put to
sea when it was overtaken by a tremendous storm, in
which forty ships foundered with flve thousand men.^
The shattered remnants took refuge in Ferrol. There
the ships were to refit, and in the spring the attempt

1 Philip to Albert, October 4, 1596, Arch, de Sim. MS.

2 Same to same, October 5, 1596, MS. last cited.

' Same to same, December 31, 1596, ibid. Eeyd, 297.

1596] DESTRUCTION OF THE SPANISH FLEET 477

was to be renewed. Thus it was ever with the King of
Spain. There was a placid unconsciousness on his part
of defeat which sycophants thought sublime. And such
insensibility might have been sublimity had the monarch
been in person on the deck of a frigate in the howling
tempest, seeing ship after ship go down before his eyes,
and exerting himself with tranquil energy and skill to
encourage his followers and to preserve what remained
afloat from destruction. Certainly such exhibitions of
human superiority to the elements are in the highest
degree inspiring. His father had shown himself on
more than one occasion the master of his fate. The
King of France, too, bareheaded, in his iron corselet,
leading a forlorn hope, and by the personal charm of
his valor changing fugitives into heroes and defeat into
victory, had afforded many examples of sublime uncon-
sciousness of disaster, such as must ever thrill the souls
of mankind. But it is more difi&cult to be calm in bat-
tle and shipwreck than at the writing-desk ; nor is that
the highest degree of fortitude which enables a mon-
arch, himself in safety, to endure without flinching the
destruction of his fellow-creatures.

No sooner, however, was the remnant of the tempest-
tossed fleet safe in Ferrol than the king requested the
cardinal to collect an army at Calais and forthwith to
invade England. He asked his nephew whether he could
not manage to send his troops across the Channel in
vessels of light draft, such as he already had at com-
mand, together with some others which might be fur-
nished him from Spain. In this way he was directed to
gain a foothold in England, and he was to state imme-
diately whether he could accomplish this with his own
resources, or should require the assistance of the fleet at

478 THE UNITED NETHEELAND8 [1596

Ferrol. The king further suggested that the enemy,
encouraged by his success at Cadiz the previous sum-
mer, might be preparing a fresh expedition against
Spain, in which case the invasion of England would be
easier to accomplish.

Thus, on the last day of 1596, Philip, whose fleet, sent
forth for the conquest of Ireland and England, had been
too crippled to prosecute the adventure, was proposing
to his nephew to conquer England without any fleet at
aU. He had given the same advice to Alexander Far-
nese so soon as he heard of the destruction of the Invin-
cible Armada.

CHAPTER XXXIII

Struggle of the Netherlands against Spain— March to Tumhout
—Retreat of the Spanish commander— Pursuit and attack-
Demolition of the Spanish army— Surrender of the garrison of
Turnhout— Improved military science— Moral effect of the battle
—The campaign in Prance— Attack on Amiens by the Spaniards
—Sack and burning of the city- De Eosny's plan for reorganiza-
tion of the finances— Jobbery and speculation- Philip's re-
pudiation of his debts— Effects of the measure— Renewal of
persecution by the Jesuits— Contention between Turk and
Christian— Envoy from the King of Poland to The Hague to plead
for reconciliation with Philip— His subsequent presentation to
Queen Elizabeth — Military events — Recovery of Amiens— Feeble
operations of the confederate powers against Spain— Marriage of
the Princess Emilia, sister of Maurice— Reduction of the castle
and town of Alphen — Surrender of Rheinberg — Capitulation of
Meurs- Surrender of Grol— Storming and taking of Brevoort
—Capitulation of Ensohede, Ootmarsum, Oldenzaal, and Liugen
-Rebellion of the Spanish garrisons in Antwerp and Grhent —
Progress of the peace movement between Henry and Philip —
Relations of the three confederate powers— Henry's scheme for
reconciliation with Spain— His acceptance of Philip's offer of
peace announced to Elizabeth— Endeavors for a general peace.

The old year liad closed with an abortive attempt of
PhUip to fulfil his favorite dream, the conquest of Eng-
land. The new year opened with a spirited effort of
Prince Maurice to measure himself in the open field with
the veteran legions of Spain.

479

480 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1597

Tumhont, in Brabant, was an open village, the largest
in all the Netherlands, lying about twenty-five Eng-
lish miles in almost a direct line south from Gertruy-
denberg. It was nearly as far distant in an easterly
direction from Antwerp, and was about five miles nearer
Breda than it was to Gertruydenberg.

At this place the cardinal archduke had gathered a
considerable force, numbering at least four thousand of
his best infantry, with several squadrons of cavalry, the
whole under command of the general-in-chief of artil-
lery, Count Varax. People in the neighborhood were
growing uneasy, for it was uncertain in what direction
it might be intended to use this formidable force. It
was perhaps the cardinal's intention to make a sudden
assault upon Breda, the governor of which seemed not
inclined to carry out his proposition to transfer that
important city to the king, or it was thought that he
might take advantage of a hard frost and cross the
frozen morasses and estuaries into the land of Ter
Tholen, where he might overmaster some of the impor-
tant strongholds of Zealand.

Marcellus Bax, that boldest and most brilliant of
Holland's cavalry ofilcers, had come to Maurice early in
January with an urgent suggestion that no time might
be lost in making an attack upon the force of Turnhout
before they should succeed in doing any mischief. The
prince pondered the proposition, for a little time, by
himself, and then conferred very privately upon the sub-
ject with the state council. On the 14th January it was
agreed with that body that the enterprise should be
attempted, but with the utmost secrecy. A week later
the council sent an express messenger to Maurice urging
him not to expose his own life to perU, but to apprise

1597] MAECH TO TUKNHOTJT 481

them as soon as possible as to the results of the
adventure.

Meantime patents had been sent to the various garri-
sons for fifty companies of foot and sixteen squadrons
of horse. On the 22d January Maurice came to Ger-
truydenberg, the place of rendezvous, attended by Sir
Francis Vere and Count Solms. Colonel Kloetingen
was already there with the transports of ammunition
and a few pieces of artillery from Zealand, and in the
course of the day the whole infantry force had assem-
bled. Nothing could have been managed with greater
promptness or secrecy.

Next day, before dawn, the march began. The bat-
talia was led by Van der Noot, with six companies of
Hollanders. Then came Vere with eight companies of
the reserve, Dockray with eight companies of English-
men, Murray with eight companies of Scotch, and Kloe-
tingen and La Corde with twelve companies of Dutch
and Zealanders. In front of the last troop under La
Corde marched the commander of the artillery, with two
demi-cannon and two field-pieces, followed by the am-
munition- and baggage-trains. Hohenlo arrived just as
the march was beginning, to whom the stadholder, not-
withstanding their frequent dififerences, communicated
his plans and intrusted the general command of the
cavalry. That force met the expedition at Osterhout, a
league's distance from Gertruydenberg, and consisted of
the best-mounted companies, English and Dutch, from
the garrisons of Breda, Bergen, Nitnwegen, and the Zut-
phen districts.

It was a dismal, drizzly, foggy morning, the weather
changing to steady rain as the expedition advanced.
There had been alternate frost and thaw for the few

VOL. IV.— 31

482 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1597

previous weeks, and had that condition of the atmo-
sphere continued the adventure could not have been at-
tempted. It had now turned completely to thaw. The
roads were all under water, and the march was suffi-
ciently difficult. Nevertheless, it was possible ; so the
stout Hollanders, Zealanders, and Englishmen struggled
on manfully, shoulder to shoulder, through the mist and
the mire. By nightfall the expedition had reached
Ravels, at less than a league's distance from Turnhout,
having accomplished, under the circumstances, a very
remarkable march of over twenty miles. A stream of
water, the Nethe, one of the tributaries of the Schelde,
separated Ravels from Turnhout, and was crossed by a
stone bridge. It was an anxious moment. Maurice
discovered by his scouts that he was almost within
cannon-shot of several of the most famous regi-
ments in the Spanish army, lying fresh, securely
posted, and capable of making an attack at any
moment. He instantly threw forward Marcellus Bax
with four squadrons of Bergen cavalry, who, jaded as
they were by their day's work, were to watch the bridge
that night and to hold it against all comers and at every
hazard.

The Spanish commander, on his part,had reconnoitered
the advancing foe, for it was impossible for the move-
ment to have been so secret or so swift over those inun-
dated roads as to be shrouded to the last moment in
complete mystery. It was naturally to be expected,
therefore, that those splendid legions, the famous Nea-
politan tercio of Trevico, the veteran troops of Sultz and
Hachicourt, the picked Bpirote and Spanish cavalry of
Nicholas Basta and Guzman, would be hurled upon the
wearied, benumbed, bemired soldiers of the Republic, as

1597] EETBEAT OP THE GAEKISON 483

they came slowly along after their long march through
the cold winter's rain.

Varax took no such heroic resolution. Had he done
so that January afternoon, the career of Maurice of
Nassau might have been brought to a sudden close, de-
spite the affectionate warning of the state council.
Certainly it was difficult for any commander to be placed
in a more perilous position than that in which the stad-
holder found himself. He remained awake and afoot
the whole night, perfecting his arrangements for the
morning, and watching every indication of a possible
advance on the part of the enemy. Marcellus Bax and
his troopers remained at the bridge till morning, and
were so near the Spaniards that they heard the voices
of their pickets and could even distinguish in the dis-
tance the various movements in their camp.

But no attack was made, and the little army of Mau-
rice was allowed to sleep off its fatigue. With the
dawn of the 24th January, a reconnoitering party, sent
out from the republican camp, discovered that Varax,
having no stomach for an encounter, had given his
enemies the slip. Long before daylight his baggage-
and ammunition-trains had been sent off in a southerly
direction, and his whole force had already left the vil-
lage of Turnhout. It was the intention of the com-
mander to take refuge in the fortified city of Herenthals
and there await the attack of Maurice. Accordingly,
when the stadholder arrived on the fields beyond the
immediate precincts of the village, he saw the last of the
enemy's rear-guard just disappearing from view. The
situation was a very peculiar one.

The rain and thaw, following upon frosty weather,
had converted the fenny country in many directions into

484 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1597

a shallow lake. The little river which flowed by the vil-
lage had risen above its almost level banks, and could
with difficulty be traversed at any point, while there was
no permanent bridge, such as there was at Ravels. The
retreating Spaniards had made their way through a nar-
row passage, where a roughly constructed causeway of
planks had enabled the infantry to cross the waters
almost in single file, while the cavalry had floundered
through as best they might. Those who were acquainted
with the country reported that beyond this defile there
was an upland heath, a league in extent, full of furze
and thickets, where it would be easy enough for Varax
to draw up his army in battle array and conceal it
from view. Maurice's scouts, too, brought information
that the Spanish commander had left a force of muske-
teers to guard the passage at the farther end.

This looked very like an ambush. In the opinion of
Hohenlo, of Solms, and of Sydney, an advance was not
to be thought of ; and if the adventure seemed perilous
to such hardy and experienced campaigners as these
three, the stadholder might well hesitate. Nevertheless,
Maurice had made up Ms mind. Sir Francis Vere and
Marcellus Bax confirmed him in his determination, and
spoke fiercely of the disgrace which would come upon the
arms of the Republic if now, after having made a day's
march to meet the enemy, they should turn their backs
upon him just as he was doing his best to escape.

On leave obtained from the prince, these two cham-
pions, the Englishman and the HoUandei", spurred
their horses through the narrow pass, with the waters
up to the saddle-bow, at the head of a mere handful of
troopers, not more than a dozen men in aU. Two hun-
dred musketeers followed, picking their way across the

1597] PUBSUIT OF THE FUGITIVES 485

planks. As they emerged into the open country beyond,
the Spanish soldiers guarding the passage fled without
firing a shot. Such was already the discouraging effect
produced upon veterans by the unexpected order given
that morning to retreat. Vere and Bax sent word for
aU the cavalry to advance at once, and meantime hovered
about the rear-guard of the retreating enemy, ready to
charge upon him so soon as they should be strong
enough.

Maurice lost no time in plunging with his whole
mounted force through the watery defile, directing the
infantry to follow as fast as practicable. When the
commander-in-chief with his eight hundred horsemen,
Englishmen, Zealanders, Hollanders, and G-ermans, came
upon the heath, the position and purpose of the enemy
were plainly visible. He was not drawn up in battle
order, waiting to sweep down upon his rash assailants
so soon as, after struggling through the difi&cult pass,
they should be delivered into his hands. On the con-
trary, it was obvious at a glance that his object was still
to escape. The heath of Tiel, on which Spaniards, Ital-
ians, Walloons, Germans, Dutchmen, English, Scotch,
and Irishmen now all found themselves together, was a
ridgy, spongy expanse of country, bordered on one side
by the swollen river, here flowing again through steeper
banks which were overgrown with alders and pollard
willows. Along the left of the Spanish army, as they
moved in the direction of Herenthals, was a continuous
fringe of scrub-oaks, intermixed with tall beeches, skirt-
ing the heath, and forming a leafless but almost imper-
vious screen for the movements of small detachments of
troops. Quite at the termination of the open space,
these thickets, becoming closely crowded, overhung an-

486 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1597

other extremely narrow passage, which formed the only
outlet from the plain. Thus the heath of Tiel, upon that
winter's morning, had but a single entrance and a single
exit, each very dangerous or very fortunate for those
capable of taking or neglecting the advantages offered
by the position.

The whole force of Varax, at least five thousand
strong, was advancing in close marching order toward
the narrow passage by which only they could emerge
from the heath. Should they reach this point in time,
and thus effect their escape, it would be useless to at-
tempt to follow them, for, as was the case with the first
defile, it was not possible for two abreast to go through,
while beyond was a swampy country in which military
operations were impossible. Yet there remained less
than half a league's space for the retreating soldiers to
traverse, whUe not a single foot-soldier of Maurice's army
had thus far made his appearance on the heath. All
were still wallowing and struggling, single file, in the
marshy entrance, through which only the cavalry had
forced their way. Here was a dilemma. Should Mau-
rice look calmly on while the enemy, whom he had made
so painful a forced march to meet, moved off out of
reach before his eyes 1 Yet certainly this was no slight
triumph in itself. There sat the stadholder on his horse at
the head of eight hundred carbineers, and there marched
four of Philip's best infantry regiments, garnished with
some of his most renowned cavalry squadrons, anxious
not to seek but to avoid a combat. First came the
Germans of Count Sultz, the musketeers in front, and
the spearsmen, of which the bulk of this and of aU the
regiments was composed, marching in closely serried
squares, with the company standards waving over each.

1597] PUESTJIT AND ATTACK 487

Next, arranged in the same manner, came the Walloon
regiments of Hachicourt and of La Barlotte. Fourth
and last came the famous Neapolitans of Marquis Trevico.
The cavalry squadrons rode on the left of the infantry,
and were commanded by Nicholas Basta, a man who had
been trampling upon the Netherlanders ever since the
days of Alva, with whom he had first come to the
country.

And these were the legions, these very men or their
immediate predecessors, these Italians, Spaniards, Ger-
mans, and Walloons, who during so many terrible
years had stormed and sacked almost every city
of the Netherlands, and swept over the whole breadth
of those little provinces as with the besom of de-
struction.

Both infantry and cavalry, that picked little army of
Varax was of the very best that had shared in the devil's
work which had been the chief industry practised for
so long in the obedient Netherlands. Was it not mad-
ness for the stadholder, at the head of eight hundred
horsemen, to assail such an army as this ? Was it not to
invoke upon his head the swift vengeance of Heaven ?
Nevertheless, the painstaking, cautious Maurice did not
hesitate. He ordered Hohenlo, with aU the Brabantine
cavalry, to ride as rapidly as their horses could carry
them along the edge of the plain and behind the tangled
woodland, by which the movement would be concealed.
He was at all hazards to intercept the enemy's vanguard
before it should reach the fatal pass. Vere and Marcel-
lus Bax meanwhile, supported now by Bdmont with the
Nimwegen squadrons, were to threaten the Spanish rear.
A company of two under Laurentz was kept by Maurice
near his person in reserve.

488 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1597

The Spaniards steadily continued their march, but as
they became aware of certain slight and indefinite move-
ments on their left, their cavalry, changing their posi-
tion, were transferred from the right to the left of the
line of march, and now rode between the infantry and
the belt of woods.

In a few minutes after the orders given to Hohenlo,
that dashing soldier had circumvented the Spaniards,
and emerged upon the plain between them and the en-
trance to the defile. The next instant the trumpets
sounded a charge, and Hohenlo fell upon the foremost
regiment, that of Sultz, while the rear-guard, consisting
of Trevico's Neapolitan regiment, was assailed by Du
Bois, Donck, Rysoir, Marcellus Bax, and Sir Francis
Vere. The effect seemed almost supernatural. The
Spanish cavalry, those far-famed squadrons of Guzman
and Basta, broke at the first onset and galloped off for
the pass as if they had been riding a race. Most of
them escaped through the hollow into the morass be-
yond. The musketeers of Sultz's regiment hardly fired
a shot, and fell back in confusion upon the thickly clus-
tered pikemen. The assailants, every one of them in
complete armor, on powerful horses, and armed not with
lances but with carbines, trampled over the panic-stricken
and struggling masses of leather- jerkined pikemen and
shot them at arm's-length. The charge upon Trevico's
men at the same moment was just as decisive. In less
time than it took afterward to describe the scene, those
renowned veterans were broken into a helpless mass of
dying, wounded, or fugitive creatures, incapable of strik-
ing a blow. Thus the Germans in the front and the
Neapolitans in the rear had been simultaneously shat-
tered, and rolled together upon the two other regiments,

1597] EMOLITION OF THE SPANISH ARMY 489

those of HacMcourt and La Barlotte, wMcli were placed
between them. Nor did these troops offer any better
resistance, but were paralyzed and hurled out of exis-
tence like the rest. In less than an hour the Spanish
army was demolished. Varax himself lay dead upon the
field, too fortunate not to survive his disgrace. It was
hardly more than daylight on that duU January morn-
ing, nine o'clock had scarce chimed from the old brick
steeples of Turnhout, yet two thousand Spaniards had
fallen before the blows of eight hundred Netherlanders,
and there were five hundred prisoners besides. Of Mau-
rice's army not more than nine or ten were slain. The
story sounds like a wild legend. It was as if the arm
of each Netherlander had been nerved by the memory
of fifty years of outrage, as if the specter of their half-
century of crime had appalled the soul of every Span-
iard. Like a thunderbolt the son of William the Silent
smote that army of Philip, and in an instant it lay
blasted on the heath of Tiel. At least it could hardly be
called sagacious generalship on the part of the stad-
holder. The chances were all against him, and if instead
of Varax those legions had been commanded that morn-
ing by old Christopher Mondragon there might perhaps
have been another tale to tell. Even as it was, there
had been a supreme moment when the Spanish disaster
had nearly been changed to victory. The fight was
almost done when a small party of states' cavalry, who
at the beginning of the action had followed the enemy's
horse in its sudden retreat through the gap, came whirl-
ing back over the plain in wild confusion, pursued by
about forty of the enemy's lancers. They swept by the
spot where Maurice, with not more than ten horsemen
around him, was directing and watching the battle, and

490 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1597

in vain the prince threw himself in front of them and
strove to check their flight. They were panic-stricken,
and Maurice would himself have been swept off the field
had not Marcellus Bax and Bdmont, with half a dozen
heavy troopers, come to the rescue. A grave error had
been committed by Parker, who, upon being ordered by
Maurice to cause Louis Laurentz to charge, had himself
charged with the whole reserve and left the stadholder
almost alone upon the field. Thus the culprits, who
after pursuing the Spanish cavalry through the pass had
been plundering the enemy's baggage untD. they were set
upon by the handful left to guard it and had become
fugitives in their turn, might possibly have caused the
loss of the day after the victory had been won, had
there been a man on the Spanish side to take in
the situation at a glance. But it is probable that
the rout had been too absolute to allow of any such
sudden turning to account of the serious errors of
the victors. The cavalry, except this handful, had long
disappeared, at least half the infantry lay dead or
wounded in the field, while the remainder, throwing
away pipe and matchlock, were running helter-skelter
for their lives.

Besides Prince Maurice himself, to whom the chief
credit of the whole expedition justly belonged, nearly
all the commanders engaged obtained great distinction
by their skill and valor. Sir Francis Vere, as usual, was
ever foremost in the thickest of the fray, and had a horse
killed under him. Parker erred by too much readiness
to engage, but bore himself manfully throughout the
battle. Hohenlo, Solms, Sydney, Louis Laurentz, Du
Bois, all displayed their usual prowess ; but the real hero
of the hour, the personal embodiment of the fortunate

1597] SUEEENDBE OP THE GARRISON 49I

madness whicli prompted and won the battle, was un-
doubtedly Marcellus Bax.i

Maurice remained an hour or two on the field of battle,
and then, returning toward the village of Turnhout,
summoned its stronghold. The garrison of sixty, under
Captain van der Delf , instantly surrendered. The victor
allowed these troops to go ofE scot-free, saying that there
had been blood enough shed that day. Every standard
borne by the Spaniards in the battle— thirty-eight in
number— was taken, besides nearly all their arms. The
banners were sent to The Hague to be hung up in the
great hall of the castle. The dead body of Varax was
sent to the archduke with a courteous letter, in which,
however, a categorical explanation was demanded as to
a statement in circiolation that Albert had decided to
give the soldiers of the Republic no quarter.^

No answer being immediately returned, Maurice
ordered the five hundred prisoners to be hanged or
drowned unless ransomed within twenty days, and this

1 I place together in one note the authorities used by me for
this famous action. Not an incident is mentioned that is not
vouched for hy one or more of the contemporary chronicles or
letter-writers cited, hut I have not thought it necessary to
encumber each paragraph with reference to a foot-note. Bor, iv.
301-304. Meteren, 393, 394. BentivogUo, 443, 444. Eeyd, 302
seq. Camero, 402-407. Coloma, 237. Albert to Philip, January
30, 1597, Arch, de Sim. MS. Van der Kemp, ii. 25-29, 167-171.

2 The letter of Maurice was as follows :

"Sir: I had intended to send the soldiers who were taken
prisoners yesterday, and to manifest the same courtesy which I
am accustomed to show toward those who fall into my hands.
But as I have been apprised that your Highness has published an
order according to which military ooromanders are forbidden
henceforth to give quarter to those of this side, I have desired
first to have this doubt made clear to me before I permit them to

492 THE UNITED NETHEELANDS [1597

horrible decree appears from official documents to be
consistent with the military usages of the period. The
arrival of the letter from the cardinal archduke, who
levied the money for the ransom on the villagers of Bra-
bant,^ prevented, however, the execution of the menace,
which could hardly have been seriously intended.^

Within d week from the time of his departure from
The Hague to engage in this daring adventure, the stad-
holder had returned to that little capital, having achieved
a complete success. The enthusiastic demonstrations
throughout the land on account of so signal a victory
can easily be imagined. Nothing like this had ever be-
fore been recorded in the archives of the young common-
go free, in order that, having understood your Highness's inten-
tion on this point, I may conduct myself as I shall find most
fitting. Herewith I humbly kiss the hands of your Highness, and
pray God to give you long and healthy life.

" TuEHHOtTT, January 25, 1597."

The archduke thus replied :

" Count : I have received your letter, and can do no otherwise
than praise the courtesy which you have manifested toward the
dead body of the late Count Varax, and signify to you the thanks
which you deserve, and which I render you from my heart.
Touching the other point, you will not find that I have thus far
resolved on keeping no quarter, and I hope never to have occa-
sion for such a determination, inasmuch as to do so is against
my nature. And inasmuch as in this conjuncture you use the
courtesy toward me which you signify in your letter, I shall take
care to do the same when occasions present themselves. And
herewith I pray the Creator to have you in his holy keeping.

"Your good friend,
"Albert, Cardinal.

" Brussels, January 28, 1597."

1 Meteren, xix. 394.

2 Ibid. Van der Kemp, 28, 171, who cites Eesol. St.-Gen., May
18, 1599, for an example.

1597] MAGNITUDE OF THE ACHIEVEMENT 493

wealth. There had been glorious defenses of beleaguered
cities, where scenes of heroic endurance and self -sacrifice
had been enacted, such as never can be forgotten so long
as the history of human liberty shall endure, but a vic-
tory won in the open field over the most famous legions
of Spain and against overwhelming numbers was an
achievement entirely without example. It is beyond all
doubt that the force under Varax was at least four times
as large as that portion of the states' army which alone
was engaged ; for Maurice had not a foot-soldier on the
field until the battle was over, save the handful of muske-
teers who had followed Vere and Bax at the beginning
of the action.

Therefore it is that this remarkable action merits a
much more attentive consideration than it might de-
serve regarded purely as a military exploit. To the
military student a mere cavalry affair, fought out upon
an obscure Brabantine heath between a party of Dutch
carbineers and Spanish pikemen, may seem of little
account— a subject fitted by picturesque costume and
animated action for the pencil of a Wouvermans or a
Terburg, but conveying little instruction. As illustrat-
ing a period of transition in which heavy-armored troop-
ers, each one a human iron-clad fortress moving at
speed and furnished with the most formidable portable
artillery then known, coidd overcome the resistance of
almost any number of foot-soldiers in light marching
gear and armed with the antiquated pike, the affair may
be worthy of a moment's attention ; and for this improve-
ment, itself now as obsolete as the slings and cataphracts
of Roman legions, the world was indebted to Maurice.
But the shock of mighty armies, the manceuvering of vast
masses in one magnificent combination, by which the

494 THE UNITED NETHEELANDS [1597

fate of empires, the happiness or the misery of the peo-
ples for generations, may perhaps be decided in a few
hours, undoubtedly require a higher constructive genius
than could be displayed in any such hand-to-hand en-
counter as that of Turnhout, scientifically managed as it
unquestionably was. The true and abiding interest of
the battle is derived from its moral effect, from its influ-
ence on the people of the Netherlands. And this could
scarcely be exaggerated. The nation was electrified,
transformed in an instant. Who now should henceforth
dare to say that one Spanish fighting man was equal to
five or ten Hollanders 1 At last the days of Jemmingen
and Mooter Heath needed no longer to be remembered
by every patriot with a shudder of shame. Here at
least in the open field a Spanish army, after in vain re-
fusing a combat and endeavoring to escape, had literally
bitten the dust before one fourth of its own number.
And this effect was a permanent one. Thenceforth for
foreign powers to talk of mediation between the Eepubhc
and the ancient master, to suggest schemes of reconciha-
tion and of a return to obedience, was to offer gratuitous
and trivial insidt, and we shall very soon have occasion
to mark the simple eloquence with which the thirty-eight
Spanish standards of Turnhout, hung up in the old hall
of The Hague, were made to reply to the pompous rheto-
ric of an interfering ambassador.

This brief episode was not immediately followed by
other military events of importance in the provinces dur-
ing what remained of the winter. Very early in the
spring, however, it was probable that the campaign
might open simultaneously in France and on the fron-
tiers of Flanders. Of all the cities in the north of
France there was none, after Rouen, so important, so

1597] ATTACK OP AMIENS 495

populous, SO wealthy as Amiens. Situate in fertile fields,
within three days' march of Paris, with no intervening
forests or other impediments of a physical nature to free
communication, it was the key to the gates of the capi-
tal. It had no garrison, for the population numbered
fifteen thousand men able to bear arms, and the inhabi-
tants valued themselves on the prowess of their trained
militiamen, five thousand of whom they boasted to be
able to bring into the field at an hour's notice, and they
were perfectly loyal to Henry.

One morning in March there came a party of peasants,
fifteen or twenty in number, laden with sacks of chest-
nuts and walnuts, to the northernmost gate of the town.
They offered them for sale, as usual, to the soldiers at
the guard-house, and chaffered and jested, as boors and
soldiers are wont to do, over their wares. It so hap-
pened that in the course of the bargaining one of the
bags became untied, and its contents, much to the dis-
satisfaction of the proprietor, were emptied on the
ground. There was a scramble for the walnuts, and
much shouting, kicking, and squabbling ensued, grow-
ing almost into a quarrel between the burgher soldiers
and the peasants. As the altercation was at its height a
heavy wagon, laden with long planks, came toward the
gate for the use of carpenters and architects within the
town. The portcullis was drawn up to admit this lum-
bering vehicle, but, in the confusion caused by the chance
medley going on at the guard-house, the gate dropped
again before the wagon had fairly got through the pas-
sage, and remained resting upon the timber with which
it was piled.

At that instant a shrill whistle was heard, and as if
by magic-the twenty chestnut-selling peasants were sud-

496 THE UNITED NBTHEELANDS [1597

denly transformed to Spanish and Walloon soldiers
armed to the teeth, who were presently reinforced by as
many more of their comrades, who sprang from beneath
the plank- work by which the real contents of the wagon
had thus been screened. Captain Dognano, his brother
the sergeant-major, Captain d'Arco, and other officers of
a Walloon regiment stationed in Dourlens, were the
leaders of the little party, and while they were busily
occupied in putting the soldiers of the watch, thus taken
unawares, to death, the master spirit of the whole adven-
ture suddenly made his appearance and entered the city
at the head of fifteen hundred men. This was an ex-
tremely small, yellow, dried-up, energetic Spanish cap-
tain 1 with a long red beard, Hernan Tello de Porto
Carrero by name, governor of the neighboring city of
Dourlens, who had conceived this plan for obtaining
possession of Amiens. Having sent these disguised sol-
diers on before him, he had passed the night with his
men in ambush until the signal should sound. The
burghers of the town were mostly in church ; none were
dreaming of an attack, as men rarely do,— for otherwise
how should they ever be surprised?— and in half an hour
Amiens was the property of Philip of Spain. There
were not very many lives lost, for the resistance was
small, but great numbers were tortured for ransom, and
few women escaped outrage. The sack was famous, for
the city was rich and the captors were few in number,
so that each soldier had two or three houses to plunder
for his own profit.

When the work was done the faubourgs were aU de-
stroyed, for it was the intention of the conquerors to
occupy the place, which would be a most convenient

1 Coloma, 262.

1597] CAPTURE OF AMIENS 497

basis of operations for any attack upon Paris, and it
was desirable to contract tbe limits to be defended.
Fifteen hundred bouses, many of them beautiful villas
surrounded with orchards and pleasure-gardens, were
soon in flames, and afterward razed to the ground. The
governor of the place, Count Saint-Pol, managed to effect
his escape. His place was now supplied by the Marquis
of Montenegro, an Italian in the service of the Spanish
king. Such was the fate of Amiens in the month of
March, 1597 ; ^ such the result of the refusal by the citi-
zens to accept the garrison urged upon them by Henry.
It would be impossible to exaggerate the consternation
produced throughout France by this astounding and
altogether unlooked-for event. " It seemed," said Presi-
dent de Thou, "as if it had extinguished in a moment
the royal majesty and the French name." A few nights
later than the date of this occurrence Maximilian de
B6thune ^ (afterward Duke of SuUy, but then called Mar-
quis de Eosny) was asleep in his bed in Paris. He had
returned, at past two o'clock in the morning, from a
magnificent ball given by the Constable of Prance. The
capital had been uncommonly brilliant during the win-
ter with banquets and dances, tourneys and masquerades,
as if to cast a lurid glare over the unutterable misery of
the people and the complete desolation of the country ;
but this entertainment— given by Montmorency in
honor of a fair dame with whom he supposed himself
desperately in love, the young bride of a very ancient
courtier— surpassed in splendor every festival that had

1 Bor, iv. 314, 315. Meteren, 395, 396. Bentivoglio, 447.
Coloma, 238-262. De Thou, xiii. 103-109, 118. Albert to Philip,
March 14, 1597, Arch, de Sim. MS.

2 De Thou, xiii. 109.

VOL. IV.— 32

498 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1597

been heard of for years. De B6thune had hardly lost
himself in slumber when he was startled by Beringen,
who, on drawing his curtains in this dead hour of the
night, pi'esented such a ghastly visage that the faithful
friend of Henry instantly imagined some personal dis-
aster to his weU-beloved sovereign. "Is the king
dead ? " he cried.^

Being reassured as to this point and told to hasten to
the Louvre, Eosny instantly complied with the command.
When he reached the palace he was admitted at once to
the royal bedchamber, where he found the king in the
most unsophisticated of costumes, striding up and down
the room, with his hands clasped together behind his
head, and with an expression of agony upon his face.
Many courtiers were assembled there, stuck all of them
like images against the wall, staring before them in
helpless perplexity.^

Henry rushed forward as Rosny entered, and wring-
ing him by the hand, exclaimed : "Ah, my friend, what
a misfortune ! Amiens is taken."

" Very weU," replied the financier, with unperturbed
visage ; " I have just completed a plan which will restore
to your Majesty not only Amiens but many other places."

The king drew a great sigh of relief and asked for his
project. Eosny, saying that he would instantly go and
fetch his papers, left the apartment for an interval, in
order to give vent to the horrible agitation which he had
been enduring and so bravely concealing ever since the
fatal words had been spoken. That a city so important,
the key to Paris, without a moment's warning, without
the semblance of a siege, should thus fall into the hands
of the enemy, was a blow as directly to the heart of De

1 Sully, M6moires, i. 484 seq. 2 jbid.

1597] PLAN FOE REORGANIZING FINANCES 499

Bethune as it could have been to any other of Henry's
adherents. But while they had been distracting the
king by unavailing curses or wailings, Henry, who had
received the intelligence just as he was getting into bed,
had sent for support and consolation to the tried friend
of years, and he now reproachfully contrasted their
pusUlanimity with De Rosny's fortitude.

A great plan for reorganizing the finances of the king-
dom was that very night submitted by Eosny to the
king, and it was wrought upon day by day thereafter
untU it was carried into effect.

It must be confessed that the crudities and immorali-
ties which the project revealed do not inspire the politi-
cal student of modern days with so high a conception of
the financial genius of the great minister as his calm
and heroic deportment on trying occasions, whether on
the battle-field or in the council-chamber, does of his
natural authority over his f eUow-men. The scheme was
devised to put money in the king's coffers, which at that
moment were completely empty. Its chief features
were to create a great many new oflces in the various
courts of justice and tribunals of administration, aU to
be disposed of by sale to the highest bidder ; to extort a
considerable loan from the chief courtiers and from the
richest burghers in the principal towns ; to compel all the
leading peculators, whose name in the public service was
legion, to disgorge a portion of their ill-gotten gains
on being released from prosecution ; and to increase the
tax upon salt.^

Such a project hardly seems a masterpiece of ethics or
political economy, but it was hailed with rapture by the
needy monarch. At once there was a wild excitement
1 Sully, MSmoires, i. liv. ix. 485 seq.

500 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1597

among the jobbers and speculators in places. The
creation of an indefinite number of new judgeships and
magistracies, to be disposed of at auction, was a tempt-
ing opportunity even in that age of corruption. One of
the most notorious traders in the judicial ermine, limp-
rag Robin de Tours by name, at once made a private
visit to Madame de Rosny, and offered seventy-two thou-
sand crowns for the exclusive right to distribute these
new offices. If this could be managed to his satisfac-
tion, he promised to give her a diamond worth two thou-
sand crowns, and another worth six thousand to her
husband. The wife of the great minister, who did not
comprehend the whole amount of the insult, presented
Robin to her husband. She was enlightened, however,
as to the barefaced iniquity of the offer when she heard
De Bethune's indignant reply and saw the jobber limp
away crestfallen and amazed. That a financier or a
magistrate should decline a bribe or interfere with the
private sale of places, which were, after all, objects of
merchandise, was to him incomprehensible. The in-
dustrious Robin, accordingly, recovering from his dis-
comfiture, went straightway to the chancellor, and con-
cluded the same bargain in the council-chamber which
had been rejected by De Bethune, with the slight differ-
ence that the distribution of the places was assigned to
the speculator for seventy-five thousand instead of
seventy-two thousand crowns. It was with great diffi-
culty that De Bethune, who went at once to the king
with complaints and insinuations as to the cleanness of
the chancellor's hands, was able to cancel the operation.^
The day was fast approaching when the universal im-
poverishment of the great nobles and landholders— -the

1 Sully, M^moires, i. liv. ix. 490.

1597] HENRY PLANS SIEGE OP AMIENS 501

result of the long, hideous, senseless massacres called
the wars of religion— was to open the way for the labor-
ing classes to acquire a property in the soil. Thus that
famous fowl in every pot was to make its appearance,
which vulgar tradition ascribes to the bounty of a king
who hated everything like popular rights, and loved no-
thing but his own glory and his own amusement. It was
not until the days of his grandchildren and great-grand-
children that Privilege could renew those horrible out-
rages on the People, which were to be avenged by a dread
series of wars, massacres, and crimes, compared to which
even the religious conflicts of the sixteenth century grow
pale.

Meantime De B6thune comforted his master with these
financial plans, and assured him in the spirit of prophecy
that the King of Spain, now tottering, as it was thought,
to his grave, would soon be glad to make a favorable
peace with France, even if he felt obliged to restore not
only Amiens but every other city or stronghold that he
had ever conquered in that kingdom. Time would soon
show whether this prediction were correct or delusive ;
but while the secret negotiations between Henry and
the pope were vigorously proceeding for that peace with
Spain which the world in general and the commonwealth
of the Netherlands in particular thought to be furthest
from the warlike king-'s wishes, it was necessary to set
about the siege of Amiens.

Henry assembled a force of some twelve or fifteen
thousand men for that purpose, while the cardinal arch-
duke, upon his part, did his best to put an army in the
field in order to relieve the threatened city so recently
acquired by a coarse but successful artifice.

But Albert was in even a worse plight than that in

502 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1597

whicli his great antagonist found himself. When he had
first arrived in the provinces, his exchequer was over-
flowing, and he was even supposed to devote a consider-
able portion of the military funds to defray the expenses
of his magnificent housekeeping at Brussels.^ But those
halcyon days were over. A gigantic fraud just per-
petrated by Philip had descended like a thunderbolt
upon the provinces and upon all commercial Europe,
and had utterly blasted the unfortunate viceroy. In
the latter days of the preceding year the king had issued
a general repudiation of his debts.

He did it solemnly, too, and with great religious unc-
tion, for it was a peculiarity of this remarkable sover-
eign that he was ever wont to accomplish his darkest
crimes, whether murders or stratagems, as if they were
acts of virtue. Perhaps he reaUy believed them to be
such, for a man before whom so many millions of his
fellow-worms had been writhing for half a century in
the dust might well imagine himself a deity.

So the king, on the 20th November, 1596, had pub-
licly revoked all the assignments, mortgages, and other
deeds by which the royal domains, revenues, taxes, and
other public property had been transferred or pledged
for moneys already advanced to merchants, bankers, and
other companies or individuals, and formally took them
again into his own possession, on the ground that his
exertions in carrying on this long war to save Chris-

1 "Non possiede 1' amore di quel popoli quanto bisognere'b'be,
oltreooliS ha nome di non favorir molto la soldatesca e di gettar
gran parte di denaro che doverebbe esser distribuito alle miUzie in
quelli della sua propria casa e nel sostentar la propria albagia.
Da che nasee poi ohe si veggouo tante soUevazioni e le cose di
quella guerra prendono sempre peggior piega."— Soranzo,
Kelazione, before cited, 168.

1597] PHILIP'S REPUDIATION OF HIS DEBTS 503

tianity from destruction had reduced him to beggary,
while the money-lenders, by charging him exorbitant in-
terest, had all grown rich at his expense.^

This was perfectly simple. There was no attempt to
disguise the villainy of the transaction. The massacre
of so many millions of Protestants, the gigantic but
puerile attempts to subjugate the Dutch Republic and
to annex France, England, and the German Empire to
his hereditary dominions, had been attended with more

1 "Wliereas it has come to our knowledge," so ran this famous
proclamation of repudiation in its priacipal paragraphs, "that
notwithstanding all which our royal incomes from this monarchy
and from without have yielded, together with the assistance ren-
dered to us by his Holiness to maintain the war against the Eng-
lish and to protect the Catholic religion, and with the steady
burdens borne for this object by the subjects and vassals of the
crown, according to their ancient and great fidelity, and besides
the great abundance of the gold and silver produced by our
Indies, likewise all that has come from the sums furnished by the
farmers of our finances and revenues, we find ourselves now so
wholly exhausted and ruined, and our royal inherited estates so
diminished, and, as it were, reduced to nothing, that, although the
foremost cause of this ruin is the great and incredible expense
which we have sustained and are still enduring for the protection
of Christendom, of our kingdom and domains, other chief causes
are the grievous damages, discounts, and interest which have
been forced upon us, and which at present obtain in the finances,
bills of exchange, and other obligations which have been made
and taken up in our name, since we could not escape the same in
order to be able to provide for our so entirely necessary and
pressing necessities. Thus all our domains, taxes, revenues, and
aU ordinary and extraordinary resources stand burdened and cov-
ered with obligations in the hands of merchants. And what is
most oppressive, our affairs are come to extremities through our
having no means by which we might help ourselves, nor do we know
of any other resources that we can make use of. And now the
said merchants, who hitherto have given on bills of exchange

504 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1597

expense than Philip had calculated upon. The enormous
wealth which a long series of marriages, inheritances,
conquests, and maritime discoveries had heaped upon
Spain had been exhausted by the insane ambition of the
king to exterminate heresy throughout the world, and
to make himself the sovereign of one undivided, univer-
sal Catholic monarchy. All the gold and silver of
America had not sufficed for this purpose, and he had

STicli moneys as were necessary to provide for tlie protection of our
royal state and to carry on the war which we are waging for these
righteous and special reasons, refuse to do this any longer, and
make difficulties in further dealing with us, seeing that they have
in their own hands and power all the royal revenues by means of
the said pledges, certificates, and transfers, and hereby such
embarrassments arise that if they are not provided against it
would be enough to put in hazard all that which God the Lord has
so highly commanded us to perform, namely, the protection and
maintenance of the Catholic Church, of our subjects and vassals
and all those who dwell under our government. . . .

"Therefore to put an end to such financiering and unhallowed
practices with bills of exchange which have been introduced and
have spread abroad among so many people, who in order to follow
such pursuits have abandoned agriculture, cattle-raising, and
mechanical works, and embarked in trade, finding therein gain
and profit to the disservice of the Lord Grod and of us, with great
injury to our kingdom, . . . and which have brought great masses
of coiu and species to flow out of India [i. e., America] into the
kingdoms and lands of the rebels and foes of Christianity and of
us, enabling them to keep everything in commotion, so that we
are oompeUed to increase our armaments and our forces, and to
incur more expenses, we have now given command to devise some
means of restoring order and of accomplishing in the best possible
way that which we are so highly and legally bound to do, where-
upon hang the protection of Christendom and the security of our
realms ; and we have found no other remedy than to call in and to
disburden our royal incomes, liberating the same from the unjust
damage put upon them through this financiering and bills of ex-

1597] EFFECTS OF PHILIP'S ACT 505

seen with an ever-rising indignation those very precious
metals which, in his ignorance of the laws of trade, he
considered his exclusive property flowing speedily into
the coffers of the merchants of Europe, especially those
of the hated commonwealth of the rebellious Nether-
lands.

Therefore he solemnly renounced aU his contracts,
and took God to witness that it was to serve his divine
will.i How else could he hope to continue his massacre
of the Protestants?

The effect of the promulgation of this measure was
instantaneous. Two millions and a half of bills of ex-
change sold by the Cardinal Albert came back in one

change, wHch we have suffered and are continuing to suffer at the
time we made such contracts, in order to avoid still greater embar-
rassments that would have arisen had there been want of provision
for our military affairs. . . . Having decided to cancel and anni-
hilate all the aforesaid interests and impositions, we shall afterward
meditate upon ways and means by which may be paid to the
merchants and traders what may seem to us properly due to them
in regard to these contracts, transfers, and assignments. . . .
Accordingly, we suspend and declare suspended all such assig-
nations made by us in any manner whatsoever since September 1,
1575, and December 1, 1577, unto this date, to the said merchants
and traders, whether of taxes, gifts, domains, rents, or any other
property or revenues whatsoever, on account of such bills of ex-
change or other advances. And we order the moneys coming from
sueh pledged property to be henceforth paid into our royal
treasury, for the support of our own necessities, declaring from
this day forth all payments otherwise made to be null and void.

"November 20, 1596."

Bor, iii. [318, 319. Herrera, iii. 711 seq. Compare Reyd, 301,
302. Meteren, 388-391. It was found necessary after the expira-
tion of a year to revoke these orders, as the usual consequences of
repudiation followed.

1 Bor, Herrera, ubi sup.

506 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1597

day protested. The chief merchants and bankers of
Europe suspended payment. Their creditors became
bankrupt. At the Frankfort fair there were more fail-
ures in one day than there had ever been in all the years
since Frankfort existed.^ In Genoa alone a million dol-
lars of interest were confiscated.^ It was no better in
Antwerp ; but Antwerp was already ruined. There was
a general howl of indignation and despair upon every
exchange, in every counting-room, in every palace, in
every cottage of Christendom. Such a tremendous
repudiation of national debts was never heard of before.
There had been debasements of the currency, petty
frauds by kings upon their unfortunate peoples, but
such a crime as this had never been conceived by human
heart before.

The archduke was fain to pawn his jewelry, his plate,
his furniture, to support the daily expenses of his house-
hold. Meantime he was to set an army iu the field to
relieve a city beleaguered by the most warlike monarch
in Christendom. Fortunately for him, that prince was
in very similar straits, for the pressure upon the pub-
lic swindlers and the auction sales of judicial ermine
throughout his kingdom were not as rapidly productive
as had been hoped.

It was precisely at this moment, too, that an incident
of another nature occurred in Antwerp, which did not
tend to make the believers in the possibility of religious
or political freedom more in love with the system of
Spain and Rome. Those blood-dripping edicts against
heresy in the Netherlands, of which enough has been
said in previous volumes of this history, and which had
caused the deaths, by ax, fagot, halter, or burial alive,
1 Bor, Keyd, ubi sup. 2 rbjd.

1597] RENEWAL OF PERSECUTION BY JESUITS 507

of at least fifty thousand human creatures, however
historical skepticism may shut its eyes to evidence, had
now been dormant for twenty years. Their activity had
ceased with the Pacification of Ghent ; but the devilish
spirit which had inspired them still lived in the persons
of the Jesuits, and there were now more Jesuits in the
obedient provinces than there had been for years. We
have seen that Champagny's remedy for the iUs the
country was enduring was " more Jesuits." And this,
too, was Albert's recipe. Always more Jesuits.^ And
now the time had come when the Jesuits thought that
they might step openly Avith their works into the day-
light again. Of late years they had shrouded them-
selves in comparative mystery, but from their seminaries
and colleges had gone forth a plentiful company of
assassins against Elizabeth and Henry, Nassau, Barne-
veldt, and others who, whether avowedly or involun-
tarily, were prominent in the party of human progress.
Some important murders had already been accomplished,
and the prospect was fair that stiU others might follow,
if the Jesuits persevered. Meantime those ecclesiastics
thought that a wholesome example might be set to hum-
bler heretics by the spectacle of a public execution.

Two maiden ladies lived on the north rampart of Ant-
werp. They had formerly professed the Protestant
religion, and had been thrown into prison for that crime ;
but the fear of further persecution, human weakness,
or perhaps sincere conviction, had caused them to re-
nounce the error of their ways, and they now went to
mass. But they had a maid-servant, forty years of age,
Anna van den Hove by name, who was stanch in that
Reformed faith in which she had been bom and bred.
1 Albert to Philip, May 3, 1596, Arch, de Sim. MS.

508 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1597

The Jesuits denounced this maid-servant to the civil
authority, and claimed her condemnation and execution
under the edicts of 1540, decrees which every one had
supposed as obsolete as the statutes of Draco, which'they
had so entirely put to shame.

The sentence having been obtained from the docile
and priest-ridden magistrates, Anna van den Hove was
brought to Brussels and informed that she was at once
to be buried alive. At the same time the Jesuits told
her that by converting herself to the Church she might
escape punishment.^

When King Henry IV. was summoned to renounce
that same Huguenot faith of which he was the political
embodiment and the military champion, the candid man
answered by the simple demand to be instructed. When
the proper moment came, the instruction was accom-
plished by an archbishop with the rapidity of magic.
Half an hour undid the work of half a lifetime. Thus
expeditiously could religious conversion be effected when
an earthly crown was its guerdon. The poor serving-
maid was less open to conviction. In her simple fanati-
cism she, too, talked of a crown, and saw it descending
from heaven on her poor, forlorn head as the reward, not
of apostasy, but of steadfastness. She asked her tor-
mentors how they could expect her to abandon her re-
ligion for fear of death. She had read her Bible every
day, she said, and had found nothing there of the pope
or purgatory, masses, invocation of saints, or the abso-
lution of sins except through the blood of the blessed
Redeemer. She interfered with no one who thought
differently ; she quarreled with no one's religious belief.
She had prayed for enlightenment from Him, if she
1 Bor, iv. 334, 335. Meteren, 400.

1597] PERSECUTION OF ANNA VAN DEN HOVE 509

were in error, and the result was that she felt strength-
ened in her simplicity, and resolved to do nothing against
her conscience. Rather than add this sin to the mani-
fold ones committed by her, she preferred, she said, to
die the death. So Anna van den Hove was led, one fine
midsummer morning, to the hay-field outside of Brus-
sels, between two Jesuits, followed by a number of a
peculiar kind of monks called love-brothers. Those holy
men goaded her as she went, telling her that she was
the devil's carrion, and calling on her to repent at the
last moment, and thus save her life and escape eternal
damnation besides. But the poor soul had no ear for
them, and cried out that, like Stephen, she saw the
heavens opening, and the angels stooping down to con-
duct her far away from the power of the evil one. When
they came to the hay-field they found the pit already
dug, and the maid-servant was ordered to descend into
it. The executioner then covered her with earth up to
the waist, and a last summons was made to her to re-
nounce her errors. She refused, and then the earth was
piled upon her, and the hangman jumped upon the
grave till it was flattened and flrm.i

Of all the religious murders done in that hideous six-
teenth century in the Netherlands, the burial of the
Antwerp servant-maid was the last and the worst. The
worst, because it was a cynical and deliberate attempt
to revive the demon whose thirst for blood had been at
last allayed, and who had sunk into repose. And it was
a spasmodic revival only, for, in the provinces at least,
that demon had finished his work.

Still, on the eastern borders of what was called civili-
zation, Turk and Christian were contending for the
1 Bor, Meteren, ubi sup.

510 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1597

mastery. The great battle of Kovesd had decided
nothing, and the crescent still shone over the fortified
and most important Hungarian stronghold of Raab,
within arm's-length of Vienna. How rapidly might that
fatal and menacing emblem M its horns, should it once
be planted on the walls of the imperial capital ! It was
not wonderful that a sincere impatience should be felt
by aU the frontier states for the termination of the in-
surrection of the Netherlands. Would that rebellious
and heretical Republic only consent to go out of exis-
tence, again bow its stubborn knee to Philip and the
pope, what a magnificent campaign might be made
against Mohammed ! The King of Spain was the only
potentate at aU comparable in power to the Grand Turk.
The King of Prance, most warlike of men, desired
nothing better, as he avowed, than to lead his brave
nobles into Hungary to smite the unbelievers. Even
Prince Maurice, it was fondly hoped, might be induced
to accept a high command in the united armies of
Christendom, and seek for glory by campaigning, in
alliance with Philip, Rudolph, and Henry, against the
Ottoman, rather than against his natural sovereign.
Such were the sagacity, the insight, the power of fore-
casting the future possessed in those days by monarchs,
statesmen, and diplomatists who were imagining that
they held the world's destiny in their hands.

There was this summer a solemn embassy from the
emperor to the States-Greneral, proposing mediation, re-
ferring in the usual conventional phraseology to the
right of kings to command and to the duty of the peo-
ple to submit, and urging the gentle-mindedness and
readiness to forgive which characterized the sovereign
of the Netherlands and of Spain.

1597] TURK AND CHRISTIAN 511

And the statesmen of the Eepublic had answered as
they always did, showing, with courteous language, ir-
resistible logic, and at unmerciful length, that there
never had been kings in the Netherlands at all, and that
the gentle-mindedness of Philip had been exhibited in
the massacre of a hundred thousand Netherlanders in
various sieges and battles, and in the murder, under the
Duke of Alva alone, of twenty thousand human beings
by the hangman.^

They Hked not such divine right nor such gentle-
mindedness. They recognized no duty on their part to
consent to such a system. Even the friendly King of
Denmark sent a legation for a similar purpose, which
was respectfully but very decidedly allowed to return as
it came; 2 but the most persistent in schemes of interfer-
ence for the purpose of putting an end to the effusion of
blood in the Netherlands was Sigismund of Poland. This
monarch, who occupied two very incompatible positions,
being sovereign at once of fanatically Protestant Sweden
and of orthodox Poland, and who was, moreover, son-in-
law of Archduke Charles of Styria,— whose other daugh-
ter was soon to be espoused by the Priace of Spain,—
was personally and geographically interested in liberat-
ing Philip from the inconvenience of his Netherland war.
Only thus could he hope to bring the Spanish power to
the rescue of Christendom against the Turk. Troubles
enough were in store for Sigismund in his hereditary
Northern realms, and he was to learn that his intermar-
riage with the great Catholic and imperial house did not
enable him to trample out Protestantism in those hardy
Scandinavian and Flemish regions where it had taken
secure root. Meantime he despatched, in solemn mis-
1 Bor, iv. 358, ^ jijid., iv. 376.

512 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1597

sion to the Republic and to the heretic queen, a diplo-
matist whose name and whose oratorical efforts have by
a caprice of history been allowed to endure to our times.

Paul Dialyn was solemnly received at The Hague on
the 21st July.i A pragmatical fop, attired in a long,
magnificent Polish robe, covered with diamonds and
other jewels, he was yet recognized by some of those
present as having been several years before a student at
Leyden under a different name, and with far less gor-
geous surroundings.^ He took up his position in the
council-chamber,in the presence of the stadholder and the
leading members of the States-General, and pronounced
a long Latin oration, in the manner, as it was said, of a
monk delivering a sermon from the pulpit. He kept his
eyes steadily fixed on the ceiling, never once looking at
the men whom he was addressing, and speaking in a
loud, nasal, dictatorial tone, not at all agreeable to the
audience. He dwelt in terms of extravagant eulogy on
the benignity and gentleness of the King of Spain,-—
qualities in which he asserted that no prince on earth
could be compared to him,— and he said this to the very
face of Maurice of Nassau. That the benignant and
gentle king had caused the stadholder's father to be
assassinated, and that he had rewarded the murderer's
family with a patent of nobility and with an ample rev-
enue taken from the murdered man's property, appeared
of no account to the envoy in the full sweep of his
rhetoric. Yet the reminiscence caused a shudder of dis-
gust in aU who heard him.

He then stated the wish of his master the Polish king
to be that, in consideration of the present state of Eu-
rope in regard to the Turk, the provinces might reconcile

1 Bor, iv. 332-334. Eeyd, 304, 305. 2 Reyd, ubi sup.

1597] EMBASSY FROM THE POLISH KINa 513

themselves to their natural master, who was the most
powerful monarch in Christendom, and the only one
able to make head against the common foe. They were
solemnly warned of the enormous power and resources
of the Great King, with whom it was hopeless for them
to protract a struggle sure to end at last in their utter-
most destruction. It was for kings to issue commands,
he said, and for the people to obey ; but Philip was full
of sweetness, and would accord them full forgiveness for
their manifold sins against him. The wish to come to
the rescue of Christendom, in this extreme peril from
the Turk, was with him paramount to all other consid-
erations.i

Such, in brief, was the substance of the long Latin
harangue by which it was thought possible to induce
those sturdy republicans and Calvinists to renounce their
vigorous national existence and to fall on their knees
before the Most Catholic King. This was understood to
be mediation, statesmanship, diplomacy, in deference to
which the world was to pause and the course of events
to flow backward. Truly, despots and their lackeys
were destined to learn some rude lessons from that vigor-
ous little commonwealth in the North Sea before it
should have accomplished its mission on earth.

The States-General dissembled their disgust, however,
for it was not desirable to make open enemies of Sigis-
mund or Rudolph. They refused to accept a copy of
the oration, but they promised to send him a categori-
cal answer to it in writing. Meantime the envoy had
the honor of walking about the castle with the stad-
holder, and in the course of their promenade Maurice
pointed to the thirty-eight standards taken at the battle

1 Bor, ubi sup.
VOL. IV.— 33

514 THE UNITED NETHEELANDS [1597

of Tiirnhout, which hung from the cedarn rafters of the
ancient banqueting-hall.^ The mute eloquence of those
tattered banners seemed a not illogical reply to the diplo-
matic Paul's rhetoric in regard to the hopelessness of a
contest with Spanish armies.

Next, Van der Werken, pensionary of Leyden, and a
classical scholar, waited upon the envoy with a Latin
reply to his harangue, together with a courteous letter
for Sigismund. Both documents were scathing denun-
ciations of the policy pursued by the King of Spain and
by all his aiders and abettors, and a distinct but polished
refusal to listen to a single word in favor of mediation
or of peace.

Paul Dialyn then received a courteous permission to
leave the territory of the Republic, and was subsequently
forwarded in a states' vessel of war to England.

His reception, about a month later, by Queen Elizabeth
is an event on which all English historians are fond of
dwelling. The pedant, on being presented to that im-
perious and accomplished sovereign, deported himself
with the same ludicrous arrogance which had character-
ized him at The Hague. His Latin oration, which had
been duly drawn up for him by the chancellor of Sweden,
was quite as impertinent as his harangue to the States-
General had been, and was delivered with the same con-
ceited air. The queen replied on the instant in the same
tongue. She was somewhat in a passion, but spoke with
majestic moderation.^

" Oh, how I have been deceived ! " she exclaimed. " I
expected an ambassador, and behold a herald ! In all

1 Bor, ubi sup.

2 Camden, 536, 537. Bor, iv. 350. Wright, Queen Elizabeth
and her Times, ii. 480.

1597] DIALYN'S RECEPTION BY ELIZABETH 515

my Kfe I never heard of such an oration. Your bold-
ness and unadvised temerity I cannot sufficiently admire.
But if the king your master has given you any such
thing in charge— which I much doubt— I believe it is
because, being but a young man, and lately advanced to
the crown, not by ordinary succession of blood, but by
election, he understandeth not yet the way of such
affairs." And so on for several minutes longer.

Never did envoy receive such a setting down from
sovereign.

" God's death, my lords ! " said the queen to her minis-
ters, as she concluded, "I have been enforced this day
to scour up my old Latin that hath lain long in rusting." ^

This combination of ready wit, high spirit, and good
Latin justly excited the enthusiasm of the queen's sub-
jects, and endeared her still more to every English heart.
It may, however, be doubted whether the famous reply
was in reality so entirely extemporaneous as it has usu-
ally been considered. The States-General had lost no
time in forwarding to England a minute account of the
proceedings of Paul Dialyn at The Hague, together with
a sketch of his harangue and of the reply on behalf of
the states.^ Her Majesty and her councilors therefore,
knowing that the same envoy was on his way to Eng-
land with a similar errand, may be supposed to have had
leisure to prepare the famous impromptu. Moreover, it
is difficult to understand, on the presumption that these
classic utterances were purely extemporaneous, how
they have kept their place in all chronicles and histories
from that day to the present, without change of a word
in the text. Surely there was no stenographer present
to take down the queen's words as they fell from her lips.

1 Wright, ubi sup. ^ Bor, ubi sup.

516 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1597

The military events of the year did not testify to a
much more successful activity on the part of the new
league in the field than it had displayed in the sphere of
diplomacy. In vain did the envoy of the Republic urge
Henry and his councilors to follow up the crushing blow
dealt to the cardinal at Turnhout by vigorous operations
in conjunction with the states' forces in Artois and
Hainault.i For Amiens had meantime been taken, and
it was now necessary for the king to employ all his en-
ergy and all his resources to recover that important city.
So much damage to the cause of the Republic and of the
new league had the little yeUow Spanish captain inflicted
in an hour with his bags of chestnuts and walnuts. The
siege of Amiens lasted nearly six months, and was the
main event of the campaign, so far as Henry was con-
cerned. It is true, as the reader has already seen, and
as wUl soon be more clearly developed, that Henry's
heart had been fixed on peace from the moment that he
consented in conjunction with the Republic to declare
war, and that he had entered into secret and separate
negotiations for that purpose with the agents of PhUip
so soon as he had bound himself by solemn covenant
with Elizabeth to have no negotiations whatever with
him except with her fuU knowledge and consent.

The siege of Amiens, however, was considered a mili-
tary masterpiece, and its whole progress showed the
revolution which the stadholder of Holland had already
effected in European warfare. Henry IV. beleaguered
Amiens as if he were a pupil of Maurice, and contempo-
raries were enthusiastic over the science, the patience, the
inventive ingenuity which were at last crowned with
success. The heroic Hernan Tello de Porto Carrero was
1 Calvaert to the States-General, in Deventer, ii. 141 seq.

1597] EECOTBRT OF AMIENS 517

killed in a sortie during the defense of the place which
he had so gallantly won, and when the city was sur-
rendered to the king on the 19th of September it was
stipulated in the first article of the capitulation that the
tomb, epitaph, and trophies by which his memory was
honored in the principal church should not be disturbed,
and that his body might be removed whenever and
whither it seemed good to his sovereign. In vain the
cardinal had taken the field with an army of eighteen
thousand foot and fifteen hundred light cavalry. The
king had learned so well to intrench himself and to mod-
erate his ardor for inopportune pitched battles that the
relieving force could find no occasion to effect its pur-
pose. The archduke retired. He came to Amiens like
a soldier, said Henry, but he went back like a priest.
Moreover, he was obliged to renounce, besides the city,
a most tempting prize which he thought that he had
secured within the city. Alexander Farnese, in his last
French campaign, had procured and sent to his uncle
. the foot of St. Philip and the head of St. Lawrence ; but
what was Albert's delight when he learned that in
Amiens cathedral there was a large piece of the head of
John the Baptist ! " There will be a great scandal about
it in this kingdom," he wrote to Philip, " if I undertake
to transport it out of the country, but I will try to con-
trive it as your Majesty desires." ^

But the military events of the year prevented the
cardinal from gratifying the king in regard to these
choice curiosities.

1 Albert to Philip, March 14, 1597. Same to same, August 16,
1597. Arch, de Sim. MSS.

" Es cosa cierta que est^ en Amiens gran parte de la cabeza de
San Juan Baptista. Aun podria causar en aquel Eeyno algun

518 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1597

After the reduction of the city Henry went a consider-
able distance with his army toward the frontier of
Flanders, in order to return, as he said, his cousin's
visit.i But the recovery of Amiens had placed too win-
ning a card in the secret game which he was then playing
to allow him to push his nominal adversary to extremities.

The result, suspected very early in the year by the
statesmen of the Eepublic, was already very plainly fore-
shadowing itself as the winter advanced.

Nor had the other two members of the league effected
much in the field. Again an expedition had been fitted
forth under Essex against the Spanish coast to return
the compliment which Philip had intended with the un-
lucky armada under Santa Gradea ; and again Sir Francis
Vere, with two thousand veterans from the Netherlands,
and the Dutch admirals, with ten ships of war and a
large number of tenders and transports, had faithfully
taken part in the adventure.

The fleet was tempest-tossed for ten days, during
which it reached the threatened coast and was blown off
again. It returned at last into the English ports, hav-
ing accomplished nothing, and having expended super-
fluously a considerable amount of money and trouble.
Essex, with a few of the vessels, subsequently made a
cruise toward the Azores, but, beyond the capture of a
Spanish merchantman or two, gained no glory and in-
flicted no damage.^

seandalo el tratar de un traslaoion pero procurare que se guie
oomo mas convenga eonforme a lo que V. Mag* me mauda," etc.

1 For tlie siege of Amiens, see De Thou, xiii. 109-126;
Metereu, 396; Bentivoglio, 458 seq; Carnero, 407 seq. ; and
especially Coloma, 238-271. Albert to Philip, September 30,
1597, Arch, de Sim. MS.

8 Bor, iv. 335-337. Camden, 529-535,

1597] MAURICE TAKES THE FIELD 519

Nothing could be feebler tban the military operations
of the three confederated powers ever since they had so
solemnly confederated themselves.

Sick at heart with the political intrigues of his allies,
which had brought a paralysis upon his arms which the
blows of the enemy could hardly have effected, Maurice
took the field in August for an autumnal campaign on
the eastern frontier of the Republic. Foiled in his efforts
for a combined attack by the whole force of the league
upon Philip's power in the West, he thought it at least
expedient to liberate the Rhine, to secure the important
provinces of Zutphen, Gelderland, and Overyssel from
attack, and to provide against the dangerous intrigues
and concealed warfare carried on by Spain in the ter-
ritories of the mad Duke of Juliers, Cleves, and Berg.
For the seeds of the Thirty Years' War of Germany
were already sown broadcast in those fatal duchies, and
it was the determination of the agents of Spain to ac-
quire the mastery of that most eligible military posi-
tion, that excellent sedes helli, whenever Protestantism
was to be assailed in England, the Netherlands, or
Germany.

Meantime the Hispaniolated councilors of Duke John
had strangled, as it was strongly suspected, his duch-
ess, who, having gone to bed in perfect health one even-
ing, was found dead in her bed next morning, with an
ugly mark on her throat;^ and it was now the purpose
of these statesmen to find a new bride for their insane
sovereign in the ever-ready and ever-orthodox house of
Lorraine.^ And the Protestant brothers-in-law and
nephews and nieces were making every possible com-
bination in order to check such dark designs, and to save
1 Eeyd, 319. ^ Jbid.

520 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1597

these important territories from the ubiquitous power of
Spain.

The stadholder had also family troubles at this period.
His sister Emiha had conceived a desperate passion for
Don Emmanuel, the pauper son of the forlorn Pretender
to Portugal, Don Antonio, who had at last departed
this life. Maurice was indignant that a Cathohe, an
outcast, and, as it was supposed, a bastard, should dare
to mate with the daughter of William of Orange-Nassau ;
and there were many scenes of tenderness, reproaches,
recriminations, and hysterica passio, in which not only
the lovers, the stadholder and his family, but also the
high and mighty States- General, were obliged to enact
their parts. The chronicles are filled with the incidents,
which, however, never turned to tragedy, nor even to
romance, but ended, without a catastrophe, in a rather
insipid marriage. The Princess Emilia remained true
both to her religion and her husband during a somewhat
obscure wedded life, and after her death Don Emmanuel
found means to reconcile himself with the King of Spain
and to espouse in second nuptials a Spanish lady.^

On the 4th of August Maurice arrived at Arnheim
with a force of seven thousand foot and twelve hundred
horse. Hohenlo was with him, and Louis William, and
there was yet another of the illustrious house of Nassau
in the camp, Frederick Henry, a boy in his thirteenth
year, the youngest born of William the Silent, the
grandson of Admiral de Coligny, now about, in this his
first campaign, to take the first step in a long and noble
career.^

Having reduced the town and castle of Alphen, the

1 Bor, iv. 322-324. Van der Kemp, ii. 36-40, 182-194.

2 "Van der Kemp, ii. 31, 32.

1597] MAURICE'S CAMPAIGN 521

stadholder came before Rheinberg, wliich lie very ex-
peditiously invested. During a preliminary skirmish
Louis William received a wound in the leg, while during
the brief siege Maurice had a narrow escape from death,
a cannon-ball passing through his tent and over his head
as he lay taking a brief repose upon his couch.^

On the 19th Rheinberg, the key to that portion of the
river, surrendered. On the 31st the stadholder opened
his batteries upon the city of Meurs, which capitulated
on the 2d of September; the commandant, Andrew
Miranda, stipulating that he should carry off an old
fifty-pounder, the only piece of cannon in the place.
Maurice gave his permission with a laugh, begging
Miranda not to batter down any cities with his big gun.'^

On the 8th September the stadholder threw a bridge
over the Rhine, and crossing that river and the Lippe,
came on the 11th before Grol. There was no Christo-
pher Mondragon now in his path to check his progress
and spoil his campaign, so that in seventeen days the
city, being completely surrounded with galleries and
covered ways up to its walls, surrendered. Count van
Stirum, royal governor of the place, dined with the stad-
holder on that day, and the garrison, from twelve hun-
dred to fifteen hundred strong, together with such of the
townsfolk as chose to be subjects of Philip rather than
citizens of the Republic, were permitted to depart in
peace.*

On the 9th October the town and castle of Brevoort
were taken by storm and the town was burned.*

1 Bor, iv. 345. Van der Kemp, il. 32.

2 Eeyd, xiv. 312.

3 Bor, iv. 349. Meteren, 411-417.
* Ibid.

522 THE UNITED NETHEELANDS [1597

On the 18tli October, Maurice having summoned
Enschede, the commandant requested permission to ex-
amine the artillery by which it was proposed to reduce
the city. Leave being granted, two captains were de-
puted accordingly as inspectors, who reported that resis-
tance was useless. The place accordingly capitulated at
once.i

Here, again, was an improvement on the heroic prac-
tice of Alva and Romero.

On the 21st and 22d October Ootmarsum and Olden-
zaal were taken, and on the 28th the little army came
before Lingen. This important city surrendered after a
fortnight's siege.

Thus closed a sagacious, businesslike, three months'
campaign, in the course of which the stadholder, al-
though with a slender force, had, by means of his excel-
lent organization and his profound practical science,
achieved very considerable results. He had taken nine
strongly fortified cities and five castles, opened the navi-
gation of the Rhine, and strengthened the whole eastern
bulwarks of the Republic.^ He was censured by the
superficial critics of the old school for his humanity
toward the conquered garrisons. At least it was thought
quite superfluous to let these Spanish soldiers go scot-
free. Five thousand veterans had thus been liberated
to swell the ranks of the cardinal's army, but the result
soon proved the policy of Maurice to be in many ways
wholesome. The great repudiation by Philip, and the
consequent bankruptcy of Albert, converted large num-
bers of the royal troops into mutineers, and these garri-

1 Letter of Maurice, in Van der Kemp, ii. 180.

2 Bor, iv. 345-368. Van der Kemp, ii. 31-35, 177 Seq. Meteren,
ubi sup.

1597] GENERAL MILITAEY REBELLION 523

sons from the eastern frontier were glad to join in the
game.

After the successful siege of Hulst in the previous
year the cardinal had reduced the formidable mutiny
which had organized itself at Tirlemont and Chapelle in
the days of his luckless predecessor. Those rebels had
been paid off and had mainly returned to Italy and other
lands to spend their money. But soon a new rebellion
in aU the customary forms established itself in Antwerp
citadel during the temporary absence of Mexia, the gov-
ernor, and great was the misery of the unhappy bur-
ghers thus placed at the mercy of the guns of that famous
pentagon. They were obliged to furnish large sums to
the whole garrison, paying every common foot-soldier
twelve stivers a day and the officers in proportion, while
the great eletto demanded, besides his salary, a coach
and six, a state bed with satin curtains and fine linen,
and the materials for banqueting sumptuously every
day.^ At the slightest demur to these demands the
bombardment from the citadel would begin, and the
accurate artillery practice of those experienced can-
noneers soon convinced the loyal citizens of the propriety
of the arrangement.^ The example spread. The garri-
son of Ghent broke into open revolt, and a general mili-
tary rebellion lasted for more than a year.

While the loyal cities of the obedient provinces were
thus enjoying the fruits of their loyalty and obedience,
the rebellious capital of the Republic was receiving its
stadholder with exuberant demonstrations of gratitude.
The year, begun with the signal victory of Turnhout,
had worthily terminated, so far as militarj'' events were
concerned, with the autumnal campaign on the Rhine,
1 Bor, iT. 468. 2 ibid.

524 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1597

and great were the rejoicings throughout the little com-
monwealth.

Thus, with diminished resources, had the Eepublic
been doing its share of the work which the anti-Spanish
league had been called into existence to accomplish.
But, as abeady intimated, this league was a mere fraud
upon the Netherlands, which their statesmen were not
slow in discovering. Of course it was the object of
Philip and of the pope to destroy this formidable triple
alliance as soon as formed, and they found potent assis-
tance not only in Henry's councilors, but in the bosom
of that crafty monarch himself. Clement hated Philip
as much as he feared him, so that the prospect both of
obtaining Henry as a counterpoise to his own most
oppressive and Most Catholic protector, and of breaking
up the great convert's alliance with the heretic queen
and the rebellious Republic, was a most tempting one to
his HoUness. Therefore he employed indefatigably
the matchless powers of intrigue possessed by Rome to
effect this great purpose. As for Elizabeth, she was
weary of the war, most anxious to be reimbursed her
advances to the states, and profoundly jealous of the
rising commercial and naval greatness of the new com-
monwealth. If the league therefore proved impotent
from the beginning, certainly it was not the fault of
the United Netherlands. We have seen how much the
king deplored, in intimate conversation with De B6-
thune,! his formal declaration of war against Spain which
the Dutch diplomatists had induced him to make ; and
indeed nothing can be more certain than that this pub-
lic declaration of war, and this solemn formation of the

1 Antea. Vide Sully, M^moires, i. liv. viii. 412. Van Deven-
ter, ii. 142.

1597] POSITION OF THE ANTI-SPANISH LEAGUE 525

triple alliance against Philip, were instantly accompanied
on Henry's part by secret peace negotiations with
Philip's agents. Villeroy told Envoy Calvaert that, as
for himself, he always trembled when he thought on
what he had done, in seconding the will of his Majesty
in that declaration at the instance of the States-General,
of which measure so many losses and such bitter fruits
had been the result.^ He complained, too, of the little
assistance or cooperation yielded by England.^ Calvaert
replied that he had nothing to say in defense of Eng-
land,^ but that certainly the king could have no cause to
censure the states. The Republic, however, had good
ground, he said, to. complain that nothing had been done
by France, that all favorable occasions had been neg-
lected, and that there was a perpetual change of counsels.
The envoy especially, and justly, reproached the royal
government for having taken no advantage of the op-
portunity offered by the victory of Turnhout, in which
the Republic had utterly defeated the principal forces of
the common enemy. He bluntly remarked, too, that the
mysterious comings and goings of Balvena had naturally
excited suspicions in the Netherlands, and that it would
be better that aU such practices should be at once aban-
doned. They did his Majesty no service, and it was no
wonder that they caused uneasiness to his allies. VU-
leroy replied that the king had good reasons to give
satisfaction to those who were yearning for peace.*

As Henry himself was yearning in this regard as
much as any of his subjects, it was natural enough that
he should listen to Balvena and all other informnl nego-
tiators whom Cardinal Albert might send from Brussels

1 Calvaert's letter, in Deventer, ii. 141-146. ^ Ibid.

3 Ibid. : " Dat ick England daer Uet." * Ibid.

526 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1597

or Clement from Rome. It will be recollected that
Henry's parting words to Balvena at Eonen had heen :
" Tell the archduke that I am very much his friend.
Let him arrange a peace. Begone. Be diligent." ^

But the king's reply to Calvaert, when, after the in-
terview with VUleroy, that envoy was admitted to the
royal dressing-room for private conversation and took
the occasion to remonstrate with his Majesty on these
intrigues with the Spanish agent, was that he should
send off Balvena in such fashion that it would take from
the cardinal archduke aU hope of troubling him with any
further propositions.^

It has been seen, too, with what an outbreak of wrath
the proposition made by Elizabeth through Robert Syd-
ney, that she should succor Calais on condition of keep-
ing it for herself, had been received by Henry. At a
somewhat later moment, when Calais had passed entirely
into the possession of Spain, the queen offered to lay
siege to that city with twelve thousand men, but with
the understanding that the success was to be entirely
for her own profit. Again the king had expressed great
astonishment and indignation at the proposition.^

Nevertheless, after Amiens had been lost, Henry had
sent FonqueroUes on a special mission to England,* ask-
ing Elizabeth's assistance in the siege for its recovery,
and offering that she should keep Calais as a pledge for
expenses thus incurred, on the same terms as those on
which she held the Brill and Flushing in the Nether-
lands. This proposal, however, to make a considerable

1 Antea.

2 Caron to the states, in Deventer, ubi sup. 3 Ibid.

* Instructions for Fonquerolles, in Pr6vost-Paradol, Elisabeth
et Henri IV.,

1597] BUZANVAli'S MESSAGE TO THE STATES 527

campaign in Picardy, and to be indemnified by Henry
for lier trouble with the pledge of a city whieli was not
Ms property, did not seem tempting to Elizabeth. The
mission of FonqneroUes was fruitless, as might have
been supposed.^ Nothing certainly in the queen's atti-
tude, up to that moment, could induce the supposition
that she would help to reduce Amiens for the sake of
the privilege of conquering Calais if she could.

So soon as her refusal was made certain, Henry
dropped the mask. Buzanval, the regular French en-
voy at The Hague, even while amazing the states by
rebukes for their shortcomings in the field and by de-
mands for immediate cooperation in the king's cam-
paign, when the king was doing nothing but besiege
Amiens, astonished the republican statesmen still fur-
ther by telling them that his master was listening seri-
ously to the pope's secret offers.^

His Holiness had assured the king, through the legate
at Paris, that he could easily bring about a peace be-
tween him and Philip, if Henry would agree to make
it alone, and he would so manage it that the king's name
should not be mixed up with the negotiations, and that
he should not appear as seeking for peace. It was to be
considered, however,— so Henry's envoy intimated both
at Greenwich and The Hague,— that if the king should
accept the pope's intervention he would be obliged to
exclude from a share in it the queen and all others not
of the Catholic religion, and it was feared that the same
necessity which had compelled him to listen to these
overtures would force him still further in the same path.
He dreaded lest, between peace and war, he might fall

1 Calvaert to States-General, in Deventer, ii. 47.

2 Bor, iv. 324, 325.

528 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1597

into a position in which the law would be dictated to
him either by the enemy or by those who had undertaken
to help him out of danger.

Much more information to this effect did Buzanval
communicate to the states on the authority of a private
letter from the king, teUing him of the ill success of the
mission of Fonquerolles.^ That diplomatist had brought
back nothing from England, it appeared, save excuses,
general phrases, and many references to the troubles in
Ireland and to the danger of a new Spanish armada.

It was now for the first time, moreover, that the states
learned how they had been duped both by England and
France in the matter of the league. To their surprise
they were informed that while they were themselves
furnishing four thousand men, according to the contract
signed by the three powers, the queen had in reality only
agreed to contribute two thousand soldiers, and these
only for four months' service, within a very strict terri-
torial limit, and under promise of immediate reimburse-
ment of the expenses thus incurred.^

These facts, together with the avowal that their mag-
nanimous ally had all along been secretly treating for
peace with the common enemy, did not make a cheerful
impression upon those plain-spoken republicans, nor was
it much consolation to them to receive the assurance that
" after the king's death his affection and gratitude toward
the states would be found deeply engraved upon his
heart." *

The result of such a future autopsy might seem a mat-
ter of comparative indifference, since meantime the pres-
ent effect to the Eepublic of those deep emotions was a

1 An abstract of the letter is given by Bor, ubi sup,

2 Bor, ubi sup. Vide antea. s ihn.

1597] TEAFFIC OF THE STATES WITH SPAIN 529

treacherous desertion. Calvaert, too, who had so long
haunted the king like his perpetual shadow, and who
had believed him, at least so far as the Netherlands
were concerned, to be almost without guile,i had been
destined, after all, to a rude awakening. Sick and suffer-
ing, he did not cease, so long as life was in him, to warn
the States-General of the dangers impending over them
from the secret negotiations which their royal aUy was
doing his best to conceal from them, and as to which he
had for a time succeeded so dexterously in hoodwinking
their envoy himself. But the honest and energetic agent
of the Republic did not live to see the consummation of
these manoeuvers of Henry and the pope. He died in
Paris during the month of June of this year.^

Certainly the efforts of Spanish and papal diplomacy
had not been unsuccessful in bringing about a dissolution
of the bonds of amity by which the three powers seemed
so lately to be drawing themselves very closely to-
gether. The Republic and Henry IV. were now on a
most uncomfortable footing toward each other. On the
other hand, the queen was in a very ill humor with the
states and very angry with Henry. Especially the per-
sistent manner in which the Hollanders carried on trade
with Spain, and were at the same time making fortunes
for themselves and feeding the enemy, while English-
men, on pain of death, were debarred from participa-

1 "Deurien, S. M.," wrote Calvaert in June, 1596, "(Sonder
jaotantie gesproken) binnen den tyt iek by hem geweest ben, my
Inttel partieulariteiten verborgen heeft, seggende dikmael met ex-
presse woorden, en soo iok geloove sonder flotie {die in hem cleyn
is) [ ! ] dat hy niet begeerde de kennis syner handelingen desen
oorlog raakende, aen U. M. E. te onttreoken."— Calvaert to the
States-General, Deventer, ii. 118.

2 Van Deventer, ii. 148.

VOL. IV.— 34

530 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1597

tion in sucli traffic, excited great and general indignation
in England. In vain was it represented that this trade,
if prohibited to the commonwealth, would fall into the
hands of neutral powers, and that Spain would derive her
supplies from the Baltic and other regions as regularly
as ever, while the EepubHc, whose whole life was in her
foreign commerce, would not only become incapable of
carrying on the war, but would perish of inanition. The
English statesmen threatened to declare all such trade
contraband, and vessels engaging in it lawful prize to
English cruisers.!

Burghley declared, with much excitement, to Caron
that he, as well as all the council, considered the conduct
of the Hollanders so unjustifiable as to make them regret
that their princess had ever embarked with a state which
chose to aid its own enemies in the destruction of itself
and its allies. Such conduct was so monstrous that those
who were told of it would hardly believe it.^

The Dutch envoy observed that there were thirty thou-
sand sailors engaged in this trade, and he asked the lord
treasurer whether he proposed that these people should
aU starve or be driven into the service of the enemy.
Burghley rejoined that the Hollanders had the whole
world besides to pursue their traffic in, that they did in-
deed trade over the whole world, and had thereby be-
come so extraordinarily, monstrously rich that there was
no believing it.^

Caron declared his sincere wish that this was true, but
said, on the contrary, that he knew too well what ex-

1 "Ends Toor vrybuyt doen verklaren alle suloke sohepen," etc.
—Caron to the States-General, September 24, 1597, in Deventer,
157-161.

2 Caron's despatch last cited. 3 ibid.

1597] THE QUESTION OF PEACE OK WAR 53I

treme trouble and labor the States-General had in pro-
viding for the expenses of the war and in extracting the
necessary funds from the various communities. This
would hardly be the case were such great wealth in the
land as was imagined. But stUl the English councilors
protested that they would stop this trading with the
enemy at every hazard.^

On the question of peace or war itself the republican
diplomatists were often baffled as to the true intentions
of the English government. " As the queen is fine and
false," said Marquis Havr6, observing and aiding in the
various intrigues which were weaving at Brussels, " and
her council much the same, she is practising toward the
Hollanders a double stratagem. On the one hand she
induces them to incline to a general peace. On the
other, her adherents, ten or twelve in number of those
who govern HoUand and have credit with the people,
insist that the true interest of the state is in a continua-
tion of the war." ^

But Havre, adept in diplomatic chicane as he undoubt-
edly was, would have found it difficult to find any man
of intelligence or influence in that rebellious common-
wealth, of which he was once a servant, who had any
doubt on that subject. It needed no English argument
to persuade Olden-Barneveldt, and the other statesmen
who guided the destiny of the Republic, that peace would
be destruction. Moreover, there is no question that both
the queen and Burghley would have been truly grateful
had the States-General been willing to make peace and re-
turn to the allegiance which they had long since spurned.

1 Caron's despatch last cited.

2 Deventer, 169, from the Belgian Archives. Havre to
Archdiike Albert.

532 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1597

Nevertheless, it is difficult to say whether there were
at this moment more of animosity in Elizabeth's mind
toward her backsliding ally, with whom she had so re-
cently and so pompously sworn an eternal friendship, or
toward her ancient enemy. Although she longed for
peace, she hardly saw her way to it, for she felt that the
secret movements of Henry had in a manner barred the
path. She confessed to the states' envoy that it was as
easy for her to make black white as to make peace with
Spain.i To this Caron cordially assented, saying with
much energy : " There is as much chance for your Majesty
and for us to make peace, during the life of the present
King of Spain, as to find redemption in hell." ^

To the Danish ambassadors, who had come to Eng-
land with proposals of mediation, the queen had replied
that the King of Spain had attacked her dominions many
times and had very often attempted her assassination f
that after long patience she had begun to defend herself,
and had been wUling to show him that she had the cour-
age and the means not only to maintain herself against
his assaults, but also to invade his realms ; that, there-
fore, she was not disposed to speak first, nor to lay down
any conditions. Yet, if she saw that the King of Spain
had any remorse for his former offenses against her,
and wished to make atonement for them, she was will-
ing to ieclare that her heart was not so alienated from
peace but that she could listen to propositions on the
subject.*

1 Caron to the States-General, September 24, 1597, Deventer,
ii. 153-156.

2 Ibid., ii. 156.

^ "Ende seer diokmael naer liaer lyfe ende leven heeft doen
staen."— Caron to States-General, September 24, 1597, Deventer,
ii. 159. < Ibid.

1597] ELIZABETH ON THE PEACE QUESTION 533

She said, too, that such a peace must be a general one,
including both the King of France and the states of the
Netherlands, for with these powers she had but lately
made an offensive and defensive league against the King
of Spain, from which she protested that for no considera-
tion in the world would she ever swerve one jot.

Certainly these were words of Christian charity and
good faith, but such professions are the common staple
of orations and documents for public consumption. As
the accounts became more and more minute, however,
of Henry's intrigues with Albert, Philip, and Clement,
the queen grew more angry.

She told Caron that she was quite aware that the king
had long been in communication with the cardinal's
emissaries, and that he had even sent some of his prin-
cipal councilors to confer with the cardinal himself at
Arras, in direct violation of the stipulations of the
league. She expressed her amazement at the king's con-
duct ; for she knew very well, she said, that the league
had hardly been confirmed and sworn to before he was
treating with secret agents sent to him by the cardinal.
" And now," she continued, " they propose to send an
ambassador to inform me of the whole proceeding, and
to ask my advice and consent in regard to negotiations
which they have, perchance, entirely concluded."

She further informed the republican envoy that the
king had recently been taking the ground in these deal-
ings with the common enemy ; that the two kingdoms of
France and England must first be provided for ; that
when the basis between these powers and Spain had
been arranged it would be time to make arrangements
for the states, and that it would probably be found ad-
visable to obtain a truce of three or four years between

534 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1597

them and Spain, in which interval the government of
the provinces might remain on its actual footing. Dur-
ing this armistice the King of Spain was to withdraw
all Spanish troops from the Netherlands, in consequence
of which measure all distrust would by degrees vanish,
and the community, becoming more and more encour-
aged, would in time recognize the king for their sover-
eign once more.^

This, according to the information received by Eliza-
beth from her resident minister in France, was Henry's
scheme for carrying out the principles of the offensive and
defensive league, which only the year before he had so
solemnly concluded with the Dutch Republic. Instead
of assisting that commonwealth in waging her war of
independence against Spain, he would endeavor to make
it easy for her to return peacefully to her ancient thral-
dom.2

The queen asked Caron what he thought of the pro-
ject. How could that diplomatist reply but with polite
scorn? Not a year of such an armistice would elapse,
he said, before the Spanish partizans would have it all
their own way in the Netherlands, and the King of
Spain would be master of the whole country. Again
and again he repeated that peace, so long as Philip lived,
was an impossibility for the states. No doubt that mon-
a,rch would gladly consent to the proposed truce, for it
would be indeed strange if by means of it he could not
so establish himself in the provinces as to easily over-
throw the sovereigns who were thus helping him to so
advantageous a position.*

1 Caron to States-General, November 19, 1597, Deventer, ii.
161-164.

2 Iloid. 3 Ibid.

1597] PROBABLE EPFECf OF PEACE WITH SPAIN 535

The queen listened patiently to a long and earnest
remonstrance in this vein made hy the envoy, and as-
sured him that not even to gain another kingdom would
she be the cause of a return of the provinces to the
dominion of Spain. She would do her best to dissuade
the king from his peace negotiations, but she would lis-
ten to De Maisse, the new special envoy from Henry,
and would then faithfully report to Caron, by word of
mouth, the substance of the conversation. The States-
General did not deserve to be deceived, nor would she
be a party to any deception, unless she were first cheated
herself. " I feel iudeed," she added, " that matters are
not always managed as they should be by your govern-
ment, and that you have not always treated princes, es-
pecially myself, as we deserve to be treated. Neverthe-
less, your state is not a monarchy, and so we must take
all things into consideration, and weigh its faults against
its many perfections." ^

"With this philosophical, and in the mouth of Eliza-
beth Tudor surely very liberal, reflection, the queen
terminated the interview with the republican envoy.

Meantime the conferences with the special ambassador
of France proceeded. For, so soon as Henry had com-
pleted all his arrangements, and taken his decision to
accept the very profitable peace offered to him by Spain,
he assumed that air of frankness which so well became
him, and candidly avowed his intention of doiag what

1 "Ick bevinde wel (seide sy) dat het niet al reoht soo 't be-
hoorde in liiinne regeeringe toegaet, en dat sy niet altyts de
Princen immers niet my tincteren soo wy wel in hun regart
verdient hebben; doeh hun staet is oock geen monarcMe, en
daarom wy moeten alles considereren en de faulten met vele
perfeetien die sy bebben tegen elkander laeten gemoeten."—
Caron's despatch last cited.

536 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1597

lie had already done. Hurault de Maisse arrived in
England not long before the time when the peace com-
missioners were about assembling at Vervins. He was
instructed to inform her Majesty that he had done his
best to bring about a general alliance of the European
powers, from which alone the league concluded between
England, Prance, and the Netherlands would have de-
rived substantial strength.^

But as nothing was to be hoped for from Germany,
as England offered but little assistance, and as Prance
was exhausted by her perpetual conflicts, it had become
necessary for the king to negotiate for a peace. He now
wished to prove, therefore, to the queen, as to a sister to
whom he was under such obligations, that the interests
of England were as dear to him as those of Prance.

The proof of these generous sentiments did not, how-
ever, seem so clear as could be wished, and there were
very stormy debates so soon as the ambassador found
himself in conference with her Majesty's councilors.
The English statesmen bitterly reproached the French
for having thus lightly thrown away the alliance between
the two countries, and they insisted upon the duty of
the king to fulfil his solemn engagements.

The reply was very frank and very decided. Kings,
said De Maisse, never make treaties except with the
tacit condition to embrace everything that may be use-
ful to them, and carefully to avoid everything prejudi-
cial to their interests.^

The corollary from this convenient and sweeping
maxim was simple enough. The king could not be ex-
pected by his allies to reject an offered peace which was
very profitable, nor to continue a war which was very
1 De Thou, t. xiii. liv. cxx. 206 seq. 2 Jbii.

1597] DUPLICITY OF HENRY'S CONDUCT 537

detrimental. All that they could expect was that he
should communicate his intentions to them, and this he
was now very cheerfully doing. Such in brief were the
statements of De Maisse.^

The English were indignant. They also said a stout
word for the provinces, although it has been made suffi-
ciently clear that they did not love that upstart Republic.
But the French ambassador replied that his master
really meant secretly to assist the states in carrying on
the war until they should make an arrangement.^ He
should send them very powerful succors for this purpose,
and he expected confidently that England would assist
him in this line of conduct.^ Thus Henry was secretly
pledging himself to make underhand but substantial
war against Spain, with which power he was at that
instant concluding peace, while at the same time he was
abandoning his warlike league with the queen and the
Republic in order to effect that very pacification. Truly
the morality of the governing powers of the earth was
not entirely according to the apostolic standard.

The interviews between the queen and the new ambas-
sador were, of course, on his part, more courteous in
tone than those with the councilors, but mainly to the
same effect. De Maisse stated that the Spanish king
had offered to restore every place that he held in France,
including Calais, Brittany, and the marquisate of Saluces,
and as he likewise manifested a willingness to come to

1 De Ttou, t. xiii. liv. oxx. 206 seq. 2 ibid.

3 " Qu'en faisant la paix avee les Espagnols il ne laisseroit pas
de fournir seoretement aux ifitats-Grfo^raux de puissans seeours
jusqu'a oe que leur aecommodement fut fait, et qu'il souhaitoit se
joindre avec I'Angleterre pour les aider et les soutenir, solt en
paix, soit en guerre."— De Thou, ubi sup.

538 THE UNITED NETHERLANDS [1597

favorable terms "with her Majesty and with the states, it
was obviously the duty of Henry to make these matters
known to her Majesty, in whose hands was thus placed
the decision between peace or continuation of the war.i
The queen asked what was the authority for the sup-
position that England was to be included by Spain in
the pacification. De Maisse quoted President Richardot.
In that case, the queen remarked, it was time for her
to prepare for a third Spanish armada. When a former
envoy from Prance had alluded to Eichardot as express-
ing the same friendly sentiments on the part of his sov-
ereign and himself, she had replied by referring to the
sham negotiations of Bourbourg, by which the famous
invasion of 1588 had been veiled, and she had intimated
her expectation that another Spanish fleet would soon be
at her throat. And within three weeks of the utterance
of her prophecy the second armada, under Santa Gadea,
had issued from Spain to assail her realms. Now, then,
as Richardot was again cited as a peace negotiator, it was
time to look for a third invasion. It was an imperti-
nence for Secretary of State ViUeroy to send her word
about Richardot. It was not an impertinence in King
Henry, who understood war matters better than he did
affairs of state, in which kings were generally governed
by their councilors and secretaries, but it was very
strange that ViUeroy should be made quiet with a simple
declaration of Richardot.^

The queen protested that she would never consent to
a peace with Spain, except with the knowledge and con-
sent of the states. De Maisse replied that the king was

1 Caron to the States-General, December 10, 1597 (O. S.), in
Deventer, ii. 165-168.

2 Ibid.

1597] EXERTIONS OF BARNEVELDT 539

of the same mind, upon whicli her Majesty remarked
that in that ease he had better have apprised her and
the states of his intentions before treating alone and
secretly with the enemy. The envoy denied that the
king had been treating. He had only been listening to
what the King of Spain had to propose, and suggesting
his own wishes and intentions. The queen rejoined that
this was treating if anything was, and certainly her Maj-
esty was in the right if the term has any meaning at all.

Elizabeth further reproachfully observed that, al-
though the king talked about continuing the war, he
seemed really tired of that dangerous pursuit, in which
he had exercised himself so many long years, and that
he was probably beginning to find a quiet and agreeable
life more to his taste. She expressed the hope, however,
that he would acquit himself honorably toward herself
and her allies, and keep the oaths which he had so sol-
emnly sworn before God.

Such was the substance of the queen's conversations
with De Maisse, as she herself subsequently reported
them to the states' envoy.^

The republican statesmen had certainly cause enough
to suspect Henry's intentions, but they did not implicitly
trust Elizabeth. They feared that both king and queen
were heartily sick of the war, and disposed to abandon
the league, while each was bent on securing better terms
than the other in any negotiations for peace. Barne-
veldt — on the whole the most sagacious of the men then
guiding the affairs of Europe, although he could dispose
of but comparatively slender resources, and was merely
the chief minister of a scarcely born little commonwealth
of some three miUion souls— was doing his best to save
1 Caron's despatch last cited.

540 THE UNITED NETHEELANDS [1597

the league and to divert Henry from thoughts of peace.
Peeling that the queen, notwithstanding her professions
to Caron and others, would have gladly entered into ne-
gotiations with Philip, had she found the door as wide
open as Henry had found it, he did his best to prevent
both his allies from proceeding further in that direction.
He promised the French envoy at The Hague that not
only would the Republic continue to furnish the four
thousand soldiers as stipulated in the league, but that if
Henry would recommence active operations a states'
army of nine thousand foot and two thousand horse
should at once take the field on the Flemish frontier of
France, and aid in the campaign to the f uU extent of
their resources.'^ If the king were disposed to under-
take the siege of Calais, the advocate engaged that he
should be likewise energetically assisted in that enter-
prise.^ Nor was it suggested, in case the important
maritime stronghold were recovered, that it should be
transferred, not to the sovereign of France, but to the
dominions of the Republic. That was the queen's method
of assisting an aUy, but it was not the practice of the
states. Buzanval, who was quite aware of his master's
decision to conclude peace, suggested Henry's notion of
a preliminary and general truce for six months. But of
course Bameveldt rejected the idea with horror. He
felt, as every intelligent statesman of the commonwealth
could not but feel, that an armistice would be a death-
blow. It would be better, he said, for the states to lose
one or two towns than to make a truce, for there were
so many people in the commonwealth sure to be dazzled
by the false show of a pacification that they would be

1 Letters of Buzanval, cited by Deventer, ii. 164, 165,
a Ibid.

1598] VAN DEE MEULEN IN BRUSSELS 541

likely, after getting into tlie suburbs, to wish to enter
the heart of the city. "If," said the advocate, "the
French and the English know what they are doing when
they are facilitating the Spanish dominion in the prov-
inces, they would prefer to lose a third of their own king-
doms to seeing the Spaniard absolute master here." ^

It was determined, in this grave position of affairs, to
send a special mission both to France and to England,
with the advocate as its chief. Henry made no objec-
tions to this step, but, on the contrary, affected much
impatience for the arrival of the envoys, and ascribed
the delay to the intrigues of Elizabeth. He sent word
to Prince Maurice and to Barneveldt that he suspected
the queen of endeavoring to get before him in negotiat-
ing with Spain in order to obtain Calais for herself.^
And, in truth, Elizabeth very soon afterward informed
Barneveldt that she might really have had Calais and
have got the better of the king in these secret transac-
tions.'

Meantime, while the special mission to France and
England was getting ready to depart, an amateur diplo-
matist appeared in Brussels, and made a feeble effort to
effect a reconciliation between the Republic and the
cardinal.

This was a certain Van der Meulen, an Antwerp mer-
chant, who, for religious reasons, had emigrated to Ley-
den, and who was now invited by the cardinal archduke
to Brussels to confer with his councilors as to the pos-
sibility of the rebellious states accepting his authority.*
For, as will soon be indicated, Philip had recently re-

1 Letters of Buzanval, cited by Deventer, ii. 164, 165.

2 Verhaal van Olden-Barneveldt, in Deventer, ii. 171.

3 Ibid. * Bor, iv. 468.

542 THE UNITED NETHEELANDS [1598

solved on a most important step. He was about to
transfer the sovereignty of all the Netherlands to his
daughter Isabella and her destined husband, Cardinal
Albert It would obviously, therefore, be an excessively
advantageous arrangement for these new sovereigns if
the rebellious states would join hands with the obedient
provinces, accept the dominion of Albert and Isabella
and give up their attempt to establish a republican gov-
ernment. Accordingly, the cardinal had intimated that
the states would be allowed the practice of their religion,
while the military and civil functionaries might retain
oflce. He even suggested that he would appoint Mau-
rice of Nassau his stadholder for the northern provinces,
unless he should prefer a high position in the imperial
armies.^ Such was the general admiration felt in Spain
and elsewhere for the military talents of the prince that
he would probably be appointed commander-in-chief of
th e forces against Mohammed.^ Van der Meulen duly re-
ported all these ingenious schemes to the states, but the
sturdy republicans only laughed at them. They saw
clearly enough through such slight attempts to sow dis-
cord in their commonwealth and to send their great
chieftain to Turkey.

A most affectionate letter written by the cardinal
archduke to the States-General, inviting them to accept
his sovereignty, and another from the obedient prov-
inces to the United States of the same purport, remained
unanswered.*

But the Antwerp merchant, in his interviews with
the crafty politicians who surrounded the cardinal, was
able at least to obtain some insight into the opinions
prevalent at Brussels ; and these were undoubtedly to the

1 Bor, iv. 468. 2 Ibid. 3 Ibid.

1598] VAN DEK MEULEN AND RICHAEDOT 543

effect that both England and France were willing enough
to abandon the cause of the Netherlands, provided only
that they could obtain satisfactory arrangements for
themselves.

Van der Meulen remarked to Richardot that in all
their talk about a general peace nothing had been said
of the Queen of England, to whom the states were under
so great obligations, and without whom they would
never enter into any negotiations.

Richardot replied that the queen had very sagaciously
provided for the safety of her own kingdom, and had
kept up the fire everywhere else in order to shelter her-
self. There was more difficulty for this lady, he said,
than for any of the rest. She had shown herself very
obstinate, and had done them a great deal of mischief.
They knew very well that the King of Prance did not
love her. Nevertheless, as they had resolved upon a
general peace, they were willing to treat with her as
well as with the others.^

1 Verhaal van Van der Meulen, cited by Deventer, ii. 173.

NOTE TO PAGE 83 ; NOTE, PAGES 83, 84 ; PAGE 434, LINE 18

It will be observed that the officer mortally wounded at the
taking of Cadiz, 2d July, 1596, bears in the text (iv. 434) the same
name— Nicholas Meetkerken— with that of the colonel killed at the
capture of Deventer, 10th June, 1591 (iv. 83). Meteren (xvi.
and xviii. fol. 333 and 388, 389) and other contemporary authori-
ties state the fact without comment on the identity of name. It
is possible, however, that the Meetkerken killed at Cadiz was one
of the remaining sons of the president of Flanders, and that his
Christian name was Baldwin or Adolph. .

:^ESt mat::

■^